 اسم الله احضر احما نطحي الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلاة شرف الانبياء والمرسلي المستفى صلطا صل الله عليك و عقب يا رحمة الله الواسعى بنجات العمال و النهوز فوز عظي قال الله تعالى في كتابه الكريم اسم الله الرحمن الرحيف النهوز كما نمثل الغلومات ليس بخارج منها كذا رحمة والمودي احنا بيت حبيه والسلام الله مسلم عليك الله مسلم عليك one of the greatest blessings of Allah سبحانه وتعالى upon the human being while Allah gave the human being to make the human surpass all other creation and be above all other creation is the power of the intellect that Allah gave gifted this human the power of reason the power to critically analyze and think and ponder and with that الله سبحانه وتعالى further blessed و لقد كرونة بني آدم الله honored the human being by giving him the power to choose the power to choose right from wrong one of the blessings of Allah سبحانه وتعالى upon us إنه هديناه السبيل اما شاكرا و اما كفورا الله says we have given you we have shown you the way either you want to live a life of Imam al-Hussain a life like Imam al-Hussain or you can choose to live a life like the life of Yazid there's no force it makes iman very important this is what gives value to faith otherwise if I'm forced in believing if I'm forced to pray if I'm forced to do whatever I have to do then what's the value of that faith what's the value of that worship if I'm forced to pray then what's the value of that prayer Allah if he forced me to pray if he forced me to become a Muslim if he forced me to do everything that I'm supposed to do then that means that faith has no value here during the days of Imam al-Hussain we learn about choice and how we have the choice and we have decisions to make and it's the decisions that we make that either raise us or make us fall Imam al-Hussain on the day of Ashura it was an issue of choice there was a group of people 73 men that chose to stand with the oppressed Imam of their time and on the other side there were 30,000 that stood to kill the Imam of their time and watch the Imam be butchered it's all an issue of choice sometimes it's difficult to make a choice in life sometimes making a decision regarding some issues it's very difficult but ultimately we all have to make a decision and ultimately we are all headed to Allah SWT and how I meet Allah what will happen to me after I meet Allah my reward or my punishment will be determined based on the choices that I made in life our goal is Allah SWT يا أيها الإنسان إنك كادحا إلى ربك كدحا فملاقيه you are striving towards your lord and ultimately you will meet your lord يزيد مهز lord Imam al-Hussain but how did they meet all striving to Allah SWT but how are we going to make that choice how are we going to make those difficult decisions in life الله سبحانه وتعالى فردر بلس the human being الله did not just give us the intellect and give us the power of choice الله سبحانه وتعالى sent signs الله sent signs to show us the way just like when you are driving you need the signs to follow the way or else you will get lost there are signs that show us the way and the greatest of the signs that show us the way الله سبحانه وتعالى is the messenger of Allah and the Imam of our time and every time there is an Imam there is a leader that connects us to الله سبحانه وتعالى that shows us and takes us to the path of Tauheed and without that Imam even the simplest of issues even the concept of Tauheed it will be shaky because the Imam there is a direct correlation between Imam and Tauheed there is a direct correlation between believing in الله سبحانه وتعالى and following the Imam of our time and following the Imam of any time following the Imam that الله سبحانه وتعالى has appointed for us this is why it is very necessary in order for me to be on the right track in order for me to reach الله سبحانه وتعالى on the right path know the Imam of my time I have to know the Imam that الله سبحانه وتعالى has sent for me because if I do not know the Imam then my faith will be shaky الله says وَأُنِ الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ the same order that tells me to obey Allah it tells me to obey the prophet and the same order that tells me to obey the prophet tells me to appoint the أُنِ الْأَمْرِ the leader that الله سبحانه وتعالى has appointed for me therefore the Imam is connected with الله سبحانه وتعالى the Imam is connected with Tauheed and if I do not follow the Imam that الله appointed for me there is going to be a problem with my Tauheed and this is why we see numerous traditions we see numerous narrations of أهل البيت عليهم السلام عن إمام الباقر عليهم السلام this is a hadith narrated by جابر بن عبد الله الأنصاري the Sahabi of رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله he says إنما يعرف الله عز و جل the only one that knows Allah ويعبده the one who knows Allah the one who has reached the level of معرف أه and the one who worships Allah the way Allah orders him to worship him is the one من عرف الله وعرف إمامه من أهل البيت the one who knows Allah and knows the Imam from the أهل البيت عليهم السلام he says ومن لا يعرف الله عز و جل ولا يعرف الإمام من أهل البيت فإنما يعرف ويعبد غير الله and then he says and the one who does not know Allah and does not follow the rightful إمام that Allah صبحانه و تعالى has appointed for him this person is worshipping other than Allah صبحانه و تعالى إمام he says يقول الله تبارك و تعالى أو من كان ميتا فأحييناه وجعلنا له نورا يمشي به في الناس someone is dead الله gives him life and Allah gives him a light so that he can see clearly and then الله says there's another person كمن مثله ليس بخارج منها and then there's another person who's living in darkness he cannot see his way imagine walking without light imagine trying to find directions imagine trying to navigate without seeing how difficult will that be you will be walking walking in the darknesses ليس بخارج منها and never will he leave from that darkness the imam says أو من كان ميتا فأحييناه the one who is dead is the one who is ignorant the one who does not know the leader that brings him to Allah صبحانه و تعالى وجعلنا له نورا يمشي به في الناس we gave him a light so that he can walk so that he can see clearly he says this is the imam of the Ahlul Bayt عليه السلام this is the prophets that Allah sent this is the imam that Allah appointed he is the one who shows us the path he is the one who shows us the way and of course this is not something very strange we see narrations that all Muslims accept رسول الله صلى الله عليه و آله he says he says in a hadith من ما تولم يحرف إمام زمانه ما تميتة جاهلية he who dies without knowing the imam of his time dies the death of the pagans meaning that every time there is an imam and everyone has to know the imam of their time or else their faith there is going to be a problem of their faith now my dear brothers and sisters do we know the imams of our time in order to reach Allah we are supposed to know the imams do I know the imams do I know the life of the imam do I have معرفة of رسول الله do I have true معرفة of أمير المؤمنين do I know imam of Hussein عليه السلام many of us we only know imam of Hussein the last few days of his life the last day of his life that's all we know about imam of Hussein we don't know anything else about the imam and we know a few stories when he was a child with رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم imam of Hussein's imam it lasted for 10 years what do we know what roles did the imam have and this is a very important issue because if I do not know the imam then it will be very difficult for me to reach الله سبحانه وتعالى we have to strengthen our معرفة know the imams know our leaders know that our leaders that Allah سبحانه وتعالى appointed for us because they are the path that bring us to Allah سبحانه وتعالى there are some people they don't know they are very confused about the imams of their time about the imams because Allah سبحانه وتعالى has appointed for them or we only know a few stories and we confine the imam to those few stories there are some people you ask them tell me about Ali ibn Abi Talib the only thing they know is that he was a brave man is this all amirul mu'mineen was are we just going to confine him to a soldier this man who was مدينة علم he was the door of the city of knowledge of رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم are we just going to confine him to one or two stories that we know about the imam or for example you see some people they say امام الحسن he was a peaceful imam he was an imam that did not want to cause bloodshed but Imam Al-Fasayn on the other hand he was a revolutionary imam is this a true معرفة of the imam no the imams we believe that they all were sent by الله سبحانه وتعالى and they had a mission that Allah سبحانه وتعالى gave them and Allah says in the Qur'an وجعلناهم أئمة يهدون بأمرنا وأوحينا إليهم فعل الخيرات وإيطان الصلاة وإيطاء الزكات وكانوا لنا عابدين الله gave them a role لكي يجب أن يجدون أقوى المعرفة إمام الحسين عليه السلام يهدون بشكل مهم حيث يهدون إمامه during those 10 سنوات اليوم أريد أن أتكلم بشكل مهم أول مهم that the imam had and of course all of the imams had is that they were the exemplary monotheistic figures they were they were the proponents they were advocating توحيد and this was the mission of رسول الله and this was the mission of all of the prophets that Allah sent and this was also the mission of the imams they called for توحيد at times where people were confused about الله سبحانه وتعالى you see that it was the imam who stood forth to clear up the confusion that there was in the people's minds you see in دعاء عرفة one of the most beautiful دعاء of the Ahl al Bayt عليه السلام one of the most beautiful دعاء and it is a دعاء إمام الحسين عليه السلام in that beautiful دعاء إمام الحسين he answers some of the great conceptions that many people have regarding Allah سبحانه وتعالى there are many Muslims that don't even know Allah there are many Muslims that worship a God that they have created in their own minds and we will come to it later on إمام الحسين عليه السلام he answers this you look at the imams of the Ahl al Bayt look at دعاء كومين you won't find توحيد like the توحيد of أمير المؤمنين in دعاء كومين you won't find devotion and worship today some people they go to Sufis and they go to others to try to find some type of spirituality you don't need to go far go and open the book of دعاء مفاتح الجنان go and recite دعاء كومين recite دعاء عرفها إمام الحسين عليه السلام where he starts off speaking to Allah سبحانه وتعالى acknowledging who his Lord is acknowledging who he is worshiping الحمد لله الذي ليس لغضائه دافح ولا لعضائه مانح ولا كصنعه صنع صانح وهو الجواد الواسح فطرأج ناس البداع beautiful words the imam describes Allah سبحانه وتعالى and the blessings of Allah and then the imam he goes and speaks about the physical body of the human being he says oh Allah you created me you created me I had bones these delicate bones you were the ones who created and then you placed flesh on those bones and then you put skin on that to protect me from the heat and the cold weather the imam goes very deep describing the creation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and then the imam he answers one of the most important questions that anyone can have in this life and this is a question that many people have proof to me that Allah exists where is the proof for Allah سبحانه وتعالى this is a question that many people ask I need to see proof I need to see a sign that Allah سبحانه وتعالى exists the imam he answers this in a very beautiful way he says كيف يستدل عليك بما هو في وجوده مفتقر عليك how can you bring someone something that take proof to prove the existence of Allah when that thing in its essence is question everything that we see has a beginning and it has an end and when something has a beginning and it has an end that means it is contingent and Allah سبحانه وتعالى is the absolute Allah is وجب الوجود Allah was there when nothing else was there so how can I use something to prove Allah سبحانه وتعالى Allah he is the proof he is the absolute ها يكون لغيرك من الغهور ما ليس لك is there something else that is more visible than you of Allah سبحانه وتعالى is there something that stands on its own where I need to use it to prove the existence of Allah سبحانه وتعالى if I want to say the sun proves Allah's existence the sun there was a time that it was not there and there's a time that it's not going to be there if I want to say that human being is a proof of Allah the human being there was a time that the human was not there and there's a time that the human will not be there so how can I prove Allah when everything is contingent upon Allah سبحانه وتعالى and then he says oh Allah this is a silly question for someone to say let me see Allah because when did you disappear when were you away that you need someone to navigate us towards you and then he says when did you go for that we have to look for traces to bring us towards you only the blind cannot see Allah سبحانه وتعالى because Allah although he is not seen through the senses the heart sees Allah سبحانه وتعالى it is the heart that sees Allah and this is what the imams of the Ahl al-Baik taught us we study the lives of the imams we see that they invited people towards Do'heed they called people to worship Allah سبحانه وتعالى in another event the Hadith says خرج الحسين بن علي على أصحابه فقال أيها الناس إن الله جل بكره ما خلق العباد إلا ليعرفوه Allah سبحانه وتعالى created the human being for what so that they know Allah سبحانه وتعالى so that they can reach the معرفة of Allah because when they know Allah فإذا عرفوه عبدوه if they know who their Lord is then they will worship Allah سبحانه وتعالى just like أمير المؤمنين علي ابنى البطالب he says there's three types of worshippers there is one who is the worship of the slave this person is afraid of Allah so he worships Allah and then there's another person who is like the worship of the merchant this person he hears about heaven he hears about the paradise he worships Allah so Allah gives him paradise and then he says and there's a group of people who have reached the معرفة of Allah they know Allah and when they know Allah they know Allah is deserving to be worshiped because he is my creator he is my provider to him I will return therefore there's nothing wrong with humiliating ourselves and humbling ourselves to Allah سبحانه وتعالى but yes there is something wrong when I humiliate myself and humble myself to others but not to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and then he says فإذا عبدوه once people begin to worship Allah استغنوا بعبادة عن عبادة ما سواء once they worship Allah then they will become liberated then they will become free because if I'm not worshipping Allah then I'm going to be worshipping shaitan and there's no other answer if we are not worshipping Allah then we are on the way if we are not worshipping Allah then we are on the path of shaitan because there's only one path there's only one حق and everything else is battle some people say no I don't worship anything I don't worship a religion yes you might not worship a religion but in fact you are worshipping yourself you are worshipping your desires and Allah says when I worship shaitan when I begin to worship my desires when I want to go out when I dress the way I want to dress when I speak to people the way I want to speak to people when I legalize killing and oppressing other people that means I'm worshipping my desires and that means I'm worshipping shaitan so there's only one path to be saved and that is worshipping Allah سبحانه وتعالى so this is the first role that the imam had the second role that the imam had was that he guided people towards the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen his father Ali ibn al-Pitan صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم and when someone is guided towards the leadership and the willaya of Amir al-Mu'mineen in essence this person is guided towards Allah سبحانه وتعالى because Amir al-Mu'mineen leads to Rasul Allah and Rasul Allah brings us to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and this is why in the verse in Surah Al-Fatiha we say guide us to the straight path so when the imam guides people to the path of Amir al-Mu'mineen he is in fact guiding them towards the سرات المستقيم why? because we say اهدن الصراط المستقيم صراط الذين انعمت عليهم guide us to the path of the ones whom you have blessed with your نعمة who did Allah bless with His نعمة Allah blessed with His نعمة اشملت لكم دينكم و اتمنت عليكم نعمة و رضيت لكم الإسلام دينا the day the نعمة was complete upon the Muslims and the day the religion of Islam was complete was when the day of Qadir the day Rasul Allah stood and he took the hand of Ali Ibn Abi Talib and he said من كنت مولاه فهذا علي مولاه اللهم مولاه و عاد من عاداه و انصر من نصرة و خضل من خذلات اللهم صلي على محمد و علي so in essence the path of Ali Ibn Abi Talib is the path of Allah towards Allah and he is the سراط المستقيم و ان هذا سراط مستقيم فا اتبعوه لا تتبعو السبون الله says there is one سراط المستقيم there is one straight path follow that straight path and do not follow the other roads و لا تتبعو السبون فتفرق بكم the other roads they will mislead you that brings you towards الله سبحانه وتعالى so when we follow the true Imam الله سبحانه وتعالى now someone might come and say no you Shi'a's are very extreme you say you only follow Ali Ibn Abi Talib or else you won't have true Tauhid this is extremism however we see today the ones who do not follow Ali Ibn Abi Talib go and ask them to describe the Lord that they worship go and ask them الله سبحانه وتعالى they will tell you Allah has a body they will tell you using verses of the Quran وجوه يوم إذن ناظرة إلى ربها ناظرة today there is a big group of Muslims that say on the day of judgment there is going to be a group of people the people of paradise they will be able to see the face of Allah سبحانه وتعالى because Allah says وجوه يوم إذن ناظرة إلى ربها ناظرة taking the literal meaning of the Quran and there is a hadith I was reading it today it said that a fabricated hadith of course we do not accept that one day there was a full moon رسول الله was looking at the moon and then he told the Muslims you will look at the face of Allah in paradise on the day of judgment Imam صادق عليه السلام he was asked about this he was asked will people truly see Allah on the day of judgment in paradise will the mu'mineen see the face of Allah the Imam he said it is very sad that someone lives on the land of Allah and he eats from the food that Allah has given him and he drinks from the water that Allah has given him and everything that he has is from Allah yet he does not know the Lord that he worships Allah says in another verse there is nothing that resembles Allah Allah does not have a physical body but you see the ones who do not follow who do not take their tawheed from the Ahl al-Bait a group of them not all of them but Allah has a body so here you see there is a problem with the tawheed and ironically who are the ones who are accusing the Shi'as of being مشرك who are the ones that are accusing us of being مشرك why? because we go and stand in front of the grave of Rasul Allah and we say السلام عليك يا رسول الله and this means that we are worshiping رسول الله and the Ahl al-Bait we worship Allah it is Rasool Allah and the Ahl al-Bait that direct us and guide us towards Allah سبحانه و تعالى you see that it is those groups that accuse the Shi'a of being مشرك they are the ones who in essence they are God that they are worshipping is like a Greek method like a Greek God you know the Gods that in Greek methodology they talk about and this one does this and that so we see that it is necessary to it is necessary to know the Imam of our time because the Imam connect us with الله سبحانه و تعالى and because of that he would guide people towards the path of Amir al-Mu'mineen he would tell people to follow Amir al-Mu'mineen there were many time where Ali ibn Abi Talib was cursed on the member you see this member there were scholars there were people that used to stand for the Jum'a prayer and this was legislated by Mu'awiya until the time of Omar ibn Abdulaziz so it took on for many years 80 years the khateeb he would stand on the member in order for his Salat al-Jum'a to be complete he would curse Ali ibn Abi Talib what does Imam al-Hussain do during that time he stands and he praises Ali ibn Abi Talib because this is what رسول الله سبحانه و تعالى واله did and he said mentioning the merits of Ali ibn Abi Talib is a form of worship why because when you mention the merits of Ali ibn Abi Talib you're not going to follow the enemies of Ali ibn Abi Talib and you're not going to follow the group of people that killed the Ahl al-Bait and today they're causing bloodshed those are the enemies of Ali ibn Abi Talib go and read go and do as much research as you want you won't find someone who loves Ali ibn Abi Talib who considers himself a follower of Ali ibn Abi Talib that goes and kills innocent people that goes and shoots innocent people who are in a mosque in a Hussainiyah people that are worshiping people that have not done anything wrong he goes and he kills them where do you find these people where do you find these people like Daesh, like Alqaeda, like Taliban where do these people come from are these the followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib are these the ones that cry for Imam Hussain Ali ibn Abi Talib no these are the enemies of the Ahl al-Bait so this is why when you mention the merits of Ali ibn Abi Talib you're not going to become a terrorist and of course I'm not saying all of the people who do not mention Ali ibn Abi Talib go and become terrorists please do not misunderstand me but the group of people that have hatred towards Ali ibn Abi Talib yes they do become terrorists the Nawasib the ones that hate and have hatred towards the Ahl al-Bait so this is why Imam Hussain Ali ibn Abi Talib so this is why Imam Hussain Ali ibn Abi Talib he mentioned the merits of Amir al-Mu'mineen and one thing that he did was that he named all of his sons Ali and all of his daughters he named them Fatima and there is a saying that Ali ibn Abi Talib said if I had a thousand sons I would have named them Ali and you know why Imam Hussain was killed it was because he was the son of Ali on the day of Ashura Imam Hussain he told them have I oppressed you have I done anything to hurt you have I stolen from you what have I done to you why are you all fighting me why do you all want to kill me they told him they told him نقتلوك بغضا لأبي we kill you because of our hatred towards your father Ali ibn Abi Talib and until today you see their sons and their lineage where they have hatred towards Amir al-Mu'mineen and the followers of Amir al-Mu'mineen another role that Imam Hussain had was that he exposed Mu'awiya he exposed Mu'awiya and he let the world know who Mu'awiya was he says he sent a letter to Mu'awiya he tells him I don't know any conspiracy any disaster that has fallen upon the Ummah like that where a man like Mu'awiya takes power and he leads the Ummah Mu'awiya he killed tens of the Sahaba hundreds of the Sahaba and the battle of Safeen thousands of Muslims were killed many of them were Sahaba it was a battle that was waged by Mu'awiya he killed some of the noblest companions of Rasulullah and then today we the Shias are accused of attacking the Sahaba go and look at what Mu'awiya did he killed some of the most important Sahaba this was one of the roles of Imam al-Hussain and another role and finally Imam al-Hussain علayه السلام أخبرت الناس أخبرت الناس و this was of course Allah but you see the beautiful the beautiful the beautiful they say that on the day of Imam al-Hussain علayه السلام as the wound were getting thicker and thicker on his body it did not make him away it did not distract him from remembering Allah his face was glowing they say if you men they came to kill Imam al-Hussain after he had fallen they came to kill him they saw that his tongue was moving his body cannot move his body is broken his body is filled with wounds they say that there was a thousand wounds on his body they asked Imam al-Hussain علayه السلام how can it be for someone to have a thousand wounds on his body he replied he said it was the same spot that was struck more than once but despite all of the pain despite all of the agony that he was going through Imam al-Hussain during those last moments they say his face was glowing and his tongue was moving remembering Allah after he fell from his horse the narrators they said we heard him reciting Imam al-Hussain علayه السلام he shows love during those final moments he teaches people how to connect to Allah and have spirituality he teaches people how to connect to Allah and have spirituality he teaches people how to connect to Allah and have spirituality he teaches people how to connect to Allah and have spirituality even in the most difficult moments and in one other دعاظ Imam al-Hussain دعاظ عرفه he says a very beautiful statement he says he says there are many distractions that bring us away from you when I start to think about something to prove your existence this is in fact a distraction let me do something فجمعني عليك بخدمة انتو صلوني عليك let me do something so that I can serve you in the best way possible let me do something so that I can reach you in the best form possible الله سبحانه وتعالى امسرد دعاظ امام al-Hussain by granting him the Shahada on the Day of Ashura and this was the ultimate sacrifice this was the best form of worship the best form of عبادة and the best way to reach الله سبحانه وتعالى on a night like this we remember how Imam al-Hussain departed from Medina the city of Rasool Allah صلى الله عليه وآله صلى الله عليه وآله after news came that Imam al-Hussain after news came that Yazid had took power he ordered for the governor in Medina to take bay'ah from Imam al-Hussain عليه السلام and Imam al-Hussain he cannot give bay'ah to a man like Yazid so he tells him I cannot give bay'ah and I refuse to give bay'ah to a man like Yazid but he realized that his days in Medina were over he goes to the grave of Rasool Allah صلى الله عليه وآله he begins crying this is the final time that he visits his grandfather Rasool Allah he begins crying he says يا جد يا رسول الله you know what has happened to me they want me to give bay'ah to a man like Yazid I cannot do that رسول الله he tells him Imam al-Hussain he sleeps for a moment over the grave of his grandfather Imam al-Hussain رسول الله رسول الله رسول الله ينقفاك وانت مع ذلك عقشان ولا تروع يبوتشرد in the land of Karbala نلك عند الله I reached that position except through martyrdom Imam al-Hussain he said his farewell to his grandfather Rasool Allah then he went to the grave of his mother فاق يقول you used to always in times of difficulty go to his mother's grave who he lost to now he has to say his farewell as he is leaving مدينة Imam al-Hussain he takes the caravan with him this was one day when Imam al-Hussain left مدينة all of the men, the women they were all together however in Islam ويد بشود نحض لم he enters مدينة and he begins morning وطلا بالله وإنا إليك راجع