[Music] everyone. So, if you've been following the first series, alhamdulillah, which has been going for the last several years, we started off the series and we really looked at people in regards to the order in which they embraced Islam. So the first we spent the first uh several episodes talking about those who embraced Islam and the order that they embraced Islam and the praise and the lessons that we can take from those people. And so if you're wondering why we're getting to Hussein, may Allah be pleased with them at this point, you know, and someone might mockingly say and uh we've seen those comments, why are you talking about them now after 150 episodes? I'd say go back to the first few episodes of the first and you'll see we talked about the first family of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and really covered their virtue and their value in that sense back then. But now what we're doing in this season of the first is we're going back and we're looking at the young companions who were children of companions and building out the story from their vantage point. And so it just so happens that we're getting to the first people that we're covering in this season that happen to be uh first and foremost the family of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam from that perspective the young members of B and we're building their stories out and obviously we are coming into Muharam and with Muharam and and the story of Kbalah there are a lot of heated emotions there are a lot of hateful comments there's a lot of heat there's a lot of tension and I actually don't do any of that. And so you're not going to find that neither in the way that I cover the biographies nor in my engagement on the subject. But instead, in the same way that we've covered all of these noble and blessed people who we love, how can we derive the lessons from their lives? So we just covered the life of Al Hussein, the tragic martyrdom of Hussein, the lessons that we can draw from him in real time with everything that's happening right now, especially with and this redefined notion of victory and success that Allah subhana gives us through the framework of right that whether people are killed and they find that in this world that they uh arrive at death in the process of seeking out the ideals of truth and virtue for the sake of Allahh or whether people are triumphant in this world they are successful they are victorious so long as they are on the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that is the case for Hussein and that is the case for our brothers and sisters in Gaza who have been losing their lives to this killing machine in the last two years as we have been witnessing it uh you know play out on our screens but coming back to this subject we covered Hussein and there's a question that came up multiple times well what is our perspective particularly the Sunni perspective right on number one cursing right uh the man who in some way is certainly responsible for the killing of it's very hard to extract him from complicity in the full sense it would be uh historically problematic to do that to completely remove him from complicity in the murder of Hussein handle. So that's the first issue. Do we curse Yazid Muawi? And why is it that some scholars, Sunni scholars refrained from cursing Yazid Muawi despite his complicity to some extent in the murder of the grandson of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam who we love and we adore and we honor in the way that we do. So is that because of some sort of restraint on love of Al Hussein that we don't curse Yazid Muawi? If we don't curse Yazid Muawi, right? So that's one subject right cursing who is in some way responsible for the murder of Hussein. Second one is the extent to which we love Hussein right we have to love we have to love the family of the prophet how can a Muslim be praying and in the end of their salah as Sunni Muslims Muhammad you know sending your peace and blessings upon the prophet and his family not love Al Hussein like there's going to be something incredibly deficient about your iman that will call your your salah into question and everything else right to not love the family of the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam who The prophet sallall alaihi wasallam has said Allah loves those who love them and the prophet sallallaihi wasallam commanded us as an ummah to love them as we love him sallallahu alaihi wasallam in the sense that love them for his sake sallallahu alaihi wasallam love them for the sake of Allah and there is no contradiction between those two things because Allah loves what the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam loves and the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam loves what Allah loves. So you know to what extent is there love and veneration of especially when you read the painful chapter of and the betrayal and the martyrdom and that story of sacrifice and can we even benefit from it like is there is there a limit do we have to be careful when we're reading his story should we dim down right the story of al- hussein so that it does not uh translate into a transgression of the creed right or creedal principles because that love is going too far and then the third one is you commemorating um and what that commemoration looks like. This always gets heated and I'm always wondering like why aren't people doing right? So it's like if you post anything about if you talk about the story of the victory of Mus Alam over you're going to have problems. People are going to attack in the comments and say how dare you uh omit the story of Hussein. And the truth is is that we're not omitting the story of Hussein when we talk about the victory of Mus Alam over which the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam you know when he comes into Medina as the narration says he saw the people fasting and the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam uh commanded that fast. So that's one element of it like how do we combine you know the fasting for the victory of Mus Alam and the commemoration of ash as a virtuous day while also coming to terms with the painful sacrifice and martyrdom of Hussein and I'm going to say this subhan Allah for my father may allahel preserve him who's in his 80s and subhan Allah just a beacon of wisdom and he told me he remembered moving to alaw in the late 50s early 60s my father may Allah bless him. Uh saw the development of Medina in many ways. He uh went to Hajj the same year that Malcolm X went to Hajj. He just saw an incredible amount of history play out before his eyes. And he remembered, you know, and he was sharing with me the story and it stuck with me of some people that had come to the grave of Abu Bakr and they insulted Abu Bakr and Omar. Obviously, that's egregious and disgusting to insult Abu Bakr and Omar. And then there was another group of people that responded to them insulting Abu Bakr by doing what? By insulting. And I can't even say the words that my father told me that were said. And it's like, you know, do you realize what you're doing? You responded to a transgression with a transgression. And in the process, there's a lot of loss. And it's very hard for us to come to terms with what are we supposed to be doing with all these emotions? And so this video is kind of an attempt on the side uh instead of trying to rush this answer uh in the first you know in the mazjid when we were running up against even as we were finishing the recording of the episode on Hussein. This is just to sort of talk through how the scholars governed love and hate and what a Sunni perspective actually is on Yazid on Hussein on and the multiple things that happen on that day and how we reconcile them. So the first question is of the cursing of Yazid Muawi. Yazid is not a companion of the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam. He's not a man of virtue. He's not someone that's loved. He is someone who has a terrible record of killing Hussein of uh in some capacity, right? Complicity, right? Reigning down terror on the people of Medina and killing multiple people there. Reigning down terror on Mecca. He has a horrible record and he's not someone that we can love. The person who has iman would not love Yazid as im Ahmed Allah was asked by his son. You know there are some people that say they love Yazid. He said does anyone who has faith right love Yazid? Does anyone who loves Allah love Yazid Muawi? How in the world could you love a man that has so much crime on his hand? Right, and such a a history and a legacy of tyranny. That's establishing the premise that there is no way right to to love and even if you're trying to spite or trying to look at the episode of and that tragic moment in history and you know sort things out in a certain way and arrange a certain scheme in your mind you just cannot absolve him entirely from the murder of Hussein in any way. So why is it that there is a difference of opinion even on cursing him? Immedah when he was asked by his son there are some people that say they love Yazid said how can someone who loves Allah love Yazid and he was asked well why don't you curse him and he responded he said when have you seen your father cursing anybody so his refrain from cursing him was not because of the virtue of Yazid it was because of his refrain from cursing right that's one thing to put to the side so that's one element of this discussion about cursing now im who's one of the great scholars of the madhab who's buried next Mhhammed in Baghdad uh cursed Yazid Muawa wrote a whole wrote a whole treatise on actually the permissibility of cursing Yazid Muya it's not like there is unanimity in this but it's just to say that that's where that discussion takes place so you had one person who saying that I don't curse him because I refrain from cursing period and then you have some scholars that offered you know sort of their principle for why they didn't curse and it was not out of a love for Yazid nor of a disdain or a hatred or an apathy towards Someone like im you would be very dishonest to claim that did not love right that he didn't love the family of the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam I mean it it comes through his writings it's deep it's devotional it's great love right and you know he refrained and he writes in his about his refraining and he gives a principle to it right says look at the end of the day this is a terrible crime the discussion of complicity is one in which there's dispute to what extent he was complicit but beyond that on the principle of you know killed Hamza had murdered and we know that but repented at the end of his life and he's saying that out of safety there should be that window of you don't know if the man repented at the end of his life from committing that terrible crime to what extent he committed that terrible crime so it's better to refrain from cursing him not out of love for him or not out of a lack of hatred for him or for the crimes that he committed and not out of you know any any type of apathy towards the uh the terrible murder of Hussein but what this could open the door to and so it was a principle of safety right that's why you even find like who has these long discussions about the historical episodes as a whole right a great treasure trove of history gives almost like a conditional curse on Yazid as the scholars mentioned right like if he did not uh repent from this or if something at the end of his life did not change. But at the end of the day, I just want to point out here that you don't have to whitewash the crime or curse, right? To find yourself in that mainstream body of how Sunni scholars dealt with this, right? Okay. So, Sunni scholars dealt with this for the most part by refraining, some of them cursing, but none of them absolving or in any way using that discussion of, you know, giving some boundaries to hate, right? To to in any way belittle or downplay the murder of Hussein. So, that's the first discussion which is some Sunni scholars hated but didn't curse. Probably that is the majority position. You had some that cursed that went to the extent of cursing but no one would in any way take that principle of hating Yazidawa or hating what was done and you know uh connect that to minimizing the crime of the murder of Hussein. So that's the first discussion. The second discussion is loving Hussein. This is a part of our iman. You have to love the family of the prophet sallallaihi wasallam. If Hussein did not die a tragic death in we would still love him because of the love of the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam for him the love of allahel for him we would still feel a great attachment to him it's still part of our daily salah to send peace and blessings on the prophet sallallaihi wasallam and his family so if it just stopped like if you just read in the history book the way that the prophet sallallaihi wasallam would grab him and kiss him and hold him and and the joy that he brought to the life of the prophet and who his grandfather wasatam who his parents are and Fatima may Allah be pleased with them like that's enough but the fact that there's martyrdom as well and such a terrible crime that was committed in Islamic history then obviously that pulls on the heart in every way. So then the question then goes to issue number three which is well how do you deal with and I want to actually sit with this issue for a moment. Victory in Islam is defined differently and that's what is teaching us as well. And so you can hold the emotion of Musam was victorious over that's one form of victory was victorious over his killers right all of them. You know we talk about the horrible ending of or whatever it may be. He was victorious over all of them because his death was his death was martyrdom. Our dead are in paradise. Your dead are in hellfire. the miserable ending in this life and the miserable punishment in the hereafter. If for anyone that part that that had anything to do with the murder of has to has to meet Allahel for that crime unrepented for I mean that teaches us a different notion of victory as a whole. So yeah, we fast and there are virtues to the day of Ash and there's a connection to Mus Alam as the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam you know in that narration connected us to that but at the same time we look at what happened with Hussein and it bothers us it stirs us it disturbs us now the question then becomes I think finding the middle ground from a Sunni perspective between devotional commemoration like anniversary and devotional commemoration of death and historical memory. There are some Muslims that would say like you know to mention they would they would take offense at mentioning al Hussein uh in to even you know to to suggest that that is doing away with the original intent the original purpose of connecting to uh you know the way the prophet connected to that and there are some that would not talk about and not talk about what happened to Hussein finding it you know to be a pathway to something that could exceed the boundaries of love and of hate, right? And take us out of Sunni creedle position. So I was starting to think about the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam and how the prophet dealt with for example was such a tragic event in the life of the prophet and the companions and they lived for years after that. There was not an annual commemoration of the time that took place. There was not an annual commemoration of the martyrdom of the and everything that took place there. But was still very much so present in historical memory and deeply present in the hearts of minds of the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam and the companions and they would recall as life unfolded the connection to those moments of and the connections to the the devastation that they felt and that's why you find later on companions that would suddenly start crying because they would remember And they're eating their food and they're realizing that they have their clothes and their food. And they're remembering what it looked like when could not even find enough clothes to cover him on that day. Meaning that after he was martyed, they didn't even have enough of a garment to cover the body of Mus. And they would remember that and that would deeply move them. So it was part of their memory. It was part of their historical memory. And they could draw an immediate connection between what had happened to what was unfolding. And so you know we have we have these tragedies in our historical memory even if we don't have devotional commemoration and we don't do that for the death of the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam and we love the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam and we don't do that for the the tragedy of we don't do that for the victory of we don't do that for the multiple tragedies and so this is in no way to minimize or to uh look at the the death of as a small thing it is not a small thing it one of the greatest tragedies that ever strikes us um and we love him. We love him. We love him and we attach ourselves to him. All right? So, we're not doing the commemorations in the devotional sense. And we don't have that because of what it can lead to outside of, you know, the veneration of people as pious people, as pious human beings who we love and who we honor. But we can still keep it in historical memory. And that's where I think the balance is for us that subhan Allah you know when you're looking at Gaza right now and you see Hamzas and you see Hussein's people named Hamza and people named Hussein and you wonder like I remember I was talking to about his son Hamza may Allah have mercy on him and accept him as a martyr and all of family and all of those that have been martyed and killed there's something special about like I sent my son Hamza to be received by Hamza right say that he'll be lined up behind say the shada. How many kids named Hussein have been martyed in? How many kids named Hassan have been martyed in? How many of these people are named after these very pious people, right, that we love and that we honor in Gaza today? Then remove the name. When you think about the loneliness, the abandonment, the feeling of betrayal, the gruesomeness of the murder of our people in Gaza right now, of course you connect that to the loneliness of Hussein on the battlefield. Of course you connect that to the beheading of Hussein. Of course you connect that to the cutting up of Hamza. Of course you connect that to the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam crying over Hamza. Of course you connect that to Mus and everything being taken away from him. Of course, you connect that to all of these things. The victory of Badr and the the hardship of we should in every way, you know, feel that connection, that love. But of course, we go back to the principles of love and hate that we have. And that is to guard the creed while also channeling our natural emotions of love and hate in a way that is spiritually productive for us in a way that keeps us within the boundaries but at the same time allows us to try to aim to be at the same you know well we will never be at the same level but to aim towards the people who had the maximum spiritual potential realized in their lifetimes. We are to connect to Allahh in that way. So we connect to them in their pain. We connect to them in their victory. We connect to them in worldly triumph. We connect to them in worldly tragedy. But all of it seeking the elevation of the afterlife and in the hereafter. And so this was just to kind of give like that overview again of of how uh from a Sunni perspective, hate is viewed uh how love is viewed from a Sunni perspective and how we can find that fine line, maintain historical memory without going into devotional commemoration of of death, whatever it may be. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala be pleased with Hussein and may Allah send his peace and blessings upon the prophet sallall alaihi wasallam and his family. May Allahel be pleased with the sacrifices of those that came before us. And may Allahh allow us to connect to their spirit of sacrifice and may allahel allow us to continue and carry on that sacrifice in our own lives. May Allahel be with the people of Gaza today as he was with Mus Alam as he was with the as he was with the and may Allah be with them. May Allah subhana wa tala guide us to the righteousness that causes him to be with us as well. [Music]