 Our dear viewers from across the world, we send our deepest condolences to each and every one of you, and indeed to our dear awaited saviour, may Allah hasten his reappearance, upon the 10 days of mourning, of commemoration of lamentation for the death, for the tragedy, for the murder upon our Holy Third Imam, the son of Ali al-Murtaza, and Fatimah al-Zahra, Imam al-Hussain, alaihi salam, Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala alim Muhammad, and we welcome you to Verses of Love, a nightly show for you during these days of commemoration whereby we'll encapsulate and derive some of the very basic learnings, from the tragedy yet university of Karbala, which we can learn from, and we'll cover these together with Verses of Love, poetic recitations, not to make you cry, rather to make you connect with Imam al-Hussain and his dear household. And I'm happy to be joined by my dear brother, Ali Fado, as-salamu alaikum. And upon Ali, the son of Hussain, and upon the children of Hussain, and upon the companions of Hussain, and echoing the words of my dear brother Sadaq, as we are remembering and commemorating and essentially connecting with Imam al-Hussain and the tragedy of Karbala during these next 10 shows or these 10 episodes of Verses of Love. We named it Verses of Love because we are aiming to bring you closer to Imam Hussain as-salam, or connect Imam Hussain as-salam through the art of poetry and recitations, inshallah. And to open up today's show, as you've probably seen tonight, the flag on the dome of Imam Hussain as-salam has just been changed, signalling the start of the month of Muharram, the month of mourning for Imam Hussain as-salam. The flag is from red to black, and it stays black for, I believe, two months or so until after the 40s. So in light of this, the changing of the flag and the advent of this new month of the month of mourning, I have a poem in regards to Imam Hussain as-salam. And there is actually a special context to this because we know from, if we go back in history, the call of Ibrahim as-salam, the Prophet Ibrahim, he was ordered to make a call before the advent of Hajj, the procession of Hajj. He was ordered to make a call, but when he asked his Lord, look, there's no one here in front of me. Who do I make this call to? Allah SWT said to him, if you make this call and do what is obligatory on you, we will make sure that this call reaches the men and the women for centuries to come. And that's why we see today the people, the millions of people, the millions of hajj that performed the Hajj pilgrimage, they answered the call of Allah SWT by saying, Similarly to this, Imam Hussain as-salam, when we hear the stories of him making a call, is there anyone out there to help us? This call isn't to those directly in front of him. Because we know from the historians that there wasn't anyone out there to help him physically. But this call was a call that transcended time and space to reach us today. So every year, year upon year, we say, yes, I am that person to answer the call. And inshallah, we'll touch upon more of that later on in the show. But the poet Noura Sada says, it was not just a day witnessed by your eyes, by your eyes. Millions witnessed your day. So hear their cries, hear their cries. Hussain, you are not alone. Hussain, you are not alone. Your pain to millions is shown. Millions witnessed your day. So hear their cries, hear their cries. Between your eyelid and eye Drawn in everything you'd cried You'd stand alone asking for help And did you ever ask why Calamities you witnessed Left our own eyes so distressed That we'd cry as if horses whose were on our own Were on our own father's breast You stood alone, ever taken away One alone behind you We'd come and pray Yes, a thousand years have passed Ten thousand years it's lost For it lives with our memory As if of yesterday's past As if of yesterday's past They spoke of you as if you died And your plight and your plight Instead you brought our souls to life With your light, with your light Your pain is not yours to own Your pain is not yours to own Your pain to millions is shown Millions witnessed your day So hear their cries, hear their cries The words of that are so profound in that Just today I saw even a Muharram poster from South Africa And every single year without doubt There's another country, there's another country Like, oh there's Shi'a's there The remembrance of Muhammad Hussein goes from Iraq To Iran, to this country, to that country The heavens, every single entity in this world remembers Aba Abdullah Hussein, so long as they have that light to see him And inshallah may it continue and I think One of the big themes that we want to bring to you Our dear viewers across these ten nights is twofold On the one side basic learnings And on the other is remembrance of specific personality So inshallah today, for this night The main theme will be focusing on Leaving Medina and leaving everything that comes with Medina, Medina was not just a city It wasn't just an area, it wasn't just for him An area where Islam was when it was his home And we forget that and we'll touch upon that later Inshallah And further to this, from the lessons that we wish to take home It's that another Muharram has arrived And long may we see these for the rest of our lives Ninety years, a hundred years, whatever Allah SWT grants us But how can we ensure that this Muharram Is not just going to be another ten days of wearing black Not wearing perfume, coming to the masjid Or not going to the masjid, whatever it may be How are we going to ensure that there's a little bit more behind it And we'll touch on this throughout the show And I guess just one very easy point to take away That if I were to ask you, whoever you are An older man, a younger man, an older lady A younger lady, what were you doing on 12th of July Last year, majority of us, unless it's your birthday No idea, right? No idea But if I were to ask you, what were you doing in Muharram 2016 We'll have a rough idea I was attending this majlis, this centre Or I flew to this place, whatever It starts to trigger memories You're like, okay, actually I do remember I went to this centre, I remember we had dinner At this person's house and then we went to the majlis And yeah, I remember work the next day Went a bit like this And then suddenly it starts to trigger these memories And you can start to remember what you were like a year ago And Muharram, even if it serves nothing for you Except this, then let it be so If it serves nothing, if you have no connection with the Mahmoud Hussein If you have no connection with the religion And all you are is someone who just hears of a friend That goes to these regular majlis So they go to these centres for 10 days Then keep Muharram as the most simplistic thing Which is a timestamp Let it be that reflection for you to say Actually, yeah, this time last year Maybe I wasn't as kind as I was this year Maybe I wasn't as introspective as I am this year Let it serve the most simple purpose for you As a timestamp And if that's just one lesson you take away Then let it be that But if you can, let Muharram be a little bit more Let it be a mirror Let it be a reflection upon yourself to say Actually, this slogan of Yah Hussein That I'm sure the many in Karbala today Would have been chanting as that flag was changed And we always see the videos in it It gets us pounding But does it get us pounding Because it's just like a football stadium And you just get absorbed by the noise Or is there a little bit more behind Seeing that calligraphy of Yah Hussein written Is there more umph behind it Is there more of actually This Husayni message is not just a slogan That comes off my tongue It's something I live by It's something I dictate my decisions by It's something that my family revolves around And if I were to use that timestamp That we spoke about Is Yah Hussein And when I say it in the medley Has it graduated from being Yah Hussein To now actually being Yes, a slightly longer prayer Yes, a slightly wrong A start in reciting Quran Yes, a way in which I can start Forgiving someone like Imam al-Hussain Fagayb Haura And this is why we always hear that Karbala and this tragedy of Karbala Is a university of knowledge for us And inshallah we can graduate from it Just two very simple lessons Inshallah to take away There's no doubt that with the month Of Maharram now being here And whilst people start to hear that Okay, you're going to this medallist again Ten nights of commemoration You'll be challenged You'll be challenged as to What's the significance And I think a very simple hadith That you can give to them Or that you can have reflecting In your head is this It comes from our holy prophet May Allah bless him and his holy household Where he says Train your children in three things The love of your prophet The love of his progeny i.e. Ahlul Bayt And the recitation of the Quran And in our medallist These three things are present These three things are definitely present And for sure these three things were present In an area known as Medina 2 And I think when we try to understand This tragedy of Karbala There's more to it than just A great man being killed Without water Yes, this is a tragedy in itself But there's more to it And if we just go right back To the beginning of it Whereby we have a man Who's leaving a city Regardless of this man This is someone who's not just leaving a city He's leaving a home And I ask you this When you've travelled Be it for work, university Whatever it is And you go even to the luxury of a hotel You still feel a little bit uneasy You're not sleeping in the same bed As you usually do You're not in the same environment You don't know where you can go And get x, y, and zed easily You're in a foreign place Now imagine you didn't have The luxury of a hotel You didn't have the luxury Of flying by plane And having taxis Rather you're travelling With women and children You're making this journey This absence from a home Is one thing But if Imam al-Hussain This absence was one Where he was leaving the city of Medina A city where this religion Has so much history So much honour So many memories We forget that Imam al-Hussain was Indeed, he was a human He had feelings He was there He was brought up there He was born there He saw things change He saw the religion Go through different waves He saw his grandfather He used to pay on his grandfather's back He saw so much of his life in the city And in Shalde just now We'd like to reflect and try And understand what this concept of Leaving a city But leaving a home And leaving a home like Medina Yeah, so as you were saying In terms of him leaving Medina There's so many personal connections He has with the city There's so many religious connections He has with the city But of course he's on a mission And with this mission there are sacrifices And the sacrifices that he has to leave his home In order to make this stand Leaving people behind Were also difficult to allude to Who he left behind as well And the Masaib associated with that But essentially when he leaves He goes towards the grave of his grandfather As a final goodbye And he says Goodbyes they've said Are best unsaid Silent I leave Oh Muhammad They say speak words To who you love And bid farewell in your silence So at your grave silent I stand Left torn apart by your absence For you bedr and uhud They seek my blood For your bedr and your uhud They seek my blood for their vengeance I see my death before my eyes And with its smell heaven's fragrance Not who I am For who I am This is very significant by the way Not what I am For who I am To battle your beloved is left silent I leave Muhammad and of course Imam Hussain being the grandson of the prophet And the poem also alluded to the fact That there's bedr and uhud And it's more of like a Almost a revenge mission Against Imam Hussain As-Salam So he says Not what I am For who I am To battle your beloved is left silent So I leave Muhammad I stand beside your grave And scatter upon its roses These roses beside your grave Shall grow Whilst your beloved death approaches Oh grandfather when they blossom Your beloved Karbala reaches And the day they wither away Your beloved's head as spear raises As each rose grows Grows your sorrows Till to death's hand Hussain is fed Silent I leave Oh Muhammad Silent I leave Oh Muhammad Many thanks to the poet Noori Saddar And with that inshallah We will go on after the break To the mosa'ib of Imam Hussain Leaving certain family members From the holy city of Medina Knowing that he will not return to them Until he meets them in the hereafter Join us after the break inshallah As-salaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Welcome back to Verses of Love here on Imam Hussain TV And on this first night On this first show we're exploring the theme of Imam Hussain A.S. And indeed his family and his companions Leaving the city of Medina A very holy city in the eyes of Islam And indeed a home for Imam Hussain And we've been talking about how to maximize These nights as well, how to ensure that These ten nights don't just go past That you can actually take them By the scruff of the neck and really Start to engage with them and start to engage With Imam Hussain So inshallah for this part of the show We'll be focusing on the goodbyes The goodbyes that Imam Hussain had to do The goodbyes that Imam Hussain had to deliver To his dear mother, to his dear brother To his dear grandfather, to his dear home And even if we look initially So that's of his brother Imam Al-Hassan A.S. You see Imam Hussain having grown up In this city had seen enjoyment But tragedy as well He had seen almost all of his family members That had passed away Go through some sort of ordeal Some sort of tragedy And he already knew about what was going to come for him Yet he saw all of these tragedies And in Medina he sees his brother His older brother, our holy second mother Imam Al-Hassan A.S. Go through such a tragedy whereby He's poisoned to the extent That he regurgitates his liver Now usually this line is delivered In Masaib when emotions are very high But I want to be very rational here This is a man who has been poisoned To the extent that his liver is regurgitated And you have a younger brother in Imam Al-Hassan A.S. Seeing his brother in such pain Isn't even the words, such agony Such indescribable pain But the Masaib of Ahlul Bayt A.S. Is such that it doesn't even end there for them And when we say that one Who goes through such a tragedy We always say at least they can be washed And they can be covered And they can be taken to their grave in peace And that is the case for a lot of the A.M. A.S. Yet we know if Imam Al-Hassan This isn't the case But even if Imam Al-Hassan Having had his body washed Prepared for the grave His coffin wrapped Even at that point As they're taking this out Imam Al-Hassan witnesses arrows Going into the body of his brother's coffin To the extent that the coffin of Al-Hassan Has to turn around and be rewashed Now imagine that's to your older brother Having seen the pain he's been through So now Imam Al-Hassan Has to give his farewell to Imam Al-Hassan And there's a very beautiful line That Imam Al-Hassan says to Imam Al-Hassan As his younger brother Upon his final words where he says Oh Hussain There is no day like your day Despite Imam Al-Hassan And be rationed again Despite having seen his brother Go through that torment And knowing he would have to see his coffin Go back and then return He still says Oh Hussain there will be no day like yours It's a reminder for what's to come And Imam Al-Hassan Will give farewell to this to his older brother Knowing that his older brother Will give his son Al-Qasim To come and defend him A 13 year old, 14 year old, teenager But it doesn't stop there Imam Al-Hassan's departure goes further And then he goes to the Holy Prophet's grave And this in itself is a 20 part series Of lectures that can keep on going But the crux of it is this It's that if the Rasool Allah Was there with Imam Al-Hassan There is a chance that they will not have laid A finger upon Imam Al-Hassan Yet just for the absence of a soul The naivety and the pride and the arrogance Of such individuals in that they think They can say we follow the message of Rasool Allah We pray, we read the Quran That he revealed on to us Yet we slaughter his grandson in a land Where his women and children have to look on And I have no idea what the conversation was When Imam Al-Hassan went to bid his farewell Many poets describe it And again I ask you to look at it very rationally How Imam Al-Hassan may have complained to Rasool Allah About what was to come of him And that's a second goodbye But a third one that really strikes the heart Is that of a son saying goodbye to a mother That of Imam Al-Hassan saying goodbye It's a far too much of the Rasool Allah Having seen the torment she went through Having seen the torment she went through He now has to leave the unknown located grave Of her mother and complain to her And I ask you this When a son is in grief And is worried and is scared For those of you whose mothers are still alive What would you do in a moment of fear You'd go and embrace your mother You'd go and ask her for comforts It's one person that is as close to being The most merciful to God that is on this earth Is your mother I ask you what could have been the conversation Of Imam Al-Hassan to his mother That fear yet that trust in Allah That she instilled within him But one thing that we pray and we hope For sure as well is that during those moments Where Imam Al-Hassan was being tested For the test that no others will have ever seen Nor will ever see That Fatimah al-Zahra alaihi salam Would have been with him during that tribulation On the sand of Karbala Holding him close and keeping him steady Yeah and following on from that as well Where there is a narration that states That the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam He was with his daughter Fatimah al-Zahra And it was seen that they were having A very private conversation And during this conversation It was narrated that Fatimah al-Zahra Was crying and then she was smiling And then when she was asked Or when the Prophet was asked What was it that you said to your daughter That made her cry or was very emotional And then made her smile He said to her or he said to the companions He said what I told her was that Her son Hussein will be slain On the lands of Karbala And I told her the whole story of Karbala And the tragedy of Muharram And what will happen to him And his children and his companions And say the Zaynab And therefore she got emotional And started to cry But then she said And then he said that after that I told Fatimah al-Zahra That although this calamity Will befall your son Hussein There will be a nation That will uphold the tragedy Of Imam Hussein al-salam The tragedy of your son Year in year out So that the name of your son Hussein Will always live on through time and space And also following on from that I also know that the narrations that state That in every single Majlis The same way that Fatimah al-Zahra Was present in Karbala Was within Imam Hussein She is also present within the Majlis Of Imam Hussein al-salam and Aba Abdullah But for the poetry It depicts how Fatimah al-Zahra Came towards Karbala During the massacre of her son Hussein Said Zaynab cries A scream of death I got a scream She cries Oh mother come and see Your Hussein Mother I wish That to my side You'd return Then Fatimah from the Heaven Appears Opposites her Hussein Severe body lies She wails when this picture Meets her two eyes With her the moon the stars And everything cries She cries Rise up and avenge him Haidar Then she finds the body Of the newlywed To the hunger of the sword As Qasim was fed And upon him tears of blood Are mother's sheds Which heart can bear the weight Of this picture Then she finds Abbas In this dreadful place Oh Abbas where is your beauty In your grace With his two severed hands She strikes her face Abbas rise up and comforts your mother Abbas rise up and comforts your mother In a certain way it was a bit easier than saying goodbye to a loved one Who was alive and living and in front Not only is it a bit easier to say goodbye to a loved one Who passed away Not only is it difficult to say goodbye to a loved one who's around But it's difficult to say goodbye to a loved one Who happened to be your daughter Who happened to also be sick And ill from an illness And also a young girl On top of that a young girl Who'd be alone in Madinah So for that it must have been a difficult situation From our Hussain A.S. Who had to make a decision Now this girl if I bring her with me Can she survive the whole journey However long it may be Towards what was supposed to be Kufa Will she survive the journey Or do I leave her with A certain woman who also can't be able to travel And what will before my daughter Fatima Because she had a daughter called Fatima And it was alluded or she's known as Fatima al-Aleela And Fatima al-Aleela is basically Aleela means the sick one or the ill One or the one who has an illness It's a tragedy in itself That we're talking about A decision of a father having to leave a daughter for a journey And we see all the time when parents Especially fathers when they leave a daughter To go on a business trip for two, three days It's picture on the phone Keep it closed, get one printed Get one on the key ring You're constantly worried Constantly worried Call home, how is she And this is when they're well Is she okay? What's the situation? Give me an update Now you can send a pic Yet this is Imam al-Hussain seeing a mission Knowing what's about to come Looking after those that were with him Yet now having to say goodbye to a daughter Knowing that there's absolutely No chance of him returning And he has to express this in some sort of way He has to come and find the strength to say Actually, I will leave you behind And I will go and conduct my mission And I will fully submit And this is the understanding The only way al-Alela was able to complete this mission Was through complete and utter submission To Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Leaving a daughter who's in this state Not knowing what the update would be On a day-to-day basis And I just question When I think to Sayyid al-Ruqayyah And that final embrace When Imam al-Hussain went out And we have so many poets that describe When she held on to the leg of the horse Crying, don't go I know those who go to the battle Don't return, my uncle Abbas went Don't return What was the reaction of Fatima al-Alela When Imam al-Hussain started to say his goodbye At this point It could have been a basic conversation But that rips the heart It could have been Father, what's going on? Why aren't you taking me with you? Or, you know I think there's always a soft spot for this Especially those who have children They'll understand that Like leaving a child Even if you want to go to work And come back You're always missing a child So if you're going As you were saying If you're going for a long while And the kid Or the young child comes He says, are you not taking me Because I've done something wrong? Or, you know It's innocence It's innocence It's pure innocence And you're absolutely right That this is the total submission And the patience to be able to deal Look, I have a mission And no matter what emotions Tug at my heartstrings I have to be strong here So just that conversation But it's always an area where A lot of the viewers can connect And because the ethos of these shows Is for you to connect to Mahusai Islam This is an area where A lot of the population The Shi'a population Or even the Muslim world Can connect to the tragedy of Mahusai Islam Because it's a daughter A father and daughter Or even a young girl Who wants to connect to her father There's so many correlations That you can make And the poem written by Nora Sardar Literally says Before the world takes my soul Just one time, please come to me Before I fade to my death In my dreams, please visit me Don't let me cry before I die And this is a conversation That she's having with herself After Mahusai Islam has left Before the world takes my soul Just one time, please come to me Before I fade to my death In my dreams, please visit me Don't let me cry before I die I have aged yet so terribly Without my father by my side I was raised but in a shadow I slept in all the tears I cried My days were without end all Only in nights did I abide For it would reflect my sorrow Even my tears, they had no guide Who would come and take my hand And show the whole world to me A father comforts his child But the night comforted me So tell me why Before I die I watched you leave a humble home And by a door waiting I stood But no one came back to raise me And my heart never understood Did you think I'd cause you trouble? Did you think I'd cause you trouble? Oh father, by God I couldn't I was raised as my mother taught Every morning kiss you I would We'd place your prayer mat by you Every morning I'd come to you In my night you'd come to me The last thing I saw was you Love can't deny Before I die Every night when lonely I slept In my dreams I would see your face I'd ask you father please come back By your daughter's side is your place Once lived by me pride and honor Now sorrow becomes my disgrace When the world has its eye on me And with doubt my whole heart is laced Sorrow became my own friend It replaced you, oh father And so when I meet my end It shall be my grave digger And would I lie before I die? When the world has its grip on me I did not know to who I turned In every path this life took me Still for my father I would yearn I gave man's tears a new meaning From my own tears I was surrounded out I slept on worry and concern I slept hoping, oh father That soon you'd return to me Like the rip of your mother A broken heart sat on me Patience is shy Before I die Before the world takes my soul Just one time please come to me Before I fade to my death In my dreams please visit me Don't let me cry Before I die Many thanks to the poet Noori Salla Allah And with that we come to an end for this first night show And as mentioned our aim is to help you to connect to this message of Aba Abdullah Let it be something that reforms you that isn't just tears But turns into actions That is something that you can graduate from this school and university Off the day of Ashura Off the lamentations of Imam al-Hussain inshallah So join us every single night for this We ask Allah to accept our efforts And we ask Allah to send our condolences to our dear awaited saviour And may we receive the intercession of Aba Abdullah in this life And inshallah in hereafter Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh