 Welcome to tonight's live program. Last week, we discussed the holy personality, the eighth holy Imam Imam Ali Al-Rida, alaihi salam. Just to briefly recap, we mentioned his attributes, his divine birth, his mother's dear name and the origins. We also spoke about the spread of Tashayi al-Fikr from Imam Jafar al-Sardik, alaihi salam, and we also ended right at the end with his travels as it were. He travelled from Basra or via Basra to Iran and inshallah we'll now go back to that same point to discuss the same topic, which is basically the social dimensions of Walaya through Imam Ali al-Rida, alaihi salam. With me tonight, again I am honoured to have with me Dr Sayyid Ammar Naqshwani. Salamu alaikum. Wa alaikum as-salam wa rahmatullah. Again inshallah we'll discuss and just very quickly recap as it were, where we were, because I think one session, indeed probably a dozen, doesn't really do justice to discuss any masoom or even any, in this case the holy eighth Imam Ali al-Rida, alaihi salam. So we left off, I believe, where we discussed and analysed his brief journey as it were from Basra to Shatt al-Arab and he reached a Persian soil and he could easily, and also his followers, the Shia followers as it were of Islam, could easily have had, maybe not a rebellion but there could have been an outcry as it were. What exactly happened? Why did he take the route eventually in the first instance when he could have pre-determined exactly what the fate would be? Sure, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. A very interesting period to examine that period of the journey of Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam, from Medina towards Khurasan. I think we all recognise that none of the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt, alaihi salam, want to leave Mecca or Medina and we had mentioned how sometimes they're coerced into leaving. Right. And this really was a situation of coercion but an Imam of course knows what's best for the community at the time. And you really notice that after Karbala, there is a world view or an approach that is taken and one may even argue that this was there since Karbala and before even because even with Karbala Imam al-Hussain, alaihi salam, it wasn't the norm for him to want to enter the battlefield. The norm was reconciliation in the ummah. Right. Even sets out to Karbala by saying that we're seeking reconciliation. I think Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam as well, follows that legacy of the Imams from Zayn al-Abideen all the way till his father Imam al-Qadim, alaihi salam, that they believe that reconciliation on the one hand is neither than the ummah. And they also believe that if one has to even dissimulate their faith and conceal some of that which they know to safeguard the interests of the Shia at that time, so it has to be done. And I remember reading a tradition where someone asks Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam, are you Sahib al-Amr? Are you the one who is the companion of the command or the master of the affair of the time? And he replies that while I am Sahib al-Amr of this time, I am not the one who the traditions refer to. Rather at his time, people will come out openly with their beliefs and will come out openly with no fear of concealing. Whereas in my time and the time of the followers of Ahl al-Bayt, we may have to be in a state of taqiyyah. Now there's an underground movement which my beloved teacher, Dr. Jassim Hussein, who has written the wonderful book, The Occultation of the Twelve Imam, where he looks at the Waqala underground movement that took place from Imam al-Sadaq's time onwards, where there really was an underground movement where the imams would liaize with their companions in secrecy. You want to collect khums, you can't openly collect khums under the caliph of Harun al-Rashid or Mansur al-Dawaniqi. So you have certain companions who are doing this on your behalf. And I think likewise this is exactly what begins to happen with Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam. He continues an underground secret movement where you've got followers of Ahl al-Bayt positions, some in Cairo, some in Khufa, some in Baghdad and they all have a responsibility. But al-Ma'mun has already had a battle with his brother al-Amin. They've beheaded the brother. Baghdad is a place full of blood. And so al-Ma'mun believes that coercing Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam, to come towards that land, is going to, number one, bring him the al-Aliad vow. And number two, is going to possibly quash or even quell the rebellions from the Hassanid line. So remember the grandchildren of Imam al-Hassan alaihi salam, many of them had rebelled against the Abbasid caliphate. The Hussaini line, there isn't that rebellion. But in the Hassanid line, that rebellion seems to exist. The Imams don't feel that rebellion is the way forward for their community. And not that the Imam trusts what al-Ma'mun is doing. But there's a sizable Shi'a population there. As we had mentioned, the famous Ash-Ari tribe had already established themselves as the Shi'a of Qom. And there were Shi'a in other provinces as well. So it was a place where at least he could have some of his closest companions with him. You look at the likes of Rayyan ibn Sult, for example, close companion. Some say he's of Baghdadi origin, others say he's of Khurasani origin. These people would have connections in these areas. They'd have contacts, they'd know families in these areas. So it wasn't like Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam, was going there without having known that there can still be a Shi'a connection. But he also wanted to make clear that there wasn't much trust of the person in power. Right, okay, okay. Now, there's many instances. Actually, we haven't got enough time to actually discuss all of them. But let's pick a few, I think, inshallah, to analyse and really dissect and dwell and see what we can actually take from that lesson. So the first one that I'm going to post to you is the famous incident of the Idil fitr prayer, where he was requested, as it were, to lead the prayer. What happened, correct me if I'm wrong, the holy Imam refused initially. What exactly happened? And what was so poignant about this incident? Well, Al-Mu'mun wants to tell everybody listen, this is my successor. This is the prince. This is the one who's going to look after the religion after me. The Imam wants nothing to do with that. Right. And the Ma'mun continuously stresses that you have to and the Imam wants to reject taking this. And the Ma'mun, Ma'mun decides that he reminds the Imam that in the same way your grandfather Ali was forced to be in a shura of six when they were deciding about the appointment of Othman bin Affan. You know, when Othman becomes Khalifa, originally there's a shura of six, Oman ibn al-Khaf decides, where they were deciding who should be the Khalifa. So you had Talha, Zubar, Abdurrahman bin Aouf, Sa'al ibn Abi Waqas, Othman bin Affan, and Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, Al-Salam. So what happens is that Oman makes it clear that in that shura of six, that if I agree on the next Khalif and one disagrees, you have to kill the one that disagrees. So that's how it was. Yeah, you have to kill the one that disagrees. And it's quite interesting because these six are meant to all be granted jannah. And really, you know, this constant repetition of the granting of paradise to certain individuals, the other side of the coin is that some of these individuals were in near bloodshed moments with one another. You know, you only have to look at the Battle of Jamel, you know, Talha and Zubar on one side, Ali on the other, and Aisha, the wife of the Prophet, feels it's important for her to look after the interest of Talha and Zubar at that time, even though Ali on the other side is another of those promised jannah. And so what happens is that if I agree and one disagrees, you have to kill the one that disagrees. And if four agree and two disagree on who the Khalifa should be, say, for example, four of you agree, then two disagreed. And the two that disagreed were Abd al-Rahman bin Awf and Ali bin Talib, you have to behead the two of them. But you'll still end up meeting in jannah. And then if you have three that agree and three that disagree, Yes. Then the appointment is in the hands of Abd al-Rahman bin Awf. And Abd al-Rahman bin Awf famously says that he believes that Ali should be the next Khalifa as the third Khalifa. Okay. If he follows the sunnah of the Prophet and of the sheikhain of Abu Bakr and Amr. And Imam Ali bin Ali, peace be upon him, refuses this. And then when he asks Othman, will you follow the sunnah of the Prophet and the sheikhain? Othman accepts and therefore Othman becomes caliph. Now there's a number of interesting points here. Right. The first one obviously is willingness to behead people if they don't come to a decision that you agree with. Yes. I don't know, you know, obviously the later concept came in of Ijtihad that anyone who comes with their own Ijtihad, you know, sometimes people make mistakes, you know, involving beheadings. Then there is number two. The second interesting point is if the sunnah of Abu Bakr and Amr is the same as that of the Prophet, why then would there be a need to make them a condition? You see, why would you need to say you have to follow the sunnah of the Prophet Abu Bakr and Amr when you could easily just say, will you follow the sunnah of the Prophet? And that's where Ali bin Ali Ta'ala, peace be upon him, says that I'll follow the sunnah of the Prophet, but not of anybody else. And this, by the way, is interesting that you find within Sunni literature that there did reach a point in the Muslim Ummah where someone would say that's the sunnah of the Prophet and others would say, but Abu Bakr and Amr said. And in usul al-Fiqh, it's an interesting discussion. If you're looking at usul al-Fiqh, it's an interesting discussion that if there is a hadith that says the Prophet said, and then Ibn Abbas says that there's a group who say Abu Bakr and Amr said, then in usul al-Fiqh, all they say is that it shows the Prophet's, you know, the Prophet's words comes above the companions rather than dissecting why would there now be a different sunnah. But the point that Mamoon wants to push forward is that your grandfather was compelled to take a position and likewise you're going to be compelled as well. Meaning that, you know what? I am willing to be head. I have no problem with it whatsoever if you don't abide by this. To which Imam al-Rada al-Salam interestingly says, okay, I'll take a position, but you can't expect me to be someone who, you know, legislates and gives verdicts and so on. So, you know, I'll take a position that's very, how could we call it? You know, when you put someone in a political position who really is not making many decisions, but you've put them there, Imam says, listen, I'm not going to lead anything, I'm not going to legislate anything, and I'll take that position. And so they want to have this pump or this wonderful gathering on the day of Eid and, you know, Al-Mu'mun wants Ali ibn Musa al-Rada to lead Salah. Right. You know, Eid Salah is wajib. Yes. In the presence of a Masum. And our day, you know, it falls similar to Salat al-Jum'ah, it's an option. Yeah, yeah, sure. And so, Al-Mu'mun thinks, you know what? Imam al-Rada is going to come out and he's going to have that, you know, like the pompous look that Al-Mu'mun would have, or the regalia that would be expected of an Abbasid or an Umayyad Caliph, Imam al-Rada on the country comes out barefooted. Barefooted, yes. As is recommended, following the sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his family, and the simplicity, and the look, and the crowds, and the thongs of people who are now following him, and Al-Mu'mun's taken aback by this. They actually, sorry, they actually followed him, actually wearing the same sort of attire, didn't they? Yeah, yeah, everyone started following him because they felt that for the first time in a long time, the sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his family is now returning. Because you notice that with the Umayyads, you know, Omar has a famous discussion with Muawiyah as to what the hell's going on with all this pomp and regalia that you're exhibiting in Sham. Muawiyah wants to try and justify it, you know, by highlighting that, you know, there are certain dignitaries from others, other empires that come and visit and we have to live up to the time. Yeah, yeah. And likewise with Imam Al-Rada alayhi salam, and I'll say something very interesting here as well that while for that Salat al-Aid, it shook the community. There were others who began to question Imam Al-Rada as to how he could take a position where he's going to now be in a palace, let's say, and he's going to have, you know, really comfortable sofas to sit on. And Imam Al-Rada replies to this person, he says to him, Nabi Yusuf alayhi salam, didn't sit on comfortable sofas. If you look in our community sometimes, if someone gets into politics, they either condemn them as kafir, munafiq, or thief. It's very rare for our community to ever have anything good to say about anyone who enters politics. That's a good point. Now there are some people who have entered politics and destroyed their rep. There are others, rep's not bad at all, but people have this, bring this, bring these two concepts together, politics and corruption. So when they bring these two concepts together, politics, corruption, if someone enters politics straight away, these people you'll find never studied that Imam Al-Rada worked with al-Mu'mun, Ali ibn Yaqtin was told by Imam Musa Al-Kalam to remain with Harun al-Rashid. Imam Al-Hassan does a treaty with Muawiyah. Imam Amir al-Mu'minin decides that certain personalities he's got to cooperate with even though we know what our opinion is of some of those personalities and so on. So firstly the one who enters politics, and this is the wonderful thing about the lives of Ahlul Bayt, there are lessons from each from a different angle. The one who enters politics they call him a kafir or they call him a munaafir or they call him a thief. Why do they call him a thief? They call him a thief because there is also this concept that when you enter politics you should be someone who tries to live as the poorest of your society. Now Imam Ali ibn Al-Rada did that. That was known. Imam Musa Al-Qadim on the other hand for example was known to own a number of shirts. Imam Al-Rada now there's a major question mark because when Imam Al-Rada becomes the heir apparent or the prince of the nation or as the Iranians would love to always throw the word sultan in. Yes, yes. I don't know if that's very Arab to throw a sultan always when you say Ali ibn Musa I think that's more of a Iranian sultans and kings and so on. But people were now starting to say that how could he be sitting on these couches and what's interesting is there are prophets of Allah who lived very comfortable lives just because someone has a very nice couch or lives in a very nice house or dwelling or even if there's a politician who's living in a nice area. You know Nabi Dawood Nabi Suleiman Nabi Suleiman's kingdom you know people in London and Manhattan would be jealous of you know how that palace was you know. The glass floor. Yeah the glass floor you're gonna find nothing like that in the Hamptons or in you know in Beverly Hills or in in Monaco you know this palace is beyond belief. Now how could they have that how could Imam Al-Rada alayhi salam live like that and Imam Al-Rada would show a point to Nabi Yusuf. Like Nabi Yusuf had a comfortable couch do you have a problem with him. Yes. And then all of a sudden people are no no no no I don't have a problem. So this thing in our communities where we generalize completely on people who either enter politics or are living comfortably because of success politically. Yes, yes. I think Imam Al-Rada shatters that quite a bit. Yeah definitely it's a very good point that you made actually. Yeah. You know unfortunately there is this stigma that people perhaps may be jealous perhaps may as you said you know assume that one who is the Marsilmoy, the Imam has to leave an ultra-humble life according to their vision, as it were. But no, thank you for that. There's another very famous incident, and this actually ties in really nicely, I think, with the actual title of tonight's show and the last show, which was with regards to the Dimensions of Wallaya. And there's a famous hadith, as it were. In English, it's often referred to as the Fortress Hadith, but formally and officially, it's referred to as the Hadith al-Silsala al-Dahabiyah. Yes. What exactly is it, and why is it so, so crucial to actually understand and dwell into the dynamics of it? Because this is really, really going to the core. Yeah, Silsala al-Dahabiyah, the Golden Chain, I wish we had more chains. I wish we had more in the world of hadith. I think, you know, Oswali scholars out there would certainly have wished that we had a lot more golden chains with Tawatur, rather than having to go to a world of, you know, trying to prove khabar al-wahid and so on. Because the Golden Chain is, is when you have a hadith, Imam al-Raza, al-Salam, from Imam al-Qadr, narrates from Imam al-Sadaq, from Imam al-Batar, from Imam Zayn al-Abideen, from Imam al-Hussain, from Imam al-Hassan, from Amir al-Mu'mineen, from Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi, who obviously would be from Jibrail, from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That Golden Chain, the reason I say I wish we had more of it is because, you know, in the world of hadith, you've got so many different issues that pop up in the world of hadith where you really can't find this Golden Chain so much. So when you have it, like gold, it's precious. To have a Golden Chain hadith, it's absolutely precious. You know, because in the world of hadith, you've either got, you've got this classification where you're either in the world of Tawatur, where then you're like, yes, we're in the world of Tawatur, we're comfortable, or if we haven't reached Tawatur, then we're going in the world of Mustafil and khabar al-wahid. We're not reaching Tawatur, we're going in a world where, okay, we can rely on that person who brings us a narration, although it's not got as many chains and generations of narrators as we'd like, and then we begin to open up a lot more areas. Opinions and so on. Opinions and so on about, you know, about the significance of hadith. Yeah. You know, some of the Ossooli scholars, they say, when you look at the Qur'an, it's Qata'i al-Sudur, Zanni al-Dalala. Whereas when you look at hadith, it's Zanni al-Sudur and Qata'i al-Dalala, and what they mean by all of this is that the Qur'an, in terms of transmission, fantastic. Okay. But then in terms of what you're, you know, what you're learning from is open to debate as to, you know, what's being signified from this message in this ayah. We know that the Qur'an, the world of hadith, in terms of it open to question, in terms of what's being learned from it and significance, so much significance, so much which will be applied into our traditions. And so when you look at that golden chain, you have this wonderful moment where you've got the Imam narrating from Imam Al-Kawam, narrating from Imam As-Sadiq, that divine light in the descendants of Abraham, Zuriya Tibrahim, which continued and was manifested through Abu Talib and Abdullah, Abdullah having Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa ala. Abu Talib having Imam Ali as his son. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa ala having Fatumat al-Zahra, Imam Ali marrying Fatumat al-Zahra, that golden divine light, and that's why in the durud, what does everyone say? Muhammad and his family, like you said, your blessings on Abraham and his family. That divine light shunned through, inherited in the charismatic authority of the Imams of Al-Muhammad, allowing the manifestation of Thaqalain to happen. And so that hadith, what happens is when he finishes providing the Isnaat, and it's very interesting that when we look at the world of hadith, you look at for example you've got the sciences in the world of hadith, you're going into Deraya and within Deraya, the Rijal and the Isnaat, and you're looking also for Metin and other areas of hadith. When you're going into that world, you're finding that many will assume that the Isnaat system might have begun, for example, from Sheikh Al-Kulaini and Sheikh Al-Tawsi and so on, whereas you've got Imam Al-Radha, providing an Isnaat for the famous hadith, so he gives that Isnaat from Imam Al-Kawam, from Imam Al-Sadaq, from Imam Al-Baqir, from Imam Zana Abideen, from Imam Al-Hussein, from Imam Hassan, from Imam Ali, from Rasulullah Sahib, from Jibrayl, from Allah SWT, which in English is, in English is that the fortress that there is no God but Allah is the fortress. Affirmation, as you were. Yes, whoever enters the fortress is protected from the punishment of Allah SWT, so Allah is saying to us that that's my fortress, the one who enters it, and I think that could open up some phenomenal discussions, and I think perennialists out there will love it because they'll be like, listen, anyone who believes in God, there's different paths to God, pluralists out there will love this tradition, because they'll be like, look, there's more than one way to Allah, there's more than one way to God, but then the people are bewildered because they're like, that's it. We all know that, we have to say la ilaha illallah, we all know that, we all know that anyone who says la ilaha illallah is in the fortress of Allah, Allah's never going to punish someone who says la ilaha illallah, although quite ironic in the Muslim world today, how many got beheaded even though they believe in la ilaha illallah, but that's ISIS in their world, but then the Imam says, I am one of the conditions of la ilaha illallah. Millions may say la ilaha illallah in this world, but how many of them know who Ali ibn Musa is? There are many out there who'll say, I love the Ahlul Bayt, you shia are nothing special just because you love the Ahlul Bayt, we love the Ahlul Bayt, but it's not about special, it's not war over here, it's not war, what have we got to lose by learning more about the beautiful lights of Ahlul Bayt, I think Ahlul Sunnah and their origin, you'll find that they have an immense love for Ahlul Bayt, it's only the likes of Ibn Taymiyyah who try and really jump in and say, well you know what, first few, you've got to give them respect, the next few scholars, the last law, nah, pretty average, and sadly they miss out on understanding that one of the conditions of la ilaha illallah is the belief in the Thaqalain, the Quran and the Ahlul Bayt side by side, you hold on to them, you will never go astray. Right, but the interesting point about this hadith is that it's narrated in numerous Sunnahi books as well, I mean Sheikh Sadaq mentions this and it's seen as being extremely authentic, but it continues in certain Sunnahi books as well and that's what's quite ironic that as you mentioned, Sunnahis have this love for Ahlul Bayt, but in terms of actually going into the detail, it's often overlooked. Well, I think when it's mentioned in the books of our brothers in Sunnah, I think I think that part is definitely mentioned, as to Imam Ar-Raza and saying I am one of the conditions of la ilaha illallah, I think you'll find there's a difference of opinion as to that last part. Okay, okay, we'll go to the next section now where the holy Imam had a number of different debates and there's numerous debates. For example, there's a debate with a Hindu high priest, there's a debate with numerous personalities who were seen as being quite famed for their knowledge at that time. What sort of lessons can we get from that as it were? You know, it's interesting when you mention talk about debates because I think there's a lot of people who constantly call me out for debates and wanting to debate and so on and I noticed someone from one of our brothers in the mosque, he had sent me a clip and he's like, oh, you know, there was a lecture that you gave and you said anyone who wants to debate me, you know, I'll debate them at any time and it was very interesting how they cut and paste that particular quote of mine from a completely different lecture in a completely different context, how they took a quote from the lecture on Shia Sunni marriage, cut it and then pasted it somewhere else and said, look, you're challenging us all for a debate. And it's very interesting how many Muslims out there just want to be involved in debates, but the intention in many occasions, sadly, is egoistic battles against one another. And in many cases, you'll find Imam Al-Rada, his first approach wasn't debates. Imam Al-Rada would say, listen, you have your theological school, we have ours. We'll present ours, you present yours. And the people are free to choose which one they want. Today, when you hear everybody saying that, you know what, debate, debate, debate, listen, buddy, you have your presentation, I have my presentation. Sure. And you know, at the end, if anyone finds guidance to the Holy Prophet, peace be upon his family, through your lectures and so be it, if they find it through mine, then so be it. So Imam Al-Rada's first course was not let's go out looking for debates with everybody. Okay. No, no. Al-Ma'mun is the one who compelled Imam Al-Rada, alaihi salam, to debate and challenge and challenged him to be ready and show whether he really has knowledge against the priest of his time, the rabbi of his time, the resurrection of his time, the Hindus of his time, eight years of his time. First thing Imam shows us in these debates, the best ethics is not condescending towards them. You know, sometimes when you're in a debate, you may have this urge to arrogantly make fun of somebody or to egoistically, you know, put someone down. I think that's why in many cases, when you don't want to entertain these debates, because your own ego is going to get in your way. It's going to start taking the mick out of each other and others out there just going to look and say, look at these two, the way they're talking to each other with rudeness or sometimes with disrespect. The Imam, firstly, the Akhlaq is there. Secondly, the Imam never himself says, I'm the scholar of the scholars. On the contrary, I remember Imam Al-Baq al-Hassan was asked by a priest. He said to him, you're the scholar of Al-Muhammad. He said, I'm not one of the ignorant. See the difference. You don't need to call me a hundred names. I'm not one of the ignorant. But the third thing, and I think we'll come to it, Insha'Allah, shortly after the break, is the way he looks at certain concepts of the beliefs of others and the way he provides an answer to those concepts that in some cases left the person on the other side dumbfounded by his point. Okay, okay. Sayyidina, thank you for that. Brothers and sisters, we're just going for a short break. Please do join us after the break again, Insha'Allah. And welcome back to tonight's live program on Imam Hussein TV. With me, we have Dr. Syed Ahmad. Dr. Syed Ahmad, As-Salaamu Alaykum. And Insha'Allah, if we can just resume the great discussion actually today, because I think it's attracting quite a big audience in terms of, so we just left off in terms of the debates. So he had, the Holy Imam had a number of debates, discussions, and as you mentioned, without any forcing of authority or trying to influence anyone by condescending them and criticising them and so on and so forth. So from my understanding, he had a debate with a priest, a Hindu priest, an atheist, a Jewish rabbi, and I'm sure others as well. So if we could just probably just highlight those points maybe. And I'd love, you know, I'd love for our, for our viewers to be able to go online and type Imam Rada's debate with the Christians or the atheists with the Jewish rabbi, with the Zoroastrians and with the Hindus. And I think what was beautiful is that Khorasan at that time was quite a diverse pluralistic society. I think sometimes people imagine that in early Islam, there wasn't that pluralism and that freedom of thought for all of these heads of the religions to be able to be in Khorasan shows what the real Islam was rather than what the Islam has become. I think sadly today Muslims in some cases have no respect for the fact that there are people of other religions who have their path towards their Lord, their understanding, their heritage and so on. If I give a couple of just a glimpse of these debates, of which I remember quoting in my biography of the Ma'as-Soumin series in 2011 or something. I think first and foremost with the Jewish rabbi, the Imam said to him that you have a reverence for Moses and he said to him, what makes you revere Moses? So he says to him, well you know there are certain miracles associated with Moses that make us revere him. For I want to ask you for example, what miracles do you remember in Moses's life that Allah gave him? Which mu'ajiza did he give him that made him prove his noble word? You say to me obviously the magic. The magic, the part of the sea. Or the part of the sea. So Imam Rada asks the Jewish rabbi, he says to him, so that was your criteria for believing in Moses, miracles. He's like yeah, he's like so any prophet or anyone who displays miracles you'll take, said yes. He said so what made you reject Christ? If Christ is able to raise the dead and make them alive or Christ is able to cure the leper or Christ is able to cure the blind as we have in the Qur'an, Allah mentions in Sura 3 verse 49 all of the miracles of Jesus son of Mary and we in the school of Ahlul Bayt unlike other schools in Islam have the most emphasis on Jesus's life in our narrations. You look at the description of Jesus in Nahjul Balagh for example or in other works you'll find that there are other famous schools in Islam whose two main books don't have a single narration about Jesus's life. So we have that emphasis. So he tells the Jewish rabbi and Jewish rabbi is dumbfounded because if my criteria for accepting someone as a prophet or as a messiah is that they've displayed miracles, why did you reject Christ? Yes. Then he comes to the Christian priest. He comes to the Christian priest, he says to him, who do you believe is greater? Jesus or Muhammad? Imam R.A. says to him, while Jesus is a great prophet of God, the Holy Prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family is the greatest because he fasted and prayed more than Jesus. The Christian priest replied by saying how dare you say that someone prayed more than the Lord Jesus? To which Imam R.A. replied, if he is your Lord, can you tell me who he was praying to? Yeah? If Jesus son of Mary is your Lord, who is he praying to? Now, Christian theology will say, well, he was the Lord in the heaven and came down the Trinity would then be explained, but to Imam R.A. that was enough of an explanation. Yes. What we're seeing therefore with these debates is that the Imam first shows recognition of the main protagonists of those faith, Moses, Jesus, they're mentioned. They're not disrespected in any way. They're revered, but he contrasts and compares their position with the position of Islam on Christ or on the Holy Prophet peace be upon his family. Viewers do call in, the number should appear on the screen of Imam R.A. saying TV, two posts and ask, say it now, your questions. Insha'Allah, we can discuss the questions as well in this session, which is the final session. The number should appear on the screen right now. Say it now. There's an interesting question that's come in in terms of talking about a personality who I believe was a companion. Rayyan bin Alsalt, who exactly was this prominent figure? Rayyan Ibn As-Sant. Firstly, I just want to say something. Rayyan is a cool name. Okay. And we live in a generation of young families who want to have cool names for their sons. Now, I might be old school, you know, straight to the Ahdal Bayt's names, but there are others who will be like, listen, I want to name my son a cool name. So that, you know, my non-Muslim friends can be like, oh, that really sounds exotic, or it sounds like a pineapple from, you know, Turkey or some trendy or something or trendy or something. So one of the cool names that I would recommend is the Rayyan. Okay. Now, if I'm not mistaken, Rayyan is, you know, this heavenly gate by which those who fasted in the holy month of Ramadan enter. Right. If you fasted in the holy month of Ramadan on the day of judgment, you enter through the gate of Rayyan. Okay. It's a heavenly gate. I see. Let alone other angelic connotations I don't want to go into. But this Rayyan, Ibn Salat, phenomenal personality really is. I think if you're looking, for example, at someone who was a close confidant of at least a couple of the Imams of Ahdal Bayt, for sure. You know, Imam Al-Radha, Imam Al-Jawad, some might even go towards Imam Al-Hadi, Alayhi Salam, you know, a personality who was the famous narrator of the traditions of Ahdal Bayt, Alayhi Salam. You know, when Kuntu Mawla, Fada Ali Mawla, you have Rayyan Ibn Salat. Ali used to me like Aaron was to Moses, Rayyan Ibn Salat. Okay. And he's with the Imam in that difficult period in Khurasan, possibly in some, in some opinions, observing Taqiyyah, not really revealing all of his beliefs. But I think you'll find his legacy, you know, Muhammad and Ali, his sons, renowned narrators of traditions. You know, what legacy do you want then sons who narrate traditions from Imam Al-Hadi or Imam Al-Asghar, Alayhi Salam. And also, I believe that he's definitely a faqih of his time. I think he corrects other jurists. Right. Right. Maybe even theologically, I remember reading Yunus bin Abd Al-Rahman and Rayyan Ibn Salat on Imam Al-Jawad's age for being an Imam. So remember Imam Al-Radha has Imam Al-Jawad, Alayhi Salam. Imam Al-Radha is close to passing away. Imam Al-Jawad's seven, eight years of age. And there's a discussion between Yunus bin Abd Al-Rahman and Rayyan Ibn Salat. And these are two huge personalities in Shia history. And Yunus bin Abd Al-Rahman seemingly has a question mark about the age of Imam Al-Jawad and becoming an Imam and having that much ilm. And Rayyan Ibn Salat famously replies back to him by saying whether he's a day old or a month old or a hundred years old. Allah, when he wants to, can inspire any of his creation to have ilm like we saw with Nabi Isa. Yes. Yes. Nabi, so with Rayyan Ibn Salat, you've got this great personality really. And someone who looked after the affairs of the Imam in his own way. Okay I think there's a question, salamu alaykum. The call has been dropped. There's another question that's been handed over. Why is Imam Al-Rida, Al-Islam, refer to Imam Zamin? Yeah, Imam Zamin or Imam Zamin at some will, sometimes I see like in weddings, people put an Imam Zamin on or they put something, for example, on their right arm. I believe, yeah. And there's a couple different opinions about, you know, the idea of an Imam Zamin, you know, whether it was the coins that were minted with the names of the Imams, it was easy then to get access to a coin like that and put it on. Yes. There's another narration about an Imam offering protection, you know, Imams are the protectors of God's creation, you know, they're designated by Allah to lead mankind and that creation also includes the animal kingdom, you know, and supposedly there was a deer about to be slaughtered. Right. And before that deer is slaughtered, the Imam asks the owner that let that deer go and she will return. The deer goes and comes back and, you know, the owner is astonished that the deer even came back because once you let an animal go, it's as if that deer wanted to go and see its family and then return and it was, you know, there was a protection from the Imam and an honor and trust from the Imam at that moment. And so people believe that if you're going on a journey, maybe some Sadaqah is paid or some coin is placed or some Quranic verses, there's difference of opinion. Okay. Okay. And did the holy Imam, I'm sure he had other devout companions as a word, were there other devout companions as a word that were like? Yeah, for sure. As I mentioned earlier, Yunus bin Abdulrahman, Ali bin Maziar as an example, Ayyub bin Noor, Rayyan ibn Salt, ibn Shabib, Da'bal ibn Ali al-Khuzai, I'd say there's over 300 people who have narrated in our works from Imam Rada, alaihi salam. Okay. Yeah. So phenomenal number of companions and each with their own skills. Okay. We won't quite go to the holy Imam Shahadid, but yeah, if we just go back now and he had the debates as it were, numerous debates, discussions, you know, spread his elm as it were, the knowledge. So how, how was the continuing relationship with him, the holy Imam and Mahmood? How did it progress further now? I think it becomes more tense as, as things go along. Right. See, I'm not, I'm not gonna say that there wasn't certain stands or positions that al-Mu'mun took that weren't praiseworthy. I remember one of the people who sought to protect the belief in Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib being the first of those who submitted to the religion of Islam. When the Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wali bought the religion, al-Mu'mun has a famous discussion where there were people who said, you can't count Ali ibn Abi Talib as a young Muslim. It's too young to count him as the first Muslim. You got to count him as this young boy and we don't know if he understood Islam. And al-Mu'mun famously tells the person, did the holy prophet ask him to accept Islam? So the person's like, yeah, he goes, the holy prophet speaks from his own will or from the Lord? Is that from the Lord? So he goes, so Allah didn't know that Ali ibn Abi Talib was too young to understand the religion of Islam. So I'm not gonna say that there weren't certain stands even on the issue of Fedek, the back and forth, but I think what begins to happen is he begins to see the popularity of the Imam. There's great popularity for his for his demeanor, for his ethics, for his wisdom, for his knowledge, and that gets to him. Okay. And I think at the same time that Imam begins to become more outspoken against him. Right. If you look for example, two people come and visit the, come to the Imam and they ask him a question about the Qasr prayer, the shortened prayer. And when they ask him this question about the Qasr prayer, they say to him, we've come on this long journey and we want to ask you a question. Do we pray Qasr or no? And the Imam at this moment looks at the two of them, he says, who have you come to see? He's like, I've come to see al-Mu'mun. And he goes to the other one, who have you come to visit? He's like, I've come to visit you. So he tells the first one, you pray Qasr because for you, you don't need to think about Qasr and Ful anymore. When you're coming to visit people like that, you don't need to worry about Qasr and Ful. For the one who's come to visit me, I'll give you the ruling of Qasr. So you've got this, certainly creates a tension where the Imam now becomes more and more open about his opinions at the time. Okay. So we've now got a few questions. So I'll pose to you two or three. Yeah. Hopefully there can be quick answers as it were, inshallah. So Hadi from it doesn't quite give me the country's name. My question is, why is Imam Ali al-Rudha al-Islam referred to as gharib al-Ghorabah in Ziyaret? So that's the first one. Second one is, how many salam Sayyidina, how many sisters did Imam Rada al-Islam have? Were they married? If not, why were they not married from Mujtaba Sayyid from south and on sea? And the third question, if we can maybe talk very quickly is maybe about, are there any books translated in English about Imam Rada al-Islam that you would highly recommend? Okay. In terms of the first one, why is he known as gharib al-Ghorabah? Yeah. Naturally, because he's an Imam who's buried in an area where he's a stranger at that time. The other Imams, four of them are in Medina. You know, Imam al-Hussain is in Karbala, but he has companions and family around him. Imam Amir al-Mu'mini has two prophets next to him. You know, so by Imam Rada al-Islam, Imam al-Qadim has Imam al-Jawadi, Imam al-Hadi has Imam al-Haskari. By Imam al-Rada al-Islam alone. And for many years, you know, that was difficult for the Ahl al-Bait. But, you know, when I was there, we say, As-salamu alayka ya gharib al-Ghorabah wa Anisa al-Fukhara. That is in its origin, because he was alone in Khorasan. I suppose today the gharib would be Rasul Allah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa alayhi. Now, in terms of the second one, did Imam al-Rada alayhi as-salam have any sisters? Yes. Yeah, Imam al-Rada had about 19 sisters. And then the follow-up to that is, why didn't they get married? Yes, that's right. If they were not married. Oh, they didn't get married because of the oppression against the Shia at the time. Right. The Shia at the time, you couldn't even openly say that you were Shia. Number one, you know, there were certain personalities who had to act insane. There were certain personalities who had to sell butter to earn a living and never admit they're Shia. There's some who were Shia who had to work for Harun Rashid and never reveal what they were. Taqiyyah was rife. Yes. It's extremely difficult at that time, therefore, to even begin a family in some cases. So you had that. And secondly, a lot of these daughters had to leave home. Okay. Okay. We have a shrine for the daughters of Imam al-Qadim and Azar Bayjan. Why would the daughter of Imam al-Qadim and the sister of Imam al-Radha have to go to Azar Bayjan? Pretty much shows you just how bad conditions were at the time. And said, Muhammad Shirazi, may Allah bless his soul, he mentions it. I mean, his discussion when people ask him about the marriages of the daughters of Imam Musa al-Qadim, and he makes it clear that it's because of the difficulties and the oppression at the time. That's why they did not get married. You know, it's not as easy as, for example, Imam al-Baqir's time, or Imam al-Saleh's time, where it was a bit easier to be Okay. Married. Imam al-Qadim's time, when an Imam is put in prison for virtually 20 years of his life, I don't think you can say that about any other Imam of Ahlul Bayt. Third question was the books in English. Any books that you recommend in English? In English? Highly recommend as it were. In English, Imam al-Rada, I personally would say, I own a bar of Reza of Sheikh Sadoq is available in English. And I'd also look at Sharif Baqir, Karashi, Karashi's work on the biography of Imam al-Rada, which Ansarian has published both. Yeah. And in terms of, I think what also was key for this program was the importance of the Holy Imam's Ziyara, as it were, visitation. Yes, you know, when you see that the Ziyara of Imam al-Rada, as compared to the Ziyara of Imam al-Hussein, alaihi salam, both were gharib at a certain moment in their life. Both died as martyrs. For both, there were difficult conditions of coercion in their lives. But you find the tradition saying whoever visits Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam, whatever difficulties they have in their life are removed by Allah, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. Okay. Okay. So now we have a call you online. As-salamu alaykum. Salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Alaykum, as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Yes. First of all, I'd like to thank this thing is for the Returning Drive in London for Season 3. I think it's an amazing show. It's very informative. My name is Abbas, I'm calling from Switzerland. My question is for the Sayyid is Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam, he took a position under, I believe it's in Mahmoud, in government. And you know, that's quite, it's quite confusing because our imams don't work with tyrannical leaders. So I just wanted to know, what was the reason why Imam al-Rada, alaihi salam took up that position? Well, I think I answered it for about 76 minutes of the show. But I'll repeat again, you know, this wasn't something which the Imam wanted, rather it was something that was forced upon the Imam. And you find that the Mahmoud refers to the Shura, which Imam al-Rada was involved in, in highlighting a similarity in the compulsion that was involved. However, if you're working for a government that's not necessarily a Muslim government, there are instances, whether it's Nabi Yusuf, or whether it's Ali ibn Yaqeen, or Imam al-Rada, where this at times may be permissible if A, a person doesn't compromise their values, which the Imam didn't. And B, you can safeguard the future of the followers of Ahl al-Bahid. Okay. Thank you, Abbas, from Switzerland. Okay, we have another question. Is it true that the bodies of our imams, the holy imams, Islam, are taken away from their graves just after three days? Yeah, there is an opinion, certainly, within our hadiths that three days after the death or the martyrdom of the Imam, that these bodies are taken from where they're buried. Okay, there's one more question related to Imam Hussain al-Islam. Why is Imam Hussain al-Islam buried 13 steps away from Fadil Ghar, where he was slain? Why not at the spot where he was martyred? Well, it's interesting, 13 steps, I'm very interested in that, it's calculated 13 steps, but where he was beheaded, after he was beheaded, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon his family, was then kicked around by the hooves of the horses of the army of Omar bin Sa'ad. So you would think that, you know, injury was enough from their end, but they added insult. And you know, for, for the Arabs, this was nothing that had been seen. This was a return to the days of Jahiliyyah, where Omar bin Sa'ad asked his horse riders, ride your horses and trample on the chest of Hussain. And so they began to kick his body around until his body was eventually buried. But where it was kicked was different to where he was beheaded. Okay, so that's good. From narrations, I think we gathered that the Holy Masum Imam Ali al-Islam was a very wealthy Imam as well. Yeah. In fact, he was the owner and he is the owner according to narrations. Correct me if I'm wrong, of the whole of Khorasan to this day. Is that true? Well, you find that, I think if you go to that area and you go to that country, you know, you'll find that Iran virtually lives off the Sadaqa Jari of Imam al-Raza al-Islam. You know, if you look at the Astana Qudsar al-Razawi, you'll see over there the unbelievable barakah from Imam al-Raza al-Islam, from the shrine. And now you find around the shrine, there is all these buildings that are bought, there's even libraries, supermarkets, you know, different other seminaries for people to study in. And this was all from the barakah of that, you know, first move, you know, so definitely each of the Imams of Ahdal Bayt, where they are buried, you know, it really is, that earth is honored and is that peace with where the Imam is buried. Okay, I think we've just got a few minutes left. So what I want to do is hopefully, insha'Allah, if we can maybe perhaps talk about some of his famous du'as, as it were, there's a collection, Sahifa al-Radawiyah, as it were. What Sahifa al-Radawiyah is not so much, because you imagine Sahifa, so you think Sahifa said Jadiyah? Right. Sahifa al-Radawiyah, and Sahifa al-Radawiyah actually, it's a collection of about 200 odd hadiths. Okay. Yeah. Not du'as. No, no. Okay, okay. You'll find that there are supplications from every Imam of Ahdal Bayt, you know, there is no school like the Shia when it comes to supplications, no school comes near, no one can come near a du'a, no du'a is tashir, no du'a Abu Hamza Thamali, no du'a Mashlul, no du'a Arafah. So, you know, that puts us in a different league. But the Sahifa al-Radawiyah, Sahifa al-Radawiyah, Sahifa al-Radawiyah, Abdullah, the son of Ahmed, son of Amir, from Ahmed bin Amir, from Imam Al-Radawiyah, Salam, it's a collection of traditions from Imam Rada'a, Salam from something, from something as broad as jihad to food and ointments. Right. You know, and I think there's one aspect of Imam Rada'a, Salam where he seeks to look at the growth of the physical and the spiritual. You know, starting with the Prophet, medicine of the Prophet, going on to the Imams of Ahdal Bayt and their stress on what we eat, how we eat, when we eat. Okay. And with Imam Rada'a, Salam, there's a focus, as we had mentioned, in the Golden Medical dissertation, the first, in the first part of this two-part series, that we had mentioned how he talks about the heart and the, you know, and he talks about the different limbs and organs, and he talks about which foods are good for them. And I think in Sahifa al-Rada'a, you'll find that he discusses food and ointments. I think Sahifa al-Rada'a was published, there's a publish, there's a published version of Sahifa al-Rada'a from Cairo, from like a hundred years back or something, which I think is available translated in English now. So, yeah, and even talk about jihad and multiple other areas as well. Okay, okay. So we've got time for a couple of questions. Let me just flick back to the questions. These are slightly off topic. But, Alaykum Salam, is someone calling? Okay, so the question from a Michigan, dearborn Michigan, is it's on effect, slightly off topic. If the husband doesn't permit the wife to keep the children and she remarries in the future, is it a sin on the mother if she goes against his will and keeps the children? If the husband doesn't permit the wife? If the husband doesn't permit the wife to keep the children, if she remarries in the future, is it a sin on the mother if she goes against his will and keeps the children? Yeah, from what I'm understanding of this question, we'll find that custody normally within the Islamic tradition, there are ages of custody when it comes to the boy and the girl, you'll normally find the ages of two and seven mentioned. And so if there is a divorce that takes place up to those ages, you can keep the the mother, the divorced wife can keep either the son or the daughter. And then after those ages, they are meant to go towards the husband. However, the scholars say the husband should recognize the importance of the mother and not be so strict by, OK, the age of two, the age of seven, now you bring me the boy, bring me the girl, I'm going to take them away from you. But then there is the opinion that once that mother, she's got the kids, once she remarries, then the kids are meant to be going back towards the father. However, in such cases, I think there needs to be communication. Yeah, sure. And there needs to be appreciation of the motherly role and upbringing. OK, OK. I think that's all we have time for. Thank you, see you next week. Dr. Mark Shawani from Imam Hussein TV. I'd like to wish everyone, even once again, for last week's Bilal at Imam Lulal, Islam. Hope you've enjoyed this two-part program from all of us here. As-salamu alaykum.