 Auzhu Billahi Minash-Shaitanir-Rajim Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim My name is Shah Abbas, I'm with Imam Hussein TV In Karbala, the lands of Imam Hussein, right across to me I have Abu Fazl Abbas Shrine On my left hand side I have God, the Master Imam Hussein, Shrine as well Today we're going to be discussing and we're going to be talking about What is the need of Imam Hussein in the 21st century What are the principles of Imam Hussein, the life legacy that he has done Throughout his life that we need in the 21st century And how we can use those life principles in our day to day life Joined with me today is our guest, Khulud So Mr Khulud, please give us an introduction about yourself Where you come from and what brings you to the holy lands of Karbala today My name is Khulud, I am from Lebanon and I'm a nurse I came obviously the very obvious answer to what are you doing in Karbala Is I'm doing, I'm coming here for Ziyara But mainly as well as for the experience Because you can do Ziyara from your house and it's accepted But the experience of Arabain is very unique Absolutely And it's something that everyone needs to experience in their lifetime I myself here, so I came here for the Najaf to Karbala walk It was a very humbling experience, I believe you know Which has been inspired by the name of Imam Hussein The grandson of Prophet Muhammad himself So Khulud, tell me more about why do we need Imam Hussein in the 21st century So when we talk about the need for someone It means that this person presents something unique and special And something that's not been presented before So what is it that this man presents? What is that qualities that he gives? I think from the way I see it and the way it is Is that Imam Hussein's commemoration or story triggers a personal change Inside of the person themselves Which then leads to reflection into the intellect And then it translates into practical actions to improve the world And that's why the story or the commemoration of Vashoura Is something that starts like a small seed inside of you And grows out into trees outside of you know, out into the community Okay, absolutely So obviously everyone knows what happened of the day of Vashoura And everyone knows the final stand that Imam Hussein has made But what is it about life principles? What are those qualities, individual qualities that we need at this time? So apart from Vashoura and the story of Karabala Sometimes we forget to look at the life of Imam Hussein And at the traits of Imam Hussein And at the actions of Imam Hussein And if we read or study the life of Imam Hussein We will find a lot of kindness and compassion Related to charity work and kindness And help that he used to do Stuff like taking food for the needy in the middle of the night To feed them Which translates in our lifetime right now Is that we've got a lot of hunger problems Absolutely I think we live in a world right now It makes us sad, it's sick and sustain But we still have poverty We still have hunger It's like we live in 2014 It's a day when people have reached moon We're sending shuttles to Mars And we're achieving We're breaking the boundaries of imaginations And we still have basic problems as poverty Or lack of clean water Lack of clean water itself Now how can Imam Hussein and Islam Help those problems that we face today? So what makes it more absurd is that In the world The unbalance that they're in a part of the world Where it's very common to indulge And then there's a part of the world Where people are really hungry Or have no access to clean water And then if you want to talk about Hussein Hussein was in the middle He always spoke about being moderate Do not indulge And then he also was very passionate About helping those who do not have the basic needs He was always socially aware of How important it is To help the people who have no one to help Which are the needy people I think one of the things that I've learned personally Myself was On the day of Ashura itself He sums up really nicely Is the need Now we always say that We're thirsty as you said Then we ask for clean water But when Imam Hussein and Islam Did have a chance to get the water The first thing he said was I'm not going to drink the water To my horse Right? It's animal rights So 1400 years ago Imam Hussein and Islam established animal rights How to look after the animals So there's a lot of Values that we can derive From Imam Hussein's story Or Imam Hussein's commemoration That are very relevant to our present world There's the concept of forgiveness Where he accepted her It's a very rare trait in our society Where we're not very accepting Of others who sin Or do something wrong While Imam Hussein accepted his enemy Absolutely There's also the kindness that Imam Hussein And the compassion that he displays Towards animals and towards other Towards human beings That Hussein prayed for his enemies While they were killing him Oh wow Which is very I mean you and I We're just bare humans And if we get hurt We find it very difficult to forgive Absolutely And they were killing him And he was praying for their hidayah I think what we're going to do Is we're definitely going to talk about those qualities We're going to dissect those qualities And we're going to examine And we're going to see how those qualities Can be implemented in this world Before I get to that What I do want to know is Earlier on before the show You didn't mention about the emotional And the practicality With the story of Imam Hussein Do you want to expand on that? Yeah so when we look into Karaballah or Ashura Or the story of Imam Hussein We always look at it as an idea But the reality of Karaballah Is that it's a structure We always look at it from one side So when we look at Karaballah It has to be what it gives us And how we transcend it So what it gives us is The crying, the latham, the lectures All of these come together To bind and build a connection Between your emotional intelligence And a moral compass that you have In developmental psychology There's a huge emphasis on empathy And something as Like just very simple As taking your child at a certain age To an age appropriate, mejlis Or explaining to your child During bedtime story What is Karaballah And what happened in Karaballah Increases that sense of empathy Inside of your child Because he sees your love For Imam Hussein And thinks wow this is amazing My mum loves this person Maybe I should also love him And then he starts learning the story And he builds a personal connection With Hussein And that personal connection Because of Imam Hussein's message Which is help and kindness And upholding the rights And helping the needy people And standing up for justice Your child will build A strong moral compass Through his emotional intelligence And that connection is something That you cannot break So in a way You will never have a child Who will be okay with Someone else other than him Being bullied at school They will stand up And say no this is wrong You don't do that Even if it's a stranger You're telling me that The stories of Karaballah Gives empathy and emotion To the children From a very young age That you teach them Not to stand And not do anything towards injustice Because their role model Their love is Hussein And that is always there With them Absolutely So your message to the young moms Out there pretty much is to say As from a very young age Teach the people the stories of Tibet Teach the story of What happened on the day of Ashura Teach the story from a very I remember this when I was young I'm sure with you I think one of the things What my mother used to do Was when she was cooking food She used to play the poetry Of Imam Hussein And I didn't understand What it meant She used to tell me what happened It was like a majalis in the house And that's how I grew knowing And I knew the value of water From a very young age I knew the value of humanity From a very young age Had my mother not told me To respect the elders Had my mother not told me Is to give As you see someone is needing Had my father He did the exact same I'll share you the story What my father used to do When I was a child He wanted to give money to the poor But he doesn't do it He gets me to do it He takes money out from his pocket He goes to me and goes Go and give it And I'm like You can just do it yourself Why are you telling me to do it It's like you're delegating Your job to me Now I understand it After a very long period of time My father did that So that I understand The idea of giving From a very young age And it also increases Your sense of achievement It makes you When you give that money To the needy You feel like you've done something good And good inside of you grows Because you feel the need To do it again and again and again So now the practicality So you're connected emotionally To my own sense Insha'Allah it pleases God as well So one of the things One of the things that God Loves is People who love the hell a bit People who love the prophet And their family Doing these actions Or doing these arakans Or one of the ways To get closer to God So apart from You know doing your wajibat The salah and the sahrim And all of that stuff I think building the moral compass Which you don't really need To go that far It's just look at the Imam's lives Not just Imam Hussain All of the Imam's lives You can derive so many values That are very universal Kindness and helping And forgiving They're very universal They're needed everywhere And they're preached in every religion So these universal values You are raised Every ashura on them Up to Reminding isn't it So every time you go to a mosque And you learn every year You learn a new value You learn a new thing And after a while These things become embedded In you In who you are News subconscious Conscious Mind is self So basically for example You see someone out in the streets Hunger You would see that But if it was not subconsciously in you You would just walk by that It would be very difficult You know that person You would think If Imam Hussain If it was Imam Hussain He would do this And that is brought up With you from your childhood When your parents Teach you about Imam Hussain And what he's done And how he's done it And his life story You grow up with these values Where like I cannot ignore this Because my Imam would not ignore it So this builds up into An energy inside of you You feel like you want to do more You feel like you need to change The world into a better place And you take that energy And you need to find a way to Use it for the benefit Of the world That love of Hussain Is translated into something practical And we always say The biggest thing that Imam Hussain Rows for was not the Khilafah He didn't want the throne He did not care about being Amir al-Mu'mineen What he rose for Was social injustice When the Ahl al-Kufa When they wrote letters to him Telling him of the injustice That was going on That's when he decided to come up To say no to Yazid And to actually go to Karaballah So it's social injustice So what we can do Practically is Seek social reform Absolutely So from the emotions So what you're telling is We are emotionally connected And it's a matter of Converting that emotions Into practical aspects Through reflection Through the intellect Emotional until using that As a boundary To convert that emotions The connections that we have Into practical elements Of things that we can do Now to get to that stage Of emotional and practical You're also saying That from a very young age We should start practicing it To ourselves To our children So when we have children From a very young age You're telling them what's happening You're making them do the act of kindness Like the story of what my father did He's telling me and giving people From a very young age Telling me and serving the people And when we have people guest over From a very young age Training them And that's key That's very important As you said earlier on Now moving on to the life principles Of why do we need Imam Hussain On 21st century right now So his principles The life principles I think one of the principles I think we should dissect And start at the very beginning That the world needs right now Is forgiveness Yes Right So that was the story I think you were speaking about Earlier on about her If my memory serves right The story of her was This man was against Imam Hussain His all ideologies All principles was no I'm going to not let Imam Hussain Get to the water The water This man stopped Imam Hussain From getting to the water At the beginning of the Battle of Karaballah And this man was the Leader of the army Against Imam Hussain But at the same time When he reflected on himself And realized that he's in the wrong camp And came down to Imam Hussain Imam Hussain did not even blame him One second for choosing the wrong camp He accepted him immediately He forgived him and accepted him immediately I think that's a huge thing For our audience to understand and realize One thing the need for Imam Hussain In 21st century The biggest need is forgiveness I think we know a lot of people Who have not spoken to their family In ages because they don't like them We've got brothers who fight with one another We've got siblings We've got parents not speaking to their children Or children not speaking to their parents We've got friends who just said harsh things And just moved apart We've got cousins far away in oceans And they're not even speaking to them Forgiveness is key To close to God, realize forgiving It's a bridge between you and Aba Abdullah Let's build that bridge First lesson that we've learned today Is forgiveness And how we can use in practicality Let's take them first step And hopefully the second person takes the second step Even if not You've done your job You've crushed your soul By asking for forgiveness with that person Individually And inshallah if you both Can't put your differences behind We have bigger and better things to achieve in the world Moving on to the next part was the needy So we'd say about Why do we need Imam Hussein in the 21st century And one of the things that Imam Hussein said was His stand was for the needy Do you want to explain on What is it about the needy that Imam Hussein did How did he help the needy of Hussein And how can we use that to help in the 21st century So the message of Hussein And the universal message of helping others Is kindness and compassion And putting yourself in the other person's shoes And helping them through feeling their pain And Imam Hussein used to be very aware And very very sensitive towards The neglected parts of society Especially the homeless and the elderly And the orphans as well And his father has got a number of stories about how Imam Ali used to talk about The father of the orphans, right? Yes, so what Imam Hussein used to do There's a story that always strikes Imam Hussein was going through the market On his horse and a group of Homeless people were having a meal And they asked him to join them Imam Hussein immediately said I cannot take your food But what I can do is take you home with me And give you dinner And we can have food at mine And he did that He said I can't take your food Because it's Sadaqah But I'll take you with me And I'll give you food in my house And he took them and he sat down with them On the floor and had a meal with them It wasn't just about food For Imam Hussein as well It's not just about feeding them That's what you said Is inspired millions in Karbala today So when the people were doing the walk People get stopped on the road Dragged into their houses To say you're the Zawar Hussein You're the person travelling from Najaf to Karbala Walking, you need to come to my house Sit down, eat and then go Hussein has inspired these people To an act of kindness Feed the needy It's phenomenal The dedication of the servants Of Imam Hussein on the way From Najaf to Karbala Is so humbling The culture where there's They've got nothing to give But they have so much So when it comes down to the need I'm going to break it down to three elements Number one, the need for food There are multiple organisations That's been inspired to feed the homeless Number two, we can discuss on Is blood Again, the number of organisations The world has been inspired to give blood Blood is key Number three, is the orphans As Imam Hussein has inspired organisations To help the orphans So let's start with the first one Which is the food So why is food essentially important The nutrition and the day-to-day running And what has Imam Hussein Done 4,000 years ago That is inspiring people doing today So there's a saying by Imam Hussein That roughly says that The true virtue is helping someone That you cannot benefit from That he has no use You have no use of their actions But you're helping them anyways And that is how Imam Hussein lived He never looked at things the way As in like what serves my path It was all about giving And giving and giving And food-wise We've spoken about his care For the elderly, used to go feed them He used to take the homeless to his house And feed them And in our society now It's very relevant Homelessness is a big problem In every part of the world Even in first world countries Places like London There's about 60,000 homeless people On the streets of London Organisations like Who's Hussein Who are inspired by Hussein Do take action and try to help them As much as possible by providing foods And drink in other facilities When it comes to blood There's a verse in the Quran that says Or something, or roughly says Whoever helps a soul live It's as if he helped the whole Saved humanity And blood is It's like a 15 minutes sit down They put a really scary needle into you And they drain some blood They take about 470 ml Which is nothing But it can actually save a life You save three people By donating once So it's quite important as well And then orphans Obviously we all know From Prophet Muhammad Up to Imam Ali Up to Imam Hussein And all of the imams How important it is to take care of orphans And how important it is to be gentle with them It's not just about the physical needs Or their food or their money It's about their emotional needs as well There's a hadith as well Prophet Muhammad One of the things he said was You place your hand on the head of an orphan The amount of hair that a child has got You'll be blessed I think one of the most striking stories About Imam Ali is When he was Khalifa He used to roam the streets of the country To see how the situation is And one time he saw a child crying in the corner So he came up to him And he said Why are you crying? And he said My friends won't let me play with them And he asked him why And he said Because I'm an orphan I don't have a father So Imam Ali said You go play with them And when they ask you about your father You tell them Ali bin Abi Talib is my father Wow And that is It's chilling It's something that Every time I remember Every time I say Every time I hear It gives me that rush inside of me About the kindness that Ahlul Bayt Display Simply with their words Simply with being there That emotional sense of Having a father So it's Ali bin Abi Talib Is just Impossible to fathom So my dear brothers and sisters We've learned Many life principles of Hussain ibn Ali The grandson of Prophet Muhammad We are interested in the lands of Karbala And the topic for today was The need of Imam Hussain in the 21st century We can go on and on and on About what is it that we need But we emphasised on two Two principles of Imam Hussain One was forgiveness To please learn to forgive Forgive, forgive, forgive Number two is need Helping the people in need Help the people to feed the people In need Help the homeless people Help your family Help your relatives Help the people giving blood Your blood can save three lives Again You're doing something that's saving Other people's life One of the biggest things you can do Number three Help the orphans Again this is exactly what helped Imam Hussain as-salam His father, his grandfather All about helping the orphans Khulud I would like to take my time On behalf of Imam Hussain TV I say thank you very much for coming on The show And inshallah Your ziyarat may get accepted And if you have anything That you would need Please give us a shout And my dear brothers and sisters Thank you for watching us And khuda afiz