The Age Before The Mahdi ('A)

In these unprecedented circumstances, something that we have never seen before in history. Communities are calling this virus, unprecedented. No! Viruses have come and they have gone. The global reach of this virus, is phenomenal. The entire world has come to a standstill. To think that there was one Namroud, and a small mosquito brought Namroud down. In the very same way, today you are seeing that this humanity that is full of arrogance has been brought down by something that can not even be seen.

Know that there is a Sunnah here. Sunnah of Allah is this, that when He wants to bring down somebody arrogant, He brings them down with something very small. He teaches them, and He tells them, and He shows the world. It becomes an 'Ibrah, becomes a lesson for the world. That if you are to stand up in the position of Allah, then Allah will humiliate you.

And this is why you see that a man like Sayyid Al-Shuhada', who Yazid thought was weak, but today, all across the world, from one end to the other end, today nobody remembers Yazid, but everyone remembers Husayn.

And here, Yazid was thinking that Husayn is finished. Little did he know that Allah was going to create a nation who is going to cry over Husayn. The power of these tears, that is what is unprecedented. Do you know how powerful your tears are? Your tears are so powerful that it shakes the 'arsh [Throne] of Allah. This entire journey of Karbala' is a journey of tears, a journey of realisation.

So look, today people are in their houses. Today you are doing majlis from your homes. Today you can not be one body physically, as the Hadith says, that become one body and mourn for Husayn. But look, there is a deeper philosophy if you look into it. Why after 1,400 years has Allah made it like this?

Only one thing comes to mind. If you have ever been to the Zarih [shrine] of Sayyid Al-Shuhada', on the Night of Qadr, that every single year with the blessings of Allah we are there, you will see that the last half an hour before Fajr, the entire room is full, Zarih room, and everyone standing there saying, Allahumma 'ajjil waliyyika al-faraj. Any Du'a which is done under the Dome of Imam Husayn becomes Mustajab [accepted]. You are praying for the coming of that Saviour, so what does Allah do? He gives you an opportunity to accelerate the coming of that Saviour.

Why? As we mentioned yesterday, if every single family connects on these nights, you can see that domino effect to accelerate the coming of the Saviour.

Because we are not able to enhance that Wilayah, to channel that Wilayah. But the minute you are, the whole journey is a journey of the heart.

You can read as many books as you want, it will not take you to that Maqam [station]. What takes you to that Maqam is your tears. Why? It humbles you, it destroys you, and it cleans your heart. Had it been for the fact that books could take you there, every academic today would have been able to go to that Maqam. It is not the case. It is the movement of the heart. Why?

Because the heart is the haram of Allah. Hadith says nothing can hold Allah but the heart of the believing servant. Your heart is that powerful, understand it. But the heart gets tarnished. So Allah gives us this opportunity today. Do you think I like looking into a camera? If only we were all together, but the fact is we are not.

But there is a secret behind that. Imagine that secret. Imagine when seven o'clock or eight o'clock comes or nine o'clock comes, you are sitting there on the floor, you have laid your cloth, your screen is in front of you. Seven o'clock comes, eight o'clock, close your phones, switch them off. Bring your family. Focus. Why?

Do you know why it is important? I will tell you why. For one reason only. The minute that you make the niyyah of Husayn's majlis, you will find Zahra' will come to all of our houses. And when Zahra' comes, remember one thing. She is coming to your house. If you are on the phone, you have disrespected her. If you are talking, you have disrespected her. And when you disrespect her, you disrespect all of the A'immah. Adab! [manners!]. There is no halal and haram in this. You can sit on your phone if you want to, but remember one thing. Be very vigilant. Adab is what takes you to the higher maqams.

But let me tell you something. You know when you go to the Ziyarah of Zahra' 'alayha as-salam, open up the book and see. You know what it says in there? It says, Salam on you, Ummu al-Mu’min’in. You think only a person whose blood related to Zahra' can call her mother. All of those people who truly know how to shed tears for Imam Husayn can call her mother.

Now imagine when you fall into problems and you say, Mother, come and help me! If an average mother can not take when her son falls onto the ground, how can that mother take it when one of her Shi'as are in trouble? She comes very fast to your help. She comes to you. She helps you.

This is why, in fact, this COVID-19 era could be a blessing in disguise, when you are sitting at home and your heart is broken, and at that moment you say, Zahra', what better mother than you to come and help us? I think Zahra' 'alayha as-salam, does not come to your help.

I did not elaborate on it. I am going to elaborate on it today. Remember I said yesterday, Laylat al-Qadr is actually secondary for you, actually it is for the Imam. Better than a thousand months, better than a lifetime. But how does one connect to Laylat al-Qadr, which is important? You connect, you gain Ma'rifah [cognisance], and remember, to gain Ma'rifah of Laylat al-Qadr is to gain Ma'rifah of Zahra 'alayha as-salam. How do you do that, though? What's the purpose of that? Look, Allah is Da'im al-Fayd, continuously He is giving fayd. Why is it that it does not reach you? Because of your sins.

When does it reach you? When Hujjatu Allah is praying and you connect onto that prayer. Tahajjud, for example, last one-third of the night, Du'as are accepted the fastest then why? Your Imam is praying. When you come to the majlis of Imam Husayn, when the Masa'ib [tribulations] are recited, when Imam is crying.

What happens then? Laylat Al-Qadr, it is not just about staying awake. It is about that moment when the heart connects to the Hujjah [Proof of Allah], and then everything is accepted, Ma'rifah increases. So what is this? Majlis is that thing that brings together all of the A'immah. In any of this one hour, 45 minutes, whatever it may be, at any stage if the heart connects to the Lutf [grace] for the Imam, your Ma'rifah increases. When your Ma'rifah increases, you become a different person when you go outside.

When we say, Rasul Allah is, 'Khatim An-Nabiyyin, this is a Khatim [shows a ring]. This is a stamp. Let us say it has got writing on it. In America, you won't find this very much, because you are a modern society, only 200, 300 years old. Those places where there is kingship, for example, like we are here in the United Kingdom, when the Queen seals something, she does Khatm- stamps it. That means that it is sealed. Rasul Allah is that seal that stamps it. It means it is legitimate now. I can write a whole document without the seal, it does not become legitimate. In this country, when the Queen puts her stamp to it, it means it is legitimate. Every law from Parliament has to go to the Queen and she stamps it and becomes legitimate.

Rasul Allah is that stamp that initiates to say that the risalat [Messengership] of all of the prophets is legitimate. But in the [event of] Ghadir, it tells us something that the ink Rasul Allah uses to stamp is known as 'Ali ibn Abi Talib.

There are certain conditions for Wilayah to become perfect, otherwise Allah would chuck you out from the basis of Wilayah. You know what one of them is? Let me tell you this. Somebody comes to Ayatullah Bahjat once. They say, Agha, give us a Dhikr [recitation], we are in problems. What is the best Dhikr to do? He looks up, he says, 'Dhikr 'amaly'- go and do 'Amal [action]. Go and do good. Help people. More than just sitting in a cave, reciting Allah Allah, is to go and help people.

Why? Bala' [affliction] is removed when you help people. Many a time you think your solution lies in reciting a Dhikr. No, actually, it lies when you go and help somebody, when you feed somebody, when you educate somebody.

But I will give you one. And if this one you can do, Insha'Allah, slowly all of the others will open up, what is that one? This one famously known as the Golden Rule. What you want for yourself, want for your brother. You know what that means? If you do not like people gossiping about you, do not gossip about somebody else.

Be vigilant and careful. Perhaps the reason why we are all at home today is because when we come to the Masjid, afterwards, when we sit together, 'ilm-Rijal happens and you gossip to such an extent that you lose everything. You have come into the Masjid to gain something, and what happened? Your Fishar al-Qabr [squeezing in the grave] increases when you die.

See, this is what tawfiq [bounty/grace] is. Tawfiq is there. Do not lose that tawfiq. What you want for your brother? Don't cheat somebody if you don't want to be cheated. Don't look at somebody's spouse if you don't want anybody to look at your spouse. What does it mean? Do for other people that you want for yourself. That is one condition of wilayah. And if you don't have that condition, you are out of the wilayah. Look, you want people to give you a chance? Give other people a chance. You want people to forgive you? Learn to forgive people.

That is one of seven, imagine if we were to mention all seven, Insha'Allah, maybe in the next coming nights we will. Digest this for tonight. Go home and change yourself. Come back slowly so we can change. It gives us all a chance, including myself, it gives us all a chance in this Muharram to change. And if you can even do this one thing, then I guarantee you that the Dhuhur [reappearance] is close.

[Story of Ayat. Hasanzadah Aamuli and Ayat. Hasan Ilahi after an incident] - he says, repent! Change! Even that small thing that you say to your family that breaks a heart, you are removed from the Wilayah (guardianship) because they are Shi'ah of Ahl al-Bayt. Be careful. Your wife, your husband, sometimes we take it for granted. We say things to our children, we say things to our parents, we say things to our spouses. Be careful you say things to our spouses. Be careful. You say things to a Shi'ah.

The minute your lahan [attitude of speaking] becomes such that it is offensive and you break somebody's heart, be very careful because at that moment you are out of the Wilayah. And then you think to yourself, Why don't I have Ma'rifah of Ahl al-Bayt? It is not easy to have Ma'rifah of Ahl al-Bayt. Hadith says in and of itself, akhbar [narrations] of Aali Muhammad [family of the Prophet Muhammad] is such truly such.

One day somebody comes to Imam Husayn, says, Mawla, tell us your Haqaiq [reality]. He says, You won't be able to take it. He says, Please tell me. Imam begins to open his mouth to speak. The person's beard went white, his hair went white, Imam stopped. That person forgot everything. Imam said, May the mercy of Allah be on you that you forgot everything. You would not be able to take it. Why? Requires something more. Heart needs to be pure. For your heart to be pure, remember!

So you can ask me the question, what has Wilayah got to do with your brothers? No. The entire Shi'ah nation is like a body. Be very vigilant to your fellow Shi'ah brother. I don't want to go on too much about this. Insha'Allah, tomorrow we will continue the discussion further. If only we can take one thing home today, it is just that, become true Shi'ahs of Ahl al-Bayt. Why?

Remember one thing, Ahl al-Bayt's heart is very soft to you, very soft to you. Shall I give you a story? Sometimes I think to myself, how giving are Ahl al-Bayt to their enemies, let alone their friends. Look, I have given the story before, but I want to give it again. Every time that I repeat this, it affects my heart, hurts my heart.

One year after Karbala' takes place, Yazid sends an army of a hundred thousand. He says, Go and pillage Makkah and Madinah. In seven days in Madinah, 1,000 illegitimate children are born. Rasul Allah's mosque is demolished. But he says something. He says, Look, whatever you do, don't touch the house of Zayn Al-'Abidin. At this moment, they say, Marwan, who is the hakim, becomes very worried. He says to a servant, he says, Look, I have got women, I have got children, I have got elders. These Yazidis are not going to tell between the Umawi (Umayyad) and a non-Umawi (Umayyad). When 100,000 of them come, they are going to pillage everything. What should we do?

At that moment, his servant says, Why don't you go to 'Ali Ibn Al-Husayn? He says, but I killed his father. He says, You don't know who Ahl al-Bayt are. Go to them and see what he says. They say, Marwan comes to the door of Imam Zayn al-'Abidin, he knocks on the door. Your gharib Imam gets up. If a person in his heart knows what Sham symbolises, how difficult it is for that person to come face-to-face with his father's killer. They said, Imam Zayn Al-'Abidin comes to the door, opens the door, his [Marwan] head is down.

He said, What do you want? He [Marwan] says, Do you recognise me? He [Imam] says, Of course I recognise you. What do you want? He [Marwan] says, 'Yazid is sending an army, Zayn Al-'Abidin.' I also have a Zainab at home. I also have a Sakinah at home. But you know what? This is now in my words. I also have an 'Ali Asghar at home. I also have a Qasim at home. I also have 'Awn and Muhammad at home. I also have Habib Ibn Mazahir, at home. 'I have elderly people, I have children, I have a wife, I have aunts, I have everything. Zayn Al-'Abidin, what should I do?' You know what, Imam says? He says, Give them to me. I will protect them.

They say for one moment, tears come into this Mal'oon's [accursed] eyes. He says, Can I ask you a question? He [Imam] says, What is that question? He [Marwan] says, When we were in power, we oppressed you. Now that you are in power, you are showing us so much mercy? You know what Imam Zayn Al-'Abidin replied? Tears in his eyes came, and he just said one thing. He said, Marwan, know something. The difference between you and us is this: your mother is Hind, our mother is Zahra'.

If they are so merciful to their enemies, Shi'ahs of Husayn, for one second think where you are sitting. You are sitting in the majlis of Imam Husayn. You are sitting in the madras of Imam Husayn. This is the time of Istijabat ad-Du'a [acceptance of Du'a]. You think if you raise your hands, Allah is not going to accept it? Let me tell you one more thing. Let me tell you one more thing. Look, we can't get to Karbala.