 But sometimes our children wonder if all that we do in Muharram is just cultural and what significance it plays in Islam. And that is why I wish to talk about the importance of marking Ashura and what it represents in Islam. I mentioned last week that Hussein is important because without his rising, Yazid would have destroyed or changed Islam beyond recognition. There would have been no Ka'bah and there would have been no Quran today without the blood of Hussein. This itself proves that Hussein, alaihi salam, was chosen by Allah to preserve the message of Rasulullah and the Quran. And every Muslim believes in the authentic hadith of the Qalain that I leave behind the Quran, wa'itrati ahlabati. I talked about Ziyarat wa'areth in the first sermon. If you think about it, Allah's message to the human race has always been one and that is the message of Tawheed. That you know who your creator is and that you worship no one besides him. Neither physically worship idols or the fire nor symbolically and psychologically worship anyone besides Allah, such as other human beings or wealth or prestige or kinship or power or pleasure. This message of guidance of Hidayah started with Adam, alaihi salam. Nuh built an ark for 200 years just to save this message. He floated in the raging seas with 72 followers while the rest of humankind drowned and were destroyed only to preserve Tawheed. Yunus, alaihi salam, was swallowed by a fish to keep this message alive. Ibrahim, alaihi salam, jumped into a fire to save la ilaha illallah. He placed a knife on the throat of his only son so that Tawheed is not lost. Musa, alaihi salam, left Egypt and all things familiar to him on the spur of a moment and then went back and faced Firaun and fought against all odds and crossed a parting sea just to save Tawheed. Isa, alaihi salam, risked his life and was almost crucified until Allah raised him for this reason as well. Isa, alaihi salam, brought the dead back to life and healed the lepers and the blind just to prove that there is no God but Allah. Muhammad, alaihi salam, split the moon and walked on thorns and tolerated people stoning him, returning every night home bleeding from head to toe. People called him a magician, a madman, a sorcerer, a poet. All this, why? Because he would not stop saying, Qul la ilaha illallah tuflihu, say la ilaha illallah so that you may be saved. Whether Ameer al-Mu'mineen, alaihi salam, kept quiet over his right or whether he fought in Jamal and Sifin and Naharwan, it was only to save Islam. Fatima, alaihi salam, gave up her right to fadak and even when her baby was miscarried through violence, she kept quiet so that the adhan would still call out la ilaha illallah. Hassan, alaihi salam, signed a peace treaty, let go of his right, drank poison and threw up pieces of his liver so that you and I can prostrate before Allah and say, Subhan Rabbil al-A'ala wa bi hamdih and know who our Creator is. Now, when Hussain came to Karbala, he brought all this with him on his shoulders. That is why he is the Warrith of Adam and the Warrith of Nuh and the Warrith of Musa and the Warrith of Ibrahim and the Warrith of Isa and the Warrith of Al-Mustafa and all those before him. Because he carried this Hidayah on his shoulders. If Hussain was to fail in Karbala, then all guidance ever sent to human beings would fail. Yazid represented the darkest period in Muslim history. Keep in mind that even the madhahib that you have amongst the Sunni Muslims today, the Shafi, Maliki, Hanafi, Hambali, this came about, the formation of these came about during the time of Imam Al-Baqir and Imam Al-Sadiq. In other words, at the time of Imam Hussain, the Aqida and the Fiqh and the knowledge of Muslims had not yet been established so solidly. At that point it was Hussain and it was Yazid. And if Hussain was to fail, then all guidance to human race would fail. And that is why, on the day of Ashura, we must not forget Zaynab, as well. Because the sacrifice of Hussain and his victory over Yazid and the revival of Islam would not have emerged from the sins of Karbala if it was not for her. You see, when Imam Hussain fell from his horse on the day of Ashura, then Hidayah itself fell from the horse. Islam fell, the Quran fell. No, I should say the Kaaba itself fell on the horse sense of Karbala. Adam fell, Nuh and Ibrahim fell, Musa and Isa and Muhammad fell, Ali and Fatima fell, Hasan fell, they all fell when Hussain fell. Because he carried this, he was the wife of all of this. So all of it now rested with him. And this is put very beautifully by a poet in Urdu. He says that when Hussain fell, he says, So he makes a very fine point that without Hussain, nothing would have remained. So when he fell, all the Ambiya fell. But the poet then brings out a more subtle point, of course, that there is a difference between Hussain and the others. Yes, it is true that when Hussain fell, But then he says, So the satanic forces of evil and darknesses, once Hussain fell, this shaitan himself saw an opportunity to wipe out guidance from the human race. And the satanic forces of evil and darkness approached this thirsty dying Islam. And with a blunt dagger, it slaughtered and cut the throat of this thirsty Islam. Everything came shattering down. For a moment, it was all over. Yazid had won. He could now do as he pleases and explain what happened in Karbala as he wished. All the efforts of Adam to Khatam were gone. And as he bled because Hussain was an Imam and therefore he was the hujjah of Allah, the proof of Allah on the heavens and the earth. And the Imam over Inns and Malaika and Jinn. And because Allah sends his blessings to the world through his representative and he was the axis through which the whole fabric of the universe connected. As he bled, this fabric was threatened. It began to weaken as if it was about to tear apart and to be rent asunder. And that is why both the Shia and the Sunni sources have said that not only did human beings cry for Hussain but the Jinn cried for him. And they have said for a moment the sun was eclipsed on the day of Anshura and the stars came out and people thought the day of judgment had come to pass. A shockwave rippled through Karbala. The land began to quake. The heavens rained blood. Every stone began bleeding and every tree and every leaf turned red. The waters of Furat began rising. They rose like waves calling out, Ya Hussain, Ya Hussain. As if saying, Oh Hussain, we are majboor and cannot come to you but you come to us that we may quench your thirst. And as Islam itself, guidance itself was perishing, something amazing happened, something most unexpected. A woman in white whose white abaya was covered in the blood of Aliunil Akbar was seen running out from the khayam of Hussain. She came running out towards the battlefield as if to save Islam. Whether there were 30,000 soldiers or 120,000 soldiers, they fought 72 men. They killed a six month old baby but now they all stood watching. No one could stop Zainab. Those of you who have been to Karbala, those of you who have not, may Allah inshallah bless you with a ziyarah. You have seen the distance from Tilla Zainabiya to the Qabr of Hussain. So she must have gone at least that distance while they stood watching, not able to stop her. Then she placed her hands under the body of Islam itself. And like a standard or a flag that had fallen in a battlefield but is raised once again or like a phoenix rising from the ashes. She lifted Islam and the Quran once again. Her father had uprooted the gate of Khaybar. Zainab lifted the Kaaba again and set it right. Zainab now lifted Adam, Zainab lifted Ibrahim, Zainab lifted Musa, Zainab lifted Zakaria in Yahya, Zainab lifted Yaakoub in Ismail and Ishaq in Dawood and Suleiman in Isa. Zainab lifted Muhammad in Ali and Fatima and Hassan and with all her might and all her strength, she lifted Islam itself, she lifted guidance itself once again and said, Allahumma taqabbal minna had al-Qurban. This is not a small matter, my dear brothers and sisters. Because now the forces of Yazid realized that the battle is not over, it has just begun. Once again now the Adhan would be heard. Zainab had saved Makkah and minna. Zainab had ensured that once again there would be Salat and Saum and Zakat and Hajj. That the sacrifice of Hussain would not remain in Karbala. If the waters of Furaat did not reach the children of Hussain, Zainab made sure that Zamzam would continue to flow. If today people throng in millions towards the Kaaba calling out, Allahumma labbaik laa sharika laka labbaik. It is because of Zainab. It is because of Zainab and her stopping Yazid from silencing these voices. And it is because of her as well that once again now the son of Hussain Ali Zain al-Aabidin became the warith of the Ambiya. It is because of her that he could now turn to Yazid. Even though he was chained, he could look at him in the eyes and say to him, O Yazid, this Muhammad who is mentioned in the Adhan, is he your grandfather or is he my grandfather? It is because of Zainab that Zain al-Aabidin could now say, Man arafani arafani, he who knows me knows me, he who does not know me, let him let him know me in the court of Yazid. Now he was able to say, Anabnu makkata wa minah, Anabnu zam zamah wa safah, Anabnu taha wa yasin. I am the son of Makkah and minah, I am the son of zam zam and safah, I am the son of taha and yasin. Because she saved Islam. And how many times Zainab saved Imamat itself? She saved him from a burning tent. She saved him when he saw his father's body when they were parting Karbala and his soul was about to leave from his body. She threw herself just to distract him. She saved him from being killed by Ibn Ziyad. One of the miracles that prove the rights of the Ahlul Bayt alaymussalam is how narrowly guidance and Hidayah escaped extinction. And how whenever Allah rescued Islam, he always did it through the children of Abu Talib. So Ashura is most significant. Let it not be small in your eyes, my dear brothers and sisters. And Rasulullah said, In the killing of my son Hussain, there is a fire that is lit in the hearts of the Muslims. Nothing will cool that fire until the day of judgment.