49- (4) Nahjul Balagha - The City of Kufa and Family Enemies - Sayed Mohammad Baqer Qazwini

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Nahjul Balagha 03, offered in 2020-2021, is now available to take online at Al-Hujjah Islamic Seminary. The first five classes are available to view as a demo to get an idea of how the course is instructed. To register for this class, see all class videos, and take the exams, visit hujjahseminary.com. For any questions, email us at [email protected]

Transcript

[0:29]i prayed for all of you at the ziada my dear brothers

[0:33]and sisters and i am infinitely thankful to allah subhanahu ta'ala for

[0:38]granting me this amazing opportunity this year it was a unique year

[0:44]because you know with the covet challenge and when i was going

[0:48]there i did not really know what to expect what kind of

[0:52]crowds will be there will people practice social distancing or not wearing

[0:58]the mask or not but subhanallah when you go to the ziada

[1:00]it seems like kovit does not exist rarely anyone would be wearing

[1:07]the mask no social distancing and people have various beliefs you know

[1:11]many people believe that if you're in the ziada of imam hussain

[1:15]and you're going to this holy place that's it you know allah

[1:20]will definitely protect you because the shrine of imam hussain is a

[1:25]place where the ill go and they receive their recovery from allah

[1:27]so is it possible that you go to this place and get

[1:34]infected so you find that most of the visitors did have that

[1:40]belief and what was really miraculous for me um was two things

[1:46]number one you know kovid is a serious threat and so if

[1:49]you go to anywhere in the world you'll find that many people

[1:52]especially like the elderly those at risk they do take it seriously

[1:56]if there's a large crowd some some place you know people are

[2:01]concerned they're afraid but not in the path to imam hussain the

[2:04]people were just so firm in their belief they did not they

[2:09]were not concerned whatsoever so it was fascinating to see that strong

[2:14]faith that the people have in the ziyada of imam hussain so

[2:19]that was fascinating the other fascinating is basically millions of people attended

[2:26]the ziada this year most of them from iraq very few foreign

[2:31]foreigners were allowed to enter but basically millions of people went to

[2:35]the shrine now imagine you have millions and iraq has a lot

[2:42]of infections by the way on average on average they have about

[2:44]like 4 000 infections a day that's just the confirmed infection so

[2:48]we're not talking like about a country that's covet-free so to have

[2:55]millions of people descend on one place one shrine touching it kissing

[3:00]it passing through there without masks for the most part and yet

[3:05]there was no spike in infections in karbala in fact the health

[3:12]ministry would release the numbers each day during the arby's period the

[3:16]number of infections went down actually that in itself i don't know

[3:21]what the scientific explanation could be subhanallah so i witnessed how that

[3:27]was also miraculous for for these millions to come i did not

[3:30]hear of a single person there who got infected you know at

[3:36]the shrine or being you know in these crowds and remember on

[3:39]the way to karbala these people they sleep in the mawakib you

[3:44]know the mokibs that you have between uh you know nejaf and

[3:49]karbala or other cities in karbara people are sleeping in one place

[3:53]and sometimes a hundred people will share will share one cup you've

[3:58]seen how it is that if you've gone to the arb enzyara

[4:01]right so for all those millions to go through that experience and

[4:08]absolutely there was no spike in the number of infections that's fascinating

[4:14]and that you know is the baraka of imam hussain so that's

[4:20]amazing subhanallah but it was indeed a very um unique experience this

[4:25]year to go to the ziara and it was just so refreshing

[4:30]you know after eight months of not being around big crowds to

[4:35]go there you feel the energy of of the people going there

[4:40]for ziada was something that was very refreshing and something that was

[4:46]highly needed so it was it was fascinating by the way just

[4:50]so nobody thinks that you know the the scholars are reckless the

[4:54]ma the mergers they issued clear mandates to everyone wear masks practice

[5:00]social distancing take this seriously right we believe in the baraka of

[5:06]the shrines but you also have a responsibility but you know the

[5:10]people when they're there and you just see that fervor you know

[5:12]people just have their own beliefs subhanallah but allah did protect them

[5:17]and that's fascinating alhamdulillah what's that can anybody just go right now

[5:24]or did you have to be a citizen of that country well

[5:27]they allowed 1 500 uh people from each country to go so

[5:32]yes they do they did allow foreigners even if you're not a

[5:37]citizen they did allow you to go but they had a cap

[5:39]on it so normally millions of people go for this yara this

[5:43]year just thousands of foreigners win so you know over there at

[5:50]the ziyara mainly you would see the iraqis very few foreigners made

[5:53]it this year screenings are anything there like for if you want

[5:57]to come back yes you have to do the pcr test so

[6:00]basically before getting on the flight here you have to go to

[6:05]a lab and do the pcr test if it comes negative they'll

[6:07]let you board the flight and then on your way back uh

[6:10]there in karbala we also went to do the pcr test so

[6:14]yeah they do they take that seriously so the the airport and

[6:20]negev will only allow you to enter the airport and board the

[6:21]plane if you have a certificate that confirms your negative for covet

[6:27]yeah so subhanallah you know i myself you know when i went

[6:33]to do the covet test i didn't know what to expect because

[6:38]i just went in the middle of millions of people and you

[6:41]do wear the mask but i'll be honest with you when you're

[6:46]there at the shrine in front of the vari of imam hussain

[6:48]you can't help but just embrace it and kiss it so it's

[6:53]it's something like involuntary that you do so you we we practice

[6:59]social distancing and mass up until you get to the shrine once

[7:01]you're in there that's it you forget about everything so when i

[7:05]went to do the pcr test i did not know what to

[7:08]expect but alhamdulillah subhanallah you know everything turned out negative that in

[7:12]itself is miraculous because you're in a room with thousands around you

[7:16]and everybody is touching the same surface i don't know what the

[7:22]scientific explanation you know could be there should have been mass infections

[7:25]scientifically but no in fact it went down in kerbera so you

[7:30]know it's the barakah hussain yes i walked from najaf to kerbela

[7:36]the the crowds this year were much lighter than previous years that

[7:42]was discernible they were still heavy but not like previous years because

[7:46]of the foreigners last year maybe three to five million iranians just

[7:50]came for the ziada this year they were not present there so

[7:54]it was discernible but alhamdulillah was a beautiful experience thank you i

[8:02]prayed for all of you insha'allah next time we go together so

[8:07]now we continue our journey into previously we examined the sermon about

[8:14]the dua that imam ali ibn abi talib islam would make when

[8:20]traveling tonight we'll ex we'll start by examining sermon 47.

[8:23]so if you open your books to sermon number 47 in this

[8:30]sermon the imam alayhi salam makes a reference to the city of

[8:35]kufa the imam al-islam begins this very short sermon by addressing the

[8:42]city of kufa which was his capital during those four years of

[8:45]his caliphate the imam says to madina it's as if i'm seeing

[9:02]you being drawn like the tanned leather of the ocad market does

[9:10]anyone have an idea of the akav market in pre-islamic arabia yes

[9:19]was a very famous arabian market situated between mecca and and it

[9:27]was well known for the hides that were sold there leather basically

[9:32]they sold everything but it was mainly known for leather now because

[9:37]it was the biggest market in arabia many tribes would come from

[9:44]different places to exchange and barter in this market it was also

[9:53]a very important gathering for poets the poets would gather and you

[9:58]would flex your poetic muscles at the market of akav so there

[10:02]would be a tribune you know a stand you'd stand there and

[10:06]your recent you know poetry you would recite it there and so

[10:11]it was a very important market the imam al-islam here is using

[10:15]a figure of speech he's saying o kufa basically it's as if

[10:25]you are being drawn like the leather of the akkad market the

[10:31]leather that was found in the market was actually a high quality

[10:38]leather that would be stretched out so the imam is comparing kufa

[10:42]to that and then the imam says you will be stretched like

[10:49]the edeem of kali what is the word adeem in arabic the

[10:52]word adem in arabic is the apparent surface of something anytime you

[10:57]referring to the apparent surface of something you call this adeem it's

[11:02]also used to refer to leather in arabic we also call leather

[11:10]edem by the way adam alaihissalam his name is derived from the

[11:15]word edeem adeemil the edema of the earth because allah created adam

[11:20]from the clay of the earth allah gave him the name adam

[11:26]adem the outer surface of the earth which is the clay allah

[11:32]created him from the clay and that's why he's called adam comes

[11:36]from the word adeem the surface of the earth okay now let's

[11:42]examine what the imam is saying so kufa is stretched like leather

[11:49]is tanned and stretched what does that mean there's two meanings for

[11:54]that the first meaning is just like leather goes through this process

[12:00]of being tanned kufa will go through pain and suffering and difficulty

[12:06]it's like it's stretched like that that's a figure of speech the

[12:12]second meaning is that just like leather spreads out kufa will also

[12:19]grow the akavi the akadi leather was very fine very beautiful so

[12:28]the imam could also be saying that kufa will grow and be

[12:34]a beautiful city but severe storms will strike it so to begin

[12:38]with it was a beautiful city expanding but then the tyrants came

[12:45]and destroyed the city so the imam ali salaam here is giving

[12:49]us this figure of speech likening kufa to leather that is stretched

[12:52]but he is hinting that calamities will befall the city then the

[12:59]imam states do you see the poetic structure of the words of

[13:09]the imam see the words that rhyme even if you don't know

[13:13]what it means just look at the beauty of the words and

[13:20]the imam is giving these impromptu speeches it's fascinating comes from the

[13:28]word araka what does araka mean yes to coral to fight to

[13:34]engage in battle until until you're tired we also say it you

[13:40]know in our colloquial arabic italkun they're fighting with each other to

[13:50]you will be an arena where there will be a severe fight

[13:56]to the point that all sides are tired and basically you will

[14:03]be fought with the nawazil na nawazin means severe events and calamities

[14:10]now azil is plural what's the singular nazillah basically means a calamity

[14:20]that befalls you and remember it comes from the word nazale what

[14:23]does nazela mean in arabic don't you say that in arabic enzyme

[14:30]what does that mean come down nasil means something that comes down

[14:35]in we sent it down on leila so nasal is something that

[14:47]comes down na with the top marbuuta at the end means a

[14:52]calamity that strikes you down the plural is nawazil in arabic just

[15:01]like hamil in arabic what does hamill mean or hamilah pregnant what's

[15:08]the plural if you want to say three women who are pregnant

[15:14]right you would say that's a way of having a plural word

[15:20]in arabic for this type of word so to arakin basically calamities

[15:26]will befall you until you're tired and you'll be ridden by severe

[15:34]earthquakes and troubles so here the imam is already hinting that kufa

[15:40]will not see stability and subhanallah for over a thousand years kufa

[15:46]has not seen really much stability then the imam says and i

[15:51]know allah has inspired me to know i know for a fact

[16:03]that any tyrant who does not wish well for you okufa who

[16:07]has an evil agenda in you okufa allah will strike that tyrant

[16:17]bishar what does shagal mean is something that makes you busy something

[16:34]that preoccupies you that's the linguistic literal meaning but what's the intended

[16:44]meaning a disease yes a disease that keeps you busy in arabic

[16:48]when you pray against someone when you do may god keep you

[16:54]busy busy with what busy with a disease this busy with a

[16:57]trial so the imam says i know that any tyrant who wishes

[17:04]evil for you okufa allah subhanahu ta'ala will strike them with a

[17:08]disease and allah will strike you with death as well and subhanallah

[17:15]that's exactly what happened to all those tyrants who ruled kufa who

[17:19]came after imam ali alayhi either they died from an illness or

[17:24]they got killed let's examine the first one after imam ali who

[17:29]went through such an evil fate ziyad ibn abi ziyad the son

[17:38]of his father why is he called the son of his father

[17:41]because his father is unknown which basically means he might have been

[17:46]a legitimate right and who is his son ziad who is his

[17:54]infamous son ibn ziyad the one who led the army against imam

[18:00]hussein cursed family ziyad ibn abi was the governor and the ruler

[18:06]in kufa and basically he turned against imam ali alayhi salam later

[18:12]after imam ali alayhi salaam and once he gathered people in the

[18:19]mosque of kufa and he told them to curse imam ali and

[18:24]he threatened to kill and he threatened to demolish the homes of

[18:29]the shia he became very vicious in his stance against imam ali

[18:34]al-islam and the shias of imam ali well what happened to him

[18:40]ziyad ibn abi basically after making all those threats the people were

[18:46]scared nausea is going to slaughter us because he actually um about

[18:50]80 people he gathered them in the masjid and he told them

[18:53]i'm going to kill you soon soon after that threat before they

[18:57]were executed somebody came and told them leave don't worry ziyad is

[19:03]now in his palace allah struck him with an illness he's almost

[19:10]paralyzed and then he died that was his fate ibn ziad the

[19:14]same happened the same thing happened allah struck him with an illness

[19:19]he was suffering from the illness then someone killed him the other

[19:26]dictator in kufa allah subhana wa ta'ala also struck him with a

[19:30]with an illness so the prophecy of imam ali salam turned out

[19:37]to be true any tyrant who came to kufa and ruled kufa

[19:41]and did not wish well to kufa was eliminated by allah through

[19:46]a severe illness and then death so this is what the imam

[19:51]ali salaam states now i have a tough question for you guys

[19:57]and it is a tough question let's see if we can answer

[20:02]it what if someone makes the argument that what imam ali alayhi

[20:07]salaam said is not only applicable to tyrants even the good rulers

[20:12]went through a similar fate wasn't imam ali al-islam himself assassinated in

[20:18]the mosque of kufa so how is it that imam ali is

[20:23]saying that any tyrant who wishes evil for you o kufa you

[20:28]know allah will eliminate them through disease and death when imam ali

[20:32]the best leader was also killed in kufa yes imam ali was

[20:39]a shahadah it was smart to them and that is not like

[20:44]the same thing when you die as a tyrant and a careful

[20:47]it's different than dying imam ali alayhi salaam died in honor as

[20:51]a shaheed he's in his salah he's praying and someone comes and

[20:57]that vicious way strikes him imam ali died in honor as a

[21:00]shaheed defending his faith or as these other tyrants they died humiliating

[21:05]deaths you know through a severe humiliating disease that crippled them and

[21:12]then someone came and killed them so we have a difference here

[21:17]any other thoughts he's the one saying it too so it doesn't

[21:28]apply to him so why does it not apply to him so

[21:34]the imam is talking about tyrants that's what happens to them but

[21:37]for non-tyrants imam is not commenting on that they could achieve martyrdom

[21:42]or they could have a different fate the imam is specifically talking

[21:48]about the fate of the evil tyrants here yes that's one way

[21:51]of looking at it by the way yes brother i think just

[21:58]looking at the first word can nibiki like describe and predicting the

[22:05]future usually that's how people yes the imam is predicting the future

[22:08]for kufa it's a prophecy and he's saying that any tyrant who's

[22:11]going to come here that's how they'll be that's their end that's

[22:15]their fate so the objection was well what if someone says to

[22:21]imam ali salam that you are not a tyrant you're a good

[22:22]leader but you were also struck in kufa so why is the

[22:28]imam specifically warning the tyrants when any person in kufa is going

[22:32]to you know have a similar fate that was the objection yes

[22:36]um well if you put it that way then maybe islam is

[22:41]preemptively warning a tyrant don't try to come over here because allah

[22:45]has his watch over here for someone who's a good person like

[22:48]imam islam they hope for it's shahada admiral to them but you

[22:52]tyrants who want dunya this is not the place for dunya you

[22:58]will have an evil ending yes that's that's a warning for them

[23:02]as well because those tyrants don't believe in shahadah for imam ali

[23:05]when he was struck foster but that's not how the tyrants think

[23:10]so the imam is worrying them look don't be greedy and come

[23:13]to kufa because your fate will be a bad faith you will

[23:17]not get what you want you want dunya no there is no

[23:20]duty on here that's that that's another way of looking at it

[23:24]let's now examine some hadith that praise kufa my dear brothers and

[23:28]sisters we have hadiths that praise the city of kufa in one

[23:34]hadith from the prophet salallahu he's giving the wheel the deeper inner

[23:40]meaning of surat in bismillah allah is making an oath by the

[23:50]team the fig and the olive and this safe city so in

[24:01]this hadith the prophet says that the deeper meaning of this verse

[24:08]is the the teen is the city of medina allah subhanahu ta'ala

[24:10]is talking about four holy cities here four of the best cities

[24:16]that allah has created so atin is medina as zaytoon is baital

[24:20]makthis where is baital makthis jerusalem and philistine is where remember the

[24:34]ibrahim so we have hadith that praise kufa and that you know

[24:41]there are some verses in the holy quran and they're they refer

[24:45]to kufa in another hadith he says kufa is a parcel of

[25:00]paradise fiha bruno in it you have the grave of prophet noah

[25:04]and also prophet ibrahim now we know that prophet noah and adam

[25:12]are in najef and they're buried next to imam ali salaam but

[25:17]this hadith seems to indicate that ibrahim is also buried there whereas

[25:20]we know that ibrahim is buried where in philistine in hebron but

[25:24]there is a hadith that says no his actual resting place is

[25:28]in kufa wasabi and 370 prophets are buried in kufa 600 successors

[25:40]of prophets ausa are also buried there and then the imam says

[25:46]and the best of all successors is imam ali salah so we

[25:52]have hadiths that indeed praise the city of kufa but we also

[25:59]have narrations that blast the khufans and the city of kufa you

[26:02]find in many sermons the imam alaihi sallam attacks the people of

[26:09]kufa how do we reconcile that on the one hand it's a

[26:14]very holy city on the other hand we have you know narrations

[26:17]that just blast kufa and and the inhabitants of kufa basically what

[26:24]happened is the following kuffa at the time had the largest number

[26:28]of true shia followers so the umayyads what they did their plan

[26:34]was to corrupt the city so they dispatched their loyalists and their

[26:41]spies and they appointed evil rulers and they used the public treasury

[26:45]to bribe the evil ones to ruin the fabric of the city

[26:51]so the narrations that condemn kufa are condemning this aspect the omega

[26:57]infiltration of the city and the spread of the corrupt people in

[27:02]that city it's a troubled city that's what the narrations mean my

[27:07]own analysis of you know holy sites like kufa that are troubled

[27:12]until today and even many other places is that it's a trial

[27:17]see wherever you have true menin true believers that's where the shaitan

[27:23]goes today think of any holy site you find it troubled now

[27:32]some people say well yeah the reason is because religion is no

[27:38]good and religion is an obstacle it's not allowing people to achieve

[27:43]progress it's causing all these divisions no that's not the case it's

[27:46]a trial wherever you have true believers it's expected that the greatest

[27:55]trials will be there as well that's why holy lands have trouble

[28:00]in them because it is a trial because that's what the shaytan

[28:04]wants the shaytan and all those working with him do you think

[28:06]he'll spend the same effort there as he spends you know some

[28:10]far away place of course not so it's expected because i'll tell

[28:16]you what's happening today i'll tell you why i mentioned i'm mentioning

[28:20]this today in the middle east thousands thousands of especially youth are

[28:27]leaving religion because of this point and basically they say look our

[28:33]holy lands have been suffering and are troubled for as long as

[28:38]we know so that means there's a problem with our religion it's

[28:41]the religion that's causing all this mess so what what as a

[28:46]reaction what are they doing they're leaving religion but they're missing this

[28:52]point that one reason why these areas that have believers are so

[28:58]troubled is because of the enemies the enemies intensify their efforts there

[29:01]the shaytan intensifies his effort there no doubt about that so expect

[29:07]that already expect that don't let that cause you to lose hope

[29:11]and to think that religion is the culprit here yes there are

[29:17]evil people who will misuse religion but just know that this is

[29:21]the system of allah those cities where there are true believers there's

[29:26]trouble because believers are surrounded with divine trials that's the system of

[29:32]allah so keep that in mind it's important to educate the people

[29:36]about this because many people are leaving religion because of this point

[29:41]they were in a gathering that some people were saying that like

[29:45]people who are not religious they give a charity more than more

[29:49]religious people i told them yeah because the shaitaan doesn't is more

[30:00]worried about the religious person doing this who prays and fast because

[30:04]he'll be rewarded for it i'll share with you something interesting um

[30:08]many many years ago during the fatamilla season i went to denmark

[30:14]for a medjlist so one night in one of the gatherings one

[30:17]of the youth he was there and you know i was introduced

[30:21]to him and he had found his way to the bait school

[30:25]of thought he had become shia so i was asking him about

[30:29]his previous beliefs he told me say it i was very extreme

[30:34]like not even just to a hobby but an extreme wahhabi to

[30:39]the point where secretly my teachers would train me to hate ali

[30:47]and then he told me the following i was so extreme that

[30:51]if i could kill a shia without getting in trouble with the

[30:58]law and having go to jail and all of that i would

[30:59]have done it but the only thing that prevented me is like

[31:02]i'm not it's not worth it you know i'm still young if

[31:04]i end up killing on the street you know i'll be serving

[31:09]a life sentence it's not worth it that's the only thing that

[31:12]prevented me but if i knew i could get away with it

[31:15]i would have killed the shia we're talking about this type of

[31:19]person right so allah subhanahu ta'ala transformed him alhamdulillah he became a

[31:23]true men and believer i asked him this question i told him

[31:28]you know when you were extreme before he became shia when you

[31:31]were on the wrong path did you observe your daily prayers he

[31:35]said yes the five daily prayers i told him was it easy

[31:43]for you to pray to commit yourself to pray on time or

[31:46]was it difficult he thought for a moment he's like no it

[31:49]was very simple you know just get up and pray i told

[31:51]him now that you've become a mu is it easy for you

[31:56]to get up and pray or do you find like you kind

[32:00]of have to commit yourself with effort and struggle he's like this

[32:03]is the first time somebody asked me this question i told him

[32:05]just tell me the answer he thought for a moment he's like

[32:10]you know what now that you've asked me and i'm reflecting i

[32:12]do notice a difference when i was extreme i would so easily

[32:18]pray yeah you're just like drinking water just get up and pray

[32:20]but now i have to kind of struggle to pray on time

[32:26]and i feel it's a daily battle then he got confused for

[32:31]a moment he's like but say it why is that the case

[32:33]i told him allah i was actually looking for an answer like

[32:38]that i told him when you were on the wrong path waiting

[32:40]to kill a shia what what value does your prayer have shaitan

[32:44]tells you yeah pray day day and night it's not going to

[32:48]get you anywhere had no value seriously because you're not worshiping god

[32:51]the way he wants now that you found the light of iman

[32:57]your prayer has value and now that your prayer has value there

[33:02]is a trial now iblis the shaitaan the whisperer is not going

[33:09]to leave you alone he's he'll try to distract you in every

[33:13]salah and subhanallah this is something that he attested to so you

[33:18]know when we look at the city of kufa this is one

[33:22]reason why it was so troubled because i had so many believers

[33:24]so many loyal supporters of imam ali alayhi salah kufa will be

[33:30]the capital of sharif when he reappears and the believers will wish

[33:37]they had property in kufa let me share this hadith with you

[33:43]so this hadith by al-mufadval attributed to imam sadaq al-islam or imam

[33:50]al-bakr he says my master tell me where will be the residence

[33:58]of the mahdi where will the believers gather in the era of

[34:05]reappearance he said where he will rule will be kufa so where

[34:15]the imam will sit and rule and issue commands and judge like

[34:20]a court will be the masjid of the kufa so kufa will

[34:25]be the capital of his kingdom the masjid of kufa will be

[34:31]where the imam will actually sit and issue will distribute the wealth

[34:47]to the people and basically the house of the imam will also

[34:56]be by masjid salah his own personal house then al-mufal says will

[35:03]all the believers be in kufa he said yes i swear by

[35:07]allah every mothman during the era of reappearance will bring himself to

[35:11]kufa in order to witness the capital of the imam such that

[35:15]the imam says like one square meter now the imam doesn't say

[35:20]one square meter he gives us another unit of measure but basically

[35:22]like one square foot will be more expensive than gold because there's

[35:29]so much demand for this place every believer will wish that they

[35:37]have property in kufa i've known some people today you know they've

[35:40]bought some property in kufa hoping for the imam to reappear inshallah

[35:45]one day in their lifetime or during and you know this hadith

[35:52]does say that the believers will wish they had owned something there

[35:56]because they'll be so expensive when the imam reappears and then the

[36:01]hadith states that the land the kufa will expand so much such

[36:07]that the buildings of the citizens of kufa will basically stretch all

[36:12]the way to karbala such that from karbala you see the buildings

[36:18]of the kufins that's how big the city will grow remember it's

[36:23]the capital of the imam so who does not want to live

[36:27]in that capital come to the masjid see the imam every day

[36:29]he's giving a sermon to you every day so kufa will expand

[36:36]so much such that the entire way between kufa and karbara it

[36:40]will be developed and that's the size of the city you know

[36:45]we're talking about a city that's like i don't know maybe a

[36:49]hundred miles wide it's massive so we have you know these hadiths

[36:56]that praise the city of kufa and that it will be the

[36:59]capital of any questions about the sermon al-mufafal is there any um

[37:15]differing opinions on maybe a different capital or do they just say

[37:19]no all the narrations of the albeit are in agreement that the

[37:26]capital of al-imam al-mahdi will definitely be kufa that's this is just

[37:30]one of the hadiths we have other hadiths that confirm this yes

[37:32]so the capital of imam al-mahdi the seat of his government will

[37:36]be the city of kufa that's where he will reside and that's

[37:42]where he will issue the commands from together so historically in the

[37:49]past ned jeff was not the same as kufa you know there's

[37:54]about i don't know six miles maybe between them six seven miles

[37:57]but today since nejev has grown and kufa has grown today they're

[38:03]part of one city yes um so today khufa and najaf are

[38:08]part of the same city area they're they're connected now so when

[38:14]imam al-mahdi live in foreign nejaf is a suburb of kufa it's

[38:21]in the same city you know you could drive 10 minutes get

[38:25]from kufa tuna and by the way if you look at the

[38:32]hadith that speak about the the reappearance of the imam there is

[38:35]one narration that even describes the size of the freeway between najaf

[38:42]and karbala that's how detailed some of these hadiths are and i

[38:46]don't remember exactly how wide it is but it's something massive like

[38:51]a massive road between karbala i mean imagine if that's how big

[38:57]kufa is obviously you'll need big streets to connect these cities yes

[39:08]why this salaam is basically the edge of kufa it's a najef

[39:13]today it's part of one city najaf and kufa they're part of

[39:17]one city basically but yes they go to not kufa itself where

[39:24]masjid al-khufa is but basically the back side of nejaf where you

[39:28]have the valley and that's where the cemetery is today that's where

[39:31]the souls of the believers will congregate and live in barzakh until

[39:36]the day of judgment yes so it is indeed a very holy

[39:45]place next we'll examine sermon 56 but before we examine uh sermon

[39:52]56 very briefly i will summarize to you sermon 55.

[39:55]we won't spend much time on sermon 55 we'll just briefly tell

[40:00]you the gist of it to better understand sermon 56.

[40:06]in sermon 55 imam ali ibn abi ta'ala islam delivered this at

[40:12]saphen when imam reached safin which is in syria muawiyah had already

[40:17]gained access to the river because the army of mu'awiya had reached

[40:21]there before the army of imam ali and marawi had commanded his

[40:26]army to deny imam ali's army from drinking just like what ibn

[40:32]ziyad did at karbala the army of imam ali was about to

[40:38]perish from thirst and finally imam ali allowed them permission he granted

[40:41]them permission to go and fight those who were guarding the banks

[40:45]of the river and they became victorious in dispersing them then when

[40:51]imam ali had access to the river some of his companions told

[40:54]them let's do the same just like they denied us access to

[40:58]the river let's deny them what was imam ali's response he refused

[41:03]imam ali said no you know this is a humanitarian situation here

[41:08]even if they're enemies and they're bloodthirsty they want to kill us

[41:12]i will not deny them water that's the spirit of albeit then

[41:17]some days passed and imam ali did not fight he did not

[41:20]start the fight he wanted to demonstrate that he's not eager to

[41:25]start a battle here and he wanted to give the syrians time

[41:29]to rethink this battle because they were brainwashed the imam wanted them

[41:35]to reconsider fighting the imam of their time in hopes that some

[41:38]of them will be guided so when imam ali waited a few

[41:45]days some of his supporters approached him and they told him we

[41:48]left our families in kufa we left our homes in kufa so

[41:56]that we can live here in safin basically they were being sarcastic

[41:59]they were saying what are you waiting for are we like living

[42:03]in this place let's start this battle let us fight for the

[42:10]people are saying that ali has delayed the battle because he fears

[42:14]death subhanallah when imam ali salaam gives them more time he is

[42:22]accused of what of being weak and that he is afraid of

[42:28]death so imam ali in this sermon he was basically very upset

[42:32]and disappointed and the imam basically told them look don't dare accuse

[42:38]a fearing death the imam says i fear death and i fear

[42:45]fighting in my youthful days i spent my days fighting and defending

[42:49]the religion of islam now that i'm older you think i'm afraid

[42:52]of death so this is basically the summary of sermons 55 and

[42:58]now let's go to sermon 56 in sermon 56 it's the opposite

[43:07]once imam ali started to mobilize the people and he told them

[43:13]okay now that we've given the syrians enough chances enough chances they're

[43:18]rejecting it let's go and fight now that the imam wanted them

[43:22]to fight they they were weakened oh ali why are you pressuring

[43:27]us why are you pushing us too hard let's give them a

[43:30]chance maybe he'll negotiate and what do you do with people like

[43:36]that you wait and you try to negotiate they accuse you of

[43:38]being weak the day you start the battle and you mobilize the

[43:43]army no come on let's let's stop this war what do you

[43:47]what do you do just imagine what kind of troubles had to

[43:53]go with his people so the imam alayhi salaam according to one

[43:58]historical opinion he gave sermon 56 at saphen when some of his

[44:05]army pressured him to make peace with ma'awiya the imam basically wanted

[44:09]to let them know that they can only achieve victory by obeying

[44:13]the leader whom allah appointed obey me then imam ali draws the

[44:20]example from the life of the prophet he says that those early

[44:24]muslims they achieved success because they were strong and they sincerely obeyed

[44:29]the prophet if you obey me i will lead you to success

[44:32]so how do you achieve that victory imam ali starts first sermon

[44:37]56 by saying the following let me remind you if you've forgotten

[44:45]what happened during the early days with the prophet nakhtullah let me

[44:57]tell you something that's not even applicable today today you're killing the

[45:01]syrians they're not even related to you they're your enemies during the

[45:04]days of the prophet we had to kill our fathers and sons

[45:10]and brothers and uncles go back to the battle of badr the

[45:20]first major battle do you know that those 313 muslims fighting with

[45:27]the prophet many of them were killing their own relatives and family

[45:33]members on the other side you're a muslim you believe in the

[45:37]prophet at the battle of bed on the other side your uncle

[45:42]is a pagan and you're fighting your uncle you're finding your father

[45:47]you're fighting your son you're fighting your brother the imam is telling

[45:52]these kuffins look you think this is tough do you know what

[45:56]we went through in early islam we had to fight our own

[45:59]relatives and that's the toughest thing to do your enemy you could

[46:05]fight your enemy but imagine if on the other side of the

[46:07]battle your brother is standing imagine your sister's on the other side

[46:12]imagine more imagine your mother's on the other side what do you

[46:18]do here your mother sided with the pagans and she's out there

[46:22]to kill you and you're defending the prophet with those early muslims

[46:26]you think that's an easy trial that's the toughest of all battles

[46:31]and trials we just briefly examined 55 i gave you the content

[46:39]of it how they accused ibam ali of being weak now we're

[46:44]examining the text of 56.

[46:45]this is at 58.

[46:45]oh i'm sorry no did i say 58 no 56 sermon 56

[46:50]which is right after 55.

[46:54]in this sermon it's the opposite you know the the kufins are

[46:58]putting pressure on imam ali to compromise with muawiyah when your family

[47:04]stands against the truth are you willing to fight them to resist

[47:09]them it's not an easy trial allah and surah verse 22 highlights

[47:16]the struggle if your fathers your sons your children your brothers siblings

[47:31]your spouses your whole tribe and family and your money and your

[47:38]businesses and your homes if all those are more beloved to you

[47:46]than god and his prophet fatah then then wait for allah to

[47:55]pass his judgment on you and that's corruption that's deviation when you

[48:04]put anything before god you've deviated so the blood relationship should never

[48:08]influence you honestly this is very difficult and this is a battle

[48:13]we go through today what are some examples today my dear brothers

[48:20]and sisters let's go through some examples today that your family stands

[48:27]in the way of truth do you have some personal experiences or

[48:30]from your friends that you can share that sometimes your own family

[48:35]gets in the way of the truth and you have to resist

[48:40]you have to struggle any thoughts and he we see it like

[48:48]like i see in my friends the converts mainly because they chose

[48:50]a different path than their their parents we can see that in

[48:54]converts sure there's families stand against them they have to resist against

[48:57]that but look at even muslim families i myself my dear brothers

[49:03]and sisters i'll be honest with you i myself here in this

[49:05]community i'm not talking about some far away land i know sisters

[49:09]who want to wear the hijab their father prevents them and he

[49:15]threatens to physically beat them if they wear the hijab how about

[49:21]that and they they don't know what to do and some of

[49:22]them are young she's like you know 10 11 12.

[49:25]if you're older you're 20 is okay you're an adult you can

[49:28]stand up for yourself but now you have a daughter who's 12

[49:32]who's 11 her father is terrorizing her and he's made it very

[49:38]clear to her that if you wear the hijab there's consequences i

[49:41]will beat you with my own hands this happens here in the

[49:45]community so what does a girl like that do it's tough it's

[49:50]not easy what do you do okay now you could say this

[49:53]is an extreme threat she has to look after her well-being islam

[49:57]says okay your safety comes first but let's say it's not to

[50:00]that ex you know extent your parents will be disappointed in you

[50:04]what do you choose do you choose allah and his obedience or

[50:10]you choose what your parents want it's not easy put yourself in

[50:15]that situation what do you do your parents who raised you they're

[50:18]spending on you they're funding your education and then mom and dad

[50:22]tells you look i'm not happy if you wear the hijab what

[50:27]do you do i have my needs not easy in that situation

[50:31]yeah we have um my sister is divorced from her husband so

[50:34]she's got a little girl that's nine and wherever yeah i knew

[50:38]our family is conservative and her husband kind of went off the

[50:42]other side so she put on a scarf at nine when she

[50:43]goes with her dad's side of the family they make fun of

[50:47]her they make her take it off and then she comes back

[50:52]with us that's a tough situation that's a very tough situation so

[50:56]that's one example any other examples that you've seen that sometimes you

[51:00]really want to observe the path of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and

[51:04]your family just gets in the way and you have to resist

[51:08]i know many years in this community yes there are youth whose

[51:15]parents don't allow them to rent to attend religious programs or highly

[51:18]discourage them yes i know some parents they tell their children look

[51:24]your priority is your college education i don't want you to go

[51:28]anywhere no mosque no youth program nothing of that sort if you

[51:30]do i'll be disappointed it's a tough situation sometimes you need these

[51:36]programs for your religious well-being for your spiritual well-being and they'll come

[51:39]up with all sorts of excuses yes they'll come up with all

[51:44]sorts of excuses definitely i know parents who've threatened their kids for

[51:50]praying salatellain what are you doing getting up in the middle of

[51:54]the night and praying you should sleep and get your rest if

[51:56]you do i'll be upset all sorts of you know examples here

[52:04]and there i know parents whose children teenagers stopped listening to music

[52:11]and their parents flipped against them why you're becoming extreme you're becoming

[52:20]abnormal i want you to be a normal youth in this society

[52:27]and by the way i even know parents i'm not talking about

[52:31]non-muslim parents believe me muslim parents they're born and raised muslim they

[52:36]came from other countries in fact i've known muslim parents who want

[52:41]their children to have boyfriends and girlfriends why to be normal because

[52:47]if you don't you're abnormal there's something wrong with you that's it

[52:50]in this culture this is normal so i want you to be

[52:52]normal in this culture can you imagine parents pushing their own kids

[52:56]to that to that extent times believe me there are tough times

[53:02]that are coming in our generation assimilation yes there is a lot

[53:08]of pressure to assimilate extreme pressure to assimilate another example sometimes there's

[53:14]a death in the family and the father leaves inheritance some brothers

[53:19]were more well connected had you know more businesses with their dad

[53:25]they take a greater share of the inheritance right and they expect

[53:30]you to sign it and approve of it that's haram one dollar

[53:36]that is taken unrightfully is an act of theft in the eyes

[53:39]of allah resist say no i'm not going to approve of that

[53:44]they may boycott you they're not going to talk to you do

[53:48]it for the sake of allah be gentle be wise try to

[53:49]amend the ties but in the end don't give in to that

[53:51]pressure haram is haram god's law comes before your laws so we

[53:58]have many many examples and subhanallah in surat allah already tells us

[54:05]of this situation there is a verse in surat that speaks to

[54:08]the believers you have enemies in your own house could be your

[54:28]spouse could be your children be careful this is a promise to

[54:32]who the believers that you'll have enemies in your own house but

[54:41]if you're gentle and you're kind and you're forgiving then allah forgives

[54:45]in one hadith narrates from an imam al-baqara alaihis the reason why

[54:51]allah revealed this verse is that those early muslims in mecca they

[54:55]wanted to migrate so their spouses their children held on to their

[55:02]garment figuratively don't leave you know you're migrating you're leaving us now

[55:08]they were pagans who were doing that to them because the person

[55:13]had become muslim but his wife wasn't a muslim the children were

[55:16]not a muslim and they were pressuring him to stay in mecca

[55:20]what do you do imagine if you're told leave your family and

[55:27]go can you do that brothers and sisters you know we we

[55:30]we say ash we believe in allah allah comes first but when

[55:35]allah puts you to the trial are you willing i mean just

[55:39]imagine if today you're told khalas leave your family go that's what

[55:42]allah wants from you leave go say that this may happen if

[55:49]yes if the imam reappears and you'll you're called so the imam

[55:54]says that some of them gave in to the pressure of their

[55:59]families those families who pressured them are their enemies because they forced

[56:02]them to stay in shirk and eventually they gave up their faith

[56:05]or they couldn't practice their faith properly okay what about the second

[56:12]part of the verse that states forgive the imam says some of

[56:16]those muslims they were strong they told their families no i will

[56:20]migrate because the prophet is calling me to migrate calling on me

[56:24]to migrate so they went to medina later later their families migrated

[56:30]and became muslim maybe after the fatah mecca the conquest of mecca

[56:35]later they came and they rejoined them so what do you do

[56:40]now act all tough no you abandoned me and you stayed as

[56:44]pagans forget you're no longer my family the quran says no be

[56:48]gentle it's okay now they're apologizing and they're repenting except their repentance

[56:54]allah accepts this is a golden lesson my dear brothers and sisters

[56:59]to those who are religious who become too strict see sometimes you're

[57:04]on the right path and you're committed to your religion but maybe

[57:08]your family members are not you become aggressive with them you become

[57:14]abusive i know religious people religious in the sense that they observe

[57:17]the practices but they're abusive they're abusive parents sometimes they're too strict

[57:25]they're too controlling that's wrong allah wants to be wants you to

[57:31]be firm in your belief system and your practices but don't be

[57:35]abusive with your family allah says show them flexibility when tafu what

[57:42]else show them flexibility show them forgiveness don't be so stern and

[57:49]and so aggressive such that you show them bad and you push

[57:54]them away from faith always show them that gentleness and that flexibility

[57:58]be firm with your decisions my religious values i won't compromise them

[58:02]but show them good if they come and apologize accept that i've

[58:08]seen in this community my dear brothers and sisters and in other

[58:12]communities there are some people who might appear to be religious but

[58:17]unfortunately what happens they're too strict they become aggressive and and you

[58:23]know this this verse warns them not to do that so basically

[58:29]the imam alaihis you know in the sermon highlights that during those

[58:36]early days at the battle of bed we had to fight our

[58:43]own family members and yet we found more strength the more we

[58:47]did that the more we knew that we were on the right

[58:51]path we had more faith more iman and more to sleep i'll

[59:01]conclude with this interesting passage in the bible and then we'll continue

[59:09]the sermon next week inshaallah by the way speaking of you know

[59:14]standing against your family for the sake of truth someone will say

[59:16]you know what is this islam is so extreme you have to

[59:19]go against your own family well this isn't all in the new

[59:23]testament if you go to the bible matthew chapter 10 verses 34

[59:30]to 37 listen to what these verses say about jesus supposedly prophet

[59:35]jesus al-salam said the following and i'm quoting to you the exact

[59:41]words of the bible jesus said do not suppose that i have

[59:45]come to bring peace to the earth this is the bible the

[59:50]new testament i did not come to bring peace but a sword

[59:56]i've come with a sword not peace now christians say sword is

[60:01]figurative for the you know bible that he's brought the scriptures and

[60:06]it's like a spiritual sword anyway the next verse for i have

[60:12]come to turn a man against his father a daughter against her

[60:18]mother a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law a man's enemies will be the

[60:24]members of his own household and this is in the bible where

[60:29]jesus is saying basically i'm bringing the truth or that sword and

[60:34]i'm trying you to see if you are going against your own

[60:36]family for the sake of god then in that last verse verse

[60:41]37 in matthew 10 anyone who loves their father or mother more

[60:45]than me is not worthy of me anyone who loves their son

[60:49]or daughter more than me is not worthy of me this isn't

[60:52]the bible so those who object to the quran well you have

[60:56]similar passages in the bible i'll conclude with this story years ago

[61:01]i was in canada for a majestering muharram i got to know

[61:05]an italian canadian convert he had converted to islam so i asked

[61:10]him one night in the gathering i asked him tell me about

[61:14]your journey he told me saying i used to work at a

[61:18]local bar in toronto this is before he became muslim it wasn't

[61:23]you know i don't know night bar nightclub something like that he

[61:29]said one day a muslim girl came she came to the bar

[61:32]she got drunk i got to know her there and then basically

[61:36]after a while you know we had a relationship and we ended

[61:40]up marrying each other subhanallah see how sometimes allah guides certain people

[61:45]so this muslim girl who comes from a very religious family she

[61:50]had gone to the bar gotten drunk she got to know him

[61:55]he was a bartender there and after a while they get married

[61:57]now during all this time she never talked to him about islam

[62:02]and he had not converted she married him and he was non-muslim

[62:06]which islam does not even recognize such a marriage so they were

[62:09]married for a while he said after like years after we were

[62:14]married after like maybe a couple of years i asked her look

[62:17]by the way you know you're muslim but you've never told me

[62:22]about islam what is this faith it's like no don't worry about

[62:26]it it's nothing important he's like i started to research islam myself

[62:29]and the more i read about it the more i was fascinated

[62:34]by this religion until one day i decided to become a muslim

[62:39]so she did not encourage me in fact i sense she did

[62:42]not like it that i became muslim so i became muslim and

[62:46]i started to become practicing i stopped drinking i stopped going to

[62:50]the club dancing so one day she confronted me the so-called muslim

[62:58]girl she confronted me she told me look i married you so

[63:02]i can have fun with you we can get out and get

[63:06]drunk now that you've become muslim and you've stopped this this is

[63:10]boring i don't like this anymore he's like she started to pressure

[63:16]me until one day she gave me an ultimatum she told me

[63:19]look i'll give you an ultimatum today either you choose god or

[63:26]you choose me you can't have both of us can you imagine

[63:30]a human saying this to another human allahu akbar look at the

[63:37]arrogance some of these people can reach he's like when she said

[63:40]that to me she shattered me i told her you know what

[63:46]tell with you i'll never choose anything over god you want me

[63:50]to choose you over god impossible it's like that was it that

[63:53]was the last time i saw her she gave me a serious

[64:00]ultimatum now this is an extreme example but believe me in your

[64:04]life with your spouse with your children sometimes you are put in

[64:08]a situation where you have to choose allah satisfaction allah's way or

[64:14]their way never choose the path of others over allah subhana wa

[64:24]ta'ala and so to tie it with this part of the sermon

[64:25]the imam says that was our trial we had to go against

[64:31]our own relatives the prophet himself he had to sever ties with

[64:34]his own relatives like was the very uncle of the prophet but

[64:38]for the sake of allah subhanahu ta'ala the prophet persevered was you

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