 Dear viewers, my sincere greetings to you for watching this program broadcast to you by Imam Hussein TV. Well, I hope you're all fine and in perfect health. Well, during this episode, we are going to discuss one of the most significant Ahadith that actually describes and defines the sublime status of an Imam, a divinely appointed Imam. So, I would like to recite the Hadith first to you and then, insha'Allah, elaborate on the Hadith so that we can, insha'Allah, got willing to achieve more knowledge from the words of Ahlul Bayt, a.s. So, here goes the Hadith. So, the Holy and Supreme Lady of the Worlds is relating this Hadith from the Apostle of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. مثل الإمام مثل الإمام مثل الكعبة مثل الإمام مثل الكعبة إذا تؤتى ولا تأتي. So, that is the Hadith and I hope that you will just bear it in mind as I will explain it to you. But allow me to break down the Hadith into two parts so that we can maybe better discuss the meaning and the teachings that we can read between its lines. Basically, the first part of the Hadith is the divinely appointed Imam is akin to the Kaaba. Now, let us remember that the Hadith in the Arabic terms, the letters الإمام have been used, which mean this Hadith applies to all divinely appointed Imams, in particular all 12 Shia Imams and of course His Majesty Imam Mahdi a.s. So, bear that in mind, that is the most important part that you should keep in mind that connects this Hadith with His Holiness, His Excellence Imam Mahdi a.s. So, now to better understand the Hadith, I would like to relate a Hadith which is of course in praise of Amir al-Mu'min a.s. and describes one of his merits and virtues through the words of Rasulullah a.s. But again, remember that I have said that we all share the same merits and virtues. Of course, there are certain characteristics and virtues that are unique to certain Imams like Amir al-Mu'min a.s. or Sayyid al-Shahada a.s. But this Hadith that I am going to read to you can be applied to Imam Mahdi a.s. as well because he is just the rightful successor of Amir al-Mu'min a.s. He said Rasulullah a.s. He said Rasulullah a.s. Subhanallah, these are beautiful words in praise of our supreme master and commander of the faithful Amir al-Mu'min a.s. So the holy prophet is saying that Ali a.s. in this nation or among you is akin to the Ka'ba which is of course partly concealed as you know with those pieces of black cloth. So the significance of this first part. Now this assembly between Amir al-Mu'min a.s. and Ka'ba and being partly concealed as you can see and you know the Ka'ba is partly concealed with those black cloths hanging from all four sides. Now it means that just like the Ka'ba some or maybe most of Amir al-Mu'min a.s. virtues and merits have been kept in the dark from the people out of divine wisdom. So the same actually truth applies to Imam Mahdi a.s. The next part is Amir looking at the face of Amir al-Mu'min a.s. is an act of worship So just in the same way that looking at Ka'ba according to a hadith is an act of worship and is rewarded by Allah a.s. looking at the face of Amir al-Mu'min a.s. who has been likened to Ka'ba in this hadith in this assembly is an act of worship. And the next part In the same way that the journey and pilgrimage of Hajj is an obligation, a mandatory obligation that is ordained by Allah a.s. So people must approach Amir al-Mu'min a.s. in the same manner and it is an obligation upon them. So like take it a religious ritual which has been mandated. Now the second part which I would like to actually discuss is the part that it says If I'm not mistaken, yes. If I'm not mistaken, yes. Well, before that I just would like to remind you that in the same way that to perform Salat we have to face and stand in the direction of Ka'ba so that Allah a.s. will accept our prayer which is of course Salat is a fundamental actually pillar of our faith. So in the same way we must, according to this hadith, sincerely align our self and our entire life with the Imam of our time. So this is the beauty which we can derive from this hadith. Now the second part which goes is Now there are some interesting points to derive from this second part of the hadith. One of them is that the Imam is needless of others basically and it is others, it is us that need to approach the Imam and get close to him to be blessed or actually to receive guidance and to be blessed by him and of course to be assisted by him. So it is the people that should approach and get close to Imam and it is us that who are in desperate need of the Imam to receive his assistance and blessings and everything. Also of course the Imam is not obliged to approach us but perhaps out of his mercy and out of his benign character he certainly blesses us and is constantly protecting us, praying for us and is trying to keep us from evil, all evil and tries to actually keep us on course on Surat al-Mustaqim, the path that leads to the Paradise. So what are we doing in return and what is our duty? Let's not forget that the Imam is the Kaaba. We should be actually aligned with the Imam. So the Imam, if Imam blesses us it is only actually out of his mercy and it is out of his benefaction. So let's try to be more benefactory toward our Imam. Let's take one more step toward our Imam. Let's devote more time to our Imam. Well, thank you very much for watching this episode. I hope that this Hadith, I'm sorry, I hope that the Hadith was as precious as it was, was useful to you and all of us should implement these precious words in our everyday life. Thank you for watching. Stay tuned. Goodbye.