 أعوض بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنا اهددي لو لان هدان الله الحمد لله الذي أنزل الفرقان على عبده ليكون للعالمين نذيرة الصلاة والسلام على خير خلق ونور عرش أفضل الأملياء والمرسلين حبيبنا وسيدنا وسندنا وشفيعنا ومولانا أب القاسي محمد الله وسلم وعلى آله الطيبين الطاهرين المأسمين المبلومين أبدأ في الله's name the benefits and the merciful and الله tells us in the holy quran in سوط البقرة the second chapter of the quran the second verse because you know it starts with خروف المقطعات ألف لا مين ذلك الكتاب لا رب فيه دن للمتقين اللذين يؤمنون بالغيب ويقيمون الصلاة ومن ما رزقناهم ينفقون واللذين يؤمنون بما أنزل عليك وما أنزل من قبلك وبالآخرة هم يؤين صلاة الله محمد وأهل محمد in these verses of الله سبحانه وتعالى begins the second chapter of the quran سوط البقرة the longest chapter in the quran where الله says ذلك الكتاب لا رب فيه in this book there is no doubt for those who are God conscious لا رب فيه there is no doubt for those who are of the God conscious and as we listen to these lectures our objective should be to achieve certainty وعبو ربك حتى يأتيكل يقين keep serving your Lord until you achieve certainty for there is nothing more pleasurable to us all than certainty when you and I have certainty with issues we know what to do with it even if it means death certainty meeting something with certainty including death you will find yourself to be in a very tranquil state you will find yourself in a state of tranquility in English they call it adoraxia you will be in a tranquil state and you will find yourself able to manage the rights and the wrongs because we have certainty what causes us to have confusion as I mentioned before where people who indulge in drugs who indulge in alcohol who indulge in gambling it's all because they lack certainty when they lack certainty then they become very erratic in behavior human nature is that we are very confident when we have certainty and we love people who have certainty we admire confident people even if they are wrong but if they exude a confident state of mind we tend to feel more comfortable with them so if you're in the jungle and you're lost and there's somebody in the group acting confident simply acting confident you will find that that person will be more of a consolation than anybody else because we as a human race are constantly looking for confidence and certainty so Allah says there is no doubt in this book but for who ودان المرتقين هو اله الليين يؤمنون بالغاية they are the ones who believe in the unseen now this is a conversation in and of itself for the unseen reality is the most powerful exam Allah is giving us with reference to the trials and tribulations we have in life and for us to achieve certainty of the unseen requires reflection meditation and using the faculties Allah has given us that God gave us eyes and ears you see and a mind and tongue Allah says Allah created mankind from a clot and then He endowed this being you see He gave them because it is through hearing and sight that you will be able to be examined in here doesn't only mean it actually means that if you don't have eyes or you don't have hearing then your other faculties will become more enhanced so the ability to hear with touch the ability to sense with touch are all within the parameters of this verse indeed we guided mankind towards the right path meaning our inner conscience our فترة already knows that it is not good to lie we already know that eight years will argue on the same basis that they all know universally every human being on earth eight billion plus on earth today will unanimously agree that it is not good to lie and it is good to speak the truth it is good to be honest it is good to be humble it is good to be wise and intelligent it is not good to be ignorant and arrogant this is a universal message of God that when Allah says and by the self which He perfected He taught this self what is wrong and what is right why is that because it's an essential piece of the equation for if you and I lack that ability then Allah cannot hold us liable on judgment day in fact the Qur'an is very succinctly clear on this matter that without being guided Allah cannot punish anyone Allah ensures that prophets and imams and scriptures are sent unto mankind to guide them morally for if He did not then we are absolved of any misbehaviors that we may perform on this earth this is very powerful and very important to understand for there are those people who actually imagine the possibility of a non-existent being who is God meaning this earth has no God and then there are Muslims that I've met and I'm talking specifically within the Muslim faith of course the non-Muslim faith is a different conversation but within Muslims we find that there are those who believe that Allah created this universe and then left us alone to manage our own affairs sort of in a deistic way where God created things the universe then He left us alone He doesn't interfere in our affairs and the reason the deists go in that direction is in order to validate the existence of evil for they can't understand how God who manages it can allow evil to exist so one of the possibilities they bring forth is to say that God is not involved then there's another branch of philosophy called process theology where they believe that when God created He had good intentions but He wasn't aware of the outcome and one of the outcomes was evil and He couldn't control it so that's why evil exists it's what we call collateral outcome an almighty God who creates and doesn't know an omnipotent absolute being who creates and doesn't know these are all conjectural arguments that don't make sense but there are people who actually try to go in that direction and look I respect all of them because in my opinion even atheists when they argue that there is no God I respect them they are wrong but I respect them at least they are trying to make an effort to understand at least they are challenging the establishments and trying to purify themselves they are wrong in their conjectural arguments but I have to give them credit for the fact that at least they are trying to attempt and when I listen to philosophers try to give all kinds of explanation as to how the universe works I carefully listen to all of them because it enables me to certify my faith it enables me to understand the veracity and the validity of my own faith for then I'm able to compare it you see the prophet said ادل بالعلم من المهد الى اللهد acquire knowledge from the cradle to the grave how do you acquire knowledge by these conversations right طالب العلم فريدة على كل مصر ولو كانا بيسين the prophet even if you have to go to China you must go and gain knowledge even from disbelievers you must gain it so you and I have to make every attempt every second of our lives on this earth reflective cogitating meditating as we say constantly working towards improving ourselves and status to achieve certainty وعبود ربك حتى يأتيكل يقين maintain this worship and the way we will maintain it is by understanding the grand scheme of things and then the sub things of things and then you and I will understand who we are within this spectacular universe and then we will be able to push the right buttons إن شاء الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وعالي محمد so let me summarize in the last five this is my fifth lecture I think you find that first and foremost الله created us purely out of his mercy and I'm summarizing here so you understand and I want you clearly to understand when we go to Karbala and we're going to talk about these phenomenal heroes who from children all the way to old age when they gave their souls for Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم it wasn't an exercise in futility it wasn't madness it wasn't some kind of rage it was calculated with certainty it was the kind that brought about an individual that there are two kinds of Jihad جهد الأصغر and أكبر the one in Karbala was أصغر please understand that أكبر was the self and when you are able to manipulate yourself شيخ mentioned before all you who believe save yourselves and your family from that impending fire which is going to be a punishment what is the fire الله doesn't like to put anybody in hell and Allah did not create hell by design to put us in hell Allah by design has designed all of us for paradise but it is our foolishness in rejecting good and our willful desire to go against the goodness of God that God says well in that case then you really want hell so I'll give it to you that's why I give you help God did not create humanity to put majority of them burning in hell and there's a small minority entering paradise this concept is false it's a false concept don't believe in it please we humans have a choice do we want to enter paradise or do we want to enter hell I can guarantee if I scope the earth and ask the majority of the human beings 99.9% they will tell you we want to go to paradise so guess what they do but we are victims of history we are victims of misinformation and disinformation we are victims of society we are victims of culture we are victims of ignorance and as a result we perpetuate ignorance because we feel that it's socially acceptable to be ignorant for when we become wise and we become erudites in society that somehow the world will not like us what a foolish thought for there is nothing more than what beautiful you and I possess as the holy prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stated صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم he said the most beautiful possession a human being has is their intellect when a person speaks intelligently they become beautiful it doesn't matter how they look anymore we fall in love with them it doesn't matter physically it's the essence of the person's inner qualities when they exude outwardly in a beautiful manner in a logical systematic in a modest manner when an individual has their tongue وقصد في مشيك وقضض من صوتك إن أنكر الأسوات لصوت الحمير see loqman is saying to his son be modest see وقصد في مشيك and lower your voice وقضض من صوتك don't be loud don't speak loud when you speak loud الله says you sound like a donkey إن أنكر الأسوات لصوت الحمير يعني when you are loud and boisterous and we say belligerent or pugnacious in nature where you're constantly trying to get into a brawl and fight with people but then you know the human race looks at you as an anathema you know what's an anathema like a curse like a like a problem like a sickness you're like a cancer in society but when you're gentle when you're kind and you have a very pleasant demeanor and your smile is magnetic and it's attractive that's a true believer now imagine if you're intelligent with that and you probe deep into knowledge where you're able to decipher what is being spoken and you pick the best out of it and you bring the jewels forward and you say this is what I've understood and you've got one step closer to Allah which means one step closer to certainty such people are the greatest blessings on earth tonight in these lectures we pray to Allah that my lord increase my certainty my lord increase my ability to see through this give me this ability to cut through knowledge the way you gave Imam Muhammad باقر although all imams have that title and all prophets have that title but Imam Muhammad باقر is known as باقر العلوم you know what باقر means one who splits knowledge one who takes knowledge splits it and shows you the nuances of knowledge that's the gift you and I must have and that doesn't come for free it requires a tremendous amount of meditation reflection you see constant movement to all the time understand and Allah subhanahu و تعالى so merciful that he has endowed us with all of this so let me summarize briefly what is our objective in life first Allah created us purely out of his mercy quick summary purely out of his mercy which means that he didn't have to nor does he need our worship please understand that when we hear the hadith that Allah willed to be recognized that will is not a need it is a want there's a difference a want means you want to show your mercy it's like you're extremely wealthy you're independent but you want to help the needy you don't have to but you want to that's a very merciful act you and I it's recipients please understand that you and I were created humans we could have been created other kinds of creatures God said we have honored you and Quran is a replete with verses about how mankind has been honored you are a human being you've been destined for paradise you were created for a higher station of existence and you are a magnificent human being and that when you do speak intelligently you will look magnificent I always give this example if you see somebody who is extremely physically outwardly magnificent to look at and your eyes cannot take you know you cannot take your eyes off that person but then they start talking and they're empty headed silly talk very dumb you're like oh who's this suddenly the person no longer looks good outwardly they're magnificent but there's a disconnection this is a magnificent person but they don't know how to talk they've got a vile tongue their logic is skewed they're very very shallow very quite ignorant does it say empty barrels make the most noise all right so you find you look at this person it's oh but what is it person has the endowment the eyes are beautiful the hair is beautiful nothing has changed their height hasn't changed suddenly you're no longer as attracted exactly because it is our intellect that is the most beautiful so you and I while we are polishing our outer bodies and working out and making good you know our body and making sure our skin is supple and healthy looking and taking care of our hairs and so on which we should which we should but remember nothing is more important than the inner soul and the conscience and the intelligence that is central to all successes صلى الله عليه وسلم محمد رحمد رحمد you know what's amazing about gods بلسing upon us is when I come up here and I speak and I start a subject I feel like there is an ocean in front of me to talk about but then there are 10 other pathways to go so which one do you go I said oh my god I'm swimming in this ocean of gods mercy and where do I go what do I say there's so much for me to say not because I'm wise because God has been so merciful in drenching us with so much mercy all we have to do is open our eyes and touch it and apply it and we become its beneficiaries so first الله created us out of His mercy and when He created us out of His mercy this is a whole conversation maybe one of these nights I'll talk about it tonight my main subject is about long term vision this is one of the criteria for you and I to achieve certainty it requires long term vision I'm going to touch on this briefly tonight given the time that I have but please bear in mind nothing one of the most important characteristics you and I will have to achieve certainty is long term vision and when you and I have long term vision and when we do have certainty we will automatically exercise patience when Allah says إن الله يهل لدينا عملوا استعينوا بصبر والصلاح إن الله مع الصابيرين all those of you believe and join upon each other يهل لدينا عملوا استعينوا بصبر والصلاح patience and prayer right indeed God is with the patient ones إن الله مع الصابيرين please understand this this is very profound for the صابيرين to be with Allah is very different than for Allah to be with the صابيرين we who are his slaves to be with Allah is a great honor but for Allah to be with the patient ones is beyond description honor it's the kind of honor that cannot be fathomed nor measured إن الله مع الصابيرين how do you and I get the the sabr the sabr of Imam Hussein عليه الصلاح the sabr of Ahl al-Maid the sabr of Amid al-Mu'mineem the sabr of Rasool Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم how do we get that long-term vision and that vision is so clear that you and I are holding tomorrow in our hands today so Quran says اللدينا يُرنون بالغاية the ones who have تقوى are the ones who believe in the unseen and believing in the unseen requires a lot of reflection and meditation and planning and looking at the current situation and examining the past and now you prognosticate the future it means that I am now going to dictate my movement based on the past and present I already have enough parameters to be able to understand the outcomes of tomorrow and Allah is merciful that He guarantees that system that when you and I understand the past and the present that the future is guaranteed based on how you and I submit to the present and understand the past so many a times if we don't measure what is the world really today and we are whimsy cold and knee jerk reacted where our friends and the fad societies are flashing some red light somewhere and everybody's running in that direction and then the red light comes on the eastern side and we're all running there we're like a bunch of blind creatures going from one side to the other because everybody's doing that that's the coolest thing to do we're living in a very fad society today we're driven by fads who's gathering where or there's this club like 10 000 people it really was it's all dark and dingy and it's noisy and smoky wow amazing let's go the angels are laughing at us look at these foolish creatures they want to go to a place they can't see each other they can't talk to each other they can't hear each other and it's smoky those are clubs these are how clubs are silly but everybody's there do you ever notice by the way in our societies when everybody when people start to do something even that's not حلان if everybody's doing it or while people are doing it starts to become مصطحب it's amazing حران becomes مصطحب everybody's doing it i said to kids you smoke weed yeah brother why hush everybody's doing it i said yeah you're right we should change that we should make it مصطحب and then we all do it religiously it should become مواجب right you notice that everybody does it so just because everybody does something wrong you live in a society where you come in europe for example in england every other block there's a pub go to manhattan new york city 445 455 the bars are packing every bar on the street it's full what did you do we're all gonna go get you know drunk why we'll be busy busy doing what making money for what so we can live nicely to do what so we can retire how to destroy your brain cell so you end up in a hospital you know in my university Thursday night the music starts to pound the whole building is rocking like i was getting a headache and then kegs of beers get rolled kegs forget about bottles kegs 50 000 gallons for a weekend my god i'm watching this i can't believe this when Allah says this is filthy this stuff is ugly human nature has no direction no long-term vision we're impulsive pavlovian and everybody is doing it and miller and budweiser is financing it all and we just have to go out there and get drunk and then come Sunday morning they've got a massive headache you know hangover they're like sipping coffee and i'm looking at them like what's next library really what go start studying i said Thursday you destroy the brain cells and then Monday you start feeding it again water cycle little madness and we've got presidents today in our countries who are like that who are misogynistic womanizers what we call philanderers unethical mendacious pathological liars and we've produced them as leaders of the world today what a comparison of that to what we're going to converse tonight in karmala my god mh اف من كان مؤمن كمن كان فاسقا لا يستون can you compare these two even when when alcoholics i meet them and i say to them do you like what you're doing well what else do i have i said well why don't you stop i loved them but how am i going to stop i or they'll say there's nothing wrong i'm not an alcoholic he can't even stand straight i'm not an alcoholic it's called denial in psychology call it denial i don't have a problem me i'm not sick i'm not an addict the guys got needles hanging out i'm not an addict yeah because psychology says validate by invalidations in cess it's not there just turn a blind eye when a lawyer saying i endowed you with intellect intelligence incredible powers and what do you do you blast it for no reason why do people do this even my professors who i respect to do in the day i would see them to get drunk at night the next day i just cannot respect them anymore i said with all due respect you're smart in what you do but you cannot be a role model for me for your unethical stands in public is clearly clearly something that is abhorrent in my vision when it comes to somebody at the moral level who simply cannot be my role model and one rule about morality by the way just as a quick foot note morality cannot be played with material things can be played with for example if somebody comes to you in your life at an early age or in middle age and lies to you and they cheat you willfully willfully you knew they planned this they cheated you you caught them they asked for forgiveness will you ever see that person with respect again even 100 years they're honest you'll always be doubting with that one when we talk about infallibility of prophets and imams and people shrug their shoulders like how how can prophets be infallible they're human i said brothers and sisters please understand prophets and imams came to teach us morals the foundation of moral demands a pure pathway it's like a pipe where dirty water is gonna run through right imagine if the i mean pure water is gonna run through pure water is gonna run through this dirty pipe you're gonna get what dirty water when Allah sends them as a conduit to send us the messages if prophets make one mistake one error the entire religious system of morality is questionable their integrity is pivotal and critical you and i as common people if we cheat each other once it still lingers in our head that is why غيبة accusing somebody تحمد it's so ugly الله says when you do غيبة meaning when you backbite someone it is like you've eaten the flesh of your dead brother ايو حد أحدكم أن يأكل اللحم أخيه ميتن فكاريه تموت الله says it's detestable isn't it well that's what you do because when you mar somebody's character the person who heard it now has a reason to doubt your veracity of your character this is why people suffer with backbiting and gossiping and it's the worst thing you and i can do so good believers who have certainty who have long term vision who practice patience immediately understand such things can never be done because in the outcome of the future long term vision this is deadly our prophet has said إمام علياليسلام has said whenever you plan to do an act always think about its consequences before you do it for if you are unaware of its consequences you may not be able to collect to take it back it's like public speaking it's like speaking إمام علياليسلام إمنا جو بلاغه says every word you utter before it leaves your mouth it is your property once you've spoken it is public and you can never take it back you will be accused of it buy it and it will no longer be in your jurisdiction you will become a victim of it so be very careful what you say so a wise man thinks before they speak a foolish person speaks and then thinks that is why it is so important for us to have long term vision i'm going to move very quickly my apologies if i'm going into a few تنجنت but i think it's very important for us to understand and you know when i speak about these examples of alcohol drinking debauchery womanizing and so on these are the ills of society and we live in a society today that normalizes this where having a six pack of beer in your in your refrigerator or dating indiscriminately freely having different kinds of mates is commonly accepted in society whereas the moral fabric within islam that promotes modesty hence this hijab that is so essential in islam there are people who argue there is no way in the quran about hijab i look at them and say which which book are you reading like there is nowhere in the quran which quran are you reading okay hijab is clearly mentioned in the quran there is no question about it there are five schools of thought we have differences about leadership but we have no differences about modesty there must be something here it's extremely powerful but modesty is the religion of islam and islam is the religion of modesty you find zaynab alehassalam the sister of imam hasena alehsan who was this indomitable figure in karmalal who spoke against yazid and said why was she there she was there to say i am the flight bearer of modesty bearer of decency we are the mothers of generations and what we produce are pure children not adulterated children in today's societies illegitimacy adultery is common we've got a president who has put his hands in so many bad places and he continues to be the president and society is shrugging it's okay it's just the president as long as the economy is good we don't care this is the problem in society that if our children are going to grow up in the modern society where leaders are absolved of their immodesties and indecencies and immoralities what are we sending as a message to our next generation that son daughter it's okay as long as you become a leader become a billionaire have your own airline have your own jet and as long as you're rich and powerful even if you're a misogynist a philanderer messing around with all kinds and producing illegitimate children and raping women it's okay because just keep the economy good is that what life is about الله says زينة الحياة الدنيا والباقيات الصالحات خيرون عند ربكة ثواب خيرون عمالة the best thing what is left are your good deeds deeds are moral modest when you and I examine living in this part of the world yesterday young brother came to me asked me a beautiful question really put a smile on my face he said brother how do we know Islam is the right religion we've got Christianity Judaism all these other religions how do you know Islam is right and how do you feel so certain that God exists I looked at him I said beautiful question thank you for asking we'll talk more about this I said but I want you to look around and question the integrity of this great religion Islam and I said there are religions that believe God has a son who died on a cross who complained of the cross for the sin of somebody else's sin you know you commit a sin that somebody else gets killed how by what logic when God is so merciful and he's so just I asked my Christian brother if Adam made the mistake simple God is very loving and very forgiving forgive him that's the design I said who cook this design he's certainly not from God but there are two billion plus people who actually believe in this they are victims when you look at our Christian brother they are good people God loving their spirit is no different than ours but they've been misinformed so this logic of expression to clearly understand at the base level to say nobody in the world has the purity of the oneness of God but Islam and Allah says in the Deen and Allah in Islam the religion to Allah is Islam which is what oneness of God when you look at the Quran cover to cover it's all about توحيد if you examine it it's persistent consistent and it maintains a constancy of messaging that God is the Almighty and his messenger is the conduit by which mankind is to be performing and be conscious of your moral duty for once you scratch it or you in other words once you harm it you will be marginalized so if you have a friend who lied to you it's very difficult notice the more you lie and the more you forgive let's say I lied I said I'm sorry people say okay no problem we're forgiving now we don't condemn such people by the way there is no such thing as saying when you lied 20 years ago so I'll always condemn you no ولافين عن الناس you forgive mankind we forgive when people do bad things alcohol drinking lying debauchery whatever even cheating even armed robbery and they're asking for forgiveness forgive them forgive them God loves those who seek forgiveness والله يحب التوابين والله غفور الرحيم لا تقلطوا من رحمة الله إن الله يغفر الدنوبة جميعًا إنه والغفور الرحيم He forgives you all if you seek redemption but the quality of an individual is degraded for each mishap so you will notice that morality has one direction so maintain it from birth try to maintain purity at birth the world should not remember you as an evil doer yesterday for maybe you become a good person and you can but it will always linger try your best to always be on the good side don't say let me try haram let me be really bad I'll do alcohol I'll do drugs I'll do bad things tomorrow I'll ask for repentance and I'll be okay morality doesn't work that way so don't go there first but notice with material it's different let's say you're a billionaire you walk into a mosque or you go into business everybody's kissing your hand that's the rich guy she sees cars masha'Allah it's very rich oh where is he I want to meet him it's very important why because it is money then this poor guy this rich guy becomes poor he's got no money can't even afford a car now everything's taken nobody wants to look at him poor guy who cares about him society is like that you know as a prophet was wealthy when he became poor and Allah took his wealth away and made him ill most of his friends loved him who wants such friends you want friends like that if I if I have friends knowing that because I'm wealthy and because I am powerful that they love me I don't want such friends I want friends that I could be a pauper in the desert with tattered clothes and my friend is standing next to me trying to help me that's a real friend not a friend who wants my money but now let's say that person becomes rich again everybody goes back to the person oh you're rich again that's even better wow you became poor and became rich I love you even more you must be amazing you must know how to really make money so notice money and material things you lose you gain you lose you gain it doesn't affect you but morals you lose it stays with you forever so please understand that if people cheat us or lie to us or they harm us it's very difficult to let go so logic and wisdom dictates don't go there but how can you not go there Allah says be God conscious be aware how I sent myself from going astray long term vision understand you didn't come on this earth whimsically you were not born on this earth accidentally and there is a being who monitors everything you do as I mentioned yesterday that the moral argument demands an all seeing being and there is nothing more beautiful than going into a courthouse and somebody has accused you but the judge knows everything you don't have to bring any evidence your existence is evidence for or against you who would love to go to such a court only honest people only good people evil people will hate to be in such a judgment wouldn't they because they know they'll be exposed Allah says I am the ultimate I am the one who will tell you what you did on judgment day and there is not an iota that will be hidden just think that way think that way every single day that when you see injustice is taking place and you see tyrants killing people and you see all kinds of wickedness in the world say Alhamdulillah there is a God who sees Alhamdulillah He will expose it this was the conversation of Imam Hussein in Karbala consistently saying to them it's okay you're practicing amnesia right now after writing me letters to come to Kufa and now you're pretending you know nothing because if Nizia has put fear into you do a problem God sees everything and you will be exposed tomorrow day after tomorrow forever the choice is yours why Imam is challenging that you lack long term vision you are so short term vision that's why you've gotten lost and with all due respect summary believers in God have the longest vision atheists have the shortest vision صلاة الله محمد وعالي محمد so in summary الله blessed us intellect He's given us free will if there is one gift that Allah has given us is free will it's a whole conversation introduction today free will how is free will working you might think what is free will do we really have free will or did God actually is God controlling everything some of us think that Allah is controlling everything and it is by destiny and you know that the Bani Umayyah they used it very in a crafty way Muawiyah and Yazid and Ibn Ziyad you know when Imam Zayn Al Abideen was brought after Karbala Ibn Ziyad was was pontificating on the pulpit the governor's pulpit and he looks at this young handsome young man standing he says who are you he says my name is Ali look what Ibn Ziyad says after Karbala he said didn't God kill Ali in Karbala didn't God already kill Ali look how he says it he doesn't say he killed didn't God already kill look at how wicked he is he says didn't God already kill Imam Zayn Al Abideen he says God didn't kill you did he says oh you're very intelligent why are you still alive kill him Zaynab al-Assalam jumps towards him and says if you're going to kill him then kill me and all the people in Kufa said shame on you Ibn Ziyad if you're going to kill a woman this is how intrepid Zaynab al-Assalam was she says if you're going to touch him you're going to have to kill me that's how strong as a woman she was but look at the wisdom but look at the debauchery of the other side in trying to mismanage religion to confuse us under the premise of predestination such that they say Hassan bin Namer he's burning the Kaaba and the soldiers are crying and they say how could we be burning this house when yesterday the prophet purified it you know what Hassan said to him he said if God didn't want us to do it we wouldn't be able to do it so do it it's amazing when you examine history and you see how history has taken its position صلاة الله محمد وعاله if you can remove this echo please thank you Insha'Allah within a few minutes after I'm done with this point thank you may Allah bless you صلاة الله محمد وعالي محمد I need to touch on this very quickly and then I will go to Karbala Insha'Allah because this is all about Karbala you find that these people took charge by pretending that God decreed it you and I many a times when we want to do something or something is bad in our lives we feel it's out of our control there's nothing we can do God wants it this way so let me just submit to my evils wrong who unfulsakum save yourselves do not allow shaitan to whisper into your ears that it is not in your control it is God who is doing this so it's okay if you do something wrong or if you are drinking alcohol doing bad things it's okay God wants you to be this way Allah never wants a human being to be in a state of never ever Allah is too merciful Allah is too merciful please don't say that I'm going to give you one quick proof on this because I think it's important definition of evil this is the big question introduction definition of evil is the willful rejection of good you must have the free will to reject good for evil to exist otherwise evil doesn't exist an explosion earthquakes when you have volcanoes none of these are evil when we have tsunamis they're not evil they're physical realities and Allah has endowed animals you know they say when indonesia got the tsunami the elephants were tied they broke their chains and they ran up the mountains way before the tsunami came Allah has already trained the animals to know that the tsunami is coming go the other way camels in the desert can sense storms miles away and they will stop and they will change direction and a good camel rider will never redirect the camel if the camel moves away the camel rider knows there's something dangerous coming forward Allah has endowed us to keep away from wrong things so there's no evil in that evil is when you know there is something good a good person is sitting next to you and you decide to cheat them you decide to lie to them or you decide to harm them this is evil now i want to ask you a simple question we all agree and i can prove it without any doubt that Allah is all good 100% all good for there's not an iota of evil in God and if God predestined us to do everything and we have no control of ourselves and if God is controlling everything including karbala then don't we agree there is no such thing as evil in karbala for God does there is evil and Allah says من شر ما خلق كل عوض برب الفلق من شر ما خلق I swear by the lord of the dawn and by the evil which he created here God is saying the potential for you intelligent free will human beings to reject me I have allowed you like a teacher when the teacher gives you an exam they have the teacher has allowed you to fail for the teacher can force you to pass don't forget that a teacher allows you to fail and that's proof that you have free will for if a teacher forces me to pass or a teacher forces me to fail then neither is good please understand that so Allah has been شر ما خلق by the شر that I have allowed you to reject me evil exists only under that parameter please understand that so therefore evil does exist and since evil does exist then it is definitely not the hand of Allah in all the negatives صلوات الله محمد وآل محمد مرحباً and here are the verses when Allah said in this verse I said in سوت البقرة الله سبحانه وتعالى بالآخرتي هم يؤنون first of all Allah says ذلك الكتاب العريبة فيه دل المتقين right then Allah says they maintain prayers ومن ما رزقناهم ينفقون they give charity with what we give them and they believe in the scriptures that were revealed before and they have certainty in the day of judgment honestly with all due respect you will find nothing is more valuable and powerful than the knowledge of the unseen when you and I hire pundits who come to our businesses and they guide us through complicated matters in business who are the ones who get paid the most the ones who can predict the future the ones who understand the dynamics of society and the ones who will tell you to invest in the right position knowing what are the chances that tomorrow will be the way it is so that you can benefit from that decision so you will notice the most valuable commodity we own is the unknown if you could know what will happen just tomorrow okay you would be the richest person in the world because you would position yourself today for everything for tomorrow and you would gain it with so much power that even the world will follow you because if you could tell that what will happen tomorrow with clarity the world will bow to you for there is nothing more powerful than the علم الغي knowledge of the unseen so Allah is saying who knows the unseen the one who understands the present who understands the wisdom God has given them who understand what God gave before and understands the history of prophets and understands the problems of life today and they can predict tomorrow you and I as especially my young brothers and sisters for example we were temperamental when we were young when I was younger you know I was very opinionated this is the way it should be later on in life you find out it doesn't work better just to be quiet just be patient let things mellow down and need a pass it's a passing cloud suddenly by thinking carefully you're exercising patience why? because you've projected that yesterday I tried it it didn't work why should I try it again it doesn't work that's why you'll notice older people tend to be calmer than younger people both are good by the way young people having high energy is needed and the old people who block you as conservatives is needed that's what brings balance in society so Allah is saying who is the ultimate you find all the verses in the Quran where Allah praises people who He honors the most they say the following examine I'm going to quote just a few of them and you will see what the Quran is talking about long term vision for example الله says يفونة بالنظر فاعتمد الزهرى صلى الله عليه وسلم is you know she kept another إمام حسن إمام أسين we're not feeling well this is an answer to the dark so in sand you find that Allah is now you know exemplifying this incredible family في بيوتي نظن الله انترفع ويوتكرا فيه اسمه in houses who's the name of Allah is mentioned through them فاعتمد الزهرى صلى الله عليه وسلم kept another الله says يفونة بالنظر ويخافون يوما كان شره مستطيلة they are afraid of that day meaning أهلبيت and prophets have taken into account that the mercy of God is so good is so great shame on us if we don't do good and we have no strings attached you know those when we do good we want nothing back from you why because we have been given too much credit from God and the only thing we can do is love you care for you forgive you and keep feeling you and taking care of you سبحان الله examine amazing يفونة بالنظري ويخافون يوما كان شره مستطيلة ويتعيمون الطعام على حبه مسكينة ويتيمة وأسيرة what do they say they feed the poor the orphan the wafer but what do they do they say لا أريد منكم جزاءا ولا شكورة look at the example of people with long-term vision look at their behavior they are seeing يوم القيامة like now they're seeing themselves being held accountable right now many of us forget this that's why we cheat that's why we do bad things that's why we harm each other we forgot the day of judgment الله يقول if you don't if you don't forget the day of judgment constantly every day know that you're under watch and you're going to be held alive of everything you do our behavior will change long-term vision so الله says what are they they say لا أريد منكم جزاءا ولا شكورة إن النخاف من ربنا يوما عبوصا قمطرينا notice how they say we are afraid of that day when everybody will be held accountable hearts will be perpetrating shame on us if we do good with strings attached shame on us if we have harmful thoughts shame on us if we don't keep our promises الله يقول رجاله في سطنور رجاله لا تلقيهم تجارة ولا بيعن عن ذكر الله every person I will talk about in Karbala even tonight about Habibi Ibn Zahir and Nafi' ibn Hilal when I talk about him just now shortly you will find these are the people رجاله of course this is the prophets and the imams إمام العليه العليه السلام رجاله لا تلقيهم تجارة ولا بيعن عن ذكر الله they don't bargain for anything to serve Allah in other words they are not for sale لا تلقيهم تجارة ولا بيعن إمام سينا ليس لا بيعن except for Allah عن ذكر الله وإقام الصلاة وإتاء الزكاتي they are called the prayers they give charity يخافون يوماً see and they are afraid of that day تتقلّبوا في القلوب ولا بصار see they are afraid why because they have a vision so when you find Habibi when you find all the companions they are in Karbala you're going to be butchered they said we see the prophet we see that right there it's waiting for us we're going to die like this and what an honor and we see it we have been created for that purpose this is why we exist on this earth my brothers and sisters if you now want to get close to Allah spend time meditating about the purpose of life spend time understanding the way Allah works spend time understanding why evil exists spend time understanding why rahma exists and understand when we have trials and tribulations it's not bad for us it's good for us let's just not do it to ourselves so two personalities tonight we find نافعي حلال was a Yemeni from the Bajala tribe he was a youth but he loved Imam Hussein so much had such clarity of vision this is about clarity of vision when you ask when we talk about running an education school doing charity traveling the world to go feed the orphan you say why why are you busy doing philanthropy feeding the poor why don't you build a nest egg for yourself and build palaces and buy your own private jet he says then what the human mind the human body has been designed to be the happiest when it's in the giving mode when you and I give we're the happiest and these youth that went to Karbala knew that there was no greater giving than the giving of their lives for Allah they knew it you and I as observers wonder how did you do this we need to talk about them so we become strong that in the world today when shaitan offers us something we say you know what with all due respect no I have the best role models they were offered money Yazid offered them money they offered them governorship they offered them a lot of things and they refused and they were not willing to sell their souls to the devil this is the conversation we're talking about so now he calls he was lying on the side and he had arrows in every arrow he dipped in poison and he loved it he said I am dipping this arrow in poison because I am going to strike that shaitan on the other side the one who wants to harm my Imam look at this in rapid nature this boy was from Yemen you know Imam Ali Islam travel to Yemen on the on the 10th of of 10th of حجران you find that the Prophet sent the last detachment the Prophet's last detachment was Imam Ali Islam who went to Yemen when he went to Yemen and he brought the Hamdan tribes to Islam you know Khalid bin Walid went before two years ago before that six months he spent there not a single person became a believer Imam Ali Islam goes they fall in love with him and the entire tribe becomes Muslim and the love for Ahlul Bayt is exemplary today and you will find Abu Dhar al-Ghafari was the one who went to the southern part of Lebanon جبلان you find his spirit is what's bringing resistance in that part of the world Imam Radha was sent to Mashhad and his spirit is standing there you find wherever these agents of God go they become pegs singular pegs that become so powerful that the superpowers of the world today with all the wealth in the arms cannot touch them you find that Imam Ali إسلام أولاً مرحباً و these people of Yemen so this one boy who was in the army of Imam إسلام he says I am poisoning every arrow so I will strike them and he said he puts it in his arrow and starts to pull the boat and he strikes and he kills a dozen of Yazeed's army 12 of them he strikes them one by one then he runs out of arrows he takes his sword he says now watch me you know my name is نفعي بن حلال watch how I fight and they attacked him he's a youth but that valor رجالون لا تلقيه تجارة الولاً put this person in our heart not just a name say I want to be like نفع I want to be like حبيبي بن مضحي so every day my life is for you الله for I see the day of judgment too نفع he says I can't wait and I am so honored to defend this Imam that God has commanded me to obey أطل الله أطل رسول وهو يلاب من كون he goes fighting and finally he is struck and both his arms are cut off he's bleeding his beard is bleeding profusely and he's full of valor and smiling شبر captures him by his neck this boy has no arms left when I read this story this boy is telling me see me how blessed I am to get Shahada and notice I have no fear not a I didn't lose hope so Shema brings him to ibn Sa'd and now he is now on the floor and ibn Sa'd said what did you do he said I killed 12 of yours and if I had my arms you wouldn't have captured me look at the valor I'm afraid he's already in the enemy's side he knows he's gonna get killed he doesn't care he's looking he says I don't care so شمر says to ibn Sa'd kill him Omar says well you brought him you know شمر was a devil incarnate شمر في الجوشن this man was spineless so you find that شمر is holding him he's about to kill him and if he looks at him and says if you were a Muslim you wouldn't do this to the grandson of the Prophet not to his follower like me but you're not a Muslim and you know what I am so honored to become Shahid at the hands of the most treacherous creation on earth do it this is what he tells him he says you are such a ملعون that I am happy to get Shahada through your hand you know what that sentence must have reverberated into the head of شمر for the rest of his life for if a young boy can be so strong armless who's being held and he's looking at شمر and says go ahead and do this and remove me from this world for I see the Prophet awaiting me this is the kind of quality we're talking about حبيب ابن مضاهر who was similar in age to Imam Hussein from young age he loved Imam Hussein when حبيب used to hear the name of Imam Hussein even as a child he would come running outside of his house just to come and see Imam Hussein حبيب was from كوفا حبيب was from the Banu Asad tribe and حبيب's love was intense for Ahlul Bayt in fact حبيب ابن مضاهر was one of the most revered personalities in كوفا he was so recognized everybody knew of his valor his strength his إيمان and his incredible submission to Allah حبيب ابن مضاهر is in كوفا he's one of the ones who wrote the letter of Imam Hussein but he was tracked suddenly he gets a letter from Imam Hussein عليه السلام now I want you to understand حبيب also heard a boy his name was قاسم he was a teenager قاسم was in كوفا حبيب is reading this letter and his wife is sitting on the dining table historians say that حبيب had gone shopping that day for what we call هناء as you know when your beard turns white the Prophet had advised for looking young make it dark during the time of the early days of مدينة so that they differentiate themselves from the rest of the community and it also brings شجاعة meaning so حبيب had bought هناء and he had kept it he was going to color his beard he opens up the letter and Imam Hussein عليه السلام says I am in Karbala I have been trapped حبيب come to me because حبيب was special historians say حبيب was so special the love Imam Hussein عليه السلام had for حبيب was second to none among all the companions he was very close to حبيب حبيب looks at this letter he closes it takes the هناء and he throws it so he said what good is this هناء to color my beard when this beard should be colored with blood so حبيب six permission his wife says go my my my beloved go Hussein calls you go or a woman or a woman who says to husband go Hussein named عليه is calling go so حبيب says to his servant he says take my horse and hide it in the farm so that I can escape sideways because if نزياد is monitoring me حبيب had this insatiable desire he says I want to go to Karbala I want to become Shaheem because they have this desire they have this intense desire to become Shaheem so حبيب escapes and he runs and his servant was waiting for him noticed that حبيب was slightly delayed historians say that that servant mentioned that if حبيب doesn't come on time I will get on the horse and I will go fight for Hussein when حبيب comes to his servant he says to him thank you for holding my horse you can leave I free you go the servant says never never you will get marty them I want marty them can I join you you know when I read this sentence something came in my mind a servant of a great personality who was not a servant he was a sage you know when you have a servant and your servant can have such thoughts with إيمان you are not an ordinary master you are an extra ordinary master like فاعتمت الزحرى صلى الله عليه عليها هتفضل فضل was her servant you know فضل was a servant of فاعتمت عليه الصلاة but فضل for 20 years فاعتمت لا شيء but the Qur'an لا شيء but the Qur'an how did she know that she was with the best teacher possible حبيب المضاعل was like that I want us to know this so حبيب says then join me he gets on the horse with him and they trot to Karbala historians say when حبيب arrives إيمان embraces him like his own brother he holds it says حبيب I am so happy you have joined me حبيب says I am for you you are my master and I am honored to be with you حبيب المضاعل was as you know fighting on the right flank he actually held the flank for almost the entire day حبيب was so intrepid they say historians say he killed over 62 people 62 enemies by his own hand he killed them it's not easy to kill 62 and حبيب is looking at the enemy and says the following he said if we were even half in size of your army you are 30,000 we're only 100 less than 100 if we were half of your size we would have annihilated you for that is how much love we have for Allah and you wouldn't be able to touch us but today is your day and حبيب fights and he fights and he strikes they say he hit حسين من تميم he hit him on the head literally cut his head حسين falls but حسين survives but while حبيب is fighting they ganged on him and they struck him and they struck him so badly on his head they pierced the lands into his back into his chest they completely were on top of him now حبيب was such a great figure that they knew if they took his head they would get the most money Imam notices that حبيب has been hit حبيب is fallen حبيب is about to die and Imam is standing they say he leaned forward and he cried he said they are breaking my back for this حبيب is of me but they ganged on him and he was the first soldier whose head was separated from his body and the horseman took the head and refused to put it anywhere but hung it on the side of the horse and started trolling around the head with his army to show off look who I killed this was حبيب historians say that after كلمة الله you know that head was taken to kufa and this man who beheaded him is carrying the head going into the palace of kufa to give to ابنزيان to show him my treasure look what I did حبيب he was so pious he was so prayerful نور was coming out of his face so as he's entering the palace of kufa his صالقاصب notices that's his father if there's one sad moment it's when you see your father's head separated from his father this is a teenage boy who looks at his father my father has become much this young boy costume approaches this man it says who are you he says I am holding the head of somebody very precious and I've come to demand money for it he says can you give it to me he says who are you he says that's my father I want to bury him he says I can't let you have it I will never let you have it I'm going to take this head and go take my money this young boy قاسب looks on here and says shame on you for what you have done how dare you kill the greatest man his story and say قاسب grew older in his 20s he joined an army and when he joined an army he was focused on that same killer until finally he seized him in one of the battles that took place with the son of as we say Abdullah and he find that he fights and there he notices this same man who took the head of his father and he finally strikes him and he kills him على العامة الله لقوم الظالمين وزي عظم ذينا ذلم أيام القرارين ينقليمون الله ما إننا نروا إليك في دولة كريمة تعز بها الإسلام وأهلا وتضل بها النفاق وأهلا وتجعلنا فيها من الدعاة إذا تعديك والقادة لا سبيلك وترزقنا بها كرامة الدنيا والآخة ربنا خفر لنا والإخواننا الذين سلخون بالإيمان ولا تجعل في قلوبنا غلللللللن آمنوا ربها إنك روف الرحيم رسي سايت فايل تايمس أما يجيبوا ما اتطر إذا دعا ويكشف السوم بسم الله يالرحمان الرحيم أما يجيبوا ما اتطر إيش فصو والمطاق أما برحمتك يا أرحم الرحمتك يا سورة المباركة الفاتحة