[Music] [Music] [Music] abdah [Music] [Music] shal [Music] Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala states in the Holy Quran inah verse 30 illuminate your hearts and Minds with a loud Sal respected brothers and sisters as we embrace the sorrowful Crescent of the month of muharam I extend to you my sincerest condolences on the tragic martyrdom of Al IM Al Hussein on these nights we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to open our hearts for the legacy of Al IM Hussein we ask Allah subhana to illuminate our hearts and Minds with the light of abdah Hussein and we ask Allah
subh to grant us the Sha the intercession of Al IM Hussein in this world and on the day of judgment the beauty of the legacy of Imam hussein. lies in its immense power of motivation the legacy of IM Hussein motivates us to do good to stand up for justice it motivates us to worship Allah to obey Allah subhanahu wa tala and it motivates us to keep away from sins the legacy of Imam Hussein is about protecting our nefs from disobeying Allah subhah wa taala what is it that happened during the time of Imam Hussein that
led tens of thousands of people to fight him those who came to carala to fight the IM of their time you think they did not know who Imam Hussein was they had any doubts about his identity about his lineage about what he stood for they knew very well whom they were were fighting but what emboldened them and gave them the audacity to fight was that they became comfortable with sinning sinning became very normal for them and once we develop a habit of feeling comfortable with sins they become second nature we don't care when we sin
that that's when we invite thean to overpower us this is exactly what im Hussein said on the day of Ash when he explained why his enemies were fighting him these people are a people whose stomachs have been filled with Haram meaning there income is not lawful they stand with Injustice they sin left and right what was the consequence of thatan overpowered them he surrounded them he made them forget their lord the compassionate Rahman they had no connection with on the day of ashur they had no connection with Allah subhah wa ta'ala and hence they were
responsible for the biggest tragedy that this planet has ever faced this is what sins do sins are destructive sins darken our souls they darken our spiritual heart sins create barriers between us and our creator sins deflate us from the desire to worship Allah from the desire to stand up for Justice from the desire to do good there are many negative consequences to sins now this is not aimed at making you lose hope in the mercy of Allah subhah wa ta'ala we believe in the power of repentance in the mercy of Allah but we need to
know the consequences of sins one of the consequences of sins is that it reduces your sustenance a Hadith from IM States when a person sins that causes a reduction in his sustenance in his risk and R is quality of life you may have money but that money does not give you peace of mind that money has no Baraka in it you'll spend that money in Haram it will not help you you'll feel lonely and depressed there's no Baraka in your money and we've seen people in society they could be millionaires billionaires famous singers but they
have the highest rates of depression suicide anxiety loneliness why because they don't have that quality sustenance one of the effect of sins is that it reduces the quality of the risk of the sustenance that we have the second consequence negative effect of sins is that it brings about calamities in our lives according to one Hadith from IM he explains that when we sin tragedies afflict us the Imam gives even simple examples you scratch your skin you bleed you trip you fall a tragedy happens most of that is because of our mistakes and sins and then
IM quotes verse 30 of the tragedies that befall you it's because of what your hands have done because of your sins because of your mistakes most of the problems that we have in this world whether Wars Injustice poverty problems issues is because of what because of our mistakes because of our sins because we insist on Injustice next time I'm tempted to commit a sin I need to keep this in mind this sin I am about to make could bring a tragedy in my life do I really want that it could hit me with a sickness
illness a loved one could suffer I could fail in some aspect of my life do I really want that for myself that's the second consequence of sins the third consequence of sins sins can bring premature death according to one Hadith from he States [Music] people who die because of their sins are more than people who die because their time has come up has expired there's an expiration date on every human being Allah has not given you a body that has the capacity to age for centuries and Millennia there's an expiration date on our bodies but
most of us don't reach that expiration date 10 years 20 years 30 years 40 years earlier than the expiration day we depart this world why this Hadith States because of sins that's one of the consequences of sins it shortens one's life is that something that I want to bring about for myself now this does not mean that if someone dies young it's because of their sin sins sometimes Allah tries Believers and Allah subhana tal wants to expedite their return to him many of our imams were very young when they went back to Allah when they
were martyred Imad how old was he 24 25 so if you hear someone died while they're young don't quickly judge them and say oh it was because of their sins no sometimes Allah wants to purify this person but generally speaking that's one of the consequences of sins the more we sin the more we expedite our death these are three common consequences of sins now here comes the very important question many of us were habitual Sinners we're addicted to many types of sins and we know it's wrong we know we need to stop and many times
we're trying genuinely to stop but we simply can't I've been trying years and years to stop these sins but I am unable to do so how can I bring myself to stop sinning I can't help but sin and our discussion tonight as we are being inspired by the legacy of Imam Hussein I will share with you some practical steps that help us stay away from sins at the end of the day every sin you're able to tackle and protect yourself from you're that much closer to IM Hussein that's what our IM wants from us yes
to mourn for him to gather to uphold his legacy to uphold his but the Imam also wants us to purify our hearts and we do so by keeping away from sins so how do we bring ourselves to stop from sins here are some practical steps I will share with you number one it's very helpful and and important to know how sins impact our intelligence this is another very important consequence of sins that many people are unaware of we all love to be intelligent who doesn't if right now there's a pill that you can take and
it costs $10,000 it increases your IQ buy 20 points 30 points and let's say you have that money or you can borrow that money would you not take it everyone would take it right we want to be intelligent there is a Converse relationship between sins and between intelligence I'll give you an example scientific Studies have shown for instance that anger and rage affect your IQ when you are in a state of anger your IQ is reduced your intelligence is reduced now if you're wondering what is the science behind that here's the science behind it Subhan
Allah Allah subhana wa tala has given us a very sophisticated organ called the brain it's very complex it has many many different parts when you analyze the brain it's a whole Community it's an entire government with ministers with many different fields and parts there's a central command system in the brain it's very sophisticated now one of the most important parts of the brain is the prefrontal cortex this is right behind your forehead this is the area that's responsible for critical thinking for decision making when you're about to make a decision you're squeezing your mind you're
weighing your pros and cons that is the area in your brain that you're using actively so when you're making decisions you need energy you need blood and oxygen to flow properly in that part of your brain so you can make the right decision now just as in any government there's competition between the different minister right Ministries there's competition between the various parts of the brain there's a part in the middle of your brain called the amigdala this part is activated when you become angry when you rage and you're consumed with anger blood and oxygen flow
to this middle part of the brain now what does that do when you're under the influence of anger it takes the resources away from the prefrontal cortex and it concentrates the resources meaning blood and oxygen in the middle part of the brain what happens that reduces your IQ Your Capacity to think properly and make make good decisions are influenced one psychologist that I saw discussing this based on his studies he even claimed that when you are in the state of anger your intelligence is reduced down to oneir I want you to think about this what's
a good average IQ 120 good average IQ is 120 when you're angry and fuming and you're raging your IQ can go down to 40 what do you call a person who's got an IQ of 40 imagine we all go through this when we rage in that moment your IQ can go down to 40 imagine if you're a genius you're exceptionally smart if you have an IQ of 150 you're very smart smart if your IQ is 150 but you're raging and you're angry go down to 13 what's 1/3 of 150 that's 50 what do you call
a person who has an IQ of 50 anyone with an IQ of less than 80 we call this person a dumb person a stupid person an imbecile imagine a genius with an IQ of 150 his IQ can go down to 50 in a moment of anger and rage even if you have Einstein's IQ Einstein's IQ is estimated to be 200 okay what's oneir of that 70 about 70 when I when Einstein rages his IQ can go down to 70 that's still a dumb person you see what anger does to us that is why Subhan Allah
States Subhan Allah the imams they've mastered these equations 14 centuries ago the IM says anger is a type of insanity stupidity junun Insanity beware don't rage in that moment you will lose your intelligence a person becomes stupid in that moment it's a type of insanity then the IM States the person who rages and acts with rage he will regret it when he goes back to his senses when his IQ goes back from 40 to 120 and he realizes what he said and what he did he will regret it I know some people who've made some
of the worst mistakes of their life in a moment of anger because you can't think clearly so you will regret it then listen to what im aliam says there are some people who don't regret it you know what your Imam has to say has to comment and if you don't regret it the Imam says basically when you rage you temporarily become insane and you'll regret it and if you don't regret it know that your insanity is permanent if you don't regret your acts of Rage then your insanity is permanent these are the words of that's
what anger does the same applies to the power of Desire this same psychologist said when you're influenced by desires your IQ can go down to 1/4 25% of your IQ in moments of Desire Temptation and I can attest to that my dear brothers and sisters I know some very intelligent people they're smart they're intelligent they're otherwise successful but when they're consumed by desires and Temptation they become insane I've seen some people make the worst decisions of their life because they're under the influence of what of money there are some people they're willing to do anything
for money they're willing to defraud anyone for money they could be very intelligent people but in that moment they become insane because that's what the power of Desire does to them the Love of Money reduces your IQ it wrecks your intelligence the influence of money the influence of of power there are some people that are willing to do anything for power the influence of Temptations and desires have you seen people who are driven by a Haram Temptation they lose their senses they don't understand what they're doing they expose themselves they commit all types of sins
because they're under the influence of a desire that's when we forgo our intellect and hence the Hadith from the prophet sallallahu alaihi he states do you want to say goodbye to your intellect to your to your intelligence that's when you are between your desires and temptations constantly remembering this is extremely effective to protect yourself from sins tomorrow if you're tempted to commit a sin realize that sin is taking your intelligence stealing robbing your intelligence do you really want that imagine if someone can come and just take 50 IQ points from you you'd be very defensive
well be very defensive when it comes to sins because that's exactly what they do this first stragedy strategy is very effective in protecting us from the influence of sins think of this equation every single day that will motivate you to say no to many of your desires many of Haram Temptations many of the sins that influence us the second practical step that I would like to share with you that helps us avoid sins is to always be preoccupied doing something productive put very simple do you know why we sin brothers and sisters we sin many
times because we can afford to sin because we have enough time to sin one strategy to keep yourself away from sins is to keep yourself busy when you have extra time that's being wasted and you have not planned for it you do not know how to fill up your time you know what you're essentially telling Shan you're telling Shan come mess with me I've got nothing to do when you have nothing to do you've got all these shans trying to push you their way to pull you their way a very effective strategy is to keep
yourself busy to the point of exhaustion yes I know it's not good to exhaust yourself yourself but if that's the only way to keep you away from Haram well I love this exhaustion the best exhaustion in the world if it's keeping you away from sins and from bad habits exhaust yourself to the point where you literally don't have free time now I'm not saying be a workaholic and work and don't give time to your family don't go out on a nice summer day and enjoy the nature and outdoor activities that Allah has given you no
of course you could do that and that is purposeful time if you go out on a lovely day you're exercising you're keeping yourself healthy that's good that's purposeful time but many times we just have hours we don't know what to do I'm bored I'm bored I don't know what to do the minute you say I'm bored I don't know what to do you're telling Shan come come play around with me because I have nothing to do never keep yourself not doing anything such that you get bored once we get bored that's when the sins keep
piling up keep yourself as busy as you can the busier you are it's very simple the less opportunities you have to sin when we are purposeful with our schedule we keep ourselves protected from sins for instance I'll give you another example here one of the common sins that we engage in is in our sahas guys with guys sisters with sisters right when we sit in our sahas for 2 three hours the and the backbiting and the gossiping and all the Haram discussions that you're aware of why because they're not purposeful sahas next time you want
to have a s make it purposeful by creating rules for the S have a theme for your s discuss something purposeful now if you tell me say come on who's interested in that that's more like a Q&A with you it's not a it's not a sah first of all you can make it interesting just requires some planning get together with some like-minded brothers and sisters who are passionate about productive subjects and tell them beforehand this is what we're discussing this keeps you away from a lot of Haram talk and vain talk secondly secondly and this
is important if that group is completely not interested and all they want to do is sit and discuss Haram honestly you should not be associating with them this is your life we live once do I really want to spend my precious hours in Allah's disobedience in gossip and backbiting how is that going going to help me how does that make me a better person and I'm just piling up these sins so the second strategy my dear brothers and sisters in protecting ourselves from sins is to plan your schedule plan your day every hour of your
day know what you're doing plan it make it purposeful that will protect you from a lot of sins the third tip or strategy in protecting us from sins is to know whom we are sinning against Allah is the one who created me he gave me life he sustained me why should I sin against him create that feeling of shame in your heart one reason why we sin is because we're not ashamed to sini it's normal Allah who's been good to you who's given you everything who's your Rahman your R why should I sin what did
Allah do wrong that warrants me disobeying think about that that in itself raises Believers spiritually so that they feel ashamed of sinning know whom you're sinting against number four the fourth tip or strategy is also to know whom you're sinning against but in a different way Allah subhana wa ta'ala definitely is merciful he is the compassionate he is the forgiver but when you're sinning you're violating the king of the universe you're violating the most powerful being in existence is that wise honestly to mess with the most powerful being in existence yes he's merciful but he's
powerful if you keep violating there could be consequences just like he forgives he also disciplines he also punishes think about that do you really want to set up yourself against Allah the most powerful King in existence one day a man comes to Al IM Hussein he tells him I'm addicted to sins I can't help but sin give me a give me some words of advice help me out here I can't stop sinning the Imam gave him a very interesting response the Imam says if you can get away with doing these five sin all that you
want the man was shocked IM Hussein is allowing me to sin in some circumstances do these five and sin all you want what are these five listen to the words of IM Hussein the IM tells him here's the first one do not eat from the sustenance and the risk of Allah and go and sin as much as you want can you do that don't eat from his sustenance then disobey him that is so full of Shame when I do that somebody is helping you blessing you is doing you favors and you go and you fight
them you go and you disobey them you go and break their rules that is very wretched when you think about it so IM Hussein tells him it's very simple if you can not eat from his sustenance yeah go and sin as much as you want can you that's the first one the second one the Imam tells him exit the will of Allah the protection of Allah and go and sin as much as you want can you leave the protection of Allah every breath that you take every heartbeat is in the hands of Allah subhana what
do you control you do you control that in your body we don't control that when you don't control control that that's not in your hands then think twice about sinning that's the second one the third one the Imam tells him if you can find a place where Allah cannot see see you go and sin all that you want that's the third one the fourth one when the angel of death comes to claim your soul and claim your life if you can say no to the angel of death and escape death then go and sin all
that you want number five on the day of judgment when you're drag to Malik Malik is the Angel who is the keeper of Hell he's in charge of the fire of Hell IM Hussein says when they take you to Malik if you can say no to Malik if you're more powerful than Malik and you can stop yourself from going into the fire of hell then sin all that you these five words changed the life of this man this is very effective when it comes to preventing sins so that is the fourth strategy my dear brothers
and sisters the fifth strategy in stopping ourselves from sinning is to always evaluate our sins keep track of them you know why we sin one common reason is because we do not keep track of of them when you keep track of anything you create awareness selfawareness and you become in a better position to stop I remember years ago there's this app that came in the smartphone that tracks what you eat I wanted to try it just for fun just to see how it works so you tell it what you eat and it calculates the calories
the sugar whatever you're eating I used it for like 10 days believe me during those 10 days I became mindful of what I was eating whether it's healthy or not watch what you eat don't exceed these calories I became mindful of that no one was forcing me I didn't have any health issue I just wanted to try it but it created self-awareness in me before that I wasn't too aware of what I'm eating after that I became much more aware every time time you sin my dear brothers and sisters this is a very effective strategy
every time you sin write down the sin immediately take out your phone go into your note section and write I committed the sin at night before you sleep review that list I guarantee you the following day will be a better day you'll be less inclined to sin because now you're tracking your sins you're aware of the number of sins that you committed and how many sins that you committed and what you did many times we commit sins we forget 10 minutes later obviously I can't stop if that's the case write down the sin immediately when
you write it down you become in a much better position to stop the sin there are many other strategies my dear brothers and sisters but these are the main ones that I wanted to share with you tonight and one of the final ones very briefly is to always be in a state of Purity andar spiritual light whenever you feel overpowered by your Temptations and desires a very quick strategy is to go and do wo try it get up do wo remember Allah subhana wa tal remember you have a Lord that in itself strengthens you in
the face of that Haram desire in the face of Temptation or anger as we discussed anger it gives you more power because it's an act of spiritual it's a spiritual light that you create for yourself be on W as much as you can it's must even if it's not time for Salah do W if you don't have W even if you did woo you want to leave the house do another woo the Hadith from the prophet sallallah States the one who dies in the state of w dies a Shah Allah gives you the reward of
a Shahid who doesn't want that another Hadith tells us if you do even if you didn't break your woo you do an extra woo must Allah subhana wa ta'ala will forgive your sins Allah will accept your repentance even if you didn't do that W becomes your so one effective strategy if you feel overwhelmed by the Shan you're sitting in a in a session of and you can't stop it get up and do W I guarantee you you'll be in a better position to stop it because that wo gives you bar it gives you that spiritual
light and in these nights my dear brothers and sisters one of the best ways to protect ourselves from sins is to connect to the legacy of IM Hussein the Imam gives you that infinite fuel to be strong to have that connection with Allah subhah wa taala the Imam shows us in his most difficult moments when he was surrounded Ed by his enemies he's bleeding profusely he's lost his infant moments before that Imam Hussein shows us power and strength and patience that shocked the angels in one of the Zas of IM Hussein there is this passage
the Angels who've seen everything since since the time of prophet Adam until that day they've seen every problem every misery every tragedy they saw 124,000 prophets and their patience but that day the patience of Imam Hussein shocked them they had never seen something like that Imam Hussein brought that power from his connection to Allah subhah wa ta'ala remembering his legacy gives you that inspiration every day begin your day by thanking Al IM husin if you begin your school day your work day by remembering your Imam and thanking your Imam I guarantee you that day will
be a better day that'll be that day will be a more blessed day a more productive day because you started it by remembering the legacy of your Imam the Imam will give you that inspiration the reward Allah subh gives you for saying no to sins is one of the greatest rewards that you can get think about that in one authentic Hadith from IM the IM states there are three types of patience the first type of patience is when you are patient in the face of a tragedy a tragedy strikes you a family member and you're
patient the reward is great in this Hadith the IM says Allah gives you 300 D 300 levels the distance between each level is from the Earth to the sky that's when you're patient in the face of a tragedy then the Imam States but when you're patience when it comes to an act of obedience like Salah like paying your zakat that's very difficult Allah gives you 600 Degrees the the distance between them is from the Earth to the throne of Allah the third one when you're tempted to commit a sin and you become strong and you
say no to that sin Allah subhana tala gives you 900 Degrees the distance between each degree that's how big these degrees are is from the Earth to the upper upper levels of God's Throne imagine the reward Allah gives you when you're patient remembering that in itself motivates you to stop the sins so on these nights we connect to the legacy of Imam hussein. and that is the biggest inspiration for us to stop ourselves from sinning now I want to take your hearts to the IMs of when they would embrace the month of muharam when they
would embrace the sorrowful Crescent of the month of mam IM in a very moving Hadith the IM describes how the on these days they experien the tragedy of IM Hussein and IM says even the people of Jah they had some respect for the month of muharam they would not fight and kill but as for us [Laughter] the what happened to them in the month of M the IM says we the you know what happened in the of muharam our blood was spilled our wom and the children were taken as prisoners of War then [Laughter] States
the day of Hussein wounded our eyelids you know what that means sometimes you cry but sometimes you cry so excessively that you wound your eyelids that's how much pain the tragedy of Imam Hussein caused for the IMs [Music] [Music] of yes the day ofala was a day that was very difficult for the the enemies tried to humiliate them [Music] until the day of judgment we will grieve the tragedy of Imam [Music] Hussein the Imam says cry on the liks of Hussein cry on the tragedy of your IM then IM says my father when he would
see the Crescent of muharam he would not be seen smiling anymore the grief would show on his face until the 10th of mam he says on the day of Ash my father that would be his day of grief his day of mourning his day of misery every year the B they had to experience this great great tragedy Allah IM after for over 30 years he had to live these painful memories IM Z says every time I would look at my aunt and I would remember them going from one tent to other tent when they set
the tent to fire on the day of Ash IM says I can't help but remember that scene the woman of tning from one tent to another tent and the evil one what would he would [Music] say and the army of yazid they would say destroy and burn the homes of the unjust ones imagine having to hear that Ya Allah how much did they have to handle and Imad he would make it a point to mourn Imam Hussein many people ask whose tradition is this that we gather and we mourn this is the tradition of our
imams once a very famous poet he went to see Al IM it was during these days IM tells him do you have any poetry about my grandfather Hussein he says yes I do you know what the Imam does the Imam he gets up he brings a curtain he sets up he installs the curtain and then he brings the woman and the children they sit behind the curtain and the men are sitting on the side Imad tells him you can now read The Poetry and he recites that famous poetry it's a very moving line of poetry
Go pass by the grave of Hussein and say to his blessed bones allahar what happened to the bones of Imam Hussein he kept reciting the lines of poetry until the woman they broke into tears they started yelling and wailing and IM told him stop that's it you can stop now that's enough we cannot handle this anymore that's how the B lived the tragedy of IM Hussein on these nights remember who Imam Hussein was remember how his father his grandfather would treat him one day the prophet sallallah alai is on the MIM this is even mentioned
in Sunni sources he's on the mimber when suddenly Imam Hussein comes into the Masjid Imam Hussein trips and he falls the prophet abruptly cuts his speech and he goes down from the mimar to carry him then the prophet comes on the mimar and he says W the prophet says I don't know how I came down from my Pulpit this is Hussein that's how he much he much that's how much he loved abdah Hussein but what did they do to your grandson Hussein in the land of carala you know what the poet says I say this
and I conclude the poet says one day IM Hussein is on the chest of Mustafa his grandfather is carrying him playing with him caring for him but one day that same Hussein is on the dust of [Music] [Music] raise your hands in Dua we ask Allah to accept our Magus we ask Allah to bless you I know many of you have haat and there's a dear brother who's struggling with a very difficult illness he's very dear to me as well I ask you to pray for his shifa all those that you know they've asked you
for Dua this is the moment of Dua Allah has promised with broken hearts and tears when Believers gather Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala answers their Dua so ask Allah to fulfill your haat we ask Allah to Grant heal to Grant a healing and recovery for all those who are suffering and I ask you all to pray for your brothers and sisters the women and children in Palestine who are suffering this is the moment that we also pray for them may Allah subhana waala bless you all
