 الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا وعظيمنا وحبيب قلوبنا وشفيع نفوسنا أب القاسم محمد وعلى أهل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين واصحابه الغر الميامين الحمد لله الذي جعلنا من المتمسكين بولاية سيد ومولاية علي ابن أبي طالب الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لن اهتدي لو لا انهدان الله أما بعد يقول الله في كتابه الكريم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم قل لا أسألكم عليه عجرا إلا المودة في القربة the first of our salawat is the prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وعلي وسلم the second is the prophet of the believers علي ابن أبي طالب the third with your loudest voices and none of the Imam of our time Imam صاحب العصر والزمان respect the scholars brothers and sisters السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته إمام حسن العسكر صلى الله عليه وسلم was born in the year 232 after Hijrah and died in the year 260 after Hijrah at the age of 28 a man from whose life many a lesson maybe learnt and indeed many an example maybe derived and a man whose life affects each and every one of our lives today for he is known as being the father of the final of the Imam صلى الله عليه وسلم unfortunately Imam العسكر his life has not been examined in the way that it should be there are many who know very little about the life of Imam العسكر and many who do not know about the political circumstances that surrounded the life of this great personality it is unfortunate to see that there are not enough detailed commentaries on his life or indeed analyzed biographies about what he faced and indeed he faced hardship more than any of the Imam صلى الله عليه وسلم and the fact that the Abbasids had now known that the time was coming near for the birth of the promised one from the line of Fatima therefore there is a need for us to dissect his life as well as open up in reading about his great companions personalities such as Fadal ibn Sha'dan and indeed personalities such as Abu al-Adiyan when we look at the Imam as we said the Imam was born in the 232nd year after Hijrah his mother's name was Hudaytha in some narrations she is known as Saleel and you find that in other narrations she is known as Sosan but what is clear was that his mother's origin was from the southern part of Egypt and therefore you find again another of the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt whose mother comes from an area in Africa his mother was revered for being one of the most pious women who was alive at the time and you find that the Imam was one of five children the Imam had a elder brother by the name of Muhammad and himself and a brother by the name of Hussein and a brother by the name of Ja'far and a sister by the name of Aliya or Aliya many times people when they name the name Aliya or Aliya many times they name it because they think it sounds good if you were to actually ask them who are you naming it after they are like you know what the flow seems nice no no no no it's the sister of Imam Al-Asqari that should be the intention when we name names you find that Imam Al-Asqari amongst his brothers you had two types you had the very religious and the not so religious and this highlights that even in the lives of the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt in one family you may have a brother who is very religious and a brother who is not necessarily religious at all because Imam Al-Asqari's elder brother Muhammad was one of the most pious sons of any Imams of Ahl al-Muhammad that's why those of you who had the honor of visiting Samara on the way back you might have stopped at Balad when you stopped at Balad you went to Sayyid Muhammad didn't you Sayyid Muhammad is the brother of Imam Al-Asqari he is buried not too far away from Samara in the land of Balad he was born 3 years before Imam Al-Asqari Muhammad was born in the year 229 after Hijrah and he died around the year 252 after Hijrah at the age of 23 and do you know this Muhammad Imam Al-Hadi used to love him very much on the first level Muhammad is the elder brother on the first level Muhammad is the eldest son and this highlights that our belief in Imam it is not a belief in the eldest son otherwise Muhammad son of Imam Al-Hadi would have been an Imam Muhammad the son of Imam Al-Hadi was one of the most pious people and the narration say to us nobody was as respected as honorable or indeed as pious as Muhammad and you found that there are different reasons as to his death one narration mention that Imam Al-Hadi had a piece of land in Balad Muhammad went to collect the revenue of that land and he died there another narration says that no we had a natural death in that land you find that when Muhammad died Imam Al-Asqari is narrated to have ripped his shirt open when he heard the news now this is something unusual for an Imam of Ahl al-Bayt to show emotion like this is something very unusual so they came to Imam Al-Asqari and they said Imam you are معصوم you are infallible how are you one who rips your shirt upon hearing the news of the death of your elder brother to which he replies when Nabi Musa heard about the death of Haroon he did the same thing Nabi Musa when he heard the news about Haroon's death he also ripped his shirt there is a lack of breath you want to open your shirt it's sad news Muhammad the son of Imam Al-Hadi I recommend you to perform his ziyara why because amongst the gifts of Muhammad the son of Imam Al-Hadi is that Allah answers the prayers under his dome and especially the prayer of a family who cannot have children if you go there and you see outside the haram there is a cradle the reason there is a cradle is many people who are not able to have kids went and visited of Muhammad the son of Imam Al-Hadi and after they came back Allah granted them their dua therefore you found Muhammad the son of Imam Al-Hadi the brother of Imam Al-Asqari had died before Imam Al-Asqari and you find Imam Al-Asqari the son of Ja'far this Ja'far was not the most pious of men on the contrary there are ascriptions to Ja'far as being a known liar amongst other acts and it shows you in one family you may have a family with a fantastic name but you find that amongst them there may be people who are religious and there are people who are not so religious the question arises why is he known as Al-Asqari now this is a very important issue why because there are many who say you say why is he known as Al-Asqari they say I have not got a clue so you say then what is the need of you respecting a man who you don't know the background of surely there has to be a background to the title the reason he is called Al-Asqari Al-Asqari refers to an army base there are certain cities in Iraq who were originally army bases they were not cities they were army bases where if the army was driving or riding past an area the army would stop there for a while and move on for example Kufa Kufa was not a city Kufa was an army base Sa'ad bin Abi Waqas when he took his army there in the 17th year after Hijra Sa'ad bin Abi Waqas said this area looks like an area so what happened was Kufa was not a city Kufa became a city after Sa'ad bin Abi Waqas decided people can live here originally Kufa was on the outskirts of an old Assyrian city by the name of Aluqa otherwise Kufa later on became a city likewise Imam where he resided was also originally an army base Sa'ad bin Abi Waqas Sa'ad was not a city Sa'ad was an army base and you found that why did it become an army base المعتصم خليفة in his time the Turks were more in control than the Abbasids these Turks would ride their horses in Baghdad when the Turks would ride their horses in Baghdad sometimes what would they do in the middle of the day if a lady from Baghdad was walking he'd come and the Turkish soldier would take her bag or the Turkish soldier would harass her the people of Baghdad spoke out المعتصم remember was the Khalifa in the time of Imam Al-Jawad the people of Baghdad spoke out they came to المعتصم and they said to him that these Turkish soldiers come and harass us while we live in Baghdad and we are ready to fight you and fight your soldiers we do not care that you are Khalifa who lives in Baghdad so he said what will you fight me with they said they didn't say with an army they said will fight you with and will remove you المعتصم decided I need to leave Baghdad I need to go and live somewhere else on one of his journeys he went to an area called Qatul he felt it wasn't a good area to live then he went to Samara Samara comes from the three words it comes from the word means what means that which is pleasing to the eye when someone looks at it those of you who have been to Samara have you seen how beautiful it is on your way you've got the Tigris River you've got many forests and trees it's a beautiful city المعتصم when he came there and he decided that this Samara should not be an army base no this Samara will become a city originally it was an area for an army it wasn't an area to live in he's the one who changed it to Samara and you find after him متوكل العباسي had a famous insolent in that area from that time the area of العسكريين إمام الحادي عند إمام العسكري I called العسكريين the two who were there present إنهم عسكا or in the area متوكل told all his soldiers I want all of you to collect bags of wheat متوكل had over 100,000 soldiers he said all of you to collect bags of wheat and I want all of you to come to the area where I am building where I am building my army base and I want you to put all the bags together and I want you to make a hill for me which I can be right at the top of the narration states that they all collected these sand bags they collected these wheat bags and he stood at the top him and his representative فتح من خاقان when they stood at the top they looked down at إمام علي الحادي they said look how grand our kingdom is where is your kingdom you who stays at خان السعالي إمام replied look through my fingers and you'll see my kingdom and when متوكل looked through his fingers the narration narrates that he recognized that you can build a palace so high and you can have the highest peak I have a lot of soldiers at the top to look after me would you had there for he was called إمام حسن العسكري because living in that area it was an army base and so the attribution is because of this he had his brother محمد him, حسين, جعفر and علي and from a young age إمام العسكري was already showing qualities like his forefathers that one person narrates I was walking one day these children and all of them are playing with toys except one young child who had shed a tear who had shed a tear so I came up to him I said young man I see you shed a tear are you sad that you don't have any toys shall I go and bring you toys he looked at me and he said oh man this world wasn't made for us to play with toys he said I looked at him I said I've never heard someone so young like this so I said to him what do you mean he said oh man have you not read the Quran he said I'm looking at this child and he's talking to me about the Quran I said to him what do you mean which verse in the Quran look at علي محمد the Quran is part of their life not something just in Ramadan their followers today every Quran comes out علي محمد 365 days of the year they have a relationship with the Quran which verse he said have you not read surah 23 verse 115 he said I don't even know what it says tell me he said it says that do they think this world was created in vain and they will not return to us one day he said what do you mean by this he said when I look at my mother moving the sticks to make fire I wonder about this fire but I also wonder about the fire of the day of judgment that am I going to be part of the fuel of that fire he said I asked the people who is this child who speak it to me like this and he said حسن العسكري from a young age that's why the Abbasids had known that any moment now المحدي will be born is it an askary is it the one after him the Abbasid Khalifa decided المعتز he decided that you know what I'm going to do امام الجواد we let him free to answer questions امام الحادي we let him free to answer questions this young man it's better that we kill him they made a decision their decision was that we're going to kill him they said to him but he's a young man he said I do not care his father has now passed away and now it's the time that we kill him there's no need for these people in our territory so we asked this companion ابن سعيد I want you to do something for me he said take the young man towards the palace of ابن أبير on the way kill the young man and when you've killed him come back and make an announcement that an accident unfortunately happened and that's why the young man is not present with us anymore they wrote letters to امام العسكري saying we were at a meeting between معتز the Khalifa and ابن سعيد and he's planning to kill you on a journey remember امام was hailed when his father died امام was around 22 years of age so what's happened was he said they're planning to kill you امام said do not worry this person in a few days time he will be killed and it's true سبحان الله within 3 days that ابن سعيد the Turks that killed him when the Turks killed him in سعيد the Khalifa decided this العسكري the best position for him is where the best position for him is to replace him in prison and that's why you find امام العسكري may Allah bless his soul 6 years from the age of 22 until the age of 28 was placed in prison for the rest of his life the ابن سعيدs had 2 types of prison one type of prison was a public prison that's for thieves for rapists for people who've committed adultery let's say these types of crimes we have today the other prison was a private prison you were under house arrest in your own house they have guards standing outside and you're not allowed to go out and do you know what they used to feed امام العسكري or not امام العسكري there are narrations which stayed for 2 years in a row 730 days used to live on 2 loaves of bread and cold water everyday I get surprised in this world I get surprised not just by those who attacked االمحمد no I get surprised when the followers of االمحمد today complain about what Allah has given them you'll find the follower of االمحمد Allah has given him a beautiful wife Allah has given him beautiful children Allah has given him a lovely house one thing goes wrong he says why is Allah doing this to me you're the one who had to live for 2 years on 2 loaves of bread and water او امام العسكري they say امام العسكري entered healthy by the end he was so frail what do you do 2 loaves of bread do you know what 2 loaves of bread is or no 2 loaves of bread and water and there'd be times they'd have to go inside to check him they'd see him on the ground they'd think he is dying they realized he's doing سجوطة الله سبحانه و تعالى they would see امام العسكري but you know امام العسكري teaches us something in life sometimes you may be in your house and that may be a prison sometimes you may be in a prison but you make it a house what do I mean I mean that امام العسكري sometimes teaches us whichever situation you find yourself in make the best of it I'm in prison just because I'm in prison doesn't mean I can't serve Allah no let me serve Allah سبحانه و تعالى from the prison and that's why do you know what if you look in Islamic history it's as if history repeated itself which prophet in the Quran served Allah while he was in prison which prophet يوسف Prophet يوسف عليه السلام wasn't he in prison didn't he serve Allah in prison didn't he bring people towards Allah in prison some of the greatest personalities in history came to Allah in prison or wrote their best books in prison if you look at Malcolm X Malcolm X came to Allah in prison if you look at one of our greatest books in Islamic law the book by the name of اللوم عد دمشقية has to be studied before you come anywhere near being a leader of law اللوم عد دمشقية was written by شهيد الأول and شهيد الأول wrote اللوم عد دمشقية according to certain sources in one week in prison it took him 7 days and I tell you go and read اللوم عد دمشقية and ask yourself how can a man write this in 7 days it's a phenomenal text of law you find ابن خلدون wrote المقدمة in prison in other words some of the best works you can produce maybe while you're in prison Imam العسكة did not sit in prison and say now that I'm in prison and praying fast the whole day no let me make the prison an avenue for spreading the word of آل محمد how did he spread the word of آل محمد in prison and I tell you sometimes we are very negligent in our work with Muslims in prison it's a shame we are Muslims in prison but none of our scholars are going to the prisons our scholars الحمد لله then نكاح and صلاة الميت is very strong but their outreach work can also improve we need more scholars who visit prisons to see the Muslims in prison to talk with them to guide them Imam العسكري taught us I am in prison but I'll bring people towards أهل البيت from prison and that's why would you find you find for example Imam العسكري the first way was that he thought to himself my manners in prison will hopefully bring people towards أهل البيت how صالح من وصيت صالح من وصيت was a governor for the عباسة خليفة he used to watch over Imam العسكري in prison when he watched over Imam العسكري he narrates I sent two of the worst prison guards you will ever see in سامر into the prison of Imam العسكري he said I told them torture this man as much as you can torture this man as much as you can the narrations mentioned that one day a group people came to صالح they said them صالح used to be very harsh but you're not as harsh as you were before he said what do you mean said these guards that you're sending into حسن العسكري are not doing anything we want them to whip him to kick him they're not doing anything he said you go and ask these guards don't ask me they went to ask the guards the guards were standing there these guards who you don't want to wake up to looking their face in the morning they looked at the guards they said why haven't you tortured حسن العسكري said why haven't you tortured حسن العسكري and the narration states that when they looked at him they said how can we torture a man who in the daytime is fasting in the nighttime is praying and whenever we look at him we see his tongue moving and praying of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and he says that these two came towards أهل البيت because of حسن العسكري they went in to do what to him they wanted to torture him but they came out as followers of عالمحمد there was a second person who was a security guard for Imam العسكري he used to guard the prison he has to keep a close eye on Imam العسكري can you imagine an Imam grandson of رسول الله grandson of رسول الله and you have guards watching over his every act you found that Imam العسكري saw this guard the guard came up to me said أو حسن علي here are some pomegranates one of your شيع says that instead of just having two loaves and some water he give him the pomegranates and I used to know this person from before take them so Imam العسكري took the five pomegranates he placed them by his side this is تبليخ تبليخ isn't a person talking with long words no no no تبليخ sometimes is generosity he's got the five pomegranates next to him Imam العسكري didn't eat them he just kept them there the guard kept on looking at the pomegranates Imam looked at him he said you are alright he said yes yes I am he said why don't you take a pomegranate oh God would you say that to a guard who harasses you honestly honestly a guard who harasses you would you have this manners with him he said oh God why don't you take this pomegranate he said no no keep it keep it he said oh God I've seen you looking at the pomegranate and maybe the day is a hot day and because it's a hot day maybe you're not getting fresh air take the pomegranate the guard took the pomegranate there were four pomegranates left it was only a short time later the Imam العسكري he looked at the guard he said oh God I notice that you're not eating the pomegranate why the guard said don't worry you don't need to ask he said no tell me he said you know I have young children at home and I want to save the pomegranate so that my children can eat you know what Imam العسكري did he said take the other four pomegranates then سبحان الله take the four pomegranates the guard said no he said no no please he said I can't bear to think that your children will not have food يا إمام you are on two loaves of bread and you are concerned about him and remember tonight is the night of the father of Imam الحجر this message goes out to Imam الحجر tonight that his father has two loaves of bread and the pomegranates he says to the guard take it then after that when the head of the guards found out that حسن العسكري is like this there was a Turkish head of guard this Turkish head of guard one of the names that he has given is علي بن يارمش another is علي بن عتاش there is a difference of opinion on the names this Turkish guard says if you are not going to treat حسن العسكري in the way that he should be by not whipping him while he's in his house then I'm going to take him to my house and I've got orders that even if I kill him there isn't an issue the guard took him out of the house they took him away out of his house out of the prison they took him to the Turkish man's house the Turkish man as soon as he walked into his house his wife looked at him she said who is that you bought with you he said don't worry she said no tell me he said حسن بن علي she said from whose lineage he said from محمد's lineage she said be careful people like this they are inheritors of knowledge do not hurt them he said who are you to tell me not to hurt them I have wild animals in my garden I'll leave the man with them they have not eaten for a few days let them enjoy his flesh you know before Imam Zaman people ask Imam Zaman why did Allah raise him why because look at the way they are behaving with his father and with his grandfather you think Allah سبحانه وتعالى wants to keep a blessing like this with these people they put Imam العسكري in what he did he put him in a cage with the wild animals absolutely no heart whatsoever do you know how low it is for a human to do such a thing and he walked back to his house his wife pleaded with him he didn't listen his wife pleaded with him to listen she said to him at least go back out now that they've killed him go back out and have respect for yourself in burying his body what remains of it he narrates I swear by God that I walked back out to the cage I saw Hassan العسكري prostrating with the animals all next to him imagine he said I could not believe that these animals had not eaten him they had not eaten anything and they were prostrating to him this same man علي بن يارمش who put Imam العسكري in prison when his son fell ill do you know who he went to Imam العسكري he went to Imam العسكري in prison he said Hassan بن علي I need a favor and I know I've been harsh towards you and I know I've been giving you the worst of gods I need one dua he said why he said my son is ill and the doctors say he's going to die and you're the only one who can read dua for him I beg of you read the dua Imam العسكري said no problem recite the following dua with me he began reciting the dua began the reciting he said go home now your son will be okay he says I swear I went home and my son had recovered fully tell me would you recite a dua for a man who tortures you but al-Muhammad their level of generosity their level of morality is higher than all of this and that's why do you know one day they tried to mock Imam العسكري and do you know how they tried to mock him one day the Khalifa's horse the Khalifa bought a horse which was too wild a wild horse do you know what the Khalifa said this wild horse of mine when I sit on it it's not been tamed it causes me trouble get Hassan العسكري out of prison let him sit on the horse so it throws him off I don't know what these people are honestly barbaric people or Muslims and he says but on the other hand I know Hassan العسكري if he truly is from the line of رسول الله that horse will never throw him off you find that when Imam العسكري sat on that horse that horse was tamed and he told the man hey come and take your horse back the point was what the point was that Imam العسكري the first way he bought people towards Ahl al-Bayt in prison was through his manners they were giving him two loaves of bread and water he was showing generosity back to them that's number one number two while in prison there are two books which are ascribed to Imam العسكري and I tell you today I tell you if you go to many of the followers of Ahl al-Bayt you say what's the books of Imam العسكري عليه السلام what's the books they'll turn around to you and they'll say what do I know about books but what are you talking about books what's the books of Imam العسكري are there any books of Imam العسكري or did Imam العسكري just live for a few years and die brothers and sisters when we want to build the community don't come and give me 100 plans for building a community when you don't know anything about the Imam العسكري because the Imam العسكري are what made us therefore when we want to build communities make sure you are people who are acquainted with the teachings of the Imam Imam العسكري while in prison do you know there are many people today who don't know a single book of Imam العسكري and they've been to Samara I said to them when you've been to Samara why isn't it so you learn about Imam العسكري what Samara is just a holy place to go and sit next to a grave Imam العسكري in Samara two books he wrote and these books should be in our houses and it's a shame forget them being in our houses people don't even know about them and I was in the auditorium in the library in the auditorium and I was looking under the section of the Imam's and I asked the elders not the youth no the youth Masha Allah doing fantastic I asked the elders take time out of your lives your busy lives earning money take time out and go and sit in that library just half an hour a week nothing more half an hour Allah has given you more than enough for us now Allah سبحانه وتعالى wants us to be a community of educated readers that library which is there it's a shame hardly people go there's a book there in the library translated by Ansarian it's available the Tafseer of the Quran of Imam Al-Asqari عليه السلام now this Tafseer of the Quran whether it's actually written by the Imam or ascribed to him from students who had come from Qom there's a debate about Ibn Al-Ghadairi and his opinion on this work a debate which has semantics and discussions which I can discuss on another occasion but the Tafseer of Imam Al-Asqari even Shaykh Al-Sadoq relies on it in the Faki you find that this Tafseer of Imam Al-Asqari while in prison and while on the house arrest people would come and ask verses of the Quran from Imam Al-Asqari and Imam Al-Asqari would answer it in his Tafseer and that Tafseer is with us until today you ask people have you read the Tafseer of your 11th Imam or no another of his great works is the Fiqh work المقنع this work until today is available with us today it is there it is a book of all Jewish prudential questions where Imam Al-Asqari writes letters answering his Shi'a on different aspects of Fiqh today when people say how do these Maraj answer questions the Maraj answer questions by using the book of Imam Al-Asqari on Imam Al-Hadi عليهم السلام these two books Imam Al-Asqari using he wrote them under a time where he is sitting under the sun in a nice house he wrote them while he was in prison while in prison Imam Al-Asqari would write them further in this do you know what Imam Al-Asqari would also do while in prison he tell the people what is happening outside of prison come and tell me do not keep me unaware so I can help you guide I can help you answer the questions one day a person came to him he said oh Imam do you know Ishaq Al-Kindi he said yes he said Ishaq Al-Kindi has written a book called The Contradictions in the Quran there are some verses in the Quran which sound contradictory and unless you have strong knowledge of the Quran which we need in this generation then do not be surprised if you will be bamboozled by some of the questions about contradictions in the Quran someone says what do you mean for example in one verse in the Quran Ishaq Al-Kindi he said there's a contradiction in one verse of the Quran God says that marry one, two, three or four women in another verse in the Quran God says you can never treat them justly so stick to one so some people ask how is it in one verse God says marry four in another God says you can't treat them justly and this on the internet is a major question on the internet today some people say the Quran has contradictions in the time of Imam Al-Asqari Ishaq Al-Kindi wrote a book The Contradictions of the Quran he says if the Quran is the book of God then it wouldn't have contradictions in one verse of the Quran it says marry one, two, three or four women in another verse of the Quran it says what you will never be able to treat them justly so you find what's the interpretation of this the interpretation is that you will marry one, two, three and four justly in economics the way you treat them financially and you can treat them justly with your time but you can never treat them justly with love I can't say I love wife number one 33% and wife number two 27.8% can I so there's no contradiction the first one refers to justice in monetary and in time the second one is about love Ishaq Al-Kindi wrote this book called contradictions in the Quran the companions of Imam Al-Asqari came to him when he was in prison they said Imam Ishaq has written this book he said have any of you been able to refute it they said no he said the refutation is easy it doesn't need lots of semantics they said to him what's the refutation he said go up to Ishaq and say to him oh Ishaq is there a possibility the author of a book intends something different from the interpreter is a very philosophical line is there a possibility that the author of a book intends something different from the interpreter Ishaq said yes there is so the companions said to him so Ishaq what you say about a contradiction could Allah have meant something else or is your interpretation the only interpretation possible he said no Allah could have meant something else said so oh Ishaq why don't you then say that maybe my conclusions are not correct and that Allah subhanahu و تعالى intended something else with this Ishaq said to him where did you get this answer from they said to him what do you mean he said no no tell me where did you get the answer from the person said oh just from my own thoughts he said none of you can think like this where did you get it from he said I got it from Imam Hassan العسكر عليه السلام he said only a man from the line of Rasool Allah can think like this he said it is very true he wrote the book and he ripped it he ripped all the pages he said that one interpretation is right maybe I am saying there is contradictions but maybe the Allah the order of the Quran and said it is something else then on another occasion Imam had wanted to be kept informed what is happening معتمد that Khalifa was facing major trouble why there was a major drought in Samara no rain no rain so what happened was معتمد said to the whole of Samara oh people of Samara come out and pray that Allah sends down rain for three days the whole of Samara came out to pray يا الله send down rain يا الله send down rain there was no rain coming down all of a sudden a christian monk came the christian monk when he came he said oh Allah please send down rain suddenly rain came down معتمد is like what's going on every muslim prays to Allah and no rain comes down and a christian monk prays to Allah and that much rain comes down and the muslim started saying maybe christianity is the right religion because you are a Khalifa you pray to Allah you say you are a Khalifa to Allah aren't you why is it you are a Khalifa you are praying to Allah for rain no rain a christian monk comes he prays to Allah so much rain comes down maybe we should follow christianity معتمد went crazy where is حسن العسكري they said to him what do you mean where you put him in prison he said get him out of prison Imam العسكري came معتمد said I need a big favor Imam العسكري doesn't say to him you know what you put me in prison I don't want to help you Imam of أهل البيت Islam is always bigger than everything for them from their grandfather علي ابنة بيطغال ابنة بيطغال Imam العسكري Islam is bigger for them Imam العسكري looked at him he said what help do you want he said a few days ago there was a drought no rain was coming down the people relied on me to pray I relied on them to pray nothing came then a christian prayed everything came Imam said very well you will find that there's a period of a drought continuing isn't there there's no more rain coming down he said yes he said tell the christian again to come out and pray I'm going to come and tell all the people to come as well Mu'atamid said very well the hot day came Mu'atamid said where's the christian monk tell him to come the christian monk came the people all came Imam العسكري looked at Mu'atamid he said as soon as I told you to grab his hands and open them grab his hands and open them so Mu'atamid looked at the christian monk he said christian monk pray again to Allah so rain comes down christian monk came he raised his hands Mu'atamid opened them Imam said now tell me what's in his hands as soon as he removed that what was in his hands Imam said do you see this Mu'atamid said yes he said do you know what it is he said no he said it's a bone from one of the prophets of Allah سبحانه و تعالى this christian monk and his people had dug the grave of a prophet and taken a bone out and when they took the bone out then they prayed to Allah ya Allah in the name of the bone of this prophet let rain come down and the people were amazed and then Mu'atamid said thank you and do you know what the people turned around and said this حسن العسكري where does he live we want to come and follow him is he in charge of a university is he in charge of a school is he in charge of a library where is his palace so we come and visit him and Mu'atamid was embarrassed to say to them I have put him on the house arrest and the people looked at him and they said how dare you put a man like him on the house arrest Mu'atamid said no from today حسن العسكري is released and there is no more house arrest literally he released him for that one year in that one year the narration say that in that one year he released him then he brought him back into the prison again I tell you there was no rest for Imam العسكري no rest whatsoever you found that Imam العسكري would try his hardest to give out information to his followers he would try his hardest to tell his followers about the beliefs of the religion and that's why one of the most famous hadiths we have from Imam العسكري was when he was telling his Shi'a what are the signs of a Shi'a what are the signs of a believer Imam العسكري knew that in a short time his son Imam الحجة would leave from the eyesight of the people so Imam العسكري gave us that there are five signs of a Shi'a please listen to this hadith I beg all of you there are five signs of a Shi'a a follower of Al-Muhammad the first is that he prostrates on dust and preferably the dust of the Karbala of Aby Abdullah someone says why do we prostrate on dust why don't we prostrate just on carpet we in the school of Ahl al Bayt have clear evidence that Rasool Allah has a hadith where he says number one لما جعلت لي الارض مسجدا وطهورا the earth has been made a place which is pure and for prostration and that Rasool Allah in this time there were no carpets Rasool Allah in the books of hadith of our books and other schools Rasool Allah when he was in Sujood when he would stand up from Sujood when he would sit up from Sujood people would look at his forehead and see the marks of mud the marks of clay Rasool Allah therefore did not used to pray on a prayer mat he used to pray on earth because he said the earth has been made pure and been made a place of prostration for me the carpets or the prayer mats came into the prophet's mosque 300 years after he died number one so people say does that mean that we should only prostrate on the dust of Karbala any dust as long as this is natural and not something which can be eaten or can be worn anything which is natural can be prostrated number one number two I pray 51 as a prayer a day at the moment where struggling was 17 how many 17 if you add صلاة الليل how many do we reach 28 let's say so where is the other 23 coming from the Sunnah prayers for Fajr say the Sunnah prayers for Dohar and Asr which are only 16 by the way for Maghrib and for Isha add all of these together Imam Al-Asqari says the second sign of our followers is 51 ركح our prayer a day how many 51 إن شاء الله the third sign they wear a ring on their right hand if you look at many of the followers of Ahlulbayt when they go to Ziyarah they will buy either Adodran Najaf or they'll buy Fayruz or they'll buy Aqiq Yaman or they'll buy Rubio and Emerald all of these we have hadith from the imams of Ahlulbayt as to their importance now look at your right hand and ask yourself do you have one or no they protect you from envy of the people they increase your rizq they prevent sudden attack from affecting your family wear them do not let go of your right of the ring on the right hand number 4 you say بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم loudly before any act sometimes we have reached the stage we pray we say بسم الله but when we eat we've forgotten بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم when we go to work we've forgotten بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم when we enter our houses we've forgotten بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم we've forgotten in the name of Allah the most beneficent and the most merciful and the fifth imam العسكري says the fifth sign is زيارة الاربعين of Imam al-Hussain عليه السلام the imam العسكري says that never ever neglect the ziara of the 40 of Imam al-Hussain there are a couple of the ziara of the 40 one of them from جيبر من عبدالله Imam al-Hussain says the fifth sign of our followers they never neglect Imam al-Hussain and that's why Imam al-Asqari at the age of 28 Imam al-Asqari of his great companions he had فضل بن شابان and he had أبو الاديان Imam al-Asqari at the age of 28 Imam al-Asqari the poison began to surround his body المعتمد had noticed this man I put him out of prison the people love him I put him back in prison the people become followers of Ahl al-Bayt because of him it's better I poison him may Allah give patience to the Imam of our time when he remembers his father Imam al-Asqari عليه السلام and the narration say that Imam al-Asqari set to his companion أو أول أديان I'm giving you some letters to go to Madain you know where Salman is buried in Madain is that I'm giving you some letters go to Madain I want you to go there deliver these letters you will return in 15 days when you return to Samara you will hear the people saying Al-Asqari has died I want you to go to Madain and there will be letters when you return the people will be saying Al-Asqari has died you will see the one who will succeed me from Al-Muhammad Al-Mahdi he said how will I know him he said you will know him because number one he will leave my prayers number two he will ask you for the letters number three he will know what's in the yellow bag أبو الأديان says I left I went to Madain to meet أحمد ابن الحسن I went there I had all of these letters what are the letters إمام العسكر used to stay up till the middle of the night answering the questions of الشيعة he can't see them so he writes his answers and they send them back as letters he went to أحمد ابن الحسن أحمد ابن الحسن welcomed him they stayed there for a few days أبو الأديان says all I was thinking about was إمام العسكري I was thinking about my إمام what's going to happen to him when I returned back to Samara I said to him أبو الأديان if you saw what happened to his shrine only recently you will know that this إمام العسكري until today is oppressed by his followers and his enemies you found أبو الأديان says I left أحمد ابن الحسن I came back to Samara when I entered Samara I saw people coming out crying and crying I said to them what's wrong they said to me حسن العسكري has died he said I went to the house of Imam العسكري and I saw his brother جعفر standing there about to leave صلاة الميت the prayers of the one who is deceased when I saw جعفر جعفر was saying I am now the Imam of the Shi'a I am the Imam of the followers about the debate I thought جعفر جعفر the person who is a liar جعفر the person who we have no respect for so he says as جعفر was about to begin with this صلاة a young 5 year old walked up to him he said to him oh جعفر move I have a greater right to lead this صلاة than you do جعفر was amazed who is this young man who has come who we will discuss tomorrow جعفر returned back the young man led the صلاة then after the young man finished the صلاة he turned around and he came and he said to أبو الأديان where are the letters أبو الأديان knew that this is also a sign then the narration states a group of people that come from قم they had some homes they had placed it in a bag they came they said who is the rightful success of حسن العسكري the people looked and they said جعفر جعفر said it is me the people of قم said then tell us if you are his rightful success what's in the bag he said what do you think I have knowledge of the unseen then someone came and said there is 1010 D in the bag they said you are right who told you he said my Imam الحجب الحسن المهدي عجل الله فرجو الشريف as soon as they heard that they said they turned around محتمد here he said where is the young boy the Imam had been taken away and you found that difficult period for the followers of أعل محمد which inshallah we will continue to discuss tomorrow as to the biography of Imam صاحب العسري والسمان we pray to Allah سبحانه وتعالى to raise us with Imam العسكري عليه السلام to allow us to visit his shrine in the land of Samara يا الله allow for the rebuilding of that holy shrine and the shrine of the mother of our Imam and the sister of our Imam يا الله allow us to receive his intercession in this world and thereafter we pray to Allah سبحانه وتعالى for our brothers especially the ill ones in our community and those around the Islamic world with the following دعاء بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم أما يجيب المخطر إذا دعاء ويكشب السوق أما يجيب المخطر إذا دعاء ويكشب السوق أما يجيب المخطر إذا دعاء ويكشب السوق I beg you to raise your hands just with a bit more further أما يجيب المخطر إذا دعاء ويكشب السوق أما يجيب المخطر إذا دعاء ويكشب السوق we pray to Allah سبحانه وتعالى with the Surat Al-Fatiha but before it the loudest of your Salawat