Pride or Shame? What Imam al-Askari Expects from His Shi'a - Maulana Syed Muhammad Rizvi

I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. All praise is due to Allah, His Mercy, His Exalted Mercy, His Exalted Mercy, His Exalted Mercy, His Exalted Mercy, and I seek refuge with Allah from the evils of our sins and sins, for whom Allah guides, so be not astray, and for whom He guides, so be not astray. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and none other than Allah is a partner. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. I seek refuge with Allah from the evils of our sins and sins, for whom Allah guides, so be not astray, and for whom He guides, so be not astray. I seek refuge with Allah from the evils of our sins and sins, for whom Allah guides, so be not astray. This bant is the bant of Imam Hassan al-Asker, the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. We celebrated his birth anniversary just 10 days ago, and I thought maybe it would be appropriate to remind myself and you of a famous hadith and advice that he has given for the Shiites. But before that, let me talk about the word Shi'a itself. You know, we understand what is the background of this and what are the implications of that. You know, as follower of Islam, you know, we call ourselves Muslims. But Muslims are all of different kinds. And so this is where a Muslim who believes that Imam Ali, alaihi salam, is the immediate successor of the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, such a Muslim is further identified as Shi'a. Now the word Shi'a itself means a follower, a partisan, a supporter. You know, in Arabic there is this term, tash'i, tash'i of the janaza. You know, in Urdu and Farsi also this is used. What does tash'i janaza mean? It means to follow the janaza in the funeral. And so the word tash'i basically means to follow. And this is where we have the term Shi'a. And this is, although it is now popularly where they say Shi'a, it means the Shi'a of Ali, but the proper full name was initially Shi'a to Ali'in. It means the followers of Ali bin Abi Talib. But then, you know, with the passage of time and frequency of using that, you know, people always look for short names. So instead of saying Shi'a to Ali, you know, they started saying Shi'a only. And it's understood even in academic writings that when you use the word Shi'a, this refers to the Shi'a of Ali and not anyone else. And so, you know, we take pride in using both names for ourselves. We say we are Shi'a Muslims. And sometimes, you know, people say, why do you do this? You're creating, you know, division among Muslims. Well, it is a reality. You cannot get away from it. If you say, no, I'm not a Shi'a or a Sunni. I'm only a Muslim. Well, you know, you will end up becoming a third party then. Neither Shi'a nor a Sunni. There's a term. I remember, you know, Sushi. It's not invented by me. Actually, there was a documentary by BBC about the mixed marriages between Shi'a and Sunni. And they came up with this term. I don't know if they invented it or not. I don't know that the children, many of them are so confused. They say, well, we are both. So this is where they came up with the, you know, term Sushi. So the point is you don't have a way of getting away from this. You can't say I'm only a Muslim. Otherwise, you become something else. You will be eaten up, you know. And this is where, what I would say is that not only that we use these terms to identify ourselves within the larger Muslim world, but there is nothing even to shy away from it. Basically, we take pride in both names, Shi'a, Muslim. And these are the names which are also mentioned for a very important prophet of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, Prophet Ibrahim, alaihi salam. Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, himself, has described Ibrahim, alaihi salam as a Muslim. You know, in the Quran, he says, وما كان إبراهيم ويهودين ولا نصرانين. You know, Ibrahim was neither a Jew or a Christian. ولكن كان حنيفا مسلما. This is before Islam. You know, rather he, Ibrahim, was an upright Muslim. حنيف, pure Muslim. وما كان من المشركين. He was not from the idol worshippers or the politists. And so, what many, many Muslims don't realize or they don't notice when they read the Quran, that Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, did not only describe Ibrahim as a Muslim, a Hanif and a Muslim. He has used the term Shi'a for Ibrahim. And this is where, you know, he talks about this in Surah As-Safat, in the story of Nuh, alaihi salam. Salamun ala nuhin fil alamin. You know, peace and greeting be upon Nuh among the nations. And then later on, he says, you know, I basically give reward to the good doers and I punished those who, you know, didn't follow. And then after Nuh, who comes, he says, ومن شيعتيه لا إبراهيم. And very from the followers of Nuh was Ibrahim. Now there, of course, it was not in the meaning of, you know, Shi'a the way we use it. It's more as, you know, sequence of history that he followed Nuh. He came later on. But the important thing is that Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, uses both terms, Muslim to, you know, identify Ibrahim alaihi salam and Shi'a also to, you know, بَنَّالَشِيَعَ عَلِيبَ اَشْيَيَةَ of Nuh, alaihi salam. And so there's nothing to be shy of this title. Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know, he's given these titles even to Ibrahim alaihi salam. And so we actually take pride in that. And this is the son of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, himself. Salawat, Paranek, Bahrahar. So next time, you know, some of these university students who are confronted by the Wahhabi activists at the campus, you know, they always recite another ayat of Quran that, you know, people were all united and they became Shi'a'an. But the word Shi'a'an, groups, was used in pruler. And it's in a different context. We look at these two ayat, where it is being used as a noun for, you know, as a name for an individual. And Allah uses the term Muslim as well as the term Shi'a for a prophet at the level of Ibrahim alaihi salam. And even the prophet himself during the early days, you know, has, there was a group of his companions who were known as Shi'a'atu Ali, because they were very close to the prophet as well as to Amir al-Mu'mineen. May Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, give us the tawfiq to be among the true followers of Ahlul Bayt, So yes, we take pride in the name of Shi'a, that we are the followers of the Ahlul Bayt. But taking just the name, putting that on our coat or shirt, that I'm a Shi'a' is not good enough. We really have to live up to that name. And for that, I would like to go to an interesting hadith and advice from Imam Hassan al-Askari, alaihi salatu wa salam. Again, the timeline of his issuing these statements, just during the last five years of the Imamate, just before the Ghaybet, Soghar al-Starib, is very important. And this is a general hadith that he has that this is my advice to my Shi'a. He has used that term in that preamble. And what he has basically talked about is about 10 to 12 items. He begins by saying, Oseekum, this is a reminder for myself and you all, Oseekum bitaqwa allah. I advise you of the taqwa of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Taqwa, one way of explaining would be to fear displeasing Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. That sense, when it's there, this is where we get closer to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Number two, wa l-war'afi dinikum, exercising caution in your religious matters. It's not an issue of don't just be at a basic level. Our imams say you, from among the Muslims, should be at a higher level, not just basic halal and haram. And when we talk about wa ra and taking this extra caution or precaution in what you want to do, it demands that extra effort. Sometimes you might know that maybe we are not sure about it. It is a great area. This is where it becomes the sabilun najat, the path of salvation for us. Number three, wa l-istihad lillah. Whatever you do in your life, you strive hard for the sake of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Even your worldly activities, even when you are working hard to earn your own livelihood. Try to link it to the sense of responsibility that you have in the eyes of Allah to provide for yourself and your family. Number four, wa siddukh al-hadis, to be truthful in your speech. This is a very common advice of all the imams starting with the prophet himself. Number five, wa aadai il-amana ila mani, atamanakum min barrin wa fajir. To fulfill the trust that person was given you money or something in trust, you had to fulfill that irrespective of whether he is a righteous person or a sinful person. You know, sometimes, shaytan comes and says, yeah, well, he is a sharabi. He drinks. He does this. And that, so his maal is not muhtaram. You can just take it over now. Whether the other person is a righteous person or a sinful person, when it comes to amanat and trust, it is equally binding there. Number six, wa tuli sujud. This is more about your nafala prayers or namaz al-shab to prolong your sajda by increasing the zikr. You do it three times. You do it six times. You do nine times, 12 times. It is up to you in your situation. Then the imam says, fabiha bha jaa muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam. He says, this is what the prophet actually came with. These are the teachings. Sallu fi ashra'irihim wa shhadu janaisuhum wa aoudu marzahum wa addu huqqukum regarding our interaction with the larger Muslim community. Imam is saying, pray with them, participate in their funerals, visit their sik, and fulfill their rights. And then he says at the end, fa inna rajul minkum iza wari'a fi dinihi wa sadaqa fi hadisihi wa addu al-amana wa hasana khulqahum an naas. He says when a person exercises precaution in his matters of religion, he is truthful in his speech. He is fulfilling in the trust given to him. And he improves his akhlaq and behavior with the people. Tzila haadashii'iyun. People will look at that person and say he's a shia. And when people say he is a shia, fa yasurru ni-dalika, we become delighted with that. Basically, whatever we do, our action is reflected on our teachings. And this is where the Imam ends by saying, ittukullah wa kunu zaynan wa la takunu shaynan. Fear Allah, fear displeasing Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Be a source of pride for us. Be zina for us. Be a source of beauty for us. Do not be shaynan. Do not be a source of shame for us. Because whatever you do will reflect even on the image of the Imams. He continues by saying, jarru ilayna kullum waddatin wadfu wa anna kullu qabeehin. You know, by your behavior, pull towards us every law. You know, bring people, you know, as far as the law is concerned, towards us. Buy your akhlaq. And repel, and wadfu anna kulla qabeehin. And repel from us every evil. Because when you repel evil from yourself, you are actually keeping that shame away from our name. Lana haqqun fi kitaw Allah. Wa qarabatun min rasulillah wa tatheerun min Allah. La yadda'ihi a'hadun ghayruna illa kabbab. That he says, remember our status. You know, we have a right on you, in the book of Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. The ayat of Muaddat is there. The ayat of, you know, lowing the Ahlul Bayt. The ayat about obedience to the Ahlul Bayt is there. And we have this, you know, closed relationship with Rasulullah, Sallallahu alayhu alayhu wasallam. And he says, Allah has purified us. And nobody can claim these, you know, honors other than a person who is a liar. This is exclusively for us. And so he ends by saying, wa akfiru, vikr Allah wa vikr al-mout wa talawta al-Quran wa as-salatu ala nabi. Salam alaikum warah. He says, increase the remembrance of Allah and also remember death, not every minute, otherwise you will die early. But, you know, keep in your mind that that is the end. The life is not there for all the time. We will be questioned about what we do. Talawatu al-Quran, you know, rid the Quran, and recite the salawat on Muhammad and Ali Muhammad. Because the salawat on the Prophet is, you know, ten times as far as its value is concerned of good deeds. Wa-hafadumahu was-saitukum bihi, you know, remember the Hadith, the advice that I given to you. Was-tawdi'uqum allahu wa qarahu alaykum as-salam. And I leave you in the protection of Allah and I ask peace for you. This is the end of the, the same, this was a written, you know, advice that the Imam had given to the Shias. The Salawat, my Nekbarah. May Allah give us the Tawfiq to remember this advice and to follow as much as we can.