In Search of A Weeping Heart 4/5

'A'udhu billahi min al-Shaytan al-rajim, Bismillah, al-Rahman, al-Rahim. Al-hamdulillah Rabbi 'l-alameen, bari' al-khalaa'iqi ajma'een. Wa as-salat wa assalam 'ala asharaf al-anbiya'i wa'l-mursalin, sayyidina wa nabiyyina wa habibi qulubina wa tabibi nufusina wa shafi'i dhunubina Abil Qasim Muhammad. [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad]. Thumma as-salatu wa assalam 'ala aali baytihi at-tayyibeen at-tahareen al-madhlumeen. Wa la'anatullahi al a'da'ihim ajma'een min yawmi 'adaawatihim ila yawm id-deen. Amma ba'du, faqad qal Allahu tabaraka wa taa'la fi kitabih, A'udhu billahi min al-Shaytan al-rajim, "fal yadhhaku qaleelan wal yabku katheeran jaza'an bi ma kanu yaksibun"(9:82). Salawat 'ala Muhammad wa aali Muhammad. [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad].

This is our fourth majlis in search of a weeping heart. In the ayah of Qur'an that we have been using as our theme is from Chapter nine, Surah at-Tawbah verse 82 where Allah says, "so they shall laugh little and they shall weep much, reward for what they used to do"(9:82). Yesterday, we stopped, after discussing the importance of the heart, and we said that our most precious possession is the heart. If the heart is lost, then everything else is lost. And we also said that the primary reason why Allah, Subhana Wa Ta'ala, sent the messengers and sent the Prophets and sent the Imams and the Awseeya' and so on, was primarily to heal people's hearts and to rid humanity of the diseases of the heart, because the heart is the essence that defines a human being.

And we said, that in Nahjul-Balagha, Amir al-Mu'min Ali ibne Abi Talib salawatullahi was salamu 'alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad] when he defines the blessed Messenger of Allah peace be upon him and his family, he calls him, "tabeebun dawwarun bi tibbih", a physician who went around with his medicine, healing people's hearts. We also saw an ayah of Qur'an, from Surah Yunus where Allah, Subhaanahu Wa Ta'ala addresses mankind and says, "Ya ayuhal nas, qad ja'akum maw'idhatun min Rabbikum" (10:57), there has come to you an admonition from your Lord, Oh! Mankind. And then He says, "wa shifaa'ul lima fis sudoor" (10:57), and a healing for what is in your chests and a healing for your heart. So the Qur'an, as well, not just the ambeeya' and the awseeya' and the A'immah 'alaihimu assalam, but the Qur'an itself also has been sent to mankind. It is also a guide, "wa hudaw warahmatul lil mu'minin" (10:57), but for mankind it is a healing for their hearts.

Now there is another ayah of Qur'an from Surah-tul-An'am, sorry, from Suratul-Isra', chapter 17, verse 82, where Allah also mentions that the Qur'an is a healing for the hearts of people. But here He adds something to it. He says: "wa nunazzilu minal-Qur'anee ma huwa shifa'un" (17:82), and we reveal of this Qur'an or from this Qur'an that which is a healing, and from that verse we quoted yesterday, we understand this healing is for the heart, "wa rahmatul-lil-mu'minin" (17:82), and it is a mercy for those who believe. And then He says, "wa la Yazidul-dhalimeena illa khafaara" (17:82), and this Qur'an does not increase for the oppressors anything except more loss. This is a very strange ayah of Qur'an and it is very 'ajeeb, because Allah is saying that this very same Qur'an, which is a healing for those who are spiritually ill, this same Qur'an, which is a mercy and a guide for the believers, it is a source of loss, it is a source of harm for the oppressors.

The same Qur'an, it does not increase the dhalimeen in anything except more and more loss, illa khasara. The Qur'an is noor, the Qur'an is the word of God. How can the Qur'an increase khasara for somebody? How can the Qur'an increase loss for somebody?

From this, we understand a very important point. We understand from this that there is a difference between the content of something and the container that holds the content. An example that we have given in the past is that if something has two opposite effects, on two different things, then the conclusion we would draw from that is that, that effect is not coming from the source, it is coming from the recipient of that source. For example, if I place a piece of wax under the hot sun and it melts, and I place a piece of wood under the sun and it becomes hard, then the conclusion I would draw from this is that it is not the sun which softens or hardens. You need to pay attention to this because we are connecting this with the heart being hard or soft.

The conclusion I will draw is that it is not the property or the attribute of the sun to harden or to soften, because the sun does not discriminate. It is the property of the wax or the wood that is receiving the same heat and the same light and how it reacts to it. So this very same Qur'an, you will see in hadith that the heart is referred to as a container, as in ina'. The Qur'an is the same Qur'an, it is being given to this container in the same manner, but now it is the property of the container, whether it will become a rahmah, whether it will become a huda', whether it will become a shifa, or whether it will become khasara.

When rain falls into a container, if that container happens to be a septic tank or that container happens to be rusty, we saw two days ago that there is an ayah that says there is rust on their hearts, so if you look at the heart is a container that is rusty. When rainwater that is pure and clean falls into a container that is rusty or that is dirty or that is septic, and then that water becomes harmful or poisonous, is it the rain that is causing that water to be harmful? No, it is the container.

The opposite can also be said true. That if I have a rose and I take a spray bottle, which has clean water in it and I spray this rose and the rose begins to give out a fragrance, where is the fragrance coming from? Is it from the water or is it from the rose? It is from the rose, because the water does not have any fragrance beforehand. The water is the same pure water. When I put it in the rusty tank, it becomes harmful, it smells, it stinks. When I spray it on the rose, it gives out a fragrance. So just as the harm there, is from the tank and not the water here, also, the fragrance is not from the water, the fragrance is from the rose.

So when the Qur'an is read by a mu'min, when a mu'min becomes a container for the Qur'an, when a believer becomes the container of the Qur'an. And from that believers heart, you begin to see wisdom, you begin to see light, you begin to see mercy, you begin to see noor, you begin to see hedayah. That fragrance that is coming out from the believer is not from the Qur'an, it is from the heart of the believer.

Because this same Qur'an becomes a khasara for the other container. So the Qur'an in itself is a means, it is the content. But that same Qur'an will give out beauty, that same Qur'an will give out meaning, that same Qur'an will lead people the right way, not because the Qur'an itself is giving that lead or that noor or that light no, it is the heart of the believer that is giving out the fragrance. All it needs is the water to be sprayed on. So the Qur'an is that shifa'.

And so from this, we understand, that do not think that anybody who receives knowledge is guided. Knowledge in itself does not always guide, knowledge can be harmful. It depends on the container that is receiving that knowledge. If you teach fiqh and aqaid and uloom ul-Qur'an and tafseer and hadith to a heart that is clean, then even a little bit will have a huge impact. But if you take a heart that is unclean, even if you give it all the knowledge of a mujtahid and you put that heart in a place like Qum or Najaf for 20 years, it will still cause more harm than good, because the issue is not the knowledge, the issue is the container that is receiving that knowledge.

So we stopped at this yesterday and we talked about the container and the knowledge and what it does. Now. We promise that from tonight, we want to now discuss, what is it that hardens the heart and what is it that softens the heart. Essentially, giving the same example of the septic tank or the polluted or the rusty tank, if you have a container that is dirty, and you want to fill it with clean water, you will not first put clean water in it, you will first clean it. Because if you put clean water in a dirty container, the only thing that will happen is it will get filled with dirty water. So the first step is to clean that container, once it is sparkling, then you do not need a lot of water, then even a little bit of water and it will shine, it will sparkle, it will give out light, it will smell nice.

So the heart is a container. We could talk about the things that makes the heart more spiritual. We could talk about namaz-e-shab or salat-ul-layl or dhikr of Allah or taddabur or 'ibadat and so on. But the issue is that the heart that has become rusty or the heart that has become hard first needs to soften. And in order for it to soften, we need to talk about how to clean it. And cleaning it then is istighfar.

So we are going to have a discussion on istighfar versus sins. And when I look at ahadith, there are very many things listed that cause the heart to become hard and very many things that are listed that cause the heart to soften. But the intention here is not that in these two days we should mention everything and talk about everything for five, five minutes. We want to talk about only one or two things, but things that we can take back and implement in our lives Insha'Allah at the end of these lectures.

Before we talk about istighfar, we also need to understand. And this is a point that I have mentioned in the past before. That because the most essential part of the human being is the heart, it may appear as if you are resisting temptation or you are performing acts of worship, but the truth of the matter is that within every human being's heart, there is a battle that is taking place. And this battle is between the forces of good and evil, between angelic forces and demonic forces, and the battle is to win the heart.

The principle in Islam is that as long as the soul is in the body, this heart can become corrupted and taken over by the devilish and the demonic forces with sin. And this same heart can be restored and returned and recovered and taken over by the angelic forces to istighfar. It is in the nature of human beings that they will make mistakes and they will commit sins, but Allah, out of his mercy, has offered this mode by which the same heart can be purified again, which is istighfar.

The moment, a person dies then what you might call game over, because Allah calls it in the Qur'an the life of this world is nothing but a game, right? "Wa'mal hayatud-dunya illa lahu wa la'ib" (29:64), and what is the life of this world but a game in a play? So there is a play, there is a game that is taking place inside you, and there are two forces competing to take your heart. And between committing sins and repenting and sinning and repenting, each force takes a hit at the other, sometimes the good forces are winning, sometimes the evil forces are winning. The crucial moment is at the time of death. When death occurs, then more forces will exert maximum efforts to try and win this heart. And to whatever side it has been leaning more to that side, it will fall.

As soon as the soul leaves the body. If the soul was corrupt and if the soul was won by the demons, then that is over, the person becomes an inmate of hell. And if the soul was good and the angels win the heart at the end, then it is a soul that goes to heaven.

So this is the basic initial argument that we present. Now, Allah, when he talks in the Qur'an and talks about hard heartedness, He says that I am willing to forgive a person up to the last moment. But what will stop a person from asking for forgiveness, is the fact that they have allowed their hearts to become so hard that it is beyond a point of recovery. For example, Surat-ul-An'am, chapter six, verse 43, Allah, Subhaanahu Wa Ta'ala says "fa lawla idha ja'ahum ba'suna tadharra'u" (6:43), He is talking about some communities in the past that were destroyed. He says, why is it that even when we sent our punishment to them, why did they not humble themselves before us? If they had begged us for mercy, if they had repented and asked for forgiveness, even at that point when we were about to destroy them, we would have forgiven them.

Fa lawla idha ja'ahum ba'suna tadharra'u" (6:43). Why is it that when our power, our chastisement was coming to them, why did they not humble themselves? "Wa lakin qasat qulubuhum" (6:43), but it was because their hearts had become hard, that is why they did not repent. So there is a point up to which one can repent, and then beyond that, the heart even is incapable of returning. And we shall see that again in a minute.

Then in another ayah of Surah al-Baqarah, He says, He talks about the Bani Israel after all the miracles that were shown, and then they still disobeyed Allah. He says, "thumma qasad qulubuhum mim ba'de Dhalika. Fa hiyakal heejarah aw ashaddu kaswa" (2:74), and that He says after then their hearts became hard after that, so they have become like rocks or even harder than that. And then He describes different things about the rocks to say why the heart is harder than the rock. He says there are rocks from which springs of water come forth and there are rocks that split open and water comes out and there are rocks that fall down in awe and in fear of Allah, they fall down before Allah. But these people's hearts are harder than those rocks as well.

So when we look at hadith, the way this has been explained to us by Imam Ja'far Al-Sadiq, salawatullahi wa assalamu alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad]. He says when a human being is born, the heart is bright and clean. When a person attains maturity, when a person becomes baligh and then they commit a sin, a dark spot appears on the heart. And it is my belief, that someday we will prove this scientifically, that it happens on the physical heart as well. And someday you will see for yourself and you will hear about it. It may be many decades after even we have passed away that some cardiologist, some Muslim scientists will research and say that when he does postmortems, he sees that there are some hearts in a particular area that are bright and some that are dark, consistently.

So the Imam says that when a person commits a sin, there is a dark spot that appears on the heart, for that sin. If the person repents, that dark spot is removed and the heart becomes bright again, if the person does not repent and commits a sin again, then that dark spot begins to blot, it begins to spread and it begins to start taking over the heart.

Now, the Imam says that if he leaves his heart for so long without istighfar, until the whole heart is covered with this darkness, then he or she reaches a point of no return. Then Allah seals the person's heart, "khatama Allaahu 'ala qulubihim wa 'ala sam'ihim wa 'ala absarihim" (2:7). Allah then seals his heart. In other words, there is a system that has been placed where your heart is your most important organ, your heart is your essence, but it is up to us to preserve this heart so that we are constantly ensuring it does not become so dark that there is no point of return.

If it becomes completely blackened and darkened, it is impossible to guide this person. Even the Messenger of Allah himself will not be able to guide him, even the Qur'an cannot guide him. Then the Qur'an does not increase this person in anything except khasara, it will only bring more loss to him. So this then becomes our challenge. That by the grace of Allah, the fact that we are still attracted to Imaan, the fact that we are still interested in reforming ourselves, the fact that we are still interested in spirituality suggests that our heart bi Hamdulillah has not been taken over completely by this darkness. But the challenge is how to recover it. And that is why you will see there are individuals who, from the time of birth are raised as non-Muslims, but at some point they come to Islam. This is because along their lives, their heart maintained a certain amount of purity.

There was that opportunity for the noor of Allah to enter that heart. And there are people who are born and raised as Muslims, and after being Muslims for 40, 50 years, they change and give up Islam. This is because of the sins that take over the heart so much that now the person has no way of penetrating that noor and that he died. So this is very crucial, this is very important that the heart needs to stay bright and needs to stay clean. So when the Qur'an and when hadith talks about hardening of the heart or softening of the heart, what it is essentially talking about, is basically keeping the heart bright or keeping the heart dark.

So when I chose this subject, I titled it 'In Search of a Weeping Heart'. A question that might come in my mind is why did I call it 'In Search of a Weeping Heart' and not In Search of a Soft Heart? The reason is because softness cannot be measured. You see, there is another ayah of Qur'an, where Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, "yawma la yin fi umalun wala banun" (26:88). On the day when neither your wealth nor your children will be of any use to you, they will all forsake you and abandon you. "Illa man ata Allaha bi qalbin saleem" (26:89), except for one who comes to Allah with a free heart. Now we shall talk about the free heart as well inshaAllah when we conclude the subject, that what it what this means, qalb-us-saleem. But again, I could have called this subject 'In Search of a Free Heart', but we run into the same issue. How do you measure the freeness of a heart? How do you measure the softness of the heart?

So as we said on the first night, that weeping is an indicator, it is a way by which we measure and we can identify how soft or how hard the heart is. So another way of asking, what are the things that harden the heart is to ask what are the things that stop us from weeping out of the fear or love of Allah. Or another way of asking, what are the things that soften the heart is to say, what are the things that enable us to weep out of the fear or love of Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? So we want to look at some of these examples. If you can recite salawat 'ala Muhammad wa aali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad].

Again, we have to go back to hadith. When hadith wants to describe people who have a hard heart, it uses a particular word for them. It says they are wretched, Ashqiya'. And when it wants to talk about people whose heart is soft, it refers to such a person as being one who has attained salvation. It calls him Sa'eed. So one whose heart is clean or soft or pure or who shall attain success in the hereafter, is called Sa'eed, and one whose heart is corrupt or hard and will fail and who is wretched is called Shaqee.

Now, Rasul Allah, sallalaahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad], he gives the sign of the Ashqiya'. He says, "min 'alamatee shaqa'", the signs of people who are wretched are four. "Jumud al-'ayn", their eyes are dry, they' are not capable of crying. "Wa qaswatul-qalb", and their hearts are hard. That is two. "Wa shiddatul hirs fi talabi ir-rizq", and an intense greed in seeking their livelihood. There is this hankering for the world, there is this mad rush and desire to amass of this world, this intense shiddah of hirs and greed to earn one's living. This is another sign of wretchedness. "Wal israr 'aladh dhum", and persistence on committing a sin. They take a sin, they committed and then they don't repent or regret or feel remorseful, but they persist on the sin again and again and again. Anybody who has these four signs is wretched, the Messenger of Allah says.

Now, keep this in mind and then there is another hadith, very similar to this, but the qualities are slightly different. Again, the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him and his family, he says, "ya 'Ali arba' kheesal min al-sheeqaq", there are four characteristics for wretchedness. The first two are the same as the first hadith, "jamud al-'ayn wa kasrat al-qalb", dry eyes and hard heartedness. The third sign is "wa bu'bil al-amal", far fetched hopes and prolonged desires, big, big ambitions for this world. "Wa hubbu al-baqa'", and the love to live forever in this world. In other words, a believer does not love this world, a believer is more longing for jannat, a believer's goal is not to live here forever. So I believe it is not suicidal, he's not praying to Allah to kill him or to cause his life to shorten, but he sees this as a trial, he sees this as a means to get into the final abode. But there isn't that hankering and that desire of wanting to live in this world and build it and amass and make this their paradise. Whereas one who is wretched, the signs are these, that there are prolonged hopes and far fetched hopes and so on and so forth, and this desire to live forever.

Now, when we take the two hadiths together, we see that the first two signs are actually the topic we are discussing, which is dry eyes and hard heartedness. So those are not attributes that we can discuss is what are the things that are harden the heart or soften the heart. Those are the things that we are concerned about. But the other qualities are what we are concerned with. And if we can talk about those and understand them, then those, because they have been grouped with dry eyes and hard heartedness, that means they are of the same kind. If we can address and fix those issues, then automatically the heart will soften and automatically we will see that the eyes will stop being dry.

There is a very famous hadith from Amir al-Mu'minin ibn Abi Talib, 'alayhi assalam [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad], this is in Nahj al-Balagha. He says, "ma jafatu ad-dumu' illa qassat al-qulub", eyes never become dry except when hearts become hard. "Wa ma qasatu qulub illa kathrata al-dhunub" and hearts do not become hard to except because of excessive sins. In other words, he's showing the link that eyes become dry because hearts have become hard, hearts become hard because of committing excessive sins. So when we take this hadith and we take that first hadith of the of the Prophet peace be on him and his family in which he says that there are four signs: dry eyes, hard heartedness, persistence in committing sins and greed, intense greed in seeking one's livelihood. We take this last two, which is persistence in sins and greed for this world, and we discussed one tonight and one tomorrow, inshaAllah.

The pursuit of this world and the greed for this world is what I have been talking about as materialism. So tomorrow, inshaAllah, we'll talk about materialism as a root cause of hard heartedness and what we mean by materialism. But tonight we focus on this first one. The persistence in sins and the refusal to do istighfar is a major cause of hard heartedness. It is impossible for a person to progress to any level of spirituality unless this issue of giving up sins and istighfar becoming a constant habit. Unless this is fixed, we cannot move forward. That is why there is no point about talking about namazash-shab and mustahab fasts and du'as and dhikr and tafakkur and tadabbur, all that will come after, that is the pure water that will put in the container after the container is clean. But first the container has to be purified. And for that container to be purified we have to understand what we mean by istighfar.

Now, the reason why it becomes more challenging is because, by the grace of Allah, as a community, we try and do our best in obeying Allah, Subhana Wa Ta'ala. The people that I'm seeing in this room, by the grace of Allah, are not people who consume alcohol or gamble or don't pray and fast or don't give their khumus and zakat or don't go for hajj. No. We are mu'minin al-Hamdulillah. So the challenge here is to understand what we mean by istighfar. And why is it that even though we perform all the things that are wajib and we keep away from all the major sins, why are we still afflicted with this hard heartedness? That means there is something about this istighfar that we have not understood yet.

We have to understand that when Allah created this idea of istighfar, when he opened this door and said that no matter how many times you sin, I will accept your repentance, provided it is sincere. What he wants is not just istighfar he wants istighfar bil khulus, he wants istighfar with sincerity. That is why when somebody was in front of Amir al-Mu'minin, 'alayhi assalam, and he said astaghfir Allah Rabbi wa atubu Ilay. Imam Ali scolded him. He said, woe unto you, may your mother weep for you. Do you know the meaning of astaghfir AIlah, or are you just saying astaghfir AIlah? What is astaghfir AIlah? He tells them you first have to be repentant, you have to be remorseful. If you have taken somebody's wealth, if you have eaten haram and that food has entered your body and nourished you and you have built fat in your body from the haram, you must fast and melt and burn that fat before you say astaghfir Allah Rabbi wa atubu Ilay. So he gives them a whole new dimension as to what is astaghfir AIlah.

Allah, when you read Hadith al-Qudsi, Allah complains to his prophets, He laments. He says, I am waiting, I am waiting, I am waiting for my creatures to come and do istighfar, but nobody wants to take it. As if I am the one who is going to benefit from it. He says, I am more happy when one of you returns to Me than when a shepherd loses his sheep and then finds it after a long time having no hope of ever finding it. He complains to the Prophet 'Isa. Ya 'Isa, He says, oh 'Isa, how much I am looking out, how much I am waiting, how much I am seeking, wal qaum la urja'u will, nobody is coming to me. We are told on Thursday nights when we go to sleep, there is an angel who is appointed in the heavens, all night, Thursday night, until fajr time, the angel is just shouting, again and again. Is there anybody to ask for forgiveness so that Allah can forgive them? Is there anybody who wants tawbah this night that Allah may give you? Is there anybody who wants maghfeera Allah may give him? Is there anybody who wants jannah to Allah may give him? And the angel calls out all Thursday night until Friday morning.... We are asleep!

Now, listen to this hadith. This is also Hadith al-Qudsi. Allah is saying. He says, law 'aleema al-mudabbireen, mudabbirun 'annee, kaifa intidhari beehim? Wa shouqee ila tawatihim la matu shawqan ilaya wala tarrafaqat awsalahum min ajlee muhabbatee. Allah says. He says, those who are not coming back to Me, those who are running away from Me, if they knew how much I yearn for them and how much I am waiting for them, they would die out of yearning for Me and they would lose control over their limbs, out of their love for Me, because He is love itself.

But the heart has so much rust we cannot penetrate and understand that love, more love than you can feel for another human being, more love than you can feel for your parents or your children or any other human being. Allah is the source of that love, that feeling of love that you feel for another person, a love put that in you. He says. If only you knew how much I yearn for you, you would die out of yearning for me. So this is Allah's love for the creature. And in another nation, we are told that the spirit of a believer is more tightly connected to Allah than the rays of the sun are connected to the sun itself. What happens when you take the sun away, the rays just disappear? The heart of a mu'min is supposed to be connected to Allah in such a way that if you take away that connection, then the person ceases to exist.

So the issue now is that if we are practicing all that is wajib and keeping away from all that is haram, why do we experience hard heartedness? Why is there no softness in heart? Why can we not develop this weeping heart? And the problem is, passive sinning. This is something that Mawlana Shabeer Maysami talked about here in Muharram, some of you may have heard about it, he just hinted at it, actually. I want to develop that subject a little bit.

That is something we call passive smoking. I don't smoke, by the grace of Allah. But what happens if I'm surrounded by smokers? It causes me more harm than if I was smoking myself. So there is something that is called passive sinning when you live in an environment where those around you are always committing sins. That is what makes the heart hard. We just don't understand that.

You see, there is a very famous narration that Shia and Sunni scholars have quoted that says that Rasul Allah, sallalaahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad], that he used to recite istighfar 70 times a day. He used to say: astaghfir Allah Rabbi wa atubu Ilay, astaghfir Allah Rabbi wa atubu Ilay, and he is Allah's greatest creation. So the common interpretation that we are given is that the anbeeya' and the awseeya', they do not commit sins, they are ma'sumeen, they are infallible. But the reason why they do istighfar is for a higher purpose. It is their humility and their humbleness with which they do istighfar to say to Allah, oh Allah, we ask your forgiveness, that we are not remembering you as much as we should remember you and that we are not worshipping you as much as you deserve to be worshipped.

But there is another theory to this which Alar Shabeer Maysam has mentioned here. He says that the companions of the Prophet asked the Prophet, ya Rasul Allah, why do you do istighfar 70 times? He said, because of all the sins that you are committing around me. Because of the passive sinning that is happening around me, that is why I have to do all this istighfar. That is why there is one hadith that says that if you look at the miser too much, your heart becomes hard. What has got you know, you're not putting your hand in his pocket, you just looking at him, but this is if you look at the miser too much, your heart becomes hard.

So if we're looking at a miser makes a person's heart hard, what do you think happens to a person's heart when he's always looking at people who are immersed in sins, people were called ahl al-ma'asim? What do you think happens to believers when they are constantly looking at kuffar and mushriqeen and admiring their ways and their lifestyles? And watching their movies in this posters and there and thinking very highly of them. I'm a fan of so-and-so, this one is my favorite actor, this one is my favorite. What do you think is happening to the heart?

The hadith says, Qalbu al-kafir aqsar min al-hajar, the heart of a karir, the heart of a disbeliever, is harder than a stone. And then the Qur'an says their heart has become harder than a stone (2:74). So now you tie the two together. Now you understand all the other hadith about saying when you see this, you get 'ibadat, when you see this, it harms your soul, when you see this, you get thawab. Gazing at the Kaaba is 'ibadat. Gazing at the face of an 'alam or a mu'min is 'ibadat. Why? Because these things soften the heart. Gazing at a kafir, gazing at a mushrik, gazing at atheist, gazing at sinners, gazing at misers, these things harden the heart.

Now, I want to give you evidence for this, because this is it may come across as just a theory, but we need to give some proof of it. So I'm going to read a passage for you, and it's very important that I read this and I don't see it on my behalf because there is room for misunderstanding and take it in the spirit with which it is intended, it is not meant to criticize anybody, it is not meant to embarrass anybody. It is meant to just create an awareness because we are here for the same purpose, to learn and to find out the root cause of our illness.

This is Mafath al-Jinan of Sheikh Abbas Qummi, what we use for all our du'as. He was a great, great scholar is called al-Fiqhu al-Muhadditheen, one of the most trustworthy scholars of hadith. He has a chapter in Mafath al-Jinan in which he says the du'a you recite when you see a kafir. He says, ani an-Nabee sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam qala, the Messenger of Allah, the Prophet of Allah, peace be upon him and his family has said, man ra'a yahoodeeyan au nasrneeyan ao maujuseeyan fa qala, al-Hamdulillahee, al-Hamdulillahee ladhee fadhalanee 'alaik bil Islami deenan wa bil Qur'anee keetaban wa bi Muhammadan nabeeyan wa bil 'Alihyan imaman wa bil mu'minina ikhwanan wa bil Ka'ba qiblatan lam yijma'u Llahu bayn al-kafir fi jahanam. If anybody sees a disbeliever, a non-Muslim, and he recites this supplication all praises to Allah, who excelled me and give me preference over you, by giving me Islam as my faith and the Qur'an as my book and Muhammad as my prophet and 'Ali [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad] and Ali is my imam and the believers and mo'minin as my brothers and the Ka'ba is my qibla, then Allah will never join him and them in the fire of hell.

And you can see that this hadith is open to interpretation and you can create a lot of misunderstanding. The immediate reaction that you would get from people who cannot comprehend this is, how could Islam say such a thing? They are human beings as well. Does this mean I should be proud that I am better than them? That's why I'm saying you got to understand the spirit with which it is meant. You see, there are certain things that Islam says to us that are that come across as if they are meant to discriminate, but that is our own false logic. Islam does not intend to discriminate.

What Islam wants is that primarily your well-being and your spirituality in your heart is first preference. Once you are secure, then you can help others. So Islam is not trying to radicalize us or to make us fanatics or to make us people who hate non-Muslims or to make us people who want to kill others. Islam wants us to love them, Islam wants us to live with them in peace, what Islam doesn't want is for us to think that what they have is better than what we have.

So there are many, many, many examples that we can give. When Islam says do not keep a dog in the house, the conclusion people jump to is Islam hates dogs, Islam doesn't hate dogs. Islam is saying the chemistry of a dog doesn't go with the chemistry of a human being. Understand that. There are things where Islam said this is najis for you because it has something to do with the kafir, it becomes a big debate, how can you kill another human being najis? This najis is m'anaweeya, it is not literal, it is this. Leave that argument to the maraja' and the mujtahideen. The point that we are trying to make here is that when Islam tells you keep away from this or don't do this, the intention is to preserve yourself first.

When you go to another country today, when you go to, when I go to some countries that we shall not mention, they tell me to remove my shoes, the skin me up and down the check, remove your belt discrimination or no? It is discrimination. But why do they do it? Because they say our security is first. Yes, unfortunately, we are stereotyping you, even though we don't say it. But the point is that first, our security, that is primary, you can't blame us for wanting security for ourselves, and then once we are secure, then we and we will admit you and treat you as best as we can.

Look at a physician, if there is a virus going around or a pandemic or an endemic going around, what will you do? Is it just going to go out in a mad rush and try and save the world? No. First, he will make sure he is secure. And if there is any danger to the doctor, the physician, he's going to let the whole world die. He will not come and save you. First, you protect yourself. So when we teach our children and our youth du'as like this, it has to be taught, of course, with the right understanding that the idea is not to radicalize them or to make them enemies of humanity. But the idea is to teach them to be proud of who they are, not in the sense of arrogance and pride, but in appreciation that what they have is something special.

Now, we're still going to talk about passive sinning. Sheikh Abbas Qumi says, aqul, I say, ustafadhu min ayatu ahadith katheera unu Muslim 'alaihee aiystaneeb 'amauwadhtatu kuffar wa tahabab wal mail 'alaihim, it is apparent from many ayats of Qur'an and traditions that a Muslim should keep away from excessive love and attachment to disbelievers and leaning towards them with love and befriending them excessively. "Wa tashabbuh bihim wa salooq tareeqahoom, and to start dressing and adopting their ways and their culture and behaving like them. Fa qala Allahu Ta'ala, because Allah says in the Qur'an. Qad kanat lakum iswatakum hasana fi Ibrahim (60:4), there is a good example for you to follow in Ibrahim. "Wa alladheena ma'ahu" (60:4) and those who are with Ibrahim. "Idh qalu li qaumihim" (60:4), when they said to their people inna bura'a'un minkum wa mina ta'biduna min bidun Illah (60:4), we detach ourselves from you and we have nothing to do with what you do and what you worship. min dun Illah. Wa bada baynina wa baynakum wa 'adawata wa baghda'a abada (60:4), and there has now developed between us and you a separation and enmity that is complete and forever. So this is in the Qur'an.

Then he says, wa rawa' Saduq 'ana as-Sadiq 'alayhi assalam. Sheikh as-Suduq 'alaihi Rahma has quoted from Imam as-Sadiq 'alayhi assalam, that he says [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad], wa heya Allahee Ta'la ila an-Nabee awha Allahu ila Nabee min al-anbeeya' qullee mu'minin la talbeesu libasa 'ada'ee wala tat'amu mat'eema 'ada'ee wala taslikum masalika 'ada'ee", Allah revealed to a prophet from amongst the prophets, saying to them, tell the believers, do not dress in the dress that is peculiar and specially used by the by my enemies and do not eat the kind of food that is unique and peculiar to my enemies and do not follow their ways and their habits. "Fa takunu 'ada'ee", because if you do that, then you will also become my enemies. "Kamahum 'ada'ee", the way they are, my enemies. "Wali dhalikan naraal-man'a fi katheer min ahadith an 'amal khassa isteebana innee tashabbu bi kuffar", and it is for this reason that we find a prohibition in our books of hadith in excessive resemblance and imitating the kuffar.

"Kamaru 'ani an-Nabee, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam qala as an example now he gives that it is reported from the Prophet of Allah peace be upon him and his family, huffee shawarib wa w'afu laheeya wal tatashashabbu al-majus wa al-yahud, that keep your mustache trimmed and grow your beards and do not imitate the majus and the yahud. "Wa qala aidhan", and he also said that the majus grow their mustache and shave their beards, whereas we we trim our mustache and we grow our beards. And then he gives a whole example that the that the that the Caesar from Rome was sent a letter by the Prophet and he sent some ambassadors to the Prophet.

When those ambassadors came, there were two of them, kadd-hala 'ala Rasul Allahi, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam, wa kad hahlaka lahyooma, they came to me to the Prophet while they were clean shaven. Wa ahfaeya sharabeehum, while they had grown their mustache excessively. Fa karee nadharee ilaihima, the Prophet expressed disgust when he saw them. Wa qala waelakuma ma amarkuma biha hadha, he said to them woe be on to you, who has told you to do this? Qala, the two of them said, amaran bi hadha rabbuna, we have been commanded to be to dress and to present ourselves like this by our Lord. Meaning the Caesar. Qala Rasul Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sallam, Lakinna Rabbi amaranee bil ifal lihyatee wa qassa sharabee, but my Lord has commanded me to grow my beard and trim my mustache. Wa'lam anna Allaho Ta'la qala fi suratu Hud, and know that Allah has said in Surah Hud, la tarkanu illa ladheena dhalamu fa tamaskum an-nar (11:113), do not lean towards those who are unjust lest the fire of hell touches as you. "Wa malakum bidun Ilahee min awleeya' wamala" (11:113), and you have no helper besides Allah for you. "Thumma la tunsurun" (11:113), and if you leave that then you shall not have anybody to help you.

Now he says, this ayat says, wala tarkanu, and do not lean towards those who are unjust lest the fire touches you. He says this would lean arukun the muffsareen have said that it is a very slight inclination. It is a male al-qaleel, it is not really completely becoming like them, it is just a slight leaning. He says, if a slight leaning can cause you to be touched by the fire, what happens when you become like them? And thus he says, wa ru'weeya 'an Ahl al-Bayt 'alaihum as-salam inna rukun wa mawaddatuhum wa nus'yun wa ita'ihim, that the Ahl al-Bayt 'alaihum salam have said that when you lean towards the people or to something, you become part of them.

So the idea here is not to discuss the fiqh aspects, because the youth then come up with a lot of questions, what is wrong with having a tattoo? What is wrong with having earrings on my nose or my lips or my ears or whatever? What is wrong with listening to classic music? What is wrong with this? I'm not here to tell you what to do or what not to do. That you check with your mujtahid, you check with the marja', whatever he tells you to do, you do.

The point I'm trying to make here is that from ahadith, we understand that people have a certain culture, people have a certain habit, they have a certain way of doing things. When we associate with that excessively, it infuses itself into our essence. It affects the heart in some ways or the other. So when we tell our youths not to dress in a particular way, we're not talking about Sharia, that this is halal or this is haram or do this or don't do that, what we are saying to them is that this will harden your heart.

The mujtahid will never tell you something from a spiritual point of view, because that is not his task. If you ask a mujtahid today, can I eat halal food, they will tell you yes. But if you eat excessively, you have not committed a sin, but it will harden the heart. In the same way, there are things that we do in the society that hardens the heart, and this is what we mean by passive sinning, so each one of us, it is not for one of us to judge another person.

In fact, if we judge another person and we think we are better than them, then that arrogance is sufficient to take us to the fire of hell, because the same Messenger of Allah who said this, he also said that whoever has an atom weight of pride in his heart, he will not even get the scent of jannah. And that long, lengthy hadith that I read for you on the first day about jahanam, when the Messenger of Allah said how the men will be taken to jahanam, how did he say they will be taken?

They will be held by the beards and pulled. So having a beard does not mean that you are now jannatee. The Wahabis have mashallah five ten times longer beard than I do. That doesn't make them jannatee and that is why I'm saying that is not the criteria for judging somebody. Everybody will work his own way towards Allah and that is not my subject at all. My subject is passive sinning. That we are driving, we live in a country ten, 20, 30 years, that is a land that is not a Muslim land, it can't all be good when everybody else is suffering in other parts of the world. Allah tries everybody. If somebody else is being tried with fear, with this, with that, we are being tried with other things. So we're driving we're seeing the beer store here and the beer store there. Nothing is happening inside. It's not bothering us anymore.

We are seeing women on the streets without hijab dressed almost naked. Nothing is happening inside. What is that? That is hard heartedness. That is the passive sinning that accessibly again and again. Every store we go to, there is music blaring, there is this. Collectively, it forms into hard heartedness. And the solution to that is istighfar, constant istighfar, but istighfar has to be done sincerely. The moment we ritualize istighfar, it doesn't work. If you get up for namaz at 4:00 a.m. sharp and you stop 300 times al-afw, al-afw, al-afw, al-afw, al-afw, al-afw, al-afw, al-afw, it won't work. But if you are waiting for the bus or sitting in the car and once you say, oh Allah, I repent, I turn for you, that is sufficient. It will make a big, big difference. So we need to find a way to repent and turn to Allah without ritualizing it. Now, I know I am going over time, but I need to just finish this subject, inshaAllah, we just one or two points and then come to masa'ib.

That I cannot teach you how to do istighfar sincerely, because I can teach you how to do istighfar, but I cannot tell you how to make it sincere. How to make it sincere, everyone of us has to find his own way. I'll give you one or two examples that will point to that direction. For example, there is an ayah Qur'an, chapter 51, verse 17, when Allah describes believers, a special elite group of believers. He says, "wa kanu kaleelun min al-laylee ma yahja'un" (51:17), little of the night it is that they used to sleep. Little of the night it is they used to sleep. Now look at how this ayat can play a role in how a person interprets it. Imam Musa al-Kadhim, salawatullahi wa assallamu alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad], he used to have many children and of course, the most nobelist and the most learned in the greatest of his children is Imam Ridha 'alayhi assalam, but he had other great, great children who are very famous and very well known for their piety.

One of them, for example, was called Ahmed bin Musa. There was one of his son was called Muhammed bin Musa. And Sheikh Mufeed writes about him in Kitab al-Irshad. He talks about Muhammad bin Musa. He says there was a maid in the house who reports about this Muhammad bin Musa, that he had a habit he would sleep very little in the night. And he says every now and then you would hear the water running, he would be doing wudhu. He would go to wudhu, he would pray. And then after a little while, it would go quiet and he would go back and sleep. And then again, after one or two hours again, he would wake up and again you would hear the water running, and again he would do wudhu, and again he would pray. And he would do this constantly throughout the night. And as he would do this, he would read this ayat "wa kanu kaleelun min al-laylee ma yahja'un" (51:17) and little of the it is they used to sleep. Because of which he attained a very high level.

So somebody asked one of the Imams that what is the interpretation of this for us as ordinary believers? "wa kanu kaleelun min al-laylee ma yahja'un" (51:17). He says these are those believers who when they are sleeping at night, when they go to their beds, they do istighfar and then when they toss and turn in their bed at night, they praise Allah and glorify Him and do istighfar. You will see that some true believers have this habit. They're sleeping, their spouses probably don't like it because every time they astghfir Allah, al-Hamdulillah, Subhan Allah, you know, they probably like bas Kurna. But the Imam praises these believers, that they are asleep, but "wa kanu kaleelun min al-laylee ma yahja'un" (51:17) little of the night it is they used to sleep and Allah then writes for them a worship for the whole night. They toss and turn to praise Allah. They turn this way they praise Allah. Their eyes open, they can't sleep, they're glorifying and doing istighfar and praising. This is an example of sincerity that one is truly repenting with sincerity. But these are the kind of things that I am talking about. I cannot teach this, even to myself. Because when you imitate it, it's artificial, it becomes ritualized.

We know that the problem of hard heartedness is sins and we know the solution istighfar. But how we arrive at that, we must find it ourselves. The only tip I can give is that sometimes talk to Allah in your own language. You're driving in the car, you're lying in bed, and I've mentioned this many, many times from the mimbar as well. Talk to Allah in your own language, talk to him in English, talk to him in Urdu, tell Him, oh Allah, I have been unjust to myself 40, 50 years of life you have given me. I have done nothing but disobey you. But I have this faith, the fact that you allow me to knock on your door, you will not turn me empty handed. And that if I turn to you repentant, You will turn to me with grace and mercy. And you will see that Allah will give you. So we stop here for tonight inshaAllah on this discussion, and then we will continue the discussion tomorrow before we make a conclusion.

If you can read a salawat 'ala Muhammad wa aali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad]. If you can read one more salawat 'ala Muhammad wa aali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad].

Tonight, we want to, in our discussion on the masa'ib of the Ahl al-Bayi 'alayhihum assalam that we've been talking about last night, we talked about the Ahl al-Bayt being brought to the Darbar of Yazid and then being sent to the prison. Tonight, we want to remember the little daughter of Husayn Sakina bint al-Husayn and I have said this before, that in books of hadith and in literature, her name is given as Ruqaya. And it is said that Imam Husayn used to lovingly call her Sukina as Sukina being a small Sakina because she had an older daughter called Sakina. But because in our books of literature, particularly in Urdu, she has come to be immortalized as Sakina, we call her Sakina.

And last week when I was talking about this great young daughter of Husayn, I begin developing this idea to say that when you look at the incident of Karbala, you can look at it from the eyes of different personalities. And we were looking at Karbala from the eyes of Sakina. And I said as a four year old girl, there were certain things that she had hoped for, because a child has a lot of hope and it's very difficult to break the hope of a young child.

But there were certain things that the more she hoped for, the more the enemies demolished. And I talked about two different things last week. One of the things I talked about was that one of the things that Sakina had hoped for was to get water. But time and time again, every time she thought she would get water, the enemies denied that to her. The other thing that I talked about was that Sakina had this hope that one day she will return to Medina.

But the more she hoped of returning to Medina, the more she was denied that hope. Tonight, I want to make a conclusion to that thought that is developing. To say that one thing that Sakina really hoped for and she ultimately got it, but it cost her her life, was that her father would return to her. You see, as a four year old child, and this is something I've witnessed myself, when a parent disappears suddenly, goes on a journey and goes for hajj, goes somewhere, it is very hard for them to comprehend where they have gone.

And there is always this idea that one day he will return. And if you're talking to a four year old child, you cannot explain to them that your father will not return. So there was this idea that he will return, he will return, he will return, and she is waiting for that constantly. We start our journey in Karbala itself, we see that on the day of Ashura, when Imam Husayn has bade everybody farewell for the last time and he has said salam to Zaynab and Umm Kulthoom and salam to Sakinah and Ruqaiya and all and he's about to leave, this four year old girl is stopping him from going. Baba, my uncle Abbas has gone in, not come back, I will not let you go.

And when Husayn persists and explains to her and says, Oh, Sakina, maybe I will bring you water. She says, I do not want water. Asghar was not given water, why will I be given water? And so there is a debate between father and daughter. It comes to a point that Sakina makes one final request. She says, Ya abata, if you have to go for the sake of Islam, you know that when I sleep at night I can not sleep without you, one more time, let me sleep on your chest. So now we are told that Aba Abdillah sleeps on the hot sands of Karbala and keeps Sakina on his chest. How that felt for the last time, I do not know, only Sakina knows. And Husayn is trying to convince her, that Sakina this is the last time, tonight, do not look for me. You will not have your baba again. But she cannot understand this. Baba why will you not come back?

Sakina, because I will be sleeping in the battlefield tonight. So now Allama Rasheed Turabee used to read these verses of Mir Anees. He says that Sakina now says to her father, need I geejab apakepu bu powee baba, meeratkum maktal miktachalee aungee baba. Baba, I will come looking for you in the battlefield if you will come back to me. Now, Husayn is trying to explain to Sakina that you cannot come there. Far maya niklotee nahee saidan ya bahar, chateehe pusalaekitu bi ratkum madar. Sakina tonight you sleep with your mother because you are a Saydanee of the Ahl al-Bayt, you do not come out of the house.

Sakina, the gracious Sakina, she is thinking, but Asghar sleeps with my mother, how will I sleep with mother? Husnake ahafir aj kahasu ingu Asgharu? Baba, if I sleep with my mother, then where will Asghar sleep tonight? Sheebolic bas azeed nakro sad kaemaetum purr, shabhoy iggee orham dashtmaeham boyingam beebee Asghar mirasad ajwaheesoyg beebee, Sakina, tonight you sleep with your mother, Asghar will sleep with me in the battlefield of Karbala. Now this is a four year old. Her hope is her father will still come back. She has heard this word that my father will sleep in the maqtal tonight. You know, ajrukum 'ala Allah. What happened on Shamee Ghaiba, huh? Shamee Ghaiba, all the children got together with their mothers, they were scared, all the children huddled together with Zaynab, all the children were frightened, but Sakina did not stay with her mother. Where did Sakina go? Sakina went to the battlefield, she is looking for her baba.

Ya abata, ya abata, I cannot sleep without you. Now, Zaynab goes out looking for her. When Zaynab comes to the battlefield of Karbala, she's calling out Sakina. Sakina, where are you Sakina? Sakina return to me and answer my call. She hears a voice from one body, mahlan, mahlan ya bint al-Zahra'. Zaynab speaks slowly. My Sakina has finally fallen asleep. She comes to a body, she sees little Sakina holding the legs of the body and sleeping. She wakes Sakina up. Sakina? Why are you sleeping at the foot and the legs of your father? Sakina wakes up. She says, my Aunt Zaynab, there are so many arrows on the chest of my baba, I cannot sleep on his chest tonight.

Sakina, how did you know this was your father's body? There is no head on this body. She says, my Aunt Zaynab, when I came to the battlefield and I was calling out baba, baba where are you, a voice came from this body saying illaeya, illaeya ya bunaeya, come to me oh Sakina. One more time, you can sleep at my feet, bus ajrikum 'ala Allah. Now Husayn is longing for Sakina. Sakina is longing for Husayn. The little girl is taken on an unsettled camel.

She stayed on the camel and taken speeding towards Sham. Allah knows how many children from the Ahl al-Bayt fell from the camel and were crushed under the hooves. But when Sakina fell from the camels and Husayn's head would not move forward. Shimr comes with the whip to Imam as-Sajjad and says, Oh 'Ali, tell your father's head to move, otherwise I will whip you. Imam as-Sajjad looks around and says Sakina is missing without Sakina that my father will not move forward. Zaynab and Imam as-Sajjad go out in the desert looking for the little girl.

What are you oh Sakina? This here lady dressed in black, making Sakina sleep in her lap. Zaynab says thinks she is a nomad from the desert. Oh lady may Allah bless you. Nobody has shown mercy to this yateema of Husayn until now. The lady says, Zaynab you have not recognized your mother. Oh Zaynab, I am with you all along this journey. Sakina goes to the prison of Sham. Now Sakina comes to the prison of Sham. Now again, Mir Anees says here that she took as much as she could, but there was a limit to how much she could take.

Kayat tamash Shimru taek jabtak kasikee seen tamka thubu khutae nabardash kusekee, as much as Shimr would be turseking, I would keep quiet and wait for Ahbaba to return. There came a point where she could not take it anymore. Gar'ahukeetu Shimr pukara khamashohom. Now, this is the dilemma of little Sakina. If she cries Shimr beats her and says do not cry, if she keeps quiet, the orphan in her cries and says, Sakina, if you don't cry for your baba who will cry sakina? Cry, cry for your own baba and your Husayn. Gara'keetu Shimr purkarakha moshoho irshub potee todae putaree naekahakr ro,

Sakina kept crying night after night. One night she fell asleep in the prison of Sham, she saw her father in a dream. Husayn came back and said, Sakina, it is time to return home, return to me or my little Sukaina. Sakina woke up crying, saying, Where is my father? He was here, right now. Yazid says send the head of Husayn into the prison. Sakina takes the head of her father into her laps. First, she cries for herself and says, Baba why have you not come back to take Sakina?

Baba why have you left Sakina? Baba why do you not help your Sakina when she was beating her? But then she notices her father, the gracious Sakina, she says baba ya abata mundhal ladheekhar baka bi dimaa, baba who has covered your head with blood. She looks at the neck of her father and says ya abata mandhal ladheeka ta'awreedak, baba who has cut your head from your body. Ya abata, ya abata, Sakina cries all night until she becomes quiet. Zaynab and Rabab lift her up and cry. Inna li Llahu inna elaihee raj'eeun. Oh Sakina we have lost Asghar now we must lose you.

Ala la'antullahi 'alal qawm il-dhaleemeen. Wa saya'lamu alladheena dhalamu aya munqalabin yanqaliboon. Ilahi, bi haqqi Muhammad wa antal-Mahmood wa bi haqqi 'Ali wa antal-a'la wa bi haqqi Fatima wa anta fatir al-samawat wa al-ardhee wa bi haqqi al-Hassani wa anta al-Mohsen, wa bi haqq il-Husayn wa anta qadeem al-ihssan wa bi haqqi 'l-tis'ati min dhureeyatil Husayn, ya Allahu, ya Allahu, ya Allahu, ya Allah.

oh Allah, we ask for forgiveness of our sin, oh Allah bi haqqi Muhammad wa aali Muhammad. Oh Allah for our crying for Muhammadun wa aali Muhammad, we ask you to soften our hearts so that we may cry out of your love and fear as well. Ilahi, be haqqi Muhammad wa aali Muhammad, we ask you for maghfeera of those who have passed away and sheefa' of those who are ill. Ilahi, bi haqqi Muhammad wa aali Muhammad, we ask you to hasten the appearance of our Imam and make us from his ashabin, ansara. Rabbana taqabbal minna, innaka antal samee' ul 'Alim. Matam al-Husayn.