We're looking at Joshua, let's begin reading here in the book of Joshua chapter one and I'll read the first nine verses and I'm going to give you some background, not a whole lot, you know, but enough to help us to step into this study with some understanding. And then we'll move into chapter one and look at the entire chapter, we'll look at chapter one today. And so we begin our study here in the book of Joshua, beginning at verse one and reading to verse nine. We read these words. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of none, Moses' assistant saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Replace that the soul of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And so let me give you some background as we begin this, and then we'll get into our study here in Joshua chapter 1. I begin by noting that conservative Bible scholars believe that the author of the book of Joshua is no one other than Joshua himself. You see that in chapter 24 verse 26, and this book being written after the book of Deuteronomy is dated between the years 1405 BC and 1390 BC. And as we go through this book, we're going to see that it covers Israel's taking and settling into Canaan, as well as dividing this land of promise into portions that were allocated to the tribes of Israel. We know that Joshua was Moses' assistant. We know that he was intended by God to succeed Moses as the second leader in the nation of Israel. Exodus 24-13 speaks of him in this way, Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. And so Moses had an assistant by the name of Joshua. Now Moses, in his leadership, had been with the children of Israel all during their wilderness wandering. And at a certain point in his time with them, the children of Israel had complained. They had complained that they were thirsty. And so Moses got upset with them. Moses got upset at their murmuring. And so he took this concern to the Lord, and the Lord God spoke to him and gave him an instruction. And God said to him, Speak to a rock, and that rock will provide water. But because he was upset, the Bible tells us that he struck that rock and he did so two times. In Numbers chapter 20, verse 12, it says, The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. And this is what he said, Because you did not believe me, to hollow me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. And so Moses never had the ability of actually walking into the land of promise that he had led the nation of Israel in that wilderness for 40 years in anticipation of doing. So instead of Moses entering in with the children of Israel, the Lord took Moses and Joshua became the leader. Joshua was given the blessing of bringing the children of Israel into what was called the promised land. And so obviously this is a book concerning the man who did that. It's called Joshua. He's the main character. Now he was called Hosea in Numbers 13, verse 8. But according to Numbers 13, verse 16, Moses changed his name from Hosea to Joshua. Now there's a reason for that. Hosea means salvation. But Joshua means the Lord is salvation. Joshua is the Hebrew word for Jesus. Jesus is the Greek word. And so his name change is significant because it is a name change that relates to Israel entering into the promised land. You see Joshua may lead the nation in the conquest, but the Lord is the conqueror. That is something that was made clear by Moses when he spoke to the children of Israel before they went in. In Deuteronomy chapter 20, verses 2 through 4, he had said, it shall be when you are on the verge of battle that the priests shall approach and speak to the people and he shall say to them, Here O Israel, today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint. Do not be afraid. Do not tremble or be terrified because of them.  So it's God who is going before them. It's God who is fighting that battle and it's God who saves them. So it's significant that Joshua or Joshua, the Lord of salvation would be his name. Joshua's role of leading Israel triumphantly into possessing the land is something that actually foreshadows the work of Jesus Christ on our part. Joshua brings them into the promised land, which would be a picture of foreshadowing of Jesus bringing us into glory. In Hebrews 2.10 it says it was fitting for him for whom are all things and by whom bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. In Romans 8.37 it says in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. So we're going to be seeing in the book of Joshua that it is actually a book of courage, confidence and conquest. And we're going to see how the Lord works because he has demonstrated that he would be the one who fights on their behalf and they would be able to enter into the promises because God fights their battles. And that's a picture of Jesus Christ in the New Testament who goes before us and makes us more than conquerors through him. We are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ because we don't just conquer one enemy, whether it's sin, death, hell or Satan. We conquer them all in Jesus Christ and nothing remains unsubdued. And so the Lord God is giving to us a picture in Joshua of him taking the land to remind us that Jesus Christ is the one who is giving to us the promises of God and that we can follow him and have victory. And so as we look at this, that's kind of your background. Let's begin looking at this verse by verse, verses one and two. After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord. It's interesting to me to note that when Moses is spoken of it's interesting how God doesn't refer to him as Moses my leader. It's interesting that he speaks of him as Moses my servant because God will speak to those whom he is choosing to use in that way. Moses my servant, Caleb my servant, David my servant. And so what we have here is a picture of Moses who is known as being the servant of the Lord. And it says after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of none. Moses his assistant saying, Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them to the children of Israel. So the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament ends with the death of Moses. What we have in the book of Joshua is a continuation of God working through that nation. So Joshua is going to win the victory that Moses was unable to achieve. Again, Joshua is going to show us what God's mercy and grace does where the law of Moses really would fail. And so what this will give us a picture of is how that we'll have a victory that is unreachable by just following the law of Moses. See Moses died but just because a leader dies doesn't mean that God ceases working. When it states here after the death of Moses there are those who would say who could replace him? Who has the ability of stepping into the shoes that were so unbelievably great and so who can step into those shoes? Who can do what Moses did? No human being no matter how great that person may be is ever irreplaceable. When Moses is gone there's always a Joshua. There's always a Joshua standing in the wings. God doesn't rely on just one leader but God raises up a series of leaders and you'll see this. And Joshua was the one that God chose to raise up. And so he says Moses is dead but I'm going to give to you the ability to lead this people in. And notice verse 3, every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon I've given you. As I said to Moses from the wilderness of this Lebanon as far as the great river of the river Euphrates all the land of the Hittites to the great sea toward going down in the sun shall be your territory so every place that the soul of your foot will tread notice I have given to you even as I said to Moses. And so when you remember what God said to Moses if you take notes Deuteronomy 1124 God had said every place on which the soul of your foot treads shall be yours from the wilderness and Leviton from the river the river Euphrates even to the western sea shall be your territory. So when you look at a map geographically when he speaks of the western border that would be the Mediterranean Sea. The eastern border would be the Euphrates River. Now the Euphrates River runs from central Turkey down south and continues south through Syria and Iraq and empties into the Persian Gulf so that's a good chunk of land. The northernmost portion would be in Lebanon and that southern runs all the way down to the Nile River there in Egypt so this is a large portion of land. Interestingly I want you to notice this in verse 4 he speaks of the land of the Hittites. The word Hittite or when he uses the word Hittites the land of the Hittites is really just a word that's kind of generic to speak of the other peoples that live there. When you study the Bible and you look at the promises of God as it relates to this you discover that God actually in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 1 speaks concerning these nations he said that are greater than the Jews. He names them the Hittites, the Gurgoshites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Parasites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Uptites, out-of-sites, cellulites, there's so manyites, they're everywhere. That's an old joke and I love it, I mean I just enjoy saying that so much. So the Hittites is actually a generic word that is speaking of all of these people groups and God said these are seven nations that are greater than you and God is saying I'm giving you this land. Now we need to rehearse a little bit of the Jewish history in order to get what's going on so I can develop this with you a little bit. We need to remember that years before God had allowed 12 spies to enter into the land. They had really wanted to go in to spy out this land that God had promised him and so these leaders that represented the 12 tribes of Israel were selected and so there were 12 men that were selected to go in and spy out the land that God had promised to the nation. Now they went out and they spent many days there, they came back and when they began to give their reports 10 of the spies gave a very negative report. The report was so negative that the result was incredible discouragement to all the people. When they were speaking they said yes this is a land that is flowing with milk and honey indeed and we even brought some of the fruit of the land to show you how incredibly lush it really is. It's a beautiful land but as we were looking at it we noted something numbers 1333 says that they said there we saw giants. The descendants of Nakh came from the giants and we were like grasshoppers in our own site and so we were in their site. We saw giants in the land I mean when we showed up yes the land is great the land is beautiful but there are these huge human beings that are there and we were as small as a grasshopper in their site and just by comparing ourselves with them we were grasshoppers in our own site and basically what they were saying is if we go in we were dead. There's no way that we can take these cities and there's no way we can overcome the inhabitants of the land and they brought a discouraging word. Numbers 14 verse 1 says all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried and the people wept that night. They were so upset we don't want to go in let's just kill Moses I'm so upset what's going on here but there were two others who were there the other two out of the 12 Joshua and Caleb they saw the same thing and yet as they saw the same thing they they wanted to enter in they knew Caleb said I can go in let's take it God has given it to us.  Numbers chapter 14 verses 28 through 32 records how that God said say to them as I live says the Lord just as you have spoken in my hearing so I will do to you the carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness all of you who were numbered according to your entire number from 20 years old and above except for Caleb the son of Jefune and Joshua the son of none you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in but your little ones whom you said would be victims I will bring in they shall know the land which you have despised but as for you your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness. The children of Israel were afraid to enter in because the land was filled with giants they had cried out and said we're afraid we're going to die there God said as you have spoken so shall it be done your concern that your children are going to die I'll take your children in safely you you will wander in this wilderness and you'll die without ever seeing the promised land because of what you've said and what you've done now the people that had caused such fear to rise in the hearts of the spies these giants and all of these people are still there in the land they haven't been displaced and so a spiritual challenge or something we can learn is that challenges don't just go away because you ignore them and sometimes if you give them enough time they actually even grow and so these giants didn't go away just because the people of Israel were afraid to to combat them and by the way they had forgotten that God said I have given you the land they had forgotten that God said he would go before them and fight for them perhaps it was simply their unbelief they didn't believe that he would do such a thing and so they were afraid to go and they're still afraid and that's why in verse 5 that's why it says no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses so I will be with you I will not leave you nor forsake you my work did not end with Moses my work is going to continue through you though men die God's work continues if you begin to look into even the not real recent but relatively recent history of the Christian faith and you begin to look at some of the lives of and the names remember some of the names of those who are known as great evangelists you begin to wonder well when this person dies what's going to happen you have a guy by the name of John Wesley great evangelist he lived in the 70 early 1700s John Wesley dies but there's another man who's still around during that time continues that kind of work his name was George Whitfield what happens with George Whitfield well there's another man by the name of D. L. Moody what happens when D. L. Moody stops having his impact there's another man by the name of Charles Spurgeon well what happens when Charles Spurgeon is no longer making an impact you've got R. A. Tory well how about when he's no longer how about William Booth well what happens when William Booth is no longer around how about Billy Sunday what happens when Billy Sunday is no longer around how about Billy Graham God has men and women that he raises up to use in the times that they're needed just because we don't have an individual with us anymore doesn't mean that God ceases working there's a very good Bible teacher that everybody's probably heard of J. Vernon McGee and J. Vernon McGee was ill and he made a statement I've never forgotten I'll paraphrase what he said but he's said you know I began to wonder what was going to happen should I die because he was very ill and he thought who is going or actually it was before he got ill he said I wonder who will step in and do the work that God has been using me to do he said and then I got very ill when I got very ill he said it was then that the Lord began to speak to my heart and told me a very simple thing in essence he said I really don't need you and that's true you know let's bring this home to those who are Calvary Chapel people what's going to happen when Pastor Chuck is no longer with us Pastor Chuck would answer by saying Jesus is so that's the whole key isn't it it's never been one man it's always been Jesus Christ it's always been God himself it's always been the Lord doing the work just because Moses is dead doesn't mean that God stops working when Moses is dead God raises up a Joshua and God begins to use this man Joshua when the Lord takes Pastor Chuck home God is already raising up people who will do what God wants them to do the way Pastor Chuck did or whomever may be one of your favorite speakers and teachers that's what's going to happen as long as the Lord continues to work on the face of the earth God will select leaders that he'll use to do that work it's not up to me or up to us to elect and determine who that is it's up to God and God has a way of doing that God has a way of reaching down and touching somebody and using them I was sharing at a church not long ago as ministry and actually at a youth pastors conference and I was speaking to the youth pastors and I said a very basic very simple truth I said should the Lord Terry you youth pastors are right now more than likely raising the next pastor of the church you right now are influencing the next minister who will step into that pulpit to leave the church into the future if he's there right now as a young boy one day he'll be a young man and your influence is timeless it's going to go on and on and on right now in this church right now on a Wednesday night there may be a little boy in one of the classes just a little guy who's there getting taught who one day will be standing in this platform leading this church I pray that that is so I pray that he's only one or two that gives me a lot more years but that little guy may be there right now and somebody is influencing as the Lord is ministering to them because one day they will be raised up and they'll be used by God so just because Moses is dead doesn't mean that God no longer works just because a very important and key leader in the history of Israel is no longer with them doesn't mean that God isn't going to fulfill his promises Moses my servant is dead but you Joshua his assistant will be leading my children into the promises that I have prepared for them no one shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses he says to him so I will be with you and then he goes on to say I will not leave you nor forsake you I will not leave you I will not abandon you I will not leave you on your own God's promises remain the same I will be with you my power and my presence will remain with you I will be with you and not only does God's power and presence remain with Joshua but by way of application God's presence and power remains with you he will not leave you nor forsake you how do I know that well I want you to notice this this is found in Joshua chapter 1 verse 5 but it is quoted in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 in the New Testament let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have for he himself has said I will never leave you nor forsake you God is with you no matter what you go through no matter what you're enduring no matter what the challenge may be before you God is with you God does not abandon you God does not forsake you God does not leave you orphans Jesus said I will come to you Jesus said the Holy Spirit will abide with you and will be in you Jesus said the Holy Spirit will empower you he will strengthen you and so these are promises though it's found in the Old Testament that are repeated in the new when you go out to do a work for the Lord you are never alone when you go out to do something in the name of Jesus Christ it's not supposed to be in your power and you are not abandoned God will give you what he has set before you to do what he's determined will be accomplished through you he will do it but he wants you to know that some people are afraid to step out and do something because they don't know if God will abandon them and make them look foolish when they attempt to do something for him God is saying to Joshua I will not forsake you I will be with you the way that I was with Moses all those years and you saw you were his assistant you were side-by-side with you saw what I did in and through Moses he said you've had all of this training Joshua I will be with you there are people in this room that God is speaking to and has been for some time saying to you you need to step out in faith and do something for me and a lot of times what you have done is quench the Holy Spirit and said no that's got to be somebody else he really wants to do it through somebody else and God has been saying no I want to do it through you trust me step out see what God will do just be in the place and be prepared and you'll see how that happens in just a moment but be ready to be used he says be strong verse 6 and of good courage for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them when he says be strong and of good courage it's another way of saying don't be somebody who's simply got great character but be a man of action be alert be ready to act when the occasion arises be there ready when I used to play baseball in little league I would sit on the bench if they didn't have me playing but I would sit there with my glove in my hand I was ready to play the moment that the coach said step on in I've never been one of these guys and I don't think I have very many people in this room who are this way but I've never been one of these people who want to sit the bench I don't want to sit the bench I want to not only put on the uniform I want to get it dirty I don't want to just put the glove on my hand I want to use it to play I don't want to just take batting practice I want to stand up and actually take some swings at some guy who's throwing the ball at me I want to do that I want to hit the ball I want to run I want to slide I want to play I don't want to sit the bench and a lot of people unfortunately sit the bench but in reality God says are you ready to play and sometimes they're just not ready to play sometimes they don't care about it enough to even want to enter in but me I wanted these people who wants to be what God is saying to Joshua be strong and of good courage it's not that just that you should have strong faith you need to be ready God can call you to move at any given moment at any moment the need may arise where he calls you and says are you ready you might find this interesting my staff has been instructed there are several members of my staff that are instructed to have what we call a sermon in the pocket you have to have a sermon in your pocket what does that mean what if I don't make it to church on a Sunday what if I don't make it on a Wednesday something happens you know it's a good baseball game on or something no what what happened what happens what happens if Pastor David doesn't make it you've got to have a sermon in your pocket it scares them I have to be honest with you there's been times I've been late that they're just pacing in and they're praying like they've never prayed before oh God please bring him oh Lord in Jesus name bring him I do not want to go out there because the bottom line is is it can be difficult to come out and do three services on a Sunday and they know that and so I've told them you need to be ready you should have an ability at any given time to give what God has placed on your heart I was at a men's conference about 15 plus years ago now at Calvary Chapel South Bay sitting in the front row and it was a conference a men's conference the theme was servanthood and I was seated in the front row when Pastor Chuck Chuck got up I was the second speaker Pastor Chuck got up and gave the message that I had prepared John 13 and I'm sitting there looking at my notes John 13 as Chuck is giving this message and Chuck takes about 35 minutes to 40 minutes and I turned to Steve Mays who seated next to me and I said I'm dead and he says what's wrong and I just showing my notes and he looks at me goes oh I said yeah and so Chuck finishes his message well during his message he thought I was taking notes I wasn't during his message I had opened up the Bible and I couldn't get up and walk out I had to sit in the front row there as he's teaching and he thinks what a great student David is no pastor no no I was writing an entire sermon out because I had a 40 minute message to give after he finished and then they had a 10 minute break and Pastor Chuck came and sat next to me and I said Chuck you just gave the message I was going to give he says no I said yes and I showed him my notes and he starts to laugh that's the compassion that this man had for me what are you going to do and I got up after a 10 minute break and gave an entirely different message you have to be able to do that you have to be able at any given moment to put something down that the Lord has freshly put on your heart to share Joshua be a man of action be ready be somebody who's got that courage and confidence to know that I'm going to take you through be ready be prepared be ready to act don't be caught and think oh no what am I going to do you need to be instant in season and out of season you see if you're walking with the Lord and you're reading his word and you're spending time in prayer you're having fellowship with other brothers and sisters you're always ready if you're in your devotions if you're in Bible studies if you saturate your life with reading you're always ready you'll always have something you can share because you're supposed to be ready at any given moment because you don't know when God is going to say it's your turn come on in the game's on I need you here and if you're just there eating a snow cone chewing on the end of your glove it's probably not going to work he wants you to be ready to step in so you are ready aren't you have to be you should be at any given moment you're on the job site and somebody brings up the subject of something that has some moral question to it you ought to be ready to give an answer you ought to know the word well enough to be able to say you know what this is what the bible says about that you will be surprised how god gives you so many opportunities but unfortunately so often we're just not ready but the lord gives us opportunity have you ever been in that position where you've said oh man I just read something I wish I could remember I've done that so many times I've just read and the lord has taught me be ready be ready because you never know when I'm going to call on you I went on vacation I'm sitting in the back row at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Manhattan and as I'm seated there a friend of mine who's a pastor Mike Finesio comes walking up to me during the service there's some worship and then he walks up and says Dave he says we're going to have communion he said I notice you're here can you serve it give a word to the people and so I said well of course so I'm sitting there 10 minutes later I'm standing in front of his congregation giving a word about what the lord wants to do sharing communion because you have to be ready whenever god calls you yes lord I'm ready here am I send me that's Joshua so god says listen Moses is dead Moses is dead but I'm going to use you just because Moses is dead doesn't mean that god stops working Joshua I'm going to use you I'm going to fulfill my promises through you you're going to lead the people in therefore he says be strong and of good courage he goes on in verse seven and says again only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the lord your god is with you wherever you go god is with you wherever you go be strong and very courageous what we really have here are foundations for biblical leadership how can I become strong and how can I live victoriously well the way that's going to take place I want you to notice this is god through god's guarantee god has guaranteed his presence his power and he has supplied his promises through the word of god what is going to make joshua a powerful victorious leader in israel well he says what is going to be verse eight this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth meditate in it day and night when he speaks of this book of the law it would specifically refer to the books that they have at that time from genesis to deuteronomy but he's saying within my word you will find my blessings and within my word you will find my promises within my word you will also find my warnings and by meditating on these things by holding fast to them by mentally going over these things over and over thoroughly and habitually by paying careful attention and thoughtful attention to the word of god god can use you in deuteronomy 7 11 and 12 it says therefore you shall keep the commandments the statutes and the judgments which i command you today to observe them then it shall come to pass because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them that the lord your god will keep you keep with you the covenant and the mercy which he has sworn to your father's so he says meditate on it god's word should be meditated on meditation for the christian is not emptying your mind there are forms of meditation where they will say to those who are meditating that you're to empty your mind christian meditation isn't the emptying of the mind christian meditation is the filling of the mind you're meditating on god's word you meditate on god's promises meditation has been likened to mentally chewing the word of god actually just causing it to have a place in you it's it's the paying careful attention to god's word that's the foundation if i'm going to be a leader and i'll make it personal if i'm going to be a leader god uses i need to meditate on his word his word needs to be looked at as being more necessary than my daily food his word is to be held fast to his word is to be known memorized his word is to be not only known and memorized it is to be applied so it begins with meditation he says meditate on this it shall not depart from your mouth meditate on it day and night he says in verse 8 that you may observe to do according to all that is written so not only am i to pay careful attention to the word of god but i am also to be a doer of god's word and not a forgetful hearer and i want you to notice that it's a command that you may observe to do so here's something that will help us we simply need to decide to do what god says sometimes we may be tempted to simply memorize what he says but the best way to know a passage is to determine to obey it and what it is that it says if you want to grow any relationship with god determine to obey so it's not simply knowing the bible the Pharisees during the time of christ knew the bible but they didn't know the god of the bible they could speak out of the bible but the bible was not speaking into them and jesus spoke of that as saying it's hypocrisy so what we do is not only meditate in it but we observe it and we do what is written he says if that happens notice again in verse 8 you will make your way prosperous and you'll have good success so hunger for god's word is important because we know that we do not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god so there's a hunger for god's word but we also deeply consider and practice what god's word teaches now if i have a hunger for the word of god i deeply deeply consider the word of god and i put into practice the word of god he gives to me a blessing you will prosper and you will have success your life is going to be blessed by god and you will also be skilled and wise in the way that you live when he says you will have success the word success in the ancient language in hebrew speaks of being skilled in living it speaks of you having wise living habits god's word will give to you that which is necessary to produce a wisdom in you and your life will be blessed by him have i not verse 9 commanded you be strong and of good courage do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the lord your god is with you wherever you go i'm with you i've commanded you i've promised you i will bless you so trust me my children having a sin nature they receive from their mom actually it's from the father my my children when they were small on occasion if i had made a promise to them would remind me of the promise it wouldn't be exactly like this but it could be something like this daddy you said daddy you said they reminded me of what i said there's nothing wrong with that as long as you don't do it too often because they really believe that dad is good to his word i thought my dad was the most amazing man in the world when i was growing up i thought my dad had control over the over the weather you see one day we were supposed to go to a place called disneyland disneyland had just been built it was like in 1956 right around there right in that area and my mom had said i've got a surprise for you my brother and i were looking forward to whatever the surprise might be i was looking forward to it because they knew whatever it was it's going to be great now i didn't know that it was going to disneyland that the surprise was i didn't know that because it was a surprise they were keeping it to themselves well long story made short the day that we were supposed to go for the surprise it rained and so there's no way we're going to disneyland in the rain now my mom and dad had promised us a surprise you know what they did they put us in the car and they drove us to my aunt's house who lived in venice we stopped and got a hamburger i remember this day very well but i didn't know we were supposed to go to disneyland all i know is that we pulled over and we had a hamburger and we drove to my aunt's house and when we pulled up to the house it began snowing when does it snow in la and snowing and i still remember jumping up and down with my brother as the snow was falling we'd never seen snow saying thank you daddy thank you daddy thank you because i thought my dad made it snow as a surprise you know my mom didn't tell me that he didn't for a long time the real surprise was disneyland but you can and we didn't go but a rip but the snow was cool but you believe daddy you said daddy you said you would well you know what the lord has done the lord has said i will do this it would be a good idea if we learned his promises and in faith if we said not in the kind of harangue i want my way voice but lord you have said lord you have said and i'm going to trust you i can do all things through christ who strengthens me i'm going to trust you i am more than a conqueror through jesus christ i'm going to trust you i am a person who is going to be blessed by god because you have promised that you would bless me i'm going to trust you you said you would supply my need according to your riches i'm going to trust you what's my option to not trust him now if god said it will he not do it god is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should change his mind if god has said it he will do it and so my responsibility isn't to set him on a timetable and say you haven't done it in the five minutes i gave to you therefore there is no god it's to wait on the lord and what he wants me to do and he wants you to do this is where it gets difficult is to trust him and that's part of the reason we keep reading him saying similar things be strong and of good courage verse six verse seven be strong and of very and be very courageous verse seven verse nine be strong and of good courage do not be afraid nor dismayed he reminds us and reminds us and reminds us the men and women of action trust me have confidence in me be courageous in me have i not said i will never leave you nor forsake you have i not said i will give you these promises just trust me makes sense to me i'm with you i've commanded you i've promised you i will bless you so trust me you trusted me when you were moses as assistant now you must do so as the new leader one of the things i've discovered in leadership is that people follow leaders who are confident in their leading and if a person's going to be confident in their leading they need to have a deep fellowship with god now verse 10 joshua commanded the officers of the people saying pass through the camp and command the people saying prepare provisions for yourselves for within three days you will cross over this jordan to go in to possess the land which the lord your god is giving you to possess and so he speaks and notice with me in verse 10 to the officers these officers would be similar to what we would call administrators and he's saying you need to go and you need to prepare these people to march now as they're saying the timeline is here we're going to enter in there must have been a wave of emotion that pastor the people were about to enter in after all of these years and so he speaks and he speaks this is interesting to me he speaks to the first mexican tribe to the rubinites again an old joke but i love it what and to the rubinites the gadites and half tribe of manassas joshua spoke saying remember the word which moses the servant of the lord commanded you saying the lord your god is giving you rest and is giving you this land your wives your little ones your livestock shall remain in the land which moses gave you on this side on the east side of the jordan but you shall pass before your brethren armed all your mighty men of valor and help them until the lord is giving your brethren rest as he has given you and they also have taken possession of the land which the lord your god is giving them then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it which moses the lord servant gave you on this side of the jordan toward the sunrise and so the rubinites gadites and the half tribe of manassas were those who were living on the east side of the jordan they had to ask for that portion recorded in numbers chapter 32 verses 20 through 28 so they received the portion of land but they were going to go in and help to secure the other portions for the others finally verse 16 they answered joshua saying all that you commanded us we will do and wherever you send us we will go just as we heated moses in all things so we will heed you only the lord your god be with you as he was with moses whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words in all that you command him shall be put to death only be strong and of good courage the initial response in verse 16 is filled with hope and eagerness we are ready to go after years of waiting for the entrance to the land we are ready to go all you need to do is lead us we followed moses we will follow you when he says just as we heated moses well the previous generation was marked by rebellion but these are saying we will be loyal the one thing that we're requiring of you is that you be courageous and you be confident leadership is founded on faith and it will be earmarked by a courageous confidence in the promises of god people who are wise will follow the one who follows the lord when somebody is following the lord there's a wisdom that that person will have in their leadership that will encourage others who are of like mind churches bring it to the 21st century churches are filled with every level of maturity from the immature and beyond that to the spiritually unsaved to the spiritually young immature to those who've been walking with the lord for many years the spiritual person is the individual who has the ability to see god's movement through the ones who are leading them if the person who's leading is in the word of god trusting in the promises of god has a devotional life with god who can speak as one who's experienced with those things if that leader evidences a courageous confidence in a god who is able to do all things abundantly above all we could ever ask for think then those who follow along are going to be blessed along with that person so a requirement is going to be what they're saying be strong and be of good courage josh what we're willing to go with you we're willing to go into the land that generation ago our fathers refused to go into it's still got giants it's still got battles it still has a lot waiting for us that should cause us to fear but we will follow you as you follow the lord and where you go we will go and every step you take will take alongside of you but make sure you lead us by being confident in the things of god courageous in the things of god remembering the promises of god and walking in the fullness of the spirit of god we will follow you every step if you do those things josh what we will follow you


Oppression, a prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority. Living in the West means that many individuals from the Muslim community must often face oppression due to Islamophobia and the rejection of the religion of peace Islam by the society. Similarly, Fatima Zahra alaihi salam had to battle oppression against the Meccans. Many individuals today use her as a guide to speak out against oppressive individuals within Western societies and their false perceptions of Islam. I hope to investigate the aspects that are often neglected surrounding the life of Fatima Zahra alaihi salam and to understand the idea presented in both the Shi'i and Sunni school of thoughts. Did Fatima Zahra alaihi salam go through oppression to shape the people of this day and age? Is there a story behind her death? And is there a reason for her grave to be hidden? The great moon of Islam, Fatima Zahra, peace be upon her, is the greatest and best lady that Allah had ever created on this planet Earth. She is the chief of the moon of the world. Sayyidat Nisa al-Alamin, salamullahi alaihi salam. Now, with regard to her martyrdom and Shahada, there are different sources in the Islamic books and textures in which indicates that this great lady was murdered and killed and she did not pass away naturally, a normal death. She passed away at the age of 18, so young, and she was in her best health. Now, if we begin with the sources of the non-Shia scholars, when they clearly mention this calamity, this tragedy against the house of the Prophet of Allah, the house of Ahlul Bayt, alaihum salam, this divine house of Ahlul Bayt, alaihum salam, in which was attacked Ahlul Bayt, alaihum salam, they have the sanctity and the asma and purity. No one has the right to enter without their permission, but sadly the enemies of Ahlul Bayt, they entered without the permission of Ahlul Bayt, alaihum salam, and they did what they did as a result. Let's begin with the narration of the non-Shia, i.e. the Ahlul Sunnah scholars. So we begin with one of the scholars in the third century of Hijrah, Tariqat Tabari, for example, in his third volume. He mentions clearly the attack on the door of Fatima, alaihum salam. He says that, I'll just take part of the narration.  They say to that man who threatened to burn the house of Fatima, alaihum salam, that in the house there is Fatima. He responds, so what? Even though I will burn it. He was insisting on burning the house of Fatima, alaihum salam, and he did so. In the other narration, historical narration by another scholar from the Sunni sect with the name of Ibn Qutaybah in the book of Al-Imamah wa Siasah, he again mentions the attack on this sacred door. He mentions it on his first volume, again he calls for the wood to be gathered and brought before the door of Fatima, alaihum salam, In this narration, he brings the name of the person who ordered to burn the house of Fatima, and that is Umar, according to this Sunni scholar, Ibn Qutaybah in Al-Imamah wa Siasah.  And then the historian, he brings the name Umar, that he threatened to burn the house over Ahlul Bayt, alaihum salam, and over Fatima. As-salamu alayhi alayhi. Indeed, Allah is angry when Fatima gets angry, and is pleased when Fatima is pleased and satisfied. So Allah is angry when she is angry, and she is satisfied and pleased, then Allah is pleased and satisfied with the satisfaction and ridah of Fatima, alaihum salam. Great Hadith, great narration, and it is narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari, one of the most important Sunni books, that Allah gets angry in one sight, if Fatima gets angry and he gets satisfaction and pleased when Fatima is pleased. And then in the same book, Al-Bukhari mentions that Fatima, alaihum salam, she passed away while she was angry on Abu Bakr. And Fatima died while she was standing on Abu Bakr, imagine. So if Fatima is angry, then Allah is angry. So if that person, Fatima is angry upon that person, would that person deserve to be in paradise? The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and his pure family, states with regard to his daughter Fatima, peace be upon him, that Allah does not get angry upon Fatima, and he is pleased when she is pleased. Sheikh Abbas Panjw is an English lecturer that recites lectures regarding the tragedies of the Ahlul Bayt. I spoke to him to analyze the oppression of Fatima to Zahra, alaihum salam, and to understand her stance within the Muslim community. In regards to the decision of Seyda Fatima, alaihum salam, to be buried at night, whether she chose to be buried at night as a gesture of modesty, this is a notion that is not entirely accurate. What we do understand from historical text is that during the times of Jahiliyyah, whenever a death used to happen, and particularly the death of a woman, her funeral procession, her dead body, even though it would be covered up in a shroud, it would be placed on something like an open stretcher and then taken to the graveyard for burial. Therefore, all the people attending the funeral procession would have a glimpse at the body, and even though it was covered in a shroud, it was very possible in the way that the woman's body, or in the way that any dead body is wrapped within the shroud, the features of a body may become evident, the shape of the body, the length of the body. All these things become very apparent for all the people that are there. And what we do know is that Sayyidah Fatimah al-Zahra, alaihi salam, was at the peak of modesty and was at the peak of hijab such that she liked the way she was unseen and just like the way she was the manifestation of modesty and hijab in its entirety, she was absolutely concerned about in the event of her death, she did not want to be the object of everybody's eye in order for people to see her body, just like the way she had remained covered while she was alive, she wanted to remain covered even after her death. And on this basis, she asked Asma bint Umayus and she told her that in the event of my death, I would like for you to construct for me like a coffin such that if her body was placed in the coffin, she would be protected and people would not be able to see her body in that way. So when we talk about modesty, the issue of modesty is in regards to the construction of a taboot or a na'ash or her blessed body being put in a coffin such that the general people from the Sahaba and them would not see her actual physical body. But the reason for Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra insisting on being buried at night in the darkness of the night, this in itself resembled a protest. The decision of Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra to be buried at night was a protest and we understand this from historical texts. So if we refer back to the text and I read this to you by way of example to assert our point, this is found in the text Rawdat al-Wa'idin and in Bihar al-Anwar and the same indication is made in Ila al-Shara'ih in Kitab al-Manakib, in Kitab al-Misbah, Kitab al-Kafi of Sheikh al-Kolayni and Amali of Sheikh Mufid. The narration goes like this. Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra al-Hassalam is talking to Ameer al-Mu'minin Ali ibn Abi Talib giving her the final will. Where she says to him, I give you my final wish, my final wasiyah, my final testimony, that my will is that no one should be allowed to come to my funeral from amongst those who oppressed me and from amongst those who usurped my right for indeed she goes on to say they are my enemies and the enemies of Rasulullah. So we understand the fact that Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra was buried in the night and the fact that nobody except from four or apart from four or five who were approved by Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra, none of the ashab of Rasulullah attended the funeral of the only daughter of Rasulullah and she used this as a form of protest. She goes on to say or she goes on to say I do not want any of them, neither do I want any of their followers to pray over my body. She did not want them to be a part of their funeral prayers. Salatul Mayit, she did not want them to be a part of the burial process. As a protest for the injustices that they performed against her. She requested Amir al-Mu'mineen as a part of a final will to be buried in the darkness of the night and to not allow any one of those people who oppressed her and those who followed the oppressors. She did not want even those people who were neutral in this issue of her right and the oppression of Amir al-Mu'mineen, none of them to be present at her funeral as a way to protest of this great injustice that was done to Islam. Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra's oppression in the sense that upon the martyrdom of Rasulullah this land of Fadak that was gifted to her by the Holy Prophet of Islam upon the command of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the ownership of this land was usurped from her and the people who were employed to work on that land were then taken away from this land and total ownership of the land of Fadak was taken. Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra appealed this decision and appealed this move and she categorized this as an injustice and an act that is contradictory to the teachings of the Quran in terms of even through the door of inheritance. So therefore, when we talk about the oppression of Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra it is not a personal issue over a personal inheritance between Haran Abu Bakr ibn Abi Kahafa. La, this is an issue that symbolizes oppression against an individual A who is infallible and the nature of the injustice is that it is a violation of the Quran itself. So when Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra comes forward with her oppression or fights the case for her oppression it is only because it denotes the fact that a person who claims to be the Khalifa of Allah the Khalifa of Rasul Allah, this person despite this claim is trampling upon the teachings of the Quran. So fight that Maat al-Zahra, Ali Hassan's oppression, this is what it symbolizes. Her oppression symbolizes the oppression of Amir al-Mu'mineen in the fact that his rightful position as the Khalifa of Allah and the Khalifa of Rasul Allah this position was usurped from him. The oppression of Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra denotes the oppression of Amir al-Mu'mineen. The oppression of Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra denotes the oppression of Rasul Allah. The oppression of Seyda Fatimah al-Zahra symbolizes the oppression of the religion. The fact that she was oppressed denotes the fact that Islam as a religion was hijacked at that time and therefore we see the seriousness of this issue because of the implications of what happened in regards to the religion. Despite the circumstances she faced she remained strong and stood firm in her protest and demonstrates the attributes necessary for us to respond to various types of aggressions in a manner befitting a perfect Muslim. Many use her as a moral model in the way they conduct themselves in both positive and negative situations. I met up with sister Leila Mehdi to learn the effects of Islamophobia on her as an individual and how society perceives her. Have you ever faced oppression by the Western community because of your beliefs or because of how you dress maybe? There's been around 37 attacks since 2014 done by ISIS and these are always portrayed in the media as something done by Muslims and Islam and they always show pictures of a Hajabi or a bearded man. Even if you put in on Google just ISIS attacks, the first hit you will get up will be a Wikipedia page and it's called Islamic Terrorism in Europe. It's literally referred to as Islamic. Your religion is suddenly linked to something so negative like terrorism and skipping the whole discussion about whether it's true or not, whether there are Muslims or not, all of that. At the end of the day, this is a type of oppression because it is affecting a whole community but it's also affecting us as individuals one by one. I remember when the Brussels attack happened in 2016, I was at work and we first got the news, we were watching the TV and when we got the news, I felt like everyone was looking at me and one of the people there said, how do you feel about this Leila? And I remember it felt like I had to justify the situation, I had to justify what was done and which in fact it's not the case but that's a type of oppression just being misunderstood and mispresented. So you feel your hijab is one of the reasons why it might emphasize on this oppression that you're facing or people, Muslim women in general? I mean the hijab is the first thing anyone sees. It's literally like you're bearing a flag that says, I'm Muslim. For a man it's probably the beard but it's a bit more general for men because other religions can also have beard or like Sikhs can look like Muslim but for women wearing the hijab except for maybe nuns that might look similar mostly it will tell you that you're a Muslim and that will cause people to react in a certain way. And it's a very human thing that what you see, you just connect the dots so you see terrorism, you see killing, you see blood and then you see hijab, you see Islam, you see you know and that's why in your brain you will just connect this picture, this image of this person looking like this to something bad and to fear and maybe not educated people that have, that maybe know a Muslim or have a Muslim friend or neighbor but in general there are people out there that might look at you and just get scared like if I give you an example of another situation it was the Rose event, the Rose campaign and I was giving a rose to a person and he said no I would never take a rose from a Muslim and I said what's wrong with the fact that I'm Muslim I'm just giving a rose to share happiness because it's the Prophet's birthday and it's Christmas and he said because you are, you're sharing an ideology that oppresses women and has terrorism so he referred to my religion as an ideology you know and it's just, it's all things negative but you cannot really, you can't say that it's their fault it's also how the media is portraying us so I feel like if I was in their position I would probably also be fearful Okay so when you're like in these kind of cases and when you have to face how do you apply Fatma al-Sihra al-Salam in these matters so what kind of aspects do you use from her to help you stand up to this kind of oppression? Fatma al-Sihra is like an inspiration definitely I think in this situation it is not to water down your beliefs so what I mean by that is it's so easy when you feel like the odd one out or when you feel like you're looked at in a negative way it's very easy to change yourself it's very easy to, to you know watering down what you believe in you know changing your hijab, changing your, you know the way you speak with people about your religion and maybe just internally as well you know being a bit less proud, being a bit more doubtful I think from Fatma al-Sihra what we can learn is how to stand up for what you believe in what you believe in so for example like when Fatma al-Sihra when Fadak was taken away from her she spoke up she has the khutbah al-Fadakiyah which is so known now because she stood up and she said what she believed in or when they attacked her house and they had, she knew they had their went in mentality so what if Fatma al-Sihra is there we're so stronger, we can we can beat her, we can swear at her we can you know, we're more powerful she knew they had that mentality but she still stood up for what she knew was right when they dragged Imam Ali to the masjid and forced him to do bay'ah like you know she stood up she went and spoke up you know even though she knew she was in the less powerful position in that moment she did not water down her belief and I feel like we can so use that in our day and age because of the negative light that is portrayed upon the religion Muslims in many countries have become a subject of stereotypes based on their clothing or the way they act many of the western societies tend to generalize Muslims to be terrorists refusing to educate themselves about the true Islam that portrays nothing but peace and equality mainly I faced oppression when I left university and I started looking for employment and I was offered the opportunity to work abroad teaching English to foreign students and I was approached directly by this particular company and I said to them straight up that I'm a practicing Muslim I observe the hijab I pray five times a day I do all the wajibahs so it wasn't a shock to the system for them they already knew but they said to me oh no that's okay we respect people of all religions and all beliefs and cultures so I wasn't worried and I got on a plane I went over there and unfortunately from day one I was discriminated against very heavily to the point where I couldn't do the job that I was trying to do and even though I wasn't doing anything wrong and even though my students were they were progressing very well they were so fixated on my faith on how I looked differently from them that in the end I had to walk away from that job the one day I just turned to them and I said I'm not going to be treated like this and I left I got on a plane and I came back home when I arrived at the office in this particular country they took me in straight away and told me take off your head scarf now this was before I wore the abaya and the chadda every day and I would just wear the scarf with western clothes and I was very stubborn I said no I told you about this to begin with and the fact that you are worrying so much about a scarf that's on my head when it's not going to affect how I am as a teacher and I was always going to be professional I was never going to sit down there and preach Islam to these children that wasn't my job the thing that I wanted to do was just teach them English so yes the hijab was a very central part and the fact that I was very stubborn about it and I wouldn't compromise on it they really didn't like that and that was the beginning of kind of the end with that job as such Fatima Sahra, alaihi salam she's such an inspiration and a role model to me and the fact she inspired me in that situation because I knew that she never compromised on her hijab she loved her hijab and was devoted to it for example there's a beautiful narration that I'll never forget reading where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi he came up to Fatima Sahra, alaihi salam and he said to her, my daughter I saw that you had a blind man come and visit you and you put a curtain between him and you why is that? and she said to him, Ya Rasulallah even though he is blind I can still see him and he can smell my fragrance so that is why I put the curtain between us even though she was fully covered and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi he said, I testify that you are from me and so many other ways Fatima Sahra, alaihi salam during her life showed her commitment to the hijab and probably one of the most powerful instances is when she was attacked in her own home and she stood behind the door even though she was covered but she didn't want the men to see her that was the quality of her modesty and her shyness, her devotion to the hijab throughout my life with many of the struggles that I've gone through, I've related to Fatima Sahra a lot whenever I've been out on the streets and I've had people stare at me or I've had people say particularly rude comments I remember how Fatima Sahra, alaihi salam she went from being protected and loved by the people of Medina to being a shadow the fact that these people who claim to be Muslims some of them they had the audacity to hit the face of Fatima Sahra, alaihi salam and when I think of that and how brave she was in the face of that it helps me to go out into society with my head held high because I think if the lady of light can do it then I have no excuse it is apparent that women face the brunt of the prejudice against Muslims however men also face stereotyping within their communities through their religious garb and the way they conduct themselves with our knowledge of the prejudice that she has faced individuals fear to express themselves as a follower of Imam alaihi salam brother Minhal is an example of a male that has experienced negativity in his local community and used the lessons of Fatima Sahra, alaihi salam that's the way he approaches these situations so I've been the subject of many threats in the community for example when predominantly the area that I live in is surrounded by Wahhabi mosques so you know you always have these people that stand around and give they call it dawah and some of them are pretty angry and when they come up to you and they tell you the first thing they ask you is what's your name and I think that's the main thing because when you have a Shi'a name sometimes when you have those people you try to conceal your name in front of them because you never know what they could do to you so I feel like that's a kind of oppression that I've faced within the community the name emphasizes on this oppression because when you look at my name and its origins many of the enemies of the Shi'a school of thought don't like this name because of a certain personality that was loyal to al-Muhammad but when we talk about for example the dijdaasha and everything other schools in Islam or even the outside community for example if we start with the other schools in Islam their dijdaasha it has to be above the ankle whereas for us we tend to put it below the ankle because it doesn't look knee and tidy so from there they distinguish between a Shi'a and a Sunni the outside community they have this big stereotype of Muslims who wear this dijdaasha they stereotype them for a terrorist or someone who's going to do something but you kind of have to deal with that by showing them that you're not that person that they see on TV there's no doubt that the oppression of Fadah al-Mitazahra aleyhi salam breaks the heart of a believer when we look at her miscarriage when we look at how she was slapped it angers the person inside and when you have someone outside community coming and telling you that these people are good people at first you get quite angry because you know what they've done you know what they did after the death of the Prophet peace be upon him and his family but I also think that there's an element of where you need to educate them because sometimes they may not know what had happened their imams in their mosques every Friday may not shed light on these kinds of topics and I think also you need to be able to study their books in order to bring them direct evidence from their most trusted books and to prove your thoughts so when we look at for example Surah 2 verse 153 it says indeed Allah is with those who are patient now when Fadah al-Mitazahra was oppressed and arguably it's one of the biggest of oppressions that anyone could ever face she was patient throughout it and she showed us that Allah has a plan for everything so I think patience is the key thing and educating the opposing party in order to shed light on your religion brother Mahdi Taqi a youth lecturer in London provides reasoning for the death of the Prophet's daughter and what we can understand of it today because I'm still young I guess I haven't faced that much oppression from the outside community it's probably because I haven't really had that much you could say exposure to uni life or to the workplace because I'm still young however there's always some form of oppression or some form of restriction some may say with the title or the label of being a Shi'an Muslim particularly if you open the media or you see the news or you see anything you always see that there's a lot of Islamophobia targeting Muslims especially youthful Muslims who have to be integrated with our community every time you open the news for example you'll see a Muslim man killed him and Muslim man killed her and it hasn't really given us the best image but this is when Fadah al-Mitazahra's life becomes a lesson for us this is where Fadah al-Mitazahra stand against injustice because something that we can relate to so the same way that some may say we're being restricted because of our beliefs Fadah al-Mitazahra was also they tried to restrict her Fadah al-Mitazahra was this colossal figure in a society that didn't really want her that didn't really want women specifically that didn't want the daughter of the Prophet to be as successful or as influential as she was however one of the ways they tried to restrict her for example was they tried to take Fadah away from her one of the ways they tried to restrict her was try by crushing her between the door and the nail one of the ways they tried to restrict her was through their repression and through their propaganda against her however Fadah al-Mitazahra teaches us is that no matter how much you think you are restricted no matter how much you think you are oppressed you should always stand up for your own rights Fadah al-Mitazahra went out although she was a woman in that society she went out and she stood up against all the people who took Fadah away from her and she gave a speech which must have rattled them a speech which confused them they had never seen anything like that before so when we see these lessons from Fadah al-Mitazahra when we see her bravery we have no excuse anymore we have no reason to not stand up against these injustices and this oppression that sometimes we may face and this is where Fadah al-Mitazahra teaches us to stand up against anyone that tries to restrict you yes I do believe that there was a reason for the death of Fadah al-Mitazahra as I believe that the deaths of all the imams and all the actions that they undertook had the wisdom and had the reason behind it as we know our imams are all infallible they thought everything they did would have had a sort of lesson for us and the lesson in my opinion that Fadah al-Mitazahra taught us was that she set the standards for what is right and what is wrong if we see Imam Hussain many years later did the exact same thing he went out to Karbala and he showed people who was right and who was wrong he set a clear line between who was Shimmer and who was Imam al-Hussain he set who was on the haq and who wasn't on the haq and Fadah al-Mitazahra had done that before so nowadays when we always get questioned we always get scrutinized why do you follow these certain individuals why do you follow these certain people we will tell them because they set who was right they showed us Fadah al-Mitazahra stood behind the door and the Prophet said that Fadah al-Mitazahra is a part of me and whoever angers has angered me and whoever has angered me has angered Allah SWT so I asked them and I just wonder how can we follow someone who has angered Allah SWT while the person that we follow was the one who was busy taking care of the Prophet's body taking care of the Prophet's burial and of his death ceremony so that's what Fadah al-Mitazahra stood for she stood behind that door and she sent us a message and she told us the barometer for who was right and who was wrong yes I do believe it's very important to understand the reason for Fadah al-Mitazahra's death and one of these reasons that it was part of Allah SWT's plan so as we know Allah SWT has planned everything and when we see the oppression that the Ahlul Bayt go through we tend to be sometimes a bit confused about why Allah SWT would put some people which he loves so much under so much oppression the oppression that Fadah al-Mitazahra had gone through is a test to her from Allah SWT it's a test to her to prove to everyone and to all the Muslims why she is the role model that we follow because if we wouldn't have followed her if she didn't die in that way then these people who would have killed her then these people who did oppress her would never be exposed but now it's just set out Fadah al-Mitazahra's whole message Fadah al-Mitazahra's whole reason was to show the people who is right and who is wrong and that's part of Allah SWT's plan as we know Allah SWT is the one who is all wise and the one who is all knowing and he knows the plans and he sees the great images that we can't see and part of his image was Fadah al-Mitazahra and maybe even we could say that the Fadah al-Mitazahra incident had raised the Shia that we are today maybe her incident had kickstarted Karbala anyway maybe the Shia of Imam Hussain that had helped him that day maybe Fadah al-Mitazahra this incident had put that fire in their heart so that they have the love of the Ahlul Bayt and that fire that was started back then is still in our hearts right now and that is why we love Fadah al-Mitazahra oppression that Muslims face today can be seen in the life of Sayyidah Fadah al-Mitazahra and dare I say can be traced to Arab history whether it is taking their right to wealth their right to receive an education even a right to a political opinion Muslims can empathize with Sayyidah Fadah al-Mitazahra Sayyidah Fatima showed us how to address those who may want to cause us harm and come to us with negativity we stand up against injustice and stand firm with our beliefs Fatima al-Zahra al-Salam showed us how to rise to the occasion take a stand and demand what is Haq and the youth of our generation can learn a great deal from the lady of light


The moonlight is shown on the open pumpkin field. The farm was the picture of Serenity until a piercing shout shattered the silence. Move out! yelled Alpha. The four MTF agents spread across the field. There are assault rifles and flashlights casting light on the fully grown pumpkins. Why are we even here? You haven't even told us what we're looking for, Chief. Question Delta. Uh, well, I don't rightfully know, but a half dozen people go and miss in here and every surrounded pumpkin farm being torn apart during their best season doesn't seem to add up right, Chief responded. Just look for something out of the ordinary. They scavenge the field for hours, looking for anything that could be construed as anomalous. A scarecrow that strongly resembled Delta, an extremely angry coyote in a pumpkin that looks suspiciously like a basketball, but did not bounce like one, didn't really apply.    Alpha turned around and began to march in the direction of the transport. Be fitting given the data and all. We might even be able to catch the tail end of the Halloween party, cheered Delta. The rest of the team turned to look at the newest member of their team.  Nobody goes to sight parties. Directors always find some way to make it about how we don't do enough work.  Beta grumbled. I mean, a party is a party, right? Damn it. Tossed out Delta, interrupted by his foot stepping on one of the smaller pumpkins.  Boss, check this out. Pumpkins like, mutated or something. Indeed, the pumpkin had shattered from Delta's steel-toed boot, spilling on a mix of various candies and sweets. The troops were fascinated. Bag up a sample of the Snickers for transport, Alpha ordered. Just before a long screech broke through the field. The members were ready in an instant, even Delta, rifles raised and backs against each other. They had been thoroughly trained in high-stakes tactics, which is why they didn't hesitate when the first pumpkin leaped out of the ground and rushed at them on its spindly wooden legs three shots later, it was on the ground, dropping a blood-red Twizzler rope with it. Is that it? Only two? That's Delta. Cuzzled. Good job, kid. Now you jinxed us. Snarled Gamma. As if to punctuate his words, another shriek rang out and pumpkins began rising from their vines. A few swayed menacingly, while others wasted no time in charging the squad. Bullets rang out like rain, each member contributing their own style. Alpha methodically aimed at a lone pumpkin and burst it, then moved on to the next target. Beta swept his gun side to side, shattering any pumpkin beasts that wandered too close and showering the battlefield with enough candy to give an elephant a sugar rush. Gamma was firing like a madman with no one for ammunition or accuracy, reveling in the sugar lust. Delta tried to help, but there was a combination of his first real ambush, or the stress, or perhaps his gun jamming, for some reason chose to resort to holding his rifle like a bat and crushing anything that came too close. In one instance, Gamma's leg, resulting in a swift and light kick to the chest. The team worked their way through the dozens of small pumpkin monsters, whether by shooting or smashing until the shots silenced, and they were surrounded by dozens of small fruit-shaped corpses in enough milky ways, Twizzlers, nerds, Hershey's, sweet tarts, and pixie sticks to open a store, as well as enough apples to open a small food cart at least. What?  Wide-eyed and shell-shocked, the others simply laughed. You'll get used to it, kid.  His diatrav about reading fine print on contracts was cut off by the ground rumbling. They said to themselves, as a gigantic version of the pumpkins they had just eviscerated, raised itself out of the dirt on spindly legs. Fuck. The team opened fire, but the pumpkin abomination's hide reflected the mass of the bullets. A handful breached its shell, opening boreholes from which copious amounts of candy began to flow. The beast trundled forward, reaching out with one of its legs and driving it directly through Gamma's stomach. Gamma screamed before being lifted up in the air by a six-meter tall fruit. The pair looked at each other, the squad still releasing a hail of bullets, and for a moment Gamma stopped screaming. Then he burst into a shower of candy. Jesus! Alfa, as he was pelted with the sugary remains of his soldier, the pumpkin used the opportunity to dive forward and seize beta within its grip, instantaneously exploding him into sweets. Alfa and Delta backed up as the pumpkin advanced on them, pushing through the various twizzlers and three musketeers that half of the team had become. For a moment, all was lost, then Alfa tore something from his shoulder. Stealing himself, he charged forward and left directly into the maw of the monster. The pumpkin, rather pleased with this turn of events, happily swallowed Alfa. For a moment it stopped its advance as it chewed on the chief, then it exploded violently, as the grenade Alfa was holding, detonated within its stomach. Delta shielded its eyes, as a hailstorm of candy fell upon them, but was still thrown back by the force of the blast. He sat in the field as he was showered with enough glucose to give 6-8-2 diabetes, and watched the sun rise over the field, surrounded by what may or may not have been the remains of his colleagues. Delta walked through the underground security corridor, leading to site 39, the echo of his boots becoming more and more apparent with each step. His wide-eyed face was impassive as he scanned his keycard and pushed open the door. The Halloween party was dying down at this point, a dozen odd researchers mingling and holding cups from some non-alcoholic punch as corny-themed music played over the speaker. The wall across from the door was dominated by a large banner with the words, Happy Halloween, along with skeletons and pumpkins, the rest of the group finally noticed him. Hey Jeff, you missed the whole party. We had a candy trade, and we're the rest of the guys. Asks Senior Researcher Smiths, Delta simply keeled over, threw up.