(The Imam’s calm in the midst of battle)
We see so much beauty. For example, we see that in the heat of the battle, when Imam Husayn (a) had already lost some of his friends and companions, when his daughter called him, Imam Husayn (a) did not say “Not, now! Can’t you see we are in the middle of a battle?” No. He dismounted his horse and gently said: “What is it, sweetheart? What is it, the light of my eye?”
Where does this calmness come from?
What was his spiritual state like? What was his relationship with God like? What was it that allowed him to remain so calm, so hopeful, and so strong?
(Du’a as real connection between soul and Creator)
What is a Du’a? A du’a is not something you simply read or recite. Rather, a du‘a is a real connection that takes place between a soul and its Creator, between a being trapped in time and place, and the source of all creation. Du‘a is like a breeze that comes from eternity and saves us from this feeling of being a stranger trapped in a world full of pain. This is the true meaning of du‘a.
For example, ‘I hope I get this job.’ Rather, it seems the main purpose of du‘a is to establish the connection between the soul and its Creator.
As a result of this inner change, we have changed from a person who is looking for someone to calm them, to give them love, and to take care of them, to a person who is overflowing with unconditional peace and love and wants to be with someone to share this love with them.
What role do we play in this world? Imam Husayn (a) answers this beautifully in the du‘a when he describes God as: جازِى كُلِّ صانِعٍ The one who repays every creator.
Imam Husayn (a) reminds us that God is always there for us. He is always there to listen to us and help, often aiding us and warding off our problems without us even knowing.
Another way God speaks to us is through some event that suddenly makes you want to talk to Him, or thank Him. This, of course, is all for our own benefit. In chapter five, we will discuss how Shukr is for our own benefit. Sometimes, God may cause something to occur in your life so that you remember Him.
(Religion and prayer are for the practitioner, not for God)
Religion is only useful when you realize it is for yourself. It is for your benefit, and if prayer or any other part of religion feels like something you are doing for God’s benefit, then it is wrong. Imam Husayn (a) is explaining that religion is going to be beneficial only when you truly know that it is for you.
God tells us that we should use prayer as a means to recharge and find inner strength and support. Unfortunately, many of us act as if God requires our prayer and we are praying for Him. But our prayer is not for God. It is for us, to get love and energy, but it will only give us this energy once we change our attitude towards it.
However, Imam Husayn (a) is telling us that nothing should stop us from talking to God, because nothing, not even our worst mistakes, will stop God from answering us and loving us. In fact, it is when we have made a mistake that we most need God’s love to heal
reasons. However, we can get to a place where we love people not because of our shared history, but because they are one of God’s creations.
(God’s unconditional love and the call to forgive)
Judgement without love asks for justice. Judgement with love asks for grace and forgiveness.
God looks at every single one of us with a thousand times more love than this mother has for her child.
When your child makes a mistake you should say, ‘It is totally fine, come back, come back.’
Imam is teaching us how to become Godly. God forgives quickly and without hesitation and we have to try and be the same.
The reason he would never lose his temper or get angry with people was because he was ‘receiving love and mercy from God’. As we said earlier, once God’s love comes into a heart, it brings so much joy and peace that nothing anyone does can take that inner peace away.
It is as if his whole body, spirit and existence are testifying to God’s love.
person who has witnessed God’s love for humanity is now teaching us all that God loves us, and that we can get to a place where we feel it too. This is the most beautiful and hopeful news anyone could ever give us.
we need to realise how loved we are.
(Spirituality as knowledge moving from mind to heart)
Spirituality is the journey through which the knowledge that we have about God and life moves from our mind to our heart.
He had an encounter with God, and it was so great that he fell to his knees. He had performed sajdah for many years, but this was the first time it had happened naturally.
If you climbed a hill, then you might see many houses, or even a whole area. If you boarded a plane, you might even see a whole city. In du‘a, our soul goes so high that it can witness the whole world, and that is the height from which Imam Husayn (a) is commenting.
(Gratitude cannot be forced — it follows genuine witnessing)
Shukr Cannot Be Forced After reading this beautiful encounter between Imam Husayn (a) and God, we cannot just copy him and say, ‘O God your blessings are so much, I cannot thank you enough’. It would be forced and insincere. It is better to pray, ‘God, I would love to be able to reach that stage where this is no longer forced.’
We have not yet had that kind of experience that Imam Husayn (a) has, when he says ‘…my nails, my eyes, my neck, the openings of my breath channels…’, are all thanking God. That is undoubtedly a beautiful level, but it comes after witnessing the world in a whole new way and cannot be forced.
Elsewhere in the Qur’an, Shaytan challenges God, and says that he will deceive every single human being and stop them from doing one thing. What was this one thing that Shaytan thought was so important to stop humans doing, in order for him to triumph over God? It was Shukr!
Earlier, we mentioned that God’s love is unconditional: it does not waver depending on what we do. Even our good actions do not lead to more of God’s love for us.
If that happens, then there is nothing to worry about anymore. If that veil between us and God is removed, all our problems are instantly resolved. It is in the places within our heart where this love has not yet reached that fears, pains, and bad qualities grow. Once God’s love enters the heart, it will fill every gap and heal every wound. Any time we make a mistake, it is a sign for us that there is a part of our heart that needs love from God. When we feel jealous, when we feel unworthy, when we feel a strong unwanted desire, when we want to seek attention from others; all of these feelings are signals from our heart that we need God’s love. Once we learn to feed our souls, all of these problems will disappear. How can we enable our soul to feel God’s love? Well, we are already trying one of the best ways, and that is to remind ourselves of all that God is and has been doing for us, in this case, by reading Du‘a ‘Arafah.
According to the Qur’an, when a person has khashyah with regards to God, it leads to them being happy and pleased with Him:
If there is one being in the world from whom there is nothing to be scared of, it is God. He is the Source of beauty, the Source of love and the Source of mercy.
Our hearts realise that we cannot survive without Him; that He is the only truly independent being; and that our life, power, and knowledge is from Him, and out of His mercy.
This is what it means to have khashyah: to be able to look at the world and see God behind everything. Once you reach this stage, you realise that God is enough for you. You would not be desperate for the help of others, as you know that every person is ultimately getting their power from God:
What if they do not like us? What if they harm us? What if they take something away from us? This is why believing that power belongs to people and having khashyah of them leads to worry.
your enemy, but God is always a friend. Even if people do become your enemy, God can take care of you. Thus, having khashyah of God leads to our serenity and pleasure:
What if they get annoyed at me? What if they don’t like the way I look? What if we have had a bad history? What if they become jealous of me? For all these reasons, they may decide to cause me harm, so khashyah of people leads to being scared of them.
(Khashyah: seeing God’s hand behind all things)
We learnt that khashyah does not mean to be scared of God; rather it means to look beyond people and events and see God’s Hand behind everything.
We learnt from Imam Husayn (a) that even when our parents showed us love, it was in reality God who was showing love to us, through them.
This would lead them to two beautiful qualities: first, shukr, which is the expression of gratitude towards God for all that He does for us; and second, khashyah, which is a way of looking at the world in which we see God’s greatness and power behind everything.
(Tawakkul and rida: reliance on God becoming trust in His care)
Once you truly feel God’s power over everything and His infinite love for you, you want to allow Him to take care of you. Of course, God was taking care of us even before this realisation. But the problem is that we were not aware of it, and so we thought we had to take care of ourselves.
Maybe we do not have to do everything on our own. Maybe we can get help from a Reality that loves us. This is when our hearts slowly open and allow room for God to enter.
This was a hugely significant night: perhaps the most special moment in the history of humanity, when a human being rose so high in levels of spirituality ‘that he was only two bows’1 length away [from God] or even less2.
What actions are the best? If you were asked this question, how would you respond? Would you say prayer, or perhaps fasting? God answered:
There is nothing better to Me than relying on Me and being pleased with My decree. Out of all the things God could have said, He mentioned tawakkul and riḑā.
After seeing this, you begin to relax and fully trust him, because you know you are in safe hands. Before you know it, you have finally stopped resisting; you fall asleep and get the rest you so desperately needed.
The point at which we start to rely on God and ask for His help in managing our affairs is when we have tawakkul. When we begin to trust His management and stop worrying is when we have riḑā. There may be many years between reaching the stage of tawakkul and moving to the level of riḑā. In the same way that you sat next to your friend as he drove, but still worried about his driving, sometimes we can rely on God but still be worried that He might not do what would make us happy. In the same way that as a passenger, we might have kept giving our friend feedback: ‘Go faster’, ‘Take that turn’, ‘No, not this way’, sometimes we do the same with God: ‘Make this happen quickly’, ‘No, don’t do that’, ‘I don’t want this person involved’. Eventually though, a point comes when we see that everything God does is in our best interests; not just the action, but even its timing. This is when we finally find peace inside.
We know that a loving God is in control, and that as long as we are accepting of His care, whatever happens to us will always be in our best interests.
(Removing blockages so God’s love can reach the heart fully)
Currently, the life energy and love that emanates from God has to pass through all the blockages in our heart, and so by the time it reaches us, not much of it is left. Every ounce of resentment, pain, fear and obsession that we keep bottled up inside absorbs a part of this life energy. When we remove these blockages, the entirety of the energy reaches us, and we feel alive and loved. Of course, this is not something that we can immediately expect of ourselves. This is a level that we reach once we begin to see God’s love and care for us. Once we trust that He is there to take care of us, we will open our hearts to His love, and it is this love that has the power to heal our blockages. The fastest way to heal all our traumas and melt all these blockages in one go is to allow the love and light of God to enter our heart.
Even if we are next to the most beautiful beach in the world, or in the most comfortable house, if we feel empty or sad inside, we will not enjoy our surroundings.
Imam asks God to cause his joy, peace, and strength to come from within him. This can be seen as both a prayer to God as well as a reminder for us that real joy comes from within.
It can also gradually turn us into a controlling person, who tries to manipulate people and events to keep them exactly as he needs them to be in order to feel calm.
This is because their own safety and love is not coming from inside, and this is why, according to the Qur’an, when we look for safety and love outside, we ‘cross the limits.’5
Imam Husayn (a) was with God, and with God, everything feels great. When you are with your beloved, you live in the moment. You do not worry about deadlines, duties, or anything else. The more real the love, the better everything feels when you are with your beloved.
People who are not distracted by commerce nor profit from remembering God. (Qur’an 24:37)
There is a beautiful story about Imam Kaẓim (a), when he was arrested and put in prison, he thanked God profusely for the gift of time free from the distraction of others, so that he could spend time talking to Him alone.
God’s respect for humanity is so great that He leaves it to us to fix.
The reporters say that as the Day of Ashura went on, Imam Husayn’s face was getting brighter and brighter. You could see the joy (sha‘af) on his face. It was not that he was not in pain because of what was happening. Of course, the events were painful. But he was also getting closer and closer to God, and this was bringing him peace and strength.