Hussein Conference: A New Paradigm

34 Views· 24/03/25

Sayed Mahdi Modarresi
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In Lectures

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[0:00]uh we are welcoming a man once again who needs little introduction

[0:05]um who is a scholar a researcher and an author and comes

[0:10]from a family of well-known Scholars as you all will know and

[0:12]he'll be continuing our discussion on reform in ourselves and actually I'll

[0:16]take a moment to just um mention that say Medi maybe he

[0:22]may not be aware I was sapped on earlier so I think

[0:23]he is now but in the case of Reform he had that

[0:27]profound effect on myself in the younger years in London where English

[0:32]medialis in particular were very few and far between uh said Matthew

[0:36]was leading the charge on the English medialis and had a very

[0:41]kind of defining role in my reform as a child as well

[0:43]as many other friends that I have as well so it's a

[0:46]great pleasure for me to invite him next to our Podium we'll

[0:48]be continuing our discussion if you can welcome please say Muhammad [Music]

[1:15]streets always Muhammad Liberty foreign become Allah my respected Scholars Elders teachers

[2:42]and brothers and sisters imagine that you have been given a box

[2:56]let's say you inherited an old antique wooden box with a lock

[3:06]and you receive this as part of your inheritance from your grandfather

[3:12]now of course because you received it from a loved one someone

[3:19]that you cherish and respect it gains special significance you care about

[3:26]it because you received it from an individual who played a big

[3:32]role in your life but because you don't have the key to

[3:38]unlock the antique box you're not aware of its contents in other

[3:45]words its value and your perception is based exclusively on the fact

[3:51]that you inherited from inherited the box from a loved one and

[3:56]you might be completely unaware of the fact that if you're able

[4:03]to open the box you might find a gemstone that's worth a

[4:06]hundred million dollars for instance and so your interaction your connection with

[4:18]the Box is out of sync with its true value this is

[4:25]exactly what defines our relationship with Imam Al Hussain in other words

[4:32]our appreciation of the Imam and his potential to inspire the entire

[4:43]world is out of sync with the way we interact with him

[4:48]that's not to say that we don't appreciate Imam Hussain when you

[4:53]travel across the globe as some of the dear Scholars have as

[5:00]I have over the last 20 years meeting different communities and interacting

[5:06]with the members of this fraternity that we call the shiha faith

[5:13]you find that people are willing to lay their lives for Imam

[5:19]Hussain During the period of commemorating the tragedy of about Salaam the

[5:26]programs The Gatherings the eulogies they exude love and affection and affinity

[5:33]with the Imam so there's no question that there is a very

[5:39]strong bond that connects us with the Imam the problem is the

[5:42]fact that it's out of sync and disproportionate when it comes to

[5:48]the true value of the Imam in other words we've only tapped

[5:55]into one out of a million in terms of what the Imam

[6:00]can actually do the holy prophet is famous for saying in fact

[6:12]it is exclusively through Hussein who represents his father and his grandfather

[6:19]and embodies the value values and principles and virtues and morals of

[6:27]this religion it is exclusively through him that you can find happiness

[6:31]and you will achieve righteousness and so when we begin to appreciate

[6:40]what Imam Al Hussain can do that is when we would have

[6:47]tapped into the source of all that is good of what can

[6:54]truly transform and transfigure the moral landscape not just the moral landscape

[7:00]but Humanity will be transformed if Imam Hussain was introduced as a

[7:08]guide as an inspiration if you look at events like for example

[7:15]I said this in A procession a few years ago in Manhattan

[7:18]in New York I said if you want a glimpse of what

[7:23]world peace looks like look at this pilgrimage it's the closest thing

[7:28]to World Peace it's the closest thing to unmatched Harmony and synchronicity

[7:39]and beauty where people are not judged based on any other Factor

[7:45]than the fact that they are here to pledge their allegiance to

[7:51]Divine values everybody is welcome if you're a visitor of Imam al-hussein

[7:58]nobody asks you who you are where you come from your ethnicity

[8:03]your tribal affiliations nationality all these things dissolve in the ocean of

[8:10]Hussain and so if you think about it is based on one

[8:20]Hadith is a mere shadow of only a small fraction of what

[8:26]Ashura represents the generosity that you see on a an incredible mind-bending

[8:35]scale the almost 1 billion meals that are distributed grata is based

[8:41]on the fact that Imam was saying displayed generosity on the day

[8:50]of Ashura that is then reverberated and reflected in so imagine if

[8:58]we're actually able to reflect the entire picture this is in this

[9:06]Dunya if Imam and Hussain and his legacy is translated it truly

[9:11]transforms the world as for the afterlife that's an area that is

[9:19]beyond our comprehension listen to this Hadith foreign in particular he mentions

[9:47]women and how they should bring joy to Fatima to Zahara by

[9:52]visiting her son again Imam Al hussain's position is such that paradise

[10:06]with all of its exquisite beauty unimaginable joy and happiness doesn't even

[10:15]stand a chance he says that on the day of judgment Imam

[10:22]al-hussein will be seated under the shadow of God's Throne Allah and

[10:27]around him he will be surrounded by his followers and his visitors

[10:38]so that they are given or exposed to joy and happiness and

[10:49]Victory Allah that only God can depict in other words it's not

[11:01]something that you can comprehend in any way in and so the

[11:09]damsels in Paradise the spouses of the Believers in Paradise will be

[11:14]waiting and waiting for the Believers to come then they'll send Messengers

[11:18]to go and say to these Believers till we're still waiting for

[11:22]you we've been sent to ask you to come to Paradise isn't

[11:31]this what you spent your whole life for you faced all the

[11:35]suffering and pain and difficulty so that you could come to paradise

[11:40]and now you're just waiting by the entrance and so or rather

[11:45]with Imam Al Hussain is we're eagerly waiting for you you've taken

[11:56]too long are so overwhelmed with joy that they'll tell The Messengers

[12:15]Sofia go back we'll join you later on because they're looking at

[12:19]the beauty of the face of Allah which distracts them from all

[12:26]of the joys and pleasures and Bliss of paradise whether it be

[12:31]this world or the next he is our moral compass he is

[12:36]what can truly give meaning and life and color to an otherwise

[12:44]dark and miserable world the issue is that going back to the

[12:52]example that I mentioned earlier we don't appreciate the value of Imam

[13:01]Hussain we do to a very very small extent but we don't

[13:03]see the true potential of the Imam had Imam Al Hussain belong

[13:09]to any other denomination then you would see different results you would

[13:17]see the propagation done especially external propagation to introduce the world to

[13:24]Imam Al Hussain on a completely different scale and you know I

[13:33]remember once going to a theatrical production it's a play about Jesus

[13:41]Christ and it was an incredible experience because it was a random

[13:51]Tuesday morning and it was an Amish Country somewhere in Pennsylvania and

[13:56]we actually had to go through these Amish Villages and very difficult

[14:03]to get to but we ended up getting there and we went

[14:08]in and the theater had 2 000 seats every single one of

[14:14]them was occupied and it was like a hundred and twenty dollar

[14:17]ticket that you had to pay so we went in and we

[14:22]watch the theatrical production I cried everybody cried and I cried despite

[14:32]the fact that I knew that half the things that were being

[14:35]shown to us were not true but it was a very powerful

[14:42]production it was incredibly well orchestrated well done very expensive as well

[14:47]my point is that the external propagation and the attention and priority

[14:58]that is given to promoting religious symbols and personalities of other religions

[15:04]is not something you can compare to what we do when it

[15:09]comes to Imam Hussain the disparity is is cause for concern again

[15:14]it's a lack of appreciation because the minute you introduce people to

[15:18]Imam Hussain you know for a fact that they're going to be

[15:24]gravitating towards him if only they're exposed to the beauty that is

[15:33]the words teachings and moral examples of the Arabic they'll gravitate towards

[15:38]them they will fall head over heels in love with them and

[15:42]so you don't need big budgets you don't need to manipulate the

[15:48]masses you don't need marketing techniques you don't need Behavioral Sciences all

[15:54]you need to do is show them to others and say this

[15:56]is who Imam Hussain was I once met a university professor at

[16:00]New York University who had converted to tashayor because he heard the

[16:08]story of Horror himself the story of horror represented the turning point

[16:16]for this professor of Islamic Studies at New York University so again

[16:21]this gives you a glimpse I personally have a keen interest in

[16:25]conversions that are caused at least partially by exposure to the legend

[16:33]of followed this for many years recently wrote a book about it

[16:40]and it's amazing to see how the smallest most trivial detail in

[16:45]the story of Imam al-hussein can completely transform an individual and for

[16:52]them to shed all this baggage all this affiliation that they have

[16:57]to their culture to their religion to their faith and embrace is

[17:02]mind-blowing and again an indicative of the fact that Imam hussain's potential

[17:08]has yet to be tapped into imagine you have like a uh

[17:14]an oil reserve of a billion barrels and yet all you take

[17:21]out is a couple of barrels every year during a specific season

[17:26]because we can't be bothered to go and extract the rest of

[17:29]the mineral I'll mention a Hadith which is again incredible and it

[17:33]describes and explains this phenomenon of why people gravitate to the Imam

[17:38]foreign hate Hussain as for the love of Hassan and Hussein you

[18:25]know for a fact that there's something different something essentially different about

[18:33]Imam Hussein people flock to him they gravitate to him this explains

[18:39]why so many Christians were able to forge a bond with Imam

[18:46]Al Hussain on his way to karbala in karbala after karbala the

[18:49]monk the ambassador of the Roman Emperor and all of these stories

[18:53]that you hear begin to make sense that there is a gravitational

[18:59]pull that Imam Al Hussain has as well as Imam al-hassan that

[19:02]is unexplainable moment you never find anyone who criticizes or who hates

[19:15]Imam hose and there's another Hadith again whether you're righteous or evil

[19:39]God forbid they both find this Affinity that's intrinsic to them towards

[19:47]Imam al-hussein and so what I'd like to propose and I would

[19:52]like to conclude on this note is that we need to look

[19:58]at new means of introducing we talk about thinking outside the box

[20:05]I'd like to talk about thinking outside the mosque uh having these

[20:12]sacred institutions that have given us all the tools all the inspiration

[20:17]to flourish and to grow and to be where we are today

[20:21]30 years ago none of these programs that you see right now

[20:28]were even things that you could imagine right 20 years ago once

[20:34]again you had small institutions small buildings here and there holding magellas

[20:40]but the momentum is absolutely incredible and again this shows the potential

[20:46]the question is where are we going to be in 20 years

[20:48]time in 30 years time will we have more institutions inshallah we

[20:53]will will we commemorate the tragedy of Imam with greater Vigor and

[21:02]enthusiasm inshallah we will but will we be able to tap into

[21:04]the potential of the Imam to a greater extent where non-muslims and

[21:08]people of different denominations will also recognize Imam Al Hussain I think

[21:12]this needs us to plan ahead and to figure out new means

[21:19]of doing this for instance I feel it's incredibly sad and demoralizing

[21:22]that when we want to introduce someone who's not Muslim to Imam

[21:26]Hussein we still have to quote Gandhi whether or not that quote

[21:31]was authentic to begin with is another discussion I think that we

[21:37]need to find new people who are influential who are notable in

[21:41]this day and age they're relatable to the to the new generation

[21:45]who are introduced to Imam al-hussein so that we could get them

[21:51]to to speak about him and to to extract quotes from them

[21:56]right and this isn't too difficult in fact it's a lot easier

[21:59]today than it was in the past you know the whole Six

[22:03]Degrees of Separation Theory the fact that you can reach anybody anywhere

[22:07]in the world through six or less connections it's possible this has

[22:14]actually been tested right my point is that with social media with

[22:19]globalization with the world becoming such a small place and a small

[22:23]village it's possible for us to reach anybody now I'm not sowing

[22:28]I'm not saying that we should go and try and convert the

[22:30]pope but in your own locality in your own City in your

[22:38]own countries you can begin to identify the individuals that you can

[22:41]perhaps address you can write to you can go meet and say

[22:47]we have somebody you know this is a story this is his

[22:51]Legend these are his teachings share a few books with them and

[22:55]they will gravitate to the Imam they will be inspired by the

[22:57]Imam even if they choose to maintain their existing religious affiliation even

[23:02]if they don't convert to Islam it doesn't matter as long as

[23:09]you connect them to Imam al-hussein and make sure that they're inspired

[23:12]by him and then of course when they speak use those quotes

[23:15]and try and speak about Imam Hussain using those influential individuals that

[23:31]you were killed but you never died in fact it was through

[23:37]the inspiration that we get from you that your followers were able

[23:40]to survive it was your light that led people toward you again

[23:49]you don't need to shed light on Hussain his light exudes inspiration

[24:00]your God's light you will never be extinguished I bear witness you

[24:12]say in the ziara that this is your grave this is the

[24:21]place where your body was killed and you were interned no one

[24:33]is humiliated if they receive support from you and so let us

[24:40]try and appreciate the value of saying number one number two invent

[24:46]new Innovative means of introducing him to the world insha Allah thank

[25:09]you I said so many things

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