Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi delivered, after the Maghrib prayer on the sixth night of Muharram al-Haram 1427 AH, an address at the ʿId Mosque under the title (How Do We Benefit from the Season of ʿAshura?).
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This is a summary of the address. In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful
Allah the Exalted said: “And whoever venerates the sacraments of Allah—indeed that arises from the Godwariness of hearts.” (Qurʾan 22:32).
And the Greatest Messenger (s) said: (Indeed, it is written on the right of the Throne: Indeed, al-Husayn is the lamp of guidance and the ark of salvation).
There are two sides in our commemoration of the anniversary of the ʿAshura of Imam al-Husayn (a):
The side of the Imam himself and his march.
And the side of those who commemorate this occasion, and that is us.
We may look at the saying of the Greatest Messenger (that al-Husayn is a lamp of guidance and an ark of salvation) from the first side, which expresses the station of Imam al-Husayn and his intrinsic qualities, which teach us that he lights the way because he is guidance, and that he rescues us from darkness; indeed, his ark is wider, and in the deeps of the seas wider, as in the noble narrations. This is what the orators usually speak about and what we address on this anniversary ..
However, there is another side, and that is us, who commemorate these rites, whose commemoration is Godwariness for the hearts, as in the verse: will al-Husayn be for us a lamp of guidance and an ark of salvation or not? In other words, will we attain this honor and seek illumination by his light (a), or not?
It is not enough that Imam al-Husayn is light and radiance for him to be so for us; rather we must carry him so that this light may encompass us.
How is that done?
This question is important, for if we come to know it, we will come away with more benefit from this season, in which the divine mercy and the blessings of Imam al-Husayn descend upon everyone who enters this atmosphere.
Just as the worship of the scholar is seventy times better than the worship of the worshipper, as the narrations tell us, so it is in our commemoration of this great anniversary: whoever knows how to benefit from it will be seventy times better than the one who will be in it without knowledge. There is no doubt that Allah, with His vast mercy, and the blessings of the Imam will encompass him, as has come in the narrations (Whoever weeps, Paradise is his .. and whoever makes himself weep, Paradise is his), but the knowing scholar will be seventy times higher than he.
In order to answer this question we must observe two points:
First: that we benefit from the divine atmosphere of this occasion, which prepares the soul through the tear, for the tear extinguishes the wrath of the Lord, and whoever weeps for Imam al-Husayn, Paradise is his. This is the mercy of Allah and the blessings of the Imam, which descend upon everyone who weeps. However, it is within our ability for this blessing to be greater and wider, and that is done if we make these tears lead us to lofty goals and decisions for good, that is, lead us to repentance to Allah, Almighty, and to the intention of doing good and the multiplying of our good deeds. This is a suitable atmosphere for such decisions.
Second: we must take those virtues and noble deeds that Imam al-Husayn (a) and his family and companions displayed in Karbala, and turn them into values that govern our lives. Those values are such as to broaden the horizon and rouse resolve to its widest extent .. The Messenger of Allah (s) said that the killing of Imam al-Husayn has a heat in the hearts of the believers that will never be extinguished. This heat is a heat in every direction, and this is a prophecy from the Messenger (s) that that heat continues through commemorating the occasion and carrying the Husayni values. So we should decide to be among those in whom that heat dwells, so that our deeds may continue and we may be granted success in them.
May Allah grant us and you success in making the best use of the occasion of the ʿAshura of al-Husayn (a) in its finest forms.
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