11 - Biography of Imam Ali Ibn Musa al-Reza - Sayed Ammar Nakshawani

 Together with his spouse in Shades that please Muhammad voila elevatory was foreign foreign foreign and died according to varying reports on the 23rd of the and the 203rd year after Hijra

  A man from whose life extraordinary lessons may be learned and many principles may be derived especially principles concerning politics and Society within which we live everyday lives you find that unfortunately his life has been very much understudied there is not enough value being given to the status of imamusa and the idea that there may be many who admire him but do not necessarily have Enough knowledge about his biography and indeed you find the period within which he was living in was one of the most turbulent times for any of the imams of Al Muhammad and the idea that the Abbasid Empire had established itself and therefore he had to find his position within the empire and until today unfortunately many people asked the question take a position under attack Like to look at through this examination of this biography in order that we are able to appreciate the legacy of the Imam as we said the Imam was born on the 11th of the 148th year after Hijra he was one of 37 children had 37 children 19 daughters and 18 Sons which is even more extraordinary when you read that Imam Muslim spent some part of his life in prison And that's why today you will find the legacy of Musa for the so great but most of the sadats are musawi myself for example I am a Musa there are many others who are from the lineage and the Jaffa if you go to Lebanon there are musoes if you go to Iran there are Musa is if you go to Pakistan the ramuso is Musa is all of them came because of the fact that Imam Muslim had that many children and these children of course when they'd Get married and so on that lineage would continue to spread foreign children came from varying wives foreign that according to certain reports her name was arwa some narrations mentioned has been called najma I've read the narration which also mentions her with the name tuktam possibly if you wanted to bring all of these together some may be names some maybe titles it's in the same way Imam's mother was North African imamusa's mother was North African someone asked the question again why would the imams of marry from North Africa as the newer imams from Medina why don't you stick to your city why marry someone of North African descent we answered Yesterday by saying the first reason is that Islam wanted to break all the racial boundaries Islam wanted to come as a religion where Everybody is welcome not just a certain race a religion which only caters for a certain race is a racist religion and do not be surprised if that type of religion exists until today where it is very difficult for you to convert to that religion that everybody is equal and all of you came from Adam and them came from Allah therefore you find on the first level to remove racism on the second level the imams wanted to show something else When Islam has gone and colonized or conquered Africa do not see yourself a second-class Citizens because we've conquered you you are as much part of our religion as we are you see when Imam marries someone from North Africa the Imam was showing that if I am an Arab and the caliphs conquered Africa then the Africans who have come to Islam are as much part of our religion as we are The Muslims today try and tell people who have only recently converted to Islam that you came late while we were there early whereas our eighth Imam his mother when the 17 month marriage I want you to say she is from Africa but she's just as much part of this religion as I am number three and an important reason sometimes the traits and attributes of a different culture may be different from mine My Arab culture may be known for its generosity for its humility can come together if I as an Arab I'm generous and I marry another Arab then we've got two generous people in the house generous and I am from Africa and their traits of humility then we have generosity and humility in one house you therefore found that the Imam his Mother was from North Africa and they straight away decided to name him Aliyah someone asks why are there of The Twelve imams four of them called Ali the reason was because from the time of Benny umaya until bani Abbas they kept on trying to erase the name Ali bait kept on bringing it back Imam was because in every generation of an Islamic empire they always tried to terminate or execute people with the Name of Ali well he said I heard you've got good news and when Abba said yes I hear you've got a newborn baby if an Abbas said yes he said what did you decide to name him he said Ali said what's the title you're giving him you know the Arabs have a title Abel something he said I'm going to title him said so you're putting both of them on the child So he said yes true if you want to survive in my community pick one you pick Ali there's no Abel Hassan you pick up al-hasan there's no Ali I'm not allowing for both and that's why I would say what do the people Slaughter they'd say sheep he said very well then we should Slaughter anyone called Ali Hassan and Hussein the aim was that we don't ever want this name to be erased Because the hatred against moved from one generation to another for at a young age you found that the Imam faced very difficult circumstances why imagine when you were born in this world you asked where's my father he's in prison in Basra that's my father he's in prison in Baghdad five years later where's my father he is in prison here in prison there Imam Faced the most difficult trial at the beginning of his life that he could hardly see Imam from one prison to another they were moving Imam and therefore there was an added responsibility on Imam shoulders why because the followers number one could not reveal that they were followers number two if they could they couldn't go to the Imam of their time so they ended up going to Imam Imam his life is divided into two the first 35 years was while his father was alive but in prison the next 20 years was when he became an Iman 35 years when Imam Muslim Jafar was in prison decided no way I could speak out against manual Abbas many of our Shia are performing we can't do anything in this period so it's better that I sit in the mosque of Rasulullah in Medina and I give lessons on how to build a Muslim Community this is something fascinating many people when they read this biography only know about match head or tools isn't it for the first 35 years of his life was alive so what was Imam doing for the first 35 years of his life he sits in the middle of the prophet's mosque in Medina little bait used to love the land of Medina that was their home Would say houses for Hamza and houses for jaffar and houses for the rest of Muhammad in Medina Imam would sit in the middle of the mosque in Medina he knew that the Muslim Community he had forgotten the meaning of the word community segments there wasn't a United Community he wanted to build a community where people began to realize what was their role within the community they lived in and there were four key lessons which he Taught about how you build a Muslim Community at a young age the first lecture he gave was a lecture about cleanliness a lecture away he said keep yourself clean for it is one of the authorities that matters of the prophets of Allah a community can never survive there is no cleanliness if now in this community over here someone for example is smoking outside in our community someone is smoking If we say that smoking outside our community on the main roads and the cigarette butt they just throw it on the ground I asked them would you do the same thing at home is it in your house do you smoke your cigarettes and just throw them in your front yard or at the front of your house would you make sure that you actually look after the area number two when someone comes to the community you find It's normal for them if they finish with something to throw it on the ground that's it there's no problem do you know how many Muslim mosques there are in the world today we're in those mosques you see a banana skin on the ground you see rice on the carpet to Allah sometimes you do sujood on the carpet you wish you had never done that carpet you smell on that cup it's uncleanliness no one has looked after the place you find him what did he used to say his first lecture on Building a community when he was at a young age what make sure you keep yourself clean for cleanliness is the manners of the prophets because his great grandfather the holy prophet Muhammad has the famous line when he says that cleanliness is part of faith means cleanliness it's from Iman do not say you are a minute you have no cleanliness sometimes I get surprised when I come to Modern day Muslim communities and you look around you and you see the trash that survives on the ground and you ask what's this they say oh there are cleaners they'll come later you are not a cleaner of Allah's Earth you have no respect for Allah's environment over your own mosque someone says it's cleanliness only about that no cleanliness is also in our personal hygiene how many of you have been to Seattle and seen the state of Some of our public Laboratories and you're like are we all followers all of us because you go in there and you see people without hygiene it's as if you come to the mosque and the person sitting next to you it's as if they have not had a bath for years you look at a person you're like is there no aftershave at home there's no perfume there's no apple there's no deodorant as in when you come to the House of Allah you go to a wedding you've stored up your whole body with aftershave when you come to the house of Allah you come smelling like that it's normal they say much it's religious for us to come as modest people religiosity is where when you come in a state of cleanliness imam's first lecture cleanliness another lecture when he was younger was watch He says he talks about a Muslim who is dishonest with another Muslim is not one of us sometimes you find in our communities someone sitting down reciting salawat 24 7. and he's been dishonest with the whole community he is lied to people he's stolen people's money he does he but 24 7 about the whole community people are dishonest to one another then number three imam's third electron Community the worst of you in the community is is one whose existence is of no use to the community you know what type of people these are they'll come for lecture and they'll leave and they'll complain they'll come for a program and they'll leave and they'll complain they sit outside and all they do is complain and complain and come if you can do a better job this will not come see you do a better job No we're too busy Imam says the worst of people Imam was a community Builder the worst of people is the one whose existence is of no use you Satan can you serve I'm busy can you help I'm busy can you do I'm busy then when you say to them what do you think is the part of the community or the community has so many problems what are you doing to solve them nag nag nag nothing else oh they just complain Imam Community third lecture the one of make Sure that you are not someone who has no existence or use in the community and that's why then he would you would see him give a fourth lecture about how you employ people in your community in which way you find Imam all the spirit in Madina before he announced as Imam was in prison Imam would walk past the field one day with his companion he'd look in the field he'll be like who's that over there His companion Would say oh that's a worker he just started working today Imam said how much are we paying him His companion said at the end of the day we'll see what he's done and we'll pay him the word the companion said I saw Ali abnormous face become red he looked at me and he said what did you say I said to him Imam at the end of the day we'll fix this wage he said how many Times have I told you before someone works in the community fix their wage do not leave it until after they finished because they may be expecting an amount and then you give them less than that amount in our communities today when someone works for us we say at the end at the end we'll give you something the problem with at the end is that you don't know if the amount you're giving that person for cleaning the mosque for Building the mosque you don't know if that person may be expecting more first fix the wage then let them work and then never give them the wage you fix with them a sign of a follower of Al Muhammad as he always gives a more than what he agreed you therefore find that in those early years what would he do he'd be talking about building a community upliftment of his community then when Imam passed away Imam was 35 years of age that's when he had to now come in the public for and I tell you Imam came in the most difficult time shall I tell you why Benny Abbas were masters of the art of PR public relations in public looked like the best leaders in Islamic history and the people could not see what was happening in private if you look at many Muslim countries Today many Muslim countries if you want to visit them in the Gulf you'll see the most grand mosques don't you see the most grand libraries and you see the most grand buildings in if a non-muslims saw that they'll say oh my God these Muslim empire is magnificent look how modern it is they do not know about the corruption that exists deep down in that stage do they they don't they don't know the people who are being tortured they don't know about the People who are being hurt masters of public relations began for example one of the best acts of public relations ever done they all began an institution called betel Heckman in English is the House of Wisdom many non-muslims praised Haruna rasheeds and Alma moon today they don't know about Imam Muslim was tortured they don't know Imam Ali they don't know they see the outsoleaf Began an institution called betel Heckman the House of Wisdom Institution survived 400 years do you know what it was in that institution they would translate The Works of the Persians into Arabic Persian literature Persian philosophy astronomy birds in mathematics every the Greeks had done they translated algebra you know algebra where it came from House of Wisdom the institutional abbased This Magnificent house which was a big translation Library it if you walked past it you'll be like may Allah blessed you're looking at algebra you're looking at the best of mathematics and astronomy people from the outside could not fault but not a bus they're looking from the outside and they're thinking subhanallah this is amazing they could not see what benue Abbas were doing from the inside could see the inside and the outside you know what when Abbas what they were doing in the inside for example one day comes to his friend homemade bin he says I want to ask you a question for me it says I'll sacrifice my life for you he says no no no for me I'll sacrifice even my religion Haroon said very well you see that prison there he said yes he said go in there with my jail Warden take a sword open each door whoever you find in each door I want you to behead them this story has also been narrated about homemades would go into the prison publicly magnificent behind the public the killing of the sons of he enters the first door opens 20 of the grandsons of Emil and hunk he comes with a sword beheads 20 of them next door 20 Of them the next door 20 of them he comes out he says what do you want me to do he said put a name tag next to each of their heads and we'll put it in a treasure chest and give it out that would be one incident another incident harun Rashid would be in power Haru and Rashid had a clash with the Abdullah they had a war with each other they signed the treaty that none would fight the other Rashid one day sitting down the chief judge of Baghdad is sitting next to him you need to understand the context because when people tell me why did Ali abna Musa work with Alma Moon you need to understand what is the context you look down he said yes he said why he said I signed a peace treaty with this but now I'm more powerful than him and I wish I hadn't signed that treaty so I could kill him you know the chief judge did he put his hand down near his socks He took out a knife he said where's the contract his inheritance he said there's no more go do what you have to do the judges were in their pockets the Palaces were in their pockets the prisons in their pockets and do you know what then happened to the Imam as soon as the Imam announced his Imam some of his own Shia I decided that's not our Imam Imam Muslim when he passed away 67 Witnesses that's my successor yes how many witnesses 67. Imam had people Imam Muslim had people who used to collect hunts go and collect homes for him people who collect homes and the homes collectors are always interesting people who used to collect homes these people used to collect homes for Imam Jaffa these people collected lots of homes and sometimes when you collect a lot of Homes you start forgetting Allah and you start thinking about yourself so what happened was collected 70 000 dinar or gold coins that collected how much thirty thousand Abbas are in a position where they have swayed the public to believing in them they came forward because they had so much money came up to them he said now the homes is to be given to him they Said no one of the great companions he said what are you doing this homes doesn't belong to you it belongs to the Imam they said just a newness we are all homes collectors how much do you want us to give you so you remain quiet said what are you talking about they said look at that amount of money we've collected from homes you really think we care about the Imam anymore we're more Concerned that the money is in our hands said I will never go with a group of people like you they formed a Muslim sect which existed for a long time called means you stop the ones who don't walk off Imam they said Imam Muslim was our Imam now he's gone into haiba he is Imam Maddie he was in their hands the homes collectors they said why should we join Us to go back to him it's better that we make up a story that Imam went into labor and that's one day he'll come back and we'll give the homes back to him do you see how difficult the circumstances were for Imam because sometimes people without knowing how difficult the circumstances are they question his judgment s to come and follow him on top of that when harun died then harun and rasheed's Sons had the biggest civil war with Imam And Imam living at the time Rashid had two sons one came from a wife the other came from a chessboard sorry foreign used to enjoy playing chess this is masha'allah how great were they used to enjoy playing chess even when he's playing chess he tellsaida if I win the chess match I'm going to dare you to do something when you do it she said yes and she said But if I win I'll dare you to do something he said yes the first chess game they had was Victor so he set us away there's a way there it's my day she said go ahead he said I want you to walk around the palace and the nudes she said what he said in the nude walk around nude she said your soldiers are all around The palace and you know harun Rashid only had about 11 000 servants from the house said walk around in the nude she said that's what you Demi yes everything off walk around come back sat in the chess game she started playing then she said I've now won I want to dare you to do something he said what is it she said you know that cook we have in the kitchen He said which one she said he said shut up build the ugliest cook we have in the kitchen she said yes I said but what nobody even wants to look at her yes would you want she said stay with her for one night so what do you mean one night so one night are you dead to me and I did what you wanted me to do you do it one night from that one night and moon was born prison while the grandchildren of these Matches are in Kings one from my wife zubaida will be my successor and what moon can be governor of horizon in Iran around power after him given to Alma Moon that means says I'm not giving a child my moon and my moon came from a slave girl I came from an Arab mother so he said I'm going to give it to my son Musa Moon heard this that was it and I tell You when two brothers don't like each other history has shown us they may be willing to kill each other foreign now he needs to cement his position it's not easy he wants to cement his position in power and he knows that what's just happened is not good for his rep so what does he say he says I owe people come to lead you but I am more sincere than my brother Language they can be so beautiful with their words and I am more sincere than my brother Amin and I'm going to make my successor is living happily where he is in Medina has to leave and has to come and has to be my successor otherwise him and his tribe will only beheaded leaves the land goes to do umrah after um on his way to Basra he stops at home and Does the first 10 nights medialis for Imam al-hussein in Hong the first of the imams according to different narrations to have done 10 nights and then from come he reached for a son when he reached khorasan was sitting down he said welcome to my Heir Apparent welcome to my successor Allah said I don't want to be your successor I'm not interested and it will not come to me anyway Said no no my successor I want to look after you imman he said why he said if Allah has chosen you to be the leader then it's not for you to give your shirt to someone else everybody and if you've chosen yourself and if it doesn't belong to you then you're no one to give it to others you say it doesn't belong to you then you don't want to go to others Said to the Imam listen to me very clearly your grandfather took part in a Surah of six and Omar said to them all six of them if you do not participate will behead you do is my message loud and clear no what is ordered us not to kill ourselves very well I will take up your position but you call The Heir Apparent element was delighted the coins he would Put his stamp and the stamp in the name of Imam on the coins the letters all of the natural Praise Him some people ask the question how could imama Radha take a position under my moon any respect for himself how could he take a position under someone like Moon and you know his own people came up to Imam and said that someone came to Imam and said to him how Dare you claim to be the see the arrogance of people when they talk to an Imam of a little bit like that Imam says may I ask you a question who is greater a Muslim or a mushrik since he's a Muslim of course he says who is greater a prophet or a wasi person says a prophet of course he says what if I tell you of a prophet Who took a position what would you say he said who he said Nabi Yusuf and the Quran says he is a prophet of God and the leader of his country was a mushrik did not Yusuf take a position under a mushric leader the person said yes he said Yusuf voluntarily took a position I have been forced by al-mahmoud to take a position what an answer what's an answer that you think I want to take this position I don't want to but if its means and that's why they call him please look at this why do they call him Imam some people said it's because those who liked him and those who didn't like him were pleased with his Allegiance no on the country those who didn't like him they hated him they weren't pleased with his allegiance to Alma Moon the reason they call him a river is because he was pleased with whatever trial Allah put him in That's why they call him a river he accepts whatever Allah has ordained you think it's easy to leave Medina and go and live alone with no family around him why do we in ziara say To You O stranger of strangers in those days you think there was anyone from Muhammad living in those in my head was so young to go and live alone in measure just to protect the school of mountain Bates And you think he allowed moon to get away with it no way one day swim because now you are going to be my successor you have to lead Salat Imam said you want me to listen he said yes he said the whole Community will be out you have to leave he said yes he said you've got no problem it's got no problem in the morning the whole of Moon's Castle is waiting they're all wearing Gold robes they're all wearing the best emeralds and diamonds on their fingers they're all waiting for Salah to begin they think it was starts coming towards them was barefooted no shoes like rasulullah foreign [Applause] can you give us a piece of advice this piece of advice was called the Golden Chain he said oh people do you want to be some Advice they said yes he said I heard from my father Imam from his father Muhammad from his father from his father Imam and Hussein from his brother Imam al-hasan from his father from rasulullah from jibril from Allah is my Fortress whoever enters my Fortress will be secure from My Punishment they said to him is that it he said no he said I am one of the conditions Foreign we have come from a long journey do we pray or full he says I've come to see you you who have you come forth is that I've come to Seattle Moon he said okay for the first one you have to pray castle for the second one you might as well pray for me because they are of a man like Moon why are you thinking about Islamic law well you come and pray you come and See and that's why he himself says whoever does my ziara knowing that I'm a stranger I will intercede for him on the day of judgment what you found therefore and my moon was getting frustrated I told the people I'm gonna make him my successor now he's taking over everything so do you know what the moon did And my moon came and he said that I want to to get the best Scholars to finish Jewish rabbi and the Christian priest and the leader of the atheist community and the head of the other schools in Islam and I'm going to embarrass Ali abnormal once and for all so Imam was told you have to your sold you have to come to Alma Moon's residence why the rabbi and the priest and the atheists I'm the leaders of our schools in Islam have come to debate you 've come to debate me why aren't I a Muslim is in the Khalifa meant to be a Muslim why is the Muslim getting a Jewish rabbi and a Christian priest to debate me answer the questions turn them round in circles in one day Christian priest you want to ask he said yes I hear you're a man of knowledge Imam said go Ahead feel free my moon says to the priest priest finish him off do you believe in Jesus do you believe in Muhammad Imam said yes foreign Jesus prayed and fasted a lot the Christian priest said that's that's very very interesting and what you say about Muhammad say we believe in the prophet Muhammad that we believe he prayed and he fasted more Than the prophet Jesus what are you trying to say he said we take the prophet Muhammad higher than the prophet Jesus because he prayed and fasted more than him the Christian priest said how dare you say that someone prayed more than our lord Jesus to which Imam replied if he is your lord can you tell me who he was praying to oh that's a killer line he is your lord who's he praying to How many lords do we have the Christian priest said okay I think that's enough for me and he left Joyce Rabbi Jewish rabbi now looked at the Christian priest they thought what I'm not going to do said you believe in the said yes of course we do remember he said oh Jewish rabbi do you believe in Prophet Musa salaam he said yes He said why he said Prophet Musa had The Shining hand I mean the Nile and the serpents which was which was a stick became a snake and and the Sea opened for him all of these Miracles prove he was our prophet looked at me and said so anybody with these Feats is a prophet he said no you just have to be close to Allah as well you have to be close to God so he said but do you believe in prophets other than Moses he said yes yes we do he said but did they do the same he said no they didn't do the same but they had miracles in their own time he said so your criteria is a prophet who has Miracles which are different from the people of his time as a prophet he said yes he said so why did you Reject Jesus Son of Mary Jesus Son of Mary walked on water and he raised the dead and made them alive and he cured the blind why don't you accept him as a prophet Jewish rabbi said I think that's enough for me and you walked away atheist came now the atheist was very arrogant so he came to Musa and he said I don't want anyone to interrupt me I will finish this debate quickly he said Ali where and how is your god said why are using the language of human To human with me so what do you mean he said where and how are me and you use Allah 's base Allah cannot be perceived by the senses the atheists replied if he can't be perceived by the senses that means we can never see him he said exactly the fact that you can never see him made you think he doesn't exist the fact that we could never see him made us understand how limited we were Foreign doctor they have all written about medicine what do you have knowledge about medicine he wrote a thesis called the Golden medical dissertation of Al Muhammad do you know why it's called Golden Imam when he wrote it it was just called the magical dissertation and the doctor said we have never ever Heard anyone talk about the anatomy of the human body with such precision and Mahmoud said very well I don't want it written in ink I want it written in gold they wrote it in Gold therefore what did you find and moon was seeing his popularity was on the rise knew he made a big mistake to me and now such as a successor had to get rid of him and the way they get rid of these imams of Al Muhammad I tell you the way they get rid of them Comes up to one of his companions and he says to him and I want you to hear this because Imam has many hadiths where he talks about Imam al-hussein Medina he said I miss the land of Medina I miss my family in Medina may Allah bless the soul of Imam Imam Imam you find he says I miss my family I don't have anyone next to me and this man oppresses me and Tortures me and tries to humiliate me but I am a river I am pleased with what Allah has given me now please companion he said lengthen your fingernails His companion lengthen his fingernails for a couple of weeks when they got long enough he said now stick them in the pomegranate juice was full of poison out and put them in a different glass I will drink imama rub I will drink As soon as Imam Robert drank he felt the pain go directly to his body they are Jews so much poison in his food and that juice and you know what the narrations say Wallah this narration hurts me so much when I read it about Imam and every Imam of Al Muhammad every single one of them has one man in his mind when he's passing away Imam the narration says that look after my ceremony shroud me you will see someone who'll come and bury me Imam Jawad would Come and bury him and then Imam says to His companion remove all the carpets from my house and remove the mattress Let Me Lie on the ground his wondered why I remove the carpets why lie on the ground you have poisons surrounding your body surely you would want to lie on a mattress why oh Imam do you want to lie on this ground he said just for a few moments I want to feel whatever Abdullah felt when he lay on the ground on the 10th of Muharram Never forget the ziar of Imam I know that say the sistani may Allah lengthen his life very young age became paralyzed and they took his body to the grave of Imam and it was there that he was cured by Allah foreign foreign in honor of Bibi Khadijah we will do that biography of baby Fatima tomorrow we pray to Allah to allow us to receive The intercession is this morning in mesh had my father's older brother who passed away this morning if you can recital and recites a prayer for him as well as much as you can and for our brother from the jaffar family who was intensive care and for all of the people who are facing a difficult time at the moment with the following glasses but before it the loudest of yourself foreign