 الحمد لله الذي هدان لها ذا رما كنا لنا هددي لو لا هدان الله الحمد لله الذي أنزل الفرقان على عبده ليكون للعالمين نذيره وصلاة والسلام على خير خلق ونور عرش أفضل الأنبياء والمرسلين حبيبنا وسيدنا وسندنا وشفيعنا ومولانا أب القاسم محمد ماله الطيبين الطاهرين المأسمين المظلومين أما بعد فقد قار الله سبحانه وتعالى في كتاب المجيد وقوله الحق وهو أستقص صادقين اسم الله الرحمن الرحيم أرأيت الذي يكذب بالدين فذلك الذي يدعو اليتيم ولا يحض على طعام المسكين فويل للمصلين عن صلاتهم ساهون الذين هم يراون ويمنعون المععون صدق الله عن يلاديم صلوات الله محمد وآلي محمد كل مرحب يبقى لله سبحانه وتعالى ونعرف هذا الممنتس نهت نهتة التراجلي وعلى which Our blessed Imam has been taken from this world and the world is bereft though the Imam Zain al-Aabideen has replaced him but bereft of this great personality Hussein Ibn Ali who is the Sayyid one of the leaders of the youth of paradise and as a father as a husband as an uncle and as a man and as a leader as an Imam you find that his children were left and his family were left to wander within the plains of Karbala History says that Imam Harad Baqir A.S. was also present in Karbala He was quite young the son of Imam Zain al-Aabideen and they all witnessed this tragic event and we need to analyze it because analysis is important for us to understand for when we shed tears and lament and complain about the injustices of the world and we take them as a lesson I wish to straighten ourselves in the world today for the machinery of the Bani Umayyah that worked in 61 years after Hijra is no different than the machinery today in the sense of treachery, lying, usurpation murder, death in fact on a larger scale than ever before in history as I mentioned before more people are being killed now than ever in the history of the human race World War II they say statistically 60 million people were killed that is more than all the battles put together preceding to that so it shows the gravity of how we humans today can destroy humanity with the kind of technologies that we have at the end of the day whether it's the large size of destruction or a small size of destruction it's the quality of destruction that is really going to hold us liable just as it's the quality of construction that Allah will reward us for not in the quantity of construction the religion of Allah is based on quality more than quantity please remember that that is why Karbala Imam's army was less than 150 110, 115 all together 72 real warriors the quality was unprecedented the enemy's side had over 30,000 so we know in this world today good people are few the majority is what we call silent majority is generally ignorant but most of mankind doesn't know most of mankind doesn't know the reason most of mankind doesn't know is because when there is bad leadership the net result is ignorance when there is good leadership the net result is growth it's just the law of life so when we have good leaders they will ensure that its constituent societies grow up to be nurtured to understand the depth and the reality of why they exist and for that constituent population to rise to higher stages of existence but you will notice tyrants do quite the opposite they love to promote ignorance they love to punish people and they love to rule people by fear you will find that agents of God rule with love, compassion and hope tyrants lead by fear and hopelessness and oppression the reason is because the more myopic we are meaning the more ignorant we are the more close minded more tunnel vision we are you find that the more harsh a person becomes if you look at the right wing Christian group you look at ISIS from the Muslim group you'll find they are very tunnel visioned and they are very myopic and anyone not within their vision is damned and doomed and should be destroyed that is the way of Iblis the way of Allah is breath of knowledge broadness, inclusivity and to take humanity towards higher stations and it's with love and compassion those are the two different perspectives and approaches Karbala was on one side Imam Hussein was broad, inclusive very forgiving, very loving and very sharing and caring whereas on the other side Yazid's army was very myopic very crude, very rough very evil to the core as we mentioned yesterday that they didn't even have compassion for a six month old infant to show you how wretched and treacherous people can be I remember watching when the war in Syria started and how the people were being mutilated and killed in Iraq the same problem you look at what's happening in Yemen you see in all these countries when these wars start you see some groups are emulating exactly what Yazid and his army were doing no different 14 centuries later you would think that we are now more educated, more learned that our breath of knowledge is wider that we would be abstaining from such madness we find not only in Islam you find the right wing Christian movement which has very, very myopic ideology of what we call cleansing the system xenophobic, Islamophobic mentality it's on the rise in fact pundits are saying democracy are going to fall okay pundits are stating that the democracies of the world are going to fall there were over 80 democracies created after World War II and most of them are collapsing today leaning towards right wing extremism in the idea that fascism what we call white supremacy ideas etc etc are becoming the standard in the ways of governments today and this is no different than what Yazid was promoting in essence no different and today you find the economists who are you find 99% of the world's population doesn't have what 1% of the population owns 95% of the world's resources so 1% of the population owns 95% of the world's resources do the math and you will see where the world is going why is that? because ignorance is good for business poverty brings great profits the poorer the society the cheaper the labor the cheaper the labor the more returns you get the more profits you get so these oligarchs are now amassing billions and billions people who are millionaires now are billionaires churches that were worth 200 million dollars like Jerry Falwell's church right was in 2004 was ranked at 250 million now it's over 3 billion dollars worth because that growth in those institutions if you look at it those are the ideological centers promoting this these ideologies and then the economy is being fed by an elite few like the cock brothers who are right-wing extremists who are extremely wealthy financing all these problems in the world today there are wars where countries want to make peace they interfere and make sure treaties are broken when treaties are being signed they interfere to make sure treaties are broken so that wars can take place it is no different that when we look at why Imam Hussein I went to Karbala it is precisely to show us that this will repeat itself history is cyclical and it will repeat itself and you and I are going to be subject to the tyrannies of the past it hasn't passed us, trust me history is cyclical and we have to learn from history so that we become better in tonight's commemoration I send as we say condolences to the world and we say اعضم الله و اعجورك means may God reward us for this sadness that we commemorate for this great tragedy عجد الافات مطلسة أهراء صلى الله عليه وسلم قال that there will come a time when the world will remember my son Hussein for he has been put alone with his small entourage in Karbala but the people who will uphold his name after him will rise in such numbers that they will become that source of the revolution that Allah says و نريد أن نمن على الذين أستدقفوا في الأرض و نجعلهم أئمة و نجعلهم الوارثين it is our desire to make you oppressed the inheritors and the leaders of the world this desire by the way will come true the aradah of Allah سبحانه وتعالى is guaranteed as Allah says إنما يريد الله ليذهب عنكم الردسة أهل البيت here you read by the way here is not future it's constant desire of God constant not future إنما يريد الله ليذهب عنكم الردسة أهل البيت and Allah's desire is to purify the people of the day with the perfect purification و يتحركون تطهيره صلى الله عليه وسلم without complicating this conversation tonight when we go to Karbala and we remember موسى is going to recite the sad eulogy as we do in English he will also do it it's good to cry it's good to remember it's good to show grief but grief not with crocodile tears when you and I cry and we know that our Imam is being abused we know that his family is being abused we know Imam Zainal Abideen is being dragged city to city barefoot that his feet are burning and bleeding you and I should cry for ourselves that ya Allah these agents gave everything for me to be good am I really good I think that's very critical many a times we segment ourselves from Ahl al-Bayt thinking there are these glorified figures that you and I need to cry and praise like a mantle piece on our fireplaces and then we need to just simply revere them and have nothing to do with us it's an irony for example when you mention when I mentioned yesterday somebody doing something wrong and you say to them well would the Prophet do this what's the classic answer no but that's the Prophet you see he's infallible he's great he's chosen I am not this is exactly what shaitan wants you and I to say this way don't apply their role model ship to us they are too above us they are so far from us they are so much in this you know sanctified position that don't even pretend to follow their footsteps this is how shaitan wants us today he's such a great man don't even think about it she's so pure oh my god don't even think about hijab this is how we think I remember one time a lady said to me it's interesting same behavior same a catholic lady was saying to me why do you women wear this I went once to a I give an example went to a Jewish temple and I spoke there and a Jewish man said what is this your women are wearing I mean he looks at me he said what is this anger because he's been misinformed so I looked at him I said have you ever watched the movie moses it's from the Jewish community obviously he said yeah I said did you ask that question when the mother of moses and the women of moses were wearing that did you ask that question then he leaned back said oh yeah you're right I never thought about that I said the difference is you gave it up we didn't you don't have to go out on a limb to argue so when there was a catholic lady asking me she actually made a bit of a comment and then we got into this conversation about the hijab she said what is this your women are wearing I said you know you have the statue of the virgin Mary in your house don't you she said yes I said do you ask that question I said you know if you think modernity means less clothes then let's have a modern virgin Mary she's no no no she's sanctified she's pure she's holy I said do you see the way she dresses I said yeah I said why does she dress that way oh she's they call her the mother of God because what they mean is she's the mother of Jesus Jesus is God so they say she's the mother of God I said okay you give another appellation so she's a great woman she said very great Catholics revere Mary Mashallah like we do we're very close to Catholics in this matter we're very close to them we revere Maryam too in Allah in Allah Allah has chosen Maryam among all women of her time but she said to me but that's the virgin Mary she's too up there I said well I think you should dress like her no I said my God we do the same thing when we talk about Ahl al-Bain and the prophets oh they are too great we can't follow them they are too perfect so if they are so perfect then who do we have left to follow imperfect people you and I should follow our perfect people she said my role model is an imperfect person people say are you feeling okay your moral role model should be none other than one who is perfect in your eyes so you and I notice that when we encourage each other to say follow Ahl al-Bain don't ever none of us should ever dare say oh they are so far ahead the prophets said me and my Ahl al-Bain I like the Safina to know we are like the Ark of Noon those who got on it got saved those who didn't get on it drowned he said follow us behind us don't stay too far away from us you will get lost but don't try to go ahead of us you will also get lost so stay right behind us these conversations tonight and all these nights is for you and I to encourage each other to take one step closer to Ahl al-Bain not as lip service not just giving tears but when we do cry we say shame on me for not being as good as I should be given the fact that this great Imam gave his whole self and his family to save me I think that's where the practical application really lies often I cry and when I cry for the blessed Imam what really hurts me the most is how careless I am in my way towards Allah when I should be much better than where I am I cry for that I say shame on me how great this Imam was how much sacrifice these prophets gave to save us we owe it to them and you know it's amazing if you and I truly understand this I'll give you a simple example Adam Walsh was a young boy who was killed by a pedophile grabbed in a supermarket in America and he was killed he had it in his body was thrown in the water really sad very very tragic story the father was just he couldn't bear it the pain was horrendous this is a great great analogy that you and I should touch on and the father was in excruciating pain you know when your father your son is killed this beautiful innocent child taken away you can't even imagine the pain the child must have gone through that terror when this wicked man did what he did to this young boy right what do you do you beat yourself till you die do you cry legubriously such that you can do nothing and you become a zombie and now you stay home and you become you know depressed and then you take poison and you take drugs and you die well that is one option but that's a foolish option the real option is to say the enemy took my beloved I will not let the enemy win same like Karbala I will not let so his father John Walsh said I am going to come on television and I am going to catch the criminals America's most wanted was a show that he ran very successfully and thousands of criminals were arrested because of his work where he engaged societies to become the eyes and witnesses against oppression by which to incarcerate if not put them away permanently for criminals so notice a father refuses to let the spirit of his son die by standing on the altar of justice and promoting justice and equity and preventing more children from getting killed this is just one father to a son combine thousands infinitely more in thought is Imam Hussein in Karbala that you and I should say this sacrifice cannot be subdued I am a proponent of this sacrifice and every one of us in this room breathing, eating, talking becomes a flag bearer to say because of that we will make sure that that message never dies but how how you and I should be impeccable in character إنما أبعثتو لأوتم مما كارم والخلق indeed I was sent to perfect your moral trait you and I should practice good-خلق we should avoid the haram we should avoid as I say fault finding, gossiping when we look down on people we talk bad about people it's because we have a low sense of self-worthiness hence we're quick in finding faults in others if you and I were truly grounded with Allah and we truly understood the gift God has given us and truly understand that we have a mission in life to become better and truly understand that time is against us والعصر إن الإنسان اللي في خصر إلا الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات وتواصلوا بالحق وتواصلوا بالصب this Surah is profound it's negation followed by an exception and it's got four actions with was in it إلا الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات وتواصلوا بالحق وتواصلوا بالصب four things you and I must do for time not to destroy us because God says time by time mankind is at a loss والعصر إن الإنسان اللي في خصر إلا الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات so you and I have to say time is against us we have no time to gossip to fault find to create bickering and drama it's amazing how humans are busy listening to drama and manufacturing stories that are not true hence we get old Malakul Mot is ready to take our souls and we haven't achieved much when the Imam is saying I gave this great sacrifice should you not have kept it going should you not have understood my blood should you not have followed it's footsteps you cried every year how much change did you make زينا بلايه السلام profoundly states that that when she enters Kufa people were beating themselves she said now you will now you cry when my brother called you you shut the doors and you turn the blind eye now you will what was it that prevented you from doing what you needed to do so you let us you and I not be that where on judgment day we regret you see Yazid is mentioned in character in the Quran Muawiyah is mentioned in character in the Quran even this are you this is Muawiyah Yazid have you not seen those who belied the religion of God فذالك الذي يدعو اليتين they hold back from the orphans they keep the food away they are in love with wealth and then they do things to show off you see why Allah said look at these people they are fake but you find the Quran is saying something profound not forbid you and I there Allah says when hell is roaring إذا ألقوا فيها السمع لا شهيقا وهي تفور تكاعدوا تميز من الغيذ كلما ألقوا فيها فوج سألهم خزانتها ألم يأتيكم نذير قالوا بلا قد جاءنا نذير فكذبنا وقولنا ما نزل الله من شيء إن أنتم إلا في ضلال كبير وقالوا لو كنا نسمعوا أو نقلوا ما كنا في أصحاب السعير فاترفوا بذنبهم فصحقا لأصحاب السعير look how elegant the Quran is in Sultana Mulk he says when this raging fire is roaring and you can hear it and these people like Yazid and Muawiyah are about to be flung in hell the angels look at them and say how did you get here you must have worked hard I'm paraphrasing you must have worked hard so they are asking him ألم يأتيكم نذير didn't the warner come to you how did you end up here hell is not easy to come to they said قالوا they say that when he no he says no the prophet did come he did tell us that he is bringing the message you say but we belied him فكذبنا وقولنا and we said there was no revelation in fact إمام زينا العبيدين is in the palace of Yazid Yazid even states that again he claims his grandfather claims to have received revelation there was no revelation see same Muawiyah used to say that Abu Sufyan used to say that Abu Sufyan used to say this man Muhammad put his name even in the Adhan and I'm going to eradicate it and I'm going to efface it and I'm going to make sure that I come in between it Abu Sufyan أحيان there are people sadly today who say رضي اللهان you know I say يَوْمَنَا دَعُوا كُلَّ أُنَا سِنْ بِإِمَامِهِمْ on that day everybody will be raised with the Imam and if you consider Muawiyah to be good and you call him رضي اللهان I pray Allah raises them with Muawiyah and he must say oh my god brother yeah a man comes to me and says Muawiyah was a great man I said you really think he's a great man said yes I said I make dua in the masjid Allah raises you with him on judgment day I said and by the way I love Ali and Abu Talib I love Amir al-Mu'minin why don't you make dua Allah raises me with him there's a big difference if a man can a Mu'minin and a man can a Fahsakan لا يستعون so this Karbala when we listen to it tonight you find they were so treacherous but look what Allah is saying when they will be flung they will say yes yes we belied and when they came and told us we told them there was no revelation then they will say the following لو كنا نسمعوا او ناقلوا if only we listened and paid attention we would not be here going to hell لو كنا نسمعوا او ناقلوا ما كنا فيها صحابة we would not be entering hell Allah says فعطرفوا بذنبهم they will recognize their evils and God is furthest away so tonight as we remember this Insha'Allah we'll do a Q&A shortly you'll find that you and I should ask these ten nights that have happened and it will continue Insha'Allah will give us many more of these nights of Ashura will give us the nights of Ramadan will give us the opportunity to do Hajj and to maintain Salah five times a day and to be the flag bearers of modesty and to rise to the occasion to become good role models and to say my Imam is very close to me I want to hold on to his coattails I want to follow him I don't even want to feel the aroma of the Imam such that I start to smell like the Imam it's a beautiful aroma I want to be in the footsteps of Rasool Allah how it's not easy but I'll tell you how stop the bad behavior simple somebody gossips excuse me I don't want and stop we must all stop worshiping people let us stop worshiping people let us stop worshiping people let us stop worshiping people let us stop showing off there is no need إن الله لا يحب كل مختال فخور God doesn't love somebody showing off لا يحب كل مختال فخور God doesn't like it الله سبحانه وتعالى loves humble people خاشعين إنها لكبيرة واستعينه بالصبري والصلاد maintain patience and prayer it's difficult except the خاشعين خاشعين let's pray tonight every night Increase ربنا أتبم لنا نورنا واثر لنا my lord perfect for me my light and protect me and forgive me make me a better person but we must start to forgive let's not be vindictive when people have done us wrong if there is room to forgive quickly forgive them pick up the phone forgive forgive in your heart the minute you let go of that bala the minute you let go of that negative you'll start to become free when that freedom opens up in our heart our minds will grow and we will become bold we will become intrepid as we say we will become strong our iman will increase and we don't need to talk bad about people I don't need to put somebody down so I look good I don't need that it's in fact haram say my lord تعزي منتشا وتذل منتشا قولي اللهم مالك الملك تقتل الملك منتشا وتنزي الملك من منتشا وتعزي منتشا وتذل منتشا it is God who gives me my wealth it is He who gives me honor it is He who debases people my trust is with Allah as Imam Hussein A.S so in history you find the nature of our imam was incredible باب زين الله عبدين he witnessed they said yesterday as I mentioned after the commotion and as the imam's head was being cut the soldiers were screaming there was so much noise Imam زين الله عبدين in his swoon hears this and he opens up the tent to see his father's head on a spear and he says إنّا لله وإنّا إليه راجب that image should be ensconced indelibly into our heads and into our hearts that image of the imam looking at his father's head that image should be ensconced it should be part of our spirit every moment that image my imam saw that that tyranny I will never accept it it's like that father who remembers his son's body being cut by an enemy he says I will never forget that because of that I will continue to promote justice every single day this is the positive energy we need to bring forth for Karbala very important but you find Imam زين الله عبدين was so strong listen to what he said it's amazing when you observe by the way history very quick history you find that right after the event of Karbala you find that the soldiers started to come and telling the women get out of the tents the women refused because they knew these men are tyrants they're awful they're evil people so they started to burn the tents they lit the tents on fire this happened right after Imam زين was Shahid and his companions and they started now looting they started looting they started grabbing anything that could get from the children the women because they became incensed human behavior becomes very animalistic when it gets incensed with power this happened in New York City there was an uprising and an orphanage an African-American orphanage was so beaten up by people's rage that if you study human behavior we will lower than animals الله سل و قل و نعم بل هم أضل they are like cattle no worse human nature we can be lower than animals under these conditions and Zaynab A.S. is holding fort now that trial of Zaynab if you and I simply feel the energy of her trial keep it in the heart every single day follow Zaynab A.S. follow her mother فاتم A.S. follow her grandmother خديج A.S. who gave all her wealth to Islam people think Islam was financed by men it was financed by a woman خديج A.S. financed the entire momentum and movement of Islam she financed the holy prophets entire movement in the time when she was alive to the point where she had no money this is the grandmother of Imam Hussein A.S. these are not ordinary women when we look for spouses when we pray for children when we look at our sisters within our communities we should imagine these women and say this is the kind of woman I want let's have a standard not the one Hollywood presents us with or some glamorized system no this is the kind of woman we want let the world call us backwards we're not backwards we're advanced we're way too advanced you know why we know how to put people on the moon but we don't know how to keep families together because our systems are so broken but Islam teaches us within those parameters that even if families are not being kept at least modesty and distances should be kept for that's the bedrock of foundation on judgment day Allah will ask us the whole human race billions of us were you honest were you trustworthy did you lie did you cheat were you selfish were you kind were you loving were you giving were you forgiving these are the kind of questions all of us will be asked you and I as Muslims will be asked even more complicated questions because we've been endowed with that knowledge and Allah will expect us to be the flag bearers of knowledge and he will ask us ربك من كتارك من رسولك who who is your prophet من أمامك who is he and if you don't know then Allah will say how come you don't know when I gave you this and I gave you more than the rest of society so tonight when we remember Karbala you see that while Zaynab is standing there in chains they say it took 24 hours as they were digging graves burying the soldiers because thousands of them were killed can you imagine 72 warriors killed thousands thousands just I told you Habib and Amadair alone killed close to 60 foot 62 to 70 people by his own hands imagine compound them all there were thousands who were killed they were burying them while they left the family of the prophet to remain on the plains of Karbala Zaynab is watching this this breach of justice and I tell you there is so much to learn from this but the intrepid nature to find that while Imams are being denied their justice you find they were never ever vengeful never to the point of of losing faith but all they did was good good good I told you after Karbala Imam Zaynab in the annals of history I still cannot understand how a human being who witnesses his father's head on a sphere is able to write a compilation of du'as Psalms of Sajjad alaihi salam by which he teaches us how to reach proximity to God in such a caring way in such a loving way that you were oppressed by the negligence of people yet you care so much for people this is why Imams are so special you and I must follow that that even if people condemn us they curse us they speak bad about us we do good to them as the prophet said when somebody does bad to you punish them by being kind to them punish them for when you are kind you are subduing you are diffusing the animosity and the perpetuity of negative thoughts Imam Zaynab Abidin is standing and Hassan bin Namir is there pouring water Imam says I am thirsty give me some water and Hassan said you can't he was one of the commanders of Yazid's army he said no you cannot have it he was taunting the Imam Imam a humble, gentle, magnificent human being Hassan bin Abdul Malik as we heard when Farazdaq stood up he was trying to touch the black stone and Imam Zaynab Abidin just walks into the Kaaba everybody is silent like a buzzing sound for this agent of God the representative of Allah has entered that is the charisma Imam Zaynab Abidin had you would think he would be debased you would think he would be humiliated after Karbala his honor increased he increased thousands of times more because people were stunned by his patience this is the kind of leadership we have this is the kind of character you and I need to have Imam Zaynab Abidin is looking at her Hassan says I am thirsty can I have some he says you can't and he spills it Imam says no problem we are patient God loves the patient ones Inna Lillah Inna Ilahi Rajan we are patient you find soon after story says that Ibn Ziyad wanted to pontificate to show off hey look what we just did we just killed Hussein Ibn Ali so he goes around telling the whole world he sends an Amisari to Madinah and the people of Madinah when they hear Imam Hussein was killed their women the Banu Hashim start to lament and cry and they come out in public and they become the public voice of humanity and telling the world the Zulam of Yazid soon thereafter people started to rise against the Banu Umayyah it started in all directions from Madinah to Makkah to everywhere people started rising what you killed the Prophet's family how dare you did this he thought that by showing off that look I'm a powerful Khalifa look what I did it backfired on him that's why you notice historically after Karbala every Imam was poisoned why not killed in public because they learned from the Banu Umayyah that when you killed the agent of God in public the public will destroy you so what you do is you silently kill them that's why after that all our imams were poisoned the reason it was a silent way of killing our imams but Imam Hussein was unique so as they start spreading this rumor you see and he starts going all around the people start to rise historians saying I'm going to speak very quickly Ibn Ziyad was building a white palace in Basra he was the governor of Basra and he was also the governor of Kufa the first time a governor of two cities he was building an Imam Hussein say to Ibn Ziyad you will not sleep one night in that palace that you've built and lo and behold true as he's trying to aim towards Basra the people are rising he had to hide himself under the belly of the camel and Ibn Ziyad runs away to Damascus under the belly of a camel in an entourage of camels because he couldn't find any spot people started rising and what happened is when Zainab A.S. comes to Kufa she stands and Ibn Ziyad is now pontificating said I killed your refractory brother she says I don't see anything ما رأيتو إلا جميلا ورحما look at the character the combination of the events are so rich there's no time tonight within this short period that I have just to give us the spirit of the uprising Imam Zainab A.S. says تحسين بالنمير no problem patient he has a long term vision history shows Imam when he is released he goes to Medina and you know Yazid leaves him alone because Yazid realizes that if he taunts Imam Zainab A.S. his days are number even faster as you know he was only a Khalifa for a few years three years and he was gone and by the way the will of Muawiya to have his generation to become Khalifa faded away because Marwan Ibn Hakam took over and his generation took off so Muawiya never got his wish and the Umayyad's rule for a thousand months one thousand month was the rule of the Umayyad Empire and it was vicious wicked in general wicked but the Imam was patient when the Imam Zainab A.S. was in Medina this Zain Hassan bin Nameer was being chased now he now the people are rising and they are chasing these very soldiers of Karbala and he is wandering thirsty and hungry and who is now at Subhan Allah what can I say he is wearing a hood Imam Zainab A.S. is wearing a hood covered in the dark of the night what is he doing going home to home to feed orphans to feed the poor who would have that kind of energy when the world has turned its back on you and killed your whole family would you and I get out of the house to go feed the poor that's what Imam Zainab A.S. was doing in the dark of the night Imam Muhammad Bakr says when I washed my father's body upon his Shahada he had a scar on his back because he carried so much weight and grain carrying for the poor so Imam has water and grain and Hassan shows up in the dark he says I'm thirsty Imam looks at him he doesn't recognize the Imam the Imam recognizes him and Imam says sure he starts pouring water for him and he notices the scar the Imam had because he had changed that he was put on and it scarred his wrist Hassan when the man notices that and he looks quick carefully and he notices it's the same Imam that just a short while ago he spilled the water I didn't give it to him the Imam looks at him with a smile in the water but this is a slab this is a slab I cannot put words into this event this one event the Imam is pouring water giving it to him giving him some grain and Hassan looks at him he says you are I'll even ever say Imam said it's right but we don't do what you did you stopped us you killed us you denied us water and food but we're not like that we will serve you this was the power but I want to go one step and then I'm going to end this there's no time tonight so much to say understand in history that Tawabin rose people like Suleiman bin Surd Khazai people like Muhtar Saqafi people like Ibrahim ibn Malik al-Ashad they rose from Kufa and they started attacking the Omayyad army back and forth 20,000 sometimes 30,000 10,000 soldiers they were known as the Tawabin who came and Ibn Ziyad was killed Omar ibn Saad was killed they were all killed and their heads were put on the same doors that they hung the family of Ahl al-Baid and Allah says look at them yesterday they thought today they are no different and now they are damned and doomed to hell but what you find is that Imam's intrepid nature and I'm going to say this he enters you know Yazid was drunk they say it took seven Adhan when they arrived at the gate of Damasque in the palace of Yazid seven Adhan was recited while the Imam is standing with Zainab al-Assalam and the children and the women and they're standing there's seven Adhan while Yazid was busy playing and drinking and people were taunting and by the way this idea if you go to the Middle East today even Morocco they celebrate on the day of Ashura this fasting people say fasting on the day of Ashura this is a concoction you find that the hadith state that the prophet is fasting that day and he asked them what are you doing they said oh Moses freed us oh the prophet said oh great idea yeah I'd like to do that too please brothers and sisters we're not that stupid as Muslims that we the prophet of Islam gets his knowledge from other people Allah is his teacher the angel is his teacher this concoction of an idea that the prophet is receiving his messages from subordinate people is like putting the card in front of the horse it never happened this is the idea was to promote the Umayyad way of celebration today even if you go to Morocco until today the day of Ashura they hand out chocolates and they make it very embellished outside they celebrate because the Umayyads wanted them to celebrate but it backfired on them and the message of Imam Hussein continues to grow so let's not fall for these kinds of stories Imam Zindal Abedin when he enters Zain first addresses Yazid he says oh you son of a freed slave as you know his grandfather Abu Sufyan when he entered the prophet with the prophet's freed because he defeated him in Makkah and the prophet freed him he said you are the son of a freed slave can you compare us with you look at Zain a woman after her brother has been killed you would think this king this Khalifa is sitting on the throne that he will behead anybody and he did but Zain never had no fear she was like now Imam Zindal Abedin notices this and I'm going to end with this Subhan Allah Imam Zindal Abedin as you know first while they're standing there Yazid says to one of his cronies go up there and speak so the guy goes up oh Yazid Ibn Muawiya Ibn Abi Sufya oh what a great man his father is such a great man praising him praising him because that's how the Omeids were and Imam looks at him and says this is Haram and he says to him why do you do this to please your master and the people you should do you should speak the truth to please Allah so he asks Yazid the following he says Ali Ibn Al-Hussein alaihi salam ya Yazid إعذن لي حتى أسعد هذه أعواد فأتكلم بكلماتي بكلماتي لله فيهنة رذن وليها أولاية الجلسة فيهنة أجرون أجرون ثواب إمام زن العبدين look at what Imam says Yazid do you allow me to climb up these pieces of wood he doesn't say pulpit pieces of wood because Imam زن العبدين is saying two things so that I can speak to the people for the pleasure of Allah he is basically saying these are pieces of wood that you guys are lying on so it's not a pulpit and what's being spoken is not for Allah so I'm going to change it for the first time in 40 years after Syria was taken over for the first time a true Muslim entered to speak to the people first time because Yazid the brother of Muawiyah was the first governor after he died after a few years Muawiyah became the governor he remained the governor until the end so Syria was constantly subjected to false information of Islam Imam زن العبدين for the first time enters gets on the pulpit and says the following says amazing when you when you study it you will see that سبحان الله سلوات الله محمد والمحمد Imam says أيها الناس روتينا ستن ستن وفدلنا وفدلنا بالسابع الله has honored us with six qualities and seven and he describes these seven for the sake of brevity and time سبحان الله you find that Imam زن العبدين when he describes it he says the following he says all listeners Allah has given us six things which no one else has he has given us special wisdom patience dignity power of speech courage and respect and he gave us special benefit of belong to the family of his prophet to us belong حمزة جافر أصد الله the lion of God to us belong the leader of the youths of paradise حسن and حسين all people whoever recognizes me knew me and whoever did not recognize me will inform me of my honorable lineage and ancestry Imam زن العبدين is now for the first time telling them you have the wrong leader I am the right leader I am the one chosen by all I am the right leader I am the one chosen by Allah this man is a prophlegate who has no authority to lead his father his grandfather they were all evil doers they cannot lead you we are of a different quality يزيل is so disturbed by it he says to the Mu'addin read Adhan it was in prayer time read Adhan just to distract Imam زن العبدين the Mu'addin is reading Allah is the greatest Imam says he is on the pulpit still the man is reading Adhan he said أشهد وان محمد رسول الله right صلوات الله محمد وآر محمد you know what he said he says be quiet or Mu'addin be quiet and the Mu'addin is quiet he looks at Yazid and says Yazid أشهد وان محمد رسول الله this Mu'addin is he your grandfather or is he my grandfather wow this was that golden moment Imam now has Yazid cornered Yazid is sitting on the throne drunk and the Imam says is this man who just recited أشهد وان محمد رسول الله is he your grandfather or is he my grandfather and if you claim that he's your grandfather you're a liar and you know that he's my grandfather so I ask you in front of all these people why did you kill my father his grandson why did you kill the one the prophet said حسينا مني وانا من الحسين why did you kill us and Yazid didn't know what to do he put his head down this is the end of the conversation we will continue it some other time may Allah give us a trophy inshallah to understand that after all this tyranny notice the Imam was strong unafraid penetrating and historians say Yazid soon after released them and you know when he released them what did Zaynab Aleyhis Salam request in Imam Zainal Abidin you know what he requested the first request he said to Yazid give us a place to have a majlis this gathering the first thing Zainab Aleyhis Salam did the first thing Imam Zainal Abidin did he was still in the palace of Yazid he said give us a place some place here where we will get together and we want to lament the event of Karbala this Sunnah of Rasool Allah which the prophet started and showed us to cry for the Shuhada is the Sunnah of Rasool Allah Imam Zainal Abidin is asking Yazid give us a place and the people gathered and the first majlis of Imam Hussain Aleyhis Salam was held in the palace of Yazid Subhan Allah you couldn't put the dagger stronger into the heart of the devil than that that's why these lectures these gatherings should never stop insha'Allah it'll grow for the entire world to understand it صلاة الله محمد وقال محمد صلاة الله المحمد لا لا لا نطلق الله إلى القوم الظالمين وسيعلموا الذين ذنموا أن يمون قلبين ينقالبون there is much for me to say insha'Allah in the Q&A I will touch on it but while the questions are being asked just one point Imam Hussain took the women because they are the media the women became the media of Imam Hussain it was the women who spoke the mother of Abbas was vocal Rabab was vocal Layla was vocal the women or vocal vocal vocal they are the ones who would stand in public and they would call the people unafraid they say Rabab refused to go back to Medina she remained in Karbala she put a little tent she would remain there remember her two children became Shahada Ali Asghar and Rukhaya she remained there she refused to go back and every time a caravan would come she would wave at them she would welcome them she would tell them the entire event of Karbala and she became Shahada there and she is buried there that's just one wife of Imam Hussain please understand that if this woman who bore witness to the whole tragedy and gave her two beautiful little children what option do you and I have in today's world if not to rise to the occasion to educate ourselves and to become the flag bearers I don't know what else to say Salawat are we ready insha'Allah we'll do a quick Q&A as you know people have been asking lots and lots of questions usually when we have Q&A we are always blessed with hundreds of questions and it's a blessing some are repetitious questions some are lengthy or could be taken in a lot of different perspectives so for the sake of brevity we've chosen just a few my Haj Ali Khalfan insha'Allah we'll be conducting these so please I just want to remind us all of a very interesting tradition of Rasulullah and he's saying that the key to the closet of knowledge is asking questions so it's very good we have this Q&A right now and Alhamdulillah we have received close to 100 questions and I'm not sure if we have we will have the time unless you all want to stay here no no no and you know my problem sometimes I give a lecture for a question no I'm not going to do that so this actually gives us more of a reason for I just made to come back next year do you want me to finish the whole question insha'Allah we'll go with the first question very quickly how do you respond to a child when the child passed why didn't God help Imam Hussein's family very good so why did Allah not help Allah did Allah helped Imam Hussein in many ways He could have annihilated the enemy but the function and the purpose of life is for you and I to rise to the occasion and to fight tyranny even at the cost of our lives if Allah want to interfere in those matters at all times then there'd be no value to us as I mentioned before when Allah created us He gave us free will and that free will is a gift of God but one of the conditions of the free will is that you and I must use it to promote good and for medieval if Allah want to interject and He keeps doing good things for us and we don't have to do anything then essentially He's taking our free will away from us then there's really no value for us while Allah does many good things for us uncountable things nonetheless we're still responsible for our destiny Allah says إن الله لا يغيروا ما بقومن حتى يغيروا ما بنفسين الله doesn't change the affairs of a community until the community changes themselves first Imam Ali A.S. beautifully says that yourself is your greatest enemy and yourself is your greatest friend if you and I do not rise to the occasion to say that God has endowed me with free will and that I must rise to fight tyranny and I seek God's help in the process that's different than saying you know what I'm not going to do anything God you do everything so Allah did help Imam A.S. by strengthening Him by giving Him valor by making that covenant with Him and giving Him that choice by which He could have given by A.S. it was a free will but Imam says never will I ever do that for I see its ugliness and it's impossible for me to do that which is wrong so but to say that Allah should have annihilated the enemy as I mentioned it's in the quality of that struggle that you and I have that's really valuable and please understand no matter what happens in this world we were not created for this world we were created for the next world but this world is the springboard for the next world and if we don't struggle on this earth then there is no real value in the next world because otherwise Allah should have put us in paradise without putting us on this earth for any trials because Allah is merciful we are destined for paradise then why put us here precisely so that we can participate in the elevation of ourselves that's why we say الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا this ayah is mentioned where Allah says those who will enter paradise as they entering paradise they will say the following الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنا هتديا لو لا هدان الله if you didn't help us if you didn't guide us we wouldn't be here so Allah we are saying to Allah thank you for helping us reach paradise but the struggle here is imminent there is a Sunni in this room who wants to become a Shia but she is worried that her parents would curse her another question and on the same lines I love the other people and I try to follow them but I am confused between Sunni and Shia how my family is Sunni and the rest are Shia I feel that I lack my identity as a Shia in the family and it becomes hard for me to practice my faith this is a very difficult battle I am worried that it will give me some guidance good question look the goal in life is for you and I to struggle whether we achieve the results of the struggle is the secondary matter struggle is where the trial is not the achievement of the struggle please understand that so when Allah says إنك ككا دي حونيلا ربكا كدحا فا ملاقي struggle of mankind struggle upon struggle till you meet your Lord the real trial is in the struggle not in the achievement of the struggle the achievement of the struggle comes sometimes sometimes it doesn't sometimes you die before you finish it the important point to remember is the struggle so if you have a family if we have a family that's very close minded very one directional and considers any other school of thought to be forbidden right it is their right to feel that way that's why they're there when Christians come to me I'm right you're wrong I said bravo I like that what do you mean I like that I'm telling you you're wrong well I'm saying I'm right and you're wrong so we're on the same side you get it but the fact that you say I'm right and therefore I'm wrong is good it shows that you believe in what you believe in and you should be there I don't like to talk to somebody who's flimsy who says well I don't know where I am well hold on to a position and let's hold on to it let's talk about it so when someone says my school of thought is superior to the other school of thought it should be it's logical what do they say my school of thought is horrible that's why I'm here nobody does that everybody holds on to what they believe to be right so it's okay but to curse sometimes is an extreme form so the way we do it is we win their hearts by priming them and broadening their understanding with information that will inshallah expand their horizons and to diffuse this myopic animosity that many many times we have people who have such attitudes do it to protect their own ignorance this is why we are that way we are very quick in condemning the other side because we are shallow we are afraid of being exposed so the quickest ways to accuse everybody and condemn them so that nobody can come towards me wisdom says the opposite you allow the dialogue you allow that variation of conversation but you are searching for the truth you slice through it and you say to the Christian A B C D and E A and E are right B C and you know whatever are wrong I disagree with you I'm going to pick these and I'm going to tell you these are right have a dialogue don't take a broad brush and say you're a Christian you're bad you're going to hell this is not Islam the same between the madaheb when we talk if you look at the five schools of thought we are 95% identical 98% in fact if depending on how you look at it we are very similar in Dean in religion I always say there are no two people on earth who agree on everything even identical twins don't agree on anything there are no two human beings a child born of a mother doesn't agree on everything the mother says though the flesh of the child is from the mother but that doesn't mean we condemn each other because we have a difference of opinion we have to agree to disagree agreeably and we must foster diversity but not at the cost of condemnation and damnation condemnation and damnation ceases to bring growth in the conversation and now we create walls between each other and when we create walls we are promoting jahlia so when we have dialogues between different schools of thought it is not to condemn the other side it is to encourage what the wasub is sub how do we all get closer to Allah and Rasoolallah how do we get closer to the Quran this is the conversation so it's not about I'm going to tell you very fundamental principle سلطل نساء verse 59 if you have ever read it I had a group of people from different schools of thought come and say proof to me that the authority of Imam is in the Quran I said first and foremost have you understood verse 59 I said if you understand the Arabic you will know where I'm going with this it's an interesting story I had a brother with this is a true story I was lecturing in Washington DC I'm giving time and spaces for you to know how truthful it is a man came all the way from Tennessee from the other school of thought from the school of the school of he said I like what you say I listen to your lectures but I've come here to convince you that you're wrong I said I'm honored you drove 10 12 hours to come and talk to me I said yes I want to convince you you're wrong but I'm warning you I'm an expert in Arabic I have read the and I'm an expert in I said Mashallah I'm letting you know I'm not so have a seat so we sit down he says brother you go and ask first I said no you go ahead I said no you ask first so you're ready I said I said I said أطي الله أطي الرسول وأولي الأمر منكم Who to you أولي الأمر منكم Allah is my witness this is open space for good 20 seconds 30 seconds he's staring at me I said did I ask the question wrong? you want me to repeat it? he says no no I know your question but I'm not going to answer it Subhanallah it was amazing I said you the expert you can't even answer my first verse he says I know where you're going to go with this I say you're going to trap me I said no I'm not going to trap you you are trapped there's a difference if I trap you maybe I'm wrong but look you can't even out of the words you've trapped yourself so we get into this and he doesn't he circumvents he says it's okay brother you're brothers let's love each other and inshallah we'll continue this conversation all the time I said you drove 10 hours all the way from Tennessee you could I mean I just asked you the first verse I've got like dozens already lined up which one do you want because I can go from سلطل فاتح all the way to سلطل إنسان and I'll keep quoting verse after verse for you and I think we can talk about this Quran says the war here is very clear so for you and I please common sense think about this religion comes from Allah and the Prophet please know this religion comes from Allah and the Prophet and what I'm going to say is not bashing the other schools of thought I'm talking rational conversation here it's not about one school superior we're all struggling to get closer to Allah سبحانه وتعالى let's put it that way but we all agree all five schools of thought insist that there should be a leader after the Prophet that's why we argue one says it's this one one says it's that one we argue here's the catch 22 one says as important as it is Allah did not appointed nor did the Prophet and you left it to the people and there was no criteria like how do you point we have no idea who's the criteria we don't know the other school of thought says only Allah and the Prophet can appoint we don't have the wisdom and understanding to appoint only Allah and the Prophet can appoint and the criteria is very clear it's within the شجرة تين و باركة زيتونة تين لا شرخية تين ولا غربية it's not somebody picking if it takes over you take over no it's specific within the family you notice look at Adam branch Ibrahim Ismail Ishaq from Ishaq comes the Bani Israeli prophets all the way to Issa from Ismail comes all the way Imam Saibو Zaman they are cousins of each other from one blessed tree not from anywhere else one family and if you think it's royalty one son inheriting the other okay Allah says وَوَرِثَا سُولَيْمَاً دَا وُود Quran says that سليمان inherited Dawood they are both prophets is this royalty how about زقرية زقرية is praying he has no son he says وَيَارِثُ مِنْ آلِي أَقُوبَ give me an inheritor you're a prophet and Allah says اي زقرية Allah says I give you good news you will have a son and I will give him wisdom when he's a baby and and he is of a great great lineage chosen he inherits زقرية and we know ياحية was a prophet of God so how did a prophet succeed a prophet how did Yousuf succeed يقوب you find prophet succeeding prophet succeeding prophet so when when the imams are succeeding each other this is not royalty this is appointment by Allah سبحانه وتعالى within this blessed tree why the blessed tree one wisdom is Allah is making it easy for you and I to know who they are for if everybody came from distant places and popped up from nowhere claiming to be a prophet it would be very hard to validate but when there's a lineage when there's a family it's easy you know it's coming that's why you notice when Maryam think look at the Quran how elegant it is when Maryam brings peace be upon her what was the accusation of Maryam against Maryam يَا أُخْتَ هَرُونَ مَا كَانَا أَبُوْ كِمْرَ أَسْسَوْئِنْ وَمَا كَانَتْ أُمْ مُكِبَغِيَّةَ listen to the verse Maryam brings the baby they know Maryam is pure she is under the tutelage of Zakaria in the house of Suleiman in the temple of Suleiman she is a pure, pure lady everybody knew who she is everybody knew she was a great woman when she brings the baby the first accusation was your father and your mother were pure what did you do notice lineage أهل البيت very important you want to know how the prophet prayed who would you go ask if I want to know how the prophet prayed I'll go to China and ask confusions no I'm going to go to Medina where the prophet lived and the closer I get to the prophet the more I know about him who more can you know than the family that's why our little bait are so important so it's not something we concocted it's within the Dean and here it's not 21 against the other it's common sense religion is only from Allah in the prophet if they're on a point you and I cannot a point simple please understand that I can go on and on discussing this but I think you're getting the point semi-electrical I mentioned this one of my workers at work he said wait you learn this this is for my brother we all learn from each other this is an interesting question yeah thoughts that are not acted upon Allah will expose them but punishment most probably not no يعمل مثقا لضرتين يرى you will see you will see oh wait I'm not done yet I've got another 30 minutes يرى Quran says فمن يعمل مثقا لضرتين خيرا يرى وشرا يرى you will see judged no yeah so only the the ideas and thoughts that's set in the mind which you act upon but given the opportunity Allah knows if you have the opportunity to act upon those thoughts what kind of action you will come up with and he will hold you accountable according to and if we if we harbor negative thoughts our demeanor will become negative we are the product of our thoughts please understand that I mentioned in my lecture our thoughts of yesterday is who we are today please don't forget that our thoughts of yesterday is why we are who we are today and our thoughts for tomorrow should be dictated today so let's decide what we want to be tomorrow and start thinking that way and start thinking positive and start seeing the grace imagine yourself being the neighbor of the prophet imagine yourself that the Imam is pleased with you and me and saying I like you you are my agent and I love what you do and I love your demeanor that's the kind of imagination we should always have and have hope and never none of us should say we're damaged goods or I'm going to hell you know if I can only get the breath of paradise don't say that say Insha'Allah paradise has been decreed for me but I am going to struggle for the highest stations of paradise that's what I want why Muslims girls perceive each other as a choice rather than mandatory why is the each other ignored as if it was not important the next question is I try to encourage my daughter to help each other but she is resisting the idea because of school our belief systems in the way we dress in the way we behave is primarily predicated by societal rules if the community at large demonizes or vilifies or looks down or marginalizes the commandment of Allah then it will become common talk to say it's no good there's no need for this as I mentioned in my speech when people do things everybody is doing it so it almost becomes mustahab to do it we have this habit that sometimes we demonize these dresses and sometimes it's been abused of course you know and the western society loves to demonize the hijab as a symbol of oppression as a symbol of second class citizenship even Christian Amanpour when she went to the Islamic Republic and she was talking to one of the members of Majlis and she says well isn't this oppression whenever I'm asked a question in media I look at the question I said how by what logic did you apply oppression with a headscarf so you're saying when a woman is it's called outside it's raining and she puts her headscarf when she's oppressed like how did you associate oppression with dressing where did you get this from this is a poison pill I said can you please validate so that I can now answer your question and they said I said thank you because it's poison pill it's oppression what oppression when you cover yourself you're oppressed so I look at them I said excuse me so when you don't cover it's when you're not covered it's an oppression I mean think about it when your clothes are taken away it's an oppression cover yourself ريباس التقوى الله says that we've given you two kinds of dresses the one with modesty and the one with piety when a human being dresses up it's beautiful so this idea that when you dress up and you cover yourself you're oppressed when somebody asks you isn't this oppression asked it can you explain to me what logic and rationality did you use to conclude that a headscarf or a loose garb equals oppression is there scientific knowledge is there something scientific that you've observed that there's a direct correlation to covering your head with oppression it's absurd if you really think about it just try come up with an answer tell me now if you say well why a man why a man you know not wearing it why a man not wearing it women after all isn't that oppression Quran states حجاب is for men and women وكل المؤمنين يغدوا من ابصاره say to believing men to lower their eyes men should be dressed decently too Allah never said men should go out indecently decency is for men too for God's sake it's not a hijab is not a woman thing it's a human thing our tongue is a hijab the way I talk is my hijab the way I look at you is my hijab when do I not have hijab that sisters have it we all have hijab the difference is there is a slight differentiation this Allah says you know يَا يُنَّ بِقُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَائِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّا مِنْ جَلَابِ بِهِنَّا let them wear this dress oh prophet your wives the women the believing women your children your daughters let them wear it ذَا لِكَ أَدْنَا وَنْ يُؤْرَفْنَا it's better for them so they are honored why because they are the mothers of our children for God's sakes the generations come from our women today if you look at sexual harassment in the western world where women are used and abused in such horrible ways you know and these misogynistic leaders that we have today shrug their shoulders like yes they are collateral damage look at this Jeffrey Epstein a monster the kind of evil this man performed under the leadership under the guise of this super powerful elite group and got away with so much like Harvey Weinstein and the list goes on and on and every single day more of these criminals are showing up and our women are subjected to all kinds of sexual harassment tyranny it's not a secret that this has happened when we are all trying to fight for freedom with the freedom of expression in an illicit way it's an interesting thing that dating is a common thing in the west but when you are married a non-muslim couple and if the husband comes out of the room with his secretary she's very beautiful and the wife looks she says I said what's the big deal I'm suspicious I said why we grew up this way anyway notice the fitra even those who don't believe in Islam know that this is there's a problem here where you put your hand there's a problem where you say there's a problem today sexual harassment is so rigid you look at a woman the wrong way she can accuse you good it's about time we became more cognizant of our obligations of hijab I'm done everything's a challenge regarding the Quran don't go there I will discuss that this is a heavy-duty conversation what's another one yeah yeah why don't you answer no no please please you should now that you open it up I may go into a lecture it's okay I'll stop you here's another one we are told that if you don't believe in Islam you will not see the gaze of paradise what happens to the good Christians and Jews will they enter paradise أهل البيت are the ultimate template for humanity whether you know them or you don't when you break down the components of Ahl al-Bayt there's a large componentary list any human being who resonates in this direction is within the pathway of Ahl al-Bayt even if they don't know some of us are privileged to know Ahl al-Bayt not everybody has that privilege on judgment day الله will judge those people by the resonance of Ahl al-Bayt it's too short right you turned he turned the mic off he was gonna go sit down regarding the daily prayers how do we attain full concentration and connection because when I pray I never feel that connection and that is why sometimes I end up neglecting my prayers okay it's important that we should feel high in prayers once in a while the spiritual high the Halal high because I know in the world today when you speak it's like a brother said he's got to be high when he pray spiritual high the Prophet said humans have biarrhythmic cycles there are days when we're spiritual in a high level and there are days when we feel very flat that fluctuation actually is very healthy because what it does is when your modulation is when you're at the bottom of the trough you feel very flat you don't feel very spiritual if you understand the biarrhythmic movement of yourself من عرف نفسه فقد عرف ربه if you know that what will happen is you will become very disturbed by it like today I prayed it was just so flat something's wrong now you're seeking it's like you ate food but it didn't satisfy you it wasn't tasty and it's bothering you and now you're looking for that best moment that you had a few days ago you want it again well that's healthy that fluctuation and modulation is healthy it's a long conversation but I'll just share briefly some of the components one is when you and I are in a constant state of reflection, meditation and gratitude Salah becomes very easy many a times when we pray I'm going to say something profound when we pray many a times prayer is a distraction for us we're busy with the worldly pursuits Adhan is recited I'm distracted I have to let go of my worldly matters and go and speak to Allah this is most of us oh Salah time I gotta go we're distracted Salah is a distraction what happens is if I'm talking to Hajj Ali right now for example I'm very busy with him and somebody shows up says Hajj Hassanain can I ask a question out of courtesy I look at the person I said yes but my mind is here and then he's talking to me and I'm talking to him but my mind is here this third person is a distraction so I'm not giving full attention see I'm distracted my attention is here my thought is here this is you and I with Dunya you and I are very engrossed in the world and prayer is a distraction and we have to give it its due moments because out of courtesy and we know that it's a command of God so what we're doing now is it's a distraction if you and I can work to flip it where the world is a distraction and Salah is what you're longing it's a whole different experience when you and I are constantly in meditation and reflection and you're eager to go and speak to the one who's giving you the beneficence the God the Lord that you believe in and you love this Creator and everything you look around every single day the phone calls the people you are in gratitude what happens is you keep looking at your time is it Salat time is it Salat time because this world is distracting and I want to focus that's the difference in how you and I can change the dynamics you might say how change the value of the world when you and I are dealing with the world to see how important is this that I'm doing the money that I'm acquiring the children that I have the family they're all very important but how important relative to God you will see that when you evaluate things you will give it its proper measure many of us mis-evaluate and we give too much importance to something that's not important we hold on to material trinkets and we consider it so important for us when we give up the real values as a result we end up taking this piece of glass that we found on the street that was glittering and we sold it for a few dollars to buy a piece of bread when in fact it's worth millions of dollars because we didn't know the value of this diamond so when you and I know the value well how would we know the value reflect meditate examine do your analysis and go down to the bottom line and say what's left over in my life what is the most important the Prophet said he said you have three friends in the world three المال والبنون زينة الحياة الدنيا والباقيات الصالحات there are three friends you have the Prophet said so the company said يا رسول الله who are these three friends the Prophet asked them since you have heard tell me they said we don't know so the Prophet said I will tell you your first friend is your money it can only buy you your grave and your shroud nothing else that's it المال والبنون بنون is your second friend your family and your friends they will wash you they will shroud you they will bury you they can do nothing after that the third friend will come with you and stay with you forever and protect you and raise your standards he said but alas the Prophet said alas the human race is busy making friends with the first two and has ignored the third when it's the third that comes with you forever والباقيات الصالحات خيرون عندنا ربكة which is most for most to God is the third one but we have forgotten so if we don't value it then Salah fasting everything becomes a hindrance it becomes a chore and a duty and then finally امام خميني رحمة الله علي really nail this one سبحان الله he made my head spin when this one he was sing praying relatively quickly he said say it you are a Marja you praying rather quickly he replied the following he said prayer begins when it ends wow first I didn't know what he meant so what prayer begins when how does it begin when it ends like isn't that a contradiction prayer begins when it ends then it dawn on me oh my God he's nailed it see what we just did for the 10 minutes was reaffirming what we're going to do when Salah finished now Allah says now go act on the Salah many of us when we roll up the carpet we've done the duty for God let me go back to my old ways that is not Salah that's why it's a distraction but if you do what you said in Salah with the real meaning that you're surrendering to God you do believe that God is the one who gives you and you do choose the best chosen people that God إياكة نعبد إياكة نستعين إهدين السراط المستخيم سراط الذين أنا عمت عليهم أنا عمت عليهم so prophets and Ahl al-Mait and the Quran and the good people are my أنا عمت عليهم then I'm not listening to anyone else غير المهضوب عليهم not tyrants ولا الضالي not bad, not wicked not ignorant people now live it every day you make choices you're going to say only these people I will follow God gives me the guys as well I want you to sell your soul to me and give me A B and C we can do this real haram act it will become millionaires you look you said no sorry but it's a great opportunity no one will catch us we'll never go to jail we'll become millionaires you said no إياكة نعبد وإياكة نستعين I only get it from Allah and my way is only Allah I'm sorry I can't do it why? because I just said it 5 times a day that's what I want to do so Salah begins when it ends yes absolutely in fact Imam Jaffa Sadik he's talking to his companion and he said how do you know that Hajj was accepted he said have you maintained honesty integrity dignity have you reached the level where you can put your hand in your brother's pocket and take what is yours he says if you haven't got to that level then you haven't understood Hajj Hajj is a genius genius prescription of God genius God we can talk about it till judgment day just that event re-enacting Ibrahim's trial with Ismail with Hajra Hajra and Ismail are included in the Tawaf the Kaaba being covered in the black cloth Hajra taking a hijab covering it Ibrahim praying ربي جعلني مقيمة صلاة ومن ذرية إن أولا بيتن مودي oh my it's the whole Islam when you're going around the Kaaba I said لباك اللهم اللباك لباك لا شريك لك لباك God he says I'm the center of your universe you're going to go around me seven times each time and you're going to bear witness that I'm the center of your universe it's so powerful while you are seeing people of all colors and sizes from all around the world millions and this is just a small spec there are two billion Muslims two thousand million Muslims at the Kaaba there's probably two million people at one time probably three million people nothing not even one tenth of one percent if you look at the numbers Subhan Allah you find even that number is sufficient to tell you the power of humanity they always require you to become the base of logic right well faith is important but faith not built on sound logic is like jumping on quicksand faith is very important but I'll give you the analogy of faith I'll give you the analogy of faith follow it faith is very important when I was debating Dan Barker and he said to me in Hassanain I've written a book called Losing Faith in Faith so I said Dan you don't believe in faith I said no faith is false I said Dan you have killed humanity I said what do you mean I said faith is extremely important it's the power to prognosticate and predict your future based on the present and the past otherwise you're not a human being like when you and I agreed to debate three months ago you had faith that we would have this debate otherwise you wouldn't have agreed on it so you cannot say I've lost faith faith is the power to jump for the future at the present I am going to sign an agreement with you to go into business you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow so then you can say that when you did you must have had faith otherwise it's impossible when you work in the office and you have a worker who's really really good and this worker is excellent very predictable now one day you give him the keys and says now I want you to open my business you say why did you give him the keys I have faith in this person how do you have faith well he has proven in the past to be very reliable therefore now I'm going to take a leap of faith and I know that the probability of this person showing up on time is high are you wrong? no faith is very important but blind faith is dangerous where there is no meaning so I was in Dubai and there was a Christian man he said I want to debate you he said okay so he said to me that I started asking him about the trinity he said no there is no logic in trinity trinity is a faith thing you have to believe in it I said oh I see so you have no logic in it he said no I said okay no problem so then I'm looking at him he says can I ask you a question he said sure why did your prophet marry nine wives I said I'd love to answer you that question but since you've abandoned logic I don't know how to start in fact I'm using language it's very logical I'm in violation of your beliefs because you are totally illogical your faith is so blind that I cannot use logic even by asking your question so how did you have the strength to ask me a logical question so why is it when you approach me you're logical but when I approach you you abandon logic does that make sense or you're cherry picking I said it's amazing you're wondering why he married more than one is it logical to you I said yes I said why are you processing it if you're going to base your entire faith on no logic then you should never ask anybody any question if a Hindu believes in a god or gods or thousands of gods doesn't believe in a god why don't you just give them all the benefit of the faith of blindness and let them all follow their blind faith because there's no rationality once again this doesn't make sense let's go to the bible you find Isa A.S. never ever claims to be the son of god he said why call us thou me good there is none good but that which sent me I of my own free will can do nothing but that which sent me Isa A.S. prayed when Lazarus died and people said Lazarus is dead Isa is making sujood and praying Imam Jaffa Sadiq A.S. asks the Christian does God pray he prays to who God prays can you imagine Allah praying so the answer is very simple nowhere in the bible does Jesus A.S. ever say in fact his pronouncement is very clear he Israel your lord is one okay and Isa A.S. clearly talks about it and he keeps saying that there is only one God and we submit to him so if you're going to go by the prescriptions of the bible you will see that the words of Jesus A.S. is unanimously that he is the servant of God in fact interestingly when he was supposedly crucified he says in Aramaic Eloi Eloi لما سبحتني here Eloi means in Aramaic means my God so I ask my Christian brother why is Jesus who is God calling him my God isn't he God well he became man for a moment then he became I said I can't no matter how you do it you flip if you're taking me to God he becomes man if you're taking me to man he becomes God I said you know this whimsical question you know and I know that it doesn't make sense so the Trinitarian idea is something unfortunately our Christian brother are good and they have a good heart and they really want to love God but the idea of anthropomorphizing and defying a human being in flesh and form is just simply not true and Quran eradicates this very clearly and you know by the way interestingly in the Bible Jesus when he is born without a father which we believe the Bible doesn't mention the miracle of Jesus speaking in the cradle but the Quran says it now if you look at the correction the Quran states that the reason عيس عليه السلام spoke when he was born he had to because the accusation of Maryam that a man touched her would be impossible to prove unless the baby speaks that's why when she was complaining as soon as she gave birth to عيس عليه السلام she was complaining the pain was excruciating and Allah says فنادة من تحتها أن لا تحزني قد جعل ربك تحتك صرية وهو الزيليك في جزعن نخلت تساقط عليك رطبا جنية look at this child is talking he's telling his mother that put your foot in the in the river and cool yourself and shake this tree and take ripe dates from it فنادة من تحتها أن لا تحزني do not and then when she brings the baby you know they said يا اخ تهارونه ما كان أبو كم رأساونه ما كانت أمو كم بغيه فعشارتي لي she points to him she says كيف نكلم ومن كان في المهدي صبيه how can we talk to a baby who is a baby in the cradle she says إني عبد الله he said I am the servant of God أعتاني الكتابة I've been given the book وجعلني نبيا I've been made a prophet وجعلني مباركة نينما كنت I bring good news wherever I am وقصاني بالصلاة وزكاة ما دمتحي وبرم بوالدتي think about what Jesus is saying I've been prescribed a prophet and I uphold prayer and I promote good I forbid evil right I maintain and I am made kind to my mother وبرم بوالدتي and I'm not insolent then he says يوم أولدت ويوم أموت ويوم أبعث حي ذلك عيسة بن ماريا if you look at the Quranic description of Jesus my God it's a huge difference between this and the other the other the first miracle Jesus performs in the Bible is he turns water into wine in the feast of Canaan and before he turns water to wine wine if you read the Bible when John the Baptist is born God said he shall be a great man and a great nation and he shall touch no wine the Bible says it yet you find Jesus turns water into wine first miracle and before he does he calls his mother woman woman how do you talk to your mother and call her woman Quran says وبرم بوالدتي I've been made kind to my mother you don't call your mother woman I ask my Christian brother do you ever call your mother woman so this thing is an interpolation it's not true so the Trinitarian idea is something later on and in fact if you look at history of Christianity there were Unitarians and Trinitarians quick Creed of Nicaea the Council of Nicaea which is constantly in the emperor past in 325 AD was the seal of the Trinitarian Church prior to that the Trinitarians were there but they were under the tutelage of Constantine the emperor who was a pagan he was an idol worshiper you know that he presided over these dialogues between the Unitarian okay Arius who was Unitarian and Athanasius who was a Trinitarian and these two argued for months and Constantine would sit then preside over them then he looked at his population among his people he noticed there were more Trinitarians and Unitarians so he passed the Creed of Nicaea basically sealing that said the Trinitarian Church is right the Unitarian Church should be destroyed and all the Bibles found by the Unitarian should be put to the fire and destroyed and I think that was that death blow of the Trinitarian idea against the the Unitarians but you find Arius if you listen to his arguments Subhan Allah he talks he looks at Athanasius he said God doesn't move God is almighty all powerful he doesn't take shape and form he's not born no does he die this man was had a very high position in Christianity so when you go back in history you will see that it is not what it is today and with all your respect you will see that what Paul did by removing the practice in religion you find with all your respect you go to Rome which was the seat of the Roman Empire near the Vatican most churches today are being occupied by Muslims doing their Salah over 300 churches just in one region in Europe moved over to become prayers places of worship even the Christians are angry as to why they giving it to the Muslim they said well who else is going to pray but we should invite the Christians they are good people they have love for God when I sit with them and I said look Jesus said this he didn't say this and you are my brother and you are on the same platform as I am and I don't condemn you to hell I have no authority to condemn you to hell your love for God maybe even greater than mine but this is the truth see قول الحق speak the truth yeah look I give you an example it's a very good question by the way there are people who cannot afford to send their children to an Islamic school we run an Islamic school in Michigan by Allah's grace Allah has enabled us to do something very difficult and insha'Allah it will continue to grow in many fronts because to me I think eradication of poverty is through education when parents come to me and say education is expensive I say to them if you think education is expensive try ignorance it's the most expensive thing so we must eradicate ignorance by educating our children at any cost and I say to our parents if your child gets accepted to the best school in the world and you can't really afford it would you let it pass they said no we will borrow money we will do whatever and we will educate I said put that in the mind and understand the gravity of education but there are being realistic there are families who can't afford it the answer to that is become an environment conducive to Allah at home read Quran keep a healthy environment in the house and as I mentioned about the fluctuations of bio rhythms you know if you look at a scale you get amplitude and you got frequency frequency and amplitude our bio rhythms the greater the amplitude the more confused we are if top is iman and low is low iman the wider the amplitude the more confused we are so you want to bring it flat you want to bring it close and then you want to raise it up towards Allah not towards Iblis and you want to reduce the frequencies okay you want to flatten it out how do you do that what you do is when you go down on your scale the bottom part the days you don't feel good you're not spiritual what you do is you associate with people who are spiritual what will happen is if you combine their waves most likely when your wave is down theirs is up and that's your safety then that the minute you feel down the brother and the sister you're close to who is conscious of Allah will have high spirits and what they will do is they'll prevent you from bottoming out into the bottom of the trough and what will happen is people who are God conscious will raise your bar and before you know it you'll become a better and a better person because the combinations of all the let's say there are six good people together with you all God conscious their waves are going to cancel out the negatives and it's going to force the whole movement higher so let's raise our children in good environments teach them to choose good friends make sure that Allah is talked about gossiping should be stopped lying should be stopped halal ris should be acquired maintain a healthy islamic environment you will see how children will be raised very well look I don't claim to be anything good but I grew up in public schools I didn't go I went to a Catholic school when I was a child but I grew up in public schools but my parents had a very strong foundation in the house and I understood it and it helped me and I went to islamic school on the weekends you know when I was a child I used to go to islamic school in Africa and that affected me the things that I learned and then my mother and my father and my grandfather constantly infusing Quran into me when I was in the university and I'm debating my friends were saying how come you're not losing this debates I said I don't know it seems like it's so clear I mean I see it it's your argument just doesn't make sense and then I realized wow Allah has blessed me with the best religion and the more I looked into it the more I uncovered it the more I realized oh my God I have a treasure in my life and how foolish I am to have taken it lightly but it takes struggle it takes a lot of struggle a lot of pain a lot of growth a lot of reading a lot of questioning but with patience we'll uncover it and Allah will take us closer I know I'm on a journey I have a long way to get closer to Allah but I feel so energetic and so blessed that if Allah gave me a thousand years more on this earth I would never get tired waking up in the morning knowing that God has given me one more day to serve Him I think that's the greatest joy of living knowing that God has chosen us and given us an opportunity to do something that others generally don't do it's the greatest feeling all of us are blessed with that every one of us in this room has that blessing especially you my young brothers here sisters feel energized say I want to do something and I'm going to achieve it and if you truly believe in it you will get it promise okay shall we end? yes I just want to quickly read the comments made by the sister in the audience Salam alaikum this is not a question I just wanted to thank you and bless you for the lectures they were really amazing and shall we continue to have it here for you Salam alaikum Salam I mean it's my honor the honor is mine believe me your patience here look at the way you're sitting patiently listening giving this honor to this gathering trust me it's Allah it's the prophets the Quran it's the people of the house we are its beneficiaries when I come up here I am honored because of them and if my name is never mentioned and no one ever knows me I am just as happy because we are not important what is important is Allah the prophet is Allah the Quran and their ways that's important let's focus on those we are all conduits at the end of the day our names will vanish I always say my great grandchildren won't even know my first name why am I trying to carve out my name it doesn't make any sense but the tongue and the lips and the body and the mind and the hair when I come to us as a gift of God let's give it back let's give it with passion and you know we are its beneficiaries when we do it nobody gets more benefit than us when I come and speak in these lectures people say thank you thank you I said no thank you thank you for loving Ahl al Bayh thank you for coming thank you for being patient thank you for appreciating it's a combination of two together so I thank you all sincerely and I pray that we all rise to the occasion and not to be the ones who abandon Imam Hussein when he called just like when Imam Mahdi reappears we should not abandon him we should be preparing one quick story that really comes to my mind is a brother who's a physician who goes to Iraq every year and he's an emergency medicine specialist and I've mentioned this about him a few times it touched me a lot because he's a very good friend of mine it's from childhood I've known him and he got married recently and now Mashallah he's settled down but every year twice he goes to Iraq and he goes to Najaf and he goes to Karbala and he's establishing emergency medicine I said why he said I went there for Ziyara I noticed that at 3 o'clock in the morning if somebody gets hurt there is no emergency medicine protocols I'm a graduate of a very prestigious school in America and I think it's my duty to do this I said why are you doing this he said I'm preparing for the living Imam when he reappears we have emergency service I said Subhanallah wow you're thinking that he said yeah I'm going every year twice a year to establish emergency medicine teaching the local Iraqi physicians how to follow protocols so that we save more lives because I know when the Imam reappears this will be needed now to me I pat him on his back said bravo I hugged him I said wow you have put a smile in my face for there are very few people like you planning for the return of our blessed Imam the Prophet said أفضل العبادة in تضار المهدي the best form of عبادة is the in تضار of your living Imam to follow him and to believe in him because that's what gives us energy to do good so inshallah all of us will do that and we make dua inshallah اللهم إنا نرغبوا إليك في دولة الكريمة تعزوا بها الإسلام وأهلا وتضلوا بها النفاق وأهلا وتجعلنا فيها من الدعاة لا تعتك والقادة لا سبيل وترزقنا بها كرامة الدنيا والآخر وآخر الدعون الحمد لله رب العالم and I want to thank my respected شيخ جافر may Allah bless you for joining us the organizers حج حسن more than the whole team as you know if not for these wonderful personalities who have made this possible and the sisters I see you sweeping at night picking up the tables and the chairs and the volunteers who are standing up there in the cold weather directing traffic you are that foundation that Allah إن شاء الله will bless that these gatherings were able to happen and you carefully modulated to make sure even the sound the brothers with the sound system and so on and every one of you and may Allah give to this community and to this center and to this organization to continue to grow to flourish so that when the Imam reappears we will be ready for him إن شاء الله السلام عليكم رحمة الله وبركاته I want us to also pray for Sayyed Hashim I met him today Mashallah he is a good spirit I pray for his long life for he is the spirit of this community and may Allah give him long long life and health and return and serve many more years in it oh you're gonna do this we're gonna do it it's too much