 Salamu alaykum dear viewers, peace be upon you all, welcome to our show discussing the different aspects of the story of Karibullah that took place on Ashura. One of the most beautiful sites a human being can look at is the epic beautiful pilgrimage of Arabain that takes place every single year, regarded as the largest peaceful gathering that takes place on this earth. This journey of love, of loyalty, of compassion and of grief as well is one of the most striking images we can see as human beings and one of the true wonders of the world. Today's show we're going to discuss the origin of this pilgrimage as well as what it shows about human values in the region of Islam. We're going to look at this with our guest today, we've got Saeed Ali Nawab with us, we've got Saeed Mohsin Shah at Ibrahim Ansari to provide some poetry and look at the discussion as well. Saeed now, the biggest pilgrimage in the world, not just pilgrimage gathering in the world, may be only rivaled by the one the Hindus do in the Ganges River every few years. But before we go into what happens on this pilgrimage every single year, I want to go into the origin of it. Two questions, the number 40, why is 40 days after Ashura, this has happened? Because 40 is quite a common number and where did the origin of this pilgrimage start from? Who was the first person to do this pilgrimage to Qibla? Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem, al-hamdulillahi rabbil alameen, wa sallallahu ala Muhammadin wa aalihi al-tahireen, wa al-anatullahi ala aadahim, ajwa'ina ila abadil abideen, wa huma sallallahu ala Muhammad wa aalihi al-tahireen. The number 40, if we go back and just have a general look over the rwayat and rations of Ahlul Bayt, alaykum as-salam, the first thing that comes to our mind or the first thing that we find is that the number 40 is used by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in regards with the prophethood and the the prophethood of the prophets and the messengers, where the majority of the prophets and the messengers and the the closest example I can give was Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam, when he reached the age of 40 Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent him to prophethood. Why 40? Rwayats explain that the human mind as it's been created by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when it reaches the age of 40 it reaches the completion in terms of wisdom. Yes. So the prophets when they reached the age of 40 they reached that level of completion and that level of wisdom, so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala hence sent them to prophethood. Does that mean that they weren't wise before that or they weren't complete before that? No. This is just a rough example. Allah wanted to give mankind is that generally speaking when you reach the age of 40 you should be reaching the complete wisdom. There's no more wisdom to reach after that. Which means that one should take care or look after his nurturing, his knowledge, his experience, so by the time he reaches 40 there is no more room for you to make mistakes. So you should be concentrating from then onwards from finalizing your stay on the face of this earth. So this why the name the number 40 came about and also we have a Rewire in regards with the Ziyarat of Imam Hussain alayhi salam is a Rewire from Imam al-Askari alayhi salam when he says one of the Allah and one of the signs of the mu'min is Ziyarat al-arba'een. Some say arba'een, Ziyarat al-arba'een mu'min visiting 40 mu'min or naming 40 individuals in Salat al-Layl for example. But mu'alama when they came to discuss this Rewire they say Ziyarat al-arba'een al-Amam al-Hussain alayhi salam visiting Imam Hussain on his 40th. And who was the first to start this tradition then? And the first to visit Imam Hussain alayhi salam or to arrive to the grave of Imam Hussain alayhi salam in that period was Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari. Of course it coincided with the arrival of the camp on the caravan of Imam Zain al-Aabideen and the women and the children that were with him. So generally speaking Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari took him that much time to be able to get himself to come to Kabila and to arrive next to the burial site of Imam Hussain alayhi salam on the 40th and of course he is one of the greatest narrators of the generations of Ahlul Bayt al-Aliyum al-Salam. But the narration of Imam al-Hussain alayhi is the strongest one in regards with the the visitation of Imam Hussain on his 40th. Thank you. Saeed Mohsen why is the Ziyarat a sign of a believer? It's not just, I mean the Ziyarat is saying that the Ziyarat is a sign of a believer. It's not just that you're going to pay your respects. It's also that to recognize the status of Imam Hussain. It's also to recognize who the Imam was, to recognize the rights of the Imam. Also it's to recognize what happened on that day of Ashurah. And to recognize that there was, you know, a haqq against the barter. There was good versus evil. There was God versus, you could say, desires of man. Or you could say the devil himself. Yes. So, you know, the Ziyarat, being a sign of a believer, it's not just actually performing the Amal and for you to just, you know, go and do this walk and go. But it's also to recognize who the Imam was, recognize the real status of an Imam. And then also to recognize the Imam of your time and recognize the rights of the Imam of your time. So, you know, these add on to why the Ziyarat is so important and why it is significant for a moment to be there and for a person to actually go out of his way to go go see Imam Hussain, you know, being a symbol. Absolutely. You said as a Lord to the Imam of our time and if I'm not mistaken, the Imam of our time actually goes to the pilgrimage as well, doesn't he? 100%. So, if you are able to go, you are with him in the same crowd, inshallah. Ibrahim, from your perspective, what do you think and what are the etiquettes and how should one conduct themselves when going on the Ziyarat? Because, you know, times have changed. We've got phones now, people film things and all that. But in general, what are some of the etiquettes of the Ziyarat that you know of? So, as the Sayyid mentioned, Jabra bin Abdullah Al-Ansari first arrived to the land of Karbala and although he is not an Imam himself, however, he lived with the Prophet and five Imams. So, his knowledge and his etiquette is definitely of a great status. So, when we look at the narration of him attending Karbala, the first thing he says is because he was blind, he said, take me to the river of Farat and he washed his body. And then the narration says he wore the purest of his clothes and he put the most beautiful, what we call today, a perfume. Okay. So, before he went to Ziyarat, so one thing to actually keep in mind is to actually go in the best way we can. Let's wear clean clothes, we wash ourselves, the the the ghusl before Ziyarat is very highly recommended. Even outside of Arba'een, no more. Even today at home, if you want to perform Ziyarat to Karbala, a beautiful thing to do is, for example, to do ghusl of Ziyarat, although we can't actually be there. The intention. The intention would be there, inshallah, and then we can recite the Ziyarat of Imam Hussain. And so, quite interesting, sorry, that because you made a very good point there, when we meet somebody important, we wear perfume, best clothes, and we get clean as possible. And meeting one of the most important people, so the external part is very important, too. Definitely, yeah. So then you walk towards this holy site, towards this holy grave. The way you walk should show where you are truly walking to. The way you walk, the way you talk should show where you are actually truly heading to. And likewise, you said with an important person, if I see, for example, yourselves respected people, and I see you, and I come through that I will not walk like a hooligan. I will make sure to walk properly, address you properly, and the same should be done, we say the shohadah. And leaving a side, especially when reaching the holy land of Karbala. And you know, it's a very beautiful site for those who have been to Arba'een. The moment you reach Karbala from the side of Najaf, and the first thing you see is the dome of Abel Fadal al-Abbas. The moment you see that, shot everything off, and make sure that one thing is kept in mind, which is your ziyarah. Absolutely. Sayyid now, let's go post-Jabir and look at the imams of al-Abayn themselves. Did they ever perform the ziyarah in Arba'een or in other times of the year? And what did they say about the importance of this? So Jabir, we've got, what about the actual imams themselves? Of course, before the martyrdom of Ma'ab Hussain, alaihi salam, the messengers of Allah and the prophets of Allah, they did ziyarah of Karbala. One by one, prophets from Prophet Adam, until Prophet Muhammad, alaihi salam, and two Amir al-Mu'mineen, and the rest of the imams, they did the ziyarah of Karbala. Amir al-Mu'mineen visited Karbala when he was coming back from one of the battles. And he was noticed to take a bit of sand or soil from the earth and start smelling it. And then he said the following statement. He said, what a land that a group of people are going to be killed on it, and their blood will be shed, and they are going to be killed by a deviant group of people. So, hence, Amir al-Mu'mineen, the holy prophet and the prophets before, historically, they made sure that they visited Karbala because they know that on this land there will be a man who will be killed and martyred in a brutal manner, standing for the justice. Hence, Imam Zain al-Abideen, alaihi salam, came to bury the bodies of Ahlul Bayt, alaihi salam, and visited his father, Imam Hussain. And then Imam al-Baqr, alaihi salam, also Imam al-Sadiq, he used to come. And there is a specific place in Karbala just behind the maqam of Imam Sahib al-Zaman, al-Ajarullah, al-Farjul Sharif. They called the maqam of Imam al-Sadiq. Imam al-Sadiq, alaihi salam, used to come and wash in the river of Furat and pray and reside in that location. And of course, there are other locations in and around Karbala where the Imam of Ahlul Bayt, alaihi salam, used to take as a place of residence for the short period of time where they used to do visitations and not forgetting, we just brought the name of the maqam of Imam Mehdi, alaihi salam, Imam Mehdi, he himself, he was observed to go and reside in that location and go visit his grandfather, Imam Hussain, alaihi salam. And before we get to the poetry, I want to ask about one narration and this comes up quite a lot. There's some narrations that talk about the ziyarah Imam was saying being greater than Hajj and Umrah or the reward of it anyway. And especially for those from outside the world of Shi'ism, they might find that a bit problematic or very, very concerning. And even some Shi'as, I find that quite troubling. So can you explain what the Imams mean by such narrations? The Imams, alaihi salam, when they come to encourage mu'mineen to go and visit Imam Hussain, alaihi salam, they want to bring the thawab or try to explain the level of thawab one mu'min would get once they visit Imam Hussain, alaihi salam. And in those days they couldn't come and say, use a specific figure of number, say like you would get this amount of money or this amount of gold. They would give the Hajj, for example, because Hajj at that time was one of the greatest of Amal. There is the mu'mineen and the Muslims, they didn't have anything greater than Hajj. So the Imams, alaihi salam, when they said visiting Imam Hussain, in the first instance, they said it's greater than going to Hajj and Umrah, performing Hajj and Umrah with Rasulullah, sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi. And then the person asking said greater than Hajj and Umrah, Ibn Rasulullah, Imam alaihi salam said I will make it more greater than 10 Hajj and 10 Umrah. And the person again asked, Ibn Rasulullah, greater than 10 Hajj and 10 Umrah with Rasulullah, the Imam continued saying 100 Hajj and 100 Umrah. The Imam continued increasing until he said 1,000 Hajj, a million Hajj and a million Umrah. Now does that mean to say that okay I don't go to Hajj? Hajj is wajib for me. Every Muslim has to go to Hajj once in their lifetime. Does that mean that I go to visit Imam Hussain, alaihi salam? And that means that I've done a million Hajj and a million Umrah. I don't need to go to Hajj. Imam alaihi salam says your Hajj wajib, you have to go. But if you want to get the reward of going to Hajj a thousand times and going to Umrah a thousand times alongside the holy prophet of Islam, now you can imagine how complete that Hajj and that Umrah would be and how much Tawabi would get, then go to visit the grave of Imam Hussain. So we're quantifying the reward and blessing of it. Okay, interesting. Thank you. As per usual, with the format of the show, we're going to have some poetry about this topic itself. So on a day of day like 40, we remember what Hussain truly called for. So a poem written by Basmul Ansari called Hussain's call. Hussain issued a call to be humane. It is calling us to be virtuous and sane, to be forgiven and from bad to refrain calling for a way to end all brutal pain. So when you hear us crying, Hussain, know that he is beyond the love in our vain. Hussain is a path for glory and gain. He is a formula breaking every chain. Integrity and sacrifice of Hussain, a way to oppose every tyrant's reign, to face tyranny with patience, not dain, to be peaceful yet full of might like rain. Hussain and peace are indeed a twain. He attracts millions to Karbala, his feign, to learn from his ways, to learn from his ways and strength to attain, to be determined and truthful like Hussain, to be determined and truthful like Hussain. Thank you very much. Say the most, and now I want to go into the actual pilgrimage itself and luckily we've been on the pilgrimage itself. One of the most striking things for me when I've been on the pilgrimage is the way the people there, the status they see you as and truly I'm nothing, but when I'm walking down that road I feel like a king because what they call mean, how they see me, the way they're begging the walkers to come and eat some food or even a foot massage. So my question is what is the actual status of a Zawar, a pilgrim of Imam Hussain? Because clearly if you are on this pilgrimage these people see you as you've dropped from heaven and getting blessings from you. It's not just that you guys are Zawar but it's like you're not the guests of above the last thing and we know that Iraqi people are very very generous. As soon as you enter there's tea and there's food and there's so much. So imagine being the guest of above the last thing and then imagine that you're walking down and then all these more caves, all these different groups of people have come to give and to serve and to help you and age you. I don't know about you guys but I get stopped and invited into people's houses and I mean my Arabic is not that strong but they don't care. They're like you know it doesn't matter they're grabbing my hand and trying to pull me into people's houses. There's non-stop tea and water especially like clean water so for people who are a bit afraid or they think that oh there's not fresh water there's so much available non-stop food. It's probably the biggest gathering of food in the world honestly and the people there that it's like they they will sacrifice anything and everything to make sure you are comfortable and it's really really humbling that some of these people have nothing. Some of these people save all year just for that moment so that they can serve. Ibrahim why is it so important to serve the pilgrim and the guest of among Ussein? Now to you see just generally speaking aiding someone in their ibadah or helping someone to better themselves to make them stronger so by giving them nutrition to pray giving them nutrition to make sure like during Suhur time for example to make sure they can fast the day that has unbelievable amounts of food and likewise here giving them a place to rest giving them some nutrition to make sure that they can carry the walk Abdullah al-Hussain you will get the vote for every step they take. Yeah absolutely it's quite interesting just just me witnessing that although the the arabain is actually it's an event of grief but we can't help to smile at what happens there because you can only smile at the generosity that's shown. Say the word about your experience and you've been as well what sticks out for you the most on this walk or even the the atmosphere? One is mesmerized where to start with the images that they see in al-ba'een but the first thing I would see is that the amount of love people have you can't imagine you can't describe the amount of love they have you don't know these individuals they are young and old they sit in the middle of the road on the floor on the sand and on the dust with their you know the the Arabs the Iraqis especially those who wear the the specific aghaal they say they have honor they have high status but you see them he says I will do whatever it takes for me to serve once more of ma'am al-Hussain I will put my honor aside I will put every respect I have even if I am the sheikh of the ashir even if I am the top leader of my clan of my tribe for the sake of Hussain I am ready to even let the zwar of the ma'am Hussain al-Hussain step over my head and go towards Karbala which I heard the year that I went to Karbala for arba'een the man was holding the microphone and he said Zahir do not pass me whatever you want to do do not pass me without stopping at my mocking even if you want you can put your feet your shoe on my head now where in the world would you be able to give me an example of such an experience and that does not come from an empty place yes that comes from the Rewayat of Ahlul Bayt alayhum as-salam there is a narration by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala narrated as he was discussing speaking with Prophet Musa alayhi as-salam and Allah says to Musa that's way before the month of the ma'am Hussain alayhi as-salam Allah is saying to Musa or Musa if a mu'min or if a person feeds the zwar of Imam Hussain alayhi as-salam and spends one dirham I will convert that into 70 dirhams and Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says one of the signs of a mu'min is to spend and to feed and then hence we have Ahlul Bayt alayhum as-salam they themselves used to cook food when Imam Zayn al-Aabideen came back to the city of Medina the women and the children though they were occupied they were sad they were dressed in black they were doing mu'min and as-salam Imam Zayn al-Aabideen alayhi as-salam he himself used to cook for them for the mu'min because they knew Imam knew that they have a majlis a majlis for the women they used to call the woman of Medina and organize a mutton for Imam Hussain alayhi as-salam Imam Zayn al-Aabideen used to cook for them so this comes because our imams the imams of Ahlul Bayt they either themselves they used to cook for the majlis of Imam Hussain for the zwar or for those who used to come to the matam of Imam Hussain or give money for people to cook Imam al-Baqir alayhi as-salam says to his son if I was to pass away organize majlis for 10 years in Mina and commemorate the death of Imam Hussain alayhi as-salam and feed people so when you see the people of Iraq and their millions from from faw from the farthest point or from Kuwait let's say you see from the borders of Kuwait they start opening their doors and they start feeding people until they reach Karbala from every angle from from Kurdistan from Baghdad from Najab from Hala from Samawa from every city in Iraq opens its doors towards the zwar of Abiyab Allah i mean one thing that sticks out is that um when I went once they I kind of it was it was new to me so I offered you know to pay and stuff and I said I asked them what would you like and they said just when you get to Karbala tell Imam that we gave you food that's all we want that's the only payment they require and I want I want to focus on this aspect of food and I have to be uh I want to open up the discussion Ibrahim and say the most and because we have to be living in an era now where climate's in trouble um with the weather litter pollution and one of the big topics is food wastage as well um and as we've been we've seen you know you mentioned earlier there's the biggest gathering of food we've ever seen in our life is there room for discussion and we need to talk about perhaps putting a limit on the food because meant much does get wasted or should the generosity just be as open as possible is is there an issue maybe you guys know more than I do is there an issue with food wastage there um is it all used or do we have to look at limiting it putting quotas in for example what do you what do you think what do you think you're saying I think that um number one we can't really expect numbers when it comes to true I mean numbers go up to something like 27 million in the period not in that one day but the whole urban period it's about 27 they call it 30 million people um so I'd you organize food that you're supposed to ration it or something you know so and I think everyone has the intention as well don't you think everyone that you know we want to give this food out if it doesn't get given or there's run out of time that's not really the individual's fault the the neo is there though to to give but one thing that they do do so um this is one thing I do know of including for example the shrine of maam Ali they have a massive moquib uh at the start of the the the first few pools after you pass um the hawli which they call um the first few pools there there is a big moquib uh that moquib is the moquib of the shrine of maam Ali now they they cook unbelievable amounts of food their kitchen is massive you can see you can see it in pictures the the kitchen is unbelievably big what they do however is this when they finish for example the cooking and they have given everything out on that specific day whatever is left whoever was in the kitchen a lot of these people they would go back to their family because they live in Najaf or they live close to that they'd go back to their family so they'd give them take to your family um they'd give them for their neighbors yeah so a a lovely tradition you'll find in in Iraqi culture um even in Pakistani culture I've realized this as well what they do is if they've cooked some nice food they'll make sure to go to the neighbors and give them some of the food so this is this is a way to make sure there is uh no wastage at all by giving to other people you can get more throw up inshallah when I think to that if you go back to Ahlulbayt Haleem Sattar again there isn't a thing that Ahlulbayt had missed yes until they comment on it when it comes to the Ta'am of Ta'am Imam Sadaq alaihi salam has a beautiful narration which says that if one spends a thousand dirham cooks food prepares food and then the Rwaya continues he's saying now you spend a thousand dirham you prepare a nice banquet and from that food one mu'min eats the Imam alaihi salam says that is not counted as wastage does that mean that we take that food and we throw it away no when a mu'min cooks for another mu'min and that mu'min eats and there's leftover that mu'min knows what to do that mu'mins knows that he doesn't is not allowed to throw that food away so they would be able to take care of sorting out the food and again when we come to find the explanation of israf or tibdir israf and tibdir happens when you are cooking for example for yourself you know you are one person you need to cook for one person but if you cook for five people and you know there's no one else to eat with you that is called israf and tibdir or if you are cooking and that's food or that money that you are spending is going to be for an unjust cause that is called israf and tibdir but when you are cooking for the cause of Imam alaihi salam for a good cause that is not counted as israf and tibdir and when you are cooking you know for sure that you will need more you will need to spend more money to cook to bring more more quantities of meat and rice and whatever you need to prepare more food there are people who buy house they buy a house for their family but before arba'in they sell that house and whatever they get from selling that house they go and buy food and and water and and provide the shelter and then before everything finishes or they know that there is a little bit more left they say they say this is the story we've heard that there is an individual who sells his house every year he buys a house he sells it he spends everything that he's gained from selling that house and the sake of for the sake of the zuwara of mar-e-say and he doesn't go back to his family until he's spent that every let's say pence or scent or dinar for the sake of mar-e-say and he says Sayyidna every year mar-e-say alaihi salam helps me to buy another house and every year I will sell my house and I will spend it for the zuwara of mar-e-say the intention is so pure the intention is what is needed even if you there are we see many images of old women or three or four children sitting you know on the side of the road with you know a teapot and a few stickhands of chai even if you give one a stickhand of chai yeah it doesn't matter if you give one tonne or one a stickhand it's all the same the eyes of what a beautiful note to end on thank you to our our guests for not just giving knowledge but sharing the experience because very very powerful of the pilgrimage and to our viewers at home for watching the one word that does come to my mind when I think of this pilgrimage is the word love it is a pilgrimage of love not just from the people that are there but from the man they are visiting as well we hope you took a lot from the show and we hope that this has inspired you to actually go in the pilgrimage and may God grant all the viewers from all different backgrounds to witness this pilgrimage and to go on it as per tradition with the show we're going to end with a eulogy by brother ibrahim to close the show so please brother ibrahim so with the gist of the show I think this is more appropriate than a very mosa'ib-based thing it will include some mosa'ib as well as all eulogists do inshallah carry the message of hussain is the title written by basmin ansari and they were crushed with swoon at ampertine chain yet they carried the message of hussain upon leaving the fields of karbala zaynab said i swear by Almighty Allah that a lasting flag will rise on this plane it would carry the message of hussain countless people will come from naira and far towards the flag that guides them like a star they will face all types of cruelty and pain yet they carry the message of hussain we will have the final glory and gain as we carry the message of hussain