What Is Evil - 4th Jumada al-Thani 1438/2017

A'uzubillahi min al-Shaytan Al-Rajim. Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim Al-Hamdulillah Rabb Al-Alameen. Wassalato Wassalam 'ala Rasulillah wa 'ala ahle baytihiat tayyibeenat tahireen al-ma'soomeen al-mahdiyeen al-maqtooleen al-madhloomeen wa la'natullahi 'adaaima 'ala 'adaaihim ajma'een min yawmi 'adawatihim 'ala yawmid deen. 'amma b'ad, faqaala Syeda Zahra salawatullahi wa salamo 'alaiha, fi du'aiha lishareef - Bismillah Al-Rahim Al-Rahim Al-Rahim Allahummakfinni hasadul haasideen wa baghiul baagheen wal kaeedul kaaedeen wa makarul maakereen was sehrul saheera wa maradda wal shayateen wa heelatul muhtaaleen.

Syeda Zahra, salawatullahi wa salamo 'alaiha [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad] in the same dua that I narrated on the first night, now turns to another topic, which is the various kinds of evil that exist in this world and she's beseeching Allah Subhanah Wa Ta'ala's help in order to be protected, to be relieved of all these various kinds of shar and shuroor in this world, and there's quite a bit of it. There's envy, there's rebellion, there's kaeedul kaaedeen - there's the plotting that if someone is plotting my downfall, I ask for Your protection from them, makarul maakereen - the people that are planning to deceive me, wa sehru saheera - and the magic of the magician. Wal maradda wa shayateen - this part is very interesting now. And often we do find the mention of Sehr and Maradda. Maradda is not the same as Sehr. Sehr is magic, of course. Maradda is another kind of delusion. Sehr is something performed by a human being, the Sahera is a human, a human that performs magic or performs some kind of delusionary trick, shall we say. It can often, for example, take someone into the middle of a lake and make them drown and things like read, read this, they are in the traditions. It's possible. Syed al-Khoei has a very long discussion on this, one of the longest discussions Syed al-Khoei has it.

But the second kind is Maradda. Maradda is another kind of delusion or deception and trickery. And it can be performed by demons, and it's performed by demonic humans and demonic Jinn. So it's another kind of evil. Wa heelatul muhtaaleen - and those people that would try to present something in such a way as if it's truth, but it's not really truth. Those people who try to trick me using loopholes, for example. Heelatul muhtaaleen - the people that aren't really honest when they're giving me an explanation, but they're putting something in the fine print, and because of that, I've missed this or missed that and they know very well that they're trying to deceive me or deceive you. And we asked for Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala's protection from these kinds of predatory practices.

But what I want to go into a little bit more depth here, which is what is this evil? What is this profound, sher and evil that Syeda Zahra is asking Allah (SWT) for protection for? And in order to go into that, we have to go to the Quran, where Allah (SWT) says - well, Allah (SWT) is of course narrating here the voice of Iblis, where Iblis tells God, " la udillannahum wa la umanni yannnahum" - that I shall misguide them. "wa la umanni yannnahum wa la aamurannahum fala yubattikunna aazaanal an'aami wa la aamurannahum fala yughai yirunna khalqal laah; wa mai yattakhizish Shaitaana waliyyam mmin doonil laahi faqad khasira khusraanam mubeena".[4:119]

This ayat is of course very profound so let's go through it very briefly here, because it gives us really the epitome of evil. The epitome of what evil is and the manifestation of evil.

Now, of course, as I said at the beginning, the chief devil is Iblis, who's a jinn. But there is hizbul Shaytan minal ins wal jin. Right. The party of Satan is of both human and jinn form. We know this right? Minal jinni wal ins. jaan wan naas. So they both belong to the same army. The chief of it of course is Iblis and then the rest are minions that are in a kind of hierarchy. Some of them know they're part of the army, some of them don't know that they're even a part of the army of Shaytan. However, the chief of this demonic army or demonic force says I shall mislead Your creation.

"wa la umanni yannnahum", this is very, very interesting - the word umanni yannnahum. Umanni yannna literally means I shall give them a sense of amaan, a sense of security from your 'azaab. I shall let them think, for example, they will commit a sin and that You will forgive them so they'll commit a sin with the niyyah that You will forgive them. So their intention would be, "You know what, I'm going to go and commit adultery, na'aoozobillah, but God's going to forgive me because then I'm going to do tawba. And right away we know 'wa la umanni yannnahum', that now the person has entered the possession of Satan, because this is Satan's promise - la umanni yannnahum. I am going to cast this into their hearts. I'm going to make them think that they will live forever. I'm going to make them think that they have majaal, they have room, to ask for forgiveness from Allah tomorrow instead of today.

And the moment we go down that road, we shall know, according to the Quran, that we have now, na'aoozobillah, la samahallah, in one way or another, become a willing or unwilling partner of the devil. It is how it is.

"wa la aamurannahum fala yubat tikunna aazaanal an'aami," - and I shall order them to cut the ears of cattle. We don't need to go into this now. This was a pre Islamic practice where they used to mutilate animals, used to cut the ears open of certain kinds of cattle. "wa la aamurannahum," and I shall order them to destroy and pervert the creation of God. To pervert God's creation. To destroy it, to change it. To ruin it. And the one who takes Satan as his guardian instead of God, shall know, "khasira khusraanam mubeena," that this person has lost completely.

Now, this Shaytan or this Satan, formerly also known as Iblis, as I said, has an army from among jinn and human beings. And they can do a lot of havoc. And a lot of damage. In fact, we're told in the traditions that even children in their beds can be affected by evil jinn. What does Aba Abdullah say in Dua 'Arafa - he says, "wa kala'tani min tawriqil jaan" - that when I was in the cradle, you protected me from the evil entrances of jin, from the attacks of jinn, of [plural] jaan. Now, of course, these are the kind of jinn that would belong to the satanic category. There are believing jin and non-believing or satanic jinn, right? And it is Satan that, of course, is ordering them in this sense, but not ordering them in the sense that they sign up on Friday night to be a part of his club at the local motorcycle gang, for example, and they sign up to be a part of Satan's Club.

No, it's through their sins, through their thinking constantly that I will seek forgiveness tomorrow, I'll let my salah go today. It's through this repeated disobedience of Allah Subhanah Wa Ta'ala that someone becomes a part of the Hizb of Shaytan. And Allah Subhanah Wa Ta'ala mentions that in the Quran and we will get to that. So it's not like necessarily a formal membership, although there are satanic worshippers in this world. Certain singers and musicians all make it very open that they worship Satan and they're a part of the army of Satan and they are Satanists and so on, so forth, but the vast majority of people could be find themselves at a certain time of their life in the hizb of Shaytan because of zunoob, because they have left so many sins unaccounted for. They have not done hisaab of their own nafs and their own soul. And that opens up the soul to the occupation of Satan. And this is of course, mashhoor and wadheh, we know, this is in the Quran, it's in the sunnah - that this is the effect of it.

This is why we need to beseech Allah Subhanah Wa Ta'ala for protection. This is why A'uzubillahi min al-Shaytan Al-Rajim is so powerful and so important that obviously a baby or a child cannot recite that. But the responsibility is on the parents to protect their children from this evil, to recite the Quran, to recite the ahraaz of Ahlul Bayt, the duas of protection of Ahlul Bayt, to pray their Salah.

And of course, at the end of the day, Imam Husayn is turning to Allah and saying, "Oh, God, you are the All-powerful, at the end of the day, I can only turn to you. La hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil 'Ali ul "Azeem. And I'm thanking You for your greatest power and help and 'inaya and ghauth, that even when I was an infant in the cradle, You ensured that the jinn, even the jinn would not, so to speak, create problems for me even at that stage.

We read this in Dua 'Arafa. Look at the m'arifat of Imam al-Husayn, alayhi assalam. And who is his mother - could you imagine the duas of his mother, Sayyeda Zahra, salawatul-Lahi wa assalamu alayha? What did she pray for from Allah, Subhana Wa Ta'ala? So he's thanking a love for His great protection, which, of course, at the end of the day, is also the result of the duas of Sayyeda Zahra, salawatul-Lahi wa assalamu alayha [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad]

However, I must make a distinction here. The shayateen can never affect the aal of the Masoom. The devils cannot affect the aql or the imaan or the m'arifat of the Masoom, abadan - never. The only athar or the effect is on the body. That's it, never on their mind, abadan. And we see in the Quran, for example, Nabi Ayyub saying that, 'and I have been touched by Satan'. This is in the Quran again, but it never affected na'uzubillah, of course, his imaan or his aql. Because the Nabi and the Imam is Masoom. So this is very important - I want to make this very clear, the imams are never possessed, abadan, never by these devils, but their physical outer body can be affected by it. And we see examples of this in the Quran and in the Hadith, of course, sallu 'ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad.[Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad]

So the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his purified family, has said: "Ash Shaytan ithnaan" that the Satan is of two types. Shaytan al-jinn is the first one and this satanic jinn may be pushed away with la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil 'Alee ul 'Azeem. This is very important, brothers and sisters, the prophet is teaching us how to ward off the satanic jinn. We'll get to a little bit more as to what this jinn does and how they do it, and how the ulema like Sheikh al-Mufid and Abul Fadhl Karajik, - the traditions have given us very immense details about how it functions and things like this. "Wa amma Shaytanu ins". And as for the demonic human being, they shall be pushed away and cast away with "bis salwat 'ala nabi wa aalihi". [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad]

So the power of salawat 'ala Muhammad wa aalihi is such that it dispels the demonic human beings - all those devilish humans, humans in devil form, and there are many of them and Ahlul Bayt refer to them again and again in the ahadeeth: those who wish harm towards the Shia, those who wish harm towards the Zuwar are described as shayateen. Minal jinni wal ins.

Those who plot against the lovers of Ahlul Bayt are described as shayateen, not because they walk around with horns on their head, they don't have horns on their head. it's not like what you see on TV. They look actually very beautiful and normal, like everyone else, perhaps. But that's what makes it so dangerous. In reality, they are a devil. But they present themselves as a perfectly normal human being. And they could be found anywhere.

As Imam Ja'far Al-Sadiq says, 'they lay in wait to ambush the zuwar of my grandfather, Aba Abdullah. That this army of demons... In Al-Kaafi there is a very beautiful dua where the Imam prays to Allah, Subhana Wa Ta'ala, to protect the zuwar of Imam Husayn from the army of the Devils of the jaan and ins, of the jinn and human beings who have joined the army of the devil. And the aimma, alayhum assalam, pray constantly, they have numerous ahraaz and duas for protection. Numerous - there's too many to note here. In fact, I have a whole book just of the ahraaz, these are basically duas for protection from evil of the prophet and the imams. And I suggest each and every person must have a hirz from one of the imams - lazim! It's extremely important.

Think of it like this - tomorrow, I'm flying to Iran, inshallah. So before I prepare to leave on my trip, I want to make sure my bag is packed. I want to make sure I've packed my electrical converter and my dua book and everything. Right. Then when I get to the airport, I want to make sure they don't let in any crazy people who will come on the plane. I want to make sure the plane is serviced. I want to make sure there's fuel in the plane, that the pilot knows what he's doing, so and so forth. So that inshallah, we reach there safely. Think of our entire life from our birth to our death in the same way that there's all kinds of akhtaar and dangers in the road of life. However, Allah and Ahlul Bayt have given us everything that we need in order to protect ourselves. They've given us the Sharia. They've given us the Sunnah, they've given us the Quran. Of course, Allah has given everything through the wasila of the aimma. Everything comes from Allah, of course - the Quran and the sunnah, the dua, the ziarat, tawassul, sadaqa. But if we don't partake in it and then we find ourselves na'uzubillah becoming satanic or being affected by satanic forces that aim to destroy God's creation, that aim to pervert God's creation, then we are to blame, not Allah na'uzubillah.

God does not present anything except that He's given us the dawa and the medicine and the solution for it. In a spiritual sense, I'm speaking about here. But if we don't know about it, then we will leave our souls completely exposed. For example, we're told in the tradition that the first step to satanic possession is not praying salat on time. You know that? There are ahadeeth in al-Kaafi, go to the ahadeeth of aimma tahireen - that the effect of not praying the salat on its correct time, in afdhal waqt, is such that that person takes a step closer to becoming a part of hizb of Shaytan. Not that they will join it, but a step closer, they become more vulnerable. If they willingly and knowingly without any excuse, just let the time of salaat pass. This is not my words. This is not the words or the opinion of an 'arif or an 'alim. This is kalaam Ahlul Bayt. And these devils can do very dangerous things. We're going to talk a little bit about this now because we need to know what it is that we are protecting ourselves from.

So what happens then when the sinner leaves the sins unrepented? Allah says [58:19], "Istahwaza 'alaihimush shaitaanu" - that Satan then possesses them. Istahwaza. How do you define that except for possession? Again, not possession like The Exorcist and they start lifting the bed up and it's on its four legs and so on, so forth. No. But their soul becomes furnished by the devil; they now, for example, have trouble crying for Ahlul Bayt. They have trouble crying in dua. The traditions tell us very clearly there's an entire baab [chapter] as to why people can't cry. Whether we believe it or not is something else, whether people want to believe it or not, it's something else - Ahlul Bayt have given us the asbaab, the reasons.

So that's one. "Istahwaza 'alaihimush shaitaanu fa ansaahum zikral laah" - and then they are made to forget the remembrance of God. [58:19] "ulaaa'ika hizbush shaitaaan" - and they are the party of Satan, "alaaa innaa hizbash shaitaani humul khaasiroon"- and they shall be the losers because the entire satanic message is a mirage - maradda, as we say. It's khyaaliyya - it's imaginary as the traditions tell us, it creates this wonderful sense of imagination in our minds.

But at the end of that is only khusraan, not falah and fawz, not success and salvation. It's a road that takes us to the pit of hell, but the road is lined with jewels and diamonds. So it feels so good, it looks so good, it seems so good, but there's one problem. It's in opposition to Allah and Ahlul Bayt. But it feels good at that moment, it tastes so good. This is a maradda. This is a very deep concept, maradda and khyaaliyya and things like this. Something is presented to us as good, but in reality, there's no goodness, khairaat, in it at all. But for some reason we think it's good and the reason we think it's good is because now the distinction between reality and falsehood is no longer there.

One of the effects of satanic possession is that the person, and Allama Tabatabaei explained this as well in al-Mizan, is that the person now cannot see the difference between haqq and baatil. They have trouble in distinguishing between right and wrong, between the path of Allah and His Messenger and the path of Satan. And it's not because Satan won against God, na'uzobillah, no. It's because that person committed sin, left it unrepented over and over and over again, until now, they became the property of the devil. And then slowly, slowly, they begin to see the world through the lens of imagination and not haqq, but through the lens of khyaal. And then they find themselves in the pit of hell. Along with all of the other humul khaasiroon [58:19], and they are all the losers at the end of the day, as Allah, Subhana Wa Ta'ala, says. Because God's light will never be put out.

No matter how many Shia they kill, no matter how many shrines they bomb, no matter how many people they murder, no matter how many people they abuse. No matter how much destruction and havoc they wreak in the world, the light of God will not be put out. No matter how much they want people to lose hope. To think that they are the winners. They are not. This is what God is saying - humul khasiroon. They are the losers and will be [4:119] khasira khusraanam mubeena. The faaizeen are the mumineen. And their chief is Muhammad wa aale Muhammad. [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad]

And that is why, my dear brothers and sisters, we cannot afford to not have closeness to Ahlul Bayt. Imagine if the salawat on Muhammad and his progeny is what wards off the devil. Then who is Muhammad and his progeny? If that devil that wreaked so much havoc in this world, is so scared of the name of the Prophet and his family. As the tradition says, yu'bad he is cast away, put away, then who are these people? That's why, of course, we can never believe that they could be possessed, na'uzobillah, by these devils.

Second of all, when we speak about the devil changing or ordering people to change or pervert the creation of God. What are some examples of this? I'll give you one example here. And this is a very relevant example to today. Did you know, that, according to some scientists, marine biologists, that within 50 years or less, there will no longer be salmon. And other fish gone. Or less - 50 years at the max. Because at certain parts of the ocean, did you know that the ratio of bottles to fish is between one and five or one in 10? Of plastic bottles to fish in the ocean? That is the destruction of God's creation, such that human beings, because of their arrogance and their senselessness, have wreaked this havoc in the earth. They're destroying God's creation.

Another example: certain kinds of inappropriate media. Film and especially inappropriate film. Did you know now that psychiatrists have told us, neurologists, go look up the research, that constant viewing of certain kinds of media rewires the brain. That it actually changes the makeup of the brain, of the way neurons fire through the constant release of dopamine. Go and read the psychology, studies in psychiatry. To such an extent that the people that find themselves addicted to this kind of media and we know the Muslim community is plagued because the highest searches of this media are in Muslim countries per capita. That is the truth, Saudi Arabia at the top of the list. Qatar, Iraq, as well is in there. Yes, that's a sad fact. As human beings began to access more broadband, the devil entered the cable. And now some of the highest per capita access of this media is from the lands of Islam. And the effects of this is such that we are told, that the actual brain is rewired to such a point that that person then can no longer operate a normal life.

No need to go into details as to what we mean by that. Psychiatrists have told us that this is a medical crisis. Crisis. A pandemic. And you know, the person who invented this, the first kind of media which was in print out of California, when he was asked, why did you invent this? He said to destroy the Christian family. To destroy the concept of the nuclear family. To inject Satan between husband and wife. And Satan has promised that he will order his army to pervert and change the creation of Allah, Subhana Wa Ta'ala.

This is one example among numerous examples. Third example. Video games, did you know, now, according to certain studies, read a book called PlayStation USA, the current books on this issue written by psychiatrists and neurologists. Did you know - think of how devilish this is - did you know that game companies or those who develop consoles and games, they pay children to do demos of the games? Do you know what they study in those children, the dilation of their pupils? You know how disturbing that is, and these games reward people for killing and robbing cars, don't they, that you can get to the next level depending how many people you've killed?That's how many of these games operate, and the most popular ones, right? Killing and stealing and so on, such that some countries had to ban games like Grand Theft Auto.

Is this not the devil in our bedroom and living room? How can we then claim to be na'uzobillah, free from the devil? When we bring the devil na'uzobillah into our bedroom or into our homes or into our living room or the rooms of our children. And then how could that soul then distinguish between this satanic fiction and the reality of God and His messenger? It cannot. Its a nuqoosh on the soul as Allama Tabatabaei says. "bal raana 'alaa quloobihim", [83:14] as the Quran says in Sura Mutafiffin, that what they've done now reigns on their heart, that it holds them captive. As Allama Tabatabaei says, it now creates a filter through which they see the entire world and the universe. When they hear 'hayyalas salat, hayyalal falah', they just sit and keep chatting. Why? Why is the soul not moved by it? Of course, one is perhaps a lack of knowledge, but if the knowledge is there, then why is the soul not moved? The Quran tells us [83:14]' bal raana 'alaa quloobihim'. Quran is clear that now they have to lie in the bed that they've made. And God says, I didn't oppress them, they oppressed anfusahum, themselves. Salawat. [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad]

I'll end with one more example of how this functions. When we read these ayaat, "Qul a'oozu birabbin naas Malikin naas Ilaahin naas Min sharril waswaasil khannaas Allazee yuwaswisu fee sudoorin naas Minal jinnati wannaas"[114:1-6], - the waswaas of naas, of human beings sometimes we can see it, is in front of us, it's an evil that we can see, but sometimes we are convinced by someone so and so forth, but it's still something we can see more or less. The waswaas of human beings, that is the temptations, the trickery, the ideas that, for example, an evil friend, or a bad friend might try to plant into our head to convince us that something is OK to do when we know in our heart it's not.

However, there's also the Waswaas of jinn. That's also very dangerous. Abu Fadhil Karajaki, one of our greatest fuqaha in history, a contemporary of Sheikh Taif at-Tusi who lived in the year about four hundred twenty, four hundred thirty of Hijrah, right after the ghayba of the imam, he explains in one of his most important books, Kanzul Fawaaid, he says, 'fa amma kaifiyatu waswasatul jinni' - as for the waswaas of jinn, how does it work? He says first we should know that their bodies are very subtle and light, like they can go through walls and bend in certain ways, so we can't pick up on them in this way. And then what they do is they arrive at the body of a human being, and they hang on the ear of the human. But you can't see them, though. Can't see them. But they literally hang on to the ear, they'll be so close to us that it's as if they've become a part of our skin, he says, and then they begin to implant devilish thoughts. And of course, this only comes when human beings try to open themselves up to them, when they're constantly missing the salat, when they're constantly neglecting the issues of deen.

What happens is, Karajaki tells us, one of our greatest mujtahids and marajea of the past, he and other scholars say, it's almost like blood that runs through your veins. Can you feel the blood that runs through your veins? No. Unless you cut yourself, otherwise you can't. The waswaas or the evil inclinations of jinn are like that. So subtle. As the Quran says, 'wa hum la yash'uroon' - and they don't even realize. And then he says, 'and they cast words: wa idha sama'uhu wa shahbuhu alayhi bu khawaterihi and to such an extent that if someone really opens themselves up, that they now have trouble distinguishing between their thoughts and of the jinn, between their khwatir and the jinn. This is what I mean, that through sin, the person now has trouble distinguishing between the realm of imagination and the realm of reality.

And then he reports a hadith from Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari from the Prophet,sallalahu alayhi wa ali [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad] who said: A man came to the Prophet and he said to the Prophet, I had a dream that my head was rolling and I was running after it'. The Prophet says, 'Don't ever mention this dream in our presence'. He asked why. La tuhaddith be la'ib bi Shaytan bi'k - because Satan came to you in your sleep. Do not mention it in front of others. Thumma qaala fa idha la'iba Shaytan bi ahadikum fi manamihi fa la yuhadithun bihi ahada -don't tell anyone about it. And the traditions, of course, say then to take out a sadaqa, to pray salat immediately, to get up and pray a 2 rakat salat immediately, to do istighfar immediately, and to recite 'la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi al-'Ali al-'Azeem' and Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa aali Muhammad. And then Karajiki says, 'an yaf'ala haaza bin nai'm wal yaqdhan' - and this may be done while awake or asleep, 'wa laeesa fa huwal aql mustaheela', and it is not unreasonable or irrational to believe this. And we know this because Imam al-Sadiq was asked, can you explain to us the difference between a false dream and a real dream, for example, a bad dream when someone has a dream about something that's really bad, that they've done something bad or they're committing a sin or they're doing something haraam, doing something very nasty and bad in their dream. Imam al-Sadiq was asked, well, what happens here? You know what he says? This is scary. Imam al-Sadiq says, this is a riwayat in al-Kaafi, 'wa awwal layla fi sultan maraddal fisqa wa innama hiya shayy'un yukhayyilu ila rajul wa hiya kaadhiba mukhalifa la khairun fiha' - that this is a kind of satanic attack, so to speak, on the person in sleep and they are imagining something that has been almost kind of put forward towards them and it has no khair and no reality in it at all.

Allama Majlisi explains what this means. He says that if we go through a day where we're constantly forgetting Allah, we're constantly not praying or we've been exposed to a lot of lustful things in the daytime when we go to sleep at night, the Malaika may leave us. And the armies of Satan may join us in our bed, and when the armies and the junood of Satan join us in our bed, they begin to put these things into our sleep. And that's why we're told as soon as we wake up, we must do istighfar immediately. Because this has been a sign that our soul has now become susceptible to some evil. This is aimma - I'm not taking from some book of dreams - this is from al-Kaafi of al-Kulaini. And that's why, salat, salat, salat, as we're told that the beginning of this is not praying on time. Leave aside missing salat, na'uzobillah, altogether. I mean, imagine if not praying on time, willingly not praying on time can have an effect on the soul, what about missing salat? We don't even want to talk about that. That's asfala saafileen [95:5]. That's the bottom of the barrel. Missing the salat altogether. Na'uzobillahi min haaza - we seek refuge in Allah from this evil, inshallah.

We're told on the day of Ashura, brothers and sisters, Sayyeda Zaynab as these devils, which is what they were in this sense, they're human beings, but the behavior of devils. As these devils crowded around the body of Imam Husayn,alayhi assalam, we're told in the riwayaat that they crowded around his body for some say three hours, some say two hours, the imam lay there. And they surrounded his body, Khouli, Sinaan, Shimr. And just before they killed him, Sayyeda Zaynab ran out of the tents, she charged towards Umar ibn Saad and she said as she was running, she said 'layta sama'an tabaqa ta'allal ardh' - if only now the heavens would collapse to the earth, that if only now Qiyamat would come and everything would be over.

Can you imagine the power of those words of Lady Zaynab that her brother is laying there- disabled from his wounds and these shayateen and devils are surrounding him, these enemies of Ahlul Bayt and lovers of Ahlul Bayt are surrounding the body of Imam al-Husayn like wolves.

And all she is saying is, oh Allah, if only the skies would collapse onto the earth now. That she was waiting for the crushing eternal response on the death of Imam al-Husayn. That this is the meaning of the museeba of the samawaat and the ardh. This is the meaning of the tragedy of Imam al-Husayn reverberating and affecting every element of existence, whether it be the arsh of Allah, whether it be the hoorul 'ain, whether it be the malaika or human beings or jinn or ins or whatever it is, everyone is now put into a state of complete shock when the head of Imam Husayn, alayhi assalam, was decapitated. The riwayaat tell us that forever now, the khalq of Allah Subhanah Wa Ta'ala has undergone a change itself.

Such that the arsh of Allah, iksharat lahu adhillatul harsh that the blood of Imam Ali Husayn causes every part of the throne of Allah, the proverbial symbolic throne of Allah to shiver and to shake. The dima, the dam of Imam al-Husayn, alayhi assalam. Now imagine the mother who has to be told about what happened to her son? That if the entire heavens and the earth and the arsh of Allah reverberate, in a sense, in an earthquake from the murder of Imam al-Husayn, what about the qalb of Sayeda Zahra? That if the heart of Sayeda Zahra is the reason that all of this creation is held together, then what happened to her heart?

We're told 'fuji'at bika ummaka Zahra', as Imam al-Hujja tells us in the Ziyara, that when the deliverer of the death of Imam Husayn came to the grave of the Prophet in Medina, we're told 'fuji'at bika ummaka Zahra' that your mother went into a state of terror. We're told in another riwayat that Sayyeda Sakina saw Lady Fatima in a dream and she came to her riding. But at first she did not know who this woman was. So she came towards her and she says, Who are you?

She says, I am Fatima. She then says, 'Ya amma jahadu wallahi haqqana' - she says, My mother, wallah, they have taken our rights away. Ya amma badadu wallahi shamlana. O mother, they have desecrated our family. Ya amma istabahu wallahi harimana, O mother, Wallah, they have taken away our hurmat. Ya amma, qatalu wallahi al-Husayn aba-ana. O mother, Wallah, they have killed our Husayn. Then she says Ya Sakina! Kaffa bi sautek ya Sakina. Kat kutihat nyatta qalbi! The strings of my heart, meaning the aortas of my heart are breaking because of what you are telling me.

And she says that this is the shirt of Husayn - haadha qameesul Husayn, alayhi assalam, because we're told on the Day of Judgment that one who was al-man'oof fil waraa the one who was slaughtered like animal in public, these are not my words, this is from ziyarat Al-Nahiyya, al-muqaddasa, sahar al-asri wa zaman, al-man'oof fil waraa the one who was slaughtered, in public, that his shirt will come on the Day of Judgment.

Sheikh as Sudooq reports that on the Day of Judgment, Sayyeda Zahra will come. Imam al-Sadiq says 'the awwaleen and the aakhareen will be gathered. She will come, everyone's necks will be down, fa ta'khuzoo qameesul Husayn bi yadeeha, and she will be holding the shirt of Husayn ibn Ali. Mudammikham bi damihy dripping in his blood, fi Yawm al-Qiyama, and she will say, 'Ya Rabbi, haadha qameesu waladi'- this is the shirt of my son, 'waqdhee baynana wa baynahum'- judge between us and them, according to the riwayat. 'Qad 'alimta ma'suniha bi'- for, You know, what they did to him.

According to another riwayat, she will take the shirt of Husayn and she will tie it to the throne, tahta alal saqi al-arsh and she will tie the bloodstained shirt of Husayn to the throne of Allah Subhanah Wa Ta'ala. Ala la'natullahi 'ala qwmizzalimeen, wa sa'ialamu alladhina dhalamu aimun qalabin yan anqalibun, mat Muhsin, mat al-Zahra.