Mourning as the Banner of Divine Victory

🌼🔆🌼Mourning, the Battle for the Advent🌼🔆🌼
🔹The Seventh Night of Muharram
📅 Date: 1404/04/12 – 7 Muharram 1447
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
📝 Some of the topics discussed in the session:

🎖 Mourning means aiding God; answering Karbala’s call

Peace be upon you, O Abu Abdullah,
و علی الأرواحِ الّتی حلّت بِفنائک…

Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) and mourning for him**;
what is its wisdom?
**What are we seeking to affirm?

Mourning for Imam Hussein means “awakening”;
it means “a movement of devotion to God.”

We are mourners of His Eminence, the Master of Martyrs;
that is, we seek to affirm that we are followers of Hussein.

And a follower of Hussein is one of Imam Hussein’s disciples,
one who aids God’s religion.

A mourner has raised the banner of aiding God.
They have become a standard-bearer for Imam Hussein (peace be upon him).
They have answered the call, “Is there anyone to help me?”
They have said, “At your service.”

Where?
In the primordial world, in the world of loins.

The rites of mourning for Hussein
are a pledge and covenant with Imam Hussein to aid God’s religion.

Why?
Because Imam Hussein himself embodied God’s aid
throughout all existence, in every dimension of it.

Without that aid,
the foundations of devotion to God would have crumbled.

The mourners of His Eminence, the Master of Martyrs,
are disciples of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him),
just as the disciples of Jesus (peace be upon him) were.

🕊 We are God’s helpers—not merely mourners

“O you who believe, be helpers of Allah…”
This is God’s command to all believers.

We, the mourners of His Eminence, the Master of Martyrs,
answer Hussein’s call at every moment.

But…
of all those who answer,
only a small number
remain true to their pledge, covenant and promise.

The disciples said:
“We are God’s helpers.”

But among the Children of Israel,
one group believed,
while another disbelieved.

That is:
whoever remained true to their pledge,
God Himself was with them,
affirmed them and strengthened them.

Just as His Eminence, the Master of Martyrs,
that herald of God,
cried out:
“هل من ذابٍ یذبّ عن حُرم الله؟”

That is, he called the people of the world to aid God’s religion.

“The sanctuary of the Messenger of God” means the foundation of God’s religion.
All of God’s religion was gathered within that sanctuary.

His Eminence, the Master of Martyrs,
had gathered the whole of the religion in one place.

Why did Zaynab al-Kubra (peace be upon her) leave no one outside the sanctuary?
Because the whole “sanctuary” was Karbala.
Karbala means the sanctuary.

Imam Hussein had gathered all the good and righteous together.
Beyond Karbala’s precincts, there was no sanctuary.

On the eighth of Dhu al-Hijjah,
when Imam Hussein left the pilgrimage for Karbala,
he took the “Hajj” with him to Karbala.

He took the “sanctuary” with him to Karbala.
He did not set out for Arafat;
rather, he brought Arafat to Karbala.

Muzdalifah, Mina, the Kaaba, the Sacred House of God,
the Quran, the Prophet’s family, the whole truth…

📣 “Is there anyone to help?” is the cry of the whole religion

This is the very cry
that says:
all truth,
all religion,
are gathered here.

⚔️ “At your service, O Husayn”: the beginning of the most momentous test of existence

Whoever failed to answer
was, in other words… a polytheist.

I believe
that every particle in all of existence
heard the call of His Eminence, the Master of Martyrs,
and answered: “At your service.”

Even those who were in the primordial realm,
in the loins and wombs.

They were nursing infants;
they knew neither earth,
nor time, nor place…

yet they answered: “At your service.”

Where were we?
We were in the primordial realm.

We answered the Proof of God’s call then.
And now we are part of a movement
to fulfil that same covenant
with his noble descendant, His Eminence Imam Mahdi, peace be upon him.

And this covenant will be fulfilled.

🏴 Mourning means standing ready for the Advent

The shrine means the Prophet’s Family.
The shrine means sanctity.
The shrine means the sacred symbols of faith.

Whoever answered, “At your service,” arrived.

We mourn; that means we stand ready.
Ready for battle, ready for jihad,
ready for martyrdom, ready to give our lives in the cause of God’s religion.

Ready to defend the shrine of God’s Messenger,
ready to defend the Two Weighty Things.

Mourning is no mere claim;
it is proof.
It is a commitment.
It is a noble covenant.

It is the battle for the Advent.
It is standing ready for the Advent.

It is preparing to welcome God’s Proof.

By God…
if that appointed moment comes,
it will not be delayed by a single instant.

The Advent will come suddenly.

And then,
some will be sunk in the sweet sleep of heedlessness,
or writhing in the graveyard of their own sins.
And His Eminence…

will receive permission to appear.
And it will all be over.
That severed vein

will sever the bonds of separation.
Everyone who was ready

will arrive.
🌍

Mourning: the blood of awakening in the veins of existenceNo community

can hasten its appointed term,
nor can it be delayed beyond it.
But the community of haste

will arrive as the community of urgency.
We mourn His Eminence, the Master of Martyrs.

True mourning

has spirit and life.
It transforms all of existence.
True mourning

fills the world of being
with the spirit of love.
The more widespread the mourning,

the greater a mother’s love for her children.
This mourning holds secrets…

It transforms the world.
Good mourning—steadfast, pure and fruitful—

is mourning joined with understanding.
If understanding is stripped from mourning,

then it is, in truth, a “calamity,”
not “mourning.”
Mourning soothes calamity.

Then it makes that calamity fruitful.
It brings its fruits to ripeness.
But without understanding…

calamity becomes an even greater calamity.
Wound is piled upon wound.

Everything in the universe is bound up with knowledge.
Even mourning born of love is bound up with knowledge.

Without knowledge,
there can be no love.

🧠 Love without knowledge is nothing but noise.

Love is bound up with knowledge.
Knowledge is bound up with following.

Without following,
love is merely counterfeit;
it has no soul or life.

It is knowledge that sets mourning in motion,
gives it momentum, lets it flow.

Understanding is the prelude to movement;
and movement dwells within understanding—
it has meaning.

Without understanding, nothing
has any meaning.

What is the difference between music and noise?
Music is joined with learning and knowledge.
Noise is empty of knowledge.

Knowledge stirs the heart and sets things in motion.
It is the secret of arrival.

A special, mysterious bond exists between the knower and the known.
A bond woven together,
like the bond between our limbs and our soul.

If the Shi‘a are leaves on the tree of God’s Proof,
then they are joined to one another;
they are one whole.

When someone takes pleasure in something,
every part of them is
moved by that pleasure.

When someone drinks the pure wine,
every particle of their being is intoxicated.

When someone is a Shi‘a of Husayn,
Husayn’s joys and sorrows
transform and turn them upside down.

How could we be “the earth beneath that heaven”
and not be affected by it?

🌌 We are the earth beneath the heavenly realm—whether we will it or not

“أَوَ لَمْ یَرَ الَّذِینَ کَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا…”

The address of Allah, Lord of Majesty and Honour,
is directed to the unbelievers.

The unbelievers were meant to see…
the heavens—not
only the sky above their heads,
but the seven heavens.

And the earth: its past,
its present, and its future.

I am not concerned with what the believers
were meant to see…
They were to behold the highest heavenly realm.

But the unbelievers?
They do not see.

And I, who claim to believe, do not see either!

So…
which branch of faith am I connected to?!

“وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَیْنَاهَا بِأَیْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ…”

We built the heaven with power,
with our hands,
and We are continually expanding it.

This is the outward heaven.

But how does the inward heaven expand?
I have no idea…

We are the earth beneath that heavenly realm,
whether we will it or not.
The very fabric of our being is bound up with it.

We were meant to grow vast.

Husayn’s love and compassion
make the world fruitful;
they enlarge it.

With God’s Proof, the world
is, at every moment, undergoing a transcendent experience—
expansion, breadth.

Knowledge is only one of its paths.

At every moment,
this universe
is a classroom.

The passage of time is the flow of knowledge.

The eye of knowledge sees through flourishing.

Now…
where are the blossoms of our being?

The tree of our being
is forever immersed in this “water of life.”

We are ever connected to the water of life that is Hussein’s,

What follows from this?

Where does one who is immersed in the water of life of Hussein
arrive?

Love is bound up with recognition.
And love is more virtuous than affection.

⚖️ Am I truthful when I claim to be sincerely devoted to Hussein?

I want to find out:
Am I sincere in my devotion to Hussein,
or am I false?

What is the sign of it?
This is a very dangerous thing to say…
I am afraid…
It makes me tremble.

But it is the truth, and it must be said.

Imam al-Sadiq, the truthful one of the House of Muhammad,
swears by God—
by Allah:

Whoever loves this world,
we do not love them.

I do not love anyone who is enamoured of this world.

How can God’s proof not love us,
while we are in love with him?

And how could he
choose someone other than us for his allegiance?

In this passage, Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, does not say:
“I do not love him.”
Rather, he speaks from a higher station:

Whoever recognises our rightful claim and loves us
loves God, the Blessed and Exalted.

📚 Recognition without following is an illusion, not faith

How do we attain that station?
The station of love—the station of following?

How do we safeguard our recognition?

Without recognition,
following is impossible.

One who is not obeyed
is not truly known.

When the Quran is not followed,
its greatness is not revealed.

I claim to recite the Quran…
But if I hold the Quran in my embrace
and do not obey it,
I have done wrong—

wronged the Quran and the Household.

I have made my own being
a prison for the Quran and the Household;
I have become a veil over them.

I prevent them from being known,
because I do not obey them.

And how can one be known if one is not obeyed?

Obedience goes hand in hand with recognition,
and recognition with obedience.

Each strengthens the other.

Obedience is the very essence of recognition,
and recognition the very essence of obedience.

Their every breath
brings life to our servitude to God.

🌞 Taking stock of faith: measuring obedience to God’s appointed guide

Imam Hussein, peace be upon him,
explained the meaning of recognition of God.

Recognition of God means recognition of the Imam of one’s time—
that is, each person’s recognition of the Imam
whom they are bound to obey.

So let us take stock:
How much do we follow?

That is how much we know.

To the extent that we know,
we must follow God’s Proof.

Otherwise,
we are false and deceitful.

Our Master says:

“لا رأیَ لِمن لا یُطاع”
One who is not obeyed
has no judgment, no thought.

All knowledge, from beginning to end,
is gathered in the soul of our Master, Amir al-Mu’minin Ali, peace be upon him.
He is the sun of knowledge.

When he is not obeyed,
all are blind.

When he is obeyed,
the eye of their souls is illuminated.

We have blocked our Master’s thought from coming to fruition.
If his judgment had prevailed,
what wonders he would have wrought in the world!

Knowledge dies;
knowledge departs.

Our Master says:

“Ask me before you lose me.”

Let us measure ourselves against the Qur’an and the Household.

🌱 Love for Husayn is the beginning of servitude, not its end

We are members of one body.
We are not separate from the Qur’an.
We are within the Qur’an’s heart.

We are within the sun.
We are in the very soul of the Household.

We must draw life from the Household’s breath.
If we do not,
we are but a lifeless speck within the Household’s soul.

If we follow God’s Proof,
if we love Imam Husayn,
then… where is our servitude?

Why has our worship of God grown stagnant?
Why does the tree of our being bear no fruit?
Why is our flower without fragrance?

Why do we not rise in servitude?
Why do we lack the joy of worship?

Why…
do we not yearn for the night prayer?
Why do we not long for martyrdom?

Why does sin not trouble us?

We must
take a fresh breath,
cast off the dust,
expel the poisons,

and replace them with divine oxygen.
Like our Master Husayn,
we must breathe.

If we do not,
we will suffer cardiac arrest.
Or perhaps we already have, without knowing it.

Perhaps I, a mourner,
am wounding Husayn’s soul
and do not even know it.

Shimr is gone,
but I, who claim devotion, am still here.

I must bring myself back to life:
in knowledge and in heart,
I must revive the wisdom of my Husayni heart.

The heartbeat of love for Husayn is not the end;
it is the beginning.

That first beat marks the start of a revolution,
the beginning of transformation.

📖 Reading the Household: a conscious act of adoption

We must be reciters of the Qur’an,
reciters of the Household,

reciters of the Qur’an’s truth,
of the Household’s truth.

We must read the Household
as we cherish our children.

We look at our children,
and love wells up from our very souls;
we would gladly give our lives for them.

We understand every one of their feelings.

But the Household
cannot be compared with any member of this world,
with any beloved,
with anyone at all.

More a father than a father,
more a mother than a mother,
dearer than any beloved.

Closer than any limb.

We…
have not found our own eyes, as we should,
to behold the Ahl al-Bayt.

We have understood none of our bodily limbs
as we have understood the Ahl al-Bayt.

And because we have not felt them,
we have not read them.
And because we have not read them,
we have not become one with them.

🕋 When will I become a pilgrim to God’s Kaaba?

Where does our difficulty lie?
Isn’t the Kaaba a means of drawing near to God?

So…
when will I become a “pilgrim” to this Kaaba of God?

🔠 When will I arrange the letters of love correctly?

When will I arrange the letters of divine love
in the right order, one after another?

We must learn to know
the Kaaba of God, the gates of God.

We must become pilgrims to every Kaaba of God,
so that our pilgrimage may reach its perfection.

Each of God’s Kaabas
is a school,
a training ground,
a place where we prepare ourselves for servitude.

We must pass through
all these lessons well.

Whether we wish it
or not,
we will meet God.

But…
what matters is the “quality” of that meeting.

God’s proofs
are His adornments for the encounter—
a meeting of perfect beauty
with the Beloved, the First and the Last.

The Kaabas of love and affection
are the agents of God’s love.

Those who have experienced true love,
or something beyond love,
have made it their own…

And what of us?
We, without pain or effort,
seek to benefit from their experience.