 أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين سيدنا ونبينا أبي القاسم المصطفة محمد وأهل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين اللهم صل على محمد وآل محمد بعد أن نتحدث about the Divine Directives بحيث أن نتحدث about how to debate and discuss our differences with the opposing parties and with the adversaries and after we stated that ayah number 25 of Surah An-Nahl enumerated three strategies in discussing these differences tonight we will be talking about the methodology and the approach of Ahl al-Bait عليهم السلام in dealing with their adversaries and how they want us also to follow suits as followers of Ahl al-Bait عليهم السلام it is not up to us to choose the methodology in which we conduct ourselves and debate with the adversaries it is not a personal taste or a personal disposition that someone would say that I can choose freely how and what should I say and how I should say it to the adversaries it is not a matter of choice it is not subject to temperament and personal disposition rather when we declare ourselves to be the followers of Ahl al-Bait therefore the meaning of following of Ahl al-Bait it means that and entails the commitment to the full sets of rules that have been presented by Ahl al-Bait عليهم السلام their codes of conducts their principle and their ideology in presenting the case to the adversaries it is a regimented system that we cannot deviate from no one can say that I am free to choose the way I would present the argument to the adversaries we have a very clear and explicit examples of the infallibles who have shown who have taught us how to deal with the adversaries if we look carefully at the words of the Imam عليهم السلام we see that their words were always cordial always pleasant when it comes to talking with their adversaries or even their enemies for example الإمام الصادق عليهم السلام when it comes to the explanation of this ayah where the Almighty says وقولوا للناس حسنا and tell people obviously people here means the other side the other party your opposing party tell them pleasant words الإمام عليهم السلام explains he said that you have to start with the pleasant words with both with the believers and non-believers with those who side with you and with those who are against with you against you and he says أم المؤمنين فيبصط لهم وجهه وبشره when it comes to the believers you have to cheer up with cheering with a pleasant mode and gestures you talk to them و أم المخالفون فيكلمهم بالمدارات لاجتذابهم إلى الإيمان when you talk to the opposing party you need to make sure that you are cordial and polite and respectful why because as we have said the purpose of the arguments and debate is not the debate itself you don't want to score a point and take vengeance against your adversary this is not the whole objective and purpose rather the purpose is that you invite them to the pleasant way of أهل البيت عليهم السلام our responsibility and our duty is to show the method of أهل البيت the school of أهل البيت the way it is the way that God has sent أهل البيت too and أهل البيت have presented themselves in its true nature we need to express that method that methodology to the world to the people worldwide therefore we must gain their hearts and their minds so the purpose of debating is that we should express the philosophy of أهل البيت عليهم السلام their worldviews as well as inviting people to embrace this beautiful beautiful way of life that is our duty therefore if we cannot gain the hearts and minds of people we will be failing miserably therefore the Imam عليهم السلام and all members of أهل البيت عليهم السلام always emphasizing on this fact is that when you talk to the adversaries first you need to be polite second you need to be respectful and cordial and when you speak you should show sympathy to the other side that both are searching for the truth here the Imam عليهم السلام again الإمام الصادق says معاشر الشيع كونوا زينا لنا ولا تكونوا علينا شينا be our ornaments when people look at you they can see the importance of us أهل البيت be our ornament ولا تكونوا علينا شينا do not be an embarrassment shame to جعفر ابن محمد الصادق قولوا للناس حسنا always use the pleasant words when you talk to people وحفظوا السنتكم and control your tongues وكفوها عن الفضول والقبيح أبستين if from pugnacious things if from repugnant things there are words although they could be factual and true but they are scathing they are very rude and pugnacious the Imam Peace be upon him here says try to avoid that it's a mandate we have to follow to the Imam الصادق عليه السلام actions speak louder than words I may be a very eloquent to speaker when I present the case of أهل البيت to people but in demeanor in my vocabulary I chose very scathing words the Imam says this is not the choice the choice is your demeanor your behavior and your attitude toward others because actions always speak louder than words again the Imam عليه السلام says this he says قولوا للناس حسنا بما تحبون أن يقال لكم in the same way that you want people to talk to you to address you how you would like them to address you in the same manner you have to address them فإن الله يبغبوا السباب بطعان على المؤمنين الله يبغب يتبع the person who always curses and attacks and denigrates others believers and non-believers this is not the way and a style of أهل البيت to have a foul mouth والعياد بالله a bad mouthing they're always when they choose their words they choose it very carefully in a very pleasant way that God is satisfied with them and the audience is also satisfied with them another example brothers and sisters لكت علي بن أبي طالب عليه السلام علي بن أبي طالب عليه السلام engage in three deadly bloody wars domestic wars with قاصطين ناكثين ادمارقين three sets of a group of so-called Muslims who have waged deadly wars against علي بن أبي طالب among them was معاوية بن أبي صفيان who have institutionalized the hate toward علي بن أبي طالب and أهل البيت throughout history and today as followers of أهل البيت we are paying for the strategy that معاوية بن أبي صفيان has set 1400 years ago but look how علي بن أبي طالب faced such kind of hateful people one day he leaves the masjid and then see a bunch of his followers cursing معاوية and his followers he looks at them and says أكره لكم أن تكونوا سبابين I hate I despise the fact that you curse people you denigrate people you use vulgar language against other people even though they are your bitter enemy even though they have killed many among you then he says لوصفتم أعوى أعمالهم be objective describe their actions their deeds you do not need to denigrate them with foul language rather you just describe what they have done put the facts and the reality to the audience and the audience will choose the audience is mature enough to see where the right and the wrong pathways are therefore the Imam admonishes his followers not to use negative language cursing his bitter enemy معاوية ابن أبي صفيان again he continues with this he says if you want then you say this اللهم احقن دماءنا ودماءهم O God protect and save our bloods and their bloods from shedding after all both are considered to be Muslims one side is a true Muslim the other one is only by appearance the facade is Muslim even to علي ابن أبي طالب this is good enough that we should save the bloods of both groups he says اللهم احقن دماءنا ودماءهم وأصلح داتة بيننا وبينهم bring peace among ourselves and them وحدهم من ظلالتهم O God guide them get them out from their misguidance حتى يعرف الحق من جهله so they can realize where the truth is in another case when he was fighting مارقين the خوارج who were again the bitter enemies of علي ابن أبي طالب today if we want if we want to give an example ISIS group is like the خوارج again people came to him to describe who they are they told علي ابن أبي طالب عليه السلام are the خوارج مشركين he said no هم من الشرك فرر they ran away from being مشرك they are not مشرك look how objective and precise علي ابن أبي طالب عليه السلام was قيلة فإنهم منافقون what are those hypocrites again علي ابن أبي طالب says no because they keep worshipping and praying he said إن المنافقين لا يذكرون الله إلا قليلا their feature the منافقين feature is that they mention الله little bit while they mention الله all the time so they ask علي ابن أبي طالب who are they then how would you describe them the Imam عليه السلام says هم إخواننا بغو علينا they used to be our brothers they are our brothers but they aggressed against us this is how objective علي ابن أبي طالب عليه السلام was when dealing with his better enemies this is the way that we should conduct ourselves with the adversaries again coming back to الإمام الصادق عليه السلام إمام الصادق had four thousand students maybe half of them were his followers the majority were not his followers الحسن ابن علي الوشاء he says one day I go to the مسجد الكوفة and I see 900 narrators all of them says كلني يقول حدثني جعفر ابن محمد all of them have been students of جعفر ابن محمد none of those were the followers of جعفر ابن محمد how could he manage to have so many students that were not on the same track that he is by denigrating them by using foul language against them or by showing them the real objective scientific evidence and critical thinking or because he was showing the intellectual the genuine intellectual substance because when he shows the real genuine scientific objectives and evidence it is very hard to repudiate and to counter but had he chosen to denigrate them they would reciprocate the words with the words of denigration the last thing that I would close my remarks with again with the beautiful words of جعفر ابن محمد صالح عليه السلام who says that أمضرو إلى أمتكم follow the example of your leaders الذين تقتدون بهم فتصنعون ما يصنعون you follow what they follow فوالله إنهم ليعودون مرضاهم when the other sides when their followers get sick we go and visit their sick people ويشهدون جنائزهم we take part in the procession of their of their disease ويقيمون الشهادة لهم والعليهم they get participate they participate in all their activities ويؤدون ويؤدون الأمانة إليهم they give them their trust whatever they have entrusted them they give them back these trust then he says إنه لا بد لكم من الناس إن أحدا لا يستغني لا يستغني عن الناس في حياته you cannot abandon people you have to assimilate you have to integrate with others this is how our Imam want us to be let's hope that we can follow them يا من كل شيئا منيب إليه يا من كل شيئا خائف أمان يا من كل شيئا قائم أمباء يا من كل شيئا صا يا من كل شيئا يسبح بحمده يا من كل شيئا هالكون إلا سبحانك يا لا إلا اللواف اللواف خلصنا أه من الناس يا ملا مفروع يا ملا مفزعا إلا يا ملا مقصدا إلا إليه يا ملا من جا منه يا ملا يراما لا يرجا يا ملا يعبد سبحانك يا لا خلصنا أه من الناس يا خيرا المرهب يا خيرا المرهب يا خيرا المطلوب يا خيرا المقصوب يا خيرا المذكوب يا خير المشكو يا خير المحبو يا خير المدعو المستانسي سبحانك يا خلصنا من النار مع دعاء جوشن الكبير سوف نتكبر سيغمن 37 38 39 يا من كل شيء خاضع الله يا من كل شيء خاشع الله يا من كل شيئŞاortal يا من كل شيئموجود به ياماaa يا من كل شيئ يسبح بحمده كل شيء هالي كن الله وجه الترانسليشن Oh, He before whom everything bows He before whom everything is humbled Oh, He from whom everything exists He to whom everything owes its existence He to whom everything returns He of whom everything is afraid One to whom everything owes its stability He towards whom everything retreats He whom everything glorifies with praise He besides whom everything is perishable The theme of segment number 37 is to win struggles Again, a few vocabularies that we have chosen for this segment It is Everything humbles Everything bows to Allah سبحانه وتعالى You do not see anything that can deviate from the order That God has delineated for Everything is going in the same path That God has ordered him We are humbled and bowed to the order And well of the Almighty Allah سبحانه وتعالى There is a beautiful dua Word of a prayer by Zainul عابدين عليه السلام That's called دعاء الامن It's a very beautiful word It says وجرى بقدرتك القضاء ومظت على إرادتك الأشياء فهي بمشيئتك دون قولك مؤتمرا وبإرادتك دون نهيك منزجرا That the will and the fate of everything is moving according to your will and your pleasing Then it says that They will follow your words without articulation There is no need for you to articulate the directive And the will and the command Once you decide Once you will The fate of those will happen immediately فهي بمشيئتك دون قولك مؤتمرا You know the words in the Holy Quran says كن فيكون But God doesn't even need to say to you The minutes that he wishes The moments that he wishes And he pleases That thing will immediately happen And then again it says ودون قولك وبإرادتك دون نهيك منزجرا It is with your will without your prohibition You don't need to say It is prohibited They will abstain from that thing This is how Allah SWT has maintained this universe Everything is in his control When he says كل شيء كان الله ياما كل شيء موجود به We owe our existence Everything in this universe أقوموا باستخدامهم إلى الله سبحانه و تعالى He not only created us He maintained us You have two things One is the creation That is manufacturing And the other thing Is the maintenance Maintaining things May be more difficult than creating them Because they should stay Over a very long period of time Lapse of time They have to stay the course The one who would maintain us Is the Almighty Allah SWT In another beautiful verse In the Holy Quran He says إن الله يمسك السماوات والأرض أنتزولا God is the one Who has protected And holds the heavens and earth From perishing إن الله يمسك السماوات والأرض أنتزولا ولا إنزالتا إن أمسكهم من أحد من بعد And if they perish Who can protect them Who can hold onto them Except the Almighty Allah Therefore In our prayers We are taught To say اللهم لا تكلنا إلى نفسنا طرفة عين أبدا Do not leave us to our own Always He should keep us He should maintain us One night The wife of the Prophet أم مسلمة عليه السلام Says that One night in the middle of the night I heard the Prophet While prostrating He was wailing and weeping And saying this إلهي لا تكلني إلى نفسي طرفة عين أبدا Do not leave me to myself Even in a blank of an eye She said Oh the Prophet It is you who say this Why do you have to say this You are the perfect Prophet You are the best human He told her يا أم مسلمة إن أخي يونس ابن متة وكل إلى نفسه طرفة عين فنزل به ما نزل يونس ابن متة My brother and the Prophet of God Was left to him For a very short period And see what has happened to him God should not abandon us At any moment Always here is the Prophet teaching This is how he exemplified The teaching in this incident When he told أم مسلمة If the Prophet The infallible The best of all the creatures Say this What about us Much less about us We always would say That oh God do not leave us Even one minute to ourselves A blank of eye to ourselves Then another beautiful word It says يا من كل شيء إن يسبح بحمده Everything Every object in this universe Glorifies the Lord And appraise And appraising him There is a beautiful ayah In the Holy Quran That explicitly says that Basically every single object In this universe Glorifies God In appraise It says وإم إن شيء إن إلا يسبح بحمده ولكن لا تفقهون تسبحه There isn't anything That does not glorify the Lord Every object Whether living or non-living Is glorifying the Lord But the difference is that We do not tell We cannot tell When those objects Glorify the Lord There is a wide discussion In controversy About this ayah Some scholars Say that this word of تسبح Is not spoken Is not articulation Rather it is state of being It's an action There are certain actions By objects By constellations By planets That's beyond our comprehension We cannot feel them Here the Almighty Allah says لو أنزلنا هذا القرآن على جبلن لرأيته خاشعا متصدعا من خشية الله If we descend this holy Quran Upon a mountain You will see it so humbled And fractured into pieces But we cannot notice this In another one The Almighty talks about The rock The hard and stiff rock It says وإن منها لما يهدط من خشية الله Some of those rocks They prostrate out of fear of God Again It's beyond our comprehension We cannot comprehend that Or When the Almighty tells Both The Sun And the Earth To move to Him Closely فقال لها وَلَ الْأَرْضِ إِتِيَا طَوْعًا أو كَرْهًا أو كُرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَاعِين We come voluntarily These actions cannot be comprehended Yet these are actions So the first set of scholars Say that These are only actions of glorifications But other sets of scholars Says the fact that God says You do not comprehend Their تسبيح Their glorification It means that they say it But without us understanding For example When the birds sing Whistle And tweet We think these are only a bunch of jargans Why? Because we don't have the tools To decode their language But Prophet Sulaiman Used to understand Their words Their languages Why? Because he was equipped With the tool To decode their language We do not have the tool To decode the تسبيح And the glorification of the objects When they glorify their word Their Lord Once we have that We comprehend How they do the glorification The second segment Segment number 38 It says the translation Oh There is no retreat But towards him There is no place of protection Except with him Here There is no right path Except that which leads to him There is no shelter Against him But to him There is no in inclination Towards anyone Except him Again We chose These beautiful statements يا من لا مفرى إلا إلي يا من لا مفزع إلا إلي There is no retreat But him There is no refuge But him Where should we go? We can escape the family Run away from the family We can run away from local government From the police From the government From the interpol But we cannot run away from God Why? Because wherever we go It is in his kingdom It is in his custody We cannot run away There is a beautiful story Says that there used to be a naughty boy That used to give his mom Very difficult time One day The mom Expelled him from the home Because of the trouble that he used To give her When she kicked him out of the home After a while Her aid Her raid Subsided She opened the door She notices the boy Is laying right on the door step And is sleeping there When he left the home He didn't know where to go He had no place No retreat And no refuge But his mother So he leaves her But he comes back to her In similar way We leave our Lord But we have no other way But to come back again to him The last segment To Which is segment number 39 It says يا خير المرهوبين يا خير المرهوبين Again the translation Best of those who are feared Best of those who are liked Best of those who are shot Best of those who are entreated Best of those who are longed for Again If we need to beg somebody For something If we need to ask somebody If we need to fear someone And long for someone Let's make sure that that entity Is sufficient That entity itself Is not in need If you beg someone else A human For example He's as weak as you are If we fear someone Or some human He's again As weak as we are We better choose an entity That is sufficient And that is the Almighty The story of Abraham When he was about to be lunged Into the Hellfire At that moment When the Crowd Was hailing him to be thrown in the Hellfire At that moment جبرييل came to him The angel Told him Abraham You need something He said to you No Because you are A weak servant of God Similar to me But to my Lord Yes I do This is how we should be We should ask only the one Who's capable And strong enough May Allah SWT Reward us all The guidance In the This holy month To follow Through Those words of wisdom Of دعاء جوشة الكبير بسلام عليكم وحمة الله There is a small matter and regarded it like losing They are enemies of those things which others love While they love things which others hate Through them The Quran has been learned and they have been given knowledge through the Quran With them the Quran Is staying while they stand by the Quran They do not see any object of hope About what they hope And no object of fear About what they fear