1st Muharram

1^st
Muharram

بسم ا الله الرحمن الرحيم


Allahuma Sali Wasallim Wa Zid Wa Baarikh Ala Sahib e Dawa
Tin Nabawiyya
Wa Thowlatin Haydariya
Wal Ismatil Fatimiyyya,
Wal Hilmil Hassaniyya,
Wash Shuja'atil Husseiniya
Wa Ibadatis Sajadiya
Wal Masaril Baqariyah
Wal Aasaaratil Jaafariya,
Wal Uloomil Kazamiya,
Wal Hujajil Razaviya,
Wajud Taqawiyah,
Wa Naqavatil Naqaviyah,
Wal Haywatil Askariyah Wal Ghaibati illahiya Hujjatil
Qaimmil Bil Haqq

Rabi shahri Sadri Waya Sirli Amri, Wahlul Uqdatan Min Lisaani Yaf Qahu
Qawli…

Dear mothers, elders, friends and sisters in Islam,
Assalamun alaikum jamian warah matullahi wabarakatu!

I send my condolences upon the Imam of our time, Imam Mehdi
(a.j.f), and to Holy Prophet Muhammed Mustafa (s.a.w.w) and to Our Mother, Bibi
Fatema (s.a).
And to Aimme Tahireen, 14 masumeens.
And I extend my condolences to you all too!

I begin with the name of the Almighty, who by His mercy and blessings
has enabled us all to gather here today, to remember once again, the event of
Kerbala, and to mourn for Aba Abdillah!
To remember the many sacrifices he made along with his blessed and beloved
family members, and is the reason you and I are here today, practicing Islam so
freely and proud to be Muslims.
However, the question still stands, are we true and worthy, loyal Muslims? Do
we practice that which our religion demands of us?



The series of lectures will
be:

Relating our actions and deeds
that will have an impact on our inner-selves.

Different issues that directly or
indirectly affect our soul.

So if we let up on one part,
like let's say our tongues- by lying, we are shutting down one defence to our
soul.

And when we have shut down all
defences, then it means we are weak and our end will be disaster...however
having the Imams & Prophets, teach us how to build these defences...to make
a stronger us.

Let us discuss some of the qualities that will help us understand more
of who we are as human beings and what our weaker side holds. For it is only
when we have identified our weaker self, is when we can strengthen ourselves.

A New Year is almost here, and it is the norm that we make New Year
resolutions. However, fortunate are those who truly follow them and achieve
them. The Islamic new years has also approached us, thus we are here today,
mourning on Aba Abdillahil Hussein (a.s).
Thus, let us make a few resolutions, if you'd like to call them, and try and
overcome these few vices within us, and myself so as to speak.

Something like Jihad of the self. A very common phrase indeed.
We all have to battle with ourselves especially in this very demanding and
competitive, not forgetting influential and morally challenged world that we
live in today!
Common phrases like "peer pressure" and influences are heard of everytime.
And we have to be so careful in who we are friends with, whom we should trust
and whom we should socially be involved with. As all this has a direct impact on
our personality and affect the way we are being molded as human beings.
The Holy Prophet Muhammed Mustafa (s.a.w.w) is quoted to have
said:

"…blessed are those who have performed the minor jihad, and have yet to
perform the major one".

When asked, "What is the major jihad?"
The H.Prophet replied: "the Jihad of the self" (struggle of the self).
According to the wordings of the tradition, this can be inferred that man is
a marvel possessing two lives and two worlds within one existence. That is:


1) Apparent life or the
outward world, which is this worldly existence and is associated with his
body.

2) And the other is " inner
life" , the inward world, associated with the hidden, invisible, higher other
world, his soul in short, which belongs to the realms of invisible and celestial
world and consists of several levels and grades. This now can be divided into
many ways, but basically into two.

The one related with the divine and intellectual powers attracts him
towards the sublime, heavenly spheres, and summons him to the acts of virtue and
goodness.
The other, is the satanic, which attracts man towards the baser realms of
darkness and shame, and invites him to the acts of villainy and destruction.
There is always a state of conflict and strife between these two forces, and
human existence serves as the battles ground of these two bands.
When the divine forces of good become successful, man emerges as a
virtuous and blessed being, attains the high station of angels, and is
congregated under the category if Prophets, saints and the pious.
When the satanic forces of darkness dominate, man becomes a rebellious and
vicious being, and is flocked with the fiendish group of the infidels and
cursed.

Notice I've always mentioned the positive first…then the negative.
Similarly, let me take you back to the time when an individual recites the
ayah e shahada, and when he says:

لا ا اله الا
الله

He is first negating everything else,
removing any doubts, removing all that is there other than his Lord. And then he
brings within him, the name and presence of his Creator. So here too we see that
we make within us space for only that which is best for us, and that which is
eradicating any falsehood, before we begin the journey of perfection. The
journey of truth and righteousness.

Then again, it all goes back down to how
we think as individuals, and how we perceive the world around us.
We first have to recognise that which is wrong, to enable us to realise that
which is right. And once we have distinguished this differnce, then comes the
battle within us. And it is this battle, either won or lost, that will define
our end.
One of the greatest weapons that can aid us in recognising ourselves is
"Contemplation".
Contemplating about our duties towards our Master and Creator, who has
brought us into this world, and who has bestowed upon us all the means of
pleasure and joy of life, who has equipped us with a sound body and faultless
faculties and senses, each of whom serve a specific purpose to all these
endowments and graces, He has sent so many prophets and His Holy Book for our
guidance and invited us to receive His blessings.


The question:
Whether all these things have been granted to us by the Master merely to
serve this animal existence and to satisfy our appetites and instincts, which we
share with other animals, or whether there is some higher aim?

Question:
Whether all the Prophets of God, thinkers and scholars of every nation have
invited the people to follow certain rational principles and divine legislation
and asked the people to abstain from all animal tendencies and detach themselves
from this mortal and perishable habitation. Or they had conceived an entirely
different idea of salvation, which we ordinary human creatures, blindly obeying
the dictates of lust, could not conceive?

If we reflect in a rational manner for a moment, we shall realise that
the aim of imparting to us all these graces is something else, superior to and
higher than what is visible. This world is a stage of action and its aim is a
higher and more sublime sphere of existence. This lower and animal existence is
not an end in itself. A rational person should think of his own self and should
feel pity for his state of helplessness. With a sense of pity he should address
himself, saying:

"O callous self! I have wasted precious years of my short life in pursuance
of baseless and useless worldly pleasures. And nothing is gained, except regret
and sense of loss. I should be regretful before God for my past deeds and
commence a new journey in the direction of His prescribed goal. Think! For a
while over the conditions of the people from the dawn of civilization up to the
present time that is witnessed by thee. I should ask God's approval of my acts
and seek His pleasure. Pray to Him that my acts be approved by Him. Between Him
and me there is always a spark of hope. This hope is realised in my thinking
with firm resolution to fight against the Satan and my own lower and baser self.
This battle with myself leads me to a higher stage, and try my best to attain
that through sincere struggle."

For instance I decide to carry out an act, that I know is not right,
form within me I can hear a voice that is guiding me away from that act, but yet
I chose to ignore it.
And I go ahead and carry out that evil act. This is when I am slave, not to
my Lord, but to my soul, to Satan.
This voice that guides me is gifted from the Almighty to help guide me, but
when I chose to ignore it day in and day out then be rest assured, my end will
be disaster.

Imam Hussein has said:
"Allah does not take power from
anyone but He takes away from him His obedience. And He does not take anyone's
strength but that He ends his responsibility (duty)."

We all have a past, every single one of us, things that
we have done and said that we regret and wish we could take back.
But there is only that history of our Aimmah Tahireen that
teaches us and guides us towards the right path. Their words and actions, prayer
and worship, love for the Creator and submission to Him, is a guidance unto
mankind.
Imam Husain ('a) chose to migrate to Iraq and not to any
other place in the Islamic lands; while he knew what conditions and atmosphere
surrounded the people and what difficulties the Iraqis lived in. Probably, the
selection of Iraq and not any other place was made the Holy Imam ('a) due to the
following factors:

First:
Iraq, in those days, was the centre of Islamic Kingdom
and the place of wealth and manpower, such that Kufa was established there as a
garrison town and it had a definite role to play in Islamic victories and had
participated in several conquests.
Anyway, Imam ('a) chose to migrate to Kufa, from the aspect
that the city of Kufa was the centre of power in the Islamic world. Abdul
Muta-aal Saeedi says: "Imam Husain ('a) did not make a wrong choice. He decided
to move to Iraq at that time because Iraq was a suitable place to lay the
foundation of the movement of uniting the aims of Muslims. And therefore he
selected it so that afterwards this Kingdom may be established for the Iraqis
and later on the Abbaside Kingdom developed there, which ruled on Muslims for
500 years."

Secondly:
Kufa was the cradle of Shiaism and a native place of
the Alawites which displayed exceptional devotion to Ahle Bayt ('a) on numerous
occasions. Groups of revolutionaries, under the leadership of Malik Ashtar
Nakhai, a prominent Shia personality, moved to Medina and laid siege to Uthman
and they attacked him and nominated the Imam for caliphate.

Iraq participated in the more severe battles and the
deadliest confrontations for the sake of Ahle Bayt and they took revenge from
the killers of Ahle Bayt under the leadership of the great revolutionary Mukhtar
Ibn Abi Ubaidah Thaqafi who rose up to take revenge for their blood. On the
basis of this the Imam selected Iraq for migration because the people of the
Iraqi cities had a deep loyalty and devotion to Ahle Bayt.



Thirdly:
Imam Husain (a.s) selected Iraq to migrate because of
the continuous flow of letters from the people who wrote to him and begged him
to join them. The majority people sent the Imam letters persuading him to come
for their help. If the Imam had refrained from giving them a positive reply he
would have been answerable to the Almighty Allah. Especially after his emissary
Muslim Ibn Aqil wrote him informing him about the unanimity of the people on
Imam's allegiance and their anticipation of Imam's arrival. Muslim also urged
him to come immediately. Thus His Eminence had no choice but to accept
it.
Dr. Muhammad Halami says: "Imam Husain (a.s) did not set out
to Iraq immediately after receiving representations from Iraqi people so that he
may lead them in revolt against the caliphate of Yazid. But he first dispatched
his emissary, Muslim bin Aqil bin Abi Talib so that he may test the claims of
the people of Kufa and find out if they were really having true sympathies with
the Holy Imam. Muslim succeeded in taking allegiance of 12000 persons to help in
the determined.

Imam remained firm in his resolve and the forbidding of
forbidders and the sympathies of the sympathizers did not make him change his
decision. Because he had become absolutely certain that the affairs of Islam
shall not be successful and the word of Allah cannot be exalted on the earth
except by laying down his life and giving sacrifice.

Rayyan bin shabeen went to meet Imam Reza (a.s) and Imam
said:

"O son of Shabeeb! Moharram is
such a month that the Arabs of the age of ignorance (pre-Islamic) too respected
its sanctity and forbade oppression and blood-shed in it. But these people (the
Umayyads) did not honour the sanctity of this month nor of their Prophet. In
this month they killed the son of the Prophet and imprisoned the women-folk
after looting and plundering their belongings, verily Allah will never ever
forgive this crime of theirs."
"O son of Shabeeb! If you wish to
mourn and lament over anyone, do so upon Husain bin Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s) for
he was beheaded like a lamb. Eighteen persons from among his family, who were
unparalleled in the earth, were also killed alongwith him. The heavens and
the earth lamented the
death of Husain. Four thousand Angels descended from the heavens to aid him, but
when they reached there they saw that he had already been mar­tyred. Thus, now
they all remain near his blessed grave with dishevelled hair covered with dust
until the rising of the Qaem (Imam al Mahdi). Then they will all aid him and
their slogan will be: Vengeance for the blood of Husain."
"O son of Shabeeb! My father (Imam
Moosa al Kazim) has related from his father (Imam Ja'far as Sadiq), who has
related from his grandfather (Imam Ali Zainul Abedeen), that when my grandfather
Imam Husain (a.s) was mar­tyred, the sky rained blood and red
sand."


Illahi, bi Haqi Muhammad wa ale Muhammad,
Illahi bi Haqi Ali (a.s)
illahi bi akhase sifatika, wa bi izze jalalika, wa bi aazame
asmaaika, wa bi damaee shohadaika
Nasaluka Ziyadattan Fill Ilm,
Wa Barkatn Fir Rizq,
Wa Toolan Fil Umr,
Wa Sihatan Fil Jism,
Wa Raahatan Indal Mowt Wal Maghfiratan Ba'dal
Mowt
Rabbana Taqqabal Dua Ya Allah Rabbana Taqabbal Minna Innaka
Antas Samiud Dua Birahmateka Ya Arhamar Rahimeen