 Song Peace be upon Hussein, Ali, son of Hussein, the sons of Hussein and the companions of Hussein, peace be upon them, respected viewers, brothers and sisters in Islam, peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Tonight we have with us a brother from the UK and a eulogist, or if you will, Radud, whom Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, blessed of becoming a servant of Ahlul Bayt, and especially a servant of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him. He currently resides in the UK and in the United States. So let's welcome with me, Sayyid Ali Al Hakim. Peace be upon you, Sayyid Al Hakim. How are you? Peace be upon you. How are you? Al Hamdulillah. Al Hamdulillah. I hope everything is good. Al Hamdulillah. Al Hamdulillah. I hope you're well. Al Hamdulillah. Just to start off, how was your trip to Karbala during this hot weather? Yeah, sure. It's a bit different, you know, it's a bit different to the UK, but, you know, you adapt to the surroundings. Well, first I entered Kuwait and then from Kuwait I had to cross the border into Basra, then to Karbala. Al Hamdulillah, all for the service of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him. Basra is hot right now, no? Basra is steamy. I would say it's like having a hairdryer constantly being blown in your face. Yeah, and you had a hair problem yesterday. Yeah, the thing is I get dry skin really quickly, so I have to keep it washing my hair and, you know, the water here is a bit salty, but it is, yeah. Al Hamdulillah. Al Hamdulillah. You mentioned you went to Kuwait, what was the motive behind your visit there? Kuwait, well, every year I produce an album and based on, I always try and gain feedback from each album to ensure I continue to progress and the feedback that I got was the next album needs to have full HD quality sound recording and there are quite a number of studios which have full HD quality in the UK but I'd prefer to go to the Arab world to get a more professional job done when it comes to eulogies like my yachts because they have an idea, they've got a good understanding of how to record as opposed to the UK hence why the feedback I got was there's two main studios in Kuwait which is Hossam Yusri's and Abdel-Lambarek, so that's why I went to Kuwait this year originally to record the new album. That's interesting because Bassem actually goes there too and about that. Yeah, yeah, Bassem Karbala he goes to Abdel-Lambarek and Abadar he goes to Hossam Yusri and there's quite a number of famous reciters that go there so when I went there, you know, obviously not to their standard but I came and Alhamdulillah they welcomed me with open arms and really nice humble people and Alhamdulillah we managed to work in a much more effective manner because the people who were there can speak English so they kind of understood what I was saying. So the work worked a bit better, Alhamdulillah. And also you said latmiyat, so the next album you have producing or in a way is a latmiyat album? Sure, yeah, it's going to be called Karbala's Flag and this album is relatively unique it's going to be six tracks. One of the tracks is about Imam al-Mahdi which is going to be an early release insha'Allah fa'id al-fatar but it's also going to be added with the main album Karbala's Flag has six tracks and the poets did a really good job on this album actually I told them to think outside the box because we get poetry which is where Imam Hussain speaking to Sayyid al-Zaynab Sayyid al-Zaynab speaking to Abu Fadal al-Abbas al-Islam which is all fantastic poetry and the poets in the Arabic world are very creative but I thought let's be a bit more creative here so for example one of the poems as if a bird is speaking on the day of Ashura and the bird is flying and it gazes down and it looks and it sees what's happening it starts off by talking about what it sees in the enemies then it sees one man called Hur and how he enters and sees Imam Hussain and then Hur begs at the door of Imam Hussain then the bird flies and it sits on the tent of the Ahlul Bayt then it looks down, it looks at Sayyid al-Zaynab and the bird is feeling upset of what it's seeing Sayyid al-Zaynab crying and then it goes to Abu Abdel Al-Hussain and then it says how the bird sees Imam Hussain and how the bird wants to help Imam Hussain but it can't and as Imam Hussain fell, the bird also fell so it's thinking outside the box and there's other things like that within the poem, within the album so inshallah I hope the audience enjoy this album inshallah that's thinking way outside the box I mean that's actually pretty nice to hear about so inshallah we'll stay tuned but speaking of such an establishment support must have a significant part which plays in this album? Yeah sure Every year when a reciter wants to record an album especially in the English language quite often I see that the reciters who record in English they're relatively still young, the ones that I know so it's either they're in university or they've graduated recently and a person who's recently graduated from university they require quite a bit of financial support especially if they're going to record an album to a full HD quality scale and alhamdulillah we managed to get donations for this album but in general I do believe that it's very important for us as Shi'a's of Imam Ali to invest our funds in projects for the service of Imam Hussain Ali it could be through investing in a reciter it could be investing money for food for a medullist or investing money for a mosque in general anything for the Ahlul Bayt will be recorded on the day of judgement and seeing as us where the Shi'a of Imam Ali we have to always try and set the example and unfortunately within our communities I do feel there's a lack of will to donate to events now some communities are very good at donating they're just very passionate about the Ahlul Bayt especially the tragedy of Inkerbala once they hear the tragedies they feel like they want to invest their money and spend their money and at the end of the day we're trying to send the message of Imam Hussain and when we're trying to get the message of cross Imam Hussain wanted us to become good people he wanted us to get closer to Allah and not do haram that was one of the main concepts of the whole it's good versus bad on the day of Ashura so we have to try and continue to protect this message and because we are talking about the Ahlul Bayt we have to always try and give the best image of the Ahlul Bayt i.e. a lecturer who's going to read on the member of Imam Hussain he has to always know exactly what he's talking about he needs to become really prepared and he needs to make sure that all the details that he's written are backed with references and legitimate ahadi otherwise if this information isn't legitimate and it's not accurate we are doing a disfavor to the Ahlul Bayt because they had a message which they wanted to bring across to the ummah and if we're not giving the right message to the ummah because of our incorrect information then that could be detrimental to the image of the Ahlul Bayt similarly it comes to recitations now when it comes to recitations I do believe a poet needs to do his best ability when we're writing a poem he has to always think about writing outside the box and be very creative and invest his passion in the poetry and the best way to do that is maybe for example go out on a trip and think about you know I don't know just go for example into a forest just be connected with his Lord and that's one of the important things but also within our communities we need to invest our time, effort and money so we can try and portray the best image of the Ahlul Bayt this is one of the reasons why actually I went to Kuwait because if we have to portray the best image of the Ahlul Bayt we have to produce the best quality for the Ahlul Bayt hence why it's better to record one really really good track which is full HD quality and the poetry is amazing as opposed to 10 normal tracks which will be distributed why because we have to produce quality as opposed to quantity of course and that's actually significant because even as the youth, even me and even actually everyone who follow the path of Ahlul Bayt they learn more from the tracks recorded by eulogists and radudes than actually listen to a lecture and also that's significant in its own because the message of Ahlul Bayt is not only spread through the lectures but also spreads through the radudes word and the poets words and it's significant to note that many eulogists and radudes in today's world we can say that they're uneducated but they seem to lack the difference if you will between Haram and Halal reciting so why is it important for a eulogist and a radude to be educated and how do you become a good reciter I do believe that Karbala is an institute of education for Islam in Niyanas to Allah each incident had its role to play for the Ummah be it from Abu Fahd Al-Abbas be it from Sayyidina, be it from Ruqiyyah each member of the Ahlul Bayt had a role to play the imagery of what is perfection for us Ummah to copy in our daily lives each incident has its role to play for us to improve our lives so we can get closer to Allah before the day of judgement and I do believe a role of a reciter is very important I completely agree with what you said because yes lectures are very important because we need to gain the knowledge to understand what our deen is we need to improve, be it from the Fikr or even improve our spirituality of course but I do believe, especially for the youth one of the key ways to attract an individual who might not be on the path of the Ahlul Bayt is through the recitations because people like to listen to things they like to listen to words with a tune they enjoy this and one of the effective ways is through recitations of Latmiyat, Nuhaz or Anashid and then through that through the poetry they understand exactly what is going on the poetry itself becomes an educational material for the individual so then later they can come and understand exactly what the Ahlul Bayt is so for example you have a person who doesn't know anything who's Imam Hussein then he listens to a Latmiyat oh this sounds nice what's going on here he listens to it and as he listens to it he starts picking up key information then he gets curious what happened here what's going on here then he links it to the lecture and then from the lectures he bases his foundation of Islam and then he builds his portfolio of his Islamic knowledge so that's why I'm trying to as well as Alhamdulillah my fellow brother recites this in English they're trying to stress the key importance of recitations in English sometimes you go to a Majlis and you know it's very unfortunate the adults say okay the lecture's finished okay it's time to go home now and you see the young children they want to participate in the matem azadah of Imam Hussein alayhi salam but the parents don't agree with this and there's a numerous the numerous reasons of why a parent would say this but at the end of the day you're preventing your son from serving Imam Hussein on such a grand scale where this is going to inspire him to become a better person as they grow older so I can speak from my own personal experiences my dad he used to and still does recite Imam Hussein in Dar al-Islam Manchester and when I was small I used to look up to my dad and I used to look at him and think oh one day I want to be like this and it would be like all the kids we didn't know what was going on but we got the atmosphere and the understanding of what's like Imam Hussein like Abedullah Imam Hussein at the end and the kids used to like that and then through that that's our foundation and then before we didn't want to come to the mosque now we want to come to the mosque that's why it's key important and you mentioned the point at the end which is after the the importance of serving the Ahl al-Bait I do believe that anything for the Ahl al-Bait be it from reciting or writing a poem or just you know even cleaning your house ultimately you're doing the Ahl al-Bait a favor because they want you to improve yourself that's the message of course Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah as you mentioned the lectures and the lectures who preach the doctrine of Ahl al-Bait peace be upon them the story of Imam Hussein and the Ahl al-Bait was brought to us in Arabic but Islam has spread out not only through the Arab world but to also China Alhamdulillah we have in the US in Canada UK Australia wherever you go there is a Shia and it's it's not a negative thing but when the reciter and the lecturer even the Radhud they're in an English community yet they recite in Arabic you know and the children there they actually grew up in an English community so they tend to lack Arabic understanding yet the lecturer and the Radhud they lecture and recite in Arabic so is there a lack of English reciters or English lecturers sure what is the point there as I've seen there's been a major increase in English lectures throughout the UK and the USA and when a majlis is being run starts with the lecture and it goes to the a lot of them maybe food and question and answers so if you're going to have a lecture in English you're going to attract all audiences like you said the message of Ahl al-Bait is spread throughout all nations so if English is the universal language surely we should continue the theme of English and portray the message of the Ahl al-Bait because if we're going to start reciting Arabic which is you know obviously it's a beautiful thing the Arabic language be it in the Urdu language or whatever cultural background you're from and that's how like for example I started off reciting Arabic but then I realised the demand for English and then I switched to English and obviously if there's a majlis you have to try and always accommodate the audience that you're reading in front of and especially if you're going to have an English lecture you're going to have a mixed audience be it from the Khawji community the Pakistani, the Arabs, the Iranians you have a mixture and you have to accommodate for all so the only way to do this if you're going to have an English lecture and the audience is mixed is have an English lecture of course the only well there's I would say there's quite a few reasons why people are hesitant to recite in English but I see one of the main reasons why people don't really recite Latmiyat nor has an English it's because they don't feel that connection in English and there's always positives and negatives for each thing and maybe inshallah we can discuss this but I do stress the point of reciting English Latmiyat because at the end of the day we're trying to get the words across we're trying to get the words to penetrate into the hearts of the audience and if you're going to recite Arabic and then there's a Urdu there's an Urdu speaking person who doesn't understand what's going on yes there's still a service to Imam Hussein to do the maths but it would be so much more beneficial to them if they understood the words of course hence why English is the way forward inshallah definitely we actually see in the UK and in the United States every 40 people spread the message of Imam Hussein similar to what happened in Karbala and other practices they actually go out walking and you see them I mean I knew we lived there so we see every 40 people walk with thousands actually last year I think was reached 44,000 in Sweden they just walk they just march from place to another place for the sake of Imam Hussein but speaking of English reciters there's a tendency for issues to rise when reciting in English so what are your thoughts about that? sure I would say currently right now there's a lack of English reciters and there's reasons for that the issues are what people tend to do is they are used to reciting Arabic or Urdu or Farsi for example and they want to start reciting in English but they don't know how to so the easiest way for them to start reciting in English is if they get a poem they use the same tune and get words in English and apply that same tune that they read in Farsi or Arabic and apply it to the English words so they have a set tune and they start reciting that same tune in English and quite often the tune that are read in the Arab world albeit like for example in Iran or Pakistan it doesn't match what the western world likes of course quite often not always but quite often and when you're listening to it you don't feel connected because it seems unnatural in a sense you've got a tune that doesn't fit into a community so that's one of the reasons also people some communities they don't really accept the English language just yet Alhamdulillah bit by bit we're trying to we're trying to push through those barriers trying to get the message across that we're trying to spread the message for everyone hence why English so that's why there's a way to overcome the problem of connecting to the audience in the English language with the tune that is set for the audience that we're reciting to and a way to do this is by creating your own tunes that match the audience while still having the beat of the matem if it's in a Pakistani style you can still have the beat or if it's the Arab way you can still have that beat the pace of it you can still stay there but you're going to have new tunes to match the audience so maybe you know the Maqamat the set tunes that are read in the Arab world they don't apply maybe for the western world in some cases it does so that's why I do believe I stress the importance of start for reciters to start making up their own tunes as opposed to copying the famous reciters in the Arab world because if we continue to do this maybe people are going to feel less connected and less emotional with the man for saying and that's the last thing we want so a way to make your own tunes up is to have an idea of what people like but make sure it's not we don't cross the Haram Halal boundary keep it Halal I don't don't copy those those tracks which are played in amusement and entertainment gatherings yeah we actually see that a lot yeah that's one of the main issues I mean quite often when I was in Basra so I was walking down with my uncle and we were just walking in the street and I don't know it seemed like there was a disco going on yeah I don't know I thought we were in a sheet I kind of like went to Basra it's like proper shit I filled area so I was like what's going on here so we were walking walked by it it wasn't a disco it was just a guy selling some CD and it's like saying Yabal Fadal nice Yabal Fadal and you have a disco beat going on to it I mean do we really think about Aba Fadal Abbas is going to be happy with this yeah that's what she said do we really think that Aba Fadal Abbas is going to be satisfied with the beat that wants you to make your dance I mean you can't have a beat it's not Haram to have a beat be it a love me a beat that there's nothing wrong with that but when it makes you want to dance yeah and it makes you want to it makes you want to like you know you want to get up you know that is I do believe that's where we're crossing the Halal Haram Brown and amusement and entertainment gatherings discos clubs the people are starting to mix things together yeah and this I personally do believe and I don't know if people agree but I do believe that this is doing a service to Ehl al-Bait yes the poetry might be amazing the poetry that's being written with the tracks that seem like a discos one the poetry might be written really well but if it's coupled with the beat that makes you want to dance yeah it makes you want to that's doing this the Ehl al-Bait sacrifice their lives for us how can we go and produce tracks that makes you want to do the opposite of the message that they're trying to give to us and this isn't just going on in Basra it's going across Iraq and to be honest in certain communities that have recited in certain areas that have recited we have to ensure that for our dear brothers and sisters that the message of the Ehl al-Bait continues to strive it doesn't matter about how many views you're trying to get on YouTube that means nothing what truly what truly means something at the end of the day is your intentions and what the Ehl al-Bait one so you can you can have a person with a track that gets 100,000, 200,000 views and you get a person who gets 2,000 views for the 2,000 view person has written a fantastic poem written in a bee and the tunes and the sound effects that are presented in the track are completely halal whereas the 100,000, 200,000 person yes he's got a wider audience and yes people he's well known for example I'm not really specifying on English I'm speaking in general yet this person's having a bee which is contradictory to the message of the Ehl al-Bait of course that's actually sad to see because the message of Ehl al-Bait was spread through their own blood yet we actually some people come and misinterpret their message as you said disco beats that's actually I see that too exactly I was shocked to see because and maybe that was a a Maulid or a Nasheed because we're in Shaaban but it's sad to see that even during the 40s and the Muharram they put on these really weird and I'm shocked to see I mean do you know what is what's going on sometimes they say that their excuse is my marja allows it the thing is your marja doesn't allow you to put a disco beat I've never heard of a marja which allows you to put a disco beat in a track have you heard of a marja I've never heard of a marja you're allowed to put sound effects to add it to make the atmosphere the vocals be it vocals or the a heart for the tracks or be it you know it depends on your marja and we don't want to get into details so it depends you have to look into it and each individual has to research this before releasing our track or before listening to a track but the general theme is you know you need to have the respect for the Ehl al-Bait and if you have a track which has nice sound effects which makes you want to cry I don't see an issue with that because we're still portraying the message of the Ehl al-Bait and the correct manner however when it makes you want to dance that's where the red line is speaking of Haram and Halal what are the negative effects of music and the music industry so yeah quite often my friends come to me and they say you know I'm listening to a track and I put my headphones in and I'm listening to this music and it's not harming anyone so I don't see what the problem is I'm just going to college on university and I'm inside my boss I put my headphones in and I'm not distracting anyone I'm just listening to it and to be honest I don't have any effects on me and it might seem that way on a superficial level but later the music bit by bit does actually have an effect so one of the effects is hardening the hearts you know how can a person listen to certain things which are prohibited in Islam and yet at the same time you want to develop your spiritual being towards Allah so that links into anything that is like Haram so you do a certain act which is Haram you want to continue to develop spiritually a barrier from you developing spiritually is doing Haram acts but if we stop doing the Haram we remove that barrier and it enables us to get closer to Allah and one of it like I said is hardening the hearts and the lyrics sometimes are not on the same level as what is on the Islamic guide within the lyrics that I listen to in certain categories of music so I'm not going to get into the detail of it but it's really important to understand that if we're listening to these type of lyrics and at the same time we want to develop our spiritual our spiritual development it's going to be very difficult to balance the two because if we're going to do one thing which is against Allah SWT at the same time we want to develop our spiritual being it's very difficult which is why it's really important to try and avoid music which is prohibited in Islam because especially for the youth between the teen years we're trying to develop our spiritual beings and this is a very critical point of a person especially in teen years because we are faced to so many things being called university and we're trying to develop our spiritual beings but there's so much and haram around us especially in the west and music just only adds on to the problems there's a really good replacement for music which is one of the reasons why there's been an increase in demand of English because some adults don't want their children to start listening to things which are allowed which is why we're trying to record and produce as many tracks we can in the quality which is required in the eyes insha'Allah for the Ahlul Bayt, alayhi salam so there's many negative things and I'm sure people can go and look up the negative aspects of music in the Islamic books but this is one of the major reasons why we're trying to stress on Latmiyat and Nasheed how do Latmiyat affect our personal life and as personal key as well sure yeah I mean personally for me Latmiyat is the foundation for my journey towards Allah people inspired me to start reciting and through that I started to understand the tragedies of Imam Hussain through the poetry which I was reading and that made me build my connection with Imam Hussain which ultimately made me build my connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as we mentioned earlier through the Latmiyat and through the Nasheed a person can start understanding the tragedies of the Ahlul Bayt and the Ahlul Bayt are our guide and our our guide as well as our role models and for us to develop ourselves we have to try and copy them and understanding their tragedies allows us to develop our spiritual beings ultimately so we can get closer to Allah so that's why it's really important to focus on Latmiyat inshallah as well as the Nasheed Alhamdulillah you have something to say to us? yeah sure we have a poem may Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him as well as the Nasheed for Imam Hussain inshallah so you can bless us with your precious voice the world the world filled with hatred and darkness if mankind was a book these would be the dull and impages for it was a hopeless swirling of misery truly in the dark ages a time of chaos every man for himself it was killed or be killed no sympathy cruel and simplistic a society that was mystic and ritualistic heartless men who lived lived of misery most were pessimistic optimistic very few realistic only one was optimistic only one had hope was futuristic ah they worship statues worship stones of their own creation rocks and pebbles were their salvation and with these gods there was an infatuation they would bow and bend in prostration kiss the feet of their lord and master a figment of their own egotistical imagination you can imagine Muhammad's frustration and he left to go up in the mountains and ponder about the world his life the universe he would ponder and wonder humanity's unanswered questions he would contemplate and with the concepts of God he would think away from the evils of society from all the hate he would sit unknowingly to God he would prostrate and this would continue for time until from God there would come a sign from God to Muhammad Jibrael went from God to Muhammad a message was sent this message from the creator you are the people saviour the final prophet you are chosen to be and a hero for all of humanity whose name across the galaxy inscribed in our memory mentioned in Salam Muhammad the final phrase we hear and our final goodbye O Muhammad your name we do cry in the darkness and the darkest of our depths we remember his name a light in the darkness in the night he is a flame whom in our hearts burns brightly and with us we hold tightly to the poet of Sayyid Saeed Al-Hakeem peace be upon Muhammad masha'Allah that's actually very beautiful and your words actually manifest what happened during the time Prophet Muhammad and how they actually went to fight him because of what you mentioned so insha'Allah you have one for Imam al-Hujjah relatively short one for Imam al-Hujjah it's got a Nishid Imam al-Hujjah and just an overview of his life no disco what you had to do you were only five at a such young age when your father died when your father died what you had to do when you were five at such a young age when your father died your uncle stepped up to leave Islam but only you could pray for your father pray for your father and from then till now together we wait for your appearance final Imam we try and recall every single day that you are our guide that you are our guide won't let us stay won't let us stay may Allah hasten the reappearance of our beloved Imam al-Mahdi alaihi salam respected viewers brothers and sisters in Islam lastly I would like to ask Allah to bless our special guest and to bless all the respected viewers and brothers and sisters may Allah bless you peace be upon you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you