 Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to this special edition of The Faith Book. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on this auspicious occasion of Eid al-Ghadeer, to you and to your family. And I know you're probably busy getting dressed, preparing yourselves for the celebrations. But here I am, I'm on the same TV myself, most inshallah, we'd like to extend our congratulations on this joyous and special and memorialous and glorious occasion of Eid al-Ghadeer. Now, 1400 years ago or for more, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi went on his final Hajj. And on the way back, he stopped and he congregated his followers at a place called Ghadirkhun. There, he gave a special sermon where he raised the arm of Amir al-Mu'mineen and recited the most famous words, I'm going to mourn for Hathal Ali and Mourla. Whoever I am the master of, Ali is the master of. And that is Ghadir, the celebration of our faith, the celebration of the perfection and the completion of our religion with the willyat of Amir al-Mu'mineen. I'd like to introduce myself, most inshallah, as your host and my co-host, my guest, my teacher, Sheikh Mohammed Abbas Banj. As-salamu alaykum, sheikhna. As-salamu alaykum, salam wa rahmatullah. Alhamdulillahi alladhi, ja'alana minal mutamassikina bi willayat, Amir al-Mu'mineen. As-sada la'ayyamakum wa yakdiya la hawaijakum. May Allah Azza wa Jala on this grand day of Eid, fulfill all your prayers and all your needs and desires together with all our esteemed viewers on Imam Hussain TV and the most important of all. We thank Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala for the ne'ma of recognizing the willyat of Amir al-Mu'mineen. As-salamu alaykum, salam wa rahmatullah. As-salamu alaykum, salam wa rahmatullah. Sheikhna, before I begin, Eid Mubarak to you on this special and joyous occasion. Eid Mubarak to you too. Sheikhna, Eid al-Qadir has been, you know, as recognized as one of the biggest Eids in the Shia calendar. A very, very important day. What is the significance of Eid al-Qadir? It's a fabulous question. And to be absolutely accurate and to shed light on this event, Eid al-Qadir is not only the biggest event in the Shia calendar. Rather, it has been the biggest event in every religious calendar that was monotheistic by nature. It is an Eid that is not particular to the Shia. 18th of the Hijjah, which the Shias are known in this day and age to celebrate as a day of Eid, as a grand day of Eid, was actually a day of Eid and celebration commemorated by 124,000 prophets. All of them from the beginning, we have hadith in regards to this, to understand the greatness of the Eve, which we are currently in. And to appreciate the ni'ma of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And I say to every one of the Mu'aleen and the Mu'ibbin, Haniyan lakum for celebrating Eid al-Qadir because you are celebrating an Eid that was celebrated from every Nabi, from Adam to Musa and Isa and Yunus and Yul-Suf and Ya'aqub. Hadith al-Sharif is narrated by Imam al-Sadiq, salawatullahi wa salamahu alaih, in the book, Wasa'il al-Shia and is also narrated in tahdib al-akhkam, where in the part of this hadith, Imam al-Sadiq, alaihi salam says, in regards to Eid al-Qadir, wa huwa'idullahi al-akbar. It is the greatest Eid of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, 18th of the Hijjah, Benassil Imam al-Masum is greater than Eid al-Fitr, is greater than Eid al-Adha. In fact, the Fitr and the Adha has no value without Eid al-Qadir. And again, Nass from the Quran, we have in regards to this, but in any case. Imam al-Sadiq, salawatullahi wa salamahu alaihi, says, wa huwa'idullahi al-akbar. It is the greatest Eid of Allah Az-Zawajal, wa ma ba'ath Allah Az-Zawajal, nabiyyan, qatt, illa wa ta'ayyadah fi haathal yawm, wa arifah hurmatah. Imam al-Sadiq says, alaihi salam, there is not a single prophet that was sent by Allah, except that, wa ta'ayyadah fi haathal yawm, that he took this day, 18th of the Hijjah, to be a day of celebration, to be a day of Eid, wa arifah hurmatah. There is a hurmah, there is a divinity, there is a sanctity, which is associated to this day of Qadir. Fa alhamdulillah, haniyan lakum, and congratulations again to all our mushahideen, who are participating in a celebration, that was a celebration in which Nabi Musa and Harun and Yosha and Isha, and each and every one of them, and we are participating in. Alhamdulillah, wa shukr. Alhamdulillah, masha'Allah, Shaykhna. Shaykhna, let's go through the event of Qadir. So we have Rasulullah, Sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi, doing his final Hajj, and then he's going back towards Medina, and he finds a strategically important, slash feasible location, where he can congregate all the Muslims. Just a couple of words, please, on the actual place of Qadir. What was Qadir? Is it an oasis? Is it a piece of derelict land? Is it in the desert? A strategic place in terms of the traveling route of the day, where from this point of Qadir ul-Khom, which is famously known, that all the caravans that were now dispersing throughout the entire other Muslim lands, this would be the final point of congregation. From this point onwards, they disperse to different travel routes or journey routes in order to get to their final destination. So it was a strategic location, which Allah Azza wa Jal, through Angel Jibrail, commands Rasulullah, even the place is chosen by Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And we have Nasir Nurgansuz from the Quran, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, wa ma yantiku anil hawa inhua illa wahyun, yuhah. The Prophet does not utter anything except that it is revelation. So when the Holy Prophet commands the companions to stop at this particular place and to call those people who have gone forward to come back and those who are left behind to hurry up until they congregate at this particular place, she's a command from Allah Azza wa Jal. For the place of Qadir ul-Khom, it's strategic position in that this was that final place where all the Muslims of the time are collected together in one point before this grand, eternal message is delivered. That's it. So the story goes that they made the pulpit, they used whatever materials, they had many saddles from the animals. And Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi begins to give a sermon. Roughly, how long did this sermon last? I mean, was it really, really hot? Was it easy to be able to listen and concentrate on the sermon? The timing which Rasulullah again, sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wasallam, selected in order to deliver this message was a very peculiar timing and a very unique timing in the sense that the heat was at its peak towards the time of noon from what we are able to understand or leading up towards noon. And so he selected the time which was extremely difficult upon the people. And within this, there is a great dalala such that we have within the books of the narrators and the historians that the heat was such that people had to cover their heads with cloths and some of them had to put cloth underneath their feet in order to withstand the heat of the sand. Those perhaps who are maybe not wearing any sandals or slippers or of that for the time. Fa, the heat was extreme. And over here, there's a great dalala, as we were saying, the prophet who was rahmatallil alamin, the same holy prophet who would hasten through the prayers of Jama'a when he heard a child cry such that his mother may catch up with the child. He hastens the Salat al-Jama'a. You can imagine this prophet of mercy. What an important message it must have been such that he congregated his companions at the time when the heat is at its peak. Of course, the heat was on the heat of the desert. And in addition to all that, the timing of the message just before or around the time of noon. So Insha'Allah, we'll go through the sermon a little later on. But, you know, the sermon goes as Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi discusses his authority over the people. He delivers his message. Faqud-u-Mawda al-Fahadah, Ali-ud-Mawla, whoever I am master of, Ali is master of. The crowd agree. And then there is a system or there is Ba'a given to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen. Could you explain how the Ba'a was given? The oath of allegiance that was granted to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen, alaihi sallallahu alaihi sallam, is one way from numerous ways in which we are able to establish that the intended meaning from the usage of the word maula was master and not friend. Because the word maula, linguistically speaking, can have multiple meanings. And the word that has multiple meanings, a word hypothetically that has multiple meanings, the context in which it is used, there has to be a clarification through the context or through additional sentences that clarify the meaning of that word. So on the assumption that because this is a very famous, you could say, or widely quoted argument from the mukhalifin, from the amma and a very famously quoted argument the word maula means friend. So we say to them, from amongst the very many proofs that we have to show you that the word maula in itself does not mean friend, especially in the context in which it was used, one of the Dalil that we give them, one Burhan from the many Barahin that we have that we can give them is the fact that the pledge of allegiance was paid to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen after this declaration. And you have Masadir, you have references from the amma as well as the khassa that show that for three days. Wow, three days. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam ensured that people paid homage to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen. He pledged allegiance to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen for three days. Do you pledge your allegiance to a friend? For three days? Ajeeb wa gharib. Fa, you have texts such as what is at the top of my mind at Tabari, you refer back to Tariqat Tabari. The first people to come and to shake their hands and shaking of the hand at the time, again in the context in which this declaration is made, symbolizes a pledge of allegiance and this in itself is a vast topic of research is open for anybody to conduct and to try and prove us wrong on this claim. Ahlan wa marhaban. People, the first ones to come forward, you have the likes of Omar ibn Khattab, the likes of Abu Bakr, ibn Abi Kahafa, you have the likes of Talha, you have the likes of Zubair who come in and pledge allegiance to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen, salawatullahi wa salamahu alayh. Tariqat Tabari for three days, 100,000 plus companions under the watchful eye of Rasulullah paid homage to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen. This is the greatest or one of the greatest indications to show you that in addition to the many Kar'a in that we have, in addition to the verse quoted by Rasulullah of the Holy Quran when he said to them, alas tu awla, for example, min anfusikum, in regards to the verse of the Quran that the Holy Prophet is awla to you than you are, for yourself, he has more authority over you. And in this context, it says, man kuntum maula, fahadah aliyun maula, the follower, pledge of allegiance over three days, the Prophet would not make it compulsory for three days to people to just go and shake the hand of a friend. This goes against the hikmah of a normal human being. Then what about Rasulullah who is khatamul anbiya? That sounds good. Sheikh, what about the females? Were they present as well? And how would they have given bear to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen? We have within the historical text that Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhu alayhi wasalam had pitched a tent. And from the tent, what would happen is a curtain was also placed avail where the women would put their hands in a bowl of water. Amir-ul-Mu'mineen would put the hand on the other side of the bowl. If it's a big tash, for example. The women would put their hand in the water while Amir-ul-Mu'mineen's blessed hand was on the other side and they would verbally declare their allegiance to Amir-ul-Mu'mineen. So instead of the hand shake for the women, it was putting the water in the bowl in which on the other side was the hand of Amir-ul-Mu'mineen alayhi sallam. Sheikh, Ghadir is not really the first time Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhu alayhi has expressed his love for Amir-ul-Mu'mineen and that he is to be the successor. You know, a lot of scholars including yourself give great importance that this is not like a declaration of that this is my successor. This is more of like, you know, passing the administration of Amir-ul-Mu'mineen coming into power. All right. In the sense that Amir-ul-Mu'mineen alayhi sallam was an Imam and was the master, not only of the Mu'mineen but a master of the Anbiya with the exception of Rasulullah even before this world was created. The Imam was an Imam before this universe came into existence. The Imamate of Amir-ul-Mu'mineen as the successor of Rasulullah was declared in the event of the Awadud-ul-Asheera and this is something that is agreed upon again by the Amm and the Khasa. So these are facts that are mushrak between two schools of thought and anybody can go and research this and come up with this. You know, it's no hidden secret or a groundbreaking or new research that you have come up with discovered something that was unknown, no, something that is known. For Amir-ul-Mu'mineen alayhi sallam his leadership was already declared during the time from, you could say from the first time Rasulullah invited the people towards Islam and from his close people and warn those of your close relatives or your kin and Amir-ul-Mu'mineen Rasulullah says which one of you accepts my message to paraphrase and embraces my message and will therefore be my successor? Nobody stands up except Amir-ul-Mu'mineen alayhi sallam when he is allowed at that time of not more than the age of 1213 as they say. And hence it was from the very first messages of Rasulullah that this Khilafa is the Khilafa of Amir-ul-Mu'mineen alayhi sallam. So therefore Eid-ul-Gadir the message that Ali is Amir-ul-Mu'mineen Ali ibn Abi Talib salawatullahi wa salamhu alayhi is your master is not the first time that it was granted but the official ceremony to execute the bay'ah the pledge of allegiance and this covenant as the successor of the holy prophet upon whom his command and his leadership is wajib for everyone to follow. This ceremony is what we mark as Eid-ul-Gadir. Ash-shalla'a, sen'shaykh ma'a. Ash-shalla'a, I remember from my studies as well that there was a time of the Battle of Tabuk where Imam Ali wasn't taken to the battle and a lot of people were saying that oh Rasulullah is upset with him this is why he hasn't taken you and when Rasulullah found out about this and he spoke to Imam Ali and told him that no, you are to me as Haroon is to Moses except there is no prophet after me. This was another indication of the relationship and also the status of Imam Ali being the Khalif after Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa alaih. Moving on, sheikhna, to the actual sermon of Ghadir. Now, I've heard it's a very, very long sermon I've read some books on it and then I wanted to ask you what is the theme and what is the ceremony trying to underline? The historians mention the khutbah of Rasulullah as being an all encompassing sermon where the Holy Prophet speaks about or summarizes the entire deen and the efforts of these 23 years of tabligh in regards to this religion starting from its fundamental tenets and going into its furu'ah. For in addition to it being a summary of the entire deen you find that the person who studies this khutbah of Ghadir and it is a khutbah which almost you can say is obligatory upon every follower of Rasulullah. I didn't say follower of Amir al-Mu'mineen every follower of Rasulullah to try and study and to try and read and there are many indications in regards to this. You find that what I came across close to 38 times within this khutbah within this sermon that lasts for at least an hour if not more, 38 times. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam makes a reference to the superiority of Amir al-Mu'mineen sallallahu alayhi wa sallam 38 times in one sermon. And Rasulullah is a role model for us. Lakad kaana lakum fi rasulillahi uswatan. Hasana, indeed within Rasulullah there is the perfect role model for you and I say this to myself humbly to all the people who attend the majalis and I say this to all the people within the Hussainiyat within the different centers within the different mosques who are responsible for arranging majalis. Learn from Rasulullah the ehtaram and the need for having the majalis that are filled with the fadail of Mawlana Amir al-Mu'mineen alayhi sallam. In one sermon, one sermon Amir al-Mu'mineen mentions Ali ibn Abi Talib alayhi sallam 38 times. And now we come and we see a jeeb wa gharib the day and age in which we live. If a khateeb was to mention the fadail of Amir al-Mu'mineen more than five times within one lecture people have alf-ishkal on him. Thousand and one ishkal the sheikh majalis wahwa. You know the way they mock the fadail of Amir al-Mu'mineen people who are in charge of organizing the recites or organizing the majalis and they come and tell the khateeb do not overemphasize on the fadail. The one who listens to the fadail they come and they say oh no we didn't learn anything from a majalis fadail. Baba learn from Rasulullah. Find me one majalis even the khutaba where in one majalis you have 38 fadail of Amir al-Mu'mineen that are mentioned but you find that Rasulullah mentions Amir al-Mu'mineen 38 times within this khutba. Fadail of Amir al-Mu'mineen from the Quran in regards to the status of Amir al-Mu'mineen the divinity of Amir al-Mu'mineen the courage of Amir al-Mu'mineen the authority of Amir al-Mu'mineen the implications of abandoning the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen these are all things that are outlined within the khutba of Rasulullah I would say for the brothers and sisters do we have time or are we going on a short break? We have got plenty of time for the fadail of Amir al-Mu'mineen. Ahshantum time for the fadail of Amir al-Mu'mineen. You find that if you were to refer back to Kitab al-Ihtijaj you find that the entire khutba of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam in regards to Yawm al-Ghadeer can be found in Kitab al-Ihtijaj in the first volume. And it is also interesting to note that the khutba over here in regards to the manner in which Rasulullah speaks about the grave consequences of abandoning the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen. And from here we understand that the role of the successor of Rasulullah is to ensure that this religion is not corrupted upon the martyrdom of Rasulullah. As we were saying, you look at some of the mannerism in which Rasulullah speaks about the status of Amir al-Mu'mineen. In one part of the khutba, you see, from the entire khutba you'll find that majority of us know one sentence. Man kuntum maula faada aliyudus. Famous and the most re-uttered sentence. And it's yabarak al-abigh. And alhamdulillah, it has to continue. Because if people stop saying, on yawmul qadir man kuntum maula faada aliyudum maula, this is the first step towards trying to reduce the thicker of Amir al-Mu'mineen altogether. This is very good. It has to continue. And all of our children have to know even if they have a limited vocabulary or they can't speak at least, they know how to say man kuntum maula faada aliyudum maula. They have to continue. Bela shakkin wa la raiba. In addition to this, we have to look at this khutba of Rasulullah. What else did Rasulullah say yawmul qadir? The problems that we have within the Shia community, in regards to the willy of Amir al-Mu'mineen and the fadail of Ahlul Bayd, taking a kassam billah on a night as grand as Eid al-Qadir. Majority of our issues within the Shia community in regards to Akida would be solved. Disputes would be resolved. There wouldn't be ideological turmoil and ideological fractions or fragmentation of the community if people abided by the words of Rasulullah within this khutba tula qadir. Please, please give us a sample. Rasulullah says, ma'ashiran nas, innahu imamun min Allah O people, innahu, indeed he, yani Amir al-Mu'mineen Ali ibn Abi Talib, alaihi salam, imamun min Allah is an imam appointed by Allah Azza wa Jal. So first of all, this historical debate in which years and years blood has been shed, can an imam be appointed by the people or is an imam appointed by Allah? Rasulullah in one sentence makes it clear. innahu imamun min Allah a leader and imam appointed by Allah. Allahu akbar. Walayyatub Allah ala ahadin ankarawilayatahu walayyagfir lahu hajib Rasulullah says, and Allah Azza wa Jal shall never accept the repentance of a person who negates and rejects the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen alaihi salam. You have studied Arabic grammar and you find over here that when Rasulullah says, walayyatub Allah, yani, walayyatub Allah laam nun particle of negation. You have la, you have laam and over here you have laam nun, laam nun, laam nun a particle of negation that indicates present and future. abadan ilayum ilkiyama Allah does not accept the istighfar of a sinner so long as he rejects the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen alaihi salam. So from here we understand that one of the conditions of istighfar in addition to nadan in addition to being to feel guilty about it in addition to have feelings of regret in addition to making a vow that you will not repeat the mistake again in addition to uttering the word istighfar you need to have the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen alaihi salam. Shirt from the shurut of istighfar is there anybody from the Muslim ummah that says I do not need to seek forgiveness from Allah as-zawaja the door to istighfar is Amir al-Mu'mineen alaihi salam. Masha'Allah as-sen, sheikhna as-sen and on that note we're going to go to a small break insha'Allah and our special guest will be arriving believe it or not we have a special guest on today's show insha'Allah he will be joining us after the break see you then As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh I do not need to seek forgiveness from Allah as-sen and I seek forgiveness from Allah I want to take the opportunity to welcome our guest all the way from Kuwait I heard Mullah Ali Mehdi Welcome, welcome I hope your travels will save and sheikhna can you discuss with us the importance of reciting poetry and reciting on events like this? Absolutely you find that the recitations of poetry number one poetry was a common means through which historical events were recorded and transmitted from generation to generation and you have that even on the event of Ghadir upon the declaration of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam you have that Hassan ibn Thabit for example was one of the many people who composed poetry in regards to the occurrence of Ghadir and we have great Muslim poets over time and over the centuries who have come and have described the event of Ghadir in a very eloquent manner where a person is able in his mind through the poetic words of the poet he is able to capture the essence of the event in itself you find that even for example the Samahat Sayyid in his recitations you find that the words that are selected within this poetry there are meanings that are very deep in regards to your Akida how can the fire burn the fire of Jahannam burn a person who attests to the willaya of Ameer al-Mu'mineen Ali ibn Abi Talib and you find that these meanings are captured very beautifully very eloquently in poetry like the one recited by Samahat al-Bulla Alhamdulillah Samahat al-Mulla please if you give us one more halmum can you give us another one insha'Allah? insha'Allah Alhamdulillah Habibi we go Ali Ali Qaseem Wa Sayyid al-Mustafa Wa Sayyid al-Mustafa Al-Raa we were discussing before when you were giving the fadail of Ameer al-Mu'mineen you were saying that repentance will not be accepted without the willaya can we turn that around? not me saying this Rasulullah khatam al-anbiya Salallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam we turn this around and say that your deeds, your good deeds maybe your da'a will not be accepted without the willaya of Ameer al-Mu'mineen of course, the willaya of Ameer al-Mu'mineen is a shard from the shurut iqbal al-A'mal from apart from all the other fiqh conditions legalistic jurisprudential conditions that we have in regards to the acceptability of our a'mal the willaya of Ameer al-Mu'mineen is one of them and we have hadith in regards to this in fact you find that within our salat within our salat wajib prayers which is the prayers is the founding pillar of the religion within the prayers, within the salat you have attestation towards the willaya of Ameer al-Mu'mineen alayhi sallam to make it even more concrete to make it even more clearer surat al-hamd surat al-hamd again this is something in which there is ittifak between the amma and the khasa within your salat surat al-hamd the completion and the recitation of surat al-hamd is a necessary condition for the acceptance of your salat for the validity of your salat you cannot have a wajib salat without surat al-hamd sahiha you have between the amma and the khasa when you come forward and you look into the khutba of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi sallam again referring back to kitab al-ihtijaj ma'ashir al-nas ana suratul lahil mustaqeem bi ittiba'ih thumma aliyun mimba'adi I am that straight path siraatul mustaqeem which you have been commanded to follow and after me this siraatul mustaqeem is who? in salat in surat al-hamd which is a wajib surat to recite in your salat and without surat al-hamd your salat is batil inside of that surat al-hamd when you say siraatul mustaqeem which siraatul mustaqeem who is this siraatul mustaqeem siraatul mustaqeem Rasulullah after Rasulullah siraatul mustaqeem meaning that in the wajib salat a person is saying to Allah guide me to the siraat of Ali ibn Abi Talib masha'Allah and without this your salat is not valid masha'Allah back to the mullah lousamah Aqeeqa sidaa masha'Allah he is saying thank you thank you thank you you have within the khutba of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wasallam where he himself outlines the responsibility of Eid al-Qadir to all the muslims and again I refer back to this khutba of Rasulullah where he goes on to say I have conveyed what was commanded to me in regards to Amir al-Mu'mineen by my lord to everybody who is present look at what Rasulullah says here the responsibility of Eid al-Qadir upon us is that we convey this message of Ghadir to those who either are not present or who don't know those who are not present from generation to generation this message of Eid al-Qadir this message in regards to the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen has to be passed on and has to be conveyed we need to invite people towards the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen those who are ignorant of this those who have never been given the opportunity in regards to the teachings of Amir al-Mu'mineen and to preserve this within our families and within our communities we have a command of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wasallam to convey this message and ensure that it reaches from generation to generation our slogan is one aliyun waliyullah thank you very much for today thank you thank you enough for coming from Kuwait and joining us and to all the viewers at home wishing you from Imam Hussein TV congratulations on this wonderful occasion and saying farewell we will see you on the next episode of the Facebook saying ya Ali