Who Are the Shi’a of Ali (Imam Ali’s Martyrdom Lecture)

14 Views· 24/03/25

Sayed Mahdi Modarresi
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In Lectures

In this lecture, we discuss the ongoing war against Imam Ali and how anyone connected to him has been a target for centuries. But who are the real Shi’a of Imam Ali?

Transcript

[1:23]you've all heard that in the sermon that the holy prophet god's

[1:30]messenger may his peace and blessings be upon him and his family

[1:38]that the prophet of god delivered on the last day of the

[1:44]month of shaaban in which he spoke about the merits and virtues

[1:48]of the holy month of ramadan after doing all of that at

[1:53]the very end of that sermon when the holy prophet had concluded

[1:59]his remarks the commander of the faithful emir imam ali got up

[2:08]and asked the question he said ya rasulullah what is the best

[2:15]deed that one can perform in this blessed month the holy prophet

[2:21]responded by saying the best deed in this blessed month is to

[2:35]stay far away from the acts that are deemed sinful and acts

[2:43]of transgression the things that god has for prohibit prohibited us from

[2:49]doing thummabakka at this point the holy prophet is addressing people from

[2:54]the pulpit he delivered these remarks then he broke down in tears

[2:58]so the commander of the faithful was the first to ask the

[3:04]prophet what is it that's making you cry like this i cry

[3:16]for the sanctity of yours that will be violated in this month

[3:22]the prophet then elaborated and he said it's as if i can

[3:32]see you performing prayers for your lord and the most wicked person

[3:40]among all people from the from the beginning to the end who

[3:48]comes towards you the brother to the one who slaughtered the she

[3:58]camel of saleh the people of the mood he will come towards

[4:03]you i can see when he strikes you on your head such

[4:14]that he dyes your beard with your blood so the commander of

[4:21]the faithful hears this prophecy from god's messenger how does he respond

[4:27]he says i told the prophet mendini will that be in a

[4:37]state where my faith is intact my religion is safe fakal the

[4:42]prophet responded in the affirmative indianic then he said whoever kills you

[4:53]has killed me woman and whoever harbors enmity and hatred towards you

[5:01]harbors enmity towards me the prophet is foretelling future events that would

[5:13]transpire he says whoever curses you has cursed me in reference to

[5:19]the thousands of pulpits some have said up to a hundred thousand

[5:26]pulpits that were used to curse at the direct orders of muawiyah

[5:32]the son of hind the one who chewed on the liver of

[5:35]hamza and so just as the holy prophet had foretold in the

[5:43]year 40 after the blessed hedra of the holy prophet in other

[5:48]words 30 years after the prophet had already left this world and

[5:52]on the eve of the nineteenth of the holy month of ramadan

[5:57]a call was heard in the heavens to allah by god the

[6:14]pillars of guidance have been demolished the celestial stars have fallen the

[6:23]means of piety have been destroyed the the most wicked of the

[6:53]wicked has killed him this just as the holy prophet had prophesied

[7:01]occurred on such a night and just as they killed ali of

[7:09]they never stopped trying to destroy his name and his legacy one

[7:19]of the recommended acts on the eve of the 19th of the

[7:23]month of ramadan is for us to recite the following statement allah

[7:32]send your damnations and curses upon the killers of the commander of

[7:39]the faithful even though we know that there was only one person

[7:43]who struck ali one man who had the audacity to kill ali

[7:51]from behind nobody had the courage to face ali in the battlefield

[7:59]and so eventually they killed him like that with a with nothing

[8:10]but treachery so why is it that we send god's damnations and

[8:17]curses upon the killers and the plural not just one person because

[8:22]it wasn't just one person who attempted to kill ali they allocated

[8:31]national budgets to fight ali and to distort his pristine image let

[8:39]me mention something here that will help us make sense of the

[8:44]scope and the magnitude of the hatred that they harbor towards amir

[8:48]al-mu'manin imam allah has an incredible and beautiful text of visitation for

[9:03]amir mu'min in which he says the following he says may god's

[9:12]peace and blessings be upon you in quick succession god has to

[9:25]send his peace upon you because no one even those endowed with

[9:33]the skill of flattery is able to flatter you in a manner

[9:39]that befits your status and no one even those who are skilled

[9:51]at undermining the status of other people those who try to bring

[9:57]you down will never be able to do so how could they

[10:05]do that when you are the best of god's creations when it

[10:08]comes to his worship and you have the most sincere form of

[10:15]asceticism you are the most protective when it comes to god's religion

[10:27]until the imam then says no one who blames you is able

[10:36]to deter you from doing what you do you don't care about

[10:44]what other people say about you if you're going to erase books

[10:55]if you're going to try to obfuscate the truth if you're going

[11:00]to censor history how could you erase god's flattery of ali ibn

[11:08]abi talib how could you take away the praise that god left

[11:11]ali in those who try to describe you who try to depict

[11:26]you they can never do justice to you how could they when

[11:33]god himself is the one who praises you then imam ali continues

[11:41]to talk about the merits of amir al-mu'min and says that you

[11:47]did the greatest service to rasulullah and eventually you said towards the

[12:05]end of his life amir mohammedin would constantly say isn't it time

[12:10]that this is died from this meaning the promise that rasulullah gave

[12:14]me that i would be martyred in god's way when will that

[12:20]wicked man come and do what he was was going to do

[12:26]brothers and sisters this text that i just quoted the ziyarah of

[12:33]hadir by imam ali isn't a mere eulogy that's recited towards a

[12:43]grave rather it's a manifesto of our beliefs in the commander of

[12:48]the faithful it's an endless ocean containing a condensed list of the

[12:53]virtues of amir al-mu'mannin as i quoted the imam to have said

[13:05]and as a result of that it begins to make sense the

[13:13]horrid war waged against him is second to none entire government agencies

[13:20]were devoted to subvert and undermine the legacy of ali the umayyad

[13:26]and abbasid dynasties for over a millennium were obsessed with erasing his

[13:32]name and literally anyone connected to him even if just by name

[13:38]or the merest association rivers of blood were shed across the muslim

[13:43]world when spiteful caliphs hunted down the shia shihab to the ends

[13:50]of their kingdoms following the tradition of their idol muawiyah who infamously

[13:55]declared he said that when it comes to executing one of the

[14:03]followers of you don't need evidence you don't need due process you

[14:09]don't need a court you don't need witnesses all you have to

[14:14]do is accuse them of being followers of ali and you could

[14:18]do whatever you want with them kill them execute them do what

[14:26]you must even if you simply suspect that this person is a

[14:30]shia of ali and so following in the footsteps of this tyrant

[14:36]the caliphs of the both abbasid and umayyad dynasties before them they

[14:44]committed unspeakable crimes minarets and pillars were erected over the skulls of

[14:50]the shia in every capital city terrorizing the masses and reminding every

[14:57]single subject that this government deems the greatest capital crime to be

[15:03]none other than to declare your allegiance to ali and to his

[15:08]sons to this day need i remind you that we continue our

[15:14]1400 year fight to protect our beliefs and our love for imam

[15:21]ali not a single month goes by without the relentless genocide manifesting

[15:25]itself in a suicide bombing of a mosque school or hospital that's

[15:31]frequented by the shia the murderous madness that drives the sectarian bloodbath

[15:37]is rooted in vitriol towards one man ali it is bent on

[15:47]exterminating anyone connected to him as i said before even if by

[15:50]the merest of associations let me share hadith with you a man

[15:59]by the name of abu sabha he says i came to imam

[16:07]jaffar sadak alaihi salam this man was from kufa so he came

[16:14]to the imam in madina and he said to him rasulullah in

[16:30]they won't like it even though their cult was literally invented and

[16:38]concocted by muhammad in the town known as qasim but if you

[16:46]call someone a wahabi instead of a salafi which is their preferred

[16:49]title they will feel insulted why because what you're actually telling them

[16:56]is that your religion is a recent phenomenon within the last two

[17:04]centuries or so you haven't been around for too long you are

[17:08]an innovation your entire religion is a bidder and so they'll feel

[17:15]insulted now in kufa they used to call the shia jaffariya why

[17:23]in other words what they're saying is that you don't follow the

[17:28]sunnah of muhammad you follow muhammad assad now as a shia we

[17:36]should never be insulted by that because we know that this thread

[17:41]connects directly from imam assad back to the to the holy prophet

[17:56]they were the closest people the closest kin to god's messenger if

[18:13]you're looking for a system of beliefs that's going to save you

[18:18]on the day of judgment from the inferno from the blazing fires

[18:22]of hell then leave these people abu hanifa ahmad malik all these

[18:27]individuals who were disconnected from rasulullah this poem is attributed to the

[18:37]shaffer himself instead put your allegiance in a group in a family

[18:54]who when they speak they say that my father told me that

[18:59]his father told him that his father told him that rasulullah his

[19:03]grandfather said such and such who quote [Applause] god himself so there's

[19:15]nothing to be insulted about but this man due to his ignorance

[19:21]he comes and says to the imam that in kufa when they

[19:25]try to insult us they call us that you're jafariyah in another

[19:32]version of the hadith there's another word that's added he says they

[19:36]they call us jafari and khabib you're a wicked jaffari how does

[19:43]the imam react to this imam sadaq became angry but not for

[19:50]the reason that you might think the imam then said to him

[19:58]there aren't too many followers of jaffa among you in other words

[20:03]what you deem to be an insult is the greatest honor and

[20:08]you don't deserve it and nash listen to this this is where

[20:15]it gets scary the imam says truly a s the followers of

[20:27]jaffa my companions my partisans my followers are the ones whose piety

[20:33]is extreme and they have sincerity towards allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brothers

[20:42]and sisters the greatest honor is to be insulted for by god's

[20:51]grace let us pray that we get to die one day for

[20:54]no other reason but the love of hopefully when we're fasting when

[21:02]we're hungry and thirsty walking towards the shrine of abba abdullah hussain

[21:07]if somebody ever insulted you for being a shia that is a

[21:11]gift that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you whether you deserve

[21:14]it or not that is an honor like no other those shia

[21:22]who are killed in iraq afghanistan pakistan and nigeria and the eastern

[21:31]province and hijaz and so-called saudi arabia all of these people who

[21:34]are murdered for the love of they are truly chosen they're hand-picked

[21:41]by allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala what a privilege it is to be among

[21:49]them this man was upset that he was insulted for being a

[21:55]shia listen to this hadith when the salaam described their shia and

[22:04]spoke about their merits and virtues it sense shivers down my spine

[22:11]brothers and sisters it is truly terrifying knowing that the characteristics and

[22:18]attributes that the imams have awarded to their followers are things that

[22:23]i for one don't find in myself the hadith says i used

[22:40]to hear my father say this frequently not once or twice kathiran

[22:46]i've heard this many times from my father meaning imam assad what

[22:51]did he say yakul if the women who never leave their homes

[23:08]don't speak about your piety in other words your piety has to

[23:14]be so famous it needs to be the talk of the town

[23:18]it needs to be something that everybody recognizes the imam then says

[23:26]and you're not one of our followers if you live in a

[23:33]town or a village where there are 10 000 residents in that

[23:36]village and yet there is one of those people who is more

[23:48]pious than you you're not one of our followers this is probably

[23:53]a reference to those shia who live in towns and villages where

[23:57]you have non-shia living there in other words if a non-shia appears

[24:03]to be more religious than you than you're not a shia there's

[24:08]something wrong brothers and sisters the blessed book of al-qafi at least

[24:17]the usual part the two volumes because you have two volumes that

[24:20]deal with matters of uh the principles and the foundations of the

[24:26]faith right then another eight volumes that deal with the branches of

[24:33]religion and jurisprudence and so forth the volumes of al-qafi the first

[24:41]chapter is called the book of belief and disbelief in section 36

[25:01]in that chapter the title of that section is called the section

[25:10]of obedience and piety this section contains incredibly important hadith from the

[25:20]albeit which as i said earlier are terrifying the first one says

[25:26]the following it is narrated from imam al-baqarah don't be fooled don't

[25:34]be deceived by people telling you different things for allah the imam

[25:45]swears in god's name he says by god it is not one

[25:50]of our shia or he or she is not one of our

[25:53]shia who does not obey allah the exalted one the point here

[26:03]being what that if you are a shia of ali then there

[26:07]are things that have to manifest themselves in you you can't just

[26:13]call yourself a shia wear a necklace with a miniature version of

[26:19]or slap on a tattoo and think of yourself as a shia

[26:25]you're not the third hadith in that section is the following meaning

[26:50]those people who attribute themselves to teshaio who consider themselves card-carrying members

[26:57]of this faith of this community do they think they can simply

[27:04]claim to love the household of purity and that's it they get

[27:10]to be shia that's not how it works by god he is

[27:19]not a shia who doesn't have god consciousness who doesn't have piety

[27:23]and who obeys allah subhanahu wa ta'ala foreign have signs that they're

[27:37]known by they must be known by again not by their stated

[27:46]religious identity not by simply showing up and saying we love thee

[27:50]that's not enough they are known by their humility number one and

[27:58]by their humbleness before allah their fear of allah and how much

[28:09]they remember allah subhanahu wa they're not always distracted by these worldly

[28:13]things they remember allah constantly what else was salat by fasting by

[28:21]prayer welberry bill and by honoring and showing kindness towards their parents

[28:26]what ta'ahu and they always look after their neighbors making sure that

[28:33]if there is one of them who is poor they provide for

[28:37]them they look after the orphans they look after those who are

[28:45]destitute was hadith they're known by how truthful they are quran they

[28:50]recite the quran constantly what kefil al-sun they stop their tongues from

[28:57]rolling and saying things that are unnecessary or untruthful or hurtful towards

[29:03]other people they never speak about other people except in goodness this

[29:14]is how imam al-baqara salaam describes his followers which by the way

[29:19]this is a description of a true shia right you want to

[29:26]know who ashiya is this is who ashiya is in other words

[29:30]those who get to sit with the bait in paradise those who

[29:36]get to enjoy the company of amir al-mu'min imam i'm not saying

[29:44]that this is a prerequisite to entering into paradise but if you

[29:48]want to be among those who are in the upper echelons those

[29:54]who are in the closest circles of the bait this is what

[29:58]you must do it doesn't mean that if you're not like that

[30:02]you're no good in fact a minimalist shia who merely has the

[30:08]allegiance towards the imams and who rejects their enemies is better by

[30:14]a million times than the best person among others we have many

[30:20]narrations about that so don't fall into these neoliberal pluralistic drivels a

[30:26]lover of ali is incomparable to others no matter how seemingly righteous

[30:31]don't ever believe otherwise however there is a lover of the bait

[30:39]then there is an actual shia who gets to be as close

[30:45]to them on judgment day as a mortal can be as the

[30:48]holy prophet sallallahu alaihi are those who get to sit on chairs

[31:04]made of light their faces are luminous and they sit around me

[31:14]in paradise those are the shia that imam al-baqara is talking about

[31:18]and the and that is what we should aim for not for

[31:22]the minimalist shia not just the one who gets to enter paradise

[31:29]after god knows how many years of facing judgment brothers and sisters

[31:39]the imams unlike politicians who promise you everything so they can get

[31:45]more votes and unlike celebrities who praise you to get more fans

[31:50]the advaith were constantly filtering out their followers imam ali ali salam

[31:56]said that i will restore stolen funds when i become the leader

[31:59]i will take back everything that was stolen from the muslim treasury

[32:06]even if you've already used it to pay your wife's dowry as

[32:11]imam alhadi alayhi salam said in the text that we recited the

[32:17]imam couldn't care less what other people thought or said he did

[32:22]what must be done he followed god's command at any cost on

[32:32]the journey towards karbala kept saying even on the eve of ashura

[32:36]he kept saying leave me let me die alone go to your

[32:43]families he's not trying to make friends or gather supporters he didn't

[32:47]need anybody's help for himself angels were begging to come and support

[32:52]abba abdullah he's telling us that if you want to be a

[32:56]shia you have to prove it was hunted down in kufa while

[33:07]he was there and ibn ziad had just arrived they were looking

[33:11]for muslim so ibn ziyad dispatched a shami spy a spy from

[33:19]sham one of his servants that he brought with him he dispatched

[33:22]him to go what did this spy do listen carefully to this

[33:29]he went straight to the mosque but why the mosque kufa had

[33:34]all kinds of places where the shia of imam al-hussein could have

[33:39]been hiding why the mosque because the hadith says that piety and

[33:48]piety means that god finds you where he wants to find you

[33:53]where he has commanded you to be and to not be where

[34:00]he has commanded you not to be so where do you find

[34:04]the shia of the bait other than in the mosque so this

[34:09]spy goes there and masjid al-kufa he looked around he was carefully

[34:14]scanning the faces and the people there until he saw a man

[34:19]who was in constant prayer he said to himself and this has

[34:24]been reported in sunni narrations and sunni sources he said when he

[34:27]saw that man praying and praying and praying he said so i

[34:36]know the shia are the kind of people who pray a lot

[34:40]i suspect this man is one of them indeed that man was

[34:47]none other than muslims one of the true shia of the bait

[34:54]who ultimately became one of the martyrs in karbala one of the

[35:00]supporters of abba abdullah hussain so the spy went to him he

[35:04]sat down he lied to him he told him that i'm a

[35:09]shia even though i'm from sham i love the bait and he

[35:13]was able to infiltrate the security and this the circle around muslim

[35:19]through that he identified muslim through his prayer a beggar approach to

[35:29]imam al-hasan ali listen to this hadith he came to ask the

[35:31]imam for help before he even opened his mouth the imam took

[35:36]ten thousand silver coins and gave it to him some of the

[35:42]people there the companions of imam and hassan they said to him

[35:45]this man hasn't even spoken yet let him talk let him say

[35:49]what he actually needs why give him all this much the imam

[35:55]said that i'm not afraid that people will say that hassan is

[35:58]not the son of ali he's not the grandson of rasulullah i'm

[36:03]not afraid of that what i am afraid of is that they'll

[36:07]say lester rasulillah that you're not like rasulullah i have to give

[36:16]such that i remind people of who rasulullah was the generosity of

[36:24]ali and what that was like akbar brothers and sisters we have

[36:30]to resemble the adhd we have to remind people of ali with

[36:37]our conduct the things that some of us do and i'll talk

[36:42]about myself i won't judge any of you but i'm sure you

[36:46]have the mental capacity and you have the brain power and you

[36:50]have the strength of conscience for you to judge your own self

[36:54]some of the things that we do put the bait to shame

[36:58]they put amir al-mu'mineen to shame as we said in that hadith

[37:06]imam al-baqar alayhi salaam describes the shia by saying that they are

[37:10]known by kethra tudikrilla wasau the shia are known by how much

[37:16]they remember god how much they fast how much they pray what's

[37:20]wrong with us brothers and sisters on these nights when we commemorate

[37:27]the martyrdom of amir al-mu'min let's plead with him let's beg him

[37:33]for him to take a gaze toward us so that we can

[37:39]wake up from this deep sleep of ours wake up from the

[37:46]misery that we've been experiencing all our lives we've entered the nights

[37:52]of destiny and i haven't changed yet i've yet to know what

[37:58]two units of sincere prayers taste like i am yet to experience

[38:06]true worship of allah obedience of allah i have not repented from

[38:11]my grave sins my neck is still tied to my desires and

[38:14]my temptations how miserable am i that the holy month of ramadan

[38:22]is almost over on these nights our actions are going to be

[38:26]presented to the imam of our time what's he going to see

[38:32]what's he going to read how terrible is it that last year

[38:39]i promised allah to repent i said to him that it's the

[38:45]night of destiny it's want to change i really wish to change

[38:48]and yet here i am again looking back and wondering what i've

[38:53]done the terrible things that i've done ya amir al-mu'min oh commander

[39:02]of the faithful pray to allah such that he plants his love

[39:08]in our hearts so that when when we say illahi that when

[39:21]we make these statements we're not going to turn around and break

[39:25]that promise straight away that we actually begin this year in a

[39:32]manner that pleases allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the call was made in

[39:40]the heavens to allah finally got his wish the promise made by

[39:58]rasulullah was finally fulfilled amir al-mu'min was struck on the head what

[40:04]does he say he responded by saying by the lord of the

[40:13]kaaba i have achieved victory what was amir al-mu'manin like when they

[40:23]brought him back to his home i don't know all i know

[40:27]is that amir al-mu'manin was bloody from head to toe he couldn't

[40:35]walk by himself so he had to be carried by imam al-hassan

[40:42]imam al-hussein by muhammad was there his children what happened to lady

[40:52]zainab when she first caught a glimpse of her father in that

[40:55]state i cannot describe i cannot even imagine all i can say

[41:02]is he describes that moment he says we were about to die

[41:10]the imam says o father i have reserved my tears for this

[41:18]day because they knew they had heard amir al-mu'manin was giving them

[41:23]glimpses of what was about to come imam al-hussein says that this

[41:30]is the greatest calamity after the death of our grandfather rasulullah lady

[41:38]zainab was deeply grieving at the scene however i say mawlati yes

[41:46]oh lady you saw your father in that state while he was

[41:55]being surrounded by his loved ones by his family you saw the

[41:59]blood on the face of amir al-mu'min your father but what did

[42:05]you witness when you entered the killing pit of abba abdullah hussain

[42:14]what happened to you on that dreadful day was surrounded by his

[42:21]loved ones and yet abba abdullah hussain was surrounded by vicious wolves

[42:26]one was saying leave his ring to me i'll take that the

[42:32]other said leave his shirt to me i'll take that another would

[42:38]say leave his neck to me shimmer said leave his head to

[42:46]me said leave his infant to me others said leave his body

[42:51]so that we would trample over it sallallahu alaihi qayaballah

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