Striving for the Imam (AJ)

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulil-Lahi Rabbi 'l-Alameen, wa as-salat wa as-salam 'ala Sayyidina, wa mawlana, Abil Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad. Allahumma Salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad. Wa 'ala Ahli Baytih, at-tayyibin, at-taharin, al-masoomeen. La siyama bakiati 'Allah fil aradheen. Ruhi wa arwahu al-alameen ala ul-fidah. “Rabbi shrah li sadri" (20:25), "wa yassirli amri" (20:26), "wa-hlul 'uqdatan min lisani" (20:27), "yafqahu qawli” (20:28).

So, dear brothers and sisters, tonight we are remembering the martyrdom of our Imam. It is also at the same time, Laylat ul-Qadr for us. So our destinies are being written in this night and at the same time we want to remember that sacrifice of our Imam, and make ourselves, Insha'Allah, people who are useful for the Imam. Not only Amir Al-Mu'minin in his time, but for our Imam, the living Imam. There is a dua that we can make this night, but it is a little bit of a heavy dua, so I will try and explain it. Insha'Allah, hopefully I can make this dua, you can make this dua, because our destinies are being written. And we want to use this night the sacrifice of a Amir Al-Mu'minin meaning to become those true and elite soldiers of the Imam.

Brothers and sisters, the Imam looks differently at those brothers and sisters who say, not only do I want to be a soldier of the Imam, I want to be a leader of the soldiers of the Imam. The Imam is going look very differently at you. There is one person who says that I want to sacrifice my life for the Imam. I am looking for that opportunity. I live my life trying to please the Imam. There is somebody else who says that no, I want to do the heavy lifting. I want to be, I want to stand out among the soldiers of the Imam. I want to be a leader of the soldiers of the Imam, not from an egotistical point of view, I want to sacrifice more. I want to give more. I want to lead by example. So if we make that dua, if that is what we're praying for, on Laylat ul-Qadr.

If we really want to be those kind of people, that means we're going to have to have a certain discussion. A discussion which will help us to be people who benefit our Imam who Insha'Allah our Imam longs for, because I am going to mention a story now. But you will see there were people in the time of Amir Al-Mu'minin who watched our Imam, who lived with our Imam, who did not benefit from our Imam. People who prayed and fasted, I am going to view a true story, Insha'Allah, people who prayed, fasted, did wonderful things. But they were useless to the Imam, not only useless, they actually hurt the cause. We want to figure out why that is and make sure we are not like that.

The story I am about to share with you is a story where our Imam, Amir Al-Mu'minin, is walking home from the masjid of Kufah. Walking home from the masjid of Kufah and what happens is, as he is passing, he is passing with a very good companion, a man named Kumayl. So Kumayl and the Imam are walking and as they are walking, Kumayl hears a man reciting Qur'an in a very mournful voice, he's reciting with a voice which is hazeen. He is feeling it, right, the middle of the night, perhaps in his Salat ul-Layl, this guy is reciting Qur'an. And he comes across this verse of the Qur'an.

So, now, let me correct one point, because what I have here in the the notes is that the Imam was coming home late at night and it said he was in Kufa but didn't say the Mosque. I thought that was coming from the Mosque. Just as he was coming home late at night, with Kumayl. They passed by house, and in that house he heard someone reciting Qur'an. He says this verse of Qur'an, "Amman huwa qanatun ana'a al-layl, sajidan wa qa'ima, "(39:9) Reciting these wonderful verses of Qur'an, Kumayl says, "when I heard this voice, this person reciting in the middle of the night, perhaps in Salat ul-Layl, feeling it," he says that without saying anything to the Imam, I was impressed.

Somebody making Salat ul-Layl, in Kufah. One of the Shi'a, Insha'Allah. He says, the Imam turned to me, without me saying anything, the Imam turned to me. The Imam read my mind, what did the Imam say? He says, " Ya Kumayl, Oh Kumayl, La tu'jibuka, ta'tanat ul-rajul, do not be surprised or don't be amazed at this guy and how he's praying and these things. Definitely, this guy is one of the people of the Hellfire. I will tell you about it later." So, Kumayl says, internally, I was shocked, Salat ul-Layl in Kufa, the Imams present, what better? And I see, I am just internally surprised then my Imam reads my mind and he says, I will tell you about it later.

Years passed, later, Amir Al-Mu'minin is going and fighting one of the Khawarij. When he is fighting the Khawarij, after he's finished off the Khawarij. There are these heads on the ground. The Imam comes over to one of the heads. He moves the head, uses a sword and says, "Kumayl." And he recites that same verse. Kumayl realizes then. He apologizes. He falls to the feet of the Imam. He realizes that person who was over there reciting Qur'an in Kufa was useless to the Imam. Actually, that person with his Salat ul-Layl ended up being on the wrong side.

Why is it? A question that we want to ask ourselves? Why is it some people's Iman is useless, some people's Iman does not help them? Some people's Iman doesn't mean that they're going to help their Imam. Sometimes they will even fight their Imam. And what we want to try and do is find out what kind of Iman we have to have in order to pass our test.

So the first thing that we are going to talk about for that kind of Iman is one of the conditions of Iman, in order for it to be useful. In order for our Iman to be useful, for Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, it is important why you and I practice. The reason why we came to the conclusion that we are performing our wajibat is important for God. It's not just enough that you are doing your duty, Al-Hamdulil-Lah. Why? Why did you choose this religion? Why are you practicing?

We have Hadith that tell us that a person who does good deeds without Basira, the more they do, the worse they get. The further they get from the path. Why did you come to faith, why are you practicing Islam? Why are you doing wajibat? Why are you doing these wajibat? Those reasons are important to Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Allah doesn't only want to see good deeds. Why you came to it? And that is what we are going to try and talk about tonight is absolutely important for God.

I remember hearing the story once. They said, that these three old guys went to a doctor for a memory test. Doctor wants to test them, see how they're doing. So he told them, he said, what is three plus three? And the first old guy said 247. He goes to the next guy, he said, what's three plus three? He said, Tuesday. And finally came to the last guy, he said was three plus three, he said nine, Al-Hamdulil-Lah. He said, how did you come to this conclusion? He said it was easy, I subtracted two hundred and forty seven from Tuesday, I came to nine. So that kind of faith is not what we're looking for. Why I came to that? Why I'm practicing? My reasons for practice are absolutely important. If we want to do this the right way, if we want to pass the test that Allah has on His way.

You and I believe, brothers and sisters, that God doesn't play favorites, God doesn't have double standards. And what we do learn from this from Ayat of the Qur'an that I am about to share with you is that Allah doesn't like those who follow a certain path blindly. Just because it was the way of our forefathers. This is what we do. I am going to, Insha'Allah, if Allah tawfiq. I will talk about what happens if we followed faith without having that solid backing. But just as a first premise, God does not like to see people who just believe a certain way, but with no backing.

This is a verse of Qur'an now, Surah five, verse 104, 'A'udhu billahi min al-shaytan al-rajim. It says "Wa idhaa qila lahum ta'aalaw ilaa ma anzal Allah wa ila ar-Rasul"(5:104). 'When it is said to them, come to what Allah has revealed, and to the messenger, come to Allah, come to the religion, come to Islam'. What do they say? "Qalo hasbuna ma'a wajadna 'alaihi aba'ana" (5:104). 'Sufficient for us is that on which we found our forefathers', whatever our forefathers were doing. That is enough for me. Islam this new way, what you are saying, that does not matter to me. My forefathers did this.

The Qur'an then continues that condemns them and explains why they are wrong and says, well, what if your forefathers were not guided, right? "Law kana aba'uhum la ya'lamuna shai'an wa la yahtadoon" (5:104). Even if their forefathers didn't know anything and weren't guided? So just the idea of I am following, this is good, this is the way of my forefathers. That is not enough, and it is also not enough for us as believers. When it comes to our belief as believers, we have to believe with proof.

We have to have intellectual backup for why we believe. We have to be able to explain to ourselves first, but then also to other people why we believe. Now, brothers and sisters, this is going to be a different approach to religion. Because we said, one of the conclusions we came to last night, was the idea of in order for us to hasten the reappearance of the Imam, we not only want to understand Islam correctly, but we also have a duty, each and every one of us, to spread Islam, to share what we know of Islam before the Imam returns, in order to hasten his reappearance. We have to share Islam. So now when we are sharing Islam, we are sharing religion with other people, we are inviting them to a new way of approaching the deen.

Other people might ask us, do you believe in God? They sometimes they make fun of you if you believe in God, by the way. Do you believe in God? Do you believe in angels? Do you believe in the Last Day? And you as a Muslim say yes. Why is important, though? Other people also claim to believe in God. Why is it so different for you? Why will you believe? Why do you practice? Later on, we are going to come to the conclusion that if we are believers, we have to submit to Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. But the whys are very important, not just that we are following.

So the thing is that other people, outside of our circle, may have never been introduced to faith this way. They have been told, sometimes, just to believe when it does not make sense. There are certain areas of the faith, let's say Christianity, for example, that do not make sense. Believing in the trinity does not make sense, and they are told just believe, overcome that hurdle, by belief. We are saying no! First think, first reason, then come to a conclusion and then after that to submit.

So Islam for us is a religion where we never had a rena'Isance, we are teaching them now. Islam is a religion that has never been threatened by science. In Islam, we are told by our Prophet, he says, "utlubu al-'ilm, seek knowledge, wa law bi is-Sin, even if it is in China." Now, there is no way the Prophet is telling believers, mu'minin, mu'minat, to go seek knowledge of Tawhid in China, right. There is science, right? We are not threatened by that, we are not afraid of that, which is a different approach to what other people have. We have never been discovered by that.

Actually, what we learn from our teachings from Amir Al-Mu'minin is this, he says that knowledge is power. As opposed to those religions that are afraid of their followers knowing, thinking, understanding, Amir Al-Mu'minin, he says the opposite. "Al-'ilmu sultanun", knowledge is power, "man wajadahu salabi", whoever has power, has knowledge dominates because of it."

But other people who are outside of our circle, they haven't been exposed to this kind of faith. They haven't been exposed to faith, which is based on solid intellectual reasons. Yes, we believe in God. Yes, we believe in the Prophet, but we believe on it based on solid intellectual backing. We have got proof for what we say.

So another example, again, just to demonstrate the point or push it forward is that Islam does not want, in our religion, when we are presenting this or you are presenting this to people outside of the circle of Iman, when we are talking about faith and believing in God; we are not talking about our Prophet who would take advantage of the ignorance of people. Our Prophet was not like that.

There were times, another story, where there was an eclipse that happened when his son died. An eclipse happened. And some people thought at that time, this is because the Prophet is sad, because of how close he is to God, then even there is an eclipse. But what we see from our Prophet is not taking advantage of the ignorance of the people, quickly goes explains to the people. He says these words, he says, "ya ayyuha an-nas, inna ash-shamsa wa al-qamr, ayatan min ayati Allah". These are two signs of the signs of Allah." He says that Allah uses them to threaten His servants to demonstrate His power. But in it, he says, these words, "la yankasifani li mawti ahad, wa li hayatih." They do not do an eclipse for the death of anyone, or for his life. The Prophet would not take advantage of the ignorance of the people.

Later on, you will see why I'm emphasizing this part, meaning this part. I know in this initial part of the speech, it is a little bit dry. But without this step, we are not going to be able to go with the rest of the place that we want to go. And I am going to mention, Insha'Allah, the dangers that happen if we do not take this approach. Insha'Allah.

So what do we say? In Islam, what is different about us and others is that we say that we are supposed to have intellectual proof for why we believe. If someone challenges you on the belief of God himself, why is the Qur'an a miracle? Why do you believe our Prophet is a Prophet? All of these things, we want to have answers. Our children, we are raising them from the time they are young. It should be different from how people are raised in some Sunday schools or Saturday schools. In some schools, when people are teaching people Islam that one day of the week that the children come in, it is rolled to memorization.

I am told these are the five usul ud-deen, these are the furu ud-deen, but you do not tell me why I believe these things, right? What happens when I am told to believe and then later I am challenged. What happens under the place, under the stress of Islamophobia? What happens when I go to college and all of my beliefs and everything I have been doing up until now has just been taqleed? My parents did not trained me to to be able to defend my concepts. There is a different approach that I take. If I am saying that, look, my children, I am not going to have faith that is only safe inside the Masjid. I want you to influence society. I am expecting them under pressure, under challenges to be able to answer.

So back to our premise, what are we saying? We say that actually Islam teaches us this, that we have two Hujjah [proof]. We have an inner Hujjah, and an external and an external Hujjah. The inner Hujjah is 'Aql, is the intellect, it's the mind. The external Hujjah are the Prophets, the Anbiya', the Rusul, the A'immah. They are the external. When we answer the call of the external Hujjah, it means we are answering the call of the internal Hujjah.

They are calling us to something that makes sense. They are calling us is something that the 'Aql and the intellect accepts. Then we accept it, right. We are using that faculty that God has given us and it makes us superior to the animals.

Now, I want to give you something else. This is now from Ayatullah Khu'i. So again, this is not a session for us. Brothers and sisters, to find all of those proofs to why we believe what we believe. Rather, Insha'Allah all of us will go and take it as a duty for ourselves, not only to understand ourselves, but also to be able to convince other people about our things.

Why do you believe in God? Why do you believe the Qur'an is a miracle? Why do you believe in miracles? Is a Prophet anybody who, what's the difference between a miracle and a magic trick, right? The principles; why do you believe in the last day? So I want to give you this approach again, we are just talking about one instance among so many different things and then after that, Insha'Allah, you will go then make sure that you have your arguments sharpened and that the next generations of Muslims have their arguments sharpened.

So Marhoom Ayatullah Khu'i, he has a book called Al-Bayan. In his book Al-Bayan, he tells us about the science of tafsir and the proofs that go behind this science. One of the discussions that he has, is a discussion on miracles. And he is using the words of Ahl ul-Bayt. That is what I want you and I to do, to use the words of Ahl ul-Bayt to come to these logical conclusions and have this unshakable faith and unshakable belief.

So, for instance, one of the things he talks about is why is it that we believe the Qur'an is a miracle? And he talks about the nature of miracles, because what you are going to say is that the Qur'an is the word of God. But why? What he says is this, using the hadith of Ahl ul-Bayt, alayhum as-salam. He says that when Prophets would come into an area they would see the science of the people of that time. The science of the people of that time, how advanced people were in a particular science or particular art, and they would do something that was spectacular for those people in that science.

So example, in the time of Musa, people were into magic. They would do magic tricks. That was the science of their time, that was something which was very amazing for them at that time. They had gone very far on that science. What would Musa do? He would turn a snake, a stick into a snake. What he would do, with doing something like this is, he would perform an act that the specialist of that field would say, "this is beyond the power of a human being."

When 'Isa, gives you another example from 'Isa, alayhi as-salam. When people would go over, and at the time of 'Isa, be very advanced in medicine, he would go over and he would bring the dead back to life. Those specialists at that time would say that we know how far medicine has gone, we know what medicine can do and what it can not do, and what we can say as specialists in the field is that what he just did is beyond the powers of a human being.

This is a different approach to religion, the specialists are going over not just any person, not a layperson. The specialists are going over and saying that what just happened, we give testimony that this is definitely an act of God. No human, no mortal can do this. And we do the same thing, by the way, for the Qur'an, when we go over and prove to the world that the Qur'an is a miracle. Our claim is that this is human beings only have a limit as to how far they can go. If you want to challenge the Qur'an. If you want to challenge Islam, if you feel the stances of Islam are something that is a threat to the American interest, for instance. Instead of going to Saudi Arabia, instead of having a sword dance, instead of creating ISIS. Instead of waging a global war against Islam, it is very simple, do what the Qur'an says, go over, prove we do not have a miracle. Prove, make a surah like surah Kawthar, that you do not have to go to South Lebanon and battle with the brothers.

Islam will collapse if it is a miracle, we say a miracle ca not be taught and it can not be learned, it can not be broken. 'Isa's miracles could not be broken. Musa's miracles could not be taught, could not be learned. We say the same thing for the Qur'an. We say that the mind has to say that, ok, well, this is something no human could do and then you accept. So this is what we are trying to do and we are trying to explain to other people.

Now, one thing we do want to say is this. We are hoping that people get a chance to come to Islam and come to the Qur'an through the book, meaning the Qur'an, and Sunnah. We would like people to think about what Islam has to say on particular issues, right. Learning our Aqa'id, part of it will be an intellectual discourse. Part of it will be something that we learn in schools, when we go over the proofs of the existence of Allah (s.w.t). But part of it will actually be going to Qur'an and Sunnah and getting these teachings from Qur'an and Sunnah. The unshakable arguments from the Ahl ul-Bayt, alayhum as-salam.

So, for instance, we have a hadith, it says that whoever enters, "man dakhala fi hadha ad-deen, bi il-rijal, akhrjahu minhu al-rijal kama adhkhaluhu fee" Those people who, when they came to this religion, came to this religion because of taqleed. My mother and father were Muslims. We were raised as Muslims. We were from a Muslim household. We came in because of people, not because of the Sunnah being established for us, because of Qur'an and Sunnah. That was not the reason, because of individuals. He says people will take them out of the religion the same way that they brought them in.

Can I share something with you? It is a little bit painful. There are reasons that young Muslims lose faith. Not only young Muslims, also other Muslims lose faith. This is a reality that is out there, you might not want to talk about it, but there are people who are sometimes you would be surprised practicing, praying, doing wajibat. And then you see later the practice has completely faded away. Why is that?

Sometimes the reason for it was the person when they first started practicing, they entered Islam with certain doubts about the faith, certain questions that were never answered. Those doubts start to fester. Al-Hamdulil-Lah in this audience, I do not see it, but I would speak in different audiences. Sometimes when I go over and I mention the miracles of a particular Prophet, I can see the inqaar and the faces of the audience. Sometimes you see people scoffing in their faces. You are telling them you are speaking from the Qur'an as if everybody accepted. Ayat of Qur'an, hadith, accept this, fear God. And I look at the audiences and I see some people, even the question of God is not resolved.

What happens when they were doubts when I first entered. Sometimes those doubts start to fester. You and I do not only want to think about ourselves. We want to think about the next generation of Muslims, generations and generations of Muslims, the doubts start to fester. Sometimes what will happen? What God will shake it up, He will stir it up a little bit. Calamities, tragedies, right. God will bring them into our lives. If my reason for accepting Islam was not strong, I do not have firm intellectual basis. God will go over, do something, I might start to doubt in God.

Since it is a personal, I mean, we are all family here, I remember hearing a story once. There was a sister, she was on her deathbed. Right, very sick, been sick for a long time. It seems now the sister is going to pass, going back to meet Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. You know what the sister said? She said, "Allah let me down. Allah let me down." She had a superficial understanding of what it means to be a Muslim, what it means. Good people, they do not get punished, good people, they do not get cancer. She is thinking this and so then Allah test her with that. Now, I am going back to meet Allah and I am angry. How deadly is that, when the times of Shaytan comes to put all of that pressure on me?

What does Islam teach us? When it comes to practice? When it comes to good deeds? Do we do good deeds because Allah (s.w.t) benefits? We do not believe Allah (s.w.t) benefits, all of us do Kufur. It does not matter to Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. All of us do good things, it doesn't matter to Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. We do not believe in a God who benefits from us. So what does God say in the Qur'an, surah seventeen verse number seven? He says" In ahsantum ahsantum li anfusikum."(17:7) If you do good, you do it for yourselves.

We are learning now our Aqa'id, from the Qur'an, from the book. So what happens is we do not want to believe in Islam only because it is beneficial for us or only because of the benefits. No, we want to go over and embrace this religion because of our solid intellectual arguments, which we have had, which we are convinced, things that we can not unlearn. It is the truth now for us.

Now, what else? In the religion, in order to practice, Allah's (s.w.t) religion your test and my test does not stop with that. We use the 'Aql to come into the religion. We use the 'Aql to defend the religion. We use the 'Aql to understand this religion, but our tests does not end with that. Our tests continue. How do our tests continue? Another thing Allah (s.w.t) wants us to do in the Qur'an. We learn from the teachings of Ahl ul-Bayt, alayhum as-salam, is also learn to prioritize. Also, learn to prioritize, this is another thing, another principle that we have to keep in mind in order to be those true companions of the Ahl ul-Bayt, alayhi as-salam. How do I mean prioritize?

Brothers and sisters, when Imam Husayn, alayhi as-salam, when he went on his mission in Karbala; before that, he was in Medina? Yes. When the Imam was in Medina, wasn't the Imam doing acts of khair? Wasn't he, for instance, helping the orphans, wasn't he? He had the opportunity of teaching people how to make Salat, how to make tayammum, how to write. He is able to teach all these people. The Imam also knows that if I leave Medina, I won't be able to do that. If I go to Iraq, how can I help the orphans. If I go over there, how can I teach people the shakiyaat of Salah? The Imam knows all of that, but still he goes to Iraq.

Why? Because the Imam prioritized. Right. The Imam tells us this, he says, Amir Al-Mu'minin, "La qurabata bi an-nawafil, idha adharrah bil fara'ith." If there is no proximity, that one gains towards a lot by doing mustahab actions when it comes to our wajibat, when they harm our wajibat. So Islam is teaching us as a religion that it was not only enough to have the intellect when it came to embracing the faith. Also, when it comes to practicing the faith, you and I constantly want to be looking about what is most important for Islam right now. What does Islam need at the moment? Brothers and sisters, there are test and there will be tests on the way. Sometimes our tests are even between wajibat.

I will give you another example from Imam Husayn. In the time of Imam Husayn, he went to go make Hajj, he left Medina, he goes to make Hajj. When he goes to make Hajj, Yazid's men come. He gets word that they want to kill him in Medina, in Mecca, when he gets word that they want to kill him in Mecca, the Imam changes his Hajj to Umrah. Changes Hajj to Umrah, while we know that Hajj is much more important than Umrah. We also know that among his followers, some of them probably had never made Hajj in their lives. And Hajj, as we learn from the ahadith of the Ahl ul-Bayt, is one of the arkan of Islam. It is one of the pillars of the religion. Why would the Imam change from a wajib to something like Umrah? Because he is facing two wajibs. One of them is Karbala. One of them is facing the tyrant of the time. Another one is Umrah or Hajj. Right. And the Imam went for what is most important. It also continues, brothers and sisters, when it comes to our direction for faith.

There's another one of those times when we have to use the intellect. Our direction for our faith. There are sometimes when we get different messages when it comes about Islam itself. We get different messages when it comes to Islam. And what we want to make sure is that we know the principles of Islam. When we know the principles of Islam, then we are able to determine the direction we are supposed to take. We are able to determine who is on the right path and who is on the wrong path. So knowing these principles, using the 'Aql for these different, these three things that I mentioned, is something that Insha'Allah all of us can keep in mind. And hopefully we will be able to have that faith, which is then beneficial to Islam and the Muslims.

Now, Insha'Allah now brothers and sisters, I want to cut the speech a little bit short. Insha'Allah, we can focus Insha'Allah on our a'maal, on our dua's and these things, and Insha'Allah be useful to the cause of the Imam. Sallu 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad. [Allahumma Salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'aali Muhammad].