 As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakah to welcome to the live Facebook show that discusses theological arguments from the book Haqq al Yaqeen. I'm your host Mohsin Shah and joining me is Sheikh Mohamed Abbas Panjou. As-salamu alaikum Sheikh. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah Habibi Mohsin. Sheikh, yesterday a lot of us were commemorating and celebrating Eid al-Mubahala and now since the evening has come a lot of us have mentally started to prepare for Mohamed, the holy month of Sheikh Mohamed and the events that are going to take place some for 10, 20, even up to 50 days worth of commemorations and events of mourning and grieving. How do we and how does our community mentally, physically and spiritually prepare for the events of Muharram? As-salam to him. This is a very important question and in my humble opinion the build-up towards Shahroob Muharram, how a person prepares himself during these days leading up to Shahroob Muharram and Safar will actually determine how much he will benefit from Shahroob Muharram and Safar. So the preparation that we do pre-Muharram to a great extent determines the amount that we will benefit from Shahroob Muharram. Having said this, just a a quick pointer and perhaps this is something that is beneficial not only for us but for all the Mushahideen, our respected viewers in the west. At the moment one of the things that is of great concern is the issue of the moon sighting in that whether the moon will be able to be sighted by the naked eye for example on that Monday night, coming Monday or Tuesday night for example. So if the moon is sighted in a certain part of the world on Monday and in other parts of the world on Tuesday, on the basis that the Marja Taklit believes in the differences in the horizons, multiplicity of horizons and there are other Fouqaha and other Mujtahid who believe in the Mujtahideen who believe in the unity of the horizon. This is a Baha'at that is usually discussed in Shahroor Ramadan because of A'id but for Maraja who believe in the multiplicity of the horizon it could be very possible that Monday night for example is the first of Shahroob Muharram and other places in the world the moon was not sighted. So for example Tuesday night is the first night of Shahroob Muharram which means that you could potentially lead to two different days of Ashura which has happened in the past. So as people who manage Hossanias, who manage centers, what is to be done in this situation, we have an agreement and we have a unanimous statement granted by the Maraja Taklit that in the issue of Shahroob Muharram, for when the beginning of Shahroob Muharram and the commemoration of Yomul Ashura does not go based on the rules of the sighting of the moon for your locality if you are the mukallid of a Marja Taklit that believes in the multiplicity of horizons. In this situation the decision that is taken inside of Iraq is the decision that regardless of where you are on the earth, regardless of whether the moon was sighted or not, you will follow the dates as per the announcement of the Marja'iyah inside of Iraq for Ashura in the beginning of Muharram. That way the Shi'as across the universe across the earth commemorate Ashura on that one single day. And as you know the sighting of the Hilal of Shahroob Muharram is marked with this great ceremony, the Taghir-e-Raya, the changing of the flags. And this in itself is a very important ceremony. I think it is emotionally electric, spiritually electric environment and insha'Allah with the barakat of Imam Hussain TV3 viewers and mu'mineen, mu'minat who do not have the opportunity to be in Karbala in person. Insha'Allah Imam Hussain TV3 will be a window to allow people to visit Karbala insha'Allah and they will be able to witness the Maraseem on the television insha'Allah. So this is just the binal kausayn, mulahadah number one, number two. In regards to your question how to prepare yourself for Shahroob Muharram, Habibi in these days leading forward there is one hadith that I believe and every hadith requires contemplation that emanates from Ahlul-Bayt but this one hadith that requires special attention from us particularly in these days, Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. And you have the hadith of Rasulullah. Indeed within the heart of the mu'mineen there is a burning heat, anguish that can never be subdued within the heart of the mu'mineen. In regards to the killing of Imam Hussain, there is a harara burning heat within the heart of the mu'mineen. This grief, this anguish is like a leaping flame that cannot be contained inside. This is extremely important because Rasulullah says Why is there this guide, restrictions? From here we understand that one of the alamat of a mu'mineen is the harara, this anguish inside this heart. If a person was to contemplate over this he would not have the jur'ah, he would not have the audacity to come and make false statements that oh you shia you concentrate too much on emotion. The revolution of Imam Hussain, concentrate on the intellect and leave out the emotion. Rasulullah in this hadith, we can ask if anyone has the dhalil to show us that this hadith has no sort of authenticity for come forward and prove that we're ready for a nikash. Rasulullah says that this emotion is connected to the alamat of a mu'mineen. If we understand these words of Rasulullah then we don't oppose and yes we say taking the lessons from Imam Hussain is important and applying the lessons of Imam Hussain is important but as important as that not less not more as important than that is the emotion that is required because this emotion has a door has got a role in sharpening a person's compliance and understanding that sacrifice in that revolution of Imam Hussain and you find that within these days different people in different capacities are working to prepare for shahrum muharram. You find the khutaba, research, memorization, preparation of lectures, one type of service and preparation towards Imam Hussain and then you have the ashabil mawakib for example the people of the Hussainiyat setting up the black cloths ensuring collecting of funds donations for shahrum muharram in regards to the costs that are incurred to ensure that the dhikr of Imam Hussain remains alive. These donations that are required for these majalis to for example there are donations for the tv channel for example to make sure that the message of Imam Hussain is broadcast throughout the earth each person plays a role towards the contribution of Imam Hussain you have the people who are attending the majalis. For me I need to keep in my mind that these are the greatest days in regards to the deen not only in a calendar deen our future our destiny depends on how we behave in these days of shahrum muharram and safha destiny huh person can be counted from amongst the ashab of Imam Hussain if he deals with the days of muharramad ashura in the right way. A person can end up being from the jaysh of Abu Sufyan from the jaysh of Bani Umayyah depending on his based on his stance on ashura this is an ongoing exam the based on the way you deal with yom muharram you can either gain jannah based on the way you deal with Imam Hussain and the martyrdom of Imam Hussain while ayadu billah person can enter into jahannam wa baesal masir these days define our eternity a person who is looking for inspiration to change his life to improve his life to better his life to better his deen to better his understanding with ahlul bayt these are the days of resolution these are the days of the revival of the soul what i would say say to myself to all our viewers and lovers of abab abdillah alayhi salam number one when it comes to the majalis from now we have few days before today is wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday and then monday or tuesday muharram begins in these three or four days that are there person takes time number one to start reading something about the seerah of imam al hussain number two some person starts reciting ziyarat ashura from now prepare yourself for the days of muharram for the mothers and the children who are inside the house part of the house should be covered in black to remind the children to teach the children that these are the days of ashura there's a pack that is made for example there's an understanding i know certain households from the day of muharram until farhatu zahra they don't watch television yeah television yani they don't inshallah with the exception of imam al hussain tv3 inshallah but movies cartoons all these dramas this and that indopak community very common to even take you out and move into another room i even know that even even even watching premium football people who are young they love football but ehtaram and lili imam al hussain they say even for that 90 minutes i don't want to be in a mood or in a mind frame where i've forgotten imam al hussain inshallah in my own way i'm going to try and sacrifice one pleasure one past time one relaxation ehtaraman out of respect for these days that are there something that distinguishes within our own family i know people 70 days now huh they will go to work wearing black inshallah even at work they are wearing black why your colleague is bound to ask you one day two day three day four they are wearing black baba they are bound to ask you you don't have any other clothes or what's the reason of you wearing black ahsan this is a purpose and an opportunity for tabligh inside your workplace as an accountant as a lawyer as a doctor now we know of others who are doctors over here uh within northwick park hospital or the great ormond hospital not sure i can't remember one of these then the they got permission to wear black scrubs oh wow decided to wear as a doctor black scrubs why why the point of tabligh that is there hence it becomes important for us that this thikafa this culture of ensuring that the divinity and the sacredness associated to the days of muharram are maintained to the highest level the highest level person from these days now you contemplate from now what you want to achieve any i decide from tonight i sit down and i say do you know what when i go to the mosque i'm not going to have any banter for the first 12 days whether it is before the matches or after the madam i'm not going to have banter i'm going to control my tongue because these are the days of grief it has to be done and this is an important step and it says when the nights of shahram muharram began when the moon of shahram muharram was seen imam al qadim salawatullahi was salamu alayhi was never seen to be smiling i'm not going to joke i'm not going to correct banter whether it's mustahab i'm not saying to have banter but mustahab to be uh friendly and to smile and to be jolly i was sent to him in a non-vulgar way a non-offensive way but these days i changed my behavior all together see it's about being in a zone where you're not only grieving when you come to the husaynion to the imam barga you're in a state of grief and contemplation over imam al husayn from the time you wake up to the time you're sleeping including the time that you go to work that you're to work your own happy old jolly and life is normal and everything is going on as normal we'll just come to the husayn for that one hour listen to the majlis little bit of latam tabarro kan and yalla go home and life continues as is baba these are the days where life stops and this is why i say my humble advice even to our parents mothers fathers academia is very important and it's important for our children to succeed but in these days teach your children that it is okay to be tired a little bit because you stayed up an extra hour doing latam over imam al husayn teach your child this the kafa this therapy of enduring a little bit of inconvenience for the sake of imam al husayn i mean the common one is when you're sitting in the majlis mashallah they get really really busy very crowded you always end up squashed and you know who's trying to change your legs because your muscles are getting stressed out for every cramp that a person gets inside the majlis azab because he's squashed like a like a shardine inside them cans handle a lot of sugar handle a lot for every cramp in the muscle imam al husayn is delivering my reward you go to work and you're struggling you can't open your eyes and you have to depend on seven cups of caffeine because you are up till three in the morning changing the clutch in the husaynia al handle a lot of sugar imam al husayn is rewarding you for that tiredness do i have time are we going on break not yet you've got time we have got plenty of time i don't worry i'm done a lot of sugar this just the the kalam took us towards imam al husayn even though the show is the live facebook and the the topic is supposed to be the topic of tawheed but in any case alhamdulillah imam al husayn the revolution of imam al husayn revolved around tawheed in its entirety and this is ijlalan wa ikraman lil imam al husayn that we shoya come out of our bachath encourage ourselves and encourage the mushaahideen in regards to shahr al muharram and we come back to our bachath could you would you say shahr al muharram it may be a good time also to look into other islamic studies maybe do a little bit of research on kalam and and theology to spark that revolution to strengthen your deen and your understanding of kalam ah santo see the role of imam al husayn or one of the goals behind this tragedy as we read in ziyaret al arba'een we have that imam al husayn i bear witness that you gave your life in order to rescue the people from the tribulations of ignorance yeah i mean one of the goals of the revolution of imam al husayn was to remove people from this thinking ship of ignorance towards knowledge and seeking knowledge is matlub what we say is within shahr al muharram there's a number of things that need to be benefited from yes a person seeks inspiration through knowledge even if it is not history with imam al husayn imam al husayn for example i read in the maktal or i hear in the maktal that at the time of salat al zohar imam al husayn stopped the battle in order to read salat and then in the ziyara of imam al husayn i say i bear witness that you akam ta salat so i take up readings and research what is the philosophy of salat number one what are the akam fikhiya in regards to perfecting your salat number two i try to motivate myself to at least recite the salat if i don't recite salat for example do istighfar a constant effort to improve and when we say philosophy of salat we don't mean the falsafa kufriya that falsafa of kufr la falsafa yani in terms of the hidden meanings what does salat represent what what are you saying to allah when you actually bow down in ruku and use it just a position that was ordained by allah without any reason what does it mean when you go into sajda what does that sajda represent salat we mentioned this i think in in the live show for when i say ya allah keep me on the path of surat al mustaqeem yani the path of amir mu'mineen in my life every action from the way i stand to the way i sit to the way i talk to the way i think to the conclusions that i formulate about anything and everything in life is it taken from the teachings of amir al mu'mineen or is it taken from the enemies of amir al mu'mineen what does salat represent what is the significance of ruku what is the significance of sujud yes then this is matlub a person sits and he reads about this and then he's able to understand at least something of what imam al hussein's revolution was so this is something that is mamduha this is something that is praiseworthy rather it is something that is matlub any form of religious practice or seeking ilm excuse me from the religious texts texts of ahlul bait to be in particular that lead you towards self-improvement in terms of your akhlaq in terms of your akida in terms of your faith this is something that is commendable and it is needed and at the same time participation in azah in the ceremonies of matam in the ceremonies of the zanjil in the ceremony of even uh tatmir and and uh zanjil zani each one has got its role for person uh partakes in whatever he can in order to ensure that his connection with imam al hussein is all encompassing you take from the ilm and you take from the emotion because this emotion as we said before has a door and we've spoken about this many times in majalis of muhammad therefore yes anything and everything that's within the teachings of ahlul bait from the texts of ahlul bait in terms of ilm and akhlaq that takes them towards self-improvement then this is the time to make that resolution and that effort i think it's really important that you know that the people understand the revolution about abadullah but also that revolution sparks a revolution in yourself and also sparks a revolution for you to become a better individual a better human being a better muslim a better follower of abadullah al hussein and walk better way and walk better time than muharram to actually start that revolution and to contemplate on yourself inshallah sheikh now we're going to go to a break um and we can start the qalam lesson after the break inshallah we'll be inshallah i'll be taking some questions as well from the viewers inshallah we'll see the views after the break salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh welcome to the live facebook i show that discusses theological arguments from the bokhaktal yaqeen sheikh la last week we were discussing having more than one god it was a topic on tawheed we discussed that if there were to be more than one god um they would have to be something to distinguish these different beings and the fact that they rely upon that distinguishing factor makes them limited and also nullifies them to be considered a god um we also looked at if one got one being was superior to the other being this would also nullify one of these beings claiming to be god let's move on our discussion and move on our lesson to the attributes of god and that these attributes are more unique and specific to god or are they something that can you know be be attained by by anyone so the chapter being the first chapter or the first sub-chapter under the third section the book or the text that we've been following haqul yaqeen of marhum sayed abdallah shabbar rahmatullah anayi so he comes after establishing the oneness of god he comes into the chapter of understanding the attributes or the characters of that one god ya ani from the characters of the attributes sifat these sifat or these attributes or characteristics can be divided into two you have the sifat subotiyah and you have the sifat salbiya meaning there are those attributes of allah azawajal the positive attributes if you can say okay and you have the negative attributes if you can use the word positive and negative affirmative and negative yeah affirmative and negative ah santum so he says in each of these attributes it's important for us to understand these attributes because through these attributes we are able to understand the grandeur and the splendor of this creator over here barhum sayed abdallah shabbar goes on to say or he begins the topic in this way in the sifat al kamal wal jamal latan latan hasar li anal khalwi minal kamal naqs he says that the positive attributes or the affirmative attributes of allah azawajal by the way which are an expression of the perfection of this one ultimate creator this creator has to be perfect in every sense and cannot have any type of shortcoming cannot have any type of deficiency cannot have any type of limitation the idea over here is limitation in that for a end for an entity or for the lord to be the represent the embodiment of perfection that perfection cannot have any sort of limitation so we are looking over here in terms of perfection in contrast to any sort of limitation as opposed to a general understanding linguistic understanding of yes this thing is perfect but it is limited or is constrained and sometimes when something is constrained that constrained for example is an indication of its perfection with allah azawajal when we're talking about the attributes of allah this creator of the universe this god is perfect in every aspect of the sense even from the dimension that his perfection cannot be captured because the fact that you can capture this perfection shows that it's it has a limitation so the lack of limitation when you look at the the affirmative attributes of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala you are understanding these attributes from the aspect that they cannot be contained or limited again again say it one more time because this is a very very important point for our viewers to understand i mean i don't want it to like just go over the head so the fact that perfection capturing perfection shows that this perfection isn't perfect us the fact that you can capture that perfection is an indication to the limitation of that perfection and the minute you limit that perfection it's not perfect anymore that limitation when you say you can capture perfection it's limited allah azawajal is above and greater any sort of limitation so that perfection of allah azawajal or in understanding the sifat and the attributes of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is outside any other type of perfection correct me if i'm wrong so if one is able to capture perfection yes then that one surely is greater than what he has captured could be of course because he's in a position to capture yes and if he's in a position to capture his capability is greater than that perfection because he's able to capture it just like for example a vessel you have a five liter vessel within that five liter vessel there is one liter of water this vessel has captured that mass or that body of water because its ability is greater than the ability of the thing which is captured so the same thing when you come and you say my mind is able to understand the perfection of allah in its entirety meaning that that perfection of allah is limited such that your mind was able to encompass what we say is allah's perfection is far greater than that i don't even say allah's perfection sometimes i'm scared you know these ta'abeerat in order just to make the the the meaning clear leads towards taqseer or some sort of kufr even in other words we're talking about allah as the wajallan is attributes so you know the sifat of allah the attributes of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are greater than to be the attributes through which he's understood are greater than to be captured so coming back the lack of the inability of us to limit that perfection or the fact that perfection cannot be captured and is free of any limitation is what we are pointing towards just a quick reminder to our view is that um we are taking questions in on the whatsapp so if you do have a question in regards to today's lesson the number should be at the bottom down the lower third and inshallah we'll be able to discuss and answer your question inshallah sheikh ala please continue so he says over here for example this is the meaning that say the shubbar comes out with so he says over here in the regards to the sifat of the affirmative attributes of allah as the wajallan in terms of the reality of that perfection cannot be comprehended by the mind in its entirety for what they truly represent so we understand them for example from what it contradicts so for example he says over here that uh when you say that allah for example is alim this ilm of allah you cannot capture the ilm the ilm of allah as a wajall cannot be captured has no restriction but you are understanding the perfection of allah of the ilm through this sifat of ilm in contradiction to the fact that the lord of the universe cannot be a jahil we understand yani when we are not in a position to understand the extent of this ilm but through by knowing that he is alim or aleem against jahl that the universe the lord of the universe cannot be cannot have the characteristics of being ignorant if you were to jump into the bahat over here there is word on the first sifat of allah as the wajallan and this first sifat is al-kudrah what does kudrah mean again rough translation basic translation yani capable over everything he has power over everything so the first characteristic of your lord in terms of the sifat fomotiyah is that the lord of the universe has power and has capability to do anything and has power over everything there cannot be a time where he's not able to do anything and he comes and he says over here this kudrah the fact that allah is all powerful is able to do anything is not restricted through inability okay Allah as the wajall cannot be restricted through inability and hence kudrah he has power and domain over everything what is the proof for this you look at the creation of allah and you find that in almost every series in almost every sitting we come back when it comes to methodology of proof we come back to pondering over the existence of allah as we come back to establishing the existence of allah as the wajall by looking at the creation sahi lola therefore you find again say the shubbar pulls us towards that direction and from here we are able to understand the importance of tafakkur when Rasulullah said one hour of tafakkur is better than for example 70 years of ibadah so in order to understand and to establish that allah as the wajall from his sifat is kudrah the all powerful over everything has domain and power over everything within the creation so the proof for that is what look at the system of creation the perfection within the system of creation shows you the power of the creator over this entire system of creation the perfection is an indication of his kudrah of his power and that's now why when you come in you see over the last seven or eight lectures or shows that we have had the importance of contemplating over the creation now you start to realize how within the quran why is it that allah as the wajall in numerous places tells us contemplate over the sun and the moon and contemplate over the sky and contemplate over the day and the night why multiple times in multiple places in the quran you find that this is the key to unlock the mysteries of the ghayb in regards to understanding our lord and understanding ourselves so say the shambar comes here and he says in regards to the first thing over here in like what is the proof that allah is qadir that he is all powerful has powerful everything within the creation look at the perfection within the creation itself do we have time to continue with the discussion inshallah we do we have plenty of time sheikhla how much time in uh how much time in five minutes we have five minutes ya Allah okay show if we have five minutes we'll maybe use this five minutes for a quick discussion not within the book but related to our topic so we establish and the verse of the quran again because our aim is to establish akida through the quran and the hadith of ahlul bait a person comes everyone should know from the quran as shia ahlul bait when you believe your god is all powerful this quran which is revealed by allah which verses speak about this their number of verses bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim surah al-bakara in allah alakul nishay'in qadir he has power and domain over everything another verse from surah al-iyasin bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim inna ma amruhu idha arada shay'an an yaqulalahu kun fa yaqun when allah wants a certain an addict or command to be executed when he wants anything to be done all he says is kun b and it becomes ahsant shay'an i've got a question here it's coming from um and ali from birmingham and he says uh you're talking about the qudram allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his ability and his powers how do we recruit those who say can god make a rock so heavy even he can't lift it can god make a rock so heavy such that even he cannot lift it himself even allah cannot lift it himself good question over here however the question has uh flow in it with all due respect to the brother because you see with questions like these if i say if a person was to say oh allah can do everything of course he can create the rock so heavy okay so you answered one but you put yourself in a mess because now you allah has apparently created something that he is unable to even carry himself so if you if mat if you establish this you killed yourself in this or on the other hand i come and i say no allah can't do this which means that allah is not anymore what we come and we say is my dear brother is a good question however your question in itself is flawed from a logical perspective the question in itself is flawed we have a right way of asking a question and we have a wrong way of asking questions we have questions that are logically structured to be correct and there are certain questions where the question in itself is questionable yes how so the question in itself is flawed when you say can god create a stone so heavy that he himself cannot carry it means that in essence you are asking can the creator have the ability or the power to create something more powerful than itself or does the creator have the ability to create something and the production or the creation of that entity is greater in capability than the one who created it so we ask ourselves over here the question logically speaking that can you have a creator who creates from nothing something that is greater in capability than that original creator the question has a flaw the question has a flaw in that if the creator created something that is more powerful than him then that's something powerful deserves to be the creator but that's something powerful cannot be a creator because it was brought into existence by another creator so logically the question is flawed i mean another one that i remember from my ari lessons at high school can god make two plus two five equal five i mean this is this is it's not fair to it it can't do it but it's this is wrong how can two you know units plus another two units equal five it doesn't make sense it's it's error not only doesn't make sense so what is the wisdom behind that what would be the wisdom behind Allah Azza wa Jal being able to change that law is there a wisdom because in addition to him being qadir he is also hakeem that's him thank you very much sheikh now this is all the time we've got today and unfortunately mashallah it was a great lesson inshallah we'll be joining our viewers on the next episode of the facebook inshallah until then salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh