 When Imam Hussein A.S. left his hajj going towards the holy city of Karbala or would become the holy city of Karbala, it's as if he left one sacrifice to go towards another. It's as if he left one service in the way of Allah SWT to go towards another instead. And this poem talks from the perspective of Imam Hussein A.S. As he compares his sacrifice that is going to come to the sacrifice that he left behind, knowing that his day has come, the day promised to him by his grandfather the Holy Prophet peace be upon him. He says, now my day has come and I have no one. Is there anyone to come and help me? I am Hussein of the five on the last of the fifth. Today I have lost so much toward Yazid's wrath. From the grief that races in me I am out of breath but know that I can't give up until I embrace death. I look right and left. There is no one left and no more have left to come and help me. I stand as one in Karbala and stand before me 70,000. I stand as one and stand before me 30,000. From the size of their army my daughters are frightened. I am with the truth and yet I am left abandoned as if to be killed lonely. I am destined. I look at the tents. My sister laments crying where are they to come and help me. I stand as a mountain and as lonely as its peak. I call out Zuhair and Borel, wishing they would speak, seeking to support me. My tears like rivers they leak, wishing for warmth I place my cheek against John's cheek. Habib where are you? Wahab has gone too. Why don't you return to come and help me? I wish that the son of today had not risen. By how many things today have I been shaken? Just as the earth shakes when upon it something has fallen, the fall of my brother, it left my back broken. No one understands except these stained stands. I'd give him my own hands to come and help me. My eyes they yearn to see my grandfather Muhammad. I knew one that looked like him, to the swords he was fed, yearning to see my son once again. I look ahead but I can't recognize his body from the blood that he's bled. That is not Ali. Where is his beauty? His wounds they prevent him to come and help me. I look up at the son that perches in the sky. Oh son you've made me so thirsty that even tears I can't cry. Why does the river not rise up and quench us? Why does the river not rise up and quench us? Why I am strangled by the air that itself is dry? All I see is heat as with death I meet. Is there no water to come and help me? I have a pain and I swear that this pain stops time. I have a six months in my arms. I have a six months in my arms. Tell me what was his crime? His eyes so lifeless that in them I can see mine. Oh Allah I have lost too much for one lifetime. My heart into two rips as blood from his lips drips. Where is the grave digger to come and help me? The house of God, health captive here in Karbala. My daughters they run around me, strangled by their fear. When the limbs of this house from its body they tear, they will find the head of Hussain raised upon a spear. The Ka'ba shall fall as its women call. Where are the angels to come and help me? Where are the angels to come and help me? Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa alaikum. Peace be upon you. I am so honored to be here today in the holy city of Karbala presenting to you from this holy city. As I mentioned earlier, Insha'Allah will be our intention and our honor to try and bring you the atmosphere that we feel me and my guests here in the holy city of Karbala. As we know all of you are lamenting the tragedy of Marwan-e-Sain all of you are pulling up the black cloths and holding Mujalis in honour of Marwan-e-Sain and Islam wherever you are. Insha'Allah I hope that me and my respected guests we will be able to do an ounce of justice toward this amazing experience that is the holy city of Karbala and bring towards you and quench that thirst of wanting to be here in this holy city Insha'Allah. Over the next ten nights I will be joined by both Sayyed Ali al-Hakeem who will be sharing his view of recitation with us and I will also be joined by my respected guest Sayyed Ali and Nawab who we shall be discussing in Marwan-e-Sain's journey from Medina to Karbala over multiple different aspects. And as we know the day of Ashura itself was a horrible day in terms of the physical manifestation of what happened in Marwan-e-Sain and Islam lost everything. And he at the same time as we know from this amazing story despite the fact that he lost everything on that day despite the fact that so many of his family were killed despite the fact that he himself was killed and he even lost the battle it was him who succeeded. And Insha'Allah today we are going to be examining and asking ourselves about the story of Ashura and its path to success and what we can learn from it. I am going to be joined today by Sayyed Ali Nawab. Thank you so much for joining me today in this holy city of Karbala. So before we begin just tell the viewers and tell us what it feels like to be here in the holy city of Karbala during the 10 days of Muharram. Dear respected viewers and guests of the Imam Hussain TV welcome to the land of Karbala. It is an honor as my respected brother Nouri has said before me it's truly an honorable experience. The atmosphere is indescribable. I mean you won't be able to describe the beauty that you're living in, you're living in part of the paradise or you are in the paradise between the holy shrines of Sayyed al-Shuhadah and Master of Martyrs, Abiy Abdullahi al-Hussain and his loyal and lawful brother Abul-Fadr al-Abbas, alaykum al-salam. Alhamdulillah Allah has granted us once again to be amongst the zuwara and the pilgrims of the grave of Abiy Abdullahi al-Hussain, alaykum al-salam. Tonight as we all saw and noticed and experienced the changing of the banner and the flag of the domes of Imam Hussain and Abul-Fadr al-Abbas, alaykum al-salam to signal the start of the months of mourning and sadness of Ahlul Bayt alaykum al-salam to start of the process of the companions of Ahlul Bayt alaykum al-salam arriving one by one to the land of Karbala and eventually arriving and leading to the day of Ashura. So I pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that first of all he accepts our deeds and deeds during these nights and inshallah that he grants us and our dear viewers to be amongst us inshallah in the future. And inshallah of course in the future they will hopefully be joining us here but for now we'll try our best just to bring the atmosphere of Karbala toward them. Inshallah I'm sure you'll contribute to that as well. So tell us before we open the topic about Ashura being a part of success just some brief anecdotes and some thoughts about the ten days of Muharram and the journey of Imam Hussain al-salam. Well as the best thing to describe the ten days of Muharram of the journey of Imam Hussain al-salam and the whole process of him rising against the tyrants and wanting to bring up or liven up the path of his grandfather Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi and his father Amir al-Mu'mineen he himself said in one of his famous sermons to the people of Madina if I'm not mistaken it says the whole reason for me rising up and confronting this tyrant and what he has done or his action has resulted into the changing the whole message of the Holy Prophet the whole of Islam, the whole of the slogans and the Sha'a'ir everything that calls towards Islam has been changed as a result of this family so the whole reason for me to call back people towards the path of Ahlul Bayt so the whole process, the whole reason or what we can summarize that the events that led to the day of Ashura was all because that the Imam wanted to reform the message that was at the time known to be the message of Islam but it was the corrupt version of Islam as Bayli Umayyad installed it amongst the Muslims so Imam Hussein rose and as a result of that it didn't please the Umayyads and they aggravated and they pushed Imam Hussein and his family until they arrived to the land of Karbala So when we talk about Ashura being a path to success as I said before if a story were to read about the tragedy of Karbala on a surface level you look at what happened on that day Imam Hussein lost everything family, friends it was an absolute horrible experience he even went through a lot of suffering himself and at the end lost his life so when someone comes forward and says you know this is a story of success, this is a story of victory as per Allah of course today we can see the fact that millions of people are coming and paying their respects to Imam Hussein that there is some sort of success there but in its simplest sense why, how can we call such a story a story of success or a story of victory? First of all, let's take a step backwards and take a small historical look on the backgrounds of the event when someone comes and says why do we have to remember historical events? because this is an event that happened more than 1,400 and so years ago or more than 1,300 and so years ago so why do we have to go back and remember this is history we are living in 2018 let's learn from our experiences now we don't need to go back and look at how people live their life or what happened in history and I come and say no history forms part of the identity of a nation a nation without an identity is a dead nation and what makes that identity part of the identity is the historical events the historical figures the footsteps or the fingerprints and the landmark inventions or the sermons or the speeches or the changes that they made into those nations so going back being as Muslims and being as followers of the Holy Quran and Ahlul Bayt A.S. we always cross reference and we take our references from the Holy Quran and Ahlul Bayt if we go back to the Holy Quran Allah SWT in Surah Ibrahim chapter number 5 verse number 5 sorry says Allah is reminding the Holy Prophet Ya Rasulallah remind your nation remind the Muslims of who? of a previous prophet and we sent Moses with our signs and our commands and oh Prophet Musa bring out your people from the depths of the darkness into light these are all references that Rasulullah was directing people to a past historical event where they a continuation of that verse where they who remind them who is the Prophet reminding the Prophet is reminding the Muslims reminding them of what? where they here Allah SWT in the Holy Quran says oh Prophet of Allah and teach them to remember the days of Allah what are the days of Allah? every day is a day of Allah but Allah SWT in the Holy Quran has highlighted some major events that has left a footmark into the history of mankind has had its effects and no one can deny these and Allah SWT says Ya Rasulallah and that process of reminding them the days of Allah and in that reminding there are signs for such as family patient and constant grateful and appreciative people here Allah SWT saying remind them of a previous Prophet Allah SWT the Creator who created everything and perfected the creation is telling to his beloved messenger Ya Rasulallah remind them of a previous Prophet and how he dealt with his nation and how his nation received his message bring out, drag your people out of the darkness of ignorance into the light so here Allah SWT saying my presence amongst you is that I my duty my responsibility is to give you from the depths of the darkness and guide you towards the light here between brackets Allah SWT says in description of inna al-Husayn al-Masbah al-Huda al-Safina al-Najat Hussain is a lantern of guidance and arc of salvation Allah SWT uses that parable to describe the position of Imam Hussain and we are living the days and nights of Imam Hussain al-Salam so what are the days of Allah as I said every day is a day of Allah because Allah created day created night but there are specific days there are specific events that Allah SWT once previous prophets and specifically Rasulullah to remind the ummah for example the days that new development take place in the course of evolution there is a specific event that differentiates the course of Allah's creations for example the six days that Allah created the heavens, the earth this is one day or a period of geological terrestrial changes these are days of Allah why? because there are these are specific events that leave exactly there are for example rise and falls of nations when a nation rises that affects the nation and that leaves marks because it significantly changes how people live and the fall of that same nation Allah SWT says Ya Rasulullah remind them of the people of Musa al-Salam because people of Musa at one time they were the very lowest where Firaour was depriving them of their rights and then once they obeyed Rasulullah at that time which was Prophet Musa, Allah raised so the rise and fall of nations is again a day of Allah SWT the intermediary stages of their resurrection day that is a very important event as well this is one of the day of Allah life hereafter Day of Resurrection is one of day of Allah SWT and again days of torment where Allah SWT brings down his adab upon some people for example the destruction of people of Aad and Thamud that is again a day of history for people to remember the companion the elephant these are events if we go back and look these are events that has important marks in the history very crucial for our time today and we learn what happened in the Ashab al-Feel how they try to attack the house of Allah SWT and Allah protected that means that anyone that wants the protection of Allah SWT has to be in the path of Allah SWT for example the birthday of the holy prophet the birth and the migration of the holy prophet the battle of Badr which is a significant day for the Muslims and the rest of Ahlul Bayt and specifically the day of Ashura because the day of Ashura was the manifestation of all the signs that were in which were for example I call it the Hussaini Conquest al-Fathah al-Hussaini or the Hussaini dignity Imam Hussain showed people how to be dignified on the day of Ashura exactly and the fact that Imam Hussain on the day of Ashura showed people the real meaning of values and their rights so hence a historical background and the importance of remembering the day of Ashura and why the Shia the Muslims and non-Muslims some people hearing us today they might be saying okay I know this is something to do with the Muslim calendar or the Shia they've lost one of their loyal imams or their loyal figures and they sit down and remember him but when you say non-Muslims I say non-Muslims because this Imam Hussain in his revolution did not revolt only to save and protect the Shia the followers of Amir al-Mu'mineen or only the Muslims the followers of the Holy Quran and those who say No Abiyab Allah al-Hussain and before him the Holy Prophet brought the message and their message was a worldwide message for the whole of humanity for the whole of mankind and he wanted to save mankind from the depths of the darkness into the light has a very beautiful saying on the day of Ashura when he speaks to the army of Amir al-Mu'mineen he tells them if you're not Muslims if you don't practice Islam and you don't believe that there's a hereafter and that there is a day that Allah is going to judge you then be free in this world at least be free men and women in this lifetime act like a noble free man a free man is noble has characteristics of a free man so this is a summary of the historical background come to Karbala why we celebrate or mourn the events of Ashura you talk about Imam Hussein saying in his last few days if you don't believe in religion or their judgment at least be free in this world and as I asked you in the beginning we speak a lot about the success of Imam Hussein and what he meant to rise up for when he says he was up for freedom can you tell us what do we mean by Imam Hussein's perception of freedom in our modern day context freedom for us for example can be the freedom in the way we live in the world to sin, freedom to do what we want but at the same time that isn't necessarily freedom because there's still a slave of something so when Imam Hussein says he wants you to be free and we understand that this doesn't mean to be Muslim or to be Shi'a it means to be free what does he really mean when he says I want you to be free and from your question we sit down and remember historical events the whole reason that we sit down and remember the revolution of Aby Abdullah Al Hussein is to remind ourselves and cause a revolution within us so that we go back sometimes we see ourselves being deviated we go off track so Imam Hussein from the day of Ashura until today and until inshallah in the return of Sahaba Al-Asr and Zaman his cause and his remembrance is a cause that people come back it's a call for people to come back to the right path so when I speak about that Aby Abdullah Al Hussein instructed or called called people on the day of Ashura to be free men and women what do I mean by free and as you said being free or being slave means you are slave of something we speak about living in a land of freedom where we live but unfortunately we aren't really free they have the freedom to drink they have the freedom to do adultery and they have the freedom to cheat people as well but that's not necessary I don't see that as the freedom that Imam Hussein was speaking about at that time Imam Hussein highlighted this inshallah during the next coming nights we will speak about the characteristics of Imam Hussein and the characteristics of the enemies of Imam Hussein and what made Imam Hussein revolt against such characters because such characters they carried for example Imam Hussein says when describing Yazid when he was asked if he would pay allegiance to Yazid after the demise and passing away of Muawiyah Imam Hussein said Imam Hussein someone like me Hussein from a pure lineage the lineage of prophets and messengers we read Ziyarat Warrith we say Imam Hussein is the inheritor of these great individuals who left their mark in the history of mankind who doesn't know Prophet Adam who hasn't read about Prophet Noah and the process and the sacrifice that Prophet Noah went through so Imam Hussein coming back from this lineage why doesn't he pay allegiance to Yazid Imam Hussein is reminding us all mankind all free men and women of 2018 and furthermore I did not pay allegiance to Yazid because he carried these characteristics what are these characteristics which cause Yazid to be a slave and cause Imam Hussein to say be free meaning that Yazid wasn't free Yazid was a captive Yazid was a slave to these characteristics these were Yazid Sha'rib al-Khumour Yazid is someone who drinks Yazid qatilun nafsil muhtaramah people used to ask for their rights people used to be deprived of their freedom and they used to come and ask for their freedom Yazid without any reason used to kill them and destroy them qatilun nafsil muhtaramah Yazid used to waste time waste time valuable time which he has appointed himself to be the leader of the Muslims he has to allocate his time to see the Muslims what they need with the problems so he used to use that time from the day and from the night until the morning practicing sins basically and everyone knows and sins today and being slave of the dunya being slave of the desires and the emotions Yazid used to practice all of those listening to music until the morning being drunk dancing as a noble free man regardless of you being Muslim or non-Muslim you just meet any free man in the road and he said would you spend your days drunk until the morning whilst you would be able to go and use it in educating yourself and benefiting yourself and the society and this is not a normal person this is someone who used to call himself I am the leader of the Muslims they used to call him I think insha'Allah over the next 9-10 days insha'Allah we will really examine how it benefits us in this day and age of course at the same time we are here ultimately to remember the tragedy of al-Mustayn and to we purpose tragedy in the last 7 or 8 minutes can you please just give us a glimpse into the story of Ashura insha'Allah and how they used to receive the day of Ashura we remember the saying of Imam Rufa when he used to see the crescent of the moon citing the moon of the crescent of Muharram they narrate that Imam Rufa A.S. used to say the day of Imam Hussain A.S. has caused our eyes to be injured to shed tears and to shed blood the day of Imam Hussain A.S. has caused our eyes to be injured to shed tears and to shed blood and it humiliated our beloved which was Imam Hussain A.S. here we go back to Imam Zaman and we pay allegiance every day to Imam Al-Mahdi A.S. and we say we read this portion of Ziyarah where Imam says O Imam, O Grandfather if I was not present on the day of Ashura to come and stand and protect you protect your body protect your family today O Imam amongst the thousands and the millions of the Zubar and the lovers of Ahlul Bayt wherever they are they can stand towards the Qiblah put their right hand on their chest and say O Imam tonight the first night of Muharram I pay allegiance to you say my heart my ears, my hearing and wabasari my sight I put it for your service if I was doing anything wrong for the sake of Imam Hussain and for the sake of the beginning of Muharram I will seek repentance and I will come back to the path of Imam Hussain O Imam the first night of Muharram I pay allegiance to you say my heart my heart my hearing and wabasari my sight I put it for your service if I was doing anything wrong for the sake of Imam Hussain and for the sake of Imam Hussain and for the sake of Imam Hussain and for the sake of Imam Hussain and for the sake of Imam Hussain O Grandfather Hussain I shall lament you day and night and I will not cry for you for the sake of your mother Hussain Hussain I shall whip blood for the sake of your mother Hussain Hussra this is who This is who? This is Imam al-Mahdi. This is someone who wasn't present in Karbala. He says, oh grandfather, I wasn't present in Karbala, but I heard what happened to you. And for that sake, I will cry and lament for you day and night. But let's go back to the day of Ashura. And let's remember what Sayyida Zaynab, alaihi salam, saw in front of her. Sayyida Zaynab says, ya Hussein, yaumun ala sadr al-Mustafa, oh brother Hussein. She pointed towards the death of Abiyah Abdullah, the body of Abiyah Abdullah. She was standing here in the tell of Zaynab here. And she looks at Hussein, or a body lying there on the plains of Karbala. She says, a anta aqi, is this the body of my brother Hussein? Anta bin Walidi, I can't believe it. This is Hussein. Yaumun ala sadr al-Mustafa, one day he was on the chest of my grandfather, the Holy Prophet. Wa yaumun ala wajithara. And today, oh brother, I see you on the plains of Karbala. Yaumun ala sadr al-Mustafa, one day he was on the chest of my grandfather, the Holy Prophet. Anta aqi, anta bin Walidi, I can't believe it. I see you on the plains of Karbala, oh brother Hussein. I know how much you love our mother Fatima. I say, oh Imam, we the lovers, we the muhabbeen. We have come here tonight between your shrine and the shrine of Abel Fath. And the viewers sitting at home, and I know how much it hurts for you to see that the millions and the thousands of Zubar are here in Karbala. Visiting the shrine of Imam Hussein and how you belong to be here. I say, oh Imam, we love you. And we have affections for you the same way, ladies. And I'm carrying these love and affections for you. Sayyidi, you loved your mother Fatima. I swear upon you, for the love of your mother Fatima, look at us tonight, ya Abba Abdullah. Ladies and gentlemen, sayyids, I swear upon you, my mother Fatima, ala ma kalam taniya noor a'ili. And then she had a voice from the body of Abbi Abdullah. O brother Zaynab, come back to the camp, go back to the tents. I swear upon you, for the love of your mother Fatima, ala ma kalam taniya noor a'ili. And then she had a voice from the body of Abbi Abdullah. I swear upon you, for the love of your mother Fatima, ala ma kalam taniya noor a'ili. Sallallahu alaika ya Abba Abdullah. Sallallahu alaika ya Hussain. Sallallahu alaika wa ala akhik. Abbal fadlil abbas. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. As I mentioned, opening the show has been an honor to be sitting here and narrating to you all both the yamma sphere, the holy city of Karbala, and the lamentations and the story of Maamasin, ala salam. And insha'Allah after this show break, I'll be joined by Sayed Ali Hakim, who will be reciting some of the names for us and also some remembrance of the story of Maamasin. And Ashera, insha'Allah. And Asha'Allah. Peace be upon you.