 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Other salawat for the love of the Ahlul Bayt, peace be upon him, and Allah, the Most Merciful, peace be upon him Historians have referred to this verse that I just recited As one of the first times that Rasulullah s.a.w used the term Shi'a Because there's a debate amongst the Muslims When did the Shi'a start? When did Shi'izm start in the Muslim calendar? Some people they say it started after Ashura Others they say it started during the time of the Abbasi government During the time of Imam al-Batar and Imam Sadim And many have theories as when did the Shi'a school of thought begin And when was that term used? However, in our opinion the Shi'a school of thought It started with the religion of Islam And it never separated away from the religion of Islam The first day Rasulullah s.a.w introduced the religion of Islam to people That was also the day he told them to follow Ali ibn Abi Talim s.a.w And the verse in the Qur'an in Surah al-Baynah That those who believe and do good deeds Those are the best historians They say that Rasulullah s.a.w was his sister And s.a.w was his father Rasulullah s.a.w was his sister And Ali ibn Abi Talim s.a.w Rasulullah s.a.w said And then he said And Ali ibn Abi Talim s.a.w is the best of creation And the narrations They say that when Rasulullah s.a.w used to walk into a room Or into the masjid The Muslims and the Sahaba they used to say The best of creation has entered And the proof for the advent of Shi'ism Is with the same proof of the advent of Islam The same day Rasulullah s.a.w told people To accept him as a prophet And accept his Ras'ala That same day he also told them Ali ibn Abi Talim s.a.w When how do we come to this conclusion Allah s.a.w in the first occasion Where he ordered Rasulullah s.a.w To invite people towards the religion of Islam When was that? That was according to the verse Hadith al-Dar And that was when Rasulullah s.a.w He invited his family Before Allah ordered Rasulullah s.a.w To publicly announce the religion of Islam He ordered Rasulullah s.a.w to call upon His close ones first Because Allah says أَقْرَبُونَ عَوْلَا بِالْمَعْرُوفْ وَأَمْدِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَلْ أَقْرَبِينْ Bring down, invite your family first Invite your ashira first So Rasulullah s.a.w He gathered his family He gathered his family And one of them was Adi ibn Abi Talib Who at that time he was a young man He taught his family He taught them who out of me Who out of you will believe In the message that I have sent That I have been sent with Because I have brought you A message that no one has brought his family So he told them that he is a prophet He told them about the Rasulah And then he asked his family He told them who of you will believe in me Who of you will follow me Who of you will be with my supporter This person will be my Khalifa He will be my wazir And he will be my wasi after me That time it was only the family of Rasulullah s.a.w But you see that even the family At that time no one accepted Rasulullah s.a.w But there was one voice that said I will follow you Rasulullah s.a.w And that was Adi ibn Abi Talib s.a.w And then Rasulullah s.a.w said You are the Khalifa You are the wasi You are the wasi after me So here we see that Rasulullah s.a.w He told people to believe in him as a prophet He told them and he appointed Adi ibn Abi Talib s.a.w So this is the proof that the Imamah and the wilayah came with the religion of Islam And today historians, Muslim historians They say that there were From amongst the sahaba of Rasulullah There were sahaba that were known to be The Shi'a of Ali ibn Abi Talib Because Rasulullah s.a.w said You and your Shi'a are the best of creation And there were known Shi'a of Ali ibn Abi Talib During the time of Rasulullah s.a.w Ammar ibn Yasir Salman al-Muhammadi Al-Muqdad These were known to be Shi'a of Ali ibn Abi Talib Abu Dhar al-Ghufari And you see that Many of these companions of Rasulullah s.a.w They were companions But just because they followed Ali ibn Abi Talib Of course following Ali ibn Abi Talib It means following Rasulullah s.a.w It's not a different path from the path of Rasulullah s.a.w But they had love for Ali ibn Abi Talib You see that most of the ones who showed love to Ali ibn Abi Talib They were killed They were killed off by Muawiyah A man who today people They consider him the Sahaba of Rasulullah s.a.w One of the companions of Rasulullah s.a.w You see that he killed Hundreds of the Sahaba of Rasulullah s.a.w In the battle of Safine Hundreds were killed Many of the companions of Amir al-Mu'mineen Who happened to be Sahaba of Rasulullah s.a.w They were assassinated By Muawiyah And today we are accused of disrespecting the Sahaba While you see Muawiyah He killed off many of the Sahaba Many of them He killed them off Who killed Ammar ibn Yasir Ammar ibn Yasir was one of the first Muslims His parents They were the first martyrs in Islam Yasir and Sumia And Rasulullah s.a.w He tells Ammar You will be killed By the group that has been Misled And that has been Has gone astray from the religion of Islam On the day of Safine In the battle of Safine He was killed Ammar was killed by the army of Muawiyah And many other Sahaba Hijr ibn Hadil Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr He was the son of Abu Bakr But just because he had happened to be The Shia of Ali ibn Abi Talib He was killed by Muawiyah And his body was stuffed In the body of a dead donkey And it was burned Now you know where Daesh Where they get their inspiration from They get it from their role model Another man Another man Ammar ibn al-Hamad al-Khuzai This was one of the Sahaba Of Rasulullah s.a.w Historians say That he was killed by Muawiyah And his head Was the first head That was carried across the towns And across the cities In the religion of Islam The first head He was killed by the army of Islam Ammar ibn al-Hamad al-Khuzai This man was Rasulullah s.a.w And he did a dua for him There was a story with Rasulullah One day Rasulullah s.a.w May Allah prolong your youth And they say that He was 80 years old He was an old man But his beard was all black When it was being carried Across the villages and the cities Who did this? This was Muawiyah Where does Daesh And these terrorists Get their inspiration from They get it from their role model The first terrorist in Islam One of the first terrorists in Islam It was Muawiyah You see that many of the shia's Were killed And this is why Don't be surprised when you see The shia's are attacked today The shia's are discriminated against today There's a sunnah to this There have been others That started this And until today They have their followers Now we need to Analyze who are the shia's And what does it mean To be a shia? Because many people They think that it's just a name It's just a name And you go by that name Is it truly just a name? In Islam Joining the religion of Islam Yes, anyone who says Ashhadun la ilaha illallah Becomes a Muslim However According to the narrations Of the Ahlul Bayt alayhum salam Reaching the level of iman And becoming a mu'min It requires action It's not just words Not anyone can just come and say I'm a shia And therefore They are a true shia Of the Ahlul Bayt alayhum salam And this is a very important issue Because Some of the enemies of the Ahlul Bayt Today They say that It was the shia That killed Iman al-Hussain It was the people of Kufa They rolled letters to Iman al-Hussain Inviting him to come to Kufa Once he came They sent out an army That killed Iman al-Hussain And didn't allow Iman al-Hussain To enter Kufa They say it was the shia And this is not something that I'm just saying There's actually scholars And speakers And pamphlets That are being passed out Especially during these days The days of Ashura The days of Muharram They say look at the shia Now they beat their chests Crying for Iman al-Hussain But because they are in remorse That it was them that killed Iman al-Hussain al-Hussain Now we need to analyze this We need to see who killed Iman al-Hussain al-Hussain And who was responsible For the murder of the family Of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam And it wasn't just a murder It was a type of killing Where even the children Of Iman al-Hussain were killed The body of Iman al-Hussain Was stomped with the hooves of the horses So who killed Iman al-Hussain al-Hussain In order to reach a conclusion We have to look at How many groups there are In regards to the Ahl al-Bait And what are the belief systems Of those groups In regards to the Ahl al-Bait You see that there is one group That are known for their hate For the Ahl al-Bait alaihi wa sallam And these are the Nawasub These are the ones that Showed hatred to the Ahl al-Bait From day one And until today they show Hatred to the followers Of the Ahl al-Bait alaihi wa sallam These are the ones that When you hear the news Two days ago in Taqif Someone goes and he starts shooting People that are attending a Majlis And we hear about this all the time And they see the day of Ashura as a day of celebration And this is no joke There are people out there Who consider themselves Muslim But yet they see the day of Ashura the day that The grandson of Rasulullah And the family of Rasulullah Were massacred on the day of Karbala on the day of Ashura is a day of Eid And they celebrate that Eid By fasting on the day of Ashura as a celebration As a form of celebration There are people out there And you see the pamphlets That are being passed out As the day of Ashura comes If you follow the social media You'll see people saying Don't forget to fast On the day of Ashura Because it's a day of Eid It's the day that Rasulullah saved Prophet Musa And saved all Prophet Nuh And all of the other prophets Of course these are all fabricated lies Because Imam Sadaq alaihi wa sallam He speaks about the day of Ashura He says Allahumma This is the day That This is the day that This is the day that This is the day that This is the day that This is the day that This is the day that This is the day that And you see their followers Until today Showing the hatred Towards the followers Of the Ahl al-Bayt A.s Towards the ones who Cry for the Ahl al-Bayt I don't know What have we done to them How do our tears For Imam al-Hussein And crying for Imam al-Hussein How is it bothering them? We're not doing anything to them But you see that They're uncomfortable When people remember The family of Rasulullah Why? Because when you remember The family of Rasulullah You're going to remember Who oppressed them Who abused them Who took the power from them And therefore You will know the truth And people do not Want the truth to be known I am just to be honest As-salam A.s He says in one hadith He says He says A.s A.s A.s A.s A.s A.s A.s A.s A.s A.s A.s Muhammad, the family of Rasulullah. You don't find anyone saying, I hate Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Although indirectly they do show it, but no one is going to come and say, I hate the Ahl al-Bait. But what they say, the Imam says that the Nawazib, they're going to show the hatred to you, the Shias of the Ahl al-Bait. They're going to be killing the Shias of the Ahl al-Bait. They're going to be massacring the Shias of the Ahl al-Bait. And this is what we see today. Today you look in the world. If you're up to date with what's going on in the news, you see that wherever there are Shias, they are discriminated against. They are abused. Their power is taken from them. They're being harassed. Why? They're only crimes that they love the Ahl al-Bait, alayhum salam. Otherwise, if we were just like all the other Muslims, if we were careless, if we didn't care, if we showed love to everyone, the one who killed and the one who was killed, there wouldn't be sanctions against the Shia countries. There wouldn't be governments bombing, coalitions bombing the Shias of Yemen as we see today. Why? They're only crimes that they are followers and lovers of the Ahl al-Bait, alayhum salam. So this is one group. The Nawazib that show their hatred to the Ahl al-Bait and the followers of the Ahl al-Bait. And then there's another group in regards to the Ahl al-Bait. These are the ones who they say we love the Ahl al-Bait, but we also love the enemies of the Ahl al-Bait. We love the Qatil and the Maqtul. All of them, they are radiallahu alhamdulillah. All of them, you go there before Da'ash went and destroyed the grave of Hujr ibn Adi al-Kindi in Sham. There was a plaque written on the grave of Hujr ibn Adi. It said, this is the grave of the Sahaba of Rasulullah. One of the companions of Rasulullah al-Jaleel, radiallahu anh me, radiallahu anh. May Allah be satisfied with him who was killed by the Sahabi and Jaleel, by the honorable Sahabi Muawiyah radiallahu anh. And there are some Muslims who actually fall for this. They say all of them are radiallahu anh. All of them may Allah be satisfied with them. And Rasulullah, there is a hadith attributed to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa hadha that we do not accept. The hadith says, Rasulullah, supposedly he said, Ashabi kanna jum. My companions they are like the stars. Be ayyuha muqtadaytum ahtadaytum. Whichever one you follow, you will be guided. Anyone that you follow, they will guide you to the right path. Now here, where is the principles of the Qur'an? Where is the principles that Rasulullah brought the Muslims? Why does the Qur'an give us a long story of Qabil and Habib, the two sons of Adam? Why does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us so many stories in the Qur'an? Isn't it so that I choose which side I'm on? Isn't it so I stay against oppressors? Doesn't Allah say, I am the one who oppresses, the one who oppresses, the one who are hypocrites? And this is why we need the day of Ashura, because it constantly reminds us to stay against the violent, to have a voice against the violent, against the oppressor. Imam Hussain alaihi salam, he constantly reminds us to have a stance, a firm stance against the oppressors. And this is why you see that the tyrants, they are afraid of the day of Ashura. You see tyrants, governments and dictators, they don't want people crying for Imam Hussain. Because when people cry for Imam Hussain, they will stand and they will question the tyrants of their time, just like Imam Hussain questioned, and he stood against the tyrant of his time, you see. And then there's a third group. The third group, they are the ones who love the Ahlul Bayt. However, their love to the Ahlul Bayt is so extreme where it reaches a level of guluh. It reaches a level where they are leaving the faith because of so much love for the Ahlul Bayt. And there were people like that during the time of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Amir al-Mu'mineen, Ali ibn Abi Talib, he says, Hela kafiyya rajulan, two types of people will perish because of me. Mu'ibun ghal wa mu'ibun qal. One of them, who is a mu'ib, he loves me. But his love drives him to leave Tawheed and leave Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is not what kind of love Amir al-Mu'mineen wants. This is not what the Ahlul Bayt wanted. They wanted people to love them. Allah orders us to love the Ahlul Bayt. But the Ahlul Bayt, they are a means that brings us to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If someone says I only love the Ahlul Bayt and I don't care about Allah, I don't care about anything else, this is harm, this is guluh. And this is something that the Ahlul Bayt, they were the first to speak against. Today you find people, they say we love the Ahlul Bayt. And then they do not follow the teachings of the Ahlul Bayt. They start cursing and abusing and using foul language towards everyone else who disagrees with them. Is this truly what the Ahlul Bayt wants? Go and look at the lives of the Ahlul Bayt, the morality, the akhlaq that the Ahlul Bayt had. The Ahlul Bayt, they bring people towards Tauheed. If I'm going to leave the path because of loving the Ahlul Bayt, then the love of the Ahlul Bayt has not helped. And this is why Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa aalayhi, he compared Ameer al-Mu'mineem to Isa, to Jesus. Why? He tells him there's going to be a group of people that will hate you just like a group of people hated Jesus and they did not believe in him. And then there's also going to be a group of people that will love you so much just like there was a group of people that began to worship Jesus. And they considered him God. And there were people during the time of Imam Ali that considered Ali ibn Abi Talib to be God. And this is false. This is not a true shi'a of the Ahlul Bayt. And finally the fourth category is the true shi'as, the true followers of the Ahlul Bayt alayhi wa sallam. The ones who use the Ahlul Bayt in order to reach Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The ones who use Ali ibn Abi Talib and the Ahlul Bayt in order to reach Rasulullah because we follow Ameer al-Mu'mineem and the Ahlul Bayt so that we get closer to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa aalayhi. And this is why we are following the Ahlul Bayt because we believe they were the closest ones to Rasulullah. They were the ones that can give us the true sunnah of Rasulullah, the true religion of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa aalayhi. Now we need to see the hadith, the narrations of the Ahlul Bayt that speak about the virtues of the Ahlul Bayt. And what kind of characteristics do the Ahlul Bayt have? When we look at the narrations, we see that the Ahlul Bayt, they say being a Shi'a is not just something where you consider yourself, you call yourself a Shi'a of the Ahlul Bayt and therefore you're a Shi'a. It's not like Islam where anyone can consider themselves a Muslim as soon as they say the shahada. In the hadith from Imam al-Baqr alayhi sallam he says Do not let these sects get over you and overcome you, say I'm from this sect, I'm from this group of people. And then he says, I swear to Allah, our Shi'as, they are the ones that obeyed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They are the ones that worshiped Allah. These are the qualities of the Shi'a of the Ahlul Bayt alayhi sallam. In another hadith from Imam al-Ruza alayhi sallam, he says Our true Shi'as, they are the ones that obey the orders of the Ahlul Bayt alayhi sallam. When Imam sallam says and when the Ahlul Bayt, they say you have to pray, you have to fast, you have to go to Hajj, you have to pay khun, sanzakat, we have to follow the orders of the Ahlul Bayt. I cannot just consider myself a Shi'a of the Ahlul Bayt and I ignore all of the teachings of the Ahlul Bayt alayhi sallam. And then he also says the ones who object and stand against our enemies because there are some people who say I am a Shi'a of the Ahlul Bayt alayhi sallam. But it's okay Ma'dash, leave the ones who, it's okay listen to them, take your religion from them. Yes, this is wrong because we have to take our religion from one group of people and that is the ones who Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi ordered us to follow. And another hadith from Imam al-Sadiq alayhi sallam, he says he says he lies, he who says he's from the Shi'a of the Ahlul Bayt yet takes the religion from another group of people, from the enemies of the Ahlul Bayt alayhi sallam. One day a man came to Imam al-Hasan and he told him I love your father and I am one of the Shi'as of you and your father because what does Shi'a mean? Shi'a means followers of. So he says I'm one of the Shi'as of your father and I follow you. Imam al-Hasan alayhi sallam, he looked down and then he raised his head, he looked at him and he told him I do not see your name in the list of Shi'as of the Ahlul Bayt and I do not see your face as a familiar face of the Shi'as of the Ahlul Bayt alayhi sallam. And then he tells him if you want consider yourself a muhab, consider yourself someone who loves the Ahlul Bayt. But being a true Shi'a, this means that you are the best of creation. You have reached that high level, the level of Ammar, the level of Abu Dhar, the level of Salman, the level of the companions of Imam al-Hasan alayhi sallam who gave up everything that they had for the sake of the Imam of their time. Are we willing to sacrifice for the Imam of our time? Now army that killed Imam al-Hasan alayhi sallam, who were they? What group of people were they? Historians say that the army that killed Imam al-Hasan alayhi sallam, the least number says that they were 30,000. The narrations say that most of them and all of them, they were from Kufa. There was not one soldier from Sham that came to kill Imam al-Hasan alayhi sallam. It was an army that came out of Kufa to stand against Imam al-Hasan alayhi sallam. So some people, they say yes, since it was Kufa, since they came out of Kufa, then that means it was the Shi'a that killed Imam al-Hasan alayhi sallam. However, that's not the case. Because if we analyze, we will see that at that time, Kufa was not like the Kufa that we know today. Kufa was not a Shi'a city. Kufa was not a city that had Shi'as in it. It was a military city that was, that it was a camp, a base that was started by the second Khalifa, Omar ibn al-Khattab, and he ordered Muslims to go there in the Muslim conquests. And then Amir al-Mu'minin, he also had to go there. And the people that were there during the time of Amir al-Mu'minin, many of them, they saw Amir al-Mu'minin. Of course, there were some Shi'as, but many of them, they saw Amir al-Mu'minin as the fourth Khalifa, not as the first Imam. And there are many stories that prove this, many narrations that prove this. One day, when Amir al-Mu'minin was in Kufa, the month of Ramadan started. At night time, he saw that the Muslims, they were gathered in the Masjid praying tarawih prayer. Amir al-Mu'minin, he told them tarawih is not the Sunnah of Rasulullah. And all Muslims, they agreed that it was not the Sunnah of Rasulullah. Rasulullah never did he pray or did he order people to pray tarawih because tarawih, Salat al-Layl, it's a mustahab prayer. It's a recommended prayer. And a recommended prayer cannot be prayed in Jama'a. This is what Rasulullah told the Muslims. And then after Rasulullah came, Abu Bak, he did not pray tarawih in Jama'a. And then the second Khalifa, Omar, he came, he saw the Muslims praying in the Masjid, he told them, why don't you all pray tarawih? Pray Jama'a. So when Ali ibn Abi Talib came in Kufa, he told the Muslims not to pray tarawih because this was not the Sunnah of Rasulullah. We have to follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah. He sent Imam al-Hasan to them. You know what the people of Kufa began to do in the Masjid? They began to Yalwa Sunnah Omarah, Wa Sunnah Omarah. We want to follow the Sunnah of Omar, not even the Sunnah of Rasulullah. So then Amir al-Mumineen, he said, leave them. So this proves that many of the people that were in Kufa, they were not sheikhs of Amir al-Mumineen. Many of them, they gave Amir al-Mumineen a difficult time. You go and read Nahj al-Balaghah, you see that in many narrations he would tell them, Ya'ashbah al-Rujal wa la'Rujal. You are not even men, you are cowards. La'uqma liman la'yutaa. They would not obey Amir al-Mumineen. And you see in the battles, in the battle of Safineen, there was a group of Muslims that turned against Amir al-Mumineen, who were on the side of Amir Why? Because Muawiyah, he fooled them by raising the Qur'an. He placed the Qur'an on his spear. Some people they saw, the Qur'an is raised by Muawiyah, then we will not fight Muawiyah anymore. Amir al-Mumineen told them, I am the Qur'an on Nata. I am the speaking Qur'an according to the Hadith of Rasulullah. He's fooling you. They told him, stop the war. Amir al-Mumineen, he was very close to getting rid of Muawiyah. They told him, stop the war or else we will kill you. And they were truly going to kill Amir al-Mumineen. And then there was a group of Khawaraj. One of those men from those Khawaraj was Shimr ibn Joshan, the man that killed Imam Hussain al-Hussain. Now is that, are those groups of people that are considered Shias of the end of the Bait? There were groups of people on the day of Ashura. Imam Hussain, he stands to pray. One of them, he tells him, he tells Imam Hussain, why are you praying? Your prayer is not going to bring you anywhere. You're going to go to the Hellfire. This is how they speak to the Grand Salam Rasulullah. Now is this one of the Safa'at, one of the actions of a Shia, a follower of the end of the Bait? Why are you killing me? What have I done to you? Have I stolen from you? Have I abused you? Have I talked bad about you? What have I done to you? They told him, we are killing you because your only crime is that you are the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Is this a Shia of the end of the Bait? Are these actions of Shia? Yes, Imam Hussain, he called them Shia, but Shia just means followers. He tells them on the day of Ashura after Imam Hussain was still alive, they began to attack the camp of Imam Hussain, the women and the children. You are the Shia of Al Abu Sufyan. You are the Shia of Muawiya and Yazid. And you are the Shia of Abu Sufyan, the man who waged the war against Rasulullah ever since the first day Rasulullah told people to believe. And then his son Muawiya came and he waged the war against Amir al-Mu'mineen. And then Yazid came and he killed Imam Hussain Ali ibn Abi Talib. Of course today, these Nawasab that we were talking about earlier, they come and they say Yazid had nothing to do with it. Why are you Shia as you gather and Mu'arram and you keep cursing Yazid? He had nothing to do with it. If he had nothing to do with it, then why was the head of Imam Hussain taken all the way to Sham? Why was the family of Rasulullah taken all the way to Sham? He had the head of Imam Hussain in front of him. And he was speaking poetry to the head of Imam Hussain. He speaks about his forefathers. He speaks about his forefathers. He says Hashem played with power. There was no revelation. There was nothing. And then he would say He says only if my ancestors, my fathers and uncles who were killed by the sword of Ali ibn Abi Talib in the battle of Badr, only if they see today how the game has been switched. Now it's Hussain's had the son of Rasulullah. It's in front of me. This was Yazid. But today you still find that Yazid has people that say no, no, no Yazid did not do anything, do not talk about Yazid. So it was not the Shi'a that killed Imam Hussain, it was the Shi'a of Bani Sufyan and Al-Omeya. Now someone might come and say, okay, what about the letters? There were letters that were sent to Imam Hussain, and Imam Hussain, he brought out those letters and he began to call out some of the names of the ones who signed the letters, Al-Hadjara bin Abjur and many other names. He began to call them out on the day of Ashura. He told them, didn't you sign this letter here? He brought out the letters with him. These men, they were also Naqshia and these men, they just wanted to, they thought that Imam Hussain, a.s. was coming and they did not think that the grandson of Rasulullah was going to be killed because there was truly a revolution that was going on. And many people thought that Imam Hussain was going to come. So there were many people that signed their name so that when the day Imam Hussain comes and he truly has power, they will tell him, see, I signed, I was one of the first that signed with you. So that they tell him, I also had my name, but then the day it turned against the bait, they go on the day of Ashura. These men that signed one of them, he tells, he tells Imam Hussain, Enzel ala haqm bani umumatik. Follow your cousins. What's the difference? Yazid is from Bani Umayyah. They are the cousins of Bani Hashem. What's the difference? You come and give power to Bani, give power to Yazid. It's okay. This is what these men were saying. Is this the true Sufat, the true quality of the Shi'a of the end of bait? The Shi'as, the qualities that we recited earlier? Now someone might come and say, okay, they were not Shi'as. What about the real Shi'as that were in Kufa? There were some Shi'as in Kufa. When you look at the history, you will see that ever since the time, ever since the martyrdom of Amir al-Mu'mineen, year 41 after Hijrah, the Shi'as in Kufa they were persecuted and many of them were in the jails and the prisons and many of them were killed by Muawiyah and then by the governments that came after. Muawiyah, he sent a letter to his governor in Kufa. He told them, see who loves Ali ibn Abi Talib. He was the first who started the Sunnah of cursing Ali ibn Abi Talib and the Ahl al-Bait. And then he wrote a letter. He said, see who loves Ali ibn Abi Talib and have sanctions be placed on that person. Do not give him his monthly or weekly salary. So you see the Shi'as, they had economic sanctions. Second, he said see who loves Ali ibn Abi Talib destroy his home over his head. The same thing Israel is doing now. The same thing the governments that follow Bani Umayyah are doing right now to the Shi'as in Yemen, destroying their homes, wiping out cities just because they are Shi'a. Destroy their homes over their heads. And then he writes a third letter. He says, see who has love for Ali ibn Abi Talib and killed that person. Many of the Shi'as, they were killed. Many of them were oppressed. They had nowhere to go. And you see that many of them, for example, al-Muqtar, one of them al-Muqtar who had a rebellion after the death of, after they martyred on al-Imam al-Hussain, the day of Ashurah, he was in the jail of Abayd Allah ibn Ziyad. In fact, the city of Kufa, it was under martial law when Abayd Allah ibn Ziyad, he came and he took over. There was a, there was so much strict control over the city that no one could leave the city or enter the city. And whoever that they thought was a Shi'a of the Ahi al-Bait, they would right away grab him and place him in prison. So this is what happened to the true Shi'as, Salah al-Ahmad wa-Alim. And then, of course, there were others. There were others who did love the Ahi al-Bait, who, whose hearts were with the Ahi al-Bait, alayhum salam. However, because of a few dinams, some gold that they gave them, and because of this dunya, they allowed and they left the Imam of their time to be killed all alone in the battle in the land of Karbala. There were many that told Imam ibn Hussein, I want to live. I don't want to come and give myself. I don't want to die right now. And of course, we have to think about ourselves when the Imam of our time comes. What are we going to answer? What are we going to tell him when he tells me, come right now? Are you willing to leave your job and your family and your work and everything that you have if the Imam comes tomorrow? The ones who followed Imam Hussein, they left everything. They left everything. This is why they became known as the Ansar of Imam Hussein. And insha'Allah tomorrow we will remember the Ansar of Imam Hussein. But there were some men, there were some groups of people who, they said, no, I want to live. I don't want, I'm not ready to die right now. One of them was a man by the name of Abaid Allah ibn al-Hurq al-Jawfi. This man as Imam Hussein was traveling towards Kufa, he passed. He saw a tent in one of the villages that he passed through. He saw a tent. On that tent there was a spear. It shows that this is a fighter. This is a soldier. So he finds out that it is Abaid Allah ibn al-Hurq al-Jawfi, who was one of the known men in al-Kufa. So Imam Hussein, he sends one of the men who was with him. He tells him, go and ask Abaid Allah to join us and be our supporter. This man he goes and he tells Abaid Allah, Aba Abdullah, the grandson of Rasulullah. The son of Fatima, he's inviting you to join him and aid him and be his supporter. This man, Abaid Allah, he tells him, Hussein is the same, is the very reason that I left Kufa. I left Kufa so now I don't have to hear about Hussein and I don't have to get involved with a group of people fighting Hussein or be on the side that is fighting Hussein because many people they were pressured into fighting Imam Hussein. He said, I don't want to have anything to do with this. But Subhanallah, the caravan of Imam Hussein, it passes right by him. And then the messenger he goes back to Imam Hussein and he tells him he refuses to come. Here Imam Hussein, the hadith says he went by himself. He walked to him. Look at the humbleness of Aba Abdullah. Imam Hussein, he knew he was going to die but he wants to take people with him to paradise. He wants people to be saved with him. He goes with his children. They're walking to the tent of this man. Imam Hussein tells him, O Abaid Allah, you have the noob, you have sins. Isn't it time that you purify yourself? And Allah, don't you want Allah to forgive you? Come and join us. I am the grandson of Rasulullah. Don't you hear what Rasulullah said about me? Husaynun minni wa ana min Husayn. This man, he told Imam Hussein, I can't. I'm too attached to this life. I want to live. He told Imam Hussein, O Abaid Allah, told Imam Hussein, I know the haqq is with you and I know dying with you is dying and going straight to paradise but I want to live. How many of us are actually like that? Let us put ourselves in the place of this man. What would we have answered to Imam Hussein? He told that Imam, he told him, but I have a fast horse. I have a fast horse that every time I've chased someone with that horse, I've caught on to him. And every time someone is chasing me with a horse, I've been able to flee away. I'll give this horse to you. Imam Hussein tells him, we don't want your horse. You think I came here because I want your horse? I don't want your horse. I want to save you. Then the Imam tells him, take yourself away from us because if you hear our wa'iyah, if you hear me calling on the day of Ashura, if when I'm when I'm surrounded, if you hear me calling I heard from Rasulullah say that when the Ahlul Bayt call for someone to help them and that person hears them and refuses to help them, Allah will throw him on his face in the Hellfire. Take yourself away. There were people like that. They love the Ahlul Bayt. They know the haqq is with the Ahlul Bayt, but they were willing to leave the Imam and leave the Imam to die all alone on the day of Karbala. And today we remember Muslim Ibn Aqeel, the Safir, the ambassador of Imam Hussein, who was sent by Imam Hussein. And yet this man was also betrayed and he was oppressed. He enters Kufa. 18,000 men, they give him bay'ah, meaning that they're giving him Imam Hussein bay'ah. And then Abaid Allah ibn Ziyad, he enters and he takes over and he spreads the fear in Kufa. These 18,000 they become 4,000 and the 4,000 become 100 and the 100 become two people until he is all alone in Kufa. All alone. A mother she would come and take her son telling him leave him. This is a fitnah. Come, come in the house. Another wife she would call her husband and tell her husband don't be involved in what's going to happen. There's going to be bloodshed. There's going to be fighting. Stay out of this. Let's see what happens and then we will go and support until Muslim Ibn Aqeel was left all alone. But Muslim Ibn Aqeel, he had wrote a letter to Imam Hussein telling him to come. These men have given me allegiance. They have given you allegiance and they're waiting for you. But suddenly they turned against Muslim Ibn Aqeel. One night in the Masjid Muslim Ibn Aqeel, he's praying. At night he turns around. He sees there's no one with him. There's no one with him. He's walking in the city of Kufa all alone. The one who he was staying in his house, Ali ibn Urwah, was taken as a prisoner by Amey de la Ibn Ziyad. Where should he go? His host is in the prison of Amey de la Ibn Ziyad. Where should he go? He begins to walk in the alleys of Kufa all alone. He's all alone. He becomes thirsty. He stands at the door. He sees a lady by the name of Ta'a. She's standing in front of her house waiting for her son to come. He stands in front of her house. She looks at him. She tells him, what do you need? This honorable lady that every year she is remembered. She was a normal lady. She was a normal lady. No one knew about her. But every year she is remembered for her actions. It's one action that makes you live for eternity and Allah will be satisfied with you. She tells him, what are you doing here? He tells her, I'm thirsty. She comes and brings him water and then she sees he's still standing in front of her house. She tells him, what are you doing in front of my house? Doesn't look right for a man, a stranger to be standing in front of my house. Go to your family. Go to your ashira. He tells her, I don't have a family in the city. I don't have a tribe that will watch over me and protect me. She tells him, who are you? He tells her, take me and protect me. Let me have this one night where I seek refuge in your house and I promise you that on the day of judgment I will be a Shafiq for you. She tells him, who are you? He tells her, I'm Muslim ibn Aqeel, Safir al-Hussein. I am Muslim ibn Aqeel, the ambassador of Imam al-Hussein. These people, they have all turned against me. She welcomes him. He goes in the house. He begins to pray. The whole night he prays. He sleeps for a few moments in his sleep. He sees Amir al-Mu'mineen, his uncle, telling him, oh Muslim, you will be with us shortly. We are anticipating you. You will come with us. You will be with us in paradise. Muslim ibn Aqeel, he spends that night untold on. Then the army, they had surrounded the house. Her son, he had gone and told on Muslim ibn Aqeel. The army, they come to the house. Muslim ibn Aqeel, he begins to fight them courageously, reminding them of the fierce courage of Amir al-Mu'mineen, Ali ibn Abi Talib, his uncle. They fight him until he is injured. He falls. They catch him. They hold on to him. They take him to the palace of Abayd Allah ibn Ziyad. He does not say salam to Abayd Allah. He says my Amir is saying, I do not say salam to Abayd Allah. Abayd Allah ibn Ziyad, he orders for Muslim to be taken on top of the castle. Muslim ibn Aqeel, they bring him water. But as he brings it in front of his mouth, his mouth was bleeding because he was injured. As he was bleeding, the blood it fell in the water. Here you see the difference. The mu'min, he refuses to drink the water that has become negest. He does not drink it anymore. Subhanallah, it was destined for Imam al-Ossein and all of his companions to die thirsty, including Muslim ibn Aqeel. Then he says, I'm out to pray. He prays to like as they see Muslim ibn Aqeel crying. They tell him, Oh, oh, son of Aqeel, why are you crying? None like you do not cry. He says, I do not cry. The people have turned against me. He does. He sends his salams to Imam al-Ossein, to Muslim ibn Aqeel. He reads a book. He reaches Imam al-Ossein, alayhi salam. The messengers, they tell Imam al-Ossein, Imam al-Ossein, he begins to cry. And then he says, Bring me Hamidah, the daughter of Muslim ibn Aqeel. He wipes his hand on her head. You are the answer to the prayers. You are the heedless of the sins. You are on all things great. I pray to Allah and to Muhammad and to Muhammad's family.