 of the awaited saviour, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the inheritor of this earth, Imam al-Mehdi a.j. It is actually a spiritual occasion, a happy occasion, an occasion of hope and of happiness as well. Of hope more than anything is one of the best feelings that we can feel from a night like this, where so many difficulties and trials and tribulations in this earth, we pray to Allah SWT to hasten the reappearance of the awaited saviour, Imam al-Mehdi a.j. If we have a jam-packed show before I get into anything, I'd also like to welcome my co-host and my dear friend, Ahmad A.A. How are you? I would like to congratulate you on this very momentous, I like how you used that word and very auspicious occasion of the birth of Imam Mehdi a.j. Tonight, as you mentioned, it's jammed with surprises. I won't spoil anything, we'll leave it for the day of yours. But tonight, Mulla, if you don't mind, I want to talk about how we as the followers of Ahl al-Bayt, and as a matter of fact, everyone that is waiting for their Messiah, because technically every religion has their own Messiah. How we Shia, we Muslim, we as human race need the Messiah, and are we desperate for his arrival or are we not? For example, the millions, I don't know if the dear viewers are getting a chance, I would like from the producer to show what is going on outside right now, because it's literally jammed. It's like 40 happy occasions, 40 happy occasions. Just in the afternoon, Karbala was near empty. I wasn't expecting this much, and Ali Fahd took a shortcut to come to the channel. I had to go through the long way, which took me like 15 minutes. How long did it take you? About five or six minutes to shortcut through the supermarkets. Yes, through the alleyways. So Mulla. Just to follow on from what you say, if you log every single year and how much trials and tribulations, how much pressure there is on the Muslims year in, year out, you can say that at this moment in time, with the help of the media, Islam is under such a spotlight that we are under pressure. Our sisters are under pressure. Our brothers are under pressure, both in the West and the East. What kind of pressure? Well, I mean, it's just discrimination, downright bigotry. There's, you know, I mean, recently, in London, there was, see, every time something political happens in London, automatically the Muslim women have to fear for their lives in some cases. So what happens here is there's a WhatsApp message that goes around. I think it's from the police. It says, look, for Muslim women, please do not go out by yourselves, or especially if you're wearing a scarf or a hijab. Don't go out by yourselves. It's better to go out with someone and try and be back before dark. So that kind of message is like, what kind of world am I living in? It's a world of fear. And I'm living here in the West as well. So there's a lot of insecurities. So the more pressure is heaped on the Muslims, the more we're crying out for something to relieve this pressure. And what's funny to mention, if you want to compare, Araqi is here complaining about having, you know, after 12 in some areas of Karbala, it's cut. So you're like, they have to search the car, they have to check who's in the car and stuff to see, you know, checkpoints is to secure the areas. And they complain at 12 a.m. at night, where you're telling me before dark. Yeah. I mean, so it's crazy. But Mulla, comment on what you see right now. Oh wow, this is footage from the shrine of Abul-Fadal-Abbas, alaihi salam. And as you can see, just from the amount of hands they're trying to touch the Dariah, the tombstone of Abul-Fadal-Abbas, alaihi salam, every single one of them with the trial and the tribulation and something on their mind. A hajj, a request coming to Allah SWT but through the might of Abul-Fadal-Abbas during these nights, they asked for their hajj. And similarly, anyone out there, if you have requests, if you have a supplication, please do send it in. Our mouths are your mouthpieces. The channel is your mouthpiece as well. We are at your service to deliver any messages towards Abul-Fadal-Abbas and Abul-Fadal-Abbas on this momentous occasion of tonight. Now, Mullah, to get things going, we actually need one cell phone, if I can get just a cell phone, the seven. No, no, no, I can't put the jack in. Oh, yeah, there you go. Oh, you have it? Yes. Oh, wow. Good. Now, this game is called trying to guess... So, this is reading the lip game, right? Reading the lip game. Yeah, just so that the viewers, we are transitioning from spiritual to a bit of fun and games. And then we'll go back. And then we'll go... What I have promised for you is what I have prepared for you is a full list of all the rituals associated with Misha'aban. We will get onto the certain supplications and you can sit back and relax and you can recite after me. And I'll have a list of all the recitations as well so that you can benefit from this night. It is a night of prayer. It is a night of seeking closeness to Allah. But before that, let's slightly enjoy ourselves and see what Ahmed has in store for me on this journey of games and winning. Now, this game basically, you have to put the headphones on. Yeah. Okay. And I have to try and... And you have to try and guess what I'm saying. Okay. Okay. All right. So, let's just hope this works. So, he's going to put something in my ear so that I can't hear anything. Okay. Let me know in the place. Okay, I can... Guess what this is. It's a little bit higher. It's not higher. It's impatient. Okay, I can't... I can't hear what you're saying. Okay. All right. All right. So, let's begin. Let's begin. What have you put on? He's put on one of my tracks. Okay, thanks. Yeah, listen to this. What have I got to put? All right. Anything else on this wall? Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. What? Tell me when you've started. Okay. One, two, three. Okay. Ask me slower than that. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. You're saying a full-blown sentence. It has to be three words. Three words? Yeah, perfect. Something, something, something. And try to make it slow so I can at least read it. Okay. How old are you? Say that again. How old are you? How old are you? Old? Did I get that right? Yeah, you got that right. I think that was easy. Okay. That was easy. All right. We'll change it up a little bit. Okay. We're in the land of Karbala. Would I ever live in Karbala? No. Where do I live in Karbala? No. It's called Karbala in it, right? It has Karbala, yeah. This sound full. Trust me. I can't hear you. Okay. You repeat it. I actually forgot. You forgot what you said this was? You forgot your sentence. I was... I'm in Karbala. Okay. One more, one more. Okay. One more. Wow. Because it was here. Anyways, I can't log out. When did you arrive? What do I do in my life? No. When did you arrive? I can't. Do it again. When did you arrive? What did I have? No. Repeat one more time. When did you arrive? I can't. I can't. You can't? I can't. No. It's my turn. When did you arrive? Oh, when did I arrive? Okay. Oh, Masha'Allah. We have a surprise. Okay. Pause it, pause it. Count down. Okay. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. For the life of me, I can't think of anything. Count down. Pause it, pause it, pause it. Pause it, pause it. Sorry, for the life of me, I can't think of anything sometimes. You know, I'm just going to go with this. What do you mean? I know, I know. It's really bad. Hosh. Okay. All right. Is it playing? Are you sure? Okay. Three, two, one. Done. Sunrise. Oh, no, no. Salam. Time. Stop. Time. Some. Time. Some. Time. T-t-t-t-t-t. Please. Yeah, time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Time. Yeah. Okay, time. Time. Time. Sunrise. There we go. Time on sunrise. You helped me. Okay. That's the whole point. I'm supposed to help you. Okay, good. Hosh. Okay. Ready? Three, two, one. Bring. Flowers. Okay. Bring me. Bring. Bring. Bring me flowers. Bring me flowers. There you go. Good, good, good. Should we go one more? Huh? One more? One more. Elephants. You got it. Elephants are grey. The last word? Elephants are grey. Are grey? Elephants are what? No, no, no. Are what? Okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay. I can do it. I can do it. It was supposed to be grey, okay? I hope you didn't say what I think you said. Okay, okay. Tigers. Silence. Tigers. Tigers. Haqani. Haqani. Okay. Tigers. Child. No. Time. Tigers. Tigers. Childish. Tigers. Tigers. American accent. Yeah. Tigers. Trousers. No. Tigers. Pants. Tiger. Yeah, okay, okay. Tigers. Tigers. Are. Yellow. Yellow. Tigers are low. Yellow. Tigers are low. Yellow. Yellow. Yellow. Yellow. Yes. Tigers are yellow. There you go. Wow. For the elephants for it. I thought you said something else. I know. It was the elephants around me. Great. Great. I didn't think of this room, but yeah. Cool. All right. This was, it was fun. I had it fully prepared, but the fact that I had to open. No, no, no. Like a song of your songs. I need that. Otherwise. Need that? Yeah. Why do you need it? Because my headphones. I can't play anything. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now. There's one more part which is actually related to my very special guest. Mulla Ali Favil who has generously. What are you doing? Actually, one of the more, in Iraqi we say sport. What are you doing? You know, the funnest guest we had that is so into everything. He wants to do everything, try everything out. So, he's very flexible with how he acts. Hosh. What are you doing? Can we get a picture on the screen? Hosh. Oh my lord. Are you serious? Impatient by Ali Favil. What about it? It was just the track I put on when we played the guessing game. Hosh. Mulla. Can we have... Okay. What's wrong with the picture? Do you want to tell the story or do you want me to tell the story? I don't know what you're talking about. Nice. Hosh. Subhan Allah, your beard now looks different. Is that Photoshop or is that just makeup? No, no, no. It's because I just shaved. So it looks more fresher? Yeah. One more time. One more time. Ah. Yeah, it looks new. It looks new. Hosh. Now, what's wrong with that picture? It's not what's wrong. I'm trying to do the exact same face. He looks very impatient. No. You need to get into your zone. Yeah, I need to hold on in the moment. I'm trying to get the same angle. Is this the same one? Anyways. So, alright. Okay, alright. Two Arbaanes ago Ali Fadl was in Karbala and we hosted each other. You were the co-host. I was the co-host for a program in Arbaan live and we always played this tune because it was nice the year that it just came out. And you told me something regarding. I told you. I told you. Uh huh. Okay, alright. Hosh. Does anyone know this? Actually no. You heard it first on IHDv3. Fine, fine, fine. I'll reveal all. The night before, I was supposed to be recording this. Yes. Like two days ago. You have the same haircut. I had bought a new trimming machine. So I didn't know how to use the gradients. One, two, three. My accident, I think I put it on one or two. I don't know what it was. And then I just wanted to trim just a bit to make it a bit neater. And then half of it all went. And it was almost zero. I was like, oh, I can't do this. I can't record a Muharram video or whatever. Not having a beard. I was like, OK, I've done it. I've done it. So let me just shave the whole thing off. So I shaved the whole thing off and I was like, no way am I recording. And it was totally off. So I spoke to the producer. I was like, this is the situation. What do I do? He goes, oh look, just get some makeup. I was like, OK. What am I going to use? He goes, just that black, whatever they used. I don't know what it was exactly. So I managed to put on. Because I had a bit of hair as well on there and mixed with the black. It didn't look that bad. But does it look really, really obvious? Go back to the picture again. Can we get the picture? Can we get the picture back on? No? Anyway, what in the picture? It doesn't really look that bad. It doesn't really look that bad. And I thought, look, the top part looks kind of, because you don't have that kind of beard. I don't have. Yeah. So it's nice. It's nice. OK. OK. Wow. Can we please leave that out? This is the part that I've been waiting for. Brothers and sisters, let me please introduce this. Go ahead. So remember how yesterday we had the challenge of the cards and the numbers. So we'll take it one step further today, about two hours ago in the other studio. Ahmed, I was like, oh, look, let's play a game and then the loser can, you know, the loser will have cold water, poor delivery. I said, OK, no problem. So the game of the choice was basketball and throwing the ball into the basket. All right? And he chose this out of revenge, because I won the day before. So I'm not going to reveal too much more. This entails is two baskets, about six balls, two different colors, and a bucket, literally a bucket of ice cold water. Here it is. Today by cheating, by jumping the cards again. I won, I won, man. And you got wet. So today is another day. Another day, we're going to play a bit of soccer and basketball. The blue and white balls are one point each and then the gold balls are two points each. So you can make up. Yeah. Basically make up plays. My personal gut feeling is I'm going to lose. I'm not confident at all. We had a couple of practice shots and he was swishing them in, like, this is so normal for him. Well, I just jinxed me. Mine was all over the place. So I put my maximum high on you right now. So a very, very good basketball player. Very good basketball player. I wish I could be like you. I really wish I could be like you. I wish I could be like you. So the way this works, if we're going to throw one ball each of the two blue and white ones, we're going to count the points and then hopefully we'll do the gold balls as well. If I naturally, the person with the most points wins, the loser will get the bucket of cold water. Freezing cold water. Freezing cold water. When I felt the water right here, I started screaming. Screaming. Okay. Let's go. Go. No, no, no. Face it. Yeah. What if you guys just stand down there if you can? Yeah, I guess you can. You only throw your... Use two hands. You do something there, one ball each. No, there's no points now involved. Together. Draw together. Draw together? No, I can't. We got it. Mako, you went first. I went last. You went last. You didn't, I didn't. You didn't, I didn't. My head went... Come on, come on. Stand in the middle. Stand in the middle. What did you do? What did you do? Nothing, nothing. Ready? Three. Two. Three. One last. One last. Stop there. Three. Two. One. Three. Two. Welcome back. I don't know how... To tell you how cold the water is. The water was or is... Was. Yeah? Watching it is... I'm sweating. But it was legit cold water. Yeah? I didn't know what to do. I think it was unfair. Why? What's unfair about it? Yesterday we reshuffled. At least I should have known. Are you still annoyed about yesterday? I still got way yesterday. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. And today... You went first, I went second. You took your two shots, I'll take my two shots. I'm kidding. No, I can't wait for tomorrow's game. It was fun. Tomorrow's game is actually going to be a bit dangerous. And so... A bit danger. And fun at the same time. What? No. Okay. Be patient. I'm impatient. Wow. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Good. Mullah. Back to... Small break? No. A small break? Yeah. We decided a small break. Small break? Small break. So because we will be joined with... Our reporter. Our reporter. Yeah. Who has... Not now? Not now. Okay. Huh, okay. Fine. We're going to go to a small break anyway. We'll go to a short break. Yeah. Insert some stuff and inshallah we'll be back. To continue and to take you into the... Spiritual mode. Sure. If you will. To get you ready for Ali Baba. Welcome back, dear viewers of Mahossan TV 3. To light our nights with myself and Ahmed Ali. You, before the break, did see a short video. And I think, actually during the break I was thinking, I actually want to see that again. I think the viewers want to see that again as well. So we'll show it for you. Hopefully towards the end of the show, if we have two or three minutes spare, we'll show it at the end of the show. But basically it was a quick game. We took myself and Ahmed. We had to throw some balls into a basket. And we had wins. Wins. Whoever loses gets a massive bucket of cold water thrown on their heads. Well that was before the break. And now, ladies and gentlemen, my dear viewers, we are going to focus more on the spiritual aspects of the 15th of Shaaban, the night of. And like we were saying before, coincidentally it falls on a Thursday. Yes. So not only is it one of the most... the second most spiritual and great nights in the Islamic calendar, but it also falls on a Thursday. So I think maybe that's why the Zawar is probably double what it usually should be because it's Thursday night. People usually come here, right? I don't think that it's double. I think it's quite triple. No way. You know, the amount of people... I mean, you're usually here every Thursday. So on a Thursday, is there something like this? Thousands. Like this? No, this is not thousands. This is millions. No way. It's safe to say that this is millions. You came two years in a bind. Yeah, I did. Wasn't it like this? Actually very similar to this, yeah. Very similar to this. Yeah, very, very similar. And earlier today, when I was looking out, I called one of my siblings who is on the street of Bab Al-Qabla, Allah, which is not far from here. And he says, up to Tarbiyah, people were coming in. They were flocking in thousands. Yeah. Yeah, I mean. So the fact that so many people are coming here, you know, to compare... Is it like this? Like last year? Last year, I didn't get the chance to go to the streets and check it out. But it was live. It was a lot of people. Yeah, it was lit up. I mean, to be honest with you, there's a lot of emphasis put on visiting Karbala on the Knights of Arafa and the Knights of Ramadhan, and the Knights of Arafa, not a lot of emphasis put on the Sha'bania Knights. People think it's just because it's like a happy occasion. They may be undervalued the spiritual aspects of, especially this night. So I think now people are more aware that this night is the second greatest night of the Islamic calendar, and so many rituals associated with this night. I mean, there's so many Amal, prayers, applications. So I think everyone's trying to cram themselves into the two shrines to be as close to the two kings, Abu-Fadr Al-Abbas and Imam Hussain As-Salam, so that their du'as and supplications would be much stronger than they would be outside. Now, the first night when we began our show, Light Hour Night, you mentioned that this is your first time in Karbala during the middle of Sha'ban. Now, when you arrived at this, as you said, the second greatest night in the Islamic calendar, what's your feeling up to today? It's been five days in your Karbala? Yeah, it's been about five days, yeah. I think the first feeling I get when I'm entering into Karbala, especially close to the two shrines, is the feeling of happiness. That's the first thing. I really love the fact, because I've never experienced Karbala on a happy occasion. I've experienced it in a non-season occasion, normal, like, normal day, and I've experienced it in Muharram and Arba'ayn. I've experienced it during the Arafa nights as well, but I've never actually experienced it when it's lit up with lights and, like I'm saying, candy and sweets and people giving out free food, the same they would do in Arba'ayn. Not only that, but there's fireworks and there's like candle, like candle vigils as well, in honor of our Mahdi A'ajilat, Arafa Raju Sharif. So there's so much things going on. The first immediate feeling is happiness. You're really, really happy to be around. You're always smiling. People are always smiling. So it's a feeling of elation, whereas in Arba'ayn, there's a constant, constant, like, grief in the back of your mind. There's a constant mellow. It's always sorrowful. There's always electric. People are really passionate and charged up. But when it comes to Sha'aban, as you can see, there's the lights, the feeling of, look, right now, we're speaking and there's clapping. Yeah. So people are really enjoying themselves. I guess, look, to be honest with you, it just gives the people of Arak we have gone under so much scrutiny and pressure, as I was saying, and prosecution and trials and killings and bombings and so much. It gives them a lifeline to say, you know what? I just want to be happy for what I have, for what I don't have. I don't care. I just want to be happy for being close to Imam Hussain As-Salam, being close to the Ahlul Bayt, and just living my life the same way everyone else wants to live their life. So it gives them that lifeline of happiness and of hope. That's the main thing. That's why people are here because they're pleading with Allah, in honor of Abbas, in honor of Hussain As-Salam, to hasten the new appearance of Imam Mehdi, A.S. So that's, you know, the main feeling that I have as well when I'm here. Yes. And just to touch upon when you said recording, being happy, just the atmosphere makes you happy. Although it's crowded and you get jammed, but you know that you're here for a purpose. And the majority of these people, insha'Allah, everybody that has come to Karbala, know they're here for a purpose. A short story that there's poor people around the world, like close, not very close to where I live, but close enough that the stories go around and you see the people they're talking about. Now these people don't own a lot of things. They're in rent. They're in debt. Dad is crippled. So basically they have no income coming into the house. Every Eid, every Sha'ban and the father refused to take donations. His integrity doesn't want people to pity him and stuff. So he refuses donations, he refuses anything. But SubhanAllah, I don't know how, but every Eid, every occasion comes his children are wearing brand new clothes, brand new shoes. Alhamdulillah, I mean it's beautiful. The fact that it is the birth of Maman Mehdi and the birth in Sha'ban, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala rewards the lovers of Ahl al Bayt, Alayhi As-Salaam, on these occasions that they're just happy. I mean, even the poor people are happy for, as you mentioned, they don't care if they have or they don't have. They just want to get here and celebrate. So it's a blessing to be in such an area. Definitely. Definitely. No, I totally understand. And you can appreciate that by just walking on the streets as well. You can see that people of all different shapes and sizes have come towards Karbala. And I guess the reports that we'll show you hopefully in the next couple of minutes will give you an insight into the, an interview into the people and how they feel about coming to Karbala. But especially the reports that we'll have for you is regarding the candle vigil, they call it, or the candle festival. I don't know if this is a ritual that you guys do here, but back in London, we have this, it's like a family ceremony that we do. We, I think they call it, when you write a letter to your ma Mahdi and then you throw it into the river or a lake or something like that. They send it with the candles. They send it with the candles? Yeah. Something similar. I think this candle light vigil is in honour of my Mahdi, each and every single one who has a piece of hope or happiness in their hearts. They put it onto the candle and then the lights are up. So the reports will show that. I think we can show that now. Or are we still carrying on the talking? Just one thing before we go, I think we have a couple of minutes left, four minutes before we go. I don't know if you've noticed, but have you been inside where the actual film is? No, today. Earlier? Yeah. Tonight, it's different from the other nights. The really jammed nights, what I mean, like Thursday night, Arba'een, it's different. As you mentioned, Arba'een and all the other occasions, they're kind of filled with grief. Everybody is in a sort of filled mood. But right now, everybody wants to go and touch the Dariha of Mahdi Hussain, why if we can get this on camera, they all have small papers with them. Do they? Yeah. So they throw it inside. So they have to get to the tool. So the Dariha. Regularly, they just circulate. They just go in, if a Zahir touches, they touch the Zahir. So technically, they have touched the Dariha. But right now, it's jammed because people have to technically actually get to the Dariha. People have to go inside and touch the Dariha. Like they've made it incumbent upon themselves to go in there and touch the Dariha and put the paper inside for the Hajjah. That's amazing. Yeah. One of the most, the secret, Shaaban for me has so many secrets and so many blessings that everybody can actually benefit from. A lot of people are deprived of these blessings. Not everyone is blessed enough like Ali Fahad al-Tibih and Karbala for the first time. Yeah, truly I am blessed. Truly I am blessed. That's amazing. So in terms of the vigil, the report is for Hamid Ali. Yes. And he'll give you an insight into the candlelight vigil, the candlelight festival in association with Imam Mehdi Ajra, Ta'ala Firdu Sharif and the last word is Goodbye. Ahmed, we literally got... What? Just one comment is Ahmed do goodbye, Ahmed say goodbye. Yeah, Ahmed, bye-bye. Bye-bye, that's it. And then after the break, we'll have the rituals associated with the Shaaban season and some recitations as well. And hopefully, hopefully, if there's chance, if there's time, we'll have the video of Ahmed Luzi. The video is the basketball game as well. See you after the break. The holy shrines of Karbala are preparing to launch the candles festival where about 1,183 candles will be lighted in celebration of the age of the awaited Imam May Allah hasten his reappearance. Stay tuned, dear brothers and sisters for more details from this festival. Insha'Allah, we will get you about the candles and about the time, about how they will light it and about the more information about this festival. Stay tuned, dear brothers and sisters. Basically, this festival was held for the first time 15 years before the fall of the tyranny in Iraq in 2003. It was held by a person named Muqdad Kareem Hadi. Later on, it was it was held for the first time Bail al-Haramain al-Sharifain in the area between the holy shrines of Imam Hussain and his brother, Abu al-Fadal al-Abbas. The festival became an annual ritual that is held every year on the birth anniversary of Imam al-Mahdi May Allah hasten his reappearance. Each year, they write a different phrase, the first phrase that was written. You know, they write the phrase and they put the candles on that phrase. So they basically write the phrase with the candles. The first phrase was written was 1167 candles were lighted. The first festival costed 16,000 dinars, which is today's measures, it's about 14 to 13 dollars. Ever since that festival as I said, the festival became an annual ritual. This year 1183 candles are to be lighted insha'Allah. The festival is being held with the efforts of the holy shrines of Imam Hussain and his brother, Abu al-Fadal al-Abbas. Peace be upon them and a number of donations from the lovers of the Ahlul Bayt alayhim al-salam. The festival basically started with the speech of the secretariat of the holy shrines of Imam Hussain and his brother, Abu al-Fadal al-Abbas in addition to Quranic recitation and poetry. Respected viewers, stay tuned for more shows from the holy land of Karbala. Peace be upon you. My dear respected viewers of Imam Hussain TV3, welcome back to Light Our Nights. In this part of the show, we will talk about the spiritual rituals associated with the mid-Sha'ban season, the birth of the awaited saviour Imam Al-Mahdi alayhim al-salam. We are celebrating the Sha'ban season. The Sha'ban season started with the births of Abu al-Fadal al-Abbas, Imam Hussain al-salam and Imam al-Sajjad alayhim al-salam. And now it moves into the mid-Sha'ban season. The second most greatest Islamic calendar. The first is the second is mid-Sha'ban season. The millions of followers of the Ahlul Bayt have flocked towards Karbala in honor of Imam Mehdi with their hajjat, with their requests, with their supplications, with everything in their hearts. They're pouring it out to Imam Hussain al-salam in the hope that Allah will help, will hear their prayers and their supplications. Today, I will go through each and every single ritual associated with this night so that you at home can benefit. We are about nine o'clock, ten o'clock London time and probably about five o'clock in Washington DC. So for you the day is just beginning, the night is just beginning. Do not let a night like this pass in idle chit chat or idle gatherings. Make sure that you are striving towards the last pound. Before I get into any of the rituals and the recitations, I do have a special guest with me. The person that I keep referring to as Muhammad Ali the reporter Muhammad Ali the reporter is now live with me in the studios. Peace be upon you. How are you today? I'm fine. Thank you very much. The first thing I should say, I noticed as soon as I met Muhammad Ali, it was actually in an office and I was with the producer and we were talking about certain things and then he walked in says salam and gave something to the producer and then he spoke in English. So I was taken aback. I'll tell you why but I was taken aback immediately and then as he was walking I was like where are you going? I mean do you live here? I don't understand. Your English is almost royal. The English is royal English. Where in the world did you learn this English? And he's like, well I know it from here. Even your dress sense, everything from here, he's like yeah I'm technically a laqi. I was taken aback by that. I'll probably get into your background as to where you learn your English and everything like that in a bit but before what I want to get into first is it's in the middle of the afternoon. It's boiling hot. How do you go about preparing for the reports and the interviews for days like this? Well, it was pretty much difficult since I was using the iPad for more information, basically the work of the Middah Shabbam and the extra information that you can't remember at that particular time so I was using it and then suddenly it shut down. Temperature warning. No way. Really? Oh my God. Then I was surprised so I looked it off and I started to talk of my own, of the information I have and then I started to have that vision. Oh my God. How is it possible for people to walk all the way from the very beginning of the checkpoint that is about four to six kilometers away from the Holy Shrine? Wow. They walk it all in from the checkpoint to the Holy Shrine to Imam Sain and his brother. So it was pretty much difficult and the voices were too loud. There was a lot of noise because pilgrims and the speakers from the processions and the services units so I had to turn up my voice. Yeah. So you were always shouting basically? I was basically shouting, yes. But basically, Alhamdulillah it was fine but the atmosphere at that particular time is indescribable because I will summarize it in four days. The four days that I was going out to do the reports basically the first day was the preparations when the services units start to provide the services for the pilgrims of Imam Sain. And at that time not only the preparations that took my attention but also there was another thing which is I saw a group of young men sitting down at that tent and there was there was an old man teaching them about how to await the Imam peace be upon him. How to you know, honor the martyrdom of Imam Hussain. How to honor the sacrifices of the Ahlul Bayt al-Alim Salaam. So you know these ground gatherings it gives you know the us spiritual a lot of spiritual power to everyone including me I'm the person who lives in Karbala. I live in Karbala basically but I was totally surprised to see such young men such an old man teaching them about everything and the rest of the atmosphere was basically people providing services for the pilgrims generously they're all you know as you mentioned that you lived in Karbala I mean have there been any differences between this Sha'bania season and last Sha'bania season in context I mean every single year there's a lot more scrutiny on the Shi'a's a lot more scrutiny on the Muslims in general. So year on year in people are hoping and hoping almost expecting the Duhur to happen people there's a sense of imminent reappearance for some reason people feel it in their bones is there a difference between the feeling the atmosphere here now between last year two years ago three years ago? The pilgrimage of the mid of Sha'ban it has an annual progress you know each year it develops into you know for example the candles festival and in addition to the candles festival people who light candles and put them in the river or they do it there as well they do it there as well to honour their waiting for the Sahaba Zaman may Allah hasten his reappearance so each year people go over the difficulties and particularly in this year do you know that the final exams are taking place in few days yes for the high schools and for the universities in a few weeks more so despite the difficulties and whenever it's more difficult people persist to come to Imam Hussein to pay allegiance for him and for the master of our time brilliant, sounds good now again to your personal background how long have you lived in Karbala I mean if you lived your whole life what did you study and get that immaculate accent basically I was born in the south of Iraq at a village area it was called Al-Kahlaa it's basically almost on the borders between Iraq and Iran so after that we moved to Masra city and the bottom of Iraq and then we moved to Karbala at 2008 almost 10 years yes almost 10 years in the whole city but basically it's a lovely place did you study English I basically took the regular education just like most people did but I had my father is a seida and my grandfather is a seida too so basically my grandfather used to speak about 10 to 12 languages including English so I took the very beginnings from there but the the influence that I had was from a teacher at the second year in high school she said that you can do it you can be good at it so I took it from there and I started to keep pushing myself learn one thing after another and Alhamdulillah so far I'm a third year student at English language department okay so you're continuously studying the English language then well basically now I study literature and linguistics what certain topics do you go through when it comes to literature just give us a rough day literature we came from the ancient literature of the Greeks Romans and the middle ages writings and so far to the Elizabethan age and after that to the Romantic age and the Victorian age and right now we're studying I think the modernism yes modernism we study different topics from poetry drama and you know the nobles beautiful that is absolutely great well look if you didn't think that Iraq could be that substantial in their education well here is the pure example of that so literature, English literature it's very much prevalent here thank you so much for your time and we'll definitely see you very very soon thank you what we're going to do now is go to a small break and then after that we will have some insights into the rituals of the Midshe'abaan season we'll leave you with some cutaways with some I guess the inserts from the shrines of Ababa Abdullah Hussein and Abul Fawad Abbas we'll see you in a couple of minutes we'll see you in a couple of minutes we'll see you soon welcome back dear viewers of Imam Hussein TV3 for the last part of this show as promised we will be going through all of the rituals associated with Midshe'abaan so that you are well covered when it comes to the supplications so you don't miss out on a night like this this night is the second most greatest night and Imam Al-Sadaq was asked why this night is such a great night and he says that on a night like this Allah SWT will wipe clean his slate of his servants and will make sure that their repentance is accepted so strive towards being close to Allah SWT so it is a night that Allah SWT will make it incumbent on himself to make sure that anyone who is asking anyone who is pleading anyone who is crying towards Allah SWT that those questions those supplications those requests are answered on a night like this regardless of their history regardless of their CV regardless of their deeds on a night like this you can wipe your slate clean in striving towards Allah SWT so from and coincidentally on a night like this we are also as it says from the from the words that it is the milad of Imam Al-Zaman it is the birth of the awaited saviour Imam Al-Mahdi the first thing that you are supposed to be doing on a night like this of the rituals is the so purifying yourself having a shower to purify yourself physically and emotionally and spiritually so that when you are taking part in the rituals when you are taking part in the rituals you are clean from the ghusl the second thing is the salah and the dua and the istighfar of the rituals is the salah the dua and the istighfar the same way that Imam Zain Al-Abideen which he says who purifies this night who ever makes sure that this night is remembered that their hearts will not die the day the hearts will die on the day of judgment so that's the second thing that Imam Zain Al-Abideen at which he says so that's the second thing the third thing is the ziyara of Imam Hussain Al-Alias Salam now what's interesting here is that if you cannot arrive to the city of kalbalaata it says here that if you can go to the highest place within your area within your city, within your village wherever you may be at the highest point you look once towards the right and you look once towards the left and then raise your hands and you recite only this simple piece of supplication or this salutation As-Salamu Alaikum As-Salamu Alaikum If you can repeat that 100 times 500 times no matter how many times you can the more the merrier but just to repeat go to the highest point of the building of the village of the city and then look once towards the right and then raise your hands and your head towards the sky and say As-Salamu Alaikum As-Salamu Alaikum Wabarakatuh after that it's the the thawab of this ziyara is the ajar or the thawab of Hajj and Umrah and of course there is a certain the fourth thing of the rituals to do is a small dua the Ziyara of Imam Al-Ghaib so it is a dua in honor of the Imam Al-Asri and Imam Al-Mahdi it's a pretty long dua but it starts with Allahumma and the fifth thing to do is As-Salamu Alaikum and there is the fifth dua as well this is quite a long dua the next thing to do is another small dua from the Prophet Muhammad As-Salamu Alaikum that is one of the rituals of today there is a seventh and there is an eighth and there is so many different rituals to do okay and of course one of the benefits of tonight is to recite dua Qumail so the dua of Qumail is also to be recited today as well and of course there is a small a small supplication as well you can do that I believe it says a thousand times as you can there is many more rituals as well it goes on and on but essentially you can find this the keys to the heavens and that way you will be able to understand the full recitations inshallah so those are the rituals we will get into a bit of small recitations inshallah after the small break so we will see you in a couple of minutes thank you good night warm three it's light shines upon us it's very dark chirping iconic master he's come to save humanity from disaster who is ready to answer your call to answer your I know my master I know your son will run this earth will be blessed with no fear the promise of Allah the promise of Allah the promise of Allah cannot be and of course like I said on a night like this I will keep the recitations subdued and focus more on the words as we say O brother O brother return back to us O master O protector O Peter in my darkest times you are patience you are the saints holy night never will go between your heart and between mine than all great signs. Ya Mahdi, Ya Mahdi, we need you with us. Ya Mahdi, Ya Mahdi, return back to us. Were it not for your existence, I would sway not knowing my path. Who would guide me first and not last? Who would take my hand to Jannah? Like a father takes a child. We are Mahdi, and blessings are will cast. Ya Mahdi, Ya Mahdi, you are with us. Ya Mahdi, Ya Mahdi, return back to us. We have enjoyed four months and years. Patient, we await your return. But our hope is never died. We'll always burn the secrets of space and of time. From you, Mahdi, we long to learn. Like the thirsty, we are here for you. Ya Mahdi, he's don't forget us. Ya Mahdi, Ya Mahdi, return back to us. Allahumma, ajil. And with that, we conclude today's program. Tomorrow, we have more support from Allah. May Allah bless you. May Allah bless you. May Allah bless you. May Allah bless you. May Allah bless you. With that, we conclude today's program. Tomorrow, we have more surprises, more fun, more games, more applications, more recitations, and more live reports from the land of Karbala. Like I said earlier, please do not let a night like this miss you. Don't let a night like this go past, like any other normal night. Perform the ghusl, perform the ritual, and then do your amal, do your ziyarat, as well as don't forget us in your prayers, not forgetting the people who are in trials and tribulations in your prayers. And we'll see you insha'Allah tomorrow. Please pray for me, please pray for everyone else. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Fatiha.