 Alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakah to welcome to the live faith book on this special show dedicated to the father of the Hujjah of our time, Allah has his reappearance, Imam Al-Hassan Al-Asqari. Now we have been commemorating and have been going through a sorrowful time with the season of Arba'een and recently we have seen the flag change but the sorrow and the grief continues and inshallah majority of us will be commemorating the death of 11th Imam tomorrow night inshallah at Al-Hussainia but tonight that Imam Hussain TV3 myself most inshallah and my guest Sheikh Muhammad Ibar As-Pandju inshallah I would like to discuss with you the life of Imam Hassan Al-Asqari and also the visit of Samara inshallah so I'd like to welcome my guest Sheikh Muhammad Ibar As-Pandju As-Salamu Alaykum Sheikh Alaykum As-Salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakah to allah A'lam ala Udhurakum May Allah SWT reward us for our grief and intensify our grief in regards to the martyrdom of Imam Hassan Ibn Ali al-Asqari, salawatullahi wa salam wa adaih Sheikhuna, give us a little biography because I think Imam Hassan Al-Asqari may be one of the most unfortunately neglected Imams, but one of the most significant and important figures considering he is the father of the Hujjah of our time. Maybe a little on where he's buried and a little bit about his life and the troubles he had. Of course, Imam Hassan al-Asqadi, alaihi salam, the extent of his mavolumia and oppression can be understood from the very fact that he was poisoned at the age of 28. That's it, 28. A youth at the age of 28 poisoned and his assassination coordinated by the most powerful empire to have ruled the earth. Mohakkeen have come forward and they state that the empire of Bani Abbas stretched from as far as North Africa all the way to the borders of China, present day China. This vast majority of earth as we know it was ruled by Bani Abbas. And from all the enemies and foes and threats that you may think Bani Abbas may have, they decided to channel and to concentrate their entire military efforts and coordinate and plan for the assassination of this youth, you could say. The shining star of Bani Hashem, awali from the awliya of Allah, akhalifa from the khulafa of Allah, as-zawajal Imam Hassan ibn Ali al-Asqadi, alaihi salam. And therefore you find that within his age, the age at which he was martyred in itself there is a big dalala and an indication for the threat that he posed towards Bani Abbas. Imam al-Asqadi alaihi salam buried in the land of Samarra and the land of Samarra became blessed and became divine due to the burial of the blessed bodies of Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-Asqadi inside of Samarra. And it is very important over here and last night as well, I had mentioned in a Majlis for some of the Mu'mineen and Mu'minat, the importance of the Ziyarah of Samarra and the visitation of Samarra. In fact, tomorrow, Thursday, you have the Istishad of Imam Hassan al-Asqadi, alaihi salam, you will find that without exaggeration, hundreds and thousands, if not millions, hundreds and thousands of people from all over Iraq, from many parts of the world going to Samarra to pay tribute and to renew their allegiance with Imam al-Asqadi and commemorate his Shahada at the very shrine of Imam al-Asqadi inside of Samarra. And you find that Samarra, I believe it was perhaps with yourself that we had held in one of the shows, the commemoration of the bombing anniversary of the Haram of Imam al-Asqadi and the Imam al-Hadi inside of Samarra. You find that Samarra has historically been the seat of Bani Abbas's Khilafa, having moved from Baghdad, they moved to Samarra, Samarra being a military garrison in contemporary history. Even after the invasion of Iraq, you find that Samarra was a very unstable area. It had almost become a place that the terrorists such as Daesh had hoped that they would be able to have Saitara and full control over the city of Samarra. And it was a place of great unrest. And the bombing of Samarra was very evident on how the people wanted to use the land of Samarra and destroy the Dariy of Imam al-Asqadi as an announcement of their hatred and their war against Shi'a-izm, Tashayyo, and Imam al-Hujjah. In essence, it was not just a random bombing that had happened, there was a deep message and a very stern message behind that, the bombing of that shrine. For in any case, you find that Alhamdulillah with the barakat of Mawlana Sahib al-Amri was Zaman, the juhud and the efforts of the virtuous Maraja. And the barakat of the Mu'mineen and Mu'minat, people of Iraq and outside of Iraq, Alhamdulillah, who have contributed towards safeguarding Samarra, the security apparatus that has been installed in order to make sure that Samarra is a safe heaven for the Zawar of Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-Asqadi. And these are things that we need to appreciate and these are things that I believe we need to discuss on the Shahada of Imam al-Asqadi, on the Wilada of Imam al-Asqadi, the strategic importance of Samarra in this day and age as a place of Ziyara. Alhamdulillah, you find that millions and millions of people who went for Arba'een this year, who went to Iraq for Ashura, the Arba'een before that, every year we've been able to see progress in Samarra. There was a time seven, eight, 10 years back where it was almost unthinkable for people to go to Samarra. And the security concerns were very many, even though we are of the opinion and the number of the Maraja are of the opinion that even if there is a security threat on your life to uphold the Ziyara takes priority, in either case, you find, and many people did, you have a number of Shahada, Zawar who ended up becoming Shahada while embarking upon this journey to perform the Ziyara of Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-Asqadi and we're not talking about a very long time back, we're talking about seven, 10, 12 years back. And you will see that Alhamdulillah, the progress in terms of the security and how people have worked hard and institutions have worked hard in order to ensure that people like you and I are able to perform the Ziyara of Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-Asqadi in Samarra and even this year in Arba'een, Alhamdulillah, was shukr, the Haram of Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-Asqadi was filled with Zawar, Masha'Allah, where they had programs of Majalis. I believe Imam Hussein TV has the Beth Mubashar live broadcast for the Majalis from inside the Sahana of Imam al-Asqadi and there are Radoods doing Latham and hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Zawar passing through Samarra on the days of Arba'een. This last Arba'een that had passed, Shahrum Muharram for Ashura, the year before that as well, there are even arrangements for people to spend the night inside of Samarra. Masha'Allah. And Alhamdulillah, you find that the Ataba of Imam al-Asqadi has done a lot of work and the Marjaiyya of Aitul al-Udhma Sayed Saadika Shirazi, may Allah grant him and the virtuous, marajo along in healthy life, have played an instrumental role in ensuring that Samarra is secured for the Zawar and the Haram in itself is secured in itself. And Alhamdulillah, we see the Barakat in the Juhud, food in the name of Imam al-Husayn in the name of Imam al-Asqadi is served from the Ataba. I remember last year, Shahrum Muharram, when we were blessed to be over there, we spent the night inside of Samarra and the Haram was opened the entire night. And it was very beautiful in the Sahan. You see parts of the Sahan, people are sleeping, others are doing their azan, their matam, others are crying, others are reciting Salatul Layl, you go down in the Sardab, the middle of the night people are reciting Dua'an Nudba so on, so forth. So Alhamdulillah, the importance of the city of Samarra and my advice, humble advice is that, and I've said this before, and the repetition of the message because of the importance of the message, it is important for all of us at Zawar, from the West, from Africa, wherever we are going, leaders of groups that take others of war for Ziyara, do not ignore Samarra as a destination for Ziyara. I would even go further and say, do not make Samarra a transit point where you are there just for a day trip, the way we say it, a couple of hours and then come back, la Imam al-Hadi, Imam al-Asqadi, Sayyeda Narjeed, Sayyeda Hakima, they're all buried within the Darih and then you have the Sardab of Imam al-Hudja, we need to have Marasim, when we go there for Ziyara, that we sit in the Sardab and we recite Dua' al-Ahad, the Dua' to pledge our allegiance to Imam al-Hudja, we need to have Dua' Nudba recited inside over there, this needs to be part and parcel of the Ziyara from the Adab and the Akhlaq of visiting Samarra that we sit hours inside of the Sardab and we weep and we wail for Imam al-Hudja, we renew our pledge with the Imam Zaman of our time, adjala allahu ta'ala farajahu shareef and this is the importance of the Ziyara of Samarra and I'm sure yourself you visited Samarra in Ar-Ma'in insha'Allah. I was blessed, I was there on, I think it was the 3rd, 4th of November, I was there, Alhamdulillah, I managed to go to Samarra and like you said, there has been great progress in terms of the restructure and also in terms of the facilities and infrastructure around the area, before we couldn't cross the bridge, we had to walk across the long bridge and then from there is another, I think it's about a mile roughly of walking you have to do but Alhamdulillah, this time we managed to cross the bridge, it was open access and go very, very close to the actual city, very close to the checkpoints and then you just get searched and you walk straight in and Alhamdulillah. The actual, the Haram itself, they're still rebuilding, there's a lot of work going on but if I managed to go downstairs and it's all marbled out into the Sadab, it's really, really nice now and it's very, very open. I think it's bigger than the actual Haram itself upstairs, there's a lot of space, you could see great development. The Mawa camps, the Mawa camps, yeah, on the way, on the way, yeah, yeah. What was really impressive this year for Arbaeen was, previous years I've been on Arbaeen and two, three days after Arbaeen, it's quiet, it's empty, this year it kept getting busy, it stayed the busyness, people were leaving but it was still a lot busier than normal and it was really, really like strange for me, like normally it's not this busy I haven't seen as many people and this is the same with Najaf Baghdad and Samarat it was probably arguably double what I were expecting what I was expecting to see and what I've previously experienced so Alhamdulillah there is more and more happening Alhamdulillah and I do have to mention this is that in Samarat there's the new toilets that have been made and they are amazing they are very very big and they're so big you got this elevator is that big there's a lift for you to go down to the toilets and they've got eastern toilets, western toilets, big facilities for Wudu, even Shia facilities is all I believe so like there is a lot of investment Alhamdulillah in Samarat we hope the houses can open again in Samarat Insha'Allah and they can be further development for the Zawar Insha'Allah. There is a relief and development and actually a development plan for resuscitating Samarat as a city from an economic perspective having people re-migrate back to Samarat rebuild the city of Samarat ensure that there are the local industry in terms of shops in terms of hotels why not in terms of schools for families to migrate back to Samarat for Shia families to come back over there and for Samara as a city to return back to the glory that it deserves because of the two kings who are buried inside of Samarat and Insha'Allah our hope and our anticipation is that the city of Samarat would become just like the way the city of Karbala is today and the city of Najaf is today and the city of Qadmein is today insha'Allah and the first step towards this is for the Zawar themselves to make this conscious effort to go to Samarat and actually spend time over there and even within the Haram or around the precincts of the Haram there is there is a lot of history that is that is there within the city of Samarat and insha'Allah step by step we are able to we are able to explore all of this is a part of our heritage and it's a part of our legacy insha'Allah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless each and every person who makes the journey to Samarat to uphold the zikr and uphold the legacy of Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-Asqali alayhim as-salam insha'Allah Shaykhana do you feel that because I feel this personally that Imam al-Asqali is very neglected considering he's such an important figure and considering he is the father of the Hajj of today what can we do to maybe you know improve our relationship and to honour the legacy of Imam al-Asqali what can we do better of course the first thing that we need to do is we have a number of things that we need to do number one reviving the shahadah and the willadah of Imam al-Asqali alayhim as-salam our attendance in the Hussainiyat have to be at their peak when it comes to the willadah of Imam al-Asqali and when it comes to the shahadah of Imam al-Asqali even the shahadah on a night like this or tomorrow night we have to have maximum participation you know in some of the centers that I used to serve in they used to be this mentality and it's very weird that it sounds very petty as well but it's a reality there used to be this mentality that there is a big Imam and a small Imam a big shahadah and a small shahadah you are an important shahadah and a not important shahadah and unfortunately the ignorance of the people is that the small shahadah the small Imam would be the likes of Imam al-Asqali this is the first point that we need to change and the people running the Hussainiyas the people administering the Hussainiyas or the khutaba reciting the Majlis for example sometimes I may think like a Majlis Imam al-Asqali I don't need to prepare as much as I need to prepare for another Majlis la this is wrong hujjatullah feel out of the way you said so therefore number one this importance from the people running the Hussainiyas reciting the Majlis khutaba al-kiram we have to have the create that fervor and that atmosphere I cannot come and say okay because it's shahadah Imam al-Asqali you know what today the time for matam will only be three minutes or four minutes why because the small Imam is not important la aib is actually an insult to Imam al-Asqali and insult to Imam al-Hujjah against any one of the Imam such an insult is an insult to Imam al-Hussain is an insult to Amir al-Mu'mineen alaihi salam the imams have a Horma awaluna muhammad akhiruna muhammad awsatuna muhammad kulluna muhammad Imam al-Hussain alaihi salam has a special position without doubt Amir al-Mu'mineen has a special position without doubt but we cannot have such a mentality within a community where Imam al-Asqali as seen as the lesser important Imam for this is one of the greatest steps that need to be done and this is an issue that we it's a problem that we suffer are within our local centers truth has to be told in that sense and this mentality has to change it has to change from the managing committees it has to change from within the madaris it has to change from the member importance excuse me showing the people the divinity and the importance of Imam al-Asqali alaihi salam this is one number two to connect with our Imam excuse me to connect with our Imam al-Mah knowledge about the Imam the life of the Imam the contributions of the Imam towards humanity towards the Shia umma the struggles that the Imam had the more we read the history of Imam al-Asqali the more we are able to relate to him the more we read his words the more familiar we are with the teachings of the Imam the more we fall in love with this Imam having said this you'll see that one great book our short alive faith book Alhamdulillah almost every week we've been concentrating on a certain number of books last week if you remember and if our Mushahedin remember the book that we had introduced is Calimatul Rasulul A'adam the words are the sayings of the Holy Prophet and this is part of an encyclopedia authored by the late Shahid Ayatullah Sayyid Hassan al-Shirazi where he has a where he has a encyclopedia a collection of the words and the sayings of the ma'sumin from Rasulullah all the way down to the 12th Imam their letters their saying so on so forth and you find within the book this is one of the greatest books that I have come across in regards to with all your respect to all of the writers scholars every book has a taste every book has a dimension of analysis from all these books you know one book that definitely stands out is this book entitled Calimatul Imam al-Asqali do we have time to go into the index or not really few minutes inshallah you find that you find for example within this book if you were just to look at the index in itself you look at the variety of the knowledge and the teachings that emanated from Imam al-Asqali that allow us to connect with Imam al-Asqali so for example there's an entire collection of a hadith entitled ilahiyat so you have a number of hadith in regards to understanding Tawheed from Imam Hassan al-Asqali alaihi salam each and every one of us has an opinion of what God should be what the Creator should be how he should function this is an opinion that you and I have why do we not go sit back and look what is the opinion or what are the words of Imam al-Asqali when it comes to understanding Tawheed I follow full on scholar and full on scholar and full on why when I have words of Imam Hassan al-Asqali alaihi salam understanding Allah through the words of the Maasum Imam similarly within this book we have a collection of hadith which is entitled as Nabooia in regards to the Nabooa where he speaks about the Nabooa of a number of the Ambiya so for example Imam al-Asqali has hadith on Nabi Adam being in Jannah he has got another hadith of the relationship between Rasulullah and Surat al-Fatiha the Surat al-Fatiha which is wajib for us to recite in every wajib Salah the miracles of the holy Prophet for example the hypocrites and the holy Prophet for example the Quran and the Huroof al-Muqatta'a you have Suras that start Alif, Lam, Meem, Yassin what is their philosophy what is their understandings these are churches of knowledge that have emanated from Imam al-Asqali and the same thing you have a number of hadith or from Imam al-Asqali in regards to Wilaya today you and I who claim to be Shi'a's of Abyr al-Mu'mineen the definitions of sectarianism what is it what does it mean to be extreme or not extreme as a Shi'a in regards to your faith these are all outlined for us by Imam al-Asqali through a number of the hadith we have hadith on Aqa'id and how the relationship between the Wilaya of al-Mu'min and the Malaika the Malaika believe in this the concept of peace and submission within the Quran you have Akhlaq the importance of Tawado the importance of being humbleness the evils of being stingy and so on so forth so you find that almost every aspect of our life when it comes to Ibadat we were not we were created Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says for the purpose of worship towards Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala you find that from the Ibadat the ways of worship and the mannerisms of worship taught to us by Imam Hassan al-Asqali alaihi salam we have got number one Salat Ayyamel isbua for every day of the week from the Nawafil from the recommended prayers there is a particular Salat to be recited every day of the week which Salat should be recited on Saturday on Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday these are all outlined to us by who by Imam Hassan al-Asqali alaihi salam and then we have a qunout we have the qunout of Imam Hassan al-Asqali what did Imam used to recite in his qunout in Salah these are things that connect us with our Ma'asum Imam we have for example the institution of Ziyarah that Imam al-Asqali established and you see he comes forward being in Samarra he used to encourage the people to perform the Ziyarah of Imam al-Baqir and Imam al-Sadiq in janat al-Baqir you find that Ahadith in regards to Fikr the apportionment of inheritance all these Ahadith you find for example from the teachings and the words of Imam al-Sadiq salawatullahi wa salamahu alaihi duas for every Imam for every Imam Imam al-Asqali has taught us how to recite a particular Salawat you want to send peace and blessings on Amirul Mu'minin yes how should you send peace and blessings upon him there is a Salat taught to us by him how to recite Salawat on Amirul Mu'minin how to recite Salawat on Imam Hassan and Imam al-Hussein how to recite Salawat on Imam al-Baqir how to recite Salawat on Imam al-Sadiq so on so forth the entire connection in my opinion what is needed within the Kaiba of Imam to remain connected with the Deen is found within the teachings of Imam Hassan al-Asqali alaihi salam we're going to go to a short break inshallah really looking forward to the next half inshallah join us on the next half where inshallah sheikh will be talking more on the life of Imam Hassan al-Asqali inshallah a couple of Hadith from the book inshallah join us after the break Salamu alaykum rahmatullahi wa barakatuh alaykum rahmatullahi wa barakatuh welcome back to the live Facebook we were discussing with Sheikh Muhammad al-Basbanju regards to the life of Imam Hassan al-Asqali alaihi salam inshallah we'll continue our discussion sheikhna tell us about the troubles and challenges of Imam Hassan al-Asqali Imam Hassan al-Asqali salawatullahi wa salamu alayhi his entire life for the time that he accompanied his father Imam al-Hadi salawatullahi wa salamu alayhi was filled with trials and tribulations and the role that Imam al-Asqali played was very very crucial number one in regards to protecting the faith from deviation during his lifetime and number two preparing the ummah for the ghaibah of the coming Imam and you find over here in order to prepare the people meant that you are safeguarding their faith for the future and this role was very very crucial for Imam al-Asqali because he was that final link before the ghaibah of the Imam would begin the ghaibah of his son and therefore the preparations that were needed to be done in order or the strategic steps that needed to be taken and be put into place in order to prepare the ummah to survive rather to flourish and to uphold their faith during this ghaibah this responsibility to a great extent fell on Imam Hassan al-Asqali alaihi salam and you find that the deviations that Imam al-Asqali during the time of Imam al-Asqali were numerous and the Imam despite being subjected to imprisonment within a military ghariz and a military prison with spies of the highest level from the intelligence agencies of Bani Abbas having an eye on him you find that Imam al-Asqali despite being in this situation was able to lead a revolution in terms of ensuring that this Dean of Adam Muhammad is not diluted or no deviation creeps into it and you find that there were a number of ideologies that had sprung up during the time of Bani Abbas that were actually being supported by Bani Abbas in order to deviate the people and distract them from the teachings and the leadership of Ali Muhammad Ali Muhammad Imam al-Asqali alaihi salam his leadership and his superiority was extremely visible for all the people it was something very easy to establish why through his ilm and hence Bani Abbas did everything and anything within their power to ensure that Imam al-Asqali would not have the opportunity to demonstrate this ilm towards the people and therefore they created they created and they branded and they advertised and they marketed different schools of force that would then be portrayed as the true teaching of Islam the alternate version to the version of Imam al-Asqali competitors of Imam al-Asqali if you could use that word for us to understand and you find over here for example within within this book of Shahid Atullah Hassan al-Shirazi you find that he speaks about an event that had happened with one of the individuals who had caused a great rift within the community and this was a person who was advocating Sufi teachings okay mannerisms of connecting with God they didn't come and tell you to do shirk they didn't come and tell you abandon Tauheed and go to this or that Allah they were portraying a form of Islam and the form of connecting with God the word is this connecting with Allah yani they were teaching a form of spirituality that was not endorsed by Ahlul Bayt look at how sensitive the issue is and look at how relevant the issue is today within the Muslim world Yababa leave the Muslim world within the Shi'a world we have a number of people who advocate a brand of spirituality a brand of being God-conscious by surpassing Ahlul Bayt and you find that Imam al-Asqali condemned these people why because they were causing ideological rifts within the community and ideological rift means that if you somebody becomes deviated he goes to hell and hence the imams took a very strong stance against people like these one of them was by the name of you see the imam says over here be careful of this superficial uh Sufis Sufis yani a sect that had come up that was practicing a form of spirituality having deviated from the teachings of Ahlul Bayt not every version of spirituality is the correct version of spirituality we need spirituality as per the teachings of Ahlul Bayt indeed and this is in regards to an individual known as Ahmad ibn Hilal look at the characteristics of Ahmad ibn Hilal he went for Hajj he went to on Hajj 54 times from these 54 times 20 times he went to Hajj on foot Allah religious personality comes across as being Mutaki Ahlul scholar speaks about Allah goes for Hajj on foot Imam al-Asqali says don't be deceived by the exterior he says our companions of the imam the companions of Imam al-Asqali and Imam al-Hadi they met with this person Ahmad ibn Hilal and they even recorded narrations from him that he would record or narrate on behalf of the imams before Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-Jawad so Imam al-Asqali dispraise this person through a writing and the shears were confused they said we don't believe that Imam al-Asqali would dispraise or condemn such a pious looking person who is known for hadith and this and that like today in this day and age people quote Amir al-Mu'mineen but they do tahrif of the meaning of the words of Amir al-Mu'mineen Amir al-Mu'mineen said something they distort the interpretation of the words of Amir al-Mu'mineen and somebody comes and tells you how can you criticize them speak about Amir al-Mu'mineen speak about Allah the issue is more deeper than that and look at what the imam says ibn Hilal la rahimahullah when the imam speaks about this guy ibn Hilal who has gone for hajj 54 times 20 times on feet Imam al-Asqali says la rahimahullah may Allah not have mercy on him wow meaning what when the imam says something like that he's got no hope what sin did he commit it's not a personal sin he didn't pray he didn't fast this that the sin was so grievous he deviated people from the right path what did he used to do he used to interfere in our affairs without our permission used to speak about our religion in the name of our religion without having any authority within our within our religion this is the grievous point he was branding a form of tashayyu or a form of islam benefiting from the authority of the imams when the imams not even give him that authority a person comes forward and aligns himself with Ahlulbayt portrays himself as an authority within the teachings of Ahlulbayt when he's not even an authority to begin with many we see this in this day and age as well the number of communities baba these are not new issues these are issues that exist from the time of imam al-Asqali la yamdimin amrina illa bima yahua wa yurid he says when he speaks about the religion he doesn't speak he doesn't convey our commands to the people rather he preaches his own opinion to the people and through this opinion of his a self-opinionated religion he deviated and was the reason of the deviation of a number of people somebody might come and tell you yasha akhuna does that mean there is no freedom of speech in islam when it comes to issues of theology correct there is of course there is freedom of speech but freedom within boundaries that has to be respected indeed like the way you have the freedom to use a knife yes but that doesn't allow you that you use this knife to go and stab people on the street somebody comes and stabs you with his knife and then when i condemn him can he come back and say yasha akhuna you're abusing or restricting my freedom to use a knife la if your freedom is causing harm to somebody else then that freedom is to be restricted this is something mantiki so the same way if a person is harming the ideology of somebody killing the soul which is more worthy than the body imam alaskari teaches us over here and you see that he stepped into the core of the issue and he issued a tauki a letter condemning ahmadi bin hilal so we understand from here that not only did he himself take an active step in educating the masses to be aware of those individuals who come across as being pious and scholars and leaders yet they deviate the people away from the teachings of alai muhammad and the imam expected from his shia that they would also stand up and would make the wider shia community aware of these people out of malice no out of hate no out of this one principle that you are taking people towards the fire eternal hell fire and such individuals are not any lesser than serial killers you let the serial killer loose on the street he goes and he kills everybody yes this one kills the soul not only does he take away a dunya from you takes away your akhera from you this was one of the challenges you find that even i was saying this yesterday to a number of the mu'min in mu'min out within one of the majaalish yes the famous author what is known as the sahib bukhari yes it was compiled during the lifetime of imam al askari alaihi salam and bani abbas branded him as this virtuous qualified scholar through whom islam could be understood he was marketed and branded and funded by bani abbas as a competitor to the teachings of ahlulbayt and imam al askari in particular you find he lived during the time of imam al askari there is not it was not persecuted for compiling and spreading the knowledge of rasulullah but subhanallah when imam al askari preaches the words of rasulullah he was persecuted imam al askari spoke about tauheed he got imprisoned bukhari spoke about tauheed and not sure and subhanallah you see the difference in the tauheed of bukhari and the tauheed of istaghfirullah you can't even put both these names it is the same statement where imam al askari and anybody else from the makhlukin but in any way you find over here that these were alternate authorities that were created by bani abbas who are then marketed and branded as scholars to deviate the people and distract the people from imam al askari and at the same time imam al askari has been imprisoned in samara away from the rest of the islamic umba to isolate him and his teachings but subhanallah Allah is the best of planners and you find from the divine hikmah of imam al askari his teachings spread and every corner of the islamic world so this was one great challenge that the imam tackled and ensured that he tackled during his life stopping the deviation from creeping into the teachings of ale muhammad and deviation of the shia this was one number two you find a crucial role of imam al askari alayhi salam was to prepare the people for the ghayba of his son maulana sahib al amri wa zaman salawatullahi wa salamhu alayhi this was going to be the most sensitive and the most fragile time for the shia umma the beginning of ghaybat is sohra is a very very fragile time there are important phases make or break phases within shia history one of them is this beginning point of ghaybat is sohra and another one is the beginning point of ghaybat al kubrah each one of them have their own particular challenges and if you are to sit down and analyze the challenges that the shia umma face at that time there are avenues of history that open up for you that perhaps majority of the people are ignorant said like i tell you for for true for real power we would need five nights ayam al askariya just to talk about highlights the challenges the shia faced particularly at the beginning of ghaybat is sohra and the beginning of ghaybat al kubrah just these two time frames cut these two pieces together isolate them in history and the challenges that that were there and how the people overcame these challenges you find over here that when it came to preparing the umma for the ghaybat of the imam the imam took a number of steps and you find again in this in this book by the way the event of the asufi al mutasanna and the imam's condemnation of this deviant school can be found in rijal al kisi the primary source you find that when it came to preparing the imam the imam did a number of things one strategy that the imam used the imam used a number of strategies to educate the people and to convince the people to establish their yakin and their iman in the existence of an imam after him whom they cannot have access to physically there was a number of strategies and each strategy each strategy that was implemented by the imam was in accordance to the level of iman and the thicker of the crowd that he's speaking to so depending on the crowd or depending on the type of people he was speaking to depending on the level of iman in which they were depending on the level of taqwa in which they were the strategy would be according to that it wasn't a one-fit-old solution the imam had very carefully planned out things hikmah divine hikmah selected by Allah az-zawajal you find over here that he took for when it came to the khawas those people who were at the highest level of iman the imam increased their imam by actually giving them access to see imam al-mahdi adjala Allah ta'ala farajahu sharif during his life time you have over here this is an incident which is taken from the book kamaluddin the companion says who is this companion abi ghanim who was a ghanim he was the khadim the servant of imam al-askari the servant of imam al-askari meaning that he was the most one of the most loyal companions to imam al-askari one of the most staunch companions of imam al-askari such that the imam trusted him enough to be in the household and serve the imam because the imam is administering the affairs of the entire umma while being under imprisonment so the people around him whom he chooses have to be the level of the highest level of trust he says when the 12th imam was born three days after his birth he showed the baby the newborn baby yani the imam to these close companions and he said to him haadah sahibukum min baadi wa khalifati alaykum and he is the one who will reappear when the earth is filled with oppression and tyranny and fill it with peace and justice so the strategy over here is that those people who are of the highest level of imam they have seen the imam with their eyes and it was now their responsibility to go down to the people of lower faith lower level of imam and to give them that confidence and that yakin that the imam exists even though you cannot see him taib why did the imam just take the imam al-askali just take imam al-mahdi to all the shia so imam this is my son is the imam after you because amongst those who are weak there is a possibility that they would go to bani abbas and they would expose this great secret because keeping the birth of imam al-hujjah hidden was one of the greatest tasks of the imam bani abbas were hot on their heels looking for this newborn baby so that they could kill him and then you find over here that in another hadith the imam says to the people musab nijaafar ibn wahab al-bakdadi he comes from bakdad imam is in samarra he says samayatu aba muhammad al-hasal imni ali yakul ka-anni bikum it is as if i'm with you it is as if i'm with you and i can see how you are disputing and have differences yani your unity as shia is shattered while you dispute over who is the imam after me imagine the extent of the fitna the shia umma are in dispute over who the next imam is you get how fragile and sensitive that time is and then he goes on to say the one who rejects the wilaya or the imam of my son after me is like the person he's like the same person who has attested to the imam of all to the who has attested to the nabua of all the ambia and rejected the nabua of rasulullah and then this is the point before we end the show he says amma ah indeed for my son there is an occultation there is a ghaiba in which the hearts of the people will be tested people will reach a level where they doubt the existence of the imam because of this ghaiba in brackets because it was understood is that it is an empty hand through which people will fall into misguidance except those whom Allah has protected and therefore you find from this hadith for us to take a practical lesson from the life of imam al askadi alaihi salam ourselves brothers sisters my respected parents pray and pray and pray for the safeguarding of your faith and the faith of your children particularly safeguarding the wilaya of ahlul bait today i could be a believer in ahlul bait tomorrow i could turn out to be an enemy of ahlul bait i could be a believer of imam al hujja today while i become an enemy of imam al hujja tomorrow the salamah and the safeguarding of the faith is the most important thing our belief in imam al hujja in the ghaiba person may not verbally negate the existence of the imam but negates the existence of the imam through his actions how convinced are we that the imam exists and is watching over us and is going to reappear for what goes the imam is going to reappear what does the imam expect from us in the ghaiba this connection with the imam and keeping on the right path during the ghaiba is something that needs to be of the highest priority as shown to us by imam al askalia ascent thank you very much sheikh now and thank you for our views for joining us inshallah we'll be back on the next episode of the live facebook where the sheikh will do another discussion from a book with hadith from a book inshallah we see then salamu alaykum rahmatullah