 الحمد لله شكرا صدقًا و may Allah protect our condolences to everybody my mother in the name of god بالنسبة لك المهارب حسن أسكير she is the father of imam why do you think the community is not doing enough why are our magilis holes empty and why is they are not really our pro and stir around his death yes it is something that we've seen I think growing up محرم وموضوع رمضان كام يجب عليك أن هذه الموضوع يمتلون ثم يجب عليك أن عندما يأتي إلى إمام such as إمام العسكري عليه السلام يوجد بعض أسئلة أسئلة who claim to be of the followers of Ahl al-Bayt who probably don't even know that it's the night of the Shahada of Imam Al-Asqari There are families who may know but have no concern as to why their sons or their daughters are not at the mosque and I think sometimes the mosques have to look at themselves that why is it on a night of the Shahada of the Imam or even on the night of the Willada of the Imam why is there such an apathy or such a lack of attendance I think sometimes the mosques have to reflect on the structure of the program the type of the program but that still is not an excuse for the people to be sitting at home tonight I guarantee you that there are members for example the Iraqi community in London who don't even have a clue that it's the night of the Shahada of Imam Al-Asqari at all and for people who have Imam Al-Asqari عليه السلام buried in their country at the very least you would expect their mosques to be full there might be 6 or 7 or 8 mosques in the northwest London area which belong to one demographic and I guarantee you that the age group between 30 and 40 are not at the mosques tonight so I think it is very sad but we can't make excuses the reality is that the onus has to be taken by members of the community to establish these programs the lecturers are present the lecturers are there the mosques are present and I think the onus has to be taken on by the leaders of the community to address this as in why Imam Al-Hadi why Imam Al-Asqari in their position of magnanimity why the mosques are present I must say that I don't think that's just the case for London I think if you go into the Middle East tonight I guarantee you that there are parts of the Middle East where you have strangleholds of the lovers of Ahl al-Bayt who probably don't even know anything or have not studied anything of the life of Imam Al-Asqari عليه السلام as in there are parts of I guarantee you for those who are watching there may be parts of Kuwait or parts of the Emirates or parts of Lebanon where there are people who love Ahl al-Bayt but tonight will not even know that it's Imam Al-Asqari الشهادة so it is sad but hopefully with programs like this we can start to address his biography and the love for the man continues to increase because at the end of the day the Holy Prophet peace be upon him and his family states that I leave behind for you the Quran and my Ahl al-Bayt leaving the Quran and my Ahl al-Bayt is a message for us to adhere to them to honor them love is not just enough love has to be expressed expressed in different ways gaining of knowledge following of principles so hopefully in this night you know in the month of ربيع الأول this could be a kickstart for people who are watching to hopefully establish the Majalis in honor of as you beautifully said the father of the Imam of our time إن شاء الله just a quick message to our viewers if you would like to call in and you have any questions on the discussion please call us on 0203-515-0199 or alternatively you can then I'll be on the lower third there say it there was a more contemporary there was a certain event a time that took place where there was a bomb on that actual shrine of Imam Ahslla أسكين سامر your comments on what happened what you know what the مراجة did in the re-attaliation to that and maybe what you'd expect better if there was an attack on the shrine that asked us as a share community لأننا يجب علينا أن نفعله. كان هناك قراءة عبهيول في العراق من 2003. وعراق يجب على الكثير من المشاهدين who had entered the country, many terrorist groups. There were cells of them everywhere. Everyone had their own interests. Amongst these groups were groups that really believe that when the Shi'a go to Samarra, when they go to Karbala, when we go to Kathmand, or when we go to any of the graves of the grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his family, they believe that we actually go there and worship the people in the graves. Even though as you know, we say very clearly in our salutations towards the imams who are buried there. Whenever we stand by the graves of any of the imams of Ahl al Bayt, we always stress on the lines that I'm a witness, that you are the one who established Salah, gave the poor aid, enjoined the good, and you forbid the evil. And that you obeyed Allah and his messenger until death came upon you. But sadly, Samarra indoctrinated into believing that we do worship those who are within the grave. And it's sad that we don't have this this recognition of each other's beliefs and ability to have dialogue because today if I saw someone in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah, and he's praying next to the grave of the Prophet, I could say that you are the one who's worshiping the Prophet or you're worshiping Abu Bakr or you're worshiping Omar. But of course the person will turn around to me and say, no, I'm facing Qibla, I'm facing towards Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. But those groups wanted to ensure that anyone who was visiting Samarra would be dealt a major blow. There were two bomb blasts. 2006 and then a couple of years later. The domes of the 10th and the 11th of the 12th Imams were completely destroyed. I remember we used to have lectures in London الحركة الحيدرية, the حيدرية youth movement. We used to have lectures every Friday. And I remember that week when the shrine of Imam Al-Asqara was bombed. I remember that week people were calling in what we're going to do, what we're going to do. And I replied by saying, if you feel guilt because the shrine has been bombed, ask yourself the question that where were you on the nights when Imam Al-Asqara and Imam Al-Hadi were being honored in our mosques. A person didn't need to wait for a bombing for them to reflect on their responsibility. الحمد لله. The work of the likes of Sayed Muhammad علي الشهرستاني من الله. Bless his soul. And others who came together to try and construct that mausoleum again. And I was only there a few months back and I saw how wonderful the structure is looking now. But still there's a lot more work. But sadly ever since then ISIS they destroyed the grave of Prophet Yunus عليه السلام and Mosul and they went about destroying other mosques as well. So Samarra was really the beginning of this destruction. الحمد لله. You've tried to destroy the graves of Imam Al-Husayn in the past. The grave of Imam Ali عليه السلام in the past. It doesn't have an effect on us. The shame is on those who the Quran يتحدث about the preservation in Chapter 22 verse 39 and 40 the preservation of the churches and the synagogues and the mosques. Yet سبحان الله you have people out there who claim to be Muslims who destroy the shrines of the grandsons of the Holy Prophet peace be upon him and his family. Yeah. I don't know when the time it happened I don't know if Sayed Sistani gave out a far to us and advised to have a weak period of mourning for this tragic event. It really brought the community together and allowed us to like you said, we started to reflect then rather than reflect before on Imam Al-Husayn but coming to Imam Al-Husayn a little bit about his biography maybe his father Imam Al-Hadi and what was the situation like for him towards the end of his life politically was he preparing Imam Al-Husayn for what was to come. Sure Imam Al-Hadi عليه السلام faced a very turbulent time because he faces not only some of the most difficult of the Abbasid Caliphs but he also faces a time where the Abbasids are growing in their frustration with the military Turkish commanders who seem to be gaining an upper hand within the Abbasid Empire. Imam Al-Hadi عليه السلام of the Caliphs that he faced was المتوكل العباسي فعلاً من your heart pressed to find a caliph who insulted the granddaughters of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family except possibly Yazid bin Muawiyah like المتوكل العباسي and I'm amazed when some of the books of Islamic history showing you the hatred that they have towards the Ahl al-Bayt but a hidden hatred some of them will talk about the Abbasid and say محي السنة ومميت البدعة he is the one who gave life to the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family and the one who stopped the innovations the Abbasids remember before this period there's a theological clash between them as it is on different issues المأمون subscribe to one particular school of thought المتوكل once that school of thought removed there is the growth of the Mu'tazla and the Ash'arai type theological debates that occur later on concerning predestination and free will the creativeness of the Holy Quran so what you have in the time of المتوكل العباسي he recognizes that إمام الهادي عليه السلام has a number of followers those followers if you look at certain zady theological works of the likes of إبراهيم الرسي and so on you'll find that they refer to إمام الهادي عليه السلام as the tenth of the imams of the Rafida so you've got this term called the Raphidites or the Raphidites which is meant to be a term insulting the Shi'a at the time the Shi'a if you look at the family of those who were shared by the different daughters of the house now I don't want you to ever be able to picture what that means but that is one of the saddest things that could ever occur that some of these daughters and granddaughters of the Holy Prophet had to share pieces of cloth amongst one another that's a difficult period and المتوكل العباسي at the same time orders that not only those who come to visit but also those who make the journey to إمام الحسين عليه السلام are to be executed so the Shi'a oppression at that time is arguably the most oppressive period for any of the imams it had begun really with إمام الكاظم عليه السلام culminated with إمام الهادي إمام العسكري إمام العسكري عليه السلام has an elder brother an elder brother one of the most pious personalities in the history of Ahl al Bayt he's buried in بلد anyone who goes to visit سامره on their way there or sometimes on their way back they will stop at بلد when they stop at بلد to إمام الهادي because إمام العسكري is born 232 AH and and إمام العسكري's brothers born 229 AH and if I'm not mistaken he dies around 252 AH around the age of 23 that Muhammad one of the erudite scholars one of the grand scholars of the school of Ahl al Bayt phenomenal personality if you look at how much shock إمام العسكري was in when his brother passes away you have some who even narrate that he rips his shirt open upon hearing the news when some people are surprised that an Imam of Ahl al Bayt would show such anguish what we know as جزع for example an extreme amount of grief he says this is what نبي موسى عليه السلام did when Nabi Haroon passed away so you have Muhammad's son of imam عسكري he seemingly dies in a village he's going to collect some revenues from some land that إمام إمام الهادي عليه السلام owned and he dies on that journey at a very young age so when you have this situation إمام الهادي عليه السلام is now ordered you're no longer going to be living in Medina you know all the imams of Ahl al Bayt their love is Medina it's no choice to be anywhere on this earth it's Medina to Nabi now what you have with إمام الهادي عليه السلام the caliphs of Bani Abbas they want to take his family they want to put them under surveillance why also do they want to put them under surveillance because they know that at that time when إمام الهادي is alive there are two very famous works of Ahl al Sunnah that are also compiled known as صحيحة and صحيح محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري and مسلم بن حجاج and نسى بوري they're both if you look at the Persian empire well, مسلم is from نسى بور which we most commonly associate with إمام الهادي عليه السلام that's why I find it very funny when people say محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري and others of the compilers of the صحيح works فخل الرازي among others these are all from the Persian area or the Persian empire so to say that شعار أمام الهادي محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري you know and others of the compilers of the صحيح works فخل الرازي among others these are all from the Persian empire so to say that شعار أمام الهادي or whatever other names I'd be careful with that argument because you're going into a very very cloudy arena now when you're coming to these people they're compiling these works صحيح البخاري صحيح مسلم they compile them because they recognize that there's so many fake in the first 200 years that you need to compile a work which is صحيح I wouldn't be surprised if between بخاري and مسلم I wouldn't be surprised if they came across a million hadiths in their life I really wouldn't be surprised and I wouldn't be surprised if out of those million I wouldn't be surprised if they felt that one percent only or less was صحيح now I don't know what happened to the business but there were scams going on there were people scamming hadiths one after the other there were people attributing hadiths from one place to another and I think what happens is at that time as well when they compile the صحيح as you know there's a famous tradition in صحيح البخاري where the Holy Prophet peace be upon him mentions that there will be 12 خليفas after me 12 نقيب are mentioned in other works now the Shia at the time Imam al-Hadi is number what out of 12 10 and seems that people are aware that's all done if this is number 10 of the روافل's leaders then we may be in a situation where we have to keep an eye out now the Abbasid government hitherto that point let's say they had a capital at one period in خراصان another period at Baghdad now to circumvent the threat of the Turkish military commanders they moved their government towards one of the most wonderful areas in Iraq until today سامراء now Imam العسكري عليه السلام is born in Medina by a very young age his family are transported taken towards yes taken towards سامراء سامراء comes from three words سر من راء that whoever looks at this place it's pleasing to the eye you've been there I have indeed and you've seen the rivers that flow near it and the wonderful green lush grounds that are there and insha Allah they'll come back to their lushness very soon with the united Iraq where the Shia and the Sunnah and the Christians and everybody comes together in a united Iraq now they move them towards سامراء why they themselves have their government there and it's always interesting those who say there's no such thing as Imam Mehdi and so on so why are they moving his granddad to سامراء why are they keeping an eye out there's no such thing within the literature about Imam Mehdi why is Imam Al-Hadi being moved there by Imam Al-Hadi عليه السلام and you've got say the Hakimah and Imam Al-Hadi عليه السلام they move towards سامراء so that early period in the life of Imam Al-Hadi عليه السلام is a difficult one because it's very rare to find an Imam of Ahl al-Bayt who at that young age has to suddenly be moved to another city they'll settle in Medina for a certain period they'll settle in Kufa for a certain period they'll settle let's say in Mecca for a certain period as Imam Amir al-Mu'mineen did in his early years but to find an Imam of Ahl al-Bayt who had to leave who had to suddenly leave one city to go to another it's very rare and it happens with Imam Al-Hadi عليه السلام so now you've explained the political situation they used to explain how the Abbasis are keeping an eye out as in the Imams are near enough towards the end we've got to be careful here they're moving to this garrison town this military compound a little bit more on Imam Al-Hadi عليه السلام as in who is his mother and him growing up his mother plays a pivotal role in his life you know his mother is another of these ladies who who's coming from the North Africa region we had mentioned a few nights ago how Imam Assad that marries the lady from North Africa and then suddenly becomes a trend Egypt, Morocco the Berbers you know that area and his mother becomes pivotal in his life because she has to be eventually the one who looks after the Imam of our time now we'll come to that and is the one who executes his will father normally wants his son to execute his will but his mother by the name of Khudatha some mention other names as well so said and so on you find that his mother is pivotal in his life because upon the birth of the Imam that mother becomes fundamental the mother seemingly lives more in Mecca than she does with the rest of the family in Samarra but his mother is known as one of the mystical women in the history of the Ahl al-Bayt when you read the traditions about his mom and unique traditions I've seen for example Hamidah the wife of Imam Assad is praised very highly سيدا معصوم قوم is praised very highly منزار المعصومة بقوم كمنزارني whoever visits the معصومة قوم is like the one who has visited me but when it comes to Imam al-Asqari's mom you find that this lady the description of her always includes the word mystical and if you're going to be the lady who looks after the Imam of your time for the first few years of his life you're going to have to have a mystical edge a lady of great honor great nobility I remember reading the description of her from the likes of علامة المجلسة and said مهدي بحر العلوم always a lady of great piety so yes this lady becomes instrumental in his early upbringing yeah and was knocked over Imam al-Asqari going up in Samarra I mean obviously was his father around or was he put into prison was were they actually allowed to be at home in Samarra there's two types of prisons the first type of prison in Samarra is like a house arrest and that seemingly is where Imam al-Hadi is in prison more often than not in the other type of prison is for your criminals and so on but even if they put them under house arrest it did not stop them from entering the house it did 4 AM 5 AM where's the weapons that you have I don't have no weapons the only weapon I have is my or the only weapon that I have is my for example my what other weapons do I have again they'll smash the house now there are ladies in there keep an eye out on the ladies who's entering the house Imam al-Hadi the amount of oppression that he went through was phenomenal and that's why they eventually poisoned him they knew that he had a large following in Medina, in Mecca, in Baghdad in Hella they knew they were underground movements of people who were relying on him they tried their hardest in different ways to finish him but subhanallah of the legacies that he left us the great Ziyarat al-Jamia which many of us read you can never read and understand the theology of Ahl al-Bayt and the Ziyarat of Imam of Ahl al-Bayt but eventually he is assassinated, he is poisoned but that doesn't stop him having a wonderful relationship with his son in the early days remember don't forget Imam al-Asqari died when he was 28 so we're not talking about Imam who lived like Imam al-Sadaq until the age of 68 Imam al-Asqari al-Assalam died when he was 28 years of age first 22 years with his dad because he becomes Imam at the age of 22 when his dad dies and you see the imprint on his ways and how much his dad's affected him this one man narrates he said that I saw the kids playing and I saw one kid shedding a tear and I looked at him and I said are you crying because you have no toys he's like no this world wasn't made for play have you not read the Quran Imam al-Asqari at that young age and that shows you that young age that Imam al-Sadaq won a different league to everybody else then knowledge is the knowledge which is حضوري not قصولي students of mantra will know students of logic sometimes one of the most profound subjects that breaks down what is the meaning of knowledge how do we gain how do we learn is منطق and you'll see that one of the earliest subjects you study at Hausa when you study منطق is that علم which is حضوري and that علم which is حصولي me and you our knowledge which we gain is حصولي we go to a teacher, we acquire knowledge we learn, we study with Imam of Ahl al-Bayt عليم السلام it inspires them to know the answer to a question or to have the knowledge of the Quran in a way which nobody around them has someone might say but how could a person who is not a prophet gain such knowledge أسف بن بارخي on the story of سليمان is able to bring the queen of Sheba's throne without the blinking of an eye on Moses' mother the Quran says و أحينا إلى أمي موسى أن أرضي فإذا خفتي عليه فألقيه في اليمي تحزني إن أرادوه إليك و جاعلوه من المرسلين the Quran mentions that موسى عليه السلام even his mother not ma'soom not infallible the lady who is not a prophet of God الله still says و أحينا علم حضوري that direct inspired الهام in contrast to وحي which comes to prophets only الهام direct to موسى عليه السلام he says to the man هل أنت لم أردت القرآن؟ يجب أن يقول which verse صورة 23 verse 115 لن نسأل هذا العالم في العالم يقول you see my mother playing with the sticks to make fire and I wonder about the fire of the day of judgment so at that young age there was this wonderful reverence the knowledge was there at that young age he was with his father but he had to see harassment of his father by the likes of that pained him and pained the rest of the family and his name which has a military background yes there are certain cities which are named in relation to them being garrison towns so if for example a group of soldiers are traveling from one place to another you'll find that they may stop at a garrison town most famously the land of kufa kufa in its origin was a garrison town صعب النبي وقاس passes through kufa 17th year after hijra 6 years after the holy prophet محمد passes away peace be upon him and his family and وقاس believes that kufa instead of just being a garrison town should be a place which is inhabited and likewise one of the other names was but that was a garrison town wonderful pleasing to the eye great military place if you're going to counter the Turkish military commanders so strategically it was known for being an area where the armies had settled and so on and so that was one of the titles associated with the imam and how was the imam in prison because we know that he spent a lot of his time in prison so he wasn't given the same house arrest treatment as his father was he taken straight into a cell but interestingly he's taken to a cell and he's under house arrest so he faces both they believe that he's conspired he had actually written a letter I remember reading the discussion once interesting discussion looking at a letter which he had written attacking the abbasid caliph very unprecedented mind you for an imam of ahl al-bayt especially of the time of the abbasids for them to write a letter attacking the caliph of his time that's why the two of the caliphs that succeeded that particular caliph they didn't straight away imprison the imam and there was that period where the imam was a bit more in communication with the shia but then later on again he's imprisoned and that is a house imprisonment where they're literally keeping an eye out on him on the woman of the house the midwives of the house midwives are sent in to see any of the woman pregnant because there are clear hadiths there will be 12 caliphs after me it's from my sons the mehdi is from the sons of fatma not just from the sons of some random rifraf you know and so there is this pressure that is there against him what's interesting is how many of the grandsons of rasool Allah are in prison you know you look at imam zayn al-abideen had to be imprisoned imam musa al-qadam had to be imprisoned when you look at Abu al-Faraj his book that amount of oppression that the talibids went through in the first couple of hundred years after rasool Allah died is horrendous no doubt wow and i mean was there no attempts to try and overthrow the government the shia community wasn't big enough to try and break him out of prison no there were attempts there was a couple of uprisings but they were suppressed you know the son of isa amongst others they were amongst those who tried to when they saw that imam was in prison but they were suppressed straight away by the military of the abbasids and what about an imam being in prison how does he actually do tabli how does he reach out to his shia i'm sure they have many questions many issues that they want to discuss with him how did imam ask him interesting there are certain personalities who play a pivotal role in this period between the time of imam al jawad and the life and the time of imam al askari فضل بن شاذان being one أبو الاديام being another fundamentally عثمان بن سعيد عثمان بن سعيد is the first of the deputies of the 12th imam but عثمان بن سعيد had served in the time of imam al jawad and the time of imam al hadi and was a pivotal personality in the time of imam al askari that if people wanted to know for example where to give their charitable endowments where to give their charitable donations they had certain questions of a legal nature عثمان بن سعيد no doubt was a pivotal personality while imam al askari was facing a lot of pressure as in not only is he the one who looks after the burial of imam al askari eventually but وعند يهل البيت رسيبه كبيراً لكي يدفعه لهم وكذلك ليس فقط أنه يصدر البيت لكنه يصدر الآخر من البيت محمد بن أثمان وكذلك بعداً كما سوف نحصل على تصويرنا جداً في مواروز شو ترى ماذا يحدث مع البيت من إمام فإمام العسكري وإمام إمامه يوجد بعض الألوات التي يستطيع أن أخذها واحد يجب أن يتحدث عنها دائماً another way is to write letters There are mentions of letters which Imam writes you know علي سنبابة ويه being amongst those who receives letters from the imams the people of Qom you know at that time and establish a community from the time of well one may argue حجاج بن يوسف الثقفي when certain people had to leave Qufa and then the أشعاري who establish Qom are honored by the presence of sayدا معصومة now Qom is an established region for the Shi'a and the Shi'a of Qom are in constant they constantly receive letters from إمام العسكري علي السلام guiding them as to what the community should be doing at this point remember we had mentioned may Allah lengthen the life and bless my master supervisor Dr. جاسم الحسين may God bless him for his not just his knowledge not just his wonderful morals but also his great work the occultation of the 12th imam and in that work he wonderfully shows the underground movement known as the وقالة or اطنظيم السرر secret underground organization and that secret underground organization its role is to ensure that if you can't get access to the imam you've got Qom to pay for example or you have certain legal questions and you can't get access to the imam then where do you go you go towards this underground movement if you look from the time of imam العسكري time of imam صادق علي السلام you're Younes bin Abdulrahman you're Moallab bin Khunaces you're you're you're you're you're and and what he has as well as his disposal is this underground movement of communication the people know their job they know their position but naturally being with the imam is different from just receiving letters from him obviously yeah and with the imam being the 11th imam did he in his double league or in his letters was he preparing people for the 12th was he I mean one could argue the occultation was this being taught and explained to the share beforehand well the discussion of occultation within Islam can be seen from the time of one may argue in the middle of the first century you know you got you being described as being an occultation I would say more towards them being the Yes you know you know you know you know you know then there are different personalities such as Muhammad bin Hanafi are known as the Mehdi Yes the Isma'ili sect has already begun the idea that you know Imam al-Sadaq's son is now into Ghaibah others talk of you know one of the sons or some of the imams being in occultation that discussion is already there there are many traditions from Imam al-Baq and Imam al-Sadaq which talk about the Mehdi of the Ummah the Mehdi what will happen with the Mehdi I can't really say that Imam al-Asqari was as blatant in his discussion of Imam Mehdi as some people would like to think I even would believe that he doesn't want them to call him for example by certain names because the Abbasids would be ready to pounce but certainly those who are in the close circles they certainly are told about Imam al-Mahdi and about the Imam of their time but was it something given out in the open that's a death wish at that time masha'Allah sorry say we have to go to a short break so to the dearest brothers and sisters and the viewers please stay with us and as we will continue the discussion after the break also for those of you who are online please stay online with us and we will be re-streaming this show thank you very much see you after the break سلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته رحمة الله وبركاته and welcome back to Live in London with Dr. Sayed Ahmad Nakshwani and our topic Discussing Imam Hassan el-Asqali if you would like to call in with this discussion and you have a question please call us on 0203-5050199 and if you would like to send us a question on WhatsApp the number should be provided at the bottom also we would like to take this opportunity to let you know that tomorrow there will be a special programme because as you know the two months and eight days of morning has now passed and the black swan will be coming down and we will have a special programme to commemorate tomorrow at 9pm Sayed Ahmad we will discuss in Imam Hassan el-Asqali we will discuss in his imprisonment we will discuss in his communications with the Shi'a more on his tabligh work I mean was there anyone he actually affected their lives anyone in particular one of his Sahaba or something well I think what's interesting is the Abbasids are willing to put him in prison but then use him when they need him there was a period of real confusion for the Muslims at the time when a Christian priest was going around causing miracles and they didn't know who else to turn to because now many of the Muslims when they were going through a period of a drought when there was no rain coming down you found that many of the Muslims were praying and their prayers weren't being answered but when the Christian priest suddenly calls up all of a sudden the rain came down some of the Muslims had turned around and said how is this the case if we are the right religion how did this Christian priest have his prayer answered and we didn't have ours the Abbasids noticed that this is a very difficult situation for them so the Abbasids had to call upon the Imam we've imprisoned the Imam but listen we need you if you need the man why are you putting him in prison then and the Imam said to the Mosle issue they said listen there's a situation that we face there's a Christian priest who everyone's now believing could be showing that Christianity is the religion of God not Islam he prays to God rain comes down his prayers are answered Imam said next time when he is about to pray while he's clenching his fist open the fist and he said what do you mean he said just open it when he was praying they opened his fist they found a bone there the Christian priest said how do you know he said you've got the bone or the remains of a prophet of the prophets of God so you're asking God in the name of this bone that's there and that's how these prayers are being answered answers the question put him straight back to prison sadly it reminds me of how even the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him on the night that they wanted to kill him before he went to Medina the same people want to kill him are the ones who used to trust him with all their deposits and all of their belongings it's sad then there were prison gods who were affected by Imam العسكر you know there's there's an opinion that the imams of Ahdal Bayt any language they want to speak they can speak and especially Imam العسكر why especially Imam العسكر because Imam العسكر more than any other Imam had to speak Hindi with this person he had to speak Turkish with this person he had to speak Persian with this person because there were gods from all these areas they were told to go and torture him by the time by the time that Abbas would come and see what they've done these gods have been affected by the Imam who spoke to them in their language there was even one God who was so harsh to the Imam but the Imam would still show him respect and he'd tell the Imam my son's not feeling well and he'd tell him don't worry I'll pray for your son and his son was cured so the Imam reminds us for example of someone like Nabi Yusuf عليه السلام someone like Imam Al-Qadim who had a great amount of effect even though that they were imprisoned but they have a great amount of effect in the Tabligh work that they were doing and in terms of great works I mean we have you know نشو بلاغة from Imam Ali do we have anything like that any compilation of Hadith or anything any specific academia from Imam Askari it's an interesting question فأسي نهج البلاغة is not Imam Ali's work as you know it's the work of رضي compilation of the sermons of Imam Ali عليه السلام and when you look at Imam Al-Askari the only work that seemingly is ascribed to him the most famous work is تفسير العسكري تفسير العسكري is the تفسير of the Holy Quran which begins and ends I think at verse 282 of صورة البقرة now it's interesting that there are those who believe in its authenticity there are others who question its authenticity it's not a complete تفسير but you find someone like Shaykh Sadook would use it and one only has to look within من لا يحضره الفقي to see how Shaykh Sadook for example has used some of the تفسير of the Imam within this work now yes someone might argue that ابن الغضائري weakens it but there isn't much that ابن الغضائري doesn't weaken you know if you've got a book called كتاب الضعفاء then you're going to weaken quite a bit some may look at narrators like you know الاسترابادي and others and say that because their presence is there these aren't people that you take narrations from others say someone like البارقي had never come near the Imam so how could he now be narrating the traditions of the Imam so you've got a school which looks at تفسير العسكري in a positive manner in terms of authenticity and then you've got others who may subscribe to ابن الغضائري and others and saying that this does not come from the Imam but in terms of traditions from Imam العسكري so many traditions from Imam العسكري that have reached us remember you're talking Imam العسكري عليه السلام and the four main works of Shi'a'zim there's only a hundred years difference between the two there were people who were alive at the time who met أثمان من سعيد there were others who met you know companions of Imam العسكري and were able to get many of the wonderful narrations wonderful hadith from the Imam talking about hadith any famous hadith from Imam العسكري what about yourself does any hadith that appeals to you my favorite hadith from Imam العسكري عليه السلام is the hadith that looks at the signs of the mu'min you know علامات المؤمن خمس yes and it's very interesting because we all strive that when we die to be known as a mu'min the mu'min is higher than a Muslim indeed a Muslim is the utterance of two lines أشهد أن لا إله لله وأشهد أن محمدا رسول الله if now someone wants to convert to become a Muslim all they have to do is utter these two lines say for example someone is a non-Muslim they want to marry your sister or your cousin your dad's not having it and they have to revert all they have to do is say لا إله لله محمد رسول الله he becomes a Muslim does he become a mu'min no a mu'min is not just merely uttering in the tongue but certainty in the heart قرآن إن صورة الحجرات الله سبحانه وتعالى says the Bedouin Arab saying we believe قل لم تؤمنه say we don't believe ولكن قلوا أسلمنا say we become Muslims ولما يدخلوا الإيمان في قلوبكم until الإيمان enters your heart everybody out there can say that they're a Muslim but to be a mu'min is a high level إمام حليبنا مطالب عليه السلام one of his title is أميرا مؤمنين not أميرا مسلمين أميرا مؤمنين مؤمنين is the master and the prince of the believers not just someone who's just saying I've just become a Muslim those who implement submit to the you know precepts and principles of the religion القرآن الله gives us guidance how to become a mu'min there's a surah called المؤمنون yes surah 23 of the Holy Quran قد أفلح المؤمنون الذين هم في صالاتهم خاشعون والذين هم على اللغوي معرضون and so on the Quran mentions successful are the mu'min those who are humble in their prayers those who stay away from those who give away the charity those who guard their private parts et cetera in this tradition when I'm in the military على معات المؤمن خمس he gives us what is the signs of a mu'min not me and you look for this because we don't want to just stick as being Muslim I want to be a mu'min indeed the first one he mentions is you know the prostration on the earth distinct to the Shia school many times people ask us why do you Shia pray on this stone on rock on stone some call it the moor the sajd agar the turba and we reply by saying firstly there were no carpets in Medina when the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was in Medina like the carpets were used for prayer mats today the traditions in Sunni and Shia literature say that when he used to get up from Sujood the marks of clay would be on his forehead he used to pray on earth what do we pray on earth and some of the companions used to pray on pebbles it was so hot when they would pray on the pebbles so when in Shia law we have the tradition which says the earth has been made a place of prostration and purification purification for example purified prostration when the earth has been made a place of prostration now you can pray on any earth you pray on the earth of London, New York, Paris but the moment the prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family spoke about the earth of Karbala yes it had a distinction my grandson would die on this earth and that's why you find in peace be upon the one who in his earth there is shifa why do we call it kake shifa in the earth of Karbala there is a cure distinct for the earth of Karbala and that area known as 22 meters also where you can have the option of praying full of the option of praying قصص so number one prostrate on the earth number two loudly say there are many Muslims so when they begin their salah they begin and I when I go to Umrah I'm standing there the Ka'ba and I hear الحمد لله رب العالمي where's بسم الله you know what do we do to the بسم الله إِنَّا لِلَّا وَنَّا لَيَرَاجِعُونَ بِيدَفَاتِ حَبُّدِ بِسم الله وَتَعَبِتُ بِسم الله some say it silently some whisper it school of ahlbayt say it loudly the imams of ahlbayt taught us begin anything you say بسم الله recognize any act that you do before you begin it recognize if it wasn't because you're nothing indeed number three a sign of a mu'minimah the soldier says wearing the ring on the right hand masha'Allah now you have an excuse my dear viewers he has an excuse his excuse is that okay we won't go there we won't go there and it's it's my fault but no problem don't worry about it for now I admit it but normally he has a wonderful ring and I will make sure that his ring comes back to him soon thank you and the rings of all the guys in the back as well who always offer me their rings now these stones that we have what we wear tell a Shi'a from a mile away they'll have that ring either the Aqeeq or the Doran Najaf or the Feiroza or the Zumor Road or the Hadith of the Chinese each of these stones has a benefit indeed some prevent calamities some prevent envy some help your memory some help give peace to your heart these are now in the world today on many websites you hear discussions of gemstones yes and the Ahl al-Bayt in many of their traditions have spoken about gemstones you're allowed to wear so if now one of the signs is that for a person to wear their ring on their right hand for men you can wear the ring in these two fingers okay the last two yes not allowed to wear the ring in these three I think even one of these two is called the ring finger it's normally the left hand this one okay you're more of an expert than me on these issues so you have that the sign of a Shi'a you can't wear on your left hand this one for women of course you can wear right left anything but for men there are these stipulations number four praying 51 رك عيمام العسكر you want to be a mu'min 51 as a day trust me I'm just about struggling to do 17 and people think that I'm a mu'min no I'm a Muslim but I'm trying to become a mu'min 17 واجب at 23 Insha'Allah insha'Allah all of us 17 واجب at 23 the نوافل or the sunnah prayers and then at Salat Al-Layl that comes to 51 and number five fifth sign زيارة الأربعين of Imam Al-Hussein to visit Imam Al-Hussein on the 40th of his martyrdom that hadith of Imam Al-Asker is in my opinion the most beautiful hadith really if a person is able to achieve these five because many times people say I worry about death what's going to happen to me you know am I going to be victorious well you know the imams have laid out many hadiths called علامات المؤمن and this is one of them and if we can get these five in our lives you know hopefully death is nothing to fear yeah sure just a quick message to all the viewers that if you'd like to call in please call us on 0203 515 0199 with your question or alternatively you could message us on WhatsApp with your question for the doctor say it now controversy comes around and share Islam quite a bit now and then but this is not too controversial but let's say maybe a split an opinion the marriage of Imam Al-Asker I mean would you like to discuss the two opinions and maybe which one you lean towards one opinion is that he marries what seemingly is a Roman princess by the name of Narges yes or Malika and her original name and so on from the descendants of the disciples of Christ it's a famous story her dad wants her to get married the wedding keeps having a calamity occur she sees in her dream the Prophet Muhammad and the Prophet Jesus and the Prophet Muhammad is asking for her for Prophet Jesus is say descendants hand and then later on excuse me later on she sees Imam Al-Asker in her dream and then she is told that she'll be on the ship eventually a person will come to her with so and so Dinar we all know the famous story that's one opinion as to whether it's seen as the most reliable I don't know I don't think it's the most reliable but it certainly is there it's narrated you know Al-Kulaini within Al-Kafi seems to indicate that the mother of the Imam is a lady from the land of Africa like the Imam before him she was not a princess or anything of those lines what's interesting is that that period is a very difficult period you've got a lot of women in the house and the Abbas are keeping an eye on each one and so they want to keep an eye which one's got the signs of pregnancy and hence you see many different names are given and some of them could be the servants' names because you know who is the one that you're looking for to see the signs of pregnancy now of course Allah SWT has already given ladies or mothers of prophets pregnancies without the signs that's normal but yes you know both are narrated from the scholars ultimately I don't know what difference it will make if one is is originally a slave girl from Africa and another one is a princess of Rome ultimately they give you know they give birth to one of the signs of Allah SWT and in terms of children of Imam I mean how many children did he actually have again difference of opinion again difference of opinion I've seen narrations which mention a couple of daughters of the Imam as well as the mentioning of you know Imam al-Mahdi I've seen narrations of a few daughters and a few sons I've seen some scholars who tried to say there's no sons or no daughters and he said if there was a son then why has Imam not made him execute his will I've seen those who asked the question well where was the son if you say the son went into the age of five where was he for the first few years and some scholars who say that the only child was Imam al-Mahdi حجة الله فجر especially considering the amount of surveillance that was there so there's difference of opinion in the books of history so coming back towards the Abbasid Khalifa and stuff what tactics were used to actually see the coming of the 12th Imam like you said maybe they were sending midwives in to see who was pregnant and stuff how important was it for them to you know catch him oh they they were keeping a close eye there's a couple of years of intense scrutiny they didn't mind holding those ladies pulling them out checking their body shape checking every single movement that was taking place and and that's why we'll discuss Insha'Allah and the special program tomorrow which marks the beginning of the Imam of Imam al-Mahdi حجة الله فجر Insha'Allah tomorrow we'll discuss those first few years how is it before غayبة الصغراء before the minor occultation how is it if he's living in Samarra that no one could see this child okay the the غayبة begins when he's five but where was he in the first few years we'll discuss that Insha'Allah and how important Imam al-Asqari his mother حديث her role is fundamental in the preservation of the life of the Imam but certainly there was a close scrutiny on Sayda Hakima Sayda Nurgis in terms of the other ladies who were there the the servants there was intense scrutiny to keep an eye out on all of them definitely just a quick message to the viewers is that as Sayda Maw said tomorrow we will be having a special program for which will be tomorrow at 9pm please join us and we'll be discussing the Imam of Imam al-Mahdi and also the other discussions in regards to his Imam and his discussions in regards to where he was for the first 5 years Insha'Allah I'm really keen to hear about it and I'm sure you will be as well so please join us at 9pm and if you have any questions on this discussion please call us on 0203 5150199 alternatively you can WhatsApp us on the number that will be provided at the bottom of the screen Doctor I'm a bit more towards the death of Imam al-Asqari I mean it was only 8 years 6 years 6 years so I mean why such a does he have the shortest Imam at period of all the imams why do you think Allah SWT in his life will give him a bigger lifespan and how was he actually martyred you know Imam Al-Jawad Al-Islam dies younger than him for example but you're right in saying that you know Imam Al-Jawad was you know minimum of 15 years whereas the Abbasids kept a close eye and they felt that you know what the Shi'a were mobilizing themselves in Qom they were mobilizing themselves in Baghdad in Cairo in Khufa and they they felt that they had to get rid of him and and while getting rid of as you know the poison was administered to him they kept a close eye he has a you know his brother is alive at the time by the name of Jafar he has another brother by the name of Hussein a sister by the name of Ali while the Abbasids you know as was their policy with the Imams from Imam Al-Baqar they wanted to get rid of them seeing that the Alids were always a potent force while the Imam was alive and about his brother Jafar I'm aware he's known as Jafar the Liar is how did he get this title and don't think this is a bit disrespectful to a brother of the Imam well if you're looking at the the scenes surrounding the death of the Imam and the beginning of the period of the Imam of the 12th Imam you'll find that Jafar actually makes a claim for an Imam seemingly within the traditions you see some traditions mention a person making a claim for the Imamate others mention that a family member of the Imam makes a claim for the Imamate others mention him by name and you've got you know some of these which really come down harshly on Jafar however we also have a tradition that his position is similar to the position of the brothers of Nabi Yusuf عليه السلام الله eventually forgives them and you look in the Quran in صورة 12 where Yusuf begins with you know don't worry you know Allah is the All-Forgiving when they come and see him eventually and they find out who he is and so we have a tradition that says Jafar the brother of Imam his position is like that of Yusuf's brothers eventually Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'ala opens the doors of Toba for those who seek it with your permission we go through a couple of questions yeah go ahead what's that's been appropriate in is a good one what advice can you give for the one who wants to learn the interpretation of the Holy Quran and what resources can one use to do that this is for a question from Sweden I mean we've talked about Imam Hassan Askeri's تفسير maybe that'll be a good way to start to look at interpretation of the Quran is there any Tafsir that you actually recommend well I'd say an enlightening commentary of the Quran by Faqi Heimani I think is a great work in the English language it gives the whole Tafsir the Tafsir of the whole Quran it's available on elislam.org I also believe communication with one's resident or one's resident scholar to sit with them and say why can't we have Tafsir classes every Thursday night for example or every Saturday afternoon or something along those lines you sit together get a group of friends of you sit with your local Mawlana your local scholar and pick pick different chapters and sit with them they'll give you great interpretation they'll give you the knowledge that they've gained in their studies also look for online courses there are many institutions both in the east and the west that offer online Tafsir classes a question here in regards to reading material for the biography of Imam Hassan Askeri and the Torah of Imam as well is there anything you recommend for let's say this discussion about today any good reading material for the viewers reading material for the viewers I would say may Allah bless the soul of the great scholar شريف باطر قرشي and he has a wonderful biography of Imam Askeri عليه السلام I think he's done a whole compilation yeah he's done there's the whole compilation the whole series on the infallibles his work on Imam Askeri is a great work is a good in-depth analysis looking at the life of the Imam to look at that period of confusion that seemingly affects everybody because of the intense pressure and scrutiny concerning the Imam in his position crisis and consolidations an interesting work to look at by one of the great scholars who is alive today by the name of سيد حسين المدرس so those are works that look at that period in particular which are definitely worth reading and my as I said my supervisor Dr. جاسم حسين his work the occultation of the 12th month gives a bit of analysis in relation to that period preceding the occultation thank you another question here I feel distant from God despite praying five times a day and reciting the Holy Quran every day how or what do I do to feel better and more connected to God well you know praying five times a day and reciting the Holy Quran is not you know the only way to get closest to Allah سبحانه وتعالى there are other ways serve in your local community you know it's a fantastic way you serve the creation you're serving the creator get involved teach in your local school teach the youth about Islamic history Islamic law Islamic theology volunteer in your local community to help the homeless you know to cook for those who are poor to help people gain an education these are all godly virtues let's not limit to religion to praying only and you know acts of worship there are other voluntary works which are seen as being divine in the eyes of Allah سبحانه وتعالى I know we talked about this this is a new question we roughly touched upon it I think this is actually quite nice because it goes into a bit more detail as in if the Imam hasn't asked his wife was a Roman princess how did he how did he how did the two meet like I said there was a war that had taken place which is interesting if anyone finds it in any of the you know non-Muslim literature about that war that's taken place but seemingly there's a war that takes place she already knows that she has to board the ship and eventually Imam Al-Hadi would have sent one of his representatives who will say certain words give her a red purse and then she'll know that she has to go towards that direction last question here a tricky question if someone is in the state of Nijalsa are they still allowed to read زيارة and Quran and things like that yeah reciting of the زيارة reciting of the زيارة of the Imam's there's no issue there are a couple of issues if one wants to go into that program of an Imam of أهل البيت عليهم السلام then that person according to many of the scholars either can't go in or has to go straight through without staying in that place at that time yeah Dr. أمار thank you very much for tonight's discussion thank you my pleasure and our condolences to everyone indeed tomorrow will be a day of celebration any last points that you want the viewers to take away with them from tonight's discussion I just sincerely hope that the viewers speak to them mosques and ensure that the imams of the likes of Imam Al-Ha'adi Imam Al-Asqari don't have 20, 30, 50 40 people turn up and instead we one day reach a stage where the same numbers that come for محرم are the numbers that come to honor the great grandsons of Imam Al-Hussain and the grandparents of Imam Al-Hujja عجل الله شكرا as you heard from Dr. أمار tomorrow we'll be having a special program at 9pm please join us then from myself and from Dr. أمار السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته