Repent Through The Munajat Of Imam Ali! - Ramadan 1443/2022

Bismi-Llah, Al-Rahmani, Al-Rahim. Salla Allahu alaika ya Rasul Allah, salla Allahu alaika wa 'ala ahli baitika al-madhloomin, salla Allahu alaika ya Mawlaya ya Amir al-Mu'minin, ya Shahid al-Mihrab, salla Allahu alaika ya Mawlaya ya Aba Abdillahi al-Husayn, ya laitana kunna ma'akum saadati wa nafuza fauzan adheema. Enlighten your hearts and the majalis with a loud Salawat for Muhammad and Ali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

Respected brothers and sisters, as-salamu alaykum, wa Rahmatu Allahi, wa barakatu. Laylat ul-Qadr has finally approached. The greatest night out of the year, either tonight for some of us, or tomorrow for others, the greatest night of the year has finally come. The Holy Qur'an says about Laylat ul-Qadr: "Wa ma adraka ma Laylat ul-Qadr?" (97:2). You can never comprehend the greatness of Laylat ul-Qadr. It is beyond your imagination. It is beyond your comprehension. The blessings of Laylat ul-Qadr, brothers and sisters, we can never imagine how great this is. I will speak a little about Laylat ul-Qadr tonight and I will continue to speak about different aspects of Laylat ul-Qadr and InshaAllah tomorrow night.

One of the greatest aspects of Laylat ul-Qadr that makes it the greatest night out of the year. Definitely, Leila-ul-Qadr is the greatest night of the year. Brothers and sisters, if you graduated this year, tonight will still be greater than your graduation. If you just had your birthday a few days ago, tonight will be much greater than your birthday. If you got married this year, tonight will be greater than the day of your wedding. It is the greatest day out of the entire year.

And one of the reasons why Laylat ul-Qadr is so great, is because it is the night of Mercy. It's the night of Forgiveness. It is the night that Allah forgives, and forgives, and forgives ,and showers humanity with His mercy in a way which Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala has never done. Tonight is the night of Mercy and Forgiveness. Listen to what Al-Imam Al-Baqir says, Mu'minin and Mu'minat. Al-Imam Al-Baqir, alayhi as-salam, says: "man ahya Laylat ul-Qadr" whoever spends Laylat ul-Qadr with Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, spends it in 'ibadah, spends it in worship, spends it, speaking to Allah, supplicating to Allah, doing Du'a, asking Allah for His Rahma, whoever spends Laylat ul-Qadr with Allah, what will happen? The Imam says, "Man ahya Laylat ul-Qadr, ghufirat lahu dhunubuh". Allah will forgive all your sins.

Some people wait until Arafa. They want to go to Hajj because they want Allah's forgiveness. Tonight, Arafa has come to you, brothers and sisters! Allah is willing to forgive you from the comfort of your city, of your home. Just turn to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala and Allah will forgive you. The Imam says: "Man ahya Laylat ul-Qadr, ghufirat lahu dhunubuh, wa law kanat dhunubuhu adadan nujum us-sama' wa mathaqil al-jibal, wa maqa'il al-bihar". Allah will forgive all your sins, even if your sins are greater than the mountains, and the oceans, and the stars of the sky.

Allah doesn't care how many times you sinned tonight. Allah doesn't care how big your sins are. All He cares is that you turn to Him and you ask for His forgiveness, you ask for His mercy. Allah will not interrogate you. He will not tell you, why did you do this? Why did you do that? He just says, come to Me and repent. I will forgive you. No questions asked. Tonight is the greatest night of the year, brothers and sisters, let us spend a few moments either tonight or tomorrow, whenever your Laylat ul-Qadr is, make sure that you dedicate at least 15 to 20 minutes, brothers and Sisters, to ask Allah for His forgiveness, to repent to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

Many times we forget to do this. We do the 100 rak'ats, we pray Qur'an, we often recite Qur'an. We recite Du'a Al-Jawshan, but we forget to repent to Allah. We forget to ask Him for His mercy. So tonight, I want to teach you how we should spend Laylat ul-Qadr, brothers and sisters, so that we can all learn. Because these are the teachings of Ahl ul-Bayt . Make sure, at least 15 minutes, if you can, 30 minutes, even better. Take the moment to repent to Allah. Now you may ask, what should I do? Three things, brothers and sisters, this is how you should repent. All it takes is 15 to 20 minutes.

Number one: brothers and sisters, sit down all by yourself in a corner, and remember your sins. All the sins that you committed this year. Any Ghiba, backbiting that you did, any Namima, fitna that you may have caused. If I was abusive towards my wife, towards my husband, towards my children, if I hurt the feelings of anyone this year, if I disrespected my parents this year, if I listened to haram, if I saw something that was haram, if I ate something that was haram, sit down for a few moments and remember your sins, brothers and sisters. And while you remember your sins, remind yourself that when you committed all those sins, you performed them in front of Allah, 'Azza wa Jal, the Creator of the universe.

You did all those sins while Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala was watching. And then ask yourself, why did I not have the shame to stop this haram when Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, was watching? Why wasn't I ashamed of myself when I committed those sins in front of Allah? Why is it, brothers and sisters, that we are embarrassed to commit some sins in front of people, but we are not embarrassed to commit those sins in front of Allah? Ask yourself, why, why do I belittle Allah so much? Sometimes, if a child is watching, astahi, I will what? I will feel A'ab that I commit this act of haram in front of this child, but I do it in front of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. He is as Al-Imam Zayn ul-'Abidin says: ahwa un-nadhirin", we belittle Him. We don't care. Imagine there is a cat looking at me and I am committing this haram, will I care? This is how we treat Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. This is how we treat Allah,Subhana wa Ta'ala.

So when you remember your sins, remember how I have been belittling Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. And then ask yourself, why do I belittle Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, so much that I am not embarrassed? Do you know why, brothers and sisters, we belittle Allah? And we commit sins in front of Him while He is watching and we are not ashamed? Al-Imam Zayn ul-'Abidin, alayhi as-salam, he describes, he tells us why, in Du'a Abu Hamza ath-Thumali. I will read it for you.

The Imam says, "Wa yuhammiluni wa yujarriuni 'ala masiyataka hilmuka 'anni". What beautiful words. Make sure that these words of Imam Zayn ul-'Abidin are going through your mind tonight when you ask Allah for Tawba, when you repent, when you remember your sins. The Imam says, you know why we don't care about Allah? We're not ashamed we're not embarrassed? He says, Because Allah is tolerant, we sin with such brazen assurance as if Allah is not there, because we know Allah is tolerant. We know Allah is Merciful. We know Allah will give me a second chance and a third chance and a 10th chance and 1 million chances. We know Allah is forgiving and we take advantage of His mercy. We take advantage of Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala.

If someone is kind with you every time you disrespect him, he doesn't say anything. Does that mean you take advantage of him and you keep on disrespecting him? If he doesn't do anything, if he doesn't say anything? This is how we have been, brothers and sisters. We take advantage of Allah because we know He will not punish us. If every time we would commit a sin, Allah punishes us, you think we would commit sins? We would stop committing sins. But we take advantage of Allah. The fact that He is mercy and this is wrong, brothers and sisters, when you have a Merciful Lord and He is tolerant with you, it is wrong to take advantage of Him and keep on sinning because you know He will not punish you.

The Imam says, the reason why we commit so much sins and we have no Haya' is because we know Allah is Sattar ul-'Uyub. He says: 'Wa yaduni ala qillat il-haya sitruka alayya' because I know you will conceal, ya Allah. I know you will not expose me. If I commit a sin in front of people, people will go out to expose me. They will go say the Sayed did this, the Sayed did that. They will go even on social media and write it on Facebook. Allah, 'Azza wa Jal, He sees you sinning and sinning and sinning. But Allah acts as if He never saw. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, He what? Allah conceals. He doesn't expose you. He can expose you. He can destroy your reputation in the community such that when you come, everybody knows what you did last night. But Allah is Sattar ul-'Uyub, isn't He? Because we know He is SSattar ul-'Uyub, we take advantage of Him. We say, Khalas, as long as Allah is going to conceal, then let me sin and sin.

And that's why we have no Haya', brothers and sisters. You see how rude we are with Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. The Imam then says: 'fa lam yazal wa la yazalu malakun karim yaatika anna bi amalin qabeeh' the Imam says -every day the angel, you know, the angel on my left, he is supposed to write my bad deeds. Every day he sends a report to Allah. He committed this haram. He committed that haram. How does Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, retaliate? Does Allah punish me? He says 'Fa lam yamnaka dhalika min an tahutana binamik wa tatafadhdhal alaina bi alaik' The Angels tell him he committed a sin and a sin and a sin. Allah says, I will give him more and more and more. Allahu Akbar! The more we sin, it is as if Allah, the more He gives us. You see the kindness and generosity of Allah?

And that's why, brothers and sisters, when we read Du'a al-Iftitah, there is no statement more true than what Imam Al-Mahdi says in Du'a Al-Iftitah. He says: 'Fa lam ara Mawlan, kareeman, asbara, 'ala 'abdin la'imin, minka alayya ya Allah'. He says: Ya Allah, there is no master that has this much patience. Such a master that is this kind, this generous, this tolerant, this forgiving that has such a terrible, rude, despicable slave like me, Ya Allah. Allah is the Master and I am the slave.

But we act as if we are the Masters, as if we don't need Allah. As if Allah needs me. When I come to the masjid and I donate, its as if I have done Allah a favor! You see how we are, brothers and sisters? This is why tonight, brothers and sisters, when you sit, and you remember how we have been so rude with Allah, and how we have been taking advantage of Him, let the guilt build inside you. Feel the sorrow in your heart. Allow yourself to feel the sorrow. Allow yourself to develop the regret. Because if you develop the regret, then this is the Tawba, most of the work you have done it. You have done the hard part. When you feel bad, you felt that you have let Allah down. How generous He has been with you and how terrible you have been with Him.

That's why Imam Al-Baqir, alayhi as-salam, is narrated as saying, 'Kafa bi 'n-nadami tawbata'. If you feel the Nadam, if you feel the regret that I have been so far negligent and terrible with Allah, even though He has been so generous with me. Know that this is Tawba. That Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, has accepted your Tawba. So, number one, feel the guilt. How do you feel the guilt? By realizing how rude I have been with Alla,h and how generous He has been with me. This is number one.

Number two, brothers and sisters. While you remember your sins Laylat ul-Qadr tonight or tomorrow, acknowledge your mistakes. Admit that you made mistakes. Because some people, they make excuses. Ya Allah, I didn't know. Ya Allah, it was tough. Ya Allah, life was hard. Don't make excuses! Come clean to Allah. Tell him, Ya Allah, I have no excuses. I was negligent. I was far from you. I was rude. I was impudent. And I have absolutely no excuse. Ya Allah, I come to confess to you and I admit and acknowledge my mistakes to you. Ya Allah, sometimes a month would pass by, and I would not remember you. Sometimes three months would pass by. I would never come to Juma, I would never come to the mosque. Ya Allah, I had no excuse.

When you tell Allah this, you come clean, and you tell Him I had no excuse. This is when Allah accepts you. You know when Allah rejects and denies you? When you make excuses. Ya Allah, I had too much work. Ya, Allah, I had too much family matters. Ya Allah, I had too much school. Allah tells you you could not make 1 hour a week for me to come to Juma'? Tell Allah I am sorry. Allah, I have no excuse. Don't make excuses with Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. He has drowned us with his Na'am! And then when He asked for what? Salah. If I didn't pray 20 minutes. I spoke about Salah two nights ago? I didn't have 20 minutes to give him back. When He gave me so much Na'am? 20 minutes was too much? Don't make excuses. Acknowledge and admit that you are a Muqassar. That you are someone that has not thanked Allah and appreciated Him.

So, number one, remember your sins, and remind yourself of how impudent and rude you were with Allah when He was watching you, you did it because you took advantage of the fact that he is Sattar ul-'Uyub. Number two, do not make excuses for being far from Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. No. Tell Him the truth. It's my fault, ya Allah, because I've been too distracted by the Dunya. The Dunya has taken me away from You. This is number two. This is how we repent to Allah tonight.

And number three, brothers and sisters, ask Allah for His forgiveness. After you develop that regret, there is a burning sensation of Nadam, of regret in your heart, and you acknowledge, ya Allah, I have no excuse. I am wrong. I know I am a terrible 'abid, I am a terrible servant to You. After that, tell Him Ya Allah, al-afwu. Ilahi al-afwu. I ask You to forgive me. I ask You to shower me with Your Mercy. I repent to You, ya Rabb Al-'Alamin. So please, Ya Allah, forgive me. One of the Amal of tonight 70 times, we say, Astaghfiru Allah Rabbi, wa atubu Illaih. Remember what this means. That you are begging Allah for His mercy. Ya Allah, I know I have been far from You. I have been a sinner for the entire year. But tonight I have come to beg You for Your Mercy. To beg You for your repentance. Ilahi al-afwu. Ilahi samahni, I am sorry, ya Allah, beg Him for His mercy. Ask Him to give you His Mercy!

Wa Allahi, Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, will not reject you if you do these three tonight. Tonight, if you do these three, Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, as Al-Imam Al-Baqir says that Allah will forgive all your sins such that you become sinless like an angel, like a newborn child. All your sins! It doesn't matter how many times you sinned. It doesn't matter how big your sin is. If you do these three things tonight, Allah will give you a clean sheet. He will give you a rebirth, a new life. He will tell you: I have forgiven all your sins. Tonight. Tomorrow, Laylat ul-Qadr, brothers and sisters. Take advantage of this and do Tawba to Allah.

And one of the most beautiful ways to ask Allah forgiveness is through the Munajat of Imam 'Ali. Tonight, we will honor Imam 'Ali, the night of the Shahada of Imam 'Ali, alayhi as-salam. Let us honor Imam 'Ali by doing Tawba through his Munajat. Imam Ali did a beautiful Munajat. Imam 'Ali was sinless. When he does Munajat of Tawba. He's not doing it for himself. He's teaching us. So, benefit from the Munajat of Imam 'Ali, alayhi as-salam . Tonight, brothers and sisters, tomorrow night, after you develop the guilt, and you tell Allah that Ya Allah, I admit, I confess, I acknowledge to my shortcomings. I am a Muqassir Ya Allah. After you do that, read the beautiful Munajat of Imam 'Ali, in the remaining moments, I have minutes, I will read you some excerpts and show you how we can use this beautiful Munajat to repent to Allah.

What did the Imam say in the Munajat when he went to Masjid Al-Kufa? It is narrated, he sat in the Mihrab. He raised his hand and he read this beautiful Munajat to Allah. He said this: 'Allahumma inni as'aluka al-aman, yawma la yanfau malun wa la banoon illa man ata Allaha bi qalbin saleem'. He said, Oh Allah, I ask you for protection on the day that money will not help. Your children will not help. The only thing that will help is if you come with a pure heart. What is Imam Ali talking about? He is talking about the Day of Judgment. He is saying, Ya Allah, give me Aman, protection, on that day that my money won't help. In this Dunya, when we fall into a problem, when we fear, we quickly go resort to our money. We hire the best lawyers, correct? And they exonerate us. They defend us.

On the Day of Judgment, the Qur'an says, as Imam Ali is referencing, your money will not help you. Your children will not help you. The Qur'an says, '"Wa kulluhum atihi yawma al-Qiyamati farda" (19:95). Everyone will come alone. You have no one to defend you, no one to protect you, except if you come with a clean, pure heart. But the problem is Al-Imam Al-Baqir and Al-Imam Al-Sadiq say that many of us, we don't have Al Qalb as-Salim. We don't have that pure heart. You know why? Because we sin.

Al-Imam Al-Baqir and Al-Sadiq say, every time you sin, there is a black dot that appears in your heart. You sin again and again until your entire heart becomes the Qalb that is filled with stains. The black heart. What do we do, brothers and sisters, if we fear on that day Allah resurrects me and I don't have Al-Qalb as-Salim, the pure heart, because my heart has been contaminated with sins? Al-Imam Al-Baqir and Al-Sadiq say, if you want to wash that heart, if you want to purify it, do tawba ask Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala to forgive you and your heart all of a sudden will be filled with Nur and all those stains will be washed away!

So, tonight, brothers and sisters, we do Tawba, and we ask Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala for forgiveness so that on the Day of Judgment we will have the Qalb as-Salim.

And then the Imam continues. Listen carefully, brothers and sisters, how the Imam teaches us to do Tawba. The Imam then says, 'Wa as'aluka al-aman yawma ya'adhdhu adh-dhalimu 'ala yadaihi ya qulu ya laitani takhadhdhtu ma'a ar-Rasuli sabeela ' And I ask your protection, Oh Allah, on the day that the Dhalim, the evil doer, the transgression will begin to bite his hand out of regret. He will say, Why did I not follow the path of Rasul Allah? Why did I not spend more time with Allah? Why did I not pray my five daily prayers?

Allahu Akbar! The Qur'an tells us as the Imam is referencing, that the regret will be so severe on the Day of Judgment that we will begin to bite our hands out of regret. Why didn't I pray? It was only 20 minutes. Why didn't I come to Jumu'a? Why didn't I give some of my money, the hundreds of thousands that I stored in my bank account? I died now and I'm not benefiting from it. Why didn't I give some of it fi sabeel li-Llah?

Al-Imam Amir al-Mu'minin says on that day we will be filled with regret. So he asked Allah to give him aman, to protect me on that day. If you do not want to regret that day, brothers and sisters, like Imam 'Ali is saying, then tonight do some good deeds. Tonight pray some Raka'ts, tonight read some Qur'an, Du'a Jawshan, some tasbih. Just do a little. Allah will give you so much so that you don't regret. Tonight do Tawba to Allah. You may have been sinful, you may have been a dhalim for the entire year, but tonight you can change. Tonight you can change your life, and you can turn your life towards the better. Ask Allah for Tawba, ask Allah for repentance so that this doesn't happen to you on the Day of Judgment.

The Imam then beautifully continues. 'Wa asaluka al-aman yawma la yanfau adh-dhalimeena maadhiratuhum wa lahumu al-la'natu wa lahum su' ad-daar' The Imam says Ya Allah, I ask You protection on the day that the apology of the evil ones will be of no use. The apology of the sinners will not help them. The Imam says, on the Day of Judgment, if you apologize to Allah, if you say I am sorry, Allah will tell you it's too late. Your apology will not help you on the Day of Judgment brothers and sisters! When you develop that regret, everyone on the Day of Judgment will say: Ilahi al'af! Ya Allah forgive me, I'm sorry. The Qur'an says on the Day of Judgment, your Ma'dhara, your apology will be no use. Allah will tell you why didn't you not apologize in the Dunya? Why didn't you not say sorry in the Duniya? Laylat ul-Qadr would come and go. I gave you 80 Laylat ul-Qadr. But you never took advantage to say I am sorry. Now if you say, brothers and sisters, for 1 minute, and say: 'Ilahi al'af', Ilahi, I'm sorry, forgive me. Ilahi forgive me. I'm sorry for what I did. Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, will forgive you, no questions asked. But on the Day of Judgment, our apology will not be accepted by Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala.

So don't waste this opportunity of Laylat ul-Qadr. Ask Allah to forgive you. Tell him I'm sorry: Samahni Ya Rabb Al-'Alamin, I apologize! And if you have hurt anyone's feelings, if you can, go and ask them to forgive you and if you can't then do a good deed for them, and ask Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, to forgive them so that Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, forgives you.

The Imam then continues: 'Wa as'aluka al-aman yawma yafirru al-maru min akheeh wa ummihi wa abeehi wa sahibatihi wa baneeh li kulli 'miriin minhum yawma i'dhin sha'in yughnih'. And I ask you Ya Allah, protection on the day that our family members will run away from us, the Day of Judgment will be a day of desperation. We will go to our family members and seek help but they will run away from us. Allahu Akbar! The Imam is referencing verses of the Qur'an. You know the Day of Judgment will be a day of desperation. Everyone will be desperate for more good deeds. You want more good deeds. So the father will go to the son, daughter, my dear son, daughter, I raised you, I spent money on you. I took you to college. I did this, I did that. The mother will tell her children, I carried you nine months in my womb. My dear son, daughter, please give me some good deeds. Please donate some good deeds to me, because I need more good deeds so that I can enter paradise.

You know what the Qur'an says? The Qur'an says: "yawma yafirru al-maru min akheeh" (80:34), "wa ummihi wa abeeh" (80:35). You will run away from your father and mother. You will tell them leave me alone. I am also desperate just like you are desperate. I am desperate. You will run away from your parents, from your spouse, from your children. "li kulli 'miriin minhum yawma i'dhin sha'in" (80:37), because just like I am desperate, they're also desperate. They want someone to give them. Now I want to go and take from them.

And this Dunya brothers and sisters, we sacrifice for our kids, sahih? On the Day of Judgment, no one will sacrifice for someone else. Everyone will be worried about themselves because it's the Day of Desperation, the Qur'an says. So the Imam Imam 'Ali says, Ya Allah, I ask You for protection on that day. If you want Allah to protect you on that day, then do good deeds tonight and tomorrow so that you don't have to go and beg your relatives and they will shun you and reject you. Beg Allah, do 'Amal, read Du'a Al-Jawshan, Qur'an, three Surahs, read some Dhikr of Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, and do some prayers. And you will not need your family members on that day. Because the Qur'an is promising you if you rely on your family members to help you, you will be disappointed, on the Day of Judgment. Rely only on yourself, rely on your 'Amal tonight, brothers and sisters, so that you're not put in that difficult situation.

And then the Imam continues. 'Wa as'aluka al-amana yawma yawadd ul-mujrimu, law yaftidi min adhabi yawma idhin bi banih, wa sahibatihi, wa akhihi, wa fasilatihi illati tuwihi, wa man fi 'l-ardhi jami'an thumma yunjeehi'. The Imam says, Ya Allah I ask you protection on the day that the evil doers will ask Allah to sacrifice their family members so that they could be spared. Allahu Akbar! Once again in this Dunya we sacrifice for our children. The Qur'an says: on the Day of Judgment, if I was an evil doer, I will sacrifice my children, not for them. I will tell, Ya Allah, take my kids to hell. Just please save me. Take my wife, take my husband, take everyone, just save me.

This is what the Qur'an says: "Yawaddu al-mujrimu law yaftidi min adhabi yawma idhiin bi banih" (70:11). Ya Allah, please, I don't want to be punished. Take my kids, take my wife, take my family members. Just spare me. This is how desperate we will be on the Day of Judgment. Amir ul Mu'minin says: you want protection on that day, brothers and sisters. Then do good deeds tonight so that you don't need to be in that state of desperation. Do not waste Laylat ul-Qadr.

And then the Imam continues. He begins to ask. So now he speaks about the Day of Judgment and how difficult it is and how it's a day of desperation. And then the Imam teaches us how to ask Allah for His mercy because we need the mercy of Allah on the Day of Judgment. How do we ask Allah for His mercy? The Imam teaches us, listen carefully.

The Imam says, 'Mawla ya Mawla, anta al-Mawla wa ana al-'Abd, wa hal yarhamu al-'abd illa al-Mawla?' He says, My master, O my Master, O Allah, 'You are the Master and I am the slave. And who can forgive the slave but the Master?' Yes, Ya Allah. Maybe I have been disobedient, maybe I have been a sinner, maybe I have been far away. But I am still Your slave Ya Allah, at least I am still Your slave and You are still my Master. And even though I have been a disobedient, a terrible slave, but You are still that kind and generous Master. Tell Allah, don't allow my sins, Ya Allah, to change who You are. Yes, I'm a terrible person, but You are a great Master. So please give me from Your Rahmah.

Allahu Akbar! You see how he speaks to Allah? You see how he teaches us to speak to Allah? He is the Mawla. I am the 'Abd. The 'Abd must turn to the Mawla to seek for forgiveness.

And then the Imam continues: "Mawla ya Mawlai, anta al-Khaliqu wa ana al-makhluq, wa hal yarhamu al-makhluqa illa al-Khaliq". He says, My Master, O Master, You are the Creator and I am the created. And who can forgive the created but the Creator? Ya Allah! You said in the Holy Qur'an: "Illa man rahima Rabbuka wa lidhalika khalaqahum" (11:119). You created us to show us Mercy. I ask You to show me Your mercy even though I am not worthy of Your mercy, even though I do not deserve Your mercy. But I know You are a kind and generous Master. So please show me Your mercy.

The Imam then continues: 'Mawla ya Mawlai, anta al-Jawadu wa ana al- bakheel, wa hal yarhamu al-bakheela illa al-Jawad.' My master, O Master, You are the Generous and I am the stingy. And who can forgive the stingy but the Generous? Allahu Akbar, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala is so generous with us, but we are so stingy with Him! He says, Just give me 20 minutes of Salah. That is too much. We are so stingy. He says, Give for the causes of Allah. Allah asks us to donate for His causes. Come, give to your Masjid. Give to My causes. But we're so stingy with Him, but He is still generous with us.

You see, Al-Imam Zayn ul-'Abidin says in Dua Abu Hamza ath-Thumali: "Al-hamdu li-Llahi alladhi yutini wa in kuntu bakheelan heena yastaqridhuni". I Praise Allah, the One who gives me, even though when He asks me, I deny Him, I'm stingy. No, the economy is bad. No, there's inflation. I don't think I should donate. I don't think I should help the poor now. And the Imam says 'When you give to Allah, He calls it: Yastqridhuni, its a qardh. When Allah asks you to give, this is a loan, because He will give you back 100 times. When you give fi sabili 'Llah.

So Imam Ali says, Ya Allah, You are the Generous, I am the stingy and I ask You to forgive me. I ask You to show me mercy, because even though I'm a stingy slave. But you are a generous Master. You are a Master that is Generous with everyone. With the kind, with the generous. You are a Master that is kind and generous, even with the atheist that doesn't know You. 'Ya man yuti man lam yasalhu wa lam yarif.' Ya Allah, I know I've been stingy, but I ask you to please forgive me ya Rabb al-'Alameen.

And then the Imam, he continues. He says: "Mawla ya Mawlai, anta al-Ghafuru wa ana al-mudhnib, wa hal yarhamu al-mudhniba illa al-Ghafur". My Master oh Master, You are the forgiver and I am the sinner. Tell Allah this. You are the Forgiver and I am the sinner. And who will forgive the sinner but the Forgiver? Allahu Akbar! Tell Allah, Ya Allah, You said in the Holy Qur'an, that I am the Forgiver. Allah said: "Qul ya ibadiy alladhina asrafu 'ala anfusihim, la taqnatu min rahmati Allah. Inna Allah yaghfiru adh-dhunuba jami'a" (39:53). You said in the Holy Qur'an, do not despair, O sinners, do not despair of the mercy of Allah because Allah is the Forgiver. He will forgive all sins. Tell Allah, Ya Allah I am that sinner, and You are the Forgiver, so please forgive me. I ask You to shower me with Your Rahmah and with Your Mercy.

Confess to Allah, come to Him. Show Him the regret tonight and tomorrow and then shed some tears to show your sincerity to Allah and tell Him: Ya Allah that these tears are my witnesses, that I am truly repenting to You, that I am truly sorry for what I did. Tell Him: Ya Allah, I am sorry. I don't know how much I will live. Ya Allah. Is this my last Laylat ul-Qadr? Or will I be able to see Laylat ul-Qadr next year? We don't know. We saw what COVID did to this world. Tell him Allah, this may be my last Laylat ul-Qadr.

So please, I ask You to shower me with Your Mercy. I ask You to forgive me because if You do not forgive me now, maybe I will not have another opportunity to repent to You, to ask You for Tawba. Please Ya Allah, forgive me before it's too late. Please inspire me to never sin again. Talk to Allah in this way. Tell Him: Ya Allah, I have been sinning so much and I am tired of sinning. Ya Allah, please inspire me. Help me so that I can stop sinning, so that I can turn to You, so that I can spend more time to you.

Raise your hands everyone and say now together: Ilahi al-afwu, Ilahi al-afw. Everyone, make your voices heard. Ilahi al-afwu, Ilahi al-afw. Allahu Akbar! You see how we learn from Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib, alayhi as-salat wa as-salam, and tonight is the night that Imam Ali, alayhi as-salam, departed this world. This great Noble man, the Commander of the faithful, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, tonight, he was living his last moments with his family members.

He called upon Hasan and Husayn and he told them his final wills. He told them: "Bunay Hasan 'Usikuma bi taqwa Allah wa an la tabghaya ad-dunya wa in baghat kuma wa la tasafa ala shain minha zoya ankuma wa qula bi 'l-haqq wa mala li 'l-ajl wa kuna li adh-dhalimi khasma wa li al-madhlumi awnan'. He told Imam Hasan and Husayn to always stand for the truth. Work for your Akhira. Don't be too worried about the Dunya. Stand in the face of the dhalim and help the madhlum.

And then the Imam called all of his family members. He said this: 'usikuma wa jami'a wuldih wa ahlih, wa man balaghahu kitabi' he says, everyone that hears my words, and these are my what? My final wills to you. So all of us, Shi'a of Ahl ul-Bayt , these are the final wills of Imam Ali to us. What did Imam Ali say? He said: 'Usikum bi taqwa Allah wa nadhmi amrikum wa salahi dhati bainikum, fa inni sami'tu jaddakuma yaqul: salahu dhat il-bain afdhalu min ammati as-salati wa as-siyaam. Allah Allah fi 'l-aytam, fa la tughibbu afwahahum, wa la 'yadi'hu bi 'l-adhrahatikum". The Imam said that to be careful with the Aitam, to be mindful of the Aitam, to always work for reconciliation. He means be united! Do not disunite as one community, come together under the banner of unity. If you see two people not speaking, do Islah, try to reconcile.

Because the Prophet said that if you reconcile between two people, this is better than all of Salah and Siyam. And then he told them, "Allah Allah bi jiranikum, fa innahum wasiyaatu nabiyyikum", be mindful and respect your neighbours. This was always the reminder of Rasul Allah and the recommendation of the Prophet. "Allah Allah fi 'l-Qur'an, la yasbiqannakum illa al-'amali bihi ghairukum". Allah Allah. Be mindful of the Qur'an. Make sure you learn the Qur'an. You enact the Qur'an, you follow the teachings of the Qur'an. And then the Imam said; "Allah Allah fi 's-Salah, fa innaha 'amududu deenikum" Allah Allah Be mindful of your Salah. And I spoke about Salah a few nights ago. Take Your Salah seriously because your Salah is the pillar of Faith.

The Imam then continued. He spoke about all of the important wajibaat of Islam. And then Imam Ali, alayhi as-salam, he fell unconscious. Imam Hasan, alayhi as-salam, he came and he took the head of his father. He placed it in his lap. When he saw the injury of his father, he burst into tears. He started to cry. The tears of Imam Hasan, they fell on the Holy face of Amir ul-Mu'minin, the Imam, he woke up, he saw Imam Hasan is crying. He told him: "Bunay Hasan, 'anta tabki alayya wa anta an qareeb masmoom madhloom". You are crying for me now. But it will not be long before you will be poisoned as well to death.

And then he looked to Imam Husayn and he told him: My dear son, Husayn, as for you, "fa anta shaheedu hadhihi 'l-Ummah" you are the martyr of this nation. You will die atchan, madhloom, ghareeb, in Karbala. Allahu Akbar! The Imam is in all that pain, but he is still thinking about the musibah of Husayn, Allahu Akbar!

This is when Zaynab, alayha as-salam, comes to him. She can tell that Imam will not live for long. Its his final moment. She says: "Abatah, man li as-sagheer hatta yakdhur? wa man li 'l-kabeer baina Al-mala?' My dear father, if you leave us, who shall we turn to, after you? Who shall protect us, after you? "Abatah, huznuna alayka taweel". My dear father, we will always be sad for you after you.

And then she tells them: I heard Umm Aiman, she told me about what will happen to Karbala, what will happen to me in Kerbala. But I want to hear it from you. The Imam told her: 'Na'am Zaynab, Inna al-hadith kama haddathatki Ummu Aiman. Ka inni biki bi an-nisa' ahliki sabaya fi hadha al-balad, adhilla khashi'in". Zaynab what you heard from Umm Aiman is true. You will be taken as a prisoner of war. Zaynab, they will beat you and humiliate you. But you have to be strong, because there will be no one to continue the message of Husayn after your brother, Husayn.

Muhammad Ibn Al Hanafiya says: 'Then I noticed that my father was beginning to sweat on his forehead. Ayyuha Imama. I asked him: "Aabatah ma li araa jabinaka yaara? 'Why are you? Why is there sweat on your forehead? The Imam said, 'I heard Rasul Allah say: inna al-Mu'min, idha nazala bihi al-mawt, araqa jabeena wa sakana aneenu. I heard Rasul Allah say when death comes to the believer, he begins to sweat on his forehead and he begins to calm down, telling them that my time has come. And then he takes a nap, he falls unconscious, he wakes up he says, I saw Rasul Allah. 'Habibi Rasul Allah wa ammi Hamza wa akhi Ja'far, kulluhum yaqooloon: "ya Ali 'asra ilaina fa anna mushtaqoona ilaik". They are all telling me, hurry O Ali we are waiting for you. Ayyuha Sayyida!

The Imam then directed his sons to direct his body towards the Qiblah and then he looked towards the sky, he said: "Rifqan bi ya malaikata Rabbi". Go easy on me, O Angels of Allah. And then he said: "li mithlih adhafa li 'l-amal il-'amilun". For this, every believer should work, meaning after you see Jannah and Paradise, after you see the Holy face of Rasul Allah, when death comes to you, you will realize that any trouble you went through in the Duniya was worth it. One look at the Holy face of Rasul Allah, and the holy face of Amir ul-Mu'minin will make death all worthwhile.

And then he looked at his family and he told them: " Astawda'ukumu Allah wa astarikum". Goodbye, my family, farewell, my family. "Thumma maddada rijlaih wa asbala yadaih wa fadhat ruhuhu tahirah". Then the soul of the Imam departed. Aina al-munadi wa Aliyya. Aina al-munadi wa Sayyda. Aina al-munadi wa madhlooma.

Allahu Akbar, a few days later, it was the day of Eid. Zaynab, alayha as-salam, Imam Hasan and Husayn, every year their joy was to sit with their father on the day of Eid, to enjoy the day of Eid with their father. But that Eid was a very different Eid, because they could not enjoy the company of Ali. They had to go to the Cemetery. They had to go and sit on the grave of Ali. What a difficult Eid if you are always used to spending your Eid with your father, with your mother and then they die, that Eid is a very depressing Eid. Instead of it being a day of joy, it becomes a day of agony, it reminds you that your father and mother aren't there with you. Zaynab, Hasan, Husayn, spend their Eid on the grave of Imam Ali, alayhi as-salam.

Aah... Abu Husiyan ma tamma min siyama, siyama, siyama, ilifa 'l-Eid, ilifa 'l-Eid, wa awlada yatama, yatama, yatama. Usahat Ziyanab wa lutmati 'l-hama, fa aghdagh sa'ub ya rahisha hama. Ehy, ehyyy... yufghdab sa’ub ya rahi-iisha hama. Inna Lil-Lah, wa inna Ilahi Raja’un. (2:156).Wa sa ya'lamu alladhina dhalamu 'ala Muhammadin ayya munqalabin yanqalibun wa al-aqibat li 'l-muttaqin.

Brothers and sisters, I know it is Iftar time, just one more minute of your time, It is Laylat ul-Qadr either tonight, tomorrow, the night of the Shahada of Amiral Mu'minin. There are too many...