In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful.
May Allah bless Muhammad and his Family and damn their enemies.
O poor, naive Shia! O poor and naive, simple-minded Shia who succumbed to the deceit of materialistic political parties and cowardly leaders pursuing a worldly agenda, who pushed and used you in the process of pursuing politically motivated agendas, losing sight of real struggles and wars. If you were able to or had the capacity to see past the facade of deceit and demagoguery, which made you make sacrifices and undergo all manner of losses, be it the sacrifice of life and souls, or loss of blood for the sake of petty, provincial political objective, namely to assert the right to rule, and you have no objections in that regard.
Over here, you do not then raise the voice that such matters cause friction and antagonism and that such matters are against the principle of Taqiya. No one finds you saying that such things are not allowed, or as to you asking as to why we are causing problems, or as to why do things for which others have to pay the price for. They kill innocents, women and children and those incapable of defending themselves, you know that they are monstrous. You do not take notice of any of that and raise voices against it, yet instead, you say that:
Our pride does not allow it! Away from us is a disgrace! You shout it with full-blown throats as if you were heroes. In political matters, you are willing to shout: Away from us is a disgrace. Regardless of the costs to be incurred. Let people die, souls perish and blood to be shed, but I must stress my rights. I must rule Iraq, I must rule Bahrain, I must rule Pakistan, and so on. No one objects or says: You are going against Taqiya. Why don’t you stop and sit down? We don’t want others paying the price: you are in London, provoking others! Even the leadership of the Bahraini opposition is in London, stirring and instigating the Shia there. They tell the Bahrainis to stand up and make a rebellion. No voice has been heard saying to them: You are here in London living comfortably in cold weather, with your families and we are paying the price back home in Bahrain!
Do you ever get to hear such voices of objection being raised? No! You only hear objections against us. Why? Because our project is not political. We have a religious uprising on offer for you, and the Shia cannot comprehend that. They are unable to absorb it. The Shia can only comprehend a political uprising, and uprising to take over after unseating, worldly tyrants and oppressors. Such an aim is understandable, due to being brought up in a politically charged climate. But a religious revolution to unseat old oppressors, guilty of and complicit in laying the foundation of causing oppression and injustice to the Holy Prophet and his Purified Progeny. Oppressors, who left behind a legacy of corruption and playing havoc in the faith. Oppressors, who on account of their actions and excesses created the conditions for the Imam of Our Time being left with no option but to adopt the path of occultation. This state of the occultation, where he is waiting for this disobedient nation to rise up for him and pledge its loyalty to him. To tell him to come forward and take charge over the affairs.
This is a required religious uprising; when a group of believers takes this mission, a typical Shia cannot get it.
He will say:
These people will cause us trouble, antagonism and massacres. They are sitting in London comfortably.
As if I had not paid the price when I went to prison in Kuwait for it. How unfair have these people been to me? You say these things about me these days. Someone like me gets that from you?
He is sitting comfortably in London and we are paying the price.
Are you not ashamed of yourselves? Are you not ashamed before God Almighty? Do you not know of my background? I have started pursuing this pathway since my time in Kuwait, in the middle of the fire! I went to prison because of it. I paid heavy prices when I was in my homeland. By the grace and favour of God and with the blessing of Abu’l-Fadhl al-Abbas, I was released from prison.
When I had no option to remain in my own country, as not even one single country in the Middle East could have tolerated me, I would always have to be on the run from their security forces and I would always have to maintain a low profile. Therefore in the light of that circumstance, I had to pursue the path of migration for the sake of Allah to a country whereby a margin of freedom was available for me to pursue my work. I was forced under duress to do so. Nowadays, many say that I am comfortable in London; where would you escape from God Almighty, after fabricating such lies on me? What do you know of the sacrifices involved in my part? Who says that we are comfortable here in London? Who says that I am personally comfortable here? Up until today, I have no citizenship, no passport and no legal status. What are you talking about?
It’s natural – Glory be to Allah – a Shia finds it difficult to comprehend, he/she needs time to comprehend what our real fight is and who it is up against. He/she cannot get it if they think our real fight is against worldly tyrants and oppressors be it against Saddam, or the Bahraini and Saudi-ruling regimes or Nasibi elements of the Pakistani state and its various apparatuses. This is something easily comprehensible to such Shia and something obvious. However, a Shia cannot comprehend or understand that our real fight and war is against the heads of deviation and corruption in the path of the religion and that of this nation, be it Abu Bakr, Omar, Aisha and their likes, who established the foundation of a legacy of oppression against Ahl-ul-Bayt. This is our main duty!
Our Imams have taken every measure to ensure that this is part of our upbringing, to remove this injustice, to remove and reject that corrupted version of the Religion of Islam. It is only then, that the original and pure Image of Islam will be placed in front of the world for all to see. This is the required revolution that our Imams have asked us to answer the call of. It is to the extent that they showered their praise on all, who followed such a revolutionary path in the annals of history. I gave you many examples in my lectures, especially in the series ‘The Liberation of the Shia Individual’. What is my problem if people refuse to listen or do not want to follow or behave likewise? The brother that is not willing/ready to listen to the whole series: Listen, educate yourselves, and be conscious! Read thoroughly and do your research! The series consists of only 22 episodes, see and listen to it all. It is alright, just listen and see how your values will start changing slowly. You will know later that it was indeed from the manners of the Holy Household, all that you are objecting to, were of their manners. It is, in fact, the essence of the path of the Ahl-ul-Bayt. This is what the Ahl-ul-Bayt have asked us to do. If blood is shed, so be it. That is what they have said! Self-sacrifice for the sake of upholding and illuminating the truth is what they have called for. Not the other way around, where the truth is compromised upon and sacrificed and it is terminated for worldly gains and objectives and survivals! Who has said that? One of the major conditions that pave way for the Imam to reappear and come out of occultation, is for the downfall of the respected status of the hypocritical, criminal personalities that emerged post-demise of Allah’s Messenger. If this revolution is successful to cause the demise of the lofty status occupied by these usurpers and people, then reject them and return to the true font of religious teachings (The Holy Household) then and only then, will the conditions become conducive for the Imam to reappear. This is our real battle, that people don’t understand; they do not read or contemplate. When they recite Ziyara for the Imam in Mafateeh-al-Jinan, for example, what do you read? You must read the lines and between the lines so that you understand the real battle.
You address him:
I testify that you have been chosen by Allah at a tender age and completed the knowledge for you by the time you reached adulthood. I testify that you are alive and will not die until you achieve the nullification of the Jibt and Taghoot. May Allah shower his blessing upon him and his servants.
Khoddam al Mehdi – The servants of Mehdi. We beseech Allah to make us his servants in the real sense of the term! What does that mean?
You address him in the Ziyara:
I testify that you are alive and will not die until you achieve the nullification of the Jibt and Taghoot.
This is the Battle of the Imam of our time, and this is his role, wherein his major duty is the invalidation of the Jibt and Taghoot. What are Jibt and Taghoot? Ask any scholar, not a coward who has been corrupted by worldly interests and objectives, but a real scholar, firm and steadfast on the path of the truth, or you may refer to our references. There you will see how Allama Majlisi sheds light on Jibt and Taghoot. Namely that Jibt and Taghoot are the symbolic names for Abu Bakr and Omar in the terminology of Ahl-ul-Bayt. The role of Imam Al Mehdi is the invalidation of Jibt and Taghut. To nullify Abu Bakr and Omar. His role is to cancel out these symbols, representing a pathway. Sometimes a deviant comes along in history but stops short of becoming a symbol or representative of a pathway. If such a character or personality remains intact, then so will their pathway. This deviant path will confuse the path of the truth and go against all voices of truth. In other instances, a deviant becomes a symbol of a pathway. You cannot invalidate the pathway, unless and until you invalidate and discredit the symbol. You have to cause the downfall of the symbol so that the deviant pathway collapses.
The deviant religion, whose emergence is a result of Saqifah, has got its symbols: Abu Bakr, Omar and Aisha and their likes. The pathway of those symbols cannot be cancelled unless they are rejected. This is a clear and straightforward solution and does not require any discussion. You, for example, tell a ‘Sunni’:
Come, brother, pray with your arms open and down, do not pray with arms folded.
He will refuse. He will say:
No! Our Master Omar prayed while crossing his hands.
No matter how much you seek the path of discussion or debate with them, they will not accept it unless you discredit their master, Omar. You tell them that Omar is a hypocrite, unworthy of emulation. You cannot emulate him. Now you see where I come from? You want to advise a ‘Sunni’, to not believe that the Prophet was a lecherous person or a womanizer or in search of sex with women all the time, as this belief is prohibited! The reply you will get from him is:
The Mistress Aisha confirmed that, as recorded in the narrations of Al Bukhari. She says that he was like that, so I have to believe her, as Aisha does not lie.
Therefore to acquit the Prophet, and to cleanse the ‘Sunni’ doctrine, you are under compulsion to discredit Aisha. He will defend his/her stance on the basis of:
She says he was like that, so I have to believe her, as Aisha does not lie.
Her reality was much different, including aspects of hypocrisy, unfaithfulness, and being condemned by Allah in the Quran, matters which are required to be explained to them. When we discredit Communism, for example, we have to discredit Karl Marx and as such any false pathway, and it requires you to target its top symbols to cause its collapse. This is the case with any false pathway. This is a clear intellectual fight. That is why we are harsh against those symbols and aim to cause their downfall. If a Muslim discovers that those symbols are not worthy of respect and emulation, then he will reject them and their pathway. Further, he/she will reform their perspective and choose the Ahl-ul-Bayt, as this is the case with all those who became Shia. Is there anyone who was a ‘Sunni’, then a Shia and the reason behind his reversion, wasn’t the collapse of the sacred status occupied by those personalities? I ask you, you who converted to Shiism, what was the central reason for you? Those symbols were no longer respectful, it is not down to the reason whether he gets attracted to Ahl-ul-Bayt and their virtues. This is not a controversial issue, the virtues of Ahl-ul-Bayt, among us and them. Maybe some other issues are controversial, but the status of Ahl-ul-Bayt is not controversial. Some even have a greater level/degree of veneration for them, more than us, like the Sufis, Barelvis, Raza Khanis etc. They have a great degree of respect for Ahl-ul-Bayt beyond imagination! This is not the heart or main cause of the matter of dispute, but the actual matter or major font of our dispute is one thing – the Companions – Al Sahaba, as they call them. Herein the dispute emanates and lies. This is where the dispute is. This is the old, main reason. We say that not all those you call as Sahaba are respectful, righteous, pious, dignified and must be followed. No. We have to distinguish among them the hypocrites, even if they were close to the Prophet. Even if they were among his wives. Some were like that, others were good and we respect them. We have to sift through them. To do so, we have to uncover our cards against those deviant characters against whom we believe are as such. We have to speak out frankly, we have to explain to people. Upon their collapse, the truth will be revealed and people will get to know. This is a clear matter. This is the problem. A Shia will easily comprehend a revolution with political aims and objectives, but cannot understand a religious revolution. You always want to make for yourselves a submissive and disgraceful position, whereas our course of action is one which is for the restoration and return of pride and dignity. The pattern or outline of which is that whoever is sanctified in Islam will be respected and whoever was not respected by Islam and was not sanctified. Such a person has no respect and no sanctity. Our criteria are based on Islamic rulings, namely that we are above others and we do not submit to them.
Likewise, I am not compelled to sanctify Abu Bakr and Omar when Islam did not offer them that. I do not have to respect Aisha and Hafsa as the Quran humiliated them both in Surah al-Tahreem. I do not have to. I obey the Quran and the narrations of the Prophet and the Ahl-ul-Bayt. I follow my legitimate religious pathway and I cast aside all other pathways and do not care for a bit. Whether they are respected by a deviant group of people, it is not my problem to follow.
The Office of Sheikh al-Habib