 Salam alaykum dear viewers, peace be upon you all, welcome to our show on Imam Hussein TV discussing different aspects of the story of Ashura that took place in Karbala. Today we will be discussing the very important topic of intention or in Arabic Nia. The intention is something that is very highly emphasised in Islam and you see it very much present as a topic on the day of Ashura in the battle of Karbala. To discuss this issue and shed some light upon it, we have our esteemed guest today, we've got Sheikh Ali Marsh joining us, Sayyed Mohsin Ashour, Imran Dato and Dair Aadur to help us with some poetry as well. Sheikh to begin with, when we look at the battle of Karbala, it clearly is a group of people with good intentions versus a group of people with evil intentions. But the actions are almost the same, they are fighting each other in battle in a sense. So before we get to this, what was the intention of the Imam going to Kufa and for the uprising in the first place? The Imam, he asks Allah SWT to bless him with honest intention, of course, to start anything in Islam. Give this foundation for the topic of intention that in Islam, every movement, every act needs intention. Of course there are acts, they don't need any intention, let's say if you want to purify an impure, then you just wash it and then you go to the wudu or the wudu and so forth. But with regard to the intention, you have to have the intention for the acts of worship, with regard to the contracts, let's say marriage contracts, you must have intention of marrying the one who you're proposed for, and likewise for the buying and selling and so forth, to have this intention of buying and selling, it's not just a mock buying or selling. So intention is one of the bases of Islam within the ibadat and contracts. So the Imam, he mentions that honest intention is the first step for the one to move towards his goal and objectives, and then satisfying speech, in other words, to satisfy and please Allah SWT with the right speech and words and statements, and more desirable acts and good acts, in other words, almost تحسن العمل. So the more good deeds, then that is what is favorable and required. I don't go through the meaning of niyah in the Arabic language, but in overall the movement of human being should be towards Allah SWT, and not just towards materials of this world, unlike those who are non-religious, who only think about raising money and gaining more power and so forth. This is a hadith from Rasulullah SAW with this regard. He says, a very famous hadith, اِنَّمَ الْأَعْمَالُ بِالْنِيَّاتِ وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلَّمْ رَئِمْ مَا نَوَا All the deeds begin with intention. And whatever you intend for, you go for that intention. Then the Holy Prophet SAW goes and elaborates, he says, فَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولِهِ The one who had the intention of migrating towards Allah and His Holy Prophet فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولِهِ This migration is for the cause of Allah and for the cause of the Prophet SAW. Woman, كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى دُنْيَ يُصِيبُها If his intention was to achieve something, to get something from this world only, so purely materialistic. او امرأةون يتزوجها Or to, let's say, migrate from the US to the UK, from the UK to Australia. You know, he met somebody on the net, for example. He wants to marry that individual. So only for that purpose. He says فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى مَا هَجَرْ إِلَيْهِ This migration and movement is based on his intention. Is it for the cause of Allah SWT, then he gets دُنْيَان آخر. Only for دُنْيَان then only for دُنْيَان. امام الحسين سلام الله عليه He made it clear from the first day of his movement from and migration from مدينة to مكة and مكة to كربلا. He said it clearly to those who they tried to advise the Imam عليه السلام that you're going towards Iraq. Those who betrayed your father and killed him and then your brother Hassan عليه السلام. The Imam responded that اني لم اخرج اشرا ولا بطرا وانما اخرجت لطالب الإصلاح في أمتي جد رسول الله صلى الله عليه واله that I revolted, I came out It wasn't for the purpose of pride or wickedness or fame but I came out and revolted for the purpose of reformation in the the nation of my grandfathers رسول الله صلى الله عليه واله reformation, إصلاح, طلب الإصلاح The intention of the Imam was to reform the community and the society of Muslims after it was deviated from the true path of Allah and His Prophet and Ahlul Bayt عليه السلام After what Ben-Iuwait did the like of Muawiya and Yazid and so forth who came and distorted Islam and deviated the Islam from its right path. And of course another statement in Ziyarat al-Arba'een we read as well that the Imam says to Allah SWT that Imam al-Hussain al-Aliyyas gave his soul now the muhujjah in Arabic means the blood which resists in the heart resides in the heart the blood of the heart he gave it away and of course if you give the blood of your heart means death if I give my blood of my vein then I won't die but as soon as let's say the arrow or the bullet reaches the heart and the blood gushes out from the heart then the one dies instantly so the Imam salamun alayhi gave the blood of his heart and his soul for what purpose what intention was in the Imam's mind lias tanqida ibadaka minal jahl to save the people from ignorance wahairat al-dalala and the misguidance as well so you have ignorance and misguidance so the Imam salamun alayhi established Karbala went to Karbala to save the humanity from ignorance and misguidance that was his intention salamun alayhi and he achieved of course Rajik Al-Qassid, Sayed Musin just to pose the question let's say for example you and I both we both do the same action we both for example donate to a food bank or something I do it because I would like a few likes on Instagram whereas you do it for the sake of God we both done the same thing we both helped the food bank why in Islam is your superior to mine? well first of all the intention kind of like dictates you know what you're going to do and why you're going to do it now if you're going for you know Instagram likes that's clearly that's you know you're trying to show for a little bit your intention your heart is not in the right place but whereas if someone individual has you know the best interest of Allah swt not just the best interest of Allah swt but also like humanity and then to help someone that you know you know one day that might be me that needs help if we're going to a food bank so if I can give and help why not and our religion is you know charity is one of the most you know promoted aspects of our belief so mine would be worth seeing more valuable in the eyes of Allah swt because of the sincerity behind the act and Dahir and Imran you both travel around the world invite to recite poetry and it'd be interesting to ask you how do you keep your intention as pure as possible because I know with both your reputations you get a lot of praise I'm sure from the people around you that listen to you and rightfully so but how are you able to keep your intention purely for the sake of God and for the sake of the Imam versus maybe trying to get the intention of becoming more well known for example how do you psychologically deal with this? It's definitely a constant struggle so firstly you've got the state of mind so most of the cases when we prepare poetry whether it's writing or reciting we prepare it out of the seasons of sadness so for instance the Ashurah poetry I write them two, three months before so now we're in a situation where we're cheerful we're getting on with our daily lives and how do we get into a state of mind where our intentions are pure and not pure just in the right frame of mind to write about Ashurah ad-Jasli to reflect the struggles and the tragedy itself and to serve Mahfazain the Ahlul Bayt and Allah SWT as a whole in a just manner and through pure with a pure intention so if we go back to the very beginning is getting that right frame of mind and once you've got the right frame of mind there's also the ego thing everybody's got an ego poets, reciters they tend to have the biggest egos at times so finding where your ego takes over and eliminating it I think that's probably the key here so with me it's when I'm writing I'm thinking that's a bar I'm not thinking of serving Mahfazain at that point I'm thinking of the praise I'm going to get because of that so understanding that your wordplay isn't for you or for the people it's for propagating the message and separating yourself from the ego in that manner it's a constant struggle so we have to suffer every year when we're writing every year when we're reciting absolutely yeah I think also to follow on when it comes to an intention it's more I think if you work backwards sometimes so if you look at the act that you're going to do for example in our case if you're going to recite how do you want that recitation to come across or why are you actually reciting so you know if you look at the actual act itself and you think that you know when I'm doing the know-how and I'm reciting the Latin I'm reciting it for the sake of Allah's will for Imam for say the Zahra example so with that if you work backwards say if I want my recitation to come across purely for them that means my intention when I'm reciting has to be nothing but just for Allah's will however on the other hand if you said like you know I want to be more well known I want to do this and I like if you go to certain communities there's you know there's a way to particularly recite a know-how to pick up the beat to pick up the know-how beat for example and if you and sometimes it's good to kind of get the atmosphere going for that so you know more grief rises however if you do it so that they say oh I hope I do it to satisfy the people so that they call me again next year so I'll do it particularly for them then that's the way you know then if that's your intention then you're going to recite it like you're going to your preparation is going to be totally different totally different so it like working backwards also helps so sometimes and like I said like everybody has an ego it's difficult like especially if you get invitations here there and everywhere I think hadiyah is a popular problem as well like you know you know may Allah protect us from all this but you know if you start if the community start giving you this much this much this much you know God forbid you should you go for the money and you say all these persons paying me the most I'm going there you know that can that can be a big issue as well maybe that that stuff should be a by-product rather than the absolutely absolutely yes so that like you know again it depends on each individual reciter what and you know everyone circumstances is different but yeah the main main thing should be like you know you're doing it for Imam Hussain al-Fawsayt al-Azhar Allah SWT because if you are going to gain any respect in this world even if you even if even if you don't have the best voice you will still rise above that person who has the most amazing voice because of your intention Hussain al-Fawsayt al-Fawsayt al-Fawsayt al-Azhar Allah SWT and I can't still remind you that the gifts and talents you have don't belong to you yeah and you have to remind yourself yeah exactly right I mean Sheikh is it just branching on from their discussion is it possible to have a dual in two intentions at once but both are good so for example I'll put it to you let's say I have the intention to please God but also to please people and maybe to get famous but that fame will bring you more opportunities to inspire other people and get them close to God Islamically is having a double intention possible or should it solely be for the sake of God only you have to look at the goal and the aim and objective if it ends at the the end of this aim and this intention is for the pleasing Allah SWT that's fine so be it you know if you want to become a famous reciter for example lecture yeah at the end of the day you want to serve Allah SWT you want to serve Ahl-bayt al-Alim al-Salam so go for it work for it and we need people with great capabilities that they can perform better and basically offer better service in terms of the Nuh and recitation and even lecture for the community so of course absolutely it's very interesting as per the format of the show we are going to have a short poem by brother Tahir that will describe or reflect upon an aspect of Asura as is the format of the show so please brother Tahir if you don't mind please recite some poetry for us and for the audience at home so this poem is called Ten Days and it's specifically written for the topic of intention so you have to compare with me because it's a very new poem it starts us with ten days here we are another year another ten days added to our collection but what do they mean and what do they mean to a person like me a person like you what do these ten days mean to someone someone who lives life comfortably flowing through life uninterrupted except for tiny hiccups what do these ten days mean to others who aren't living as comfortably as us people who have had lofty aspirations scattered loved ones that once mattered dreams dispersed waking up to mornings of hunger and sleepless nights of thirst each person living through their own blessing and curse but the question still arises what do these ten days mean to a person like me a person like you or a person like him or her this question is not a new one this question was asked on that very same day a day where we had 72 names 72 people 72 stories 72 past present and futures all brought to one conclusion one cause one message under one banner under one leader who'd done it all for the one and the beauty of it all was that it wasn't rehearsed these individuals made the decision knowing it cannot be reversed some had only moments to decide yet it took to them was unbelievably clear to leave them behind or to disappear or to pick up a sword armor a spear most people who fight against the odds do not fight out of choice they are given no choice yet these 72 individuals did not see the odds and flee they saw the difference between being shackled and free earth and its numbered days or martyrdom and its eternal glory these people stopped pointing at their battered hearts stopped holding on to the jewels of life the spouses, the mothers, the fathers, the sons and daughters they removed the attachments of life from their shoulders and surrendered it all to him how many of us can even contemplate reaching that point with only moments to consider and that's the difference between any other written story because hearts unlike pages expand infinitely and for him 72 hearts were sacrificed that day each with their own journey each with their own story each with their own legacy each capturing our hearts year upon year forming a fire in the hearts of believers that will never extinguish but how could this be? how could this possibly be to understand let's look at astronomy in astronomy there is a phenomenon called the stellar collision where two stars collide and merge in submission forming an object infinitely brighter lighting up the universe like a flick of a lighter it's said that this happens once every 10,000 years and more so more than two stars colliding at once is just not it's not just rare but virtually impossible yet 72 dead that day where God decided to make true the promise of sacrifice unlike Abraham who like a phoenix from the yashes would rise unlike Jesus from the crucifix veiled before human eyes unlike Ishmael's throat saved and from this we flocked to our pilgrimage Hussain's throat was maimed paraded with 72 heads on the spear and as a result we have a bridge where a tear in hell will overwhelm worth more weight than an ocean held where a walk to his shrine is worth more than a thousand planetary swallows so here I am asking what these 10 days mean to me but instead I should be asking what I mean to them look at me I'm lucky if I even live to 22 so how lucky were they to die as his 72 Subhanallah brilliant poem much to reflect on especially with the regards intention thank you so much just to bring the discussion slightly forward and draw to even a close Sheikh the intention and purifying it just for our viewers we talked about the theory of it in terms of practical advice how do we purify our intentions in terms of is it something we have to struggle with I mean Dari spoke about this struggle between the ego versus you know serving God so how would you practically advise our viewers and us here in the studio today how do we practically purify our intentions do we have to stop each time we do an act in a sense and revisit why we're doing these things or are there other ways that Islam advises as I've mentioned just recently in the dua of Imam al-Sirjad alayhi salam that the Imam asks Allah swt that he gives him the honest intention so initially we ask Allah the Almighty to give us and to bestow this intention which is a purified intention from any kind of attachments of this world so we ask Allah initially as in the dua and practically we try to disassociate anything else with our intention so solely only for the purpose of Allah swt nothing else I try my best to offer this service others and Noah has a Majlis eulogy even walk towards the Imam alayhi salam in arba'in for the cause of Allah swt so intention plus practically I try to implement that in the real world that I don't associate anything else with it I think one thing that I try to practice myself that helped with this is I'm sure you guys may agree that we know that the 11th Imam says one of the signs of a believer is they say Bismillah loudly and I think even a mundane action if you say in the name of Allah just before doing it even an actor sitting down drinking water even resting can become a godly act because your intention is there for have you had occasions where you were doing a mundane act and you just think actually this can become a godly act just by saying in the name of God do you have any moments where you've switched your intention because it could be a godly intention definitely all the time I guess even if it's going out to work exactly gaining a risk is a form of a bother because I totally agree with you here I think some people who work very hard have very long hours they could get accused of being worldly people but in fact if they do it with intent of seeking sustenance to worship God, to provide for their family as the imams have taught us it's an act of worship so absolutely right there I think that's fair to say with any action you can flip it over and you can change your intention to benefit yourself benefit your imam benefit the community and also gain the sustenance of Allah definitely yeah what about you Imran is there any times where you've had to rethink your intention because it was a normal act you were doing and then you could have made a better act just by the intention yeah absolutely I think there are times I think you'll find that especially maybe at a low time in your life because obviously everyone goes through tests everybody has trials, regulations and especially at a low time say for example I don't know you didn't get your results you're feeling very low you didn't get a job etc etc that's when it's a test so you're supposed to connect to Allah swt even more there so even going about your day to day actions during that low period you would probably be more in the zone with Allah swt so any act that you do automatically you will feel you know something like even if you get a glass of water for example you'll be like hang on there are other people in the house let me ask them just something small and even like we're I mean the example is great because even when Imam was saying TV if we drink a glass of water and then send peace on the imam afterwards to remember his thirst a small act of quenching your own thirst becomes a salutation upon the imam and what a better way before we close this out Shaykh if you could give maybe some final words of advice or some closing words on the intention before we get to the eulogy the Holy Quran mentions Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem Inna ma itaqab bina allah minal muttaqeen Allah would accept only from those who are pious and observe piety so intention and having piety observing piety is very important so having taqwa which relates to the intention as well to have the right and the good intention as I mentioned would result in pleasing Allah swt and His Prophet and Ahlul Bayt al-Ali minas-salam and eventually the one who would gain the rewards that he needs with the hereafter Thank you very much Thank you very much our dear viewers for joining us on this show the clear message is very very apparent that the intention is the foundation of every act of Islam and the intention of the imam was so pure which is the reason why he is remembered still today and it was beautifully mentioned that two people can do the same action but the one who does it with the best intention to please God and get close to God is the one that remains forever we're going to close with our eulogy as per usual as the format of the show dictates and we would like to invite brother Imran Da'atu for this Thank you So just before I start the poem is about again how Imam Hussein he had this intention of going to Karbala knowing he was going to face his death but keeping the intention purely for Allah SWT and this poem is as said the Zahra speaking to Hassan Imam Hussein alaihi salam Bismillahirrahmanirrahim In your final moments the ground shakes with agony and pain see your mother is by your side with every piece of me I have brought you up now to pieces I have seen you for you have seen too much your Lord now calls you come my thirsty lay on the burning suns and your lips thirsty and dry as they draw closer to you my son I am always with you Jibrayil descends from the sky too and you know that I'm here Hussein, Hussein how can I stand and watch you fall how can I see you all alone as my ribs broke back to pieces fall and I cry out to my father to see how my son they torture you Hussein, Hussein I was with you when Abbas did went to his master Master Hussein come to my aid come to my aid how will the brothers meet with no arms high Abbas, Embraer, your sister Zaynab will now see your headless body upon the spears doth for her to see and in chains they shackle the queen for her to see