 Behind every great and successful man, there stands a great woman, respected viewers, brothers and sisters in Islam. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Welcome to today's episode as we celebrate the birth anniversary of one of the greatest ladies in Islamic history. If not, one of the greatest ladies throughout history. And that is no other than Lady Zaynab, peace and blessings be upon her for this reason. I would like to congratulate my dear master Imam Sahib al-Asr al-Zaman, may Allah hasten his reappearance to you, my dear viewers, to our pious scholars and to everyone watching at home for this very auspicious occasion, but coming from a household of knowledge, of wisdom, of generosity, of forbearance and of modesty. Lady Zaynab alayhi salam was the first daughter to Amir al-Mu'mineen, peace and blessings be upon him, the commander of the faithful. To her mother Fatlima al-Zahra, peace and blessings be upon her. The first grand daughter to Rasulullah, the greatest being to walk this planet, Prophet Muhammad. To her grandmother Khadija, to Abu Talib, her grandfather. And to her other grandmother Fatlima binta Assad, Zaynab alayhi salam, peace and blessings be upon her, was born on the 5th of Jama'at al-Awwal in the 6th year after Hijrah. Now there are other dates given to her birth, such as the first of Sha'ban in the 5th year. However, this is the most credited date for the birth of Lady Zaynab alayhi salam. Today I would like to begin by touching upon the first moments of Lady Zaynab alayhi salam in this world. When Lady Zaynab came to life, Imam alayhi salam held her in his hands and kissed her on her forehead, of course after doing the adhan iqam in her right ear and left ear respectively. Imam al-Hussain alayhi salam, we see from the first moment the special connection. Imam al-Hussain alayhi salam goes up to his father and says, oh father, he was about 3 years old at that time Imam al-Hussain, peace be upon him. He goes up to his father and says, oh father, Allah has granted me a sister and has granted you a daughter. At that moment, Ali ibn Abi Talib began to weep. Now this is a blessed occasion, it's a happy occasion. When someone gets a child, they either cry out of joy or they are happy. So Imam al-Hussain alayhi salam, he was surprised. He says, oh father, why are you crying? He says, you will get to know soon my son. Now after hearing this, we do see and we find the special bond between Zaynab alayhi salam and her brother Imam al-Hussain and the respect of Imam al-Hussain towards his sister. As she grew up and as she grew older, inshallah, we'll get touch upon more in this episode, in tomorrow's episode, we'll find that Zaynab alayhi salam was that motivational sister to her brothers, to Imam al-Hussain, to Imam al-Hussain and to Al-Abbas and the other brothers. To the point where Zaynab set the model for sisters and it's very important my dear sisters to look at this. Because if a female lady wants to know how to become a better sister to her brother, how to become a better daughter to her father and mother, then she should and she must study the life of lady Zaynab alayhi salam. And that's one of the key points that we should focus on when we learn about the life of lady Zaynab alayhi salam. And it's unfortunate to see that whenever Zaynab peace be upon her is brought up, it's always in Ashurah which is great. Yet the 50 years or so before Ashurah, what happened? What did she do? What did she accomplish in her life? And that's insha'Allah we'll get to talk upon, touch upon in these episodes. But if we want to go further on, after everything has been set, lady Zaynab has come to life, Imam Ali, Farhan al-Zahra, Al-Hussain and Hussain, all of them gathered around her. They decide to give her a name but yet they don't want to be Rasulullah in doing so. So they go to Rasulullah, he's not in Medina. A couple days later, Rasulullah alayhi salam returns and what does he do? The first door he knocks on is the door of Fatimh al-Zahra. He goes in, he holds the newly born child in his arms. As soon as he held her in his arms, he kissed her and he waited for Jibra'id. He descended upon him, sending the peace and blessings of Allah upon Prophet Muhammad and telling him to name her Zaynab. Now, as soon as Jibrail mentioned the name Zaynab, he began to cry. Rasulullah was shocked, he says, why are you crying, O Jibrail? He says, this child of yours, O Prophet of Allah, from early on in her life, this girl will remain entangled in tribulations and trials in this world. First, she will weep over your separation from this world. Then she will lament the separation of her mother, then her father, then her brother, Hussain. After all of this and after facing these calamities, she will go to Karbala and she will be lonely on these deserts, on the deserts of Karbala. As a result, her back will be crooked and her hair will turn gray. To that extent, as I mentioned, it's a happy occasion yet we are mentioning something sad. If we looked at the life of Lady Zaynab, from a very young age, she had to go through and she had to suffer so much from the separation of Prophet Muhammad, her mother, her father, and then at the end facing Karbala. What a great woman and it takes courage to do that. I mean for a lady like Lady Zaynab, to face the calamities and stay with such strong will to continue the message that her grandfather brought forward. It's a huge responsibility that Zaynab took. But when the members of the family heard this, they began to cry. Imam Al-Hussain, then realized what was going on, then realized why his father earlier cried when he said Allah has granted me a sister. So we do find from a very young age, we find Zaynab, being cried over. But instead, when the close companion of Rasulullah, Salman al-Muhammad, when he heard the news of Zaynab, he came to the house of Rasulullah, of Imam Ali and Fatimq al-Zahra, to congratulate them on the birth. And he saw them crying instead of seeing them happy. He wondered why then they told him the story of what will happen to Zaynab. I mean, just imagine, let us take this in and imagine that a newly born child, now we have parties, we have celebrations, because our lives are incomparable to the lives of Ahl al-Bayt al-Alaykum. They suffered so much to set an example for us. They had to go through so much suffering for us to learn not to become like them, but be individuals who strive towards them, to strive to possess some of their characteristics. So we as followers of Ahl al-Bayt al-Alaykum, we need to focus on this, on the fact that we should take individuals like Imam al-Hussain, like the Ahl al-Bayt al-Alaykum as role models on life. But before I conclude the first part of tonight's episode, I would like to touch upon one narration by Prophet Muhammad regarding Lady Zaynab al-Alaykum. Later on, Fadim al-Zahra walked in and she saw Rasulullah al-Alaykum holding Lady Zaynab in his arm and he is crying again. She goes up to him and she says, Oh father, why are you crying now? He says, Jibrail has told me, the one who weeps over Zaynab will receive the same reward as crying over her brother Imam al-Hussain al-Alaykum. And honestly, the greatest reward anyone on this planet can receive is the reward of crying over Imam al-Hussain al-Alaykum and what happened on a day of Ashura. But insha'Allah we'll get to touch upon more of the life of Lady Zaynab al-Alaykum. But after this short break, so do stay tuned. Viewers, brothers and sisters in Islam once again. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Welcome once again to our show. As we rejoice the birth anniversary of our beloved lady, Lady Zaynab, peace and blessings be upon her. For this reason, once again, I would like to congratulate you, my dear viewers, as well as the master of our time, Imam al-Mahdi may Allah hasten his reappearance and our pious scholars. Now before the break, we touched upon some of the prophecies regarding the life of Lady Zaynab al-Alaykum by Prophet Muhammad al-Jibrail and the Ahl al-Bait al-Alaykum. And honestly, we mentioned that the life of Lady Zaynab was not all happiness. It was sadness from day one, as we mentioned. But to continue, I would like to touch upon her name, Zaynab. A lot of people tend to name their children something they don't know anything about. For example, a lot of people name their sons David not knowing who David is. People name their sons Joseph not knowing who Joseph was and other names. And unfortunately, we see people naming their children inappropriate names. It's always important and don't take it from me. Take it from the people who are special in psychology. They'll tell you that the names that you give your child will have an impact on them, whether positively or negatively. It will have an impact on them. So it's very important to name our children. And as we mentioned, it's very important to choose names from Ahl al-Bait to match our children. And honestly, if you go to look at the names of the people of Ahl al-Bait, from females and males, you'll find a variety of names from the Ahl al-Bait, alayhim salam. However, going back to Zaynab. Zaynab is derived from the Arabic, from the two Arabic words, Zayn al-Abd, the ornament of the father or the garment of the father. Something that the father is proud of that decorates the personality, the life of her father. Why was Zaynab named as such? It's because whenever she spoke, she had the eloquence of her father, the bravery of her father. She never feared anyone when it came to her religion. She never feared anyone when it came to making the right stand. It's unfortunate to see that some of our dear sisters tend to fall into the traps of shaytan at some moments. But if we do study the life of Lady Zaynab, male or female, we must study the life of Zaynab alayhim salam. Because in her life, lessons are derived that are applicable in every day. If you look at the aspect of modesty, if you look at the aspect of intelligence, of her perseverance, of her knowledge, you'll find that Zaynab alayhim salam fills in the gaps in our lives. So when we take Zaynab as a role model, we are taking the individuals who will enhance our spirituality at the same time, enhance our abilities to continue serving or to begin to serve our communities. And the people that are serving their communities are very well-recognized. Individuals that have taken the ahlulbayt as role models, now they are taken as role models. So it's amazing and it's important at the same time to always look and touch upon the lives of each of the individual ahlulbayt, whether they have a minor infallibility like Zaynab, or the major infallibility like the imams. Of course, study the lives of each of the relatives of al-bayt from Prophet Muhammad and down, and it's important to also touch upon the Prophet's lives. However, how did Zaynab alayhim salam achieve such a status? Because if we studied her life, if we examined her life, one would realize that Zaynab alayhim salam being an exemplary woman for all the ladies across the world, whether Muslim, whether Shi'a, despite of nationality, race, sect, creed, religion, Zaynab alayhim salam set that line and set that role for everyone. How did she achieve that status of courage, of perseverance, of knowledge, of bravery like her father and of eloquence like her father? Learning under the five people of Qisa, that's how she received her status. First she was under the guidance of her grandfather, then her mother, then her father, then her brother, Imam al-Hassan alayhim salam, then her brother, Imam al-Hassan, peace and blessings be upon them all. So we do find that this pious nourishment that nurtured Zaynab alayhim salam enabled her to bring out that 100% great personality on the day of Ashura and post-Ashura. Do you realize the status of Zaynab now? Individual to stand against and in the face of the tyrants of the time. A person who has tens and tens of thousands of army ready to demolish Ahl al-Bayt alayhim salam. She put her life on the line and she made a statement. She showed women, a lot of people say women are oppressed in Islam. Of course not, I mean have you studied the life of Zaynab? Have you studied the life of Fatimh al-Zahra? If you have, you would not make such statements. A woman, now we see ladies, you know, tending to always back away from communities. No, it's important to always try and nourish our communities, whether you're a lady or a man. Take Zaynab as a role model. If you're a man, take Al-Abbas, take Hussain as a role model. Because Zaynab made the ultimate stand like Imam al-Hussain. Because if it wasn't for Zaynab, Imam al-Hussain would have stayed in Karbala and he would have never reached anywhere around the borders of Karbala. Because who was the messenger of Imam al-Hussain? Just like how Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of Allah and he conveys his message to the people. Zaynab alayhis salam of course, it's an example and I'm not comparing the status. But Zaynab alayhi salam was the messenger to the message of Imam al-Hussain. Peace and blessings be upon him. Because if it wasn't for Zaynab, Imam al-Hussain would have stayed in Karbala and Zaynab would have either died or somewhere else. But Zaynab made that stand to defend Islam the same way her brother, her other brother Imam al-Hussain and her mother and her father and her grandfather. So it takes courage to establish something like Zaynab. It takes courage for us to say when someone asks us who are your role models? Just think for a moment to yourself. Who are our role models? Are we really going to choose the Adil-Bayt? Are we going to choose an athlete, a soccer player, an actor, a movie, an actress? And unfortunately some people say singers and rappers. Yet we have forgotten about the Adil-Bayt, alayhi salam and what they have done for us. So the minimum we can do is take them as our role models and never forget about them. Always keep them in our mind. But if we want to touch upon some of the knowledge, a lot of people when they say knowledge they tend to always mix it up with sciences and stuff. But knowledge with the Adil-Bayt, alayhi salam comes as a full package. And Zaynab alayhi salam got a piece of that full knowledge. That's why Zaynab alayhi salam tells his aunt or aunt you are a scholar without anyone teaching you. How can someone be like that without being taught? Insha'Allah we will get to touch upon that in tomorrow's episode. But right now I would like to touch upon something that occurred in the early stages of lady Zaynab alayhi salam. At the age of five Zaynab woke up crying. Her grandfather, alayhi salam, heard her so he was trying to calm her down asking her what was going on. She says that a violent wind arose in the city and darkened the earth and the sky. The little girl was tossed here and there and suddenly she found herself stuck in a branch of a huge tree. But the wind was so strong that it uprooted that tree and broke the branch. Then as she was panicking she grabbed two twigs. But these two twigs gave way and she was falling with no support. Then she woke up and told her grandfather. Now what did her grandfather say? Look how he addresses her. He says, oh daughter, oh my beloved daughter, that tree is me. Who is surely going to leave this world? The branches are your father, alayhi salam alayhi salam, and your mother, alayhi salam alayhi salam. And the two twigs are your brothers, alayhi salam alayhi salam and alayhi salam. They will all depart before you do and you will suffer and you will go through trials and calamities like no other lady alayhi salam. Do you understand how Zaynab is growing up now? Some people right now would call this a nightmare and would just forget about it. But when someone that possesses a minor infallibility like Zaynab, when they see a dream, this dream must mean something. And a five year old girl getting, you know, everyone knows whether you're five, whether you're ten. You always know that, you know, your parents will die someday and, you know, the ones you love will not always be there, but not for a child. Waking up at night crying because of a dream and yet she realizes that this dream meant that all of the people she loves will leave her. Can we imagine the life and the stress that Zaynab alayhi salam had to go through? But I would like to leave it off here for tonight. I would like to ask Allah SWT to give us the ability to take Zaynab alayhi salam as a role model. And of course it is a joyful occasion and the facts that we have mentioned are somewhat grief, sorrow filled, if you will. But insha'Allah may lady Zaynab alayhi salam give us the ability to rejoice in her name with the master of our time. May Allah hasten his reappearance. May he reappear shortly for we have and the earth has been filled with injustice and inequality. So may Allah SWT give us the patience and may Allah SWT once again congratulate you on this auspicious occasion. Thank you very much for tuning in. Wassalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.