The Significance and History of the Day of Ashura

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Bismillah you will hamdu lillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah. While early he was actually here at Moraine a salam Wa alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Hamdulillah.

First and foremost, of course,

want to welcome everyone here to the campus to follow them, especially on this very blessed day of Ashura

one of the most virtuous and blessed days of the entire calendar year.

And I apologize for the little bit of delay in the program, but inshallah we'll go ahead and get started. I wanted us to be able to gather here today

a little bit, that noise.

Okay, that's much better. So, I wanted us to be able to gather here today, before Salatin Maghrib, to be able to talk about the significance of this day, what it exactly means what it represents, what historical significance this day holds for us. And also what is the spiritual

blessing of this day. So I'd like for us to talk about that in

four different components. So there are four things that I will like to detail here today. First and foremost is what exactly is the day of our shoot? What is Ashura? We know the name, we use the word but what does Ashura actually mean? And what is this day? So I shoot Aw, that word itself is literally derived from the root base word Asha, which means 10. And it represents basically the 10th day and it is the 10th day of the first month of the lunar calendar. I'll

haram haram will haram, which is literally the name of the month is sacred. So it's the 10th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, and even that month is known as a sacred month.

Now what exactly makes this day significant? What is this day? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he tells us that in an authentic narration found in the books of Hadith, including Sahih Bukhari sahih, Muslim

in which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he says that this is the day. So the story basically goes that when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came to the city of Medina

he found Raja Alia who they are so Munna Yama Ashura. They he founded the Jewish community that lived in Medina, they used to fast on this day for color marhaba so he said, Why do you all fast on this day? For Salah home for Kalu inna who Yeoman not gelato goofy bunny is Surah Isla Minh I do with him for sama who Musa this commemorates the day, the moment

on which Allah commanded Musa alayhis salam to lead Bani Israel, even the Israelites to take them to flee. Like Allah talks about in the Quran. And these are these are events that are detailed in the Quran, in surah Taha and Surah number 20. Allah subhanaw taala tells us we're looking at the O Hanaa, Illa Musa, and ously ba ba the Leyland that Allah commanded Musa the Prophet Moses, Go to the Israelites tell them to pack their bags and pack their stuff, get their families ready, and by night, take them and escape the clutches of the pharaoh fit own. And those people that are enslaving them and tormenting them.

So they ended up leaving, they escaped that night, the fit to own and his army in his people basically realized the following morning that all these people are gone. These people have all fled. So they pursued after them. And Allah had told Mussolini's, I'm in a coma to their own. They're going to come after you by the way.

So they came after them. They put together a huge army and they went after them. When they pursued them, they pursued them all the way to the Red Sea.

And when they arrived there,

Musa Ali Salam in Bani, Surah eel, they're looking at the sea in front of them. They were moving a little bit slower, right? They have like families, the elderly, children, people with them. And so they finally get there and they see the sea in front of them and to say, where do we go? What do you do with the ocean? We don't have the wherewithal to cross this.

While they're still trying to figure out what to do. They turn around and this bloodthirsty army of Pharaoh and his people have shown up

and they're just waiting for an opportunity to commit a massacre here.

When that moment occurs,

many of the Israelites Bani Sarah Eve, they actually suffer a moment of weakness.

And they go to Musa alayhis salam and they say in Allah mudra Khun

we're dead.

We're done.

You've killed us.

There's the ocean in front of us and an army behind is where do we go? There is nowhere to go

so Musa Ali said I'm the Quran tells us he says Kola, he says absolutely not. I refuse to accept that. In the merrier Robbie. My Lord is with me say Dini, and he will make make away from me. He will show me the way.

Fo Hanaa de la Musa and a drip biasa called Bara fan falaka Kulu Philippine Koto de la Lim. And then Allah tells us that we instructed Moses, walk into the ocean into the water. Take your staff, and with your staff strike the ocean, strike the water, in the name of Allah, and Musashi Sam did exactly as Allah instructed him, fun falak the seas split, Fergana, Kulu, Philippine Koto de la Aleem, and it looked like two mountains the water stood up on either side like mountains and the Quran even says yes and latter half we darken Wella Tasha that when they stepped onto the floor of

The ocean, the dirt was dry.

Allah separated every particle of water from every particle of dirt on the floor of the ocean to the point that the floor of the ocean was dusty.

That's how dry it was. Because that was the Promise of Allah.

So they passed through there, they crossed the floor of the sea.

And when they reached the other side, some of them began to worry, because they see that Pharaoh has been watching all of this. And he's tried to kind of turn this in his favor. He's told his army, look what I've done.

I've created a way and he says, let's go. And he leads his army into the bottom of the ocean. And as soon as they get, like, fully in the middle of the ocean, Allah subhanaw taala causes the water to collapse.

And the Quran tells us, Allah drowns Fatone and his army,

so forgotten, luminal McCracken, that they're completely drowned and ruined, and destroyed.

So that moment that we just that I just described, where the help and the aid of Allah came to these

downtrodden, oppressed, violated believers.

And where Allah demonstrated His might and His power in this world, and the world witnessed one of the greatest physical miracles the world has ever witnessed. And then Allah destroyed one of the greatest tyrants that ever walked the face of this earth. That moment in which all this happened.

To commemorate that moment, that was the 10th day of the month of Muharram. That corresponded to the 10th day of the month of Muharram. So Musa alayhis salam, the Prophet Moses, every year, when that day would come back around, he would fast on that day,

he would fast on that day.

And that is the origin of the day of Ashura. So when the prophets Allah, Islam comes from Medina,

he says that they tell him, this is why we fast on this day, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he makes a statement he says, not a Huckabee Musa Minko.

We are much more connected to the legacy and the tradition of Moses than you people are.

Because Moses came from the tradition of prophets and messengers, and you're rejected as Holly Sarah.

You did not keep with that tradition, we are the true, you know, inheritors of the tradition of Moses, where we believe in the prophets, we believe in the messengers, we believe in the Scripture. So then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam, for sama who, so the Prophet sallallahu sallam said, I shall fast on this day, and he started observing fasting on the 10th day of Muharram. Well, I'm gonna be so yummy, and he commanded His followers to also start fasting on that day. That was the first day of that was the first year of their arrival in Medina, the first year of Hijra.

What the scholars detail is, in the second year of their residence in Medina, Ramadan became instituted, so for one year, it was mandatory for all Muslims to fast on Ashura.

For one year, it was mandatory for all Muslims to fast on Ashura. The following year when Ramadan became instituted, and Ramadan became mandatory, then they were told now Ramadan is the obligation, you no longer have to fast on the day of our surah. But you can still choose to fast on that day. In fact, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he encouraged everyone to fast on that day, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam In fact, he gave the virtue he said that Cebu Allah Allah He and you can feel a senator Lottie Coppola, who that my hope in the reward and the virtue of fasting on this day, is that Allah will remove and wipe away all the sins that were committed in the previous

year.

So in the previous whole entire calendar year, all the sins that were committed by the person when that person

fasts on the day of Ashura. The reward in the virtue of fasting that day is the previous years sins are all wiped away from the person. May Allah accept from us all.

But it did remain optional as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in Sahih Muslim in our Shura Yom wouldn't mean a yam Allah. Ashura is a day from the days of God. What that means is, it is a day of devotion to Allah. It is one of those special days in the whole calendar year, where you show extra devotion to your Lord. And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said,

For men, SHA Osama who woman SHA Taraka, who, if someone would like to fast on this day, then they absolutely should fast on this day. But if someone is not able to fast on this day, there is no sin. There is no wrong that they have committed by not fasting under the martial law. So it is optional. So that's first point. What is the history what is this day, this day, the history the origin of it is that it was observed by the prophet Musa alayhis salam and then her messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and as a commemoration of the help in the Mercy of Allah, when Allah saved and rescued, the believers of that time, the Israelites, the bunnies, Tara Eve, save them from the clutches of

Iran. And Allah unleashed upon this world, one of the greatest displays of his power that this world has ever seen. And that was the splitting of the sea.

Number two, the second point I wanted to touch on,

there is some other historical significance of this day.

And while the first thing that I mentioned, is a little bit more in the light and in the vein of something that we celebrate the hope of Allah, the Mercy of Allah, Allah split the seed for the believers, Allah defeated the enemy.

The second historical relevance of this day, is something that is very sad and tragic and heartbreaking.

And this is more the history of our Ummah, what happened after the prophets Allah.

So, what transpired after the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was that you had a period of time, that the prophets Allah Nizam had for told us about, that we call Al Khalifa, to Rashida,

the period of the righteous guided Caylus, the righteous Guided Leaders, succeeding the prophets, Allah, Allahu Allah Azza Rashi Doom, the Rightly Guided Leaders of the Muslims, we had this period of about 30 years.

And it was a time of growth of the OMA of Islam. The first

you can say about two thirds of it, or three quarters of it, were a time of even peace and tranquility and prosperity for the Muslims. Towards the end of it, there was turmoil, and there was disturbance, the forces of evil at that time, the people who intended ill and had ill will and malice towards the Muslim community had set their sights on the Muslim ummah. And they infiltrated the ranks of the Muslims and they started causing discord amongst the ranks of the Muslims. And that eventually created infighting within the Muslims.

And there was a lot of tragedy that occurred. And that period ended on a very sad and tragic note.

One of the greatest people of this ummah, very beloved to the Prophet, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and one of the most remarkable leaders of this OMA, I live in Abu Dhabi, but not the Allahu Anhu.

He was assassinated and was killed.

And that period ended on this very turbulent note. Nonetheless, once a period ended, Muslims were able to at least for a little while, enjoy some restabilizing with the leadership of why are we out of the Allahu Anhu why we are the Allahu Anhu is a companion of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, he was able to kind of bring some stability back to the ummah.

However, when

Where are we headed? The Allahu Anhu passed away.

At that time,

some very serious, you know, disagreement and conflict started to occur within the Muslim community within the Muslim ummah.

And that conflict stemmed from the fact that while we as son Yazeed

was basically assuming the position of the leadership of the Muslim ummah.

And he was not seen to be fit, to rule and to lead

by many, if not most, if not all, of the surviving companions of the Prophet Somalisa.

And many objected.

Some just abstained from any kind of comment to not create more problems.

Ultimately, the grandson of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Al Hussein, Radi Allahu Taala and who, who is the son of the daughter of the prophets, Allah the salam, the daughter of the prophets of Fatima, Radi Allahu anha. And her husband, of course, I live in Abu Dhabi, but not the Allahu Anhu. Those were his parents. So he was raised in the lap of the prophets, Allah, he said, he was his mother. He's the one who nurtured him and raised him was the daughter of the prophets, Allah the Salah, who was raised by the prophets also his father.

You know, the man who taught him how to be a man was none other than the line of Allah, the line of God I live in a Bengali Marathi, Allah cuando.

So this was a remarkable person. Al Hussein, there were two brothers, Al Hassan and Hussein. Right, remarkable young men

and leaders in their own right. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had actually said about his older brother husband in heaven, he had said,

this boy of mine, his grandson, this boy of mine is a leader.

So they were remarkable men, remarkable leaders.

Companions of the prophets of salaam family of the prophets of some grandsons of the prophets, Fulani, Saddam

Hussein

it's a lengthier kind of narrative, the whole kind of step by step what exactly transpired but the gist of the summary of it is, is that Al Hussein felt that this was not okay.

Just because someone is

imposing themselves upon the Ummah and usurping power.

I understand and appreciate the sentiment of many of my colleagues, to keep the peace, to not shed blood.

But I feel that the crime that we are allowing, in the spirit of keeping the peace and not shedding blood

is too great of a crime.

And I feel that if we tolerate this crime today, it will lead to even more shedding of blood, and even more oppression and violence down the road. So I'll her say nothing, Allahu Turon who decided to take a stand

when he decided to take a stand, unfortunately, and tragically, the forces that be at that time is he then his deputies and his ministers and the people that did his dirty work.

They

decided to take

very drastic measures.

They put together an army

and they sent them out to

siege. Al Hussein and the people that were with him.

And the people that were with him, they were not some kind of like rebel army. It was not some rowdy mob.

It was literally what we call friends and family.

There were family members, there were children. There are women and children there were elderly.

And they sieged them they surrounded them

for days and days and days.

deprive them

of food and water and drink

took them to the point of starvation and death

and then ultimately unleashed a massacre upon them.

In which one of the people they very deliberately and specifically targeted

was Al Hussein or the Allahu Tehran,

the grandson of the Prophet, sorcerer

and his family is the family of the prophets. So

on that day, they literally massacred the family of the prophets a lot easier.

And for those that are maybe,

you know, a little bit older, for those who maybe even spend time in or grew up in parts of the Muslim world.

For those who maybe are a little bit more kind of

in tune and have read up on a lot of what occurs after this,

maybe you're somewhat kind of aware of a lot of the polemics and the politics and the debates and the disagreements that kind of happened about this whole situation.

For a moment, I want you to put all of that aside.

Like, I'll just be kind of blunt, and just kind of say, you might have grown up in Pakistan.

Where like, all the Shia Sunni debates and polemics are just, you know, at at an all time high right now, and everyone draws their lines in the sand, and everyone's kind of got their red lines and all that.

Put all of it aside for right now, I want you to think about your own family.

We're not talking, we're talking about a massacre. I won't even talk about a massacre. If you came here tonight, not here, inshallah. It never happens here. If you went to the supermarket with your family, if you went to the supermarket with your family, and well, I have the villa. I'm not talking about like, you know, anything. But if somebody was even rude

if somebody was rude

if somebody yelled at some of your family members at the supermarket,

how enraged would you be?

How beside yourself? Would you be?

Like, how upset would you be?

How dare they talk to my family?

Can you believe that?

My mom,

or my wife,

or my son, my daughter?

They went there and they will treat it like this.

And you'd be outraged if the person listening to it wasn't outraged? If the person listening to it was kind of like, that's okay.

What do you mean? It's okay. What if I treated your family that way?

Like that's the love, the affection, the protection, the honor, the dignity that we have for our loved ones. This is the family of the prophets love these.

And these were like pious, righteous, remarkable people.

And their blood was just spilled in the desert.

They were massacred. Like, like they didn't matter.

It's a great tragedy.

And it goes directly against

everything the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us

the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He mentioned to us in a number of different narrations. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, One narration, he says, not once, but three times he repeated. This has mentioned sahih, Muslim, three times the prophets a lot. He said, where I live at where I live at where I live at.

In the week before he died, he repeated this phrase three times, my family, my family, my family. And you can already interpret what that means. But just to explain it properly, in the Arabic language, it's got it's like an expression. I'll a goon be an EBT Z mu Allah Beatty, it means take care of take care of my family, take care of my family, take care of my family. And then he said that, you know, Kamala huffy and debating.

I beg you in the name of Allah take care of my family. I beseech you, in the name of Allah take care of my family. And he repeated this phrase three times.

And there's numerous other narrations where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he talks about the virtue of his family, and the kind of love that he had for his family. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam but more specifically, I wanted to highlight that when it came to it

Al Hasan will say no the Allahu Taala anima. So he emphasized on his deathbed to us, take care of my family. That suffices.

But then specifically when it came to Al Hasan will Hussein Radi Allahu Taala anima in one narration found in a Timothy the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, Al Hasani, well, Jose No. Say ye Dasha, Bobby, Agnes, Jana,

that Al Hassan and Hussein or the Allahu Taala anima, my grandsons, they will be the leaders of all the young people in paradise.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in a hadith in Bukhari.

He was playing with the prophets, Allah, Allah, Allah, the prophets, Allah determina, Hadith, Abadi, he was playing with Hassan Hussein or the laguan Ummah, sitting with them when they were little. And he was sitting with them and playing with them. And he, some of the Sahaba were there. And he looked at them and he commented to the Companions. He said, Humar, Ray Han Ray, Hannah tiga, fifth minute, dunya Humala Ray Hannah tie, Amina dunya, he said that these are two beautiful gifts that Allah has given me in this world. These are the two things of this world that I enjoy more than anything else. Rihanna refers to a flower.

So it's an expression in the Arabic language.

Double when you call something like your flower, your Rihanna, It either means that it's a gift, or it means something that you enjoy

the profits a lot. He said, these two are what I enjoy. These are two gifts that Allah gave me in this dunya.

In another narration,

the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was again, kind of they were little Hassan, husband of the Allahu Anhu. And he was playing with them.

And they were, you know, little kids, they kind of played with you and then they run away from you and then they come back to you and they run away. And you try to like, you know, play catch with them, like you're trying to grab them and they laugh and you know, and the Prophet says he was playing with them that week and they are who the who will Hudson, he was like playing catch with them.

And the prophets Allah the salam made dua, he stopped and he may do it so Allah Houma in the Hebrew Houma

for a hit Bahama,

Oh Allah, I love them so much. So you love them too.

So the narrations go on and on and on. There's, in fact, even Taymiyah Rahim Allahu Taala himself talks about it. That the narrations in which the prophets Allah the salam expressed his love for Hassan and Hussein or the Allahu Taala anima reached the level of tomato, meaning there are more than a dozen companions on different occasions, they heard the process and say I love them so much. I love them so much.

That it became an established fact that the process of I publicly declared how much love he had for Hassan and Hussein or the Allahu Taala Hanuma.

So, this tragedy also occurred on this day. Now,

what do we do? Kind of with that knowledge and that information, a couple of things. First and foremost,

it's important for us to know our history.

Right, and this is a very tough lesson of our history.

Number two, it's a moment for us to review these narrations I quoted you narrations from Behati, from Muslim from Timothy. These are authentic hadith. It's an important occasion for us to actually review some very important teachings from the Prophets a lot he sent to us

about the importance of the family of the Prophet Salamis

and how the prophets are certain there's a general rule. And we say this, the friend of my friend is my friend, right? And the friend of so and so is my friend. We say this all the time.

Well, the people that were beloved to the prophets, Allah Islam, how can they not be Beloved to us?

So loving and cherishing and honoring the memories of the loved ones, the family, members of the prophets, Allah Lisa is an important occasion to remember that as well. And to review that lesson.

And thirdly, as a reflection, a very powerful reflection and I apologize for the kind of shortage of time.

But it's also a very powerful reminder. That Hussein, not the Allahu Taala Anhu. He did not give his life away frivolously.

He didn't just

sacrifice him in his family's life for nothing. He did it for a very important profound reason.

And that reason was to uphold the deen of Allah

to maintain Islam, the deen of Allah to defend what is right, what is true? What is correct.

And that's the ultimate sacrifice

to be able to give your life for what is right and what is correct.

Right. So we remember that sacrifice and

we should be inspired by that sacrifice, to also do whatever we can in terms of dedicating ourselves to this deen and always being on the side of the truth, and what is right and what is correct.

So

that leads me to the final point I wanted to make just very quickly. And that point is, of course, as we talked about earlier, one of the ways to observe this remarkable day is to fast on this day, as the Prophet Musa Ali sounded, as the Prophet salallahu Salam did, and as he instructed his Alma to do, and as his Alma has done from 1400 years, so we fast on this day

and inshallah we'll be proceeding towards, you know, the opening of the fastI of thought, but I wanted to kind of highlight that couldn't be fugly Allah, He will be Rama to he for me, VALIC Ophelia, for whom there are these moments when we commemorate and celebrate great occasions and great moments and the blessings of Allah.

But at the same time, we should remember that the ideal way to celebrate

and commemorate the blessings of Allah

is through acts of devotion and worship.

And that's why the prophets that's a prophet Musa Ali's unfastened on this day. So in the process of fasted on this day,

so we should always try to appreciate the blessings of Allah through acts of devotion

by fasting, by praying by giving charity by reciting the Quran.

And so that's a very important lesson that we get through the Sunnah of fasting on the day of Ashura. So with that,

I'm gonna go ahead and pause here in sha Allah, and what I'd like to do is just offer a quick dua, the supplication a dua that we can all make together for a couple of minutes and then I'll be kind of quiet so that we can all make our own individual to us for a couple of minutes more leading up to the event for McRib in the Iftar. Inshallah vanilla

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Like except all of our prayers and our fasting and our worship. Oh Allah bless and protect our families and our loved ones and the people that we care for. Oh Allah have mercy upon the Ummah Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam, O Allah protect the ummah of the prophets Allah DISA unite the ummah of the prophets, Allah these, strengthen the womb of the prophets, Allah, Allah, grant devotion and dedication and sincerity and steadfastness to the ummah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam, O Allah allow us all to grow in our deen and to better ourselves to be able to serve this deen and to be able to serve the people who need help within this dunya O Allah allow us to follow

in the footsteps of the great prophets and messengers of Allah. Allow us to follow in the footsteps of the family of the prophets, Allah. O Allah, allow us to follow in the footsteps of the companions of the Prophet salatu salam, O Allah, countless amongst the righteous, even if we are not, Oh Allah, countless amongst the devout even when we are when even when we fail to devote ourselves oh Allah make us sincere even when we lack sincerity. Oh Allah accept from us and bless us and protect us and increases Subhanallah because it is a phone was haram when Alan was Selena, we're Hamdu lillahi Rabbil Alameen