 We extend our deepest condolences to you, our dear viewers, Mu'mineen, and Mu'minat from across the world, the Shi'a of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, al-Salam, and indeed, we extend our condolences on behalf of you all and us, to our dear awaited saviour, may Allah hasten his reappearance. And we ask Allah SWT to send his peace and his blessings upon Aba Abdullah, and upon his son Ali Ibn al-Husayn, and upon the family of Husayn and upon the companions of Husayn. We'll ask for those peace and blessings of Allah to be sent to his brother, the standard brother, Abu Fadal Abbas, al-Salam, to his dear sister, Al-Zaynab Al-Kubra, al-Salam, the mother of tragedies, and to his dear daughter, Sakina Bint Husayn, al-Salam, in the dungeon of Sham, where she passed away. And we ask Allah SWT throughout for the service that we've tried to offer throughout these nights and the tears that we've shed with you, during these nights for them to be accepted. And we mentioned that hadith from Rabah al-Salam, where he says that those tears abolish the greatest sins, and insha'Allah, may they be a means of intercession for us, in dunya and in this life and in the hereafter. Tonight we remember the individual who held that group together. We remember that individual who held that religion together. We remember that individual who for us is a source of inspiration and guidance in so many different ways. We dedicate this night to him and to his absence after he left this world, to Aba Abdullah Imam Husayn al-Salam. And we'll try to, whilst expressing the masa'ib to take a pause at different moments to see, okay, this masa'ib of Aba Abdullah, what is it that we can take to us day to day, insha'Allah, and actually apply going forward to ensure this maharam, as we've said many times now, isn't just ten days of mourning, rather a year, a ten year, a lifetime worth of change, insha'Allah. Our poetry is delivered by Aba Abdullah al-Salam. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you to the dear viewers as well. It's a heavy feeling, the night before Ashura, on the day of Ashura as well. It's a very heavy feeling. It's almost as if a weight is on the shoulders knowing and realizing that this is the moment in which Imam Husayn al-Salam would be butchered on the sands of Karbala. It's not just because he is an Imam, not just because he is the son of Imam al-Salam, and not just because he is the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, upon which all of the Muslims unanimously stood behind. And upon which all of the Muslims unanimously saw how the Prophet would treat Imam Husayn al-Salam, and only 60 years passed between that and the butchery of Imam Husayn al-Salam, that this heavy feeling is because of the manner in which he was killed, the manner in which he would plead out to them and say to them, what is wrong with you? Do you not realize who I am? Do you not realize who my family are? Do you not realize who my children are? And in the way that they were attacked and butchered, and not just, it was an issue of, look, we need to kill youth out of necessity. It was more of a hunger to kill. Revenge. And a revenge, and there was a deep passion behind the killing and the beating of the children, the beating of the women, and the burning of the tents. It's not an issue of, look, we need to take care of this situation in order to get into power. No, there was rage behind it. And that's why it's a heavy feeling remembering Imam Husayn al-Salam on the Day of As-Shu'Allah. And to understand if Imam Husayn was, of course, to stand against oppression, something that we see day to day, something that we see in loads of different varieties of oppression, and it's something that if we attend the Majalat of Aba'ab Dillah, we are giving that promise and that vow that whenever we see this oppression, whatever type of oppression will be the ones to stand up against it and may Allah give us the Tawfiq and the strength to be able to do this. But when we look at the stand of Aba'ab Dillah and we say, okay, I will stand with you against any oppression that I see in the world, it's important for us to identify these different types of oppression because sometimes it won't be as clear as a Yazid. Sometimes it won't be as clear as X, Y, and Z. Sometimes it's a lot more hidden. And it's important that we find it within us to recognize that is haqq, that is bartha. This is the truth. That's falsehood. That's where the oppression is and that's what I need to stand up against. And this oppression comes in different forms as we said, but what's scary is that sometimes we can actually be the oppressors ourselves. So whilst we're constantly searching for is there oppression here or is there oppression there, occasionally it's about getting a mirror out and saying, am I the Yazid of this situation? Am I the oppressor in this situation? And if so, how would Imam Hussein view me? For he stood against any type of oppression. So how would he then view me if I was the oppressor? So to be more concrete, many different types of oppression and if you just take three examples, political is the obvious one that comes to mind. I would stand against those who oppress Muslim or non-Muslim. Our dear Prophet ensured that everyone of different faiths was able to live together in harmony. So is it just that we look towards the oppression against Shi'as or just the oppression against Muslims? Or do we extend and say no, we don't stand for any oppression against anyone, any unjust ruler? But political is always the clear one and it's a question of are we reacting? It's very kind of factual and easy one to see. When it starts to get a little bit more in depth and where it can start to actually hurt us a little bit, is if we look at social oppression, meaning what? Loads of different meanings of this but one element, the way in which you take your community, if they're your social circle for example, are you oppressing your community? Is there oppression going on within your community? Even more closely, is there oppression occurring within your friendship circle? Is there someone in your friendship circle, maybe even a family member who is oppressing someone? And this oppression can be as significant as saying he's holding this person ransom and is going to kill him or to a much lesser extent but still as bad to say this person is making person Zed feel very, very ill of themselves or making person Y feel very vulnerable or make person X feel extremely saddened about this certain situation. This is all different types of oppression and the question is if we sit in this Majlis of Aba Abdullah, are we actually standing against such types of oppression? Or are we partnering with it? Or are we the instigator of it? If we're partnering or instigating it then how will Imam A.S. look upon to us? And that's a very, very scary thought. Social oppression, there's political, there's social, there's a third one that we want to look at which is person oppression as well. The oppression against your own soul. You have these daily fights with your soul, should I do this? Should I do that? Allah SWT gives everyone a soul, pure, clean, blank canvas. And now it's up to you how you want to play with it. Do you want to feed it with love of al-Muhammad and mercy of Allah? Or do you want to feed it with gunge and oppression and animosity and jealousy and backbiting and etc. Cancer of the soul as they're known as. That in itself is oppression. Allah has given you something and you're just trashing it to one side. So can you take the inspiration of Aba Abdullah, the stand against the oppressive ruler and regime and apply it to today? Because if not, the message is really lost. The beat of the chest is almost meaningless if you're not going to do anything. If you're not going to stand up against that person, if you're not going to stand up against your nefs and to say actually let me detach and remove and as we've said in this general theme over these past ten nights has been am I now able to remove and say forget it? Materialisticness and dunya is here, submission to Allah is here and that's where I'm going. Is it an addiction that's oppressing you? And if so, what is your Hussaini mission to fight against it? Have you battle planned? It's not going to happen overnight if you have an addiction, if you have something that is tainting your soul. It's not going to happen by just saying, I'm going to start, I make my intention, that's it, I'm going to try and solve it. It needs a battle plan. It needs something concrete. It needs for you to sit down and write, okay, this is the problem I face. This is why I need to get to. These are the steps that I'm going to take that standing up against oppression that you've inflicted upon yourself. So the lesson is very simple. Take this notion of standing up against oppression further. Don't just see it as a political thing or don't just see it as a Hussain versus Yazid thing. See it as a truth versus falsehood. See it as your own self in your own social circles. And if you can identify yourself as an oppressor in whatever format it may be, reflect but act fast. Reflect and act fast because we never know when our day is numbered when Allah SWT will say, that's it. To me you belong to and to me you will return. You never know when that moment is coming. There is a hadith from Imam Sadiq, alaihi salam, where he talks about the oppression upon Ali Muhammad and upon those, insha'Allah, us who grieve for them. And he says, the breath of the one who is saddened on our account and is grieved for the oppression done on to us is glorification. The breath is glorification and his grief for our cause is worship. Grief for the cause of Ali Muhammad for the oppression against Ali Muhammad, Imam Sadiq says, is worship. Is ibadah. Don't take it lightly. Don't take the azad lightly. Don't take the rituals lightly. This is worship. But it's worship if we understand why and we've said this many times, it's because you are reviving that message of Hussain Ibn Ali. You're reviving the message of Hussain the grandson of the Prophet. You're reviving their message which is a message that is very simple and that is the message of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in his perfect condition. So, insha'Allah, we are able to be amongst those who revere the personality of Hussain more so than just a surface level. And we can be amongst those as Imam Sadiq that says who side against those who oppressed them and grieve for those who were oppressed at that point facing up to oppression. And he takes his family and he's there at this point once all of his companions are gone, once all of his family are gone and he makes that call of Helmin Nasser and so on. He's calling, as we said, he's calling absolutely anyone but knowing that now is his time to walk towards his fate, to walk towards this moment that the angels, that the jinn, that everyone knew was gone and everyone knew that everyone was going to weep and cry upon this moment when Aba'Abdillah al-Hussain would go and fight for the cause of Islam. And this is the tragedy of Aba'Abdillah. Aba'Abdillah al-Hussain, you mentioned that when you are inflicting oppression on yourself you need to identify what it is and how to take steps to overcome that. So, within poetry as well, especially within this poem, automatically you refer back to Imam Hussain a.s. when it comes to really reviving yourself, developing yourself, seeing that inspiration within yourself, you'll go to Imam Hussain a.s. because it's such an emotional story, an emotional event, crying, weeping, increases that likelihood of being able to be inspired or opening up your heart to be inspired to do the change. And so, in the poem it says, worlds apart I search for the road from me to you, O Hussain. What veils and what worlds exist between myself and Hussain? Can one who the heart has stolen referring to Imam Hussain a.s. can one who the heart has stolen be worlds apart from his servant? Can one who the heart has stolen be worlds apart from his servant? Worlds apart I search for the road from me to you, O Hussain. What veils and what worlds exist between myself and Hussain? Can one who the heart has stolen be worlds apart from his servant? Worlds apart I search for the road from me to you, O Hussain. Can one who the heart has stolen be worlds apart from his servant? Can one who the heart has stolen be worlds apart from his servant? He who wonders the world of love I stand alone at this world's end. My eye searches for your figure so to your woods I can attend. And yet still worlds apart I stand. Even if worlds your love transcends I wish when you stood there my hand to you I could extend. Is it fair that I can't serve you? Is it fair that I can't serve you? Yet to all of my wounds you tend I wish when swords upon you pray that my master I could defend. I stand on the edge of one world crying out your name, Hussain. And my tears that drip down reshape to write your name, O Hussain. Can he whose love destroys reason be worlds apart from his servant? The poet says, is it fair that time can stand still when I'm entranced by your mention? Yet it won't go back centuries to days of your tribulation. Is it fair that you come to me? In each hopeless situation but I cannot return to you and left you there a whole nation. And you stood there amongst the dead. Hussain, you stood there amongst the dead in your eyes but death's reflection drawn in your eye the tears that soar on Hussain the world's desertion. Tell me how the eye that sees this notices me, O Hussain. How does the man that walks with death seek life in me, O Hussain? Can he whose love time strengthens be worlds apart from his servant? Though time draws us further apart fires in me if created so when my mind recalls your day I feel your pain on me waiting I see your day as clear as day or within my hand my tears tears and images they fainted as clear as I can see this hand on it with heart chase tend to tend and how your daughters are treated now it's not just your eye that saw these tragedies, O Hussain. Millions witness your day and weep beside you, O Hussain. Can he who gives many's vision be worlds apart from his servant? I live in dreams with such deep love some dreams all I see is beauty others my heart stops in its tracks and my eyes see calamity I live in dreams with such deep love some dreams all I see is beauty others my heart stops in its tracks and my eyes see calamity they see the sun on the sky perched they see the sun on the sky perched as it taunts young tongues so thirsty they see arrows thirsty for blood and swords see death as a bounty indeed I'm taunted by your love indeed I'm taunted by your love it can shape the heart as mighty yet it can tear that same heart apart and make me break down the man empty what love that gives the heart joy yet makes the eye weep for Hussain what love that gives the heart joy yet makes the eye weep for Hussain and yet both in smiles and cries all it calls for is Hussain can the cause of such emotion be worlds apart from his servant? I'll mention one last verse when veils between worlds are lifted will you hear me cry out your name? will you search for the voice that calls for its beloved and burning flame? will you forget that your suffering a soul for this voice it became so that each time it sought good deeds your message it longed to inflame will you recall those who served you? will you recall those who served you? will you recall those who served you? is that not why to us you came? oh he who needs servants please know oh he who needs servants please know my need for you is just the same my need for you is just the same when we are judged will you hear the voice that cries out oh Hussain what is judgment if we are not rescued by you? Hussain can he who holds such a burden be worlds apart from his servant? many thanks of course to Nouri Sardar may Imam al-Hussain on that day of judgment be an intercessor for us may his mother as Zahra Salamullahi alayhi be an interceder for us on that day one of the elements that we take from Imam al-Hussain that perhaps we overlook in the Masaib because of the emotion that we are in in terms of if we recognize it but we don't really draw anything from it the emotional height at that point is this at that time when Imam al-Hussain eventually is going out himself to the battlefield we need to understand the context and rationalize the context that is actually there for him we've all had a dear one to us pass away be it a grandparent, a sibling, our parents, whoever we've all had at least one experience or seen the experience of someone who has gone through this and we've seen the torment that they go through from that time where the person has passed away up until the person has buried those hours are frantic, they're almost scary you know, the feelings are just we've all been there, I don't need to explain it and the point where that all ends or tends to start to have closure is the moment when they're buried and of course we then try and rationalize what happens in Imam al-Hussain the state of mind and the control and the discipline he needed it's almost like when we say we go to an exam and we need control and discipline and focus this exam, this Imtaham was a different level a different level imagine the focus he needed despite the fact that he was having to fight against his emotions of knowing that all of his Ashab are now dead and all of those family members that could fight are dead and all unburied except his dissonant Abdullah-e-Rawih who he himself buried so that closure hasn't come to him yet so the grief that he is at this point is unimaginable no one on the face of the earth will ever have to repeat that level of grief full stop yet he's having to focus there's focus but then there's actually an element of okay perhaps he was actually lonely at this point perhaps this man stood in a land that he was not from he didn't live in he was a traveller in this land he's now in this area far far from home and usually when the tragedy befalls upon you the one place that you have solace is when you go back into your home and you can let down your steam as the phrase is be it you know lie in bed and relax and just reflect for a moment or on the couch or whatever you're in your comfort zone he's out of his comfort zone to a completely different level how does he deal with it how does he have that control that level of loneliness that he must have felt at that point is unimaginable so the question is how did he overcome this loneliness and how can we overcome loneliness ourselves when we hit that point where something so dramatic has happened how do we ensure we have that same focus that on that test and that exam that we then face and it's a very subtle point like I said we usually overlook it in the Masa'a because it's so emotional but there's a beautiful lesson to be found and of course the simple answer is Allah SWT he found this company and this reassurance in Allah and only Allah SWT that's the simple answer but Imam Ali A.S. says something very beautiful about why it is Allah SWT that it is typically to him that we go to and he says in this hadith and it it takes a few minutes even hours and days to really kind of understand this he says when you fear the creator you will escape to him and when you fear a creature you will escape from it look at the difference between the creator and the creation if there's a creation and you're in fear of a creation take a bee there's a bee's nest you're in fear of it you run away from it you escape from it but with the creator you have a level of fear with the creator that you escape to it to Allah SWT so if you have this innocence of fear of Allah SWT but you're killing as to why you fear him you fear him because of his might his power the glory that he has you fear Allah but you run towards him because his mercy is more than the mercy of a mother so where else would you run where else would Imam A.S. look towards when all of this tragedy is befallen around him and he has this mission to go on and he needs to focus and be ready for what's about to come to ensure that intention is clean throughout the whole way it's that he's got fear of Allah and Imam Ali says when you fear the creator you will escape to him so he was with Allah he was going towards Allah so similarly to us if we can instill this sense of fear of Allah SWT that moment when we stand and pray and we look down we're thinking actually what's looking bad at me what's looking back at me right now is power and glory and might and hence I submit hence I go to Sajdan and take the highest part of my body to the lowest part and I submit and by submitting I'm saying Allah I fear you but I come to you and Allah in that time of test that you give me just like about Abdullah I will hold my fear but I'll know that I come towards you and that you will help me in that moment and it's this Masaib of Imam Hussain A.S. where how he managed to overcome that sight of Aideen and Akbar how he was able to overcome the loss of Abu Fadr and hold him in his lap how he was able to overcome the arrow in the neck of Abdullah Herravi how he was able to overcome and this was the test even more so that when he is being killed he's still having to look back towards the camp because he knows what these men are about to go and do to his own daughter and sisters the Masaib of Imam Hussain A.S. doesn't end yes he's now elevated his soul with Allah SWT but he's looking back he's seeing Zainab A.S. looking on he's seeing Sayyid al-Rukhi A.S. within the tent and thinking I'm gonna have to right now just I can't do anything and what was it that he was able to do have to waql in Allah SWT that's what got him through and we ask Allah for us to seek inspiration from that moment when he gives us our tests when he gives us our tests that we have this inherent fear of Allah and hence we go towards him as for the Hadith of Imam A.S. The Masaib of Imam Hussain A.S. is where do you start, where do you end but I want to take an angle from Sayyid al-Zainab A.S. in the sense that we mentioned a couple of nights ago that she saw why they called her the mother of tragedies because right from the beginning of her life all up until the end she saw every single direct family member either be butchered on a foreign lands or struck on the head or poisoned or a door was closed on her mother or her rib broken there's every single type of Masaib for me everything culminated in one event one little scene right before Imam Hussain A.S. was to go out towards the battlefield he first said his farewells to the women and children he gets up onto his horse grabs his shield, grabs his sword just about to go out he's already said his farewell at this point in time women and children are crying for him to return but Sayyid al-Zainab is standing firm and patient and as he rides up as he starts to ride away she calls out to him one more time she says oh Hussain, oh Hussain come back to me come back to me there is one thing I have to tell you and in this is the scene which everything that she went through culminated in one scene which really represented what she was for me he says he comes down from the horse he says I've already said my farewell I'm already heartbroken and it's a situation which is difficult for me and I have to go right out towards my fate what is it? oh Sister Zainab she says I have a request from Fatima Tezahra and our mother and our mother has told us that there will be a day on a foreign land where your brother Hussain is going to be alone and he will say and then he will ride out towards his fate on that day on that moment you bring him back and you fulfill this request and she held onto this request she didn't tell anyone about it up until she saw that Imam Hussain was on the lands of Karbala was alone had already mentioned was about to ride out towards his fate what was the request oh Sister Zainab that I kiss you by the neck and I kiss you by the chest for she knew that Imam Hussain his chest will be trampled by the horses and his neck will be severed by Shimmer and so in the poem I'm going to refer back to Fatima Tezahra as she comes back to see the massacre in front of her and what happened to her dear children in the lands of Karbala she says there is no day like your day oh Hussain there is no day like your day oh Hussain I came from heavens looking for my son I found you alone by you stood no one I found you in blood burnt beneath the sun left here in your thirst son what has been done oh my grandfather your Hussain was massacred lonely I stood alone the flag of your Islam proud me the blood of my neck couldn't quench my thirst I died thirsty left crushed beneath horses my grandfather is mighty there is no day like your day oh Hussain I saw a woman tear soaked her head up one hand on his chest one hand on her rib she cradles you now she once swayed your crib a veiled lioness defending her cup mother my flowing blood apologizes to your search the pupils in your eyes explode as they left the pain of my shattered ribs creaked was burnt mother your pain your past but my pain is my present I see a lion that's all lion's fear rise up from Najaf in his eye a tip he greets his beloved head on a spear the wails of Ali Hussain's head would hit the wails of Ali Hussain's head would hit the wails of Ali presents a vessel should my death be this way I saw a trace stars fall I saw there is no day like your day one of the things that really is just very difficult to comprehend is that despite all of the tragedies that took place in Karbala despite all of the tragedies that took place in Karbala and when it asked, when Imam Sajal was asked what was the most difficult part his response is not Karbala his response is not it was the moment when my father was beheaded his response wasn't it's when Abdullah Herabiyah had the arrow in his neck his response wasn't when Imam Hussain had his own khaybah to deal with with the spear of Ali in Alakabah his response wasn't the first of the children his response wasn't the eye and mace upon Abu Fawal and the fall of Abu Fawal and the fall of the flag of Islam at that moment his response wasn't the burning sand his response wasn't all of these tragedies combined and having to deal with the burning tent his response wasn't even the moment when an orphan child had her earrings ripped from her ears his response wasn't any of that his response wasn't even putting all of those elements together his response was one word a shahm despite all of that he says the toughest part was shahm I think that speaks enough for itself into the difficulty of Al-Muhammad then how to go through after that moment the Masa'ib of Ahlul Bayt al-Aliya Muslim imagine it doesn't even end there it continues, it continues, it continues and it doesn't even get tougher and tougher and tougher Imam al-Sajjad al-Aliya says it said that he used to cry over his father Hussain ibn Ali for 20 or 40 years and whenever food was brought to him he would cry over Hussain al-Aliya and then one day his servant said to him may I sacrifice myself for you O son of the Messenger of Allah I am afraid that you will die from your grief Imam al-Sajjad replies and he says I only complain of my distress and grief to Allah and I know from Allah what you do not know verily when I remember the killing of the children of Fatima I am choked, I am choked with tears over them the words of Imam al-Sajjad al-Aliya say I'm reflecting on Karbala the dust settled burnt out by a tear through its ashes the eyes of death pay cries that break bone the dead would cries that break bone the dead wind would hear as Hussain's head is raised on a spear no hands comfort gone or all held dear by Zainab no Abbas would appear by Zainab no Abbas would appear over 72 dead bathed by the blood that was shed painted in dust that turned red as away captives are led as away captives are led we ask Allah SWT to accept this little from us inshallah we ask Allah SWT to grant us the intercession of Ali Muhammad in dunya we ask Allah SWT to allow us to be amongst those who avenged the death of Aba Abdullah and the blood that was spilled in Karbala our dear viewers we hope and pray that you have benefitted from these 10 nights of shows and if there was anything untoward that either of us have said please forgive us for this was never our intention any good that you benefited came from Allah SWT and only from Allah SWT and finally we end with this and that is once this Muharram finishes once the day of Ashura comes to an end know that is when your Ashura begins know this is when your test begins ensure this is a vaccination for you that is going to be with you for 5 to 10 years and renew it as regularly as you can ensure that you do not forget the 30th to the 40th where we remember Ashura Zainabiya for that in itself as Imam Sir Judges was the toughest time ensure you commemorate that and inshallah we ask Allah to accept all of our efforts in his way Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh