 Let's recite Fatihah, please. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah and I begin in His blessed name. And I thank Him for granting us this existence, a universe that is so perfectly positioned where you and I occupy a small portion of it, a miniscule portion of it. Yet everything is balanced to ensure our safety and to make sure that we exist in a state of comfort and to enable us to function optimally as a human race given the fact that we have been endowed with intelligence and the faculties of reason and the ability to perceive through eyes and through ears and through touch and through smell so that we may recognize the infinite mercy of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And all praise belongs to Him because without His existence, ours would be impossible. And without His will to create us, we would not exist. And as you know, our sustenance and maintenance to exist eternally is only because of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. As you know, we... Salawat al-Muhammad wa al-Muhammad. They'll get the lights right. I think you need to turn the light on here, so... Salawat al-Muhammad wa al-Muhammad. Alhamdulillah. As you know, we as a human race, all creations lack infinity. We don't have infinite qualities. As you know, infinity does not exist in the domain of the finite, hence we're finite. Some of you may be asking, what does that mean? Well, finite means there's frames. We're bound in time, in matter, and in space. We must never forget that. All our conversations are predicated on these three entities. When we talk, we talk within the scope of time, within the scope of space, and within the scope of matter. Hence, we have difficulty describing Allah. We say, where is Allah? When was God born? How old? These are questions of time. Where is a question of space? What makes God? Is a question of matter. Allah created them all. He is not bound in any of those. He is frameless. He is eternal. He is absolute. And he has no shape, no form. Alladhi laisa ka-mith li-shay. There is no comparison to him. Because Allah is absolute. And the relative mind, which you and I are, cannot perceive the absolute. So when someone says to us, describe Allah, we say that the only way to understand and describe Allah is through his manifestations of mercy. So when we look at a beautiful entity, we say that must have been the designer's will to make that. When Allah says, fatabarak Allah. Ahsanal khaliqin. Blessed is he who creates everything good. And in the domain of Allah, there is no creation that is evil. The evil that you and I perceive, the ones that you and I may be punished for, is a transient existence, which does not have an eternal state. Meaning that evil qualities die. They don't have an infinite existence. And I'm beginning this way, because when you and I understand this, and then when we go into our individual responsibilities in recognizing this infinite mercy, inshallah we will animate and gravitate in the direction that Allah intended us for us to be, such that when we do listen to the tragedy of Karbala, not only will our tears be meaningful, but they will be directive. It's wonderful when people come to me and say, Hajj in your lecture, can you make us cry? In the end, you know, the Masai, can you make us cry? I said, of course. I believe the entire lecture is a sense of crying, isn't it? That when we recognize Allah, when we recognize the mercy that He has given us, when we recognize the sacrifices and when we hear the stories of our prophets and their companions and all the great sages who have come to teach us what is right from what is wrong, it is a moment to cry. And there's a moment to be joyous and to be grateful and to have those fluctuations of emotions. Shad are extremely important, extremely, don't underestimate it. But it comes with values. You see, Imam Ali Alaihissalam says, You know, tears don't come out when hearts are hard and hearts don't get hard unless they are filled with sin. So that means that Imam Ali Alaihissalam says your heart and here, by the way, when we talk about qalb, it's not this pumping heart, please understand. When Allah says in their hearts is a disease, it's not this pumping heart. It's the heart of the soul. It's what you and I are called by. It is where our Ruh, where our nafs is located. That's the heart. And the tears, Imam say, don't come out when hearts are hard. It's hard to be, when you're hard-hearted, when a person is hard-hearted, they lack compassion, they lack sympathy, they lack empathy because they are disconnected from reality. So then we would argue that when we are going to cry for the tragedies of Karbala and all the tragedies that took place in the lives of our prophets and Aima and until today, the tragic deaths that are taking place today, if you and I can associate those tears that come out of our bodies and our eyes, if you and I cannot associate them in a pragmatic, practical approach to stand up to oppression and to stand up against the evils and to promote the good, then these tears, we call them crocodile tears. Why crocodile? Because we say crocodiles are ruthless, you know, reptilian, because they appear not to have any compassion. So in these lectures, I urge us all to carefully listen and to say, where do I lie in the spectrum of all this conversation? I am not a cheerleader. I'm going to talk about this tonight specifically from the Quran, as I mentioned yesterday, verse 78 of Surat al-Hajj. You and I are not cheerleaders sent on earth to cheer nor cry for the agents of God. This gathering is not a arena where the Imam is looking at us all and said, how many of you are cheering for me? I went to Karbala. I gave my soul, my life. You know, it was my life, not my soul. But I sold it to Allah a hundred percent and I sacrificed tremendously and I want to know how many of you will cry for me. That's not the objective of the Imam. That's not the objective of the Prophet. It's not. They are looking at us and saying, how much did you understand what we have done and how much will you take to heart? And when you do shed those tears, how much will you apply it in positive ways to follow our footsteps and become like us? This is the objective of this conversation. Now it's easy. Hero worshipping is easy. When we go into any religion, among any people, even irreligious people, non-religious people, they have heroes that they worship. Some are tyrants and some are not such tyrants. To worship heroes is something innate within our psyche. We love to worship heroes. It gives us a direction. It gives us a vision. It enables us to associate through some groups. That's why we worship heroes. If a hero is your basketball player or a football player or a rugby player, we look at them as heroes and when we praise them, it's very easy. But it's very difficult. If that hero is the ultimate role model for humanity, it's not easy to fall into their footsteps. When the Prophet said, Indeed, I was sent to perfect your moral characters, to improve them such that your language is soft. As Allah says, Kind speech and forgiveness is better than charity followed by injury. Do not find faults in others. Don't give each other bad names after you have taken faith. Allah has set the principles by which you and I must be upright and moral. That's the written. Quran is a summit. Not the moving, the exemplary Quran, the living, walking, talking Quran was the Holy Prophet. And his Ahlul Bayt. When the Prophet said, This hadith, by the way, is universally accepted by all schools of thought. Ali is the gate to this city. Then let them enter through this gate. For it is the gate that protects the city and it is the gate that gives it direction. For it is the gate that reflects the message. You know the Surah Shams? The beginning, the Holy Prophet describes it elegantly. This is why Islam is such a magnificent religion. It is holistic. It's synergistic. It's consistent and it lacks what we call friction. It lacks illogicity. It's very logical. It flows naturally. The religion of truth. Why? And it will supersede all religions. How? Through force? No. Through logic, through truth, through its synergistic nature, through its holistic nature. As Allah says, Truth is prevalent. Truth wins. Falsehood fails. Lying fails. Cheating fails. Honesty passes. Integrity passes. High quality passes. So when we animate ourselves to say, Imam Hussein, alaihi s-salam, is my agent, the one who showed me how to reflect the ways of the Prophet, then I must not only shed tears for him, for every story, every step he took towards his moment of tragedy is a moment for me to take a lesson from such that when I do sign contracts and when I do involve with myself, with other human beings, I follow their paradigm, I follow their protocols, and I insist in honesty with integrity and I insist on not finding faults in each other, and I insist on not backbiting. These are qualities that are not very prevalent in our societies, unfortunately. While we have the best teachers in the world, we have the finest religion in the world, we, the followers of Ahlul Bayt, in my personal opinion, among the thousands of religions, cannot be compared with all due respect to other religions. What we possess as a religion, and I stand not speaking to my, or we could say amicable audience, I've spoken about this even in hostile communities in front of universities, among my adversaries, and I say it with firmness and no compunction, that the religion you and I have is the most rational logical system in the world. And I don't say it because I am one of it, I say it because it is, therefore I am one of it. So a religion that is so logical, so rational, that God has sent guidance for us. Why guidance? Because without guidance, there is no way for you and I to know morality. So let me describe this ayah through the shams. Allah is saying to us, by the sun and its brilliance, and by the moon which follows it. Allah created this. And Allah, if you ever examine physics and astrophysics, you will be stunned that the moon is much, much, much smaller than the sun. Sun is millions, times larger. If you examine it from a visual perspective, they look the same size. Hence you have eclipse of the sun, for the moon covers it. And when you have eclipse of the moon, the sun covers it. But they are the same size visually. Yet they have such different roles that the moon is a reflector when the sun is not there. In the daytime you can see the moon sometimes, but it is eclipsed by the brightness of the sun. But when the sun is not there, the nature of the moon, material is so reflective, the scientists are baffled as to how reflective this material is. You know, when we have our clothes with reflectors and you put light on it and it shines, it's because it's reflecting. Imagine how far the moon is and it's reflecting light in the dark of the night. And on the full moon night, it's like daylight. Isn't it amazing? So the Prophet said, that sun is me. I am the sun. And the moon is Ali ibn Abi Talib who follows me. That when I am not here, he reflects me. His light is my light when I am not here. And you notice the moon never gives its back to us. None of us have ever seen the back of it. We've got rovers that go now to the back of the moon to go see what it is. But from our visual vantage point, you don't see the back of the moon. Yet the moon is spinning in sync with the earth's spin. So while the earth spins around the sun on its own axis, the moon is spinning on its own axis around the sun too. And they are both choreographed. La shamsiyan bagheela an tutrikal qamar wa la laylu sahabiqunna. Allah is saying, have you not wondered how magnificent this creation is that I created this for you. I lam tarawannu allaha sakhra lakum ma fi'ssamawati wa ma fi'l-qard. Wa asbagha aleykum ni'amahu zahiratum wa baatina wa bin an-nasi man yujadirafillahi bi ghair'ilm wa la hudam wa la kitabim munir. That among mankind are those who get into frivolous conjectural argumentation when they have no knowledge, no guidance. When Allah says, I am the one who guides you. It is my guidance upon you. I created you for a purpose and I will guide you and I will take you to your destiny. sabhismarabbikal a'la al-ladyi khalaqa fa sawa wa al-ladyi qaddara fa hada. This is a command of God that glory most high is the one who is Allah. sabhismarabbikal a'la al-ladyi khalaqa, he creates fa sawa, then makes it complete. wa al-ladyi qaddara, he gives it destiny fa hada and he guides it. Have you seen any entity like an imagine? Including an electron in an atom that it is not guided. It knows exactly what to do. If you study chemistry, you study physics, you will be amazed how much science is predictable. And the fact that its behavior is fixated within a certain parameter enables us to manage our lives every single day. And Allah says, I made all of this. Do you not see al-amtarawanallaha? Do you not see that we made the universe subservient to you? Whether you can see or not see dahiran wa baatina but among you you are conjectural. You see the glasses half empty with frivolous talk and we see in our communities, our societies, many online you see people practicing what we call apathy, agnosticism, God forbid atheism, even polytheism. Why? Because we have an accountant for this great gift of God. Or we have been misdirected or our leaders who have taught us have taught us half the truth and not the whole truth and hence we are astray. When Allah says, I send prophets with guidance and this guidance that Allah talks about is heavier on the moral side than on the physical side. Heavier. Why is it heavy? Because you and I cannot derive moral arguments through science. And I'm saying this with all due respect to science. Science is a methodology. As a scientist myself I'll tell you, it's a methodology. It's a system of empirical observations upon which the material factors are taken into account. Expansion, contraction, okay? All these physical factors, entropy, order, these are manifestations of the physical reality. So when someone says to you, I don't need God, science is enough for me, that person does not know what they're talking about. It's a very, very myopic, foolish conversation with all due respect. Because even among the atheists nothing matters more than the moral foundation. It's the moral argument that's the foundation of all conversations, not the physical. The physical realities can be debated till we die as to how we came, how we formed, and what happens to our physics. But physics has no meaning if there's no moral injunction in it. Otherwise, if I put my hand, you know, in somebody's pocket, which I should not do, but you get my point, and I take the wallet and I put it in my pocket. And the guy calls me a thief. You're a thief. I said, no, no, no, no. According to physics, it's called displacement. I just moved it from point A to point B. It's like when you drive your car, you left from point A to point B. It's not a crime, it's displacement. People say you're out of your mind. No, it's displacement. There's no such thing as theft in physics. Do you ever study good physics and evil physics? You study, I've got a degree in evil biology. What's yours? Oh, I'm sort of, you know, ambivalent biology. What about you? I'm the good biologist. Oh, good, so you're the good one. Does that make sense? No. So how do you and I get morality then? How do you and I gain morality by studying the stars and the moons? No. No, those are important, extremely important. Allah says, you see, He tells us Allah describes His universe. He tells me He has created layers upon layers without pillars that you can see. And He raised mountains on earth lest you convulse. Meaning that you and I are feeling like the earth is not moving. But the earth is moving extremely fast. It's spinning on its axis at a tremendous speed. You don't, I don't feel it. And you and I argued for a long time thinking the world was flat. Because it appears flat. Even if you go to a tiny island and you look at its land, a tiny sliver of an island, you don't think it's flat. But it's not flat. And Allah is describing this fact. But in the physical world when God describes it, the Qur'an has over 600 verses about empirical science. Allah talks about embryology. He talks about the skies. He talks about the seven layers. We made seven heavens layer upon layer. And you don't see any cracks between them. You will not see. Then return to seed. Why is Allah telling me this? Become an astronomer. Go measure it. Look at it. It's for you. Go measure it. Look at it. Look at it. Look at you. Go measure it. It's yours. It's upon you to decide what are you going to do with it? Are you not in awe about this spectacular universe? You know, in my university, when I was taking astronomy I used to sit with these famous astronomers and say, what do you see? They said, we are baffled. We are dazzled. They actually ride on the wall. We are dazzled. You are not a raming photon. Then return to the eye. You will become dazzled and tired when you see how great it is. We have made it a star. We have done the lower heavens with lamps. You look at these stars up there. How magnificent are they? It's one of the most pleasurable visions to have in the dark of the night. You go in the dark of the night you go in the inner areas of Australia and see how spectacular the sky is. You will be dazzled by what we call this Milky Way that we see. Dazzled. It's so magnificent we mimic it in our rooms, right? We put those glow in the dark stars just to kind of feel like we're looking at the stars. Because it's pleasant. Allah says, I designed that for you. I engineered you and I adorned it for you. And Allah says, I created this. Show us who has created anything else. You know, it's amazing when humans say, well it's possible we could have come from accidents. I say, accidents don't happen when there's nothing there. Unless you're out of your mind. How can you have an accident when there's nothing there? A little of nothing collided with a lot of nothing. This is cuckoo talk. You're crazy. Oh, but there was something there. I said, where did it come from? Is it eternal? Has it always been there? Well, we can't talk about that. Oh, really? So you're going to now become an agnostic. And you know what, if you're going to be a professional agnostic then keep your mouth shut because you don't know what to say. So don't say anything. Because if someone is going to say, I don't know then be quiet. You know, if I go into a hospital and somebody says, this person is dying and I said, I don't know. Oh, good, good. Come and do the surgery on this guy. I said, no. You said, I don't know. You do something. And if you're going to take this argument that, you know, I don't know. I said, okay, fine then, be quiet. Just suspend it. It's good for you. Maybe tomorrow you'll know and read. My Lord, increase my knowledge for me. Right? At the end of the day. But why feed this idea within the minds of the people? You know something? I think you should not know. And if you claim to know, you're wrong. It's better like me. I don't know. But I talk a lot since I don't know. And I think you should not know either. So let's all practice apathy and agnosticism. Because that's the way life works. So I say to the agnostic, I said, when you're hungry you know where to put your food? He looks at me. I said, so you know. You know how to breathe? You know how to look? You know how to drive? How did you say you don't know? Because if you don't know, then you should know nothing. So what we do is we cherry pick what we know. When Allah says, look at this. It's so conspicuously clear upon your eyes. How dare you challenge this? I think that's where the problem lies. That this conversation tonight and when you and I examine what was the energy level of the people of Karbala who rose against tyranny without any fear as intrepid, indomitable soldiers who fought from Fajr to Dahab against 30,000 soldiers try to put an army of 72 in front of 30,000 soldiers it should take no more than 30 minutes you will annihilate them but 7 hours still they're still fighting and half the army as some historians say Imam Hussein alaihi salam lost half of his army roughly or a little less than that during Salah at the time that the Imam was willing to sacrifice his entire entourage for the sake of Salah because Salah is the pillar of God's methodology by which the human connects with God to show their gratitude towards Allah Inna Salata tanhaan anil fahshai wal munkar waladhikrullahi akbar it is one of the greatest forms of worship Salah that our prophets and our Imam used to say as-salah, as-salah, how else you connect if you don't pray? and the importance of Salah and the spiritual components of Salah that when you and I leave it and we stop praying we're actually disconnecting from that grace of God that we need to discuss hence the Imam used to show us that in the thick of the battle like Imam alaihi salam while he's fighting Muawiyah in Saffin and that day was a very difficult day of war that it started early in the morning till late evening and the afternoon the Imam is looking up and the companion is saying why are you looking at the sky he said I am looking if the prayer time has already fallen upon us the companion said to Imam alaihi salam but we are fighting this treacherous individual and we have to focus on killing this enemy and you know the enemy is ever vigilant to try to find a weak moment in us or a moment of distraction lest they strike us and kill us Imam looks at the companion and says if not for Salah then why are we fighting for this man wants to eradicate prayers he wants to eradicate the moral guidance he wants to eradicate the symbols of God he wants to take us astray he wants to disconnect us from the moral foundation that you and I were created for that's the power we're talking about then when we go to Karbala and we hear that the blessed Imam at the peak of the battle says to the enemy Salah, it is time to pray and they mocked him Shemar al-Valjaushan says to Imam your prayers are not accepted they will not be accepted that's how they mocked them and this was common behavior of the Bani Humayyad to belittle the agents of God to belittle prophets this was them modus Iblis does this hmm and one of the people who buys the Hadith to belittle the path of God without knowledge and he takes it with him those who create frivolous talk to take people away from God and they mock the religion of God and he takes it with him Allah says they are the ones who will be punished the most who incite negativity who incite destruction who incite the destruction of mankind who prevent the promotion of growth and success in humanity among our people there are people like that but by Allah's grace there are very small minority the majority is good the human race majority is good but it doesn't take too many in the minority to become vocal upon which the majority follows Karbala was a minority vocal group but towards Allah you will find evil doers are a minority but against Allah it's two vocal groups that are minorities that affects the majority and we call the majority usually silent majority vocal minority silent majority God forbid you and I are the silent majority God forbid and this conversation tonight and these conversations in this subsequent night is for you and I to get out of our slumber and to get out of being the silent majority and to become the minority of vocality such that we move and we bring justice on this earth you are the best in the community You promote good You forbid evil How important is that even Lukman talking to his sons is Ya Buhnauya You promote good you forbid evil how important is that even Lukman talking to his sons is Ya Buhnauya you promote good you forbid evil in Surat Luqman. When Luqman is talking to his son, my son don't associate anyone with Allah. It's in the shirk Allah Dhul Mun'adeem. Then he continues, my son, promote, maintain prayers. Aqim As-Sala. Promote good for bed-evil. Aqim As-Sala Wa Amor Bil-Ma'aruf. Wa An-Hani Al-Munkar. Wa As-Mir Al-Ama As-Saba. And be patient with what comes towards you. In nadalika min azmi l-umur, this is a difficult task. It's heavy. The father is advising the son, be careful. This life is full of slippery roads. It's full of challenges. Be careful. Be patient. Have vision. This conversation tonight and all these nights is about the promotion of morality. Imam Hussein Alai Salam when he writes his last will to Muhammad bin Hanafiyah. And he says to him, this is my will to you. I am not going to create mischief. I am not going because I am hungry for power. I am not going because I covet the Khilafah. The religion of my grandfather. For there is an outright attempt to obfuscate the Dean of Allah. You know what Muawiyah tried to do? He took the pulpit of the Prophet which was such an iconic symbol of remembrance through knowledge. For the pulpit became the seat of the Prophet's distribution of knowledge. People longed when the Prophet would climb up the pulpit because they knew that all these jewels are going to be thrown at them that will guide them for a better future. People used to hug the tree. There was a tree right outside the mosque in Medina that the Prophet used to lean on. People used to hug that tree just to remember how the Prophet used to lean on that tree. That while he used to give them guidance how important that tree became. That it became the symbol of knowledge. The symbol of gratitude. The symbol of the way of Allah Subhanahu ta'ala. Muawiyah was quite cognizant of this fact and he wanted to eradicate. His father as you know, his father Abu Sufyan said that I will erase this religion. I did not succeed from the outside when I fought this man who calls himself the Prophet of God but I will like a Trojan horse get inside and I will manipulate it. You know that when his son became the governor he went as a blind man to the grave of Hamza and he kicked the grave and he said that war that you and your men fought my men of Makkah that religion is in my hands. This is what Abu Sufyan stated after the Battle of Ahud. Let's think about it. So this hasn't stopped today. If you listen to the media, the demonization of Islam. You notice by the way when a Muslim commits a heinous act, he's a terrorist. But when a white man commits a heinous act, he's mentally deranged. So that's a mental person. We're terrorists. Alhamdulillah we're not mental. I mean that's an accolade relatively speaking. But the idea is yes, demonize this one but not that one. As a child growing up in the West, I used to hear how Islam is a religion of violence. It was spread with a sword. While it wasn't a public political conversation but these tentacles were already placed deep within societies to demonize this great religion of God that has been what we call a concerted persistent effort by which to annihilate the truth of God because it is the satanic modus operandi. When he said, It is by your authority God. You have allowed me, I asked you, then I will obfuscate. I will begold them. I will fool them and I will add false with truth and confuse them. That's why the Quran is called, what is it called? Why is it for Khan? It is that which decipher is wrong from rights. It takes the gray matter and makes it into black and white. It makes it easier for you and I to see the truth. It takes the fog away. It gives us clarity. The prophet was like that. I am a clear We never sent messengers to a people except by the language of its people so that they can clarify and explain it to them with clarity. Look how Quran is a book of guidance. So my question here is if Allah did not send prophets to us and did not send us such role models who are reflect us even in the dark of the night who God has ensured that my inner conscience is also capable of deciphering the basic knowledge of right versus wrong which the atheists try to use as which is only necessary. It's not complete. My inner conscience is essential but it will not reach completion unless there is an outer agency that completes with me just like Allah can a key. So when we discuss Karbala, this is the argument, the moral argument. And you and I without prophets and imams, without revelation, people say how do you know the Quran is the right book? Just a quick touch on this. How do you know the Quran is the book of God? Many people ask their question. First question that you must question which you must answer is that are we moral human beings or are we not? You know even atheists say God doesn't exist. Why? Oh because evil exists. So what? Oh we don't like evil. Good. You don't like evil? I don't like evil either. Yeah but you see an all good God cannot create evil and since evil exists then an all good God doesn't exist because evil exists. Interesting. But you see an all good God has allowed evil to exist holistically in order to enhance good. Oh what do you mean? I said do you call a teacher evil? And then he says no. So when you go to school and your teacher gives you an exam do you call them evil? And says no. I said do you know every exam is a lot of evil? All the wrong answers. All the wrong multiple answers. You know multiple choice. You got five answers possible. Four are evil, one is good. If you have ten questions, four are evil, ten are good. You call the teacher evil? I said no. I said well then evil is good. It's just that you have to avoid it. That's different. So now but you notice how the atheist is moral. Subhanallah. He says yeah I have a conscience. I don't like pain. He perfected the self and taught it wrong and right. Thank God I can talk to you now. We've got the same operating system. Our machine language is the same. We can communicate. It's just your definitions in the wrong place. That's why you are where you are. But at the end of the day it's the moral argument. Everything falls apart materially. It's the moral argument. If you have a bad friend who cheats and lies to you, you don't like to be with them. And life becomes hell. A person who does not cheat you, does not lie to you, who is honest and sincere. You have treasures. Imam Ali A.S. says shame to the human being, to the person who when they find a good friend they lose them. Shame upon them. For it is a treasure very difficult to find. I know every one of us in this room has been cheated sometimes somewhere in our lives or we have cheated others. Without doubts. We have been cheated. It's human nature. We all walk around with lots of scars. Many a times people reach stages of total paranoia where they become so, you know, what we call shifty. They don't have calmness in them. It's because they've been cheated so many times. They don't know who to trust. The word trust, honesty, integrity. These are the moral foundations that builds the entire existence. It is so important brothers and sisters. And Allah is telling us we have honored you. We have given you this morality and I will talk about this power of morality within us, within the time that I may have within these nights. It's all about the moral argument. It's all about Makarimul Akhlaq. Hustul Hulq, the Prophet said. Khayru Rafiq. When you have good moral conduct, you have the best friend. For the human race is looking for those kinds of people. When you have an honest person, imagine you marry a spouse who is of that quality. You have a treasure. For that is when happiness begins to flourish. It begins to grow. It's when people are what we call self-centered, egotistic, egoistic, pontificators, self-aggrandizers. These are the kinds of people who cause hell on earth. We have a good example of the President of the United States today, Salawat. You wonder, you find what a difference between Aiman and the way Yazid was. He was very arrogant, self-centered. So tonight, just as a brief introduction. Allah SWT said, We carried them in the sea and the sea. We gave them to those doctors. Allah SWT honored us. We honored you, Allah says. We have allowed you to travel on the seas and on the land and have given you all kinds of food to eat. Just think about when you go into a nice restaurant or at home, when you have a six-course meal, it's got all the hues and the colors of the rainbow and the taste and the flavors are uniquely designed to attract our olfactory and our tongues and our eyes and each one of it plays a part that while I'm getting energized to remain healthy, it's a pleasurable experience. God said, I honored you. So as an introduction tonight, and I'll continue to talk about this responsibility that you and I have, is in the honor, honor. And when you and I believe in the honor of Allah SWT, individually, then you and I will feel extremely good. Really? Who is ugly? I have never seen an ugly person. There is no ugliness in the physical. Ugly is in bad actions. Ugly is when we lie, when we cheat, when we're arrogant, we're ugly. Otherwise, there is no ugliness. Every human being is magnificent. Every creation is magnificent. It's where it belongs and it needs to be there. And if you take it away, it's no longer what it is. So if you try to erase something that's naturally brought forth, you and I are rejecting the mercy of Allah. You and I are the greatest gifts God has given to us. Look in the mirror. Do you not see how great we are as a creation? Allah constantly talks to us like that. If there is one thing that strikes my heart the most, I say it sincerely. And I can't stop. Every single day I wake up. I remember Imam Ali AS teaching me that when he would wake up, he would put his right foot on the floor. He says, There is no authority, but the Almighty. And thank you for giving me this opportunity to wake up and to open my eyes and to one more day to serve you. Some of us wake up another day. Can't wait. No. Wake up. Meet the bull by the horns. Trouble. If you and I create trouble upon ourselves, we are foolish. You know, there's one thing to go fight an enemy and you're holding a gun to shoot yourself in the foot. The enemy loves you. Unforced errors. You know, you play tennis. The opponent loves when you make unforced errors. They don't have to do anything. You kill yourself. The foolish thing is retirement. Retire for what? What are you going to do? Stare at the wall? Oh, I'd like to just relax. And do what? Become a vegetable? How? Scholars. Great scholars. Imam Khomeini was busy reading, writing. He says, you're old. You have cancer. He says, I don't want to meet my Lord ignorant. Do you ever say I'm an old man? I'm an old woman. I'm going to die now? Say, Allah, increase one more minute so that I can acquire this grace so that on judgment day I can tell you that I struggled upon struggling till I met you. But that was why I was created. I wasn't created to become a dummy. I was created in front of universities or I go into places that may have animosity towards me. I just think of Imam Hussein, alaihissalaam. I think of Imam Ali, alaihissalaam. I think of Imam Hassan, alaihissalaam. I think of the Holy Prophet, my God. The iconic figure, the pillar of humanity who stands at the Kaaba, unafraid, and he does Salah and behind him is Ali ibn Abi Talab, alaihissalaam and Khadija alaihissalaam. Three of them, unafraid, doing Salah. The foundation of what we call the very movement of morality. That when the Prophet was commanded by Allah to now reveal, he said, if I tell you there is a caravan behind this mountain which you cannot see, will you believe me? They said, you are trustworthy, honest. Think about it. What are the two foundations? Trustworthy, honest. This is our Prophet. We say, okay, that Allah says, you must be trustworthy, you must be honest. And if you don't practice that, then you have gone astray from your Shahadatein. And the people said, yes, we will believe you. He says, then I say to you there is no God but Allah. And I am his messenger. They were stunned, because what he told them now implied that they are going to have to remove the 360 gods at the Kaaba, which was infested by Iblis. Honesty, integrity. You understand? So when people say, how do you know the Quran is the book of God? Very simple. Am I not moral? I cannot adjudicate Halal and Haram, Mustahab, Makru, Mubah, the Ahkam al-Khamsa, the five laws of Islam, the five laws of life, unless somebody tells me. Who's going to tell me? 51% vote in a room? Relative morality is bankrupt. Hitler had majority of Germany believing that the Aryan race is superior and that it should eradicate the weaker link. And does that make it moral? No. 51%? Not even 1%. God says, وَإِنْ كَانُ مِنْ قَبْلُوا لَفِي ضَلَالِمْ مُبِينَ If I didn't send prophets to you, you were in utter darkness, how would you know what is Halal and Haram? So when people ask me the question, I say to them morality is essential. It is central. If the Quran is not the book of guidance, then there is another better. But there has to be one. For that demand, when I'm hungry, there must be food. When I'm thirsty, there must be something to satiate my thirst. So what is going to fulfill my moral arguments? You'll find there is no book in the world like the Quran on earth and I travel extensively around the world. I go to temples, I go to churches, I sit with pundits of all kinds because I'm curious to know if they have something better. The Quran is the only book on earth where Allah speaks from cover to cover. Think about it. No religion out there has a God talking by himself. Subhanallah. The Quran is the only book where even the Holy Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who is the most powerful agency on earth, who has more right on the believers than they have upon themselves, is not allowed to speak in the Quran without the permission of Allah, Subhanallah. Isn't that in and of itself evidence enough for you now to understand where truth lies? Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Muhammad. We have a responsibility, my brothers and sisters and I'm honored to be in this circle tonight. As I say, I'm honored to be alive and I'm honored to be living the days of Ashura. And I pray to Allah to give us as many as we can so that we can infuse within us hope and motivation. And each year we recharge our batteries and Ramadan comes and then we strengthen our spirits with it while we understand the movement and we become complete human beings over time. And I'm honored to be in your circles. I'm honored that the world right now is busy commemorating Karbala. We say, May God reward you for the what we call remembering the tragedy of Karbala. May Allah reward us but it means nothing for us if we don't practice it. When I look at the Quran what really really touches me the most is God talks to me. You know whenever you watch realities of history even movies, you see when there's a king and the slave comes in front of the king the king has an arrogant level. There's a level of power and authority, there's arrogance and the slave is terrified and if you do one wrong thing the king gets angry and tosses shaped us, maintains us he owns us, forget about the king Allah is greater than all kings combined and he talks to me he talks to you you understand that? He's reasoning with us My God when I read the Quran when Allah says We have made Quran easy to remember who will pay heed I'm thinking my Lord why don't you just strike me he says no There is no compulsion in religion Truth is clear from error, thank you Can you imagine this? The king of kings is talking to us he's giving us hope he's telling us I shaped you, I formed you I put you on this earth you disobey me every day sometimes sometimes once in a week if we create trouble on earth shame on us if we don't obey him shame on us if we don't worship him shame on us if we don't appreciate him in Karbala there were people who understood that Imam Hussein alaihi salam arrives in Karbala on the third and his horses are not moving he inquires and then he says what is this land called he realizes the prophet had already told him Umma Salma was told by the prophet that when this little dust that you're holding in your hand when it turns red you will know that my grandson has been martyred the prophet used to cry every time he remembered Jibril telling him that there will come a time soon this child of yours that you're holding in your hand the one who's behind your back when you just sojourned when the prophet said Hussein you know from me and I'm from Hussein Hassan and Hussein the leaders of the youth in paradise he said soon, soon they will corner him they will make him thirsty they will abuse him they will corner his they will come and strike you and you will have to meet it on earth have better leaders than these people that's why I say shame on us if we don't practice shame on us you find Imam Hussein alaihi salam inquires whose land is this they said the Banu Asad Imam said call the leaders the perfection of Karbala you know when I read history of Karbala I said the perfection of every step of our blessed Imam was so meticulously orchestrated he made sure not a single step was out of sync to ensure that you and I have the best religion in the world nobody has this kind of leadership you find their leaders slipped, made mistakes covered them up and let the people hide it in their fades but not our imams perfection he calls the Banu Asad and the Banu Asad comes he says I want to buy this land of yours they said why he said I want to buy it they sold it to him can you imagine our Imam who is going to be massacred unfairly and unjustly wants to ensure that the blood that he will spill through the hands of a tyrant upon which he will be buried on he doesn't want it to be owned by anyone but Allah that level of perfection in history you will never find where a people going towards justice ensured that even the land was proper so the Imam gives them money and then he looks at the Banu Asad he said soon my body and my people's body will be strewn your children come and play with the sand and throw it upon us so that our bodies are covered can you imagine the agent of Allah is asking for such where are the people where are these people who did allegiance to the Prophet where are they that the Imam has to make sense of requests this is why you and I cannot take this life easy the Imam was vigilant and he was to such level of perfection he ensured that you and I understand this message very clearly the day of Ashura begins and we will talk about that as you know the third the Imam arrives the seventh you find the Imam has no more water the seventh of Muharram Imam was deprived of water because he had embanked next to the Euphrates but as you know Omar ibn Sa'd who was the commander sent to fight Imam Husayn in Karbala under the command of Ibn Ziyad who was in Kufa tells him that remove Husayn ibn Ali and his family and his army from water looks at how cowardly they were they were cowards the same way Muawiyah was Muawiyah had the same characteristic when he fought Imam Ali alaihi salam when he fought Imam in Safin Muawiyah's army and they take over the Euphrates now Muawiyah's army is thirsty Imam says feed them all feed their animals too because this is the ahlak of the agents of God that we do not deny water even to our enemies but the opposite was what took place so when we talk about water when we talk about the thirst it is to show you how much the enemy was annoyed that Imam Husayn did not give them allegiance they were so annoyed that they did the worst things to vent out their anger but to us as observers it shows the victory of our blessed Imam and the firmness of our Imam that even if you deny us water even if you deny us air we will continue to gas while we fight for justice there were people like them and if there is one group that touches my heart tonight was a couple by the name of Abdullah ibn Umair kalbi Abdullah ibn Umair was a Christian and Umbe Wahab was a woman who he married and you find that he comes there as a newlywed and they were crossing pathways in Karbala and they meet the blessed Imam and they realize that there is treachery taking place imagine you just got married you have a future you are in love with your spouse your spouse loves you you are planning usually people plan honeymoons and they plan all kinds of wonderful growth for their families right you want to have children you want to build a nice foundation but notice Abdullah ibn Umair he notices Imam is in the state of peril how many of us would be like Abdullah ibn Umair that while I have this wonderful future the Imam is saying who will help me Abdullah says I will help you he became a believer as you know and his spirit his valor was unprecedented that we pray to Allah that give us the strength to be in that relationship like Abdullah that while he was deeply in love with his spouse he said this life has no meaning if it is not for the pleasure of Allah and what greater pleasure than to stand behind this great man who is the grandson of the prophet who is the flag bearer of justice and truth that today 14 centuries later the name of Abdullah ibn Umair and his wife have not been erased Allah says we erase your zikr you and I want to have our zikr to be erased then let's be like Abdullah ibn Umair Abdullah goes to his wife he says I am going forward now the day of the battle begins and Abdullah was one of the first ones who ask Imam he says give me permission to go and fight they say one on one battle in the initial stages and then it escalated into a full battle and there were three flanks as you know Abbas was in the center Zuhair ibn Qayn was on one flank and Habib ibn Amadair was on the other flank there were three flanks Imam strategically broke the army into three parts to keep this large army at bay so he had to break them into three before that started you find that Abdullah asks Imam Hussein give me permission to go historians say one of the only women who became Shahidah in Karbala was his wife that love relationship brothers and sisters it's something we need to talk about but there's no time tonight how do you give up that love your beloved that you just engage with the one you just married the beauty the apple of your eye Qurrat Aayun but now you're going to say he's going to go forward he admits her goodbye I'm going forward she says my husband go I am so proud of you how many spouses are like that that give up this world for the love of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala how many not many this is why they are so special but they are special for you and I to use as an example in our day to day lives then when we have little problems in our marriages when we have little problems in our societies let's take Abdullah and his wife as a good example then be willing to sacrifice for the greater good so Abdullah goes forward and they say Abdullah was an amazing fighter he was an incredible fighter his ability was incredible he was a valiant soldier and while he's fighting he's striking the enemies his wife became extremely excited she said Abdullah I am so proud of you she starts running towards him she starts running towards him and he notices his wife coming she starts running towards him he says to her don't come Imam Hussein sees it he said don't go for a woman to fight on a battlefield is forbidden don't go can you imagine that while she's looking at her beloved and she's so in love with him that she wants to be with him she wants to cheer him on she wants to be next to him she wants to fight for justice the Imam of the time is saying to her don't go historians say she stopped in her tracks she looked towards the Imam and she comes back she refuses to go because if the Imam has told me not to do it though I love this man too much I will patiently wait while he fights Abdullah's finger got cut while he looked back a little bit he continued to fight until he was struck by too many soldiers and he collapsed the soldiers moved away as they moved away she felt the need to go and console him so she goes towards him and now she's holding him wiping his face and caressing his hair Imam Hussein alaihi salam witnessed that it's a lesson for us all my brothers and sisters there are people tonight they need our prayers they need our dua it's the most powerful thing you and I will possess our money, our power means nothing prayer dua we all need prayers I pray for all of us I pray for the people of Yemen I pray for the people of Palestine I pray for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and all the countries that I've not mentioned who are suffering right now in the world in Australia, in the Americas those who need our prayers we need to pray for them this is why we are doing this