 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم السلام عليك يا أبا عبد الله السلام عليك يا ابنى رسول الله السلام عليك يا ابنى أمير المؤمنين وابنى سيد الوسيقين السلام عليك يا ابنى فاطمتا سيدة نساء العالمين السلام عليك يا ثار الله وابنى ثاره والوترى الموتون السلام عليك وعلى الأرواح التي حلت بفناء عليكم مني جميعا سلام الله أبدا ما بقي وببيا الليل ظنها إلى غض عظمة الرزياه وجلت وعظمة المصيبة بك علينا وعلى جميعا للإسلام وجلت وعظمة مصيبة كف السماوات علي جميعا للسماوات فلعنى الله أمة أسست أساسه ظلم والجهر عليكم أهل البيت ولعنى الله أمة ذفعتكم عمضا مكوم وأزالتكم عمرات بكم التي رتبكم الله فيها أمة غتلتكم ولعنى الله الممهدين لهم بتمقين من غتال وأشياره ولعنى الله أمة أسرجات والجمات وتنقبات زقني طلب خارك مع عمام النسور من أهل بيت محمد صلى الله عليه وآه إنك وجيهم بالحسين عليه السلام في الدنيا فتكوا فبت لي عندكم قدما صدقا فتك أسأله أن يبلغني المظام المحمود لكم عند الله بالحق منكم أسأل الله بحقكم وبالشأن الذي لكم عنده أن يعطيني بمصابي بكم أفضل ما يعطي مصابا بمصيبة مصيبة ما يجتها في الإسلام وفي جميع السماوات في مغامي أحمد وأول محمد ومماطي مماط محمد وأول محمد تبركت به به أميه وبناء كلة الأك... صلى الله عليه وآه في كل موطن وموقف وغف فيه نبيك صلى الله عليه أسقرب إليك في هذا اليوم وفي موقف فيه الله وأجيام حياتي بالبراء واللعنة عليها وبالموالات لنبيك وأول نبيك عليها وعليهم السلام اللهم اللعن أول ظول من ظلم حق محمد وأول آخر طابع وشاعة وباعة السلام عليك يا أبو عبد الله إلت بثناء إليك مني سلام الله أبدا ما بقيت وبقي الليل والنهار ولا أجعر اللهم ما فصائن فأول ظالم باللعن مني وبلعبه أول آخر ثم الثانية وشفر سورة المباركة الفاتحة الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا وما كنا لنا هدان الله الحمد لله الذي أنزل فرقانا على عبده ليكون للعالمين نذيرا والصلاة والسلام على خير خلق ونور عرش أفضل للأنبياء والمرسلين حبيبنا وسيدنا وسندنا وشفيعنا ومولانا بالقاسم محمد بيبين الطاهرين المأصومين المظلمين أبدأ في الله's name و الله سبحانه وتعالى انسرت روم الثالثة شابتر القرآن الله يقول فاقم وجكها للدين القيم من قبل أن يأتي يوم لا مرد له من الله يومئذين يصدعون من كفر فعلي يكفروا ومن عمل الصالحا فلي أنفسهم يمهدون صدوق الله عن يردين صروحة الله محمد وآل محمد أردين الله ومن أردينه لأمره لإمكاننا هذه المجموعة لإستغرامه ومجموعة في حالة في حسابة لأن مجموعة ممتازة ومجموعة لجميع المدينة التي الله قد محاولة من أدم في ممصحة الزمان أجل الله تعالى فرجأ مع رمزنا وكّرهاتنا ولcong on الله خلائك مع ربك الالملائكة جا علون في الارض خليفة when Allah decreed it to the angels and said I will place on earth my representative خليفة هي جا علون is constant meaning the califah is not only one time every second on earth there's a califatullah and maybe more than one as some prophets were خليفة خلفة فالله سبحانه وتعالى ساملتينيسي ولكن الوصول على الأرض لا يبارفت على الأرض لا يوجد موقع ونحن الفضل قلت أنه إذا كان هناك 2 شخص على الأرض one will be the Khalifa of Allah سبحانه وتعالى for that is incumbent when Allah creates He guides and without guidance our purpose of existence is nullified and therefore it's only logical and rational that the agent of God who is the witness and the guide for humanity is always present so I bear witness there is no God but Allah and the holy prophet is his last messenger and Allah sent 124,000 prophets Adam being the first one for Adam was not only the first human being but the first prophet and by the way this is unique in the Abrahamic faiths that among the Judeo-Christian Islamic groups were the only ones who say Adam was not only the first human being but was also the first prophet of God which is crucial and critical to understand the dynamics of how the Almighty works in that Allah سبحانه وتعالى puts the first human being as his agency to ensure that no human being lives on this earth even for a millisecond without guidance to use the analogy if you want to use the metaphor though it's not a perfect metaphor but to use the analogy in today's world we have GPS what we say satellite guided systems and we find that we have coordinates and you have a system that figures out where to go and logically we would enter the address before we start driving in other words you don't drive and then in the middle enter the address because you may go in the wrong direction for a small period of time and waste your life so Allah سبحانه وتعالى has planted the coordinates of goals even before mankind was created that is why the holy prophet said before Adam I was there and the reason was that because his nur which was created was created entirely for the purpose of being a guide for the human race and that is why when we go to a higher stage you find that Allah سبحانه وتعالى says سبحانه وتعالى he says he created خلق السماوات والأرض بالحق he created the skies and earth in truth and you will find there is no objective in life more dear to us all the earth then to expose and submit to the truth whatever is the truth حق truth you find every human being loves truth and lies are detested so when we examine history we find that you know in حديث القساء when Jibreel comes and speaks to the prophet when he brings the eye of Tadheer Allah سبحانه وتعالى he says we did not create this except for the love of these five in the quesad now you and I may think how is that possible this universe is so grand so vast and there are so many other creations in the universe besides mankind and the prophets and the imams are leaders for humanity particularly for humans maybe for jinn too but for humans specifically how could it be that God created this spectacular universe just for the love of these five simple example and you'll see where this is going you will see that nothing is more pervasive in the universe than truth truth is pervasive meaning it's ubiquitous we use the word ubiquitous meaning it's everywhere and it's pervasive you cannot escape the power of truth so if you have a watch sci-fi movies and you end up on the other side of the universe and you see aliens of all kinds we still apply moral principles on those aliens and the aliens still apply those moral principles on us what is that what is that alien a good one an evil one or a good one you notice that the universal principle of truth versus falsehood is universal meaning there is not a place in the dominion of God's creation that is outside of the principles of truth versus falsehood please understand that the moral argument is universal it's not earthly if we left earth and we went to another planet our laws of morality will not change assuming we went to the small contingent group and went to Mars to live on Mars we cannot say well the laws of earth we left it on earth we are going to now apply the laws of Mars the physical laws of Mars we will apply but the moral laws are universal regardless of where we lie so when Allah says انما خلقت سماء مبنية we did not create the sky and this earth قمر مونير meaning the reflective moon see شمسا مودي فلكن يدور بحرن يجي all of this the sky, the earth the seas, the mountains except for the love of this five what Allah is saying that they are the representatives on earth of truth for truth with truth by truth in truth and Allah created the universe in truth so when you and I submit to the truth 100% then we're giving meaning to the existence of the universe and Allah is saying I created this also for the love of you because the minute you are completely subservient to the truth then you become the reason the reason as they say as to why the world in the universe exists interesting you find in the battle of a man comes and says that man and you say who is right you two both are claiming to be Muslims who is right إمام علياله السلام says go and ask Ammar Ammar is the most honest one of the most trustworthy companions of the Prophet go ask him he will answer you and the famous statement of Ammar universally accepted by all schools of thought is Ammar saying علي مع الحق وحق مع علي notice علي is with truth and truth is with علي now put these two together when Allah says إلا في محبت يعولا الخمسة اللذين وكم تحت الكساء you understand that what they are meaning is they are representing the ultimate truth and Allah says I created the universe in truth صلوات الله محمد وآل محمد it's very profound when you and I understand that from a pragmatic position that our objective were we to claim that we love Allah and we love the Prophet and we love Islam and we love our little maid then we must submit to the truth قل إن كنتم تحبون الله فتبعوني if you claim to love Allah then obey me the Prophet says فتبعوني يحببكم الله ويفر لكم ذنوبكم then God will love you and forgive you and protect you so it is an objective for you and I not to give lip service within our religion by which to say I'm a believer كربلا took place because there was too much lip service not enough action and transaction our prophets in imams when they were sent to mankind all of them suffered every one of them suffered why? at the hands of people who gave lip service إمام عليه العليه السلام is a beautiful hadith he said people's religion are on their tongues and they will service it and submit to it as long as they have material benefits with it but if they are tested and tried they abandon it and run and the true believers are left as few كلاسيك إجمال of كربلا كلاسيك our commemoration of this great event is proof positive لكن أكثر ناس لا يعقلون most of mankind has no akal now when I say this don't take it negatively please understand that we have an obligation to eradicate this problem we have an obligation to remove this bad statistic let us not simply become paralyzed and say well since God has said it then this is the decree so there is nothing you and I can do by which to change societies for the positive no you and I are going to say that when the prophet will complain on judge bende when he will say يا رب إن قوم التخذوا هذا القرآن محجورة my lord my community has ignored this Quran then you and I must say عوض بالله that I will not be in this complaint I will not be in this statistic that when my messenger complains on judge bende which he will God forbid I'm one of them therefore I will indulge my life in Quran for if that is the gift of God which it is then shame on me if I don't that's an obligation when we see a lot of kufr around and the world is good people are good holistically human beings are very good believe me the majority of the human beings are good including atheists they are good people they have a conscience but sadly we are not articulating the message of God within our actions and transactions nor are we speaking legibly nor logically to invite people the way Allah says ادعو الى سبيل ربكة بالحكمة والمعادة الحسنة وجاد الهم بلتي هي احسن invite them to the way of your lord ادعو الى سبيل ربكة بالحكمة with wisdom وجاد الهم بالتي and make argumentation which is good don't be condescending don't insult them don't use ad hominem don't condemn them don't condemn anyone to hell you see بالحكمة والمعادة الحسنة with wisdom and kind exhortation كربلا was like that our Imam was constantly speaking to the enemy constant he never stopped he said you've invited me do you know what you're doing you know how wrong you are don't you remember the Prophet saying such and such do you not see what's in the Quran Imam Zainal عبدين after he's chained and he's entering the Meshq in the bazaar of Sham and people are taunting him when an old man comes to him and says good our Khalifa has killed you and crushed your father Imam looks at him says ماذا he says you are challenges of our Khalifa he said have you read the Quran he said yes he says I read the Quran he says have you read أسألكم علي أجرن إلا الموعدة في القربة he said yes he said who is qurba if not me if not my family these that you have seen in chains today in tattered clothes if it's not them who is the Quran talking about and Imam is constantly reiterating verse after verse about the Fudail you know إنما يريد الله ليذهب عنكم الردس أهل الميت that we have purified you أهل الميت he says who is أهل الميت purified if not us this old man began to shake and realize how ignorant he was but look بالحكمة والموعدة الحسنة that Imam did not taunt him he woke him up and told him okay you've been misinformed you have taken the wrong side thinking that's good when in fact we are the good but shaitan says I will obfuscate that message I am going to blur it I'm going to mar it I'm going to take people away from the truth but what did the Imam do بالحكمة the question you and I must ask ourselves is what is our obligation in the sense that we are Muslims blessed many times people ask me brother I was born a Muslim it wasn't a choice I mean but there are billions of Christians out there Hindus Jews atheists agnostics Buddhists who don't believe in Islam what will happen to them I said do you consider yourself privileged that you were born a Muslim I said yes I said but it's not enough no see الله سبحانه وتعالى إذا قيل لهم اتبعوا ما أنزل الله قال بال نتبعوا ما وجدنا عليه آباءنا when they are told to follow what God has revealed they said no we follow what our fathers followed now many of us in Islam follow because our fathers followed it with all due respect الحمد لله this is the true religion without any hesitation الحمد لله that we have been born in the right Dean الحمد لله but not everyone is privileged and Allah سبحانه وتعالى says okay so I privileged you I gave you the honor of having a system by which you will commemorate you will remember أحل البيت I have given you a system by which to love أحل البيت I have given you a system by which to understand the inner depths of the Quran which the average Muslim population cannot understand and I have privileged you with the finest role models on earth that your agencies your imams their أخلاق is second to none what are you going to do about it sadly I see within our own schools people who praise and cry for Imam Hussein but we fight we bicker we gossip we backbite we find faults we do haram things and then we are saying but we have the best religion but what about that one who doesn't have the best religion you think God will punish them you know who Allah as I mentioned before we have a moral obligation a responsibility by which to become the ultimate role models when Allah says you are the best in the community Allah is talking to you and me you كنتم خير أمتن أخرجت للناس you are the best among the mankind you who are you ليكون الرسول شهيدا عليكم وتكونوا شهدا على الناس look at this in Sutt al-Hajj verse number 78 Allah says وما جعل عليكم في الدين من حرج ملة أبيكم إبراهيم هو سماك الممسلمين من قبل وفي هذا ليكون الرسول شهيدا عليكم وتكونوا شهدا على الناس look at this verse my God verse 78 struggle in the way of your Lord the way he deserves it that's a conversation forever when Allah says حق جهادي حق جهادي oh my God you and I will have to look around and see what is حق جهادي when you and I really understand حق جهادي not a breath you and I will take other than for Allah that when we will say قولنا صلاتي ونصكي ومحياية ومماتي لله رب العالمين we will understand that إمع العليه السلام says oh Allah I don't worship you as a businessman for wanting paradise nor do I worship you as a slave fearful of hell I worship you because you are worthy of worship a man comes to me إمع العليه السلام says have you seen God he said of course I worship no God unless I see him so people say اميره مؤمنين God can be seen he says eyes cannot perceive him but hearts do and I see nothing but Allah now that's deep when إمع العليه السلام says I see nothing but Allah that's quintessential in its essence you and I should pray in these nights while we're listening to the tragedies of Karbala while every child is going forward every adult is going forward every woman is being challenged their hijabs are being challenged they are being dragged in the cities they are being denied water that tonight the seventh night of Muharram the Imam's water was taken away he was moved and not allowed to be next to Euphrates and they ran out of water so first became be started to fall into their bodies tonight that by the night the day of the tenth of Ashura the tenth of Muharram they were in extreme thirst tried to be in a desert without water for three days and see how difficult that challenges the reason the Umayyads prevented them from drinking water was because they knew that Ahl al-Bayt and their armies were indomitable intrepid fighters and they were lions on the fields and they were very hard to defeat and the Banu Umayyad were cowards just like Muawiyad was a coward he did not know how to fight Imam Ali Imam Ali always told him Muawiyad you have a grievance with me come let us settle it you and I terrified Omar bin As who was the advisor to Muawiyad Muawiyad says to Omar you go Omar says no you go so Muawiyad he is a very slick guy you know with a slick tongue he says well you are my advisor prove to me you are something so Omar goes forward Omar bin As he sees Imam Ali and pulls his sword out he was terrified he dropped his pants because he was so terrified Imam turns away he says for a coward like you who cannot face me go away and Imam walks away that's the power of our blessed Imam when they fought you couldn't bring them down they would take a hundred one soldier to a hundred as I mentioned yesterday Habib ibn Madayyad they say at least 62 enemies he killed them with his bare hands not easy with the sword it's not like a gun where you shoot this is one hand at a time 62 is very tiring you kill a few it's tiring imagine 62 for a man of his age that's why they stop water on them they stop water to weaken them and tonight was that night so when you and I examine these things and we look at this great struggle you and I must not only do this in ritual cycles to say it's important for us to shed tears before what if not to act on it الله in the Quran says قالت العرابوا آمننا قل لم تغمنوا ولكن قولوا أسلمنا ولم يدخل الإيمان في قلوبكم وإن تتيوا الله ورسوله لا يلتكم من عمالكم الشيئان so the Arab dwellers who are the Bedouins of the desert used to say آمننا we believe because they had just become believers they had just done shahada thing قالت العرابوا آمننا الله says to them قول لم تغمنوا you don't believe for faith has not entered your hearts rather say we submit أسلمنا إسلام is a practical pragmatic religion it's not a religion of lip service it's a religion that is pragmatic it's a grinding path this is the power of Islam you know among all religions in the world who are the most prayerful people on earth when it comes to a religion that is set an injunction of Salah إسلام Muslims Muslims are the most prayerful people on earth why? because Allah has blessed us in the Quran أقم الصلاة I command you to maintain prayers our prophets have maintained prayers Christianity the original not the name Christianity the Islam that عيسة عليه الصلاة followed because عيسة was a Muslim as Allah says in the same verse وَصَمَّا كُلْ مُهْمُسْلِمِين مِنْ قَبْلُ وَفِيْهَا ذَا you were called Muslims before and now Allah says you are all Muslims حنيفان مسلمان إبراهيم مِلَّةَ أَبِيْكُمْ إبراهيم the way of your grandfather إبراهيم إبراهيم you know you can say people ask you what religion do you follow say I follow the religion of Abraham that is the same as saying I follow Islam because Quran says مِلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إبراهيم وَصَمَّا كُلْ مُسْلِمِين مِنْ قَبْلُ وَفِيْهَا ذَا meaning the name Islam is not new when you go to school and people say the Abrahamic faith is the youngest of the Abrahamic faith raise your hand excuse me I beg to differ Islam for humans started with Adam and it was completed with the last messenger Islam did not start with the holy prophet so I beg to differ Abraham, Moses, Jesus all great prophets Noah every one of them was a Muslim and the holy prophet was the sealer of all prophets and I'm a Muslim the way Abraham was the way Adam was I don't know what you mean any other way because it's a poison pill to argue to say that Islam started 1400 years ago like as if this holy prophet concocted a new religion this is a poison pill that has been planted in the minds of the people fight it and excuse me I'm sorry Adam was my first prophet he was not only the first human being he was my first prophet none of you have that so our Islam started with Adam peace be upon him peace be upon him we find that our religion has been completed and it came in stages and all prophets were Muslims but what was their job? practical Allah has given us amazing practicality there's much to discuss on this matter for you and I must understand that morality in the moral injunctions God has placed upon us such a Salah is such a critical part of our faith you find that when Paul is introduced in this modern religion called Christianity you know Christianity Judaism Buddhism these are named after people Christ is a Greek name for Christos means the anointed one المسيح when you translate it into Greek it becomes Christos so Christian is actually Greek it's a Greek name church is couriakos it's a Greek word Jesus never entered a church in his life he was always in the temple please know this church came later even the cross was nowhere in the life of Jesus it came under Constantine the Emperor who dreamt of a cross and it became the symbol of Christianity by the way even this crescent that we have as Muslims it's not an Islamic symbol by the way it's just a differentiation our Prophet never presented crescent to us as a symbol of Islam just please know that it's just a differentiation it's just a symbol what you find then is Paul who was a Roman Jew knew that Jews of the time were very religious in rituals in practice he wanted to differentiate it among the Greeks so he said practice and religion meaning worship is no longer essential for you give up prayer Jesus has died on the cross in Corinthians Paul says were Christ not crucified and risen three days later Christianity is in vain it has no meaning so the vicarious atonement of Issa alaihi salam to die for the sins of mankind is enough a salvation for you to enter paradise and there's no need for you to pray although it's good for you to pray but there's no injunction by which you need to follow on a daily basis how much you went to pray there is no time whereas Quran says صلاة المقوطة there is a time for prayers أقم الصلاة لدولوك الشمس إلى غطسق الليل so maintain prayer from morning afternoon and night because this is the command of God you'll find Muslims are the most prayerful people in the world if you examine just because of that you and I have maintained relative balance in our morality for prayer will come in our ways of indecency that's why Allah says إن صلاة تنهى عن الفحشاء والمنكة ولا ذكر الله أكبر براءة تبقى from wrong doing in evil because it comes in your way for you and I want to do haram it's salat time you have to stop because it's like oil and water you just can't mix the two typically people who do haram stop praying and sadly people who stop praying start doing haram because now it becomes free fall God is so merciful that he has enjoined صلاة upon us and when we go to Karbala you will see that إمام سينا الليه سلام لس the good number of his soldiers just at prayer time إمام الليه سلام did the same thing he lays the carpet in Safim and the companions أميل المؤمنين أبنى أبا says to him إمام الليه سلام he says the swords I mean the arrows are coming إمام says he says but you will get injured إمام says if not for this صلاة why are we fighting معاوية he wants to eradicate this this is the foundation of humanity صلاة is where people maintain their balance you know what صلاة means if you ever start a business you have to have a business plan and if you ever want to be a successful businessman you need to know your end and your beginning and you need to have an exit plan and you need to understand the purpose and function as to why you're running this business and if you ever borrowed money from a bank they're going to hold you to task that if they understand the very purpose of why you borrowed a dollar from them they will maintain you within that stance to maintain that vision because if they believe in your vision they will hold you liable to that business plan unless you want to change your strategies now you will notice in life the same thing when you and I wake up every morning and sometimes when we're lethargic and we're feeling lazy we don't want to go to school or we don't want to go to work or we don't want to do anything that day remind yourself as to what the purpose of life is and you will become energized this is why when you would wake up in the morning he would put his foot on the ground he would say بالله العلي العظيم there is no authority but God and I serve him my God thank you for giving me one more day to do what to serve you that's highly energizing now you will notice that if you reiterate your business plan you will be on track and every time you reiterate it what's going to happen is your business plan is going to get more specific is going to get more focused and you will be able to articulate your decisions in everything you make based on the business plan it's logical it's nothing out of the blue صلاة is our moral plan every single day تكبيرت الأحرام I surrender إياك نعبوط وإياك نستعين you we worship you we seek from إهدين الصراط المستقيم guide us on the right path صراط الذين أنعمت عليهم the ones the path of those you have chosen not those who invoke your wrath not those who are lost who have no idea of what is wrong and what is right now imagine you and I repeat that five times a day what a blessing and when you and I understand that that we human beings fundamentally are moral beings if there is one thing you and I will not negotiate it's morality when a friend or a spouse or a parent or a child cheats you you feel very hurt and if there's one thing we don't like is when a person is bad manners when a person is bad morals when they're ruthless when they're Machiavellan as we say when the end is not justified by the means so look how merciful Allah is He said I've been joined upon you أقمس صلاح maintain prayer why? why my lord? you want to pray five times a day take time reflect on it think about it what is your purpose and function this is why Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world for it is so practical and pragmatic that when I travel around the world and I stop at different airports that's one thing I do and I go and examine places of universal worship where Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists Muslims are all allowed to worship and I watch who's coming to pray are the Jews coming are the Hindus coming are the Buddhists coming you find they are all named after persons with all due respect you can't even name your own religion correctly after a person Islam is not Ahmadi it's not Muhammadi we are followers of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم you notice we follow the messenger of Allah he is such a pivotal figure that Michael H. Hart has written the most influential people in the history of the human race two volumes two times he has written twice, two editions he insists there is no man on earth who has affected the human race at every level of the strata of their existence more than Muhammad ابن عبد الله صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم this man Allah says ورفعنا لك ذكرك ألم نشرك لك صدرك ووضعنا عنك وزرك الذي أنك ضهرك ورفعنا لك ذكرك we elevated your name wasn't it heavy when we sent you in Makkah to go and abolish idolatry in the house of Ibrahim wasn't it difficult it was very difficult God said I strengthen you ألم نشرح لك صدرك it was heavy we made we allowed you to carry it and we raised your name today in the world from Indonesia where the day starts roughly from that area all the way to the end of the earth 24 hours a day أشهد one Muhammad الرسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم it's not a coincidence this is divine this is God's plan if you doubt it study it travel and go see study religions you find Judaism his name after Judas you find Buddhism his name after Buddha Islam Allah named it Allah اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم when he was appointed as the gate to the city of knowledge and perfected the religion الله says اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم وأتممت عليكم نعمتي ورضيت لكم الإسلام الدينة today we have completed our favor upon you and perfected for you your religion أكملت لكم وأتممت عليكم can you imagine what expression in the Quran ورضيت لكم الإسلام God is pleased to give you this religion الإسلام ورضيت لكم الإسلام الدينة سبحان الله what an honor in the Quran الله says I name this so when we go back you'll see that all these other religions with all due respect they have a lot of good in them but they don't hit bullseye they're far from bullseye if you examine the pragmatic approach even of Ramadan fasting for 30 days amplified socially it's genius just Ramadan 30 days of fasting is genius genius you want to talk about raising the standard in the bar for humanity to remain upright and moral كتب عليكم السيام كما كتب على الذين من قبلكم لعلكم تتخون we have enjoyed fasting upon you like we did before you so that you maintain God consciousness and piety can you imagine if we didn't have this I mentioned the other day in my university people drinking kegs and kegs and my roommates used to say how come you don't drink I said this is filthy how come you're not dating girls every day how come you're not going out running around with girls I said my religion has taught me the evils of it really you don't smoke you don't drink I said my religion has taught me this and I look at them not in a condescending way I look at them with sadness that these poor people who are good have not been guided they've been left to wander the desert and they've become very impulsive whatever glitter they run towards it so when you look at them and you see them lost Allah says talk to them talk to them you know when I travel and people order alcohol I said don't hold alcohol I said why you're a Muslim I said it's irrelevant whether I'm Muslim or not it's bad for you when I was in a restaurant somebody ordered some pork I said don't I don't eat pork and I prefer not to on this table oh you're Muslim I said it's irrelevant whether I'm Muslim or not it's bad for you consider that for if I tell you yes I'm a Muslim you'll think it's my religion and I'm now lost in it but I'm telling you from a practical perspective pork is bad for you it leads to trichinosis it leads to worms in your brain and keep away from it it's not an animal designed to be consumed though people do don't drink alcohol it's not good for you it inebriates you it causes cirrhosis of the liver it destroys your body I don't understand where you're going with this it's an addictive substance weed avoidance all these other smoking even people are doing this what is electronic cigarettes vaping it's been shown to be extremely dangerous for the pancreas for the liver it's got all kinds of destruction what is the general principle Allah says don't take anything that harms you that is why Allah has made it haram for you it's not for God to entertain himself to say don't eat this and eat this and don't eat that Allah says when I forbid you something it's for your own good and when I allow you to do something it's for your own good but we as Muslims have been blessed with fasting with Salah with Deen with Hayah with religion believe me I say when we talk about these youth that will go to get marted tonight when I speak about Qasim ابن الحسن and I speak about Aoun and Muhammad the children of Abdullah bin Ja'far who are the children of Zaynab and if I'm Qasim the son of Imam Hassan tonight when I speak about them these are tender teenagers 13, 14 years old ready to charge forward how did they come that way because our generation and our spirit and our religion has infused upon us Salah dua fasting consciousness understanding the vision we understand the purpose of life unlike dangling in a Pavlovian way where the bell rings and we salivate now Allah says be conscious you have a purpose in life so tonight in this brief explanation we have an obligation and Allah says we have chosen you who watch tabakum you know when I read this verse و جاهد فلاي حق جهادي who watch tabakum I started to shake I read it again and I read it again and I read it again so what God says I have chosen you are you talking to me Allah who watch tabakum me are you talking about the prophet or the imams who watch tabakum Allah says you I chose you me me حسنين Allah said yeah all of you the whole human race has been chosen wow و مجع عليكم في الدين من حرج we didn't make religion difficult for you we put religion with laws to make life easy for you when we told you to be modest and we told you to maintain prayer and we told you women to cover themselves and we told the men to lower their eyes and to maintain decency it's not to entertain you it's for your own good it brings harmony it brings tranquility you look at the world today it's in disarray where our women are being abused our men are in disarray because they're not following the deen of Allah and mankind has lost its pathway and now drug abuse is increasing fentanyl which is synthetic drug being manufactured in laboratories and China is one of the biggest exporters of fentanyl is a deadly substance you have one truck load of fentanyl you can kill the whole United States just one truck you will kill 350 million people just one car load you know in the trunk you open the trunk that's enough to kill the entire population of 350 that's just fentanyl then there's something else called car fentanyl which is a thousand times worse than fentanyl it's so deadly just touching it you may die you can't even touch it you have to wear gloves to touch it we have produced human race has produced the most lethal substance known to man for what? to escape the problems of life when the problems of life need to be met with dignity with honor الذي خلق الموت والحيات ليبلوكم ايكم احسنوا عمالا we created death and life to test which of you is best in deeds how can you be an escapist the minute we have a problem go get drunk the minute you have a problem go smoke what's your problem? by doing that you're adding more problems how many times I give this example we are so full of rage and anger we don't spend time to talk to our children one of the things you and I need to do as a responsibility in the Quran and in Islam is we must raise our children properly tonight when I talk about these children who became martyrs they were not ordinary children they were impeccably raised with precision they were so well monitored like Luqman talking to his son يا بنيا لا تشرك بالله إن الشركة لضل من عظيم how many fathers and mothers sit with their children and say son daughter let me teach you this this is very important for you to know do we? not much we talk about material gains we talk about how much money we're going to get what's your next fancy car I see kids in high school today their number one aspiration is to have a pretty girl and have a nice car if I got those two success I got it it's such a myopic short term vision thinking whereas the child should be thinking of the hereafter should be thinking of high standards should be thinking of marrying the best spouse the one who's going to be the mother of your children raising them with dignity and honor and educated highly educated successful not only materially but spiritually do we do that? لقمان is saying to his son يا ابو ني أقم الصلاة وأمر بالمعروف وان حان المنكر my son promote good forbid evil and be patient look at these advices today we don't raise our children very well with that with all due respect we should I'll give you one example of what we should do to our children صلى الله عليه وسلم when children do well praise them but don't over praise them some of our parents are constantly praising them ما شاء الله my son سبحان الله is amazing I said okay I know ما شاء الله is amazing is your son should be amazing is amazing I said what's next he's just amazing what happens is research shows when you praise your child too much you create what we call a fixed mindset researchers have studied this behavior and say when you praise somebody too much you create a fixed mindset what the child does is they revel in this glory my parents think I'm the best so I'm already on the mountain and there's no other mountain to climb so now you challenge this child and say no no dad I don't want to do anything more why because I'm already the best like what is that to do now fixed mindset growth mindset dictates praise them but challenge them next praise them challenge them if you examine the Quran it's like that الله praises the believers then he challenges them he praises then he challenges them يا يولي انسان إنك كادحون إلى ربك كدهن فملاقي all mankind all mankind الله says keep struggling upon struggle till you meet your Lord meaning الله praises us إن اللذين أعملوا وعملوا الصالحات لهم جناتوا النعين خالدين فيها وعدوا الله حق they will enter paradise they are the best but there is the next challenge he is the next challenge so let's raise our children by challenging them while we praise them you did great now here's another one you did great now here's another one what happens is children feel empowered like wow and never belittle a child never say you know what you're so ugly I've had girls come to cry they sit with and they cry I said why do you have such a low self esteem this is my dad always tells me I'm ugly I said oh God please maybe your dad didn't mean it but please don't take it to heart I said no that's my a friend says you know how we sometimes we have a very harsh tongue we start calling each other terrible names you know if somebody doesn't walk right you give them some names somebody doesn't look right you give them some names Quran says don't give each other bad names الله says and if you don't stop you are an oppressor don't give each other bad names لا يسخر قومهم قومين عصان يكونوا خيرا منهم ولا نساء أمين نساء عصان يكونوا خيرا منهم ولا تلمزوا أنفسكم ولا تنابزوا باللقاب سلسل اسموا فصوق بعد الإيمان لا تقوموا بشكل أفضل when you have got faith and don't laugh at each other pretend you are better than the other women too should not do that and don't find faults in each other why because our self confidence is very sensitive it's very precious it's holy and we need to hold on to it when we be little a child or when we look down in an incendiary way where we be little them make them feel bad that child doesn't forget that they take it to heart that's what you really say to me you meant it it may take a lifetime to erase that when I see kids many a times brilliant but they're not doing well failing misbehaving deviant I look at them I say this kid is brilliant this kid is smart like why is he like this and then when you sit down with them you find out somebody is harming them a boy comes to me says I have no goals in life I have no desire to do anything I said why you're so beautiful you're so amazing I had a boy we're giving him the uniform I said you know wear this uniform I want to take a picture I said no no I don't want to take a picture of me I said why I'm very ugly I said who told you this you're so good looking who told you this I have a little pimple right here I said so that pimple makes you ugly he says yeah how'd you get there so somebody made a comment on that so somebody know today you got a pimple oh now I'm ugly this poor kid doesn't want to take a picture that feeds into your psyche and the next thing you lose your self confidence and the next thing you don't want to study and the next thing you don't want to speak next thing you don't want to do anything where Allah says I chose you Shaytan says no I'm going to stop the choosing I'm going to belittle him I'm going to have one human being look down on another and I'm going to have this one talk bad about this one so this one will feel defeated then maybe he will never represent Allah properly as Khulafa on earth and this way then Shaytan says he's my agent I look at those kids I said no absolutely not in fact you are so blessed I'm giving you an assignment they look at me he says how'd you you're going to give me an assignment I said yeah I trust you but I'm only 12 years old I said even better watch what you do 12 year olds come to me doing phenomenal things with ideas sometimes I sit with them around the conference table I said give me ideas how should this school run they come up with ideas and I look and I said wow that's a brilliant idea they feel so empowered like why are you taking our advice I said of course you're important you're my advisor I said but you're the director I said I'm a nobody just like you I'm just older than you I'm more privileged in age so what and watch the child change I had a boy come to me has no hope I said to him why the more I probed into it his father never hugged him never he said my father has never looked at me and hugged me in my life he's cold distant you know the solution to the problems of life is that a hug a simple hug when your child is talking put your phones away don't look at this and say yes so what happened in school today put it away look at them in the eye how was your day let them talk come to their eye levels sit with them talk to them it's amazing 5 minutes 10 minutes of that conversation is gold for this child that wow my parents care for me properly this one boy whose father did not hug him I managed to get them together it was a daunting arduous task for the father to even hug his son finally we made him get used to it and today his son is very successful in the world he's doing extremely well with high sense of self confidence when Allah says عليكم وفسكم we have chosen you you are a gift of God but let us not be reckless in the way we deal with our children let's raise them with intelligence let's endow them with knowledge 2 days ago a young boy comes to me and says I'm reading Quran he came and read Quran yesterday the parents I looked at them and said Mashallah such parents who raised their children reading Quran and they recite beautiful Quran these are the kinds of parents who are going to leave when we say when we have children you know when we get married we say ربنا هبلنا من أزواجنا وضرياتنا فرتا أعيون وجعلنا للمتقين إماما look at this dua الله in subtle for Khan he says look at this dua who are they they say our lord put love هبلنا من أزواجنا وضرياتنا and our children قرّة أعيون make them cooling to our eyes وجعلنا and make us leaders among the pious there's one thing to be a leader among the people when you're a leader among the pious you are the ultimate leader صلى الله عليه وسلم in tonight's lecture brothers our responsibility is that we must take account that God has gifted us with the best religion when I travel the world and people ask me questions I discuss with them sometimes philosophers will ask me how do you know that like the argument of evil I have sat with PhDs in theology they look at me said where did you get these answers from how do you know this we are PhDs we've written thesis on these how do you have such clarity in what you say I said my Quran guides me my prophet guides me my people guide me they taught me how to look at this our teachers our ulama our fuqaha our great scholars have expounded on them and taught us that this is the way by which we're going to avoid the traps of this world we're gifted so please all of us in these nights if we're going to talk about and we're going to look at Ali Akbar who talked to his father with such clarity that his father is telling him oh Ali what do you think he said let us go if this is where truth lies then let us go he said how blessed I am to have a son like you we must raise children like that let's educate our children morally please today I've seen parents who don't care just my son you just become rich and powerful and get educated I don't care what you do with the morality this is a problem we as parents have a moral responsibility to educate our children with the best education academically in terms of the secular education but spiritual religious education is pivotal extremely important if our children don't have good morals we haven't succeeded I don't care if they become the best neurosurgeon yesterday I was reading the newspaper one of the world renowned neurosurgeon on the front page of the newspaper very very and the way he talks with such filth you think this man is the top neurosurgeon in one of the best in the Southern Hemisphere and his tongue is so harsh and vile and he's got no أخلاق you know what you don't feel like listening to such a person you may be good with the scalpel but if you've got no ethics and morality by which to follow with all due respect it's very hard to respect such people you and I when we talk about أهل الميت when we talk about when we talk about when we talk about when we talk with this family فاعتمو تزعراء look at the qualities they leave me all my life I've been researching that and every time I read great sages in the world I say let me compare them with this no comparison الله says أَفَ مَا يَمْشِ مُكِبًا عَلَى وَجْهِهِ أَهْدَى أَمَا يَمْشِ صَوِيًّا عَلَى صِرَاتٍ مُسَّقِيم again the one who puts his face on the ground grovelling on earth equivalent to the one who's upright and in the right path of God أَدَى يَكُونْ أَفَ مَا يَمْشِ مُكِبًا عَلَى وَجْهِهِ أَهْدَى أَمَا يَمْشِ صَوِيًّا عَلَى صِرَاتٍ مُسَّقِيم no the choice is yours and mine الله says I talk to you and I have left you with your free will and you will decide your own destiny إنه هديناه السبيلة إما شاكرا وإما كفورة we have guided you to the right path whether you are grateful or ungrateful please and I sincerely say to all of us let's seek God's guidance let's talk about the power of prayer and the power of reflection and the power of the mind simple examples you find that when you and I take time to reflect the religion of Islam the five daily prayers are what we call refreshments refreshing the mind I always used to say in my busy schedule during the day I am the busiest in the afternoon during the hard time usually the phones are ringing I've got a lineup of meetings it's just insanity I look at the time it's Salat now what do you do it's as well time to pray and many times whenever I would go to pray sometimes I would say to Allah there is Fajr which is two ذور عصر which is eight مغرب الشيوة which is seven couldn't ذور عصر I mean could be two only I could be fast you don't get back to my work الله says no not enough for you you need eight raka you need to mellow out you need to slow down what are you doing why are you running why are you running too oh God I've got a million Allah says take it easy reflect the prophet said one hour of reflection is better than a thousand raka of nightly prayers why reflection give you a simple example find two people decide to challenge each other and who could cut more trees down so both took an axe and they challenge they started chopping trees one of them every 45 minutes would stop for 15 minutes the other one kept chopping busy chopping trees to win the game seven hours passes by they counted the trees subhan Allah the one who took the 15 minute break cut more trees you would think impossible based on time and labor and how much time you put in this person who didn't stop should have cut more trees so the other one who won was asked by the one who lost how did you do it what were you doing for the 15 minutes he said I sharpened my axe and you forgot to do that so your axe was getting blunter in time and you were becoming less productive so when you do it's sharpening your axe you produce more in research shows you know when times I'm busy I'm wearing my suit I'm wearing my garb and it's time to go to pray so okay I gotta take my shoes off gotta take my socks off I have to do my wudu like I took a bath this morning I'm pretty clean God why not just accept me in prayer without wudu you know subhan Allah we question this Allah says I have given you rules and regulations for a reason and it's interesting in modern times psychologists have studied this fact they say when you hear a lie it is very disturbing if you ever hear a lie somebody lies to you it's very disturbing when you hear bad news it's very disturbing human nature our psyche is disturbed researchers show that the minute you wash your hands you forget it now I'm not saying the reason we have to do wudu is for that but look at the rahmah of Allah SWT that ruku is seeking permission to go to sujud the two sujuds are so meaningful Allah says منها خلقناكم وفيها نعيدكم ومنها نخرجكم طارة نخرى from it you were created to it you will return and from it you will be raised and no muslim does any salah that has sujud less than two or more than two that's the reason salonه على محمد واد محمدedy I'm spelling some of these salient realities you will hear in a lot of ways I see poepes birds and they hear theding come up you know they hear لا يوجد أحد أكثر than the parents لأنهم حصلوا على محاولة أنهم يجب أن يذهبون بأسماعاتهم ربما يتكلمون ولكنه ليس أسي to raise children till marriage ليس أسي to give them towards modesty ليس أسي to find the right spouse إنه صحيح ولكن how blessed are the parents when they raise their children properly لذا when we take our children and we train them and we educate them we monitor them we nurture them we protect them and we guide them and we do all of the above الله سبحانه وتعالى rewards us much so in this context I want us to understand that in Karbala Imam Hussein عليه السلام had little nephews زيناب عليه السلام's children were there as you know Aoun and Muhammad were teenagers and they did not leave with Imam Hussein from Medina when Imam Hussein عليه السلام was leaving Makkah to go to Kufa عبدالله بن جافر مجرده and advises the Imam not to go Imam says no I am going so then Abdullah says in that case and you don't want me to join you because you wanted to join Imam Hussein Imam says no you must remain behind you have an obligation he says then take my two sons Aoun and Muhammad and I want to sacrifice them for you to protect you so Aoun and Muhammad were both as you know عبدالله بن جافر تيار جافر is called التيار whose father was killed in the battle of Mu'tah whose both arms were cut and therefore the prophet stated that he's been given wings that's why it's called تيار جافر تيار this is his son Abdullah who is the husband of زيناب عليه السلام and he now gives these two sons to Imam Hussein and these two young boys move with Imam Hussein عليه السلام and the other son that Imam عليه السلام was raising was Imam Hassan's young son whose name was Qasim Qasim was also a teenager a young tender teenager and the Imam was raising him to because Imam Hassan was poisoned ten years prior to Karbala what you find is that Qasim is also joining and they're all in Karbala quick history when the battle of Karbala started usually in any battle in the prophet's time up to Karbala أهل البيت the Banu Hashim were always the first ones to go fight in the battle of Badr in the battle of Uhud in the battle of Khanda you will see the Imam and the prophet and the Banu Hashim were always on the front lines fighting first then the companions would follow in Karbala it was reversed because they knew that they will be annihilated so the Imam remains to the end hence he sends the companions first so all the companions have been martyred most of them have been martyred that they have all their bodies have been strewn Imam is pulling them back to the tent these little youth were standing eager now to be part of that that great sacrifice and I want you to understand this is a mother now Zainab where do I start with Zainab where do I start talking about Zainab when I go to her grave in Syria when I touch her sarcophagus it's in Zainab Ar-As-Sala you are the sky of women you are the indomitable woman you are that woman who is so powerful they say when she used to talk people thought it is Ali ibn Abi Talib talking her language, her speech her eloquence was like Imam Ali and Imam Ali was known to be one of the most eloquent human beings on earth she is a child she is 4 years old she is sitting on the lap of her father listen to the heck of Zainab these are her sons she says بابا do you love Allah Imam Ali some says yes I love Allah she says بابا do you love me she says yes my lord I love you she says بابا how can you love me when you love Allah for when you love Allah there is no room this is the wisdom she had 4 years old she is now an older woman she is a mother she is a Karbala and she witnessed every little event she was watching my god they say رباب the wife of Imam Hussein was watching ومفاروة was there some say watching these were the wives of Imam Hussein Ali Zainab is watching so Imam Ali replies to Zainab she said I love you because Allah loves you that's why I can love you look at the conversation of a father to a daughter it's so beautiful so deep yet this blessed Imam while he was sitting on his lap knew that there will come a time when she will be dragged city to city and she will be brought in front of tyrants to have to face when she is the princess of the holy prophet she says to her son my son I will not be happy until you give this time our uncle is not allowing us which mother would send her sons like that except the one who has made a deal with Allah to give so she gives they say they go to Imam Hussein Ali says you are young you are tender how can I send you to the front lines they said uncle give us the power please give us the authority give us the permission so we can go forward and do what we can do little so we get this status with you this is the kind of children you and I need to raise Awun and Muhammad were young they said when they climbed up the horses they were young but they were chanting with such pride and valor with their heavy swords wielding at the enemy striking and the Imam is watching these two beautiful moons fighting they say even when Qasim went forward and he seeks permission the Imam refuses to give him permission he had a ta'awiz he opens up the ta'awiz and there is a letter by Imam Hassan he said oh my brother Hussein I will not be present with you in Karbala in this place of tragedy but take this son of mine as my representative and do not forbid him from doing what he wants to do Imam says how can I say no to you Qasim they say Qasim was so young he wasn't a soldier even when he went to fight he was wearing sandals and the sandals straps were hanging Imam puts him on the horse can you imagine an uncle having to do this at the last minute when all have died and these young youth want to now achieve and the Imam watches this that while they are fighting and when they are struck all of them shrieked out and said ya'ammu they called their uncle Imam charges towards them but it's too late for they both were killed and Muhammad were struck but when they were fighting Muhammad ibn Sa'd said who are these youth they look like Ali ibn Abi Talib in the young age he says this is the house of Banu Hashim this is how they are they fought they killed and then they were killed Qasim the same thing Qasim was struck he falls off his horse and he gets dragged on his horse and Imam carries him and his body is completely broken and the mothers are watching the mothers are watching historians say that when the Imam comes back with the bodies of these three these beautiful نفس الزكية Imam enters the tent of Zayna I was doing so good she was taking Allah it's saying to Allah thank you for giving me this opportunity to give my two sons for this great tragedy ألا ألا علط الله ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا ألا و بمناجاتي فقرائك نسألك زيادة في العلم والسحة في الجسم و طولا في العمر في تعطيك و صاعتا في الرسق و توبة قبل الموت و راحة عند الموت و مغفرة بعد الموت و نورا في القبر و نجاة من النار و دخول الجنة و عافية من كل بلاء الدنيا و عذاب الآخر بحق محمد و أهلبيتي الطيبين الطاهرين المعصومين صلوة الله محمد و آل محمد الفاتحة السلام عليك السلام عليك