The Sovereign of the Emotions of the Universe

🌼🔆🌼Husayn, the Soul of the Oneness of Being 🌼🔆🌼
🔹The Tenth Night of Muharram (Ashura Day — the Night of the Strangers)
📅 Date: 1404/04/15 — 10 Muharram 1447
✨ Session: Meshkat-e Noor
🎤 Speaker: Master Ali Saei
📝 Some of the themes discussed in the session:

✨ The Imam receives blessings from near and far

Whoever sends greetings and blessings to the Imam in this way, the Imam receives those blessings, whether they come from near or far.
When we say “صل‌الله” three times, it is Husayn…
He is the furnace of martyrdom, Husayn; the sovereign of love, the one who cannot be outdone in tears, the prince of loving devotion, the sultan of servitude to God.

The Imam’s martyrdom was an explosion of love—not a nuclear explosion!
Light burst forth, knowledge burst forth, water split open; compassion, kindness, purity, and faith reached the point of explosion.
The Imam’s martyrdom was an everlasting outpouring of emotion and conviction—the all-encompassing reality of existence.

Husayn’s tears are the Kawthar of all the tears in existence; they bring this world to life.
Husayn’s tears awaken; they rouse us and give life.
His grief is a ruby.
His blessed being is the most blessed element in all existence.

What heart can be found that bears no trace of Husayn, no sign of him?

📖 Hidden knowledge: a book within the hearts of the faithful

“اِنَّ لِلْحُسَیْنِ فِی بَواطنِ المُؤْمِنِینَ مَعْرِفَةً مَکْتُومَةً”
Indeed, within the innermost depths of the faithful—in their souls and in their hearts—there is a hidden knowledge of Husayn.
A hidden book dwells in the souls of all the faithful in the world.

No unworthy hand should touch this concealed book.
Only a pure eye can read it.
Only a clear and pure heart can touch this hidden knowledge.

When will God’s treasure within our hearts be opened?
We will attain that hidden knowledge when we uncover the secrets of Husayn.
We will become “Husayni” in the truest sense; we will take on the spirit of Husayn.

When?
When our hearts are sound and our intentions pure.
Then we will be able to read that hidden knowledge.

God’s concealed book—the true countenance of Imam Husayn (AS)—is hidden within our hearts.
We must know him; we must behold him; that exalted countenance must rise within our hearts.

Our hearts must become a Husayni sky.
Until that hidden knowledge rises from within us, we remain incomplete in our creation.
When that hidden knowledge dawns,
we will attain radiance and true illumination.
We will taste love.

🌱 The seed of Husayn has been planted in the hearts of the faithful

Then we will grow wings that stretch across all existence.
God has planted this seed, this reality, within our hearts.
It must be cultivated**; this **hidden knowledge must be watered.
Light must shine upon this hidden knowledge in our innermost depths.
We must bring light, water, and growth to this hidden knowledge, until it takes root.

If we fulfil our first duties,
God, the cultivator of the hidden seed—the seed of Husayn,
will sow it Himself.

What we are speaking of… lies in the mysteries of this great hadith:

“إنَّ لِلحُسَینِ فی بَواطنِ المُؤمِنینَ مَعرِفَةً مَکتُومَةً”
How can I unveil the secret of this hadith?
This concealed hadith…
This hadith, which tells of hidden knowledge,
**is itself concealed among us.

Why have we not seen?
Why, though we yearn for the Imam, have we not beheld him?
What we perceive outwardly, what we sense,
is not true perception; it is but a shadow of perception.
The sense we have is but a shadow of reality.
What we know of Husayn
is not even a shadow of his shadow!
When will we reach the light of Husayn?
When will we attain that hidden knowledge?

🕊 The difference is as vast as the distance from earth to beyond the heavens

The difference is from earth to heaven—or beyond even that.
Everything we observe is an illusion of ours.
Everything we understand is an illusion of ours.

We will come to know…
We have only an illusion of Karbala;
its reality remains hidden from us.

When will we behold its celestial, Throne-centred manifestations?
When will that time come?

Until we have seen the greatness of Husayn and his struggle,
we will not understand…

🕯 The martyrdom of Husayn: a reality that transformed the world

What was Husayn’s martyrdom really like?
What kind of martyrdom could transform the whole universe?
It transformed both the earth and the heavens.

Only when we look through the lens of knowledge of God’s will, God’s desire and God’s decree
will we see the truth of Husayn, Karbala and his martyrdom.

«لا یَمَسُّهُ إِلّا المُطَهَّرون»

What we see outwardly
is only a shadow, a sign of the truth.

How can the event of Karbala be described?
It is not as it appears.
The truth lies hidden behind it.

Are all Shi‘a alike?
Who can attain the truth of Husayn and his Karbala?
By God, a Shi‘i is one
—a true Shi‘i…
**one wounded by Husayn’s wounds.

Not only in that time,
but in every age and wherever they may be,
they bear a wound of Husayn.

Whether Husayn’s Shi‘i is in the world of “dharr,”
in a father’s loins or a mother’s womb**, or in **the world to come,
Husayn’s imprint is upon their soul.

A Shi‘i cannot be separated from their Imam, from God’s Proof.
Husayn’s very soul was Husayn.
Husayn’s Shi‘i, in every place and at every time,
was with Husayn, wounded with him and martyred with him.

But their martyrdom took a particular form,
according to the station they occupied.

🛡 A veil of light: only the purified may approach

One day these truths will reveal themselves.
How could that be?
Could it be otherwise?

No impure hand can reach Husayn.
It cannot!
By God, we are only imagining.
We see no more than a shadow of it.

The veil is “He.”
The veil is His “God.”
He is the veil.
Could it ever be otherwise?
Could an impure hand pass through this veil
and reach him? It cannot!

Could a hand touch the soul of God’s beloved? It cannot.
The truth is something else entirely.
That outward display conceals another inner mystery, another secret.

How can I explain it?
My duty is
to soar with Husayn towards my God,

and to do justice to Husayn’s tribulations, to his love.

Husayn is the means to God.
I must say this hundreds of times:
he is the means to God.

God forbid that we make Husayn a means to “being with God”;
those who do so wrong Husayn
in a way even the accursed Yazid did not.

Let us truly know Husayn.
Let us attain that hidden knowledge.

Why are we imprisoned in our own limited thoughts?
Why are we trapped in the past?

🔥 Husayn, beyond intercession: the means to God’s transcendent love

⏱ Date: 06.07.25 – Time: 22:28

This creation is not merely a spectacle.
God did not create this world simply to put on a show.
Husayn is not someone to behold merely so that we may attain his intercession;
he is far beyond that!

Intercession is a small part of what Husayn does.
With Aba Abdillah, what heights might we not reach!
Not just “somewhere”—we must reach “nowhere.”

I say this with all my heart:
Husayn is not a means to the love of God; he is a means to God’s “love beyond love”!
Husayn went beyond love itself and showed us what lies beyond it.

Where do we stand?
With Husayn, we must continually renew ourselves and be made new.
Through Husayn, creation itself was renewed and made fresh.

When we say, “Husayn, Husayn,”
we must become new.
The garment of our servitude must be renewed, transformed.

With Husayn, we must bring our servitude to perfection
not merely define it,
but embrace servitude to God with resolve, taste it, and know it with our whole being.

Then we will understand:
when we reach the summit of servitude,
that is only the beginning!

Husayn’s call is the highest blueprint for servitude to God.
And what a sweet, delectable blueprint it is!

In this way, he has made his knowledge sweet and delightful.
With Husayn, we must continually receive light, receive love for God, and take up the struggle of servitude.
Husayn is the great source that nourishes our servitude to God.

🌕 If a stone knows him, can ʿAli al-Asghar not know him?

If stones know Husayn, if pebbles know Husayn,
if the fish of the sea know Husayn,
why do we not know him?
Do we know him as they do?

In mourning him, they shed tears of blood.
Why do we not know Husayn?

O Shiʿites, let us know Husayn!
If a stone knows Husayn…
does ʿAli al-Asghar not know him?

He does! I am certain of it.
When Husayn cried, “Is there anyone to help me?”
the stones and mountains answered, “Here I am!”

If stones, mountains, stars, and fish
answered Husayn’s call,
would his ʿAli al-Asghar not have answered him?
He did! He wanted to give his life for Husayn.

When he rose to defend God…
by God, Husayn’s ʿAli al-Asghar was more alive than all the world!
He stepped forward with understanding,
begging Husayn to let him be martyred.

Let us not diminish him at Husayn’s breast!
Let us not belittle him!

By God, he knows.
If a stone knows, how could ʿAli al-Asghar not know?!

Everything in existence knew Husayn.
It knew the “sin.”

A great contest to seize the love of Husayn is under way
throughout all existence.

🌧 All wept for Husayn, except three groups

They wept… for him, for him they wept.
Why has such a hadith been narrated?
It means that the one they wept for was that Husayn whom we do not know.

They wept for him:
the seven heavens and the seven earths,
and all that was in them and between them,
and all those who were in Paradise,
and those who were in the Fire…

they wept for him.
And all the creatures of our Lord
wept for him.
Everything seen and unseen
wept for Husayn.

إلا ثلاثه اشیاء…
Only three things did not weep for Husayn:

• the people of Basra,
• Damascus,
• and the family of so-and-so.

They did not weep for Husayn…
may God’s curse be upon them.

Husayn built this entire world of existence together with his people.
He made all existence one.
Did he or didn’t he?
He did!

Husayn did what no one else had done.
Husayn shook the whole world of existence.
He transformed its very soul.
Husayn brought all the peoples of the world to know one another.
They all came to share one feeling.
They found a feeling in common.

If we ask:
What is the shared feeling of all existence?
What is the answer?
It is “the feeling of Husayn.”

Shared by us and every particle in the universe,
by the stars in the heavens and on earth, and by all who dwell there.

🕋 Karbala: The Eternal Interpretation of Hajj

Husayn is the Kaaba of martyrdom.
Those who seek martyrdom must circumambulate this Kaaba.
They must taste the thirst for martyrdom from this mighty river of sacrifice.

Husayn is that reality
that transformed the entire cosmos and brought it to tears.
He became the focal point of cosmic unity.

He made the whole universe one.
He set this world alight with fervor.
He transformed everything.
He transformed Hajj.

He distilled Hajj into Karbala.
Karbala is the highest fruit of Hajj,
the noblest fruit of the pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God,
which culminated in Karbala.

Karbala
was the interpretation of the pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God.

Karbala means:
an eternal, accepted Hajj.

📜 Karbala: The Seal of Acceptance

Karbala means “the seal of acceptance.”

What are we to do?
For Husayn, we must be like Salman.
If we are not like Salman for Husayn—if we are anything less than Salman—
we have wronged Husayn.

A true Shi‘i is the keeper of the Imam’s secrets.
The Imam should not have to go to a well to pour out his secrets.
The Shi‘i must be “the sanctuary of his Imam’s secrets.”

Of every one of his Imams…

Who is the true Shi‘i who has attained this station?

Yes, worship was renewed through Imam Husayn, peace be upon him.
Worship and devotion to God took on new color through Imam Husayn.
They found a fresh hue; a special inspiration entered the heart of worship.

New tastes of worship and devotion to God
came to the lips of God’s servants.

Thus Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, brought worship from stillness to movement.
He showed how to worship God,
how to bring love and devotion to their fullest expression.
He brought love to completion—with our God.

He showed us:
Husayn brought his whole being, his entire truth,
all his beauty, to Karbala.

Why?
Why did he bring his Ali Asghar to Karbala?
He wanted to bring devotion to its culmination all at once…
And he did!

🌅 Becoming a Day of God with Husayn

کلُّ یَومٍ هُوَ فی شَأنٍ

With Husayn, who renews his covenant with his God…
we too must become a “day” renewed through that covenant.

If we are aligned with the wilayah,
every moment will be a “Day of God.”

At every moment, our devotion will be renewed.
Beauty will be renewed.
New beauties will be added to those already known.

Devotion will unfold in a distinctive way.

Imam Husayn’s struggle was a struggle for the whole world.
It was no mere spectacle on the stage of Karbala.
The Imam’s spirit and soul—
the unseen dimensions of Imam Husayn—were engaged in struggle throughout the universe.

And where was the accursed Yazid’s command center set up?
Not in Syria…

He gave the sweetness of his soul, its very essence, its purest substance.
He did not hold back or spend it carelessly;
rather, he gave the very essence of his soul, in its entirety.

To what end?
To free God’s servants from error and misguidance,
to deliver them from ignorance,
to free them from blindness, doubt, bewilderment, indecision, and suspicion…

and bring them to the gate of guidance.
To save them from ruin.

Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, was engaged in a struggle against “ignorance.”
He was waging a struggle against misguidance, blindness, doubt, idolatry, and suspicion.

He encompassed the entire universe, all of time and what lies beyond time.

Which of the many scenes of Husayn have we seen?
None.

Husayn’s blood was infused throughout the entire universe.
The whole universe was brought to life with “Husayn’s life.”

He is the Blood of God.

Shall I speak of Husayn as “the one slain for God”?
I cannot.
I do not have the strength.

Husayn’s soul was as vast as the entire universe…
and beyond it.

The accursed Shimr could reach only the shadow of the Imam;
and even that he could not reach.

Let us not be distracted by appearances…
The inner reality is profoundly deep—deep and exalted.

How can we behold it?
Its secrets are bound up with the soul of the Imam of Our Time, may my spirit be sacrificed for him.

🌌 Martyrdom flowing through atoms and galaxies

The effects of martyrdom flow through the depths and heights of atoms,
and through the depths and heights of galaxies;
beneath the earth and above the heavens,
and across the reaches of time and space.

I do not have the power to describe Husayn’s greatness
or speak of his martyrdom.

Let me say only this:
We seek lofty truths.

Someone asked the Messenger of God ﷺ about the subtleties of knowledge.
He said:
“Teach me the subtleties of knowledge.”

The Prophet replied:
“O Bedouin, what have you done to master the very foundation of knowledge
that you ask me about its subtleties?

What is the foundation of knowledge?”
The Messenger of God said:
“معرفت‌الله حق معرفته”

The foundation of knowledge is knowing God as He truly deserves to be known.

The man asked:
“What is knowing God? What does it mean to know Him as He truly deserves?”
The Prophet replied:
“Know Him without the slightest doubt;
know that He has no likeness, no equal, no counterpart.
Know that He is the Possessor, the Existent,
the Manifest, the Hidden, and so on.”

So, is the matter settled?
No! Even the great prophets have not exhausted it.
The book of knowing God…

Even if we reach the summit of divine unity and conquer its peak,
we will only then have reached the foundation of knowledge—its very beginning.

And now we wish to plunge into the subtleties of knowledge? How?

🕊 Imam Husayn’s (AS) message: I acted upon knowing God

Imam Husayn (AS) says:
“This is the Imam’s message: if I am truly of Husayn,
I have reached and acted upon this one truth alone;
I have come to know God as He truly deserves to be known.”

O people!
I have read this blessed hadith many times,
yet it is as though I have never read it at all.

O people—why “people”?
Are people like me, constantly forgetting?
Forgetting they do…

O people!
God created His servants for no other reason than that they might know Him
and attain knowledge of Him.

And when they come to know Him, they worship Him;
and when they worship Him,
they are no longer in need of worshipping God’s creation.

What does that mean?
It means this:
Whoever does not know God
cannot worship a God unknown to them.

If they do not attain that knowledge,
they become slaves and servants of God’s creation.
They are humiliated, made servants to the lowly;
they become servants to the base.

🏴 Imam Husayn (AS), the standard-bearer of divine unity

May my father’s soul and my mother’s soul be sacrificed for you, O Husayn…

What is knowing God?
It is knowing the One who is present in every age.

What does it mean that obedience to the Imam is incumbent upon people?
It means that if I know my Imam, Imam Husayn, the Imam of my time,
and follow his guidance,
then I must attain the highest level of knowledge of God.
I must be a standard-bearer of divine unity.

Where are the Imam’s quarter and street?
His quarter is the quarter of divine unity.
His street is righteous action.

O people! I say this to myself…
so that I may understand…
so that I do not stray from the path.

💡 God’s light is within our hearts—but why does it not shine?

What a remarkable hadith!
I had read it, but had never tasted its meaning.

I had not understood… There is a light—a light shrouded in darkness!
Now I understand…

God has placed His light in the hearts of human beings.
But that light shines only when we follow the truth.

That light alone will shine
when we are on the path of the “straight path.”

That light comes from the light of God’s prophets.
Allah has entrusted that light to the hearts of the believers.

A light without radiance lies within our hearts.
We have imprisoned God’s light in our hearts.
We have imprisoned Husayn’s light in our hearts.

We do not let it shine because we turn away from the truth.
Because we have strayed from the straight path.

The electric current must pass through the wire for the bulb to shine.
The bulb shining now
is the result of that very current passing through it,
revealing the light held within the lamp.

Our hearts are just the same.
God’s current must pass through our hearts.
That current is “the truth.”

If the truth passes through our hearts,
God’s lamp within us will shine.