The Sovereign of the Emotions of the Universe

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

✨ The Imam receives blessings upon him from near and far

Whoever sends greetings and blessings upon the Imam in this way, the Imam receives them, whether from near or far.
When we say “ṣallallāh” three times, it is Husayn…
He is the furnace of martyrdom, Husayn; the sovereign of love, the fountainhead of 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 burst forth; compassion, kindness, purity, and faith all reached the point of explosion.
The Imam’s martyrdom was an eternal outpouring of emotion, a creed, the totality of all things in 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 inner depth can be found that holds no trace of Husayn, no sign of Husayn?

📖 Hidden Knowledge, a Book in the Hearts of the Faithful

«اِنَّ لِلْحُسَیْنِ فِی بَواطنِ المُؤْمِنِینَ مَعْرِفَةً مَکْتُومَةً»
Indeed, within the innermost depths and hearts of the faithful lies a hidden knowledge of Husayn.
There is a hidden book within the soul of every believer in the world.

No unworthy hand must touch this concealed book.
Only a pure eye can read it.
Only a clear, pure heart can touch that hidden knowledge.

When will God’s treasure in our hearts be opened?
We will attain that hidden knowledge when we discover the mysteries of Husayn.
We will become “Husayni” in the truest sense, and come to share in Husayn’s spirit.

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)—lies hidden in our hearts.
We must come to know it, behold it, and let that exalted countenance 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 illumination and true light.
We will taste love.

🌱 The Husayni Seed Has Been Planted in the Hearts of the Faithful

Then we will gain wings that span all of existence.
God has planted this seed, this truth, in our hearts.
It must be cultivated**; this **hidden knowledge must be watered.
Light must reach this hidden knowledge in our innermost depths.
We must bring light and water to this hidden knowledge, nurture its growth, until it takes root.

If we fulfil our initial duties,
God—the sower of the hidden seed, the Husayni seed—
will cultivate it Himself.

Our discussion is about… the mysteries of this great hadith:

«إنَّ لِلحُسَینِ فی بَواطنِ المُؤمِنینَ مَعرِفَةً مَکتُومَةً»
How can I unlock the secret of this hadith?
This hidden hadith…
This hadith, which speaks of hidden knowledge,
**is itself concealed among us.

Why have we not seen it?
Though we long for the Imam, why have we not beheld him?
What we see and feel outwardly
is not true vision; it is only a shadow of vision.
What we sense is but a shadow of reality.
What we know of Husayn
is not even a shadow of a shadow of Husayn!
When will we reach Husayn’s light?
When will we attain that hidden knowledge?

🕊 The Difference Is from Earth to Beyond the Heavens

The difference is from earth to heaven… and beyond.
Everything we see is an illusion of our own making.
Everything we understand is an illusion of our own making.

We will come to understand some of it…
We have only an imagined picture of Karbala;
its truth remains hidden from us.

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

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

🕯 The Image of Husayn’s Martyrdom: A World Transformed

What is the nature of Husayn’s martyrdom?
What kind of martyrdom is this, that has transformed the whole created order?
It has transformed both the earth and the heavens.

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

“No.” 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.

Is there only one kind of Shi‘a?
Who is it that reaches the truth of Husayn and his Karbala?
By God, a Shi‘a is one** who…
A true Shi‘a…
**one whose wounds are the wounds of Husayn.

Not only in that time,
but in every time and place,
they are wounded with Husayn.

Whether the Shi‘a of Husayn are in the world of “ذر,”
in the loins and womb**, or in **the world beyond,
Husayn’s imprint is upon their souls.

A Shi‘a cannot be separated from their Imam, from God’s Proof.
Husayn’s soul was Husayn.
The Shi‘a of Husayn, wherever they are, in every place and every age,
were with Husayn; they were wounded with him and martyred with him.

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

🛡 A Veil of Light: None but the Purified Can Reach Him

One day these truths will reveal themselves.
How could that be?
Could it possibly not happen?

No defiled hand can reach Husayn.
It cannot!
By God, we only imagine that we understand.
We see no more than a shadow of it.

The veil is “He.”
The veil is his “God.”
He is the veil.
How could it ever be possible?
Could a defiled hand pass through this veil?
It cannot!

Could any hand reach the soul of God’s beloved? It cannot.
The truth is something else entirely.
That outward spectacle 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 sufferings, to his love,
as they deserve.

Husayn is the means of drawing near to God.
I must repeat this hundreds of times:
he is the means of drawing near to God.

God forbid that anyone should make Husayn a means of attaining “nearness to God”;
they wrong Husayn,
with a wrong even the accursed Yazid did not inflict upon him.

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

Why are we imprisoned in our own impoverished 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 more than that!

Intercession is the least of Husayn’s works.
With Abu Abdillah, what heights might we not reach!
Not only “heights”—we must reach the “where beyond all where.”

I say this from the depths of 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?
Through Husayn, we must continually renew ourselves.
Through Husayn, creation itself was made new.

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

Through Husayn, we must bring our servitude to perfection—
not merely explain what it means,
but embrace servitude to God with discernment, taste it, and know it with all our heart and soul.

Then we will understand:
when we reach the summit of servitude,
we are only just beginning!

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

This is how he made his knowledge sweet and delightful.
Through Husayn, we must continually receive light, receive love of God, and take up the struggle of servitude.
Husayn is the great source that nourishes our servitude to God.

🌕 If a stone knows him, how could Ali al-Asghar not know him?

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

In mourning him, they wept tears of blood.
Why don’t we know Husayn?

O Shia, let us know Husayn!
If a stone knows Husayn…
could Ali al-Asghar not know Husayn?

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

If stones, mountains, stars, and fish
answered Husayn’s call,
did his Ali al-Asghar not answer it too?
He did! He wanted to give his life for Husayn.

When he set out to defend God…
by God, Ali al-Asghar was more alive than all the world!
He went forth knowingly,
pleading with Husayn to let him become a martyr.

Let us not make him seem small at Husayn’s breast!
Let us not diminish him!

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

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

A great contest to seize the love of Husayn is underway
throughout existence.

🌧 All wept for Husayn, save three groups

They wept… for him, for him they wept.
Why has such a tradition been related?
It means that they wept for that Husayn whom we do not know.

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

they wept for him.
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, together with his people, shaped this entire creation.
He made all existence one whole.
Did he or didn’t he?
He did!

Husayn did what no one else did.
Husayn turned the whole world upside down.
He transformed their souls.
Husayn brought all the peoples of the world together.
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?
“Husayni feeling.”

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

🕋 Karbala: The Eternal Interpretation of Hajj

Husayn is the Kaaba of martyrdom.
Those who yearn for martyrdom must circle this Kaaba,
and taste the thirst for martyrdom from this mighty river of sacrifice.

Husayn is that truth
which transformed the whole cosmos and brought it to tears.
He became the heart of cosmic unity,

making all existence one.
He set the world ablaze with a fire within its soul.
He transformed everything.
He transformed Hajj,

gathering its meaning into Karbala.
Karbala is the supreme fruit of Hajj,
the finest 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 eternally accepted Hajj.

📜 Karbala: The Seal of Acceptance

Karbala means “the seal of acceptance.”

What, then, must we do?
For Husayn, we must be a Salman.
If we are not like Salman—if we are not a Salman for Husayn—
we have wronged him.

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

Of each and every Imam…

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

Yes, worship was renewed through Imam Husayn, peace be upon him.
Worship and servitude to God were imbued with new color through Imam Husayn.
They took on a fresh hue; a special inspiration entered the soul of worship.

New tastes of worship and service to God
came to God’s servants.

It was Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, who made worship dynamic rather than static.
He showed us how to worship God,
how to bring love and devotion to their fullest expression.
He brought love to its consummation—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 al-Asghar to Karbala?
He wanted to bring servitude to completion all at once…
And he did!

🌅 Becoming a Day of God with Husayn

کلُّ یَومٍ هُوَ فی شَأنٍ

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

If we align ourselves with the wilayah,
every moment will become a “Day of God.”

Servitude will be renewed at every moment.
Beauty will be renewed.
New beauties will be added to those already known.

Servitude will unfold in a distinctive way.

Imam Husayn’s struggle was a struggle for the whole world.
It was not merely a spectacle played out on the stage of Karbala.
The Imam’s spirit and soul—
the unseen dimensions of Imam Husayn—were waging a struggle throughout all existence.

And where was accursed Yazid’s operations room set up?
Not in Syria…

He gave the sweetness of his soul, its very essence, its purest clarity.
He did not wear it out or spend it carelessly;
rather, he gave the very essence of his soul, in full measure.

To do what?
To free God’s servants from misguidance,
to deliver them from ignorance,
to release them from blindness, doubt, wandering, uncertainty, and suspicion…

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

Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, was struggling against “ignorance,”
against misguidance, blindness, doubt, idolatry, and suspicion.

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

Which of the many scenes of Husayn have we witnessed?
None of them.

Husayn’s blood was infused into the whole universe.
The entire universe was granted “Husayn-like 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 spirit encompassed the whole universe…
and beyond.

The accursed Shimr’s hand could reach only the Imam’s shadow—
and it did not even reach that.

Let us not focus on appearances…
The inner reality is profoundly deep and exalted.

How can we behold it?
Its mysteries are bound up with the soul of the Imam of our time, may my soul be sacrificed for him.

🌌 Martyrdom, coursing through atoms and galaxies

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

I cannot do justice to Husayn’s greatness
or speak of his martyrdom.

Let me say only this:
We seek sublime truths.

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

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

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 peer.
Know that He possesses all things, that He exists;
that He is the Manifest and the Hidden, and so on.”

So, is the task complete?
No! Even the great prophets have not exhausted this matter.
The whole book of knowing God…

If we reach the summit of divine oneness and conquer its peak,
we will only then have reached the foundation of knowledge—the beginning of knowledge.

And now we wish to descend into the wonders of knowledge? How?

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

Imam Husayn (AS) says:
“This is the Imam’s message: if I am truly Husayni,
I have arrived at this one utterance and put it into practice;
I have come to know God and attained the knowledge of Him as He truly deserves.”

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

O people—why “people”?
Are people like me, always forgetting?
Forgetting…

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 no longer need to worship God’s creation.

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

If they fail to attain that knowledge,
they become slaves and servants of God’s creation.
They are humiliated, made servants of the humiliated,
servants of the lowly.

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

May my father’s life be sacrificed for you, may my mother’s life be sacrificed for you, O Husayn…

What is knowing God?
It is the knowledge of every age.

What does it mean that obedience to the Imam is obligatory for the people?
It means that if I know my Imam Husayn, my Imam of the Age,
and obey him,
I must attain the highest degree of knowledge of God.
I must be a standard-bearer of tawhid.

Where is Imam Husayn’s neighbourhood, his street?
His neighbourhood is the neighbourhood of tawhid.
His street is righteous action.

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

💡 The light of God is in 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, but a darkened light!
Now I understand…

God has placed His light in human hearts.
But that light shines only through following the truth.

That light will shine only
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 faithful.

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 will not let it shine, because we flee from the truth.
Because we are outside 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,
revealing the light hidden within it.

Our hearts are 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 brightly.⟦36⟁