This is the VOA Special English Technology Report. Social media networks have come to play an important part in the political unrest in Syria. The Syrian government barred most media from the country after the unrest began a year ago. But that has not stopped Syrians from getting out information to the rest of the world. Many Syrians have turned to social media like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to help spread reports about what is happening in the country. Hundreds, possibly thousands of videos have appeared on YouTube and other social media sites in the past few weeks. With few foreign reporters in Syria, social media have become a major tool for telling the world what is happening. Many news organizations have had to depend on reports and videos from people they call citizen journalists. Emanuel Esposti is a blogger in Britain who has been studying the use of such videos by foreign media. She says it is very difficult to know where a video has actually come from or who made it or why. In early March, Syria's deputy oil minister resigned to join the opposition. In a video on YouTube, Abdo Husamedin had a message for the government of President Bashar al-Assad. He said it had, in his words, brought a year of sadness and misery to those you claim to be your people. He also said the government had deprived its people of basic needs and humanity and brought the country to the edge of disaster. Abdo Husamedin was the highest official to leave the government since the unrest began. In the video, he urged other Syrian officials to resign. Syrian opposition activist Abdi Hakim Ejburi also knows about the importance of social media. He used social media to contact other opponents of the government. He says many of them wanted to hold protests like those that took place in Egypt and Tunisia. At first, we started using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to get a group of young people and activists together, he says. And from that group, we started organizing. In his hometown, activists started writing anti-government graffiti on walls. Abdi Hakim Ejburi says that as the protests grew, he was captured and tortured. He escaped to Lebanon like thousands of other Syrians. He says there were lots of people in his hometown that he did not even know were part of the opposition movement or sympathetic to that movement. In his words, if it hadn't been for the social media, we wouldn't have become united. For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villareal.


All right. Good morning, everybody Thank you for having me over exchange for media group. It's a pleasure to be here and It's even better to not you know have to ask the questions of am I audible or am I on mute or apologize for it and all of that It's great to be here in person and Deep respect mr. Tiak Rajan for the Phenomenal insights and the thought-provoking comments that you had on on brand building as a passionate brand builder myself. I Resonate with a lot of what you said on building brands versus driving tactical sales And we at Procter and Gamble are fully committed as you know to Building brands and we hope to share a few of those learnings as well today in our chat so Briefly about myself. My name is Girish. I've been with PNG for the last almost 16 years now As I tried to fix the slides Yeah, that's who I am So that's me I passed out of I am I'm the bad in 2007 and PNG is the only company I worked for That's my wife Divya who works with Netflix and that's our son Shreyas Who's about ten years old? and That little thing is a movie that I had a chance to co-produce it's on Amazon Prime And that's a YouTube channel that I run on the weekends which talks about cinema and passion for Cinema from the olden times as you can see I've had a chance To experience a variety of assignments in PNG within India as well as a few abroad I had an opportunity to work on our a diaper brand called Pampers at the time that we were launching it into India And I did that role also had a chance to work on our sanitary napkins brand whisper So did that for a few years as well a decade ago Then had a chance to work on a few more businesses across a pack and Middle East and Africa And I've been back in India leading Brand operations for the past couple of years Here in India Again honor and privilege to be part of the group of speakers here and to be with you all today, and I hope to share a Few thoughts on how we can enable technology work harder for brand-building as a brand-builder myself and and sort of also seek help on how we can make that do even better All right, so just to get started on a lighter note I'm here to reflect a little bit on change and all that's changed and And and focus on How technology has really changed the way we brand builders do our work That was me a few years ago when I was super proud of the blackberry phones that the office gave me And it was a really cool thing back then and sharing blackberry pins And if somebody gave you the blackberry pin that was a moment of pride, right? So I was that generation and and on the right is Is not far into the future right? I think this half of this is already a reality today We are we are probably watching ten times the amount of advertising that we used to watch a decade ago And that in itself is a question to ask when it and it comes to mr. Diagraja's point on building brands, you know We were subject to let's say X amount of ads a decade ago and today that number is probably a ten times Therefore as a brand-builder, what does it take to create quality advertising? What does it take as a brand-builder to cut through the clutter and reach the right consumer in the right manner? I think these are all thought-provoking questions to ponder for us in the industry a few numbers back it up, I think these slides may be a Couple of weeks old. So these numbers may already be outdated by the time that we are talking today But largely the point is that digital adoption is no longer the future, right? We are already here and it's already here and now And This is already this has been basically driven by a combination of factors, right? The fact that India has the lowest cost Smartphones in the in the world or close to that the fact that India by far has the lowest data costs in the world And the adoption that came with that and we all know co-covid pushed us forward I know many years as we skipped and Accelerated on the path of digital adoption I'm convinced that as as 5g, you know gets bigger and as it gets wider adoption This is only going to accelerate But the larger point is this is a trend that is that is here to stay and grow Unlike Dalgona coffee or whatever which came and went and we don't know what that is anymore What doesn't change though are some of the fundamentals of brand-building, right? We at PNG, you know keep saying this often And I think we should keep saying this often that what really sets us apart or what really matters, you know As a business leader is really deep understanding of consumers Right at we believe at PNG and we keep saying consumer is boss and we truly truly mean that What has changed in some ways? For the better is the ability to understand consumers even better than what it was a decade ago When I started the car in the company, you know a consumer would be defined as Male 30 years old lives in the top six metros in the country And that's kind of the basis for then media targeting and and how we went and served that consumer with the right advertising and Fast-forward to today. We're able to get a much deeper and much granular understanding of that consumer Looking at the person's shopping behaviors looking at the person's media consumption habits, you know durable ownership I know you know this person is You know a parent of a newborn kid owns a washing machine Has her own car? Reads ABC, you know articles online purchases these kind of products online So all these give her a much deeper and much more granular understanding of that consumer We should hopefully then lead to the right advertising going to the right consumer at the right receptive moments And that's a kind of a win-win for all parties involved in this so what I want to do in the next 10 minutes or so is to just share a few examples of How we try and bring that alive at PNG starting with the brand that's closest to my heart Which is Pampers, which I had the opportunity to work on for more than a decade It may seem pretty intuitive now It may seem like there is no rocket science in any of this and and there is no rocket science in any of this So that we are all on the same page, but We did operate very differently, you know, even as recently as as five six years ago, right? Now what was the way in which we advertised to our diaper brand to people who had babies a Five six years ago. We would say I want to reach, you know female 25 to 35, you know living in the top cities in India blah blah blah and reach her on television Right, that's how we define the job to be done And that's how all of our media dollars were invested, right? Now. It's no again. It's no, you know surprise that Nine out of ten people who are watching television probably don't have a baby in a diaperable, you know age group, right? So that's just millions and millions of media dollars that are reaching consumers who basically give us no Revenue or or or or any short-term? Returns whatsoever, right? So it took a smart brand manager and PNG to come and ask the question on you know Can we leverage technology to make this sharper and to make this better and today, you know Where we've moved to is a place where we say, you know, I want to reach parents, right? You know a few years ago. It used to be I want to reach moms I think now we've evolved to a much better place in society and we say I want to reach parents and we say I Want to go and understand leveraging technology and leveraging signals that I get from across my first-party data as well as our Technology partners, how do I go spend all of my media investments on a baby diaper brand? You know only with people who have kids in that age group, right? I think it's a it's a big shift for us to make and that's helped us Essentially do a lot more with a lot less investment, right? So it's not about cutting investments or it's not about pulling back money or saving on costs It's really about making investments work harder and and using common sense to arrive at some of these simple Things that now look intuitive, but five years ago. We didn't even think that this was possible for us to do it so that's one example of of what we feel very very proud of on Putting the consumer at the center and leveraging technology to essentially make Business outcomes better with the consumer in mind The other example I want to talk about is another brand that we have which is a very similar one Which you know, I've also had the opportunity to work on which is MVPR Room fresheners and car fresheners, right? It's a it's a smaller business, but it's a very very interesting and high-potential business Here again, right? I think we use the term all all digital Brand builders or digital marketers use the term, you know The era of spray and pray is no longer, you know is all behind us. We need to go target it and all of that I think this brand was truly a brand where you sprayed, you know all over the room or all around the car Again, it took us a very simple question of if we sell a car freshener Should we not know if the person receiving the piece of advertising owns a car or not, right? That's a very very basic question that we need to ask it sounds intuitive again today But again a few years ago we were saying oh We need to reach male consumers in top metros in the 25 to 40 age group or whatever it is Right, and again the data came back and told us that less than 30% of these people own the car Right, and that's a massive waste of media investment It's the wrong product to be talking to these consumers about therefore again now leveraging technology first-party data And our technology partners we're able to move that number from a 30% hit rate to about an 85 percent hit rate So I know that when I'm talking about a car freshener the consumer who's viewing that advertising Actually has a car and actually owns a car right that huge change in the way we operate brand building But again, I think a good example of making technology work with the business question at the center with the consumer at the center Now again, and I believe that this is a trend that you know We need to continue to be careful about on making sure that the decisions are made with consumers at the center and consumer questions and consumer logic at The center it's very very easy. I feel to get seduced by the technology possibilities out there that they could be a lot of nice to do and and kind of Fancy so-called things that we could be working on but it's important to keep the consumer at the center on this one The third one is a is a more recent example that I had a chance to visit a few villages, you know in upcountry Uttar Pradesh As recently as two weeks back and it's mind-blowing when you see it, you know with your own eyes How digital has really really transformed the way consumers live? In in rural India as we speak today Right the numbers are there for you to for you to for you to read But what I'm interested in is the is the pictures that you see on the right These are actually phones of consumers in rural India that I had a chance to just have a look at as I was talking to them about Their daily lives and their media consumption behaviors and so on a consumer spent anywhere between four to five hours per day on their phones It's crazy when you think about it, you know, this would this would be you know Nowhere near the reality, you know five six years ago and it's mind-blowing what that is done to digital right out of 15 consumers I met, you know, three of them had a television at home Right every single one that I met had a phone and and and these are the kind of apps that there you see on Consumers phones in rural India as we speak today, right? I mean even Netflix is there at my wife is thrilled, but you know, even the most expensive of apps is sitting there on phones In rural India and that therefore obviously has changed the way we approach brand-building with the rural consumer Earlier rural consumers were always Kind of treated as I design everything for for urban India I put it on the TV and TV spills over into rural India as well And then kind of I get a lot of reach and it's efficient and I reach the rural consumer I think this kind of is thought-provoking because it puts a lot of questions in our head on how do you start designing for the Rural consumer, how do you start, you know, reaching that rural consumer specifically? Via digital via mobile, which is where they're spending more time versus spending on TV and gives Rise to a new paradigm of brand-building that's possible now because technology allows us to do that Right what we've done is obviously, you know Working with all of these partners to try and reach the rural consumer with the right messaging Leveraging technology what we also try to do on a few of our brands is one other Extremely important stakeholder for the rural consumer, which is the shopkeeper in that village, right? So what we're trying to do and we're learning on this one and all of us learn along the way We're trying to basically try and drive conversations At the store between the consumer and the shopkeeper, you know That could eventually lead to conversion and trial for procter and gamble products across categories and we've seen some early encouraging science on What this has allowed us to do as well, right? And this is leveraging simple phones simple conversations, you know calls between the retailer and consumer and all of those But exciting possibilities as I said, which technology is made possible For us what I want to leave As I go forward on this one is a few Thought starters on how we see technology really helping us as we go forward on this journey a few things that we are Keen to learn more on and pilot and learn our way through would be one around hyperlocal, right now We keep saying Mumbai is a you know pot boiler of cultures and it's cosmopolitan and you know so many different People co-exist in the in the city and so on so it's obviously time to start asking questions on Does everybody in Mumbai? Receive the same advertising does you know the the consumer in Bandra Should they be looking at different advertising versus the consumer in and they reverse as the consumer in I don't know wherever So those are questions that I think are problems that I think are logical next steps on this journey of personalization You know one person one. Well, I do want to leave one pet pee on this one on on personalization, right? I'm a Tamil guy who grew up in Chennai and I can I can speak Hindi a little bit But I'm I'm comfortable in Tamil and English. I see Marathi advertising all the time on YouTube when I open YouTube here in Mumbai Right, and it's just mind-blowing that you know where we are and having having been through decades of learning and growing I still see you know advertising in a language that I don't really know and those are I think questions that all of us should sort of push for to say how can we essentially target and Reach consumers in in in a ways that they are more comfortable with right the other one on on personalization is really Also about reaching consumers again leveraging what we know about that consumer. So on a room freshener product There could be many different reasons why? Your house is not smelling great, right? Maybe You have a pet at home and you know the pets come with their The things that they do at home So do you have different communication for different cohorts of consumers all under a big brand idea to the point of brand building? One big idea, but essentially targeting different consumers in different ways Is another one that I think would be very very useful and important going forward for us as brand builders and the last one on on my asks is as Many technology partners or come to us and and offer solutions to us as PNG My ask would be to really look at the problems to be solved as business problems You know versus you know to put technology ahead of of the business problem to be solved, right? I look at at least in my simple mind I look at the option opportunities as either we try and reach more consumers or reach new consumers We try and drive significantly stronger effectiveness with consumers in terms of outcomes in terms of brand recall in terms of conversions Whatever be the measures or we try and get significantly more efficient in how we spend our money, right? It's one of these three that will really make a big difference in Brand building outcomes for us, right? So how can we start with that construct and then approach? Later on into how technology helps us solve for these problems, right? So that would be my ask to all technology partners out there on how you can make yourself Significantly faster and move faster in the PNG the world, and I'm not representing PNG I'm probably speaking for all brand building organizations as I say this I just want to leave With a couple of you know examples on how technology has helped us as PNG serve the communities that we live in as well At PNG we believe that it's our responsibility to be a force for good And we believe that as we drive more growth We are also able to translate that into driving more into doing more good for the communities that we live in and the two examples that I share here are You know both things that I've been a part of and I've had a privilege to work on and I'm really really proud of One is our program that we've been running for close to 20 years called PNG Shiksha which is about education for the underprivileged and the other program is a program on our sanitary napkins brand whisper Which again takes you know our mission of keeping girls in school You know to the forefront and these are examples of how we've leveraged technology over the past few years To make these programs even stronger and reach a wider base of consumers. So I'll just play you a couple of videos I'm not going to spend too much time talking this but over to the videos. I think we need audio on these Yeah, just to give you guys a quick snapshot of the work that we do on Shiksha, Shiksha is a program that we've been running for about 17 18 years here at PNG India We reach Sort of evolved the program over time, you know, we've built about 2,300 schools in the country Impacted more than 3.2 million Kids in the last 17 to 18 years that we've been doing this Recently, we've basically shifted a little bit of our focus to improving learning outcomes Because we realize that there may be a school but the quality of teaching the quality of infrastructure in the schools All of these are factors that going into making the learning outcomes optimal for students And therefore we've been moving and evolving this program over time and if the audio works Wonderful before we move to the second one just to close out on how technology helped us on this one right as we know You know, we had schools closing Far and wide during the pandemic and all of us were in some ways learning the ways of you know working from home in the Comforts of our home and getting used to you know shirts and shorts and all of that stuff There was obviously a large set of you know students in the country For whom nothing much changed. There was a lot a lot of students in the country Who did not have access to education and when schools closed, you know, they were really falling behind on learning outcomes What we were able to do is to take the school to their phones, you know partner with various institutions We're able to take schools to their phones and continue their education And now as we partner with more schools when kids are back to school. I think education continues Right, so that was the example on chiksha. I want to share with you a similar example on on on whisper If you can play the video please Hey Keep girls in school india dot org here again just to give a snapshot on this program I'm sure many of the women in the room would probably have gone through a whisper program back in your school you know when you were when you were young we've been doing this for over 20 25 years in the country and you it's always been extremely humbling and rewarding for us as we expanded this program we now reach millions and millions of girls in the country again during the pandemic when you know schools shut and schools went online we were able to quickly move this program online as well so that menstrual education was continued to be given to girls all across the country and you know we've received only the best feedback from the school authorities from parents from the kids on how this has been useful for them as they kind of also waited through the pandemic so these are a couple of examples where I am deeply grateful and thankful to all our technology partners who are able to help us you know keep and raise the bar on on brand building raise the bar on serving back serving the communities that we live in as well so big thank you to all our all our technology partners on that I just close with my last slide this is something that you know we love you know saying over and over again at PNG but we do believe in this truly that the consumer is our boss and you know every decision made with the consumer in the center helps us make better decisions on the business and helps us win as we go so thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to be here today to the entire exchange for media team and also thank you to everybody who's listening in it's been a great pleasure


Hey everybody Roy Azic here from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan You're watching TJV Trucker Josh on YouTube Good news everybody good news not only is it Friday, but it's a Friday with no snow Knock on wood.  Yes, it's supposed to be 20 degrees Celsius today That's probably around what? 60 Fahrenheit That's just a wild guess 20 is warm. It's nice really nice t-shirt weather beautiful It's gonna be a good day today and tomorrow I've been called in to work on Saturday So we're gonna do some Saturday runs down to Minnesota Gotta grab two loads in thief River Falls bring them back up here to Canada So I'll run down there in the morning and One in the afternoon get them done as quickly as possible. Usually it's uh, it's a full day doing two so full day work tomorrow That's okay They pay me for it. So it's okay I'll give up my Saturday for money. All right, everyone has their price I am just so glad that the snow is gone now. It's just all the dirt in the sand that's left over Gotta get rid of that stuff It's always such a messy dirty time of year and then we have our like couple of months of summer Someone covered it up there Underneath that stop on the stop sign that I used to say stop Trudeau Somebody covered it up now just a stop again.  He is yet I am so glad you're gonna arrive at work 30 seconds earlier my friend.  Oh, oh, oh On the trucks making a left turn now. He's has to wait There you go. Now you can floor it. Oh, no, there's another truck. What is this? You see that's why you don't tailgate man. He almost hit this guy now. You're gonna go around him anyways That is a terrible spot to park but probably doesn't have a choice Yes, he almost hit that truck parked there because he was following so close behind that truck he didn't see People but he's gonna be at work 30 seconds earlier now 30 seconds of his life saved I mean he almost died, but worth it 30 seconds Somebody lost their box cover there If you're looking for it, it's right there Probably will clean that up. I wonder that guy's going to the same place.   I got to go get the paperwork hook on and go Son It's my friend It's been gone for so long. It's been hiding in Australia for months We got him back now pull ourselves out of here I want to go that way Actually, well traffic shouldn't be too bad if I go that way This way's a little longer, but this way's got traffic. They both take about the exact same amount of time But that way I have to go around and through that like suicide corner that I always talk about on the perimeter this way I don't I'm going this way That's right. I usually go this way unless if it's rush hour then I go that way But then I got to deal with that corner. Okay pros and cons of both ways We're digging this way. We'll deal with the traffic so I don't have to deal with that corner I had a bit of a bump here getting onto the road Come with me my friend You are going to florida I wish I was coming with you This truck or this trailer's got four drops down in florida It's probably going to be leaving tonight or tomorrow So with having to work tomorrow, I'm not going to have a lot of time to polish this truck tonight I'm gonna have to get home. My sister's also having some Issues with water in her yard That Is just sitting sort of like this here. It doesn't want to drain and it's a little close to her house I want to make sure it gets away from the house. So I'm going to go to help her with that tonight So I'll probably go there help her sort that out and Head home go straight to bed and early start tomorrow. So it'll be an early saturday morning Okay, and they got someone else to go pick up that other trailer there might be another one though Popped up real soon. So I'm just gonna drop this trailer and wait around for a few minutes while they figure that out and uh We'll know what we're doing then Did I get the legs on the cement at least? Barely but it's on the cement But the same as this as long as it's On the cement or on the concrete So next on the list of hey, why not? We have a delivery Right downtown winnipeg with a 53 foot drive-in trailer We need to take up the whole road around these corners here and once we get downtown It's in a tight little alleyway and I've got a back all the way down there So that should be fun. You know, why not? Why not challenge ourselves this friday? Look at that top car just swaying back and forth. Hey Makes those trailers look so flimsy That's how they all are Freaks me out a little bit. You think there'd be more stability in there Mess this up Can't get in there They've made sure of that with their little uh Curbs right there. That's not for me. Okay Banatine. This is where the customer is but it's a one-way going this way. So I can't go that way That's the road I gotta get down They installed those handy little bike lanes that are terrible for truck drivers Okay, so we're gonna Turn right Here on market Do I want to go down there? I do. Oh Okay, this little road. This looks fun. This looks fun with a 75 foot unit And this is the back alley. I want to back down here. So I've got to drive into my left And back across the street down there Okay Drive in here and then back down there Across the street This is not good I don't know if I'm gonna make it in here.  You still want to move very slowly Set up we'll say that But what can you do in these old areas of the city, right? You just got to work with what you got I make it sound all sunshine and rainbows all the time But that's one of the things you got to deal with wasn't that bad The guys at work were just trying to Freak me out There you go I bet you could get a pretty good screenshot here though here This is how I get my thumbnails You guys want to know Just go do something like this Go down here There's a thumbnail right there Perfect Might even try that angle. We're all loaded up. It looks like it was only five pallets Five pallets. I guess our straight truck was busy Can't get my seatbelt in here. I only got five percent left on my battery here So we'll see how long this lasts so we've got to try to get out of this back alley Without hitting anything Which way do I want to go that way? Just looks like the road is angled More in my favor if I want to do that direction And I could go that way go down bannetine then turn you know what? Yeah, I'm gonna turn right because then bannetine runs that way and I can go straight back to main And then I can make my way out of the city See if I can make this corner It's gonna be tight It's gonna be tight It's gonna be really tight So tight. I don't know if I even want to go that way down to this street here Say thank you to the drivers. No right turn on red. I can't make it onto that street There's no way. Well, maybe They have a curb there though. That's the thing I'm gonna have to All the way over here Rainy and flight flying up there right downtown. I'm gonna go that way Sometimes you just got to coach them a little bit because they're not paying attention The joys of driving downtown. Hey look my reflection Did you say cheese? I forgot to say cheese I look good This cab driver is no patience for me I don't blame them This is westbrook Okay, can I go down westbrook? There's traffic lights there. I'm going down westbrook Okay, I'm gonna need this whole road though. So hopefully people understand that it's gonna be a wide right turn I can turn right on red. Yes, I can Oh, it's green. Anyway bonus. Oh, look at this now. We're in the clear Okay, next time we'll go the other way out of that alley If there ever is the next time and this road will take us on to Provence And into st. Boniface and out of Winnipeg Out of this mess But is this one one sharp corner here yet to get around to the left Up there and we're out of downtown. That's good because I'm gonna need their lane I'm gonna take it 4.41 meters high. We are 4.2 meters high So we are good. Victoria exhaust check under the bridge, obviously cool Well guys, great me How many stars would you give me for that downtown performance? Come on, give me your best shot down in the comments One to five stars five being the best one being the worst. How many stars are you gonna give me? I'm at my sister's house here And this whole area got flooded and it's still very soggy Very muddy We've been working here to redirect her water that comes off her house To the back to the easement back there. So that's not pouring into her yard here and possibly going under the house Everybody's got water issues Except mom and dad They're doing okay, apparently We've got another one coming here for this What we just finished doing here now she dug this trench yesterday to try to drain some of the water and it worked a little bit But uh, we got this pipe coming here. We just dug out that hole in there We had a circle saw But it ended up taking out the whole trunk instead But that's okay because uh, we just need the pipe to be able to go there And it's gonna go under the stairs Back out here and we have this plastic here because I crawled Underneath there to drill it from that side Come out here and drain to the back Where all the other standing water is away from her house At least over here. It's the best we could do This is quite the high-class, uh Drink I got here. It's a metal straw and everything There's mom Trying to avoid the all the mud And my sister Cheryl.  There's so many spiders It's covered in spider webs down there. Yeah, but they're all still sleeping. They haven't hatched yet I should have killed as many as I could while I was down there Well, this guy didn't close that hole like I was thinking of doing last summer Like it's still in the works, but Oh, probably there's spider nests everywhere all underneath this deck It's ideal spider land But uh, don't worry.  They're just annoying and quick and fast and demons I don't like them


Ukraine's advance near Eurasian village on Eastern Front, Russians suffer supply disruptions. After Russian troops were forced out of the outer edge of the Staromaiosk village with intense artillery fire, Ukrainians immediately got a toehold and started clearing the houses. After establishing positions, Ukrainians started applying pressure on the Russians in the southern part of the village according to the Euromaidan press media outlet. The main goal was to wait until the second group conducted a flank attack from the hills and left Russians with only two options, retreat or get cut off from the rest. In the meantime, a tough tank battle took place on the hills. Ukrainians destroyed a lot of Russian tanks and armoured fighting vehicles prior to this attack, but as Ukrainians got deep into the region, they faced more armoured vehicles. Russian sources reported that Ukrainians had already launched the next phase of the operation, namely storming Eurozane. Right now, Eurozane is in assailant and Russians have significant issues with providing supplies to the soldiers on the ground. Moreover, if we look at the topographic map, we can see that, like all other settlements along the river, Eurozane is located in the lowlands, while Ukrainians are holding positions on the hills around the settlement. Russian sources reported that Ukrainians attacked with several assault units reinforced with two armoured fighting vehicles. Russian analysts concluded that the attacks will definitely intensify and Eurozane will fall within the next 48 hours. The fall of Eurozane will allow Ukrainians to push the front line a little south and get close to Kamentchik. Even though some analysts predicted that the next Ukrainian targets are Kamentchik and Novo Donetsk, it is highly unlikely that Ukrainians will devote a significant amount of forces to this offensive effort.


حوض بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرهيم وبهينستين صلى الله عليك يا سيدي يا مولاية يا رسول الله وعلى أحل بيتك المذلومين صلى الله عليك يا سيدي يا مولاية مولاية وابنى مولاية أبا عبد الله يا رحمة الله الواسأة ويابا بنجاة العماء يا غريب يا مذلوم يا أتشان كربلا ما خاب من تمسك بكم والأمنى من لجاء إليكم سادتي يا ليتنا يا ليتنا كنا ماكم فنفوزة والله فوزا عذيمة قال الله العذيم في محكم كتابه المكريم والقولك الحق والأستقل قائلين عوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم وخلق الجان من مارج من نار فبيعي آلاء ربك ما تكذبان صدق الله العلي العذيم صلى الله عليه وسلم كما تكذبنا نهاية الله سبحانه وتعالى has created this universe incredibly vast and is filled with unique creations that those who roam in the sky and those who are in the depths of the ocean also that we reflect so that we contemplate so that we dig to the depths of the creation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and understand what he means when he states فتبارك الله أحسن الخالقين that all praises and all blessings are due to the best of creators and that every day when we're walking in the streets and every day when we're looking up at the skies and every day when you're roaming around and you have nothing to do and you look at the uniqueness of the creation of God it's all supposed to be a mechanism which brings you closer to him allows for you to gain in terms of the depth of what is known as معرفة the depth of the knowledge of this creator of ours in a tradition from Imam أمين المؤمنين عليه عليه السلام he states that the first step in religion is to know your creator and numerous instances take place whereby individuals they went toward the Prophet or they go toward other Imams of أحرد بيت peace and blessings be upon them and they say how is it that we can gain in terms of the depth of the knowledge of our creator to which they state look at the creation by means of the creation you're able to understand the creator individuals who believe they can understand Allah سبحانه وتعالى because we just have the ability to understand God don't know the first thing about Islamic theology because we cannot even take a look at the sun for a couple of seconds which is a creation of God let alone how do you expect toward understanding the creator himself of that sun of that moon of these stars and of this vast universe and all of the planets and all of the other creation that are within it it's supposed to be an opportunity for us to humble ourselves an opportunity for us to humble ourselves and understand who Allah سبحانه وتعالى is and at the same time who we are as His creation if I could ask everyone one more time to please move all the way forward as they possibly can with one Salawat على محمد وعالمحمد and keeping in mind the uniqueness of the creation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى we see that there are plenty of things that we just don't know about the creation of God we don't know about the communities that the bird species live in in the same way that we don't know about the uniqueness of how the fish within the depths of the ocean live and as I mentioned last night Allah سبحانه وتعالى states within the Holy Quran that He has created the animal community in societies and civilizations that are similar to yours meaning similar to ours as a human being this has to be a sense of understanding and a sense of respect and a sense of recognition that we are just co-inhabitors in this massive universe that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has created whereby we can utilize everything within it as a mechanism for a stepping stone for building out our relationship with Allah سبحانه وتعالى but again when it comes toward issues and facets that are unknown often times it brings forth a lot of questions as well in a narration Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib he states that the human being is the enemy of that which He does not know when we do not know about something all of a sudden we become fearful of it when we don't know about the intricacies and the details of death for instance we don't want to talk about death why would we ever want to engage in a conversation whereby we have to recollect our own mortality because we're fearful of it one-third of the Quran is dedicated toward death in the afterlife yet every single time we talk about death oh man conservative sheikh talking about death again because he's going to tell us that we're all going to go to hell even though we know he's going to be the king of hell himself again going back toward the tradition He states that the human being is fearful or is the enemy of that which He or She does not know imagine for instance you go ahead and you try to explain toward the child the infant the embryo in the womb of its mother that you are going to go and enter into a world that's very different than the world that you are in right now in the womb of your mother how would that child take it we'd be like no we're pretty comfortable here we're warm we're satisfied we're fed we're taken care of by the one who loves us more than anyone else we're good now I ask you 30, 40, 20, 50, 70 however many years old that you all are that many years later would you prefer to go back into the womb of your mother on a bad day someone might say man definitely any day but if you really go back and think about it no there's a lot of nice benefits and blessings and luxuries of this world but back in that world we would have been fearful of it and we would have said no I'm good right here and when it comes toward a discussion around other unique creations of Allah SWT we see amongst those things which we don't know about so we fear about it quite a bit is the jinn I can't tell you about how many people they reach out to me asking me questions about jinn I talked about this last night now you guys think I'm exaggerating top 3 questions take us to hotter for me Sheikh what verses should I read in my cousin's wedding and number 3 I think a jinn is possessing me but you're laughing but in a reality I know that many of you might be questioning the same exact thing but again going back toward the tradition from the commander of the faithful that the believer the human being fears that which he or she does not know about so in order for us to make progress and allow for us to have a sense of illumination from the wisdom that has been offered toward us by the Quran and by the Prophet and his immaculate family peace and blessings to be upon them it's important that we sort of sort of try to illuminate and try to break out the question of exactly what is the jinn creation how are the jinn creation relative toward the life that I lead on a day to day basis someone says at the end of the day who cares about this question all we have to do we have to focus on ourselves I agree with you I don't think that it's so significant or that it's so important for us to understand our responsibilities on the world but in terms of understanding again the fact that Allah SWT mentions the word jinn 22 times within the whole of the Quran and that many times that when he mentions the word jinn he compares it to us the human creation وما خلقت الجنة والإنس إلا ليه أبدون we did not create man human beings nor did we create jinn except for the purpose of worship in another verse the verse that I began with Allah SWT he states and we created insan the human being from clay that comes from this earth and we created jinn from the fire that also comes from this earth so again keeping in mind that Allah SWT compares us many times toward this creation and in order for us to allow to plunge into the depths of knowledge really that which has been offered toward us by the whole of the Quran and by the traditions of Ahl al-Bayt A'rahi Mus'alaat they offer us a lot my friends they offer us a lot but where do we often take our religion from but my grandmother said this and my grandfather said this and back in my own homeland this happened and that happened and all of a sudden we understand that we're not that much different from the people that the Quran speaks about when he says why do you take religion from your forefathers go and learn religion go and learn theology there are plenty of resources available as I mentioned the other night we have a lot of access in front of us when you know your religion just things they turn out to be a lot easier things are a lot more simple because you don't allow for all of these complications to take place in your mind in your heart and your soul and distractions and so on and so forth know your religion Hadith for instance tells us that someone who doubts too much in their prayers and their wudu I don't know how many raka I prayed I don't know if I did my wudu properly so on and so forth there are plenty of people who I know that come to me with these questions all the time they want me to say then you have to understand that we ignore doubts because Allah SWT wants to bring forth a sense of ease to us and in a hadith from the messenger صلى الله عليه و عليه وسلم اللهم صلى الله عليه وسلم he says إذا أراد الله بأبده خير يتفقه في الدين that if Allah SWT wants goodness for his servant then he will allow for him or her to have an understanding of their religion so we've all entered into this gathering in the name of the messenger of God صلى الله عليه و عليه وسلم and his family in order to demonstrate that we want to learn and that we want to know and that we want to benefit from our religion we're not only here as a community that wants to come for the sense of ritual but that we want to come to know and that we want to come to gain in knowledge that we want to come to understand which is why when you put out the flyer and I said on the fourth net we're going to talk about jins everyone said please make sure this is live stream from Bangladesh Pakistan Afghanistan emails make sure that this lecture is recorded because we want to learn about our religion prayers maybe what does it mean when we talk about Quran that's not that important but the jinn because my grandmother told me about them صلى الله عليه وسلم so I want to focus this conversation around jinn within Islamic tradition in three different dimensions the first dimension is in terms of understanding exactly what is the jinn as defined within the whole of the Quran secondly in terms of what is the relationship between the human being and the jinn creation and thirdly and finally in terms of what we can do to repel any sort of evil energies on a day to day basis within our lives as narrated by Quran and Ahl al Bayt peace and blessings be upon them so as for dimension number one what is the jinn when you go to different languages the Arabic language English Urdu Farsi jinn is jinn everyone knows jinn as this unique creation that really no one knows anything about other than it's a unique creation and we find as I mentioned before that Allah سبحانه وتعالى mentions jinn within the whole of the Quran 22 times the word jinn in the Arabic language means something that is hidden something something that is hidden which is why an embryo in the womb of the mother is known as jinn meaning something that cannot be physically sighted and which is why we call paradise or a garden جنة not that it's not physically visible but because that a garden or paradise in itself you cannot actually see the floor because it's so filled with trees see the uniqueness of the language as applied by the whole of the Quran and by the traditions and again other than that what is it that we know about the jinn creation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى number one it's important to note that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has certainly created a creation known as jinn they're not a fabrication it is something real as defined very deliberately within the Quran and within the traditions of the prophet and his family peace and blessings be upon them so I want to go through a couple of unique questions or frequently asked questions by people in order that we're able to clarify this first dimension in terms of understanding what is the jinn firstly can we see the jinn is it possible for the human being to see the jinn on a normal instance can I and you visibly see the jinn there are two different opinions the first opinion amongst our classical scholars is that the human being is unable to see the jinn but the jinn is able to see the human being that again perhaps someone says now they have the upper hand they can see us but we can't see them someone might ask another question how come we cannot see the jinn and I respond I don't know because Allah سبحانه وتعالى has not defined that for us within the Quran nor have the traditions of the prophet and his family peace and blessings be upon them defined that for us at all someone says again but I heard this and I heard that we need evidence to suggest any sense of truth within our religion and we cannot take religion from myths and from fairy tales but we have to take again that evidence which is founded within us by the whole of the Quran and by the traditions of Ahl al-Bayt علي مصرات وصرات to the first opinion states that absolutely not the human being can never see the jinn on normal occasions meaning that the prophets of God they can see the jinn and we'll get into that in a little while the second opinion and this is an opinion taken by شيخ المفيد and شيخ توسي some of the greatest of the most classical scholars within the school of Ahl al-Bayt peace and blessings be upon them who have stated that there are some opportunities for individuals who have a high spiritual connection with Allah سبحانه و تعالى to be able to physically see the jinn and to be able to converse with them someone says exactly again explain this to me in a little bit more depth the human being is again created from clay that comes from this earth while the jinn is created from a flame of fire that Allah سبحانه و تعالى has created traditions they define the jinn as something of a physical substance that is so thin that it's unable to be physically visible toward the human eye meaning that they might be living with us around us they're in this dimension that we are in right now maybe they're sitting in this gathering at this moment because they also want to hear the praises on the prophet and his family maybe they want to come and weep and grieve over Imam and Hussain when you're walking maybe they take the subway with you too I don't know when you're walking in the streets they roam these streets in the same way that we do they're in communities they're in villages they live a life very similar to ours we don't know the plunges of depths in regards to who they are because again we're limited by that which we have within Quran and within أهر البيت عليهم السلام and we don't want to sway away from the resources that we have in front of us and go in toward suggestions and possibilities and hypotheticals we want to go in terms of understanding that which we have been given by infallible sources so the second question that someone might ask is what is the jinn made of again as I mentioned before الله سبحانه وتعالى in صورة الرحمن he states chapter 55 verse number 14 خلق الإنسان من سلسال كالفخار that Allah سبحانه وتعالى created man from dry clay that comes from the vessels of the earth وخلق الجن من مارج من نار and he created the jinn from a flame a fire other than that we keep it at that but let me just sort of elaborate on this point for just a moment someone says if Allah سبحانه وتعالى created the jinn from fire how can the jinn attain punishment if it were to enter into the fire and go to hell for instance if it's fire and it's in fire how is that going to hurt the fire if I picked up a piece of clay some dirt a rock and I threw it at your head would it hurt you or no of course it would but we're made from clay but we're made from dirt why does it hurt us the same way we don't necessarily know the uniqueness of that creation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and how it's manifest in this dunya nor how it will be manifest in the Akhara so we submit to the fact that Allah سبحانه وتعالى states that he created man from clay and he created the jinn from fire next someone asks what is the status of the jinn are they greater than the human being well this is the argument of Iblis Iblis he states that Allah سبحانه وتعالى commands for him to prostrate toward Adam إلا يخلقتني من نار وخلقته من طين that oh Allah you created me from fire and you created him from clay and in reality he probably made a judgment that many of us might see as rational fire has heat fire has energy fire is unique if I brought forth a pile of dust and lit a fire in front of me at this moment what is every child in this room what is every single one of us in this room going to be more attracted to the pile of dust the clay on the earth on the clay on the ground or the fire he states I am better you created him from a substance that is physically greater Allah سبحانه وتعالى states I know what you don't know that within this creation the human being there is an ability and there is a potential which is why a man one day he comes to Imam Ja'far Al-Sadaq who is the grandson of the messenger of God who is greater the human being or the jinn which one of us can ascend toward the highest heights of paradise and in order for me to explain this point for just one moment I'll open up one more parenthesis jinn like human beings they're also going to be held to account they do good deeds we do good deeds they do bad deeds we do bad deeds they live a lifespan we live a lifespan we have responsibilities they have responsibilities we're going to be held to account they're going to be held to account in the same way that we have to live this life and we have we have responsibilities we have to pray we have to fast we have to go for Hajj we have to obey the laws of Allah سبحانه وتعالى they have laws and they have responsibilities and they have as well someone says I want to know all of the details about that Baba you learn your own religion for God's sake why are you worried about what the responsibilities of the jinn are we don't necessarily have those details in front of us why don't we open up an Islamic laws book and try to understand our own religion first before we're trying to understand the intricacies of the details of the jinn you following what I'm saying so this man he comes to Imam Assad and he says which one of us has greater potential and Imam Assad he responds toward his companion of his he states Iblis on that day when he refused to prostrate toward Adam he states خلقتني من نار وخلقته من تين that you created me you created him from clay that I'm better than him I'm not going to prostrate toward him so you're doing the same thing he says how he said الله سبحانه وتعالى might have created him from a substance that was physically greater than dust or than clay but he doesn't know the luminous nature of the روح of إنسان that within the human being there's a potential there's an ability toward ascending toward a height that is far greater than that of the angels as the famous narration from Ali it states that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has created the angels with intellect and he has created the animals with desire and he has created the human being with both intellect and desire if the human being allows for his desire to overcome his intellect he is worse than the wild beast that roamed this earth but if he or she allows for his intellect to be a mechanism which guides his desire then he has the ability to ascend toward a height that is far higher than that of the angels to know your worth know your abilities know your potential are we continuing a long question number four that many people ask what are the unique features then of the jinn creation of Allah سبحانه وتعالى now this is super important for us to understand especially in light of a lot of the questions and controversies that many people want to understand and engage in the human being has a spiritual potential toward reaching a height that is far higher than that of any other creation but it's also important to note that the jinn creation they also have abilities within the realm of this dunya that we don't necessarily have Quranic verses for instance they state that in the earlier days during the time of the early prophets of Allah سبحانه وتعالى that jinn they had the ability to travel between the heavens and the earth I'll give you an example in the story of Prophet Sulaiman عليه السلام it is stated that Prophet Sulaiman he wanted to see بالقيس who the queen of Sheba who ruled the other side of the world and so Sulaiman عليه السلام he gathered together the ministers of his court and he said which one of you can bring me the throne of بالقيس which one of you can bring me the throne of the queen of Sheba this is mentioned in chapter 27 of the whole Quran I don't want to get into details but for those of you who know you know at that moment Allah سبحانه وتعالى quotes one of the ministers in the court of Sulaiman who was a jinn I just said before human beings on a normal occasion they can see jinn I said the exception are the prophets of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and those who have deep relationship with God who God has given them that ability he says at this moment قال that one from amongst the jinn who were working in the court of Sulaiman said oh prophet of God I can bring you the throne of بالقيس unless the in the twinkling of an eye meaning in one blink of an eye I can have I have the ability to bring بالقيس straight in front of you meaning again they can travel different dimensions in different worlds and they can penetrate things and again something that is not necessarily understood with our limited and rational intellects and of course Sulaiman then has someone else who comes and says I can bring it and even faster than that وَمَنْ إِنْدَهُ إِلْمُ الْكِتَابِ the one who has a part of the knowledge of the book meaning if someone knows the book of God and if someone knows their religion and someone has a close relationship with Allah سبحانه وتعالى they can also traverse the heavens you understand what I'm saying faster than that of the jinn anyhow there is narrations and verses of the Quran that state that the jinn that they had the ability to go and travel between the heavens and the earth and later on in life closer toward the time of the advent of the prophet Sulaiman at the beginning of his mission Allah سبحانه وتعالى no longer permitted any of the jinn toward going to heaven because many of them there were trouble makers and they used to go and they used to try to take a little bit try to eavesdrop on what the angels used to discuss and then go and share it with their friends and basically take the information from the central command station about Allah سبحانه وتعالى and basically just try to cause a lot of problems with it you know sometimes people know a little bit about religion and they pretend like they know everything about religion yeah I know everything about religion I read one verse of the Quran I just read the Quran the first time in my life now I have knowledge in this entire what I'm trying to say is that many times people they have a little bit and they think they know everything that's not good right you're going to be able to understand that the one who knows a little bit more they actually realize that they don't know anything at all and knowing a little bit is actually a means by which we humble ourselves anyhow so some of them they had the ability to travel between the heavens and the earth to some of them they were able to take a little bit of this information and then Allah سبحانه وتعالى will go back to this point in just a moment about the jinn is that they live for a lot longer than the human being what's the average lifespan of the human being 75, 80, 82 you have some more details facts evidence how to burhan a common concern so we live a lot shorter than the lifespan of the jinn one day it is said that the Prophet was walking in a gathering and he was stopped and the companion is wondering who's the Prophet so he didn't have the ability to see this man was talking to a jinn the Prophet A.S he's conversing with this jinn and then he says how old are you he says oh messenger of God I witnessed when Qabil killed Habib he says how was it he didn't really say that he said after that oh messenger of God I went and I was witnessed toward Ibrahim and I saw that which transpired toward موسى and Isa and now I'm in your presence محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم so they've lived for a really really long time and in the olden days again they had the ability toward conversing with the angels or at least reaching this high level of height so some of those jinn what they try to do according toward traditions and toward verses of the Holy Quran also point toward this idea is that they go and they try to take what they have in terms of a little bit of knowledge and they try to convince other jinn that this is what we should be doing this is how we can overtake the angels this is how we can cause fitna and façade on the earth in the same way that for instance someone knows I don't know how to rob a bank right you're gonna work toward justifying it sharing it with your friends let's all go ahead and do this together because you have a little bit of knowledge and you know that you can actually go and commit this crime you can go and you can commit this sin and utilize this loophole in religion to just go and do whatever it is that I want you know some people they always ask always every year during the month of Ramadan for instance so you're saying that it's allowed for me to travel in the beginning of the day so that I don't have to fast yeah it's allowed so if I were to hypothetically go to Connecticut and you know travel outside of the travel boundaries and have breakfast there that means I don't have to fast I said technically yes at the end of the day are you trying to like just sort of you know isolate or sort of push to the side marginalize the laws of Allah yes permissible it is allowed anything you can find something that is permissible but this scholar said this but I heard this but I read this but this at the end of the day what these Jinn were trying to do is that they were able to get a little bit of insight in regards to the intricacies of how this universe was run and they said we're going to take this information and then sort of allow for it to be a mechanism but which we cause cause a lot of corruption in the world صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم one more unique feature about the Jinn and then I'll move on to the second dimension and that is that الله سبحانه وتعالى created the Jinn before he created the human being and he placed them on the earth before he placed the human being on earth الله سبحانه وتعالى states والجن خلقناه من قبل من نار سموم that surely we created the Jinn from before the fire that he created it from and that brings me then toward the second dimension of my discussion but before I get into it is everyone feeling a little bit more comfortable still scared are we okay okay the site one said a lot and my friend is I need you to understand something as well super important that is that again going back to the point that I mentioned before from the Jinn there are believers and there are unbelievers there are those who submitted toward the messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and there are those who rejected the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم meaning there are Muslims from them and they are شياطين from them in the same way that from human beings there are Muslims from them and they are شياطين شياطين من الجن والإنس how many times as God mentioned that in the Quran several times that they are شياطين from man and from jinn how many of you people know شيطان you might be just joking I'm really bad at making jokes everyone is really really offended by my sarcasm these last few days I'm sorry I can't control it if you were if you were a Jinn oh man we can't see you then second question or the second dimension of the discussion then what is the human relationship with Jinn if now we understand a little bit of the details of what exactly is the substance of the Jinn that a fact that الله سبحانه وتعالى created them also with the purpose so that they have responsibility so that they can fulfill them how can they have any sense of a relationship with us or do they have a sense of a relationship with us again utilizing the teachings of the Quran and أهل البيت عليهم الصلاة و الصلاة the first question that people ask in regards to this notion is can a human being marry a Jinn someone might think that this is absurd but people actually ask this question and in fact people even say that I think that my husband or that my wife is a Jinn no no no I'm not lying I'm not lying I don't mean this is not part of this is not part of my comedy show guys this is like the legit part yeah let's get back to it right focus over here huh that's the funny part many people they ask exactly is it possible that my spouse is a Jinn or can a human being marry a Jinn we come and we see that there are two different opinions there is one opinion among Muslim scholars in the past who believed that the human being can marry a Jinn many people they stated that بالقيس again the queen of Sheba that one of her parents were a Jinn going back toward a tradition narrated by Abu Huraira within the school of Ahl al-Bayt عليهم الصلاة و الصلاة we reject this notion we state that it's absolutely impossible for the human being to marry Jinn why? because الله سبحانه و تعالى states within the Holy Quran و خلقنا لكم من أنفسكم أزواجة that Allah سبحانه و تعالى has created you mates from within your own selves number one a second evidence is again the fact that we come from a different physical substance how can you marry someone who is a different physical substance than you the fact that we are a human being and that they are fire it's impossible so as for this first question in regards to the human interaction with Jinn can the human being marry the Jinn? no that's not possible a second question that many people ask is can the human being possess can the human being be possessed by the Jinn no one is laughing at this because people believe that this can take place again we have absolutely no evidence within our tradition nor within the verses of the Holy Quran that the human being can be possessed by the Jinn that a Jinn can enter into the human being and speak on behalf of them and act on behalf of them and take over them someone says what are you talking about? back home where I came from there was this person who used to charge $75 to allow for the Jinn to be removed from the body of my cousin for my neighbor this person in the village I'm not I don't mean this as a joke again this is Shailan talking that this is completely absurd when we go toward the evidences that we have we have nothing within the Quran nor within traditions of Ahlul Bayt عليهم صلاة و السلام they say that this is a possibility someone says but I have this thought with that my grandmother gave me the Quran is written backwards and upside down people are all not in your head now you know what I'm talking about especially people who come from south Asian backgrounds we have this Quran Quranic verse written upside down written backwards this is the way that the Jinn does not possess you so make sure you keep it in your bag make sure you keep it in your wallet make sure and so on and so forth first of all that's disrespecting the whole the Quran the only way to get out of any evil energy and I'll speak about that in just a moment is that we utilize our faith that we utilize Allah SWT and the Quran and Ahlul Bayt عليهم صلاة و السلام you find me one hadith from the Prophet عليه السلام says when you come on upside down or recited backwards and you'll see that all of your difficulties are going to go away what type of religion is that yet we have people that believe this a third question can Jinn influence my life in a way whereby I'm unable to get married I'm unable to get a job I'm unable to pass this class or whatever it might be today people they go toward they go and they say remove all of these evil energies from me I'll pay you $15 and take the Jinn away so I can get married so I can get this job so I can have children so I can number one is Haram number one is Haram it's it's so Haram that I cannot even tell you how Haram it is because it's being live streamed that's how Haram it is if you know Islamic law and you know the traditions from the Prophet and Ahlul Bayt about people who carry out this behavior and those who utilize and believe that there's a truth to this behavior you'll be shocked you can talk to me about it afterwards but it's just not true yes there are doads and there are supplications to remove ourselves from challenges and from difficulties and so on and so forth but keeping in mind that Allah سبحانه وتعالى why would He create a creation that can possess us why would He create a creation that was only created to harm us that's just not the reality that's just not the truth Allah سبحانه وتعالى states إبادي ليس لك عليهم سلطان that surely for my surely for my worshipers for the creations of Allah سبحانه وتعالى no one can ever overtake them no one has any authority over them and that brings me to number four when it comes toward the human relationship with the jinn what is the religion of jinn as I mentioned before there's an entire chapter within the whole of Quran chapter number 72 which is known as سورة a jinn read it Allah سبحانه وتعالى states within the first verse of that chapter بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم قلوا قلوا إهي إلي أنه استمأ نفر من الجن فقالوا إنا سمأنا قرانا أجبا الله سبحانه وتعالى is quoting the jinn and I'll tell you the story behind this and it said that one day the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was in the city of Mecca and for those of you who can go back rewind a couple of days to when I was talking about where Quranic verses are revealed when would this be the beginning of the message and the mission of the prophet عليه السلام he begins in Mecca and then he travels to Medina he migrates toward the holy city of Medina so amongst the earliest chapters within the whole of the Quran is سورة جن from those first 10 or 11 years the prophet عليه السلام one day was walking in the streets of Mecca and he entered into a place where he began to recite his prayers and as he was praying he was reciting verses of the whole of the Quran naturally when we pray we recite verses of the whole of the Quran he's reciting these verses of the whole of the Quran and can you imagine how beautiful the voice of the messenger of God عليه السلام you know how beautiful is the hair's voices ما شاء الله ما الله سبحانه وتعالى give us all that voice one day إن شاء الله but then you hear the voice of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم it's a lot better than Zuhair's and when you hear the prophet عليه السلام praying all of those around them they would just gravitate toward listening toward the prophet عليه السلام and amongst them according to a tradition is نفر من الجن a group of jinn they came toward listening to the prophet عليه السلام reciting the Quran this is the anecdote as mentioned in chapter 72 of the whole of the Quran according to زمك شري in his تفسير he says between 3 and 10 they gathered next to the prophet عليه السلام and they were sort of listening to the prophet عليه السلام never hearing anything like that it's the first time that they're exposed toward the light of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ما الله سبحانه وتعالى all allow for us to be exposed toward the light of the messenger of God not in this world we've never been able to see him in this world we've never been able to hear his voice we've never been able to smell his fragrance but because we believe and we were not able to see him الله سبحانه وتعالى will grant us that in paradise إن شاء الله so they were listening to the prophet عليه السلام and the report states that they began to climb on top of one another just listening to the beauty of the words of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and it's mentioned over here in this verse الله سبحانه وتعالى states قل أوه إليه أنه استماء نفر من الجن that they began to listen to the prophet عليه السلام this group of jinn فقالوا إننا سمأنا قرآن عجبا surely we have heard a recitation that is really unique and at that moment just from hearing the words of the whole of quran they submitted to the religion of Islam they went through the prophet عليه السلام and the prophet would begin to teach them he would begin to converse with them he would begin to communicate with them and this is why يصول للإنس والجان السلام عليك يا صاحب الزمان يا خليفة الرحمن السلام عليك السلام عليك يا إمام الإنس والجان ويأدرس الإمام سبحانه وتعالى as well that you are the leader of the human beings and of the jinn understand what I'm saying that the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he converted them or he reverted them by just reciting a couple of verses of the whole of quran when we hear verses of the whole of quran going back toward this point again that I've made mention of now several times over the last several nights about the importance of the quran especially during these nights of Uhara how many of us are immediately influenced by the words of الله سبحانه وتعالى the fact that we're ready to submit just upon hearing one verse I mean that some of the jinn they have a closer relationship with the quran and with the prophet than you and I do or at least than I do think about that for a second other narration state that one day there was a man who was coming to visit Imam Assad عليه السلام from amongst his companion and from amongst his students and as he was about to enter someone from the house of the Imam عليه السلام stopped him and said the Imam is really busy he said you can come back tomorrow come back later the next day the Imam عليه السلام came he went into the gathering of Imam Assad عليه السلام he states yesterday I came to visit you but you were busy is everything okay he said yes I was busy with something he says what were you busy with sometimes people they just like to ask they like to ask they like to ask even if it's not their business he states oh my dear companion yesterday your brothers came to visit me he said who he said your brothers from amongst the jinn they came to learn the quran from me they came to learn theq from me they came to learn hadith from me they came to ask me questions so they can go back and explain toward their communities in the same way that you learn from me so you can go back and preach to your communities you understand so when it comes toward understanding that they're not that bad man they come they might be here they might be listening to the Majlis of Hussain ibn Ali ibn Adatalib why not and this brings me then toward the third dimension in my discussion and that is then why do we have all of these rwayat and all of these du'as and these supplications that state if you want to repel jinn then recite this and do this and do that if jinn can't marry you if jinn can't possess you if jinn can't influence your behavior then what is all of that about very very quickly i'll run through this point again as i mentioned before الله سبحانه وتعالى has created شياطين من الجني والإنس from the human being and from the jinn and Allah سبحانه وتعالى also tell us with him through the quran بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم سأقوم بتقل أعوذ برب الناس ملك الناس إلهن well look at this من شر الوسوس الخ الناس الذي يوسوس في صدق من الجنة والناس oh الحمد لله من الجنة والناس الله سبحانه وتعالى he states or he tells us to say قل أعوذ برب الناس oh Allah I seek refuge in the Lord of all men and then he goes and he states and oh Allah I seek refuge from the waswas of the jinn and the creation the jinn and the human being من الجنة والناس first question what is waswas waswas is something that is often translated within our quranic translations as a whispering does someone literally come and whisper into your ear and says hey why don't you go and eat that food that is haram hey why don't you just skip prayers hey it's fudger prayers only most people miss fudger prayers so you can too people hopefully don't mostly miss fudger prayers it's a joke you should pray your fudger prayers someone comes and whispers to you and says you know what you have enough money but still don't go for hajj that's for old people and all of these sorts no it's not something that someone whispers into your ear in terms of that nature where someone literally is whispering you're hearing someone else talk no there's energies and there's tendencies that overcome us sometimes they're not so direct and sometimes they might be direct sometimes for instance you're walking here to come to the measures for the grandson of the messenger of God and someone says hey man why do you want to go and do that it's only the fourth night we'll go on the ninth night we'll go on the tenth night we'll go after that we'll go on ashura that's the important day from amongst your friends from amongst the more many from amongst other believers so instead you say forget it I'll go on I'm going to go hang out and I'm going to go out for dinner instead right that could be not necessarily Shaytan who's your friend but it's a panic tendency that allowed for it to overcome your good intention and sometimes we have these forces that we just don't know that we don't see that we don't necessarily hear physically but they're pushing us in a way whereby we are going to do something that we don't necessarily want to do or that we didn't necessarily set out the intention to do I made an intention that I'm going to give a couple of dollars in charity for instance this is a true story I'll talk about myself yesterday my daughter Zaynab had this donation bin yeah had this donation bin and she was going to everyone and saying please donate I'm cute Zaynab donate to her mom for Zaynab and everyone was putting in money and then she came to me and she said Baba you give me money too I said I give you my blood I give you my sweat everything I'm here come on man don't ask me for money too so she says Baba you have to give everybody gave I said okay she's right everyone is giving I also want to contribute I took out of my wallet and I saw that I had a 5 and I had a 10 and I said okay I'm going to give the 5 and I gave the 5 after I put my whole wallet and my Zaynab Zaynab said no we cannot take the whole wallet so I put the $5 bill in and I left it I didn't think anything about it 2 hours later an hour and a half later after I left I hadn't eaten so I went to go and get something to eat before I went home and the I needed to tip the person who was serving me food and I didn't need to tip them 5 I needed to tip them 10 dollars probably it was worth like $3 that I had to tip them I didn't have anything else I ended up giving them the 10 which is fine that person probably did well for themselves but if that 10 went toward the measures of Imam and Hussein عليه الصلاة والسلام how much more than benefit would it have brought honestly what happened at that moment someone whispered right the satanic tendency entered why should I give who am I to give this is not me I'm the one who delivers the measures I don't have to give my own wealth or if I have let me give the least bit or you're walking out of the subway you see someone homeless and you say you know what they're going to use the money and spend it on alcohol they're going to use the money and do something haram with it who am I to judge who am I don't allow for those tendencies to your heart that's negative energies that influence our thoughts we have control over those and how are we able to have control over those again number one الله سبحانه وتعالى the verse that I mentioned before he states that for the believer ليس عليهم سلطان that no one can have authority over the believer you have faith in Allah سبحانه وتعالى and you know that your life is dedicated to your creator nothing and no one will ever be able to bother you you're not going to be afraid of calling out injustices at work or at school because you know that God has your back and that's what we learn from Imam Hussain you don't have to worry about anything else when you have the Quran when you have أهر البيت عليهم سلطان is your guides is the individuals by which you walk in their footsteps what's going to bother you but someone says no still I have these doubts that come into my mind and I have all of these issues and this has to come from somewhere else we have traditions that tell us that if you are concerned about these energies pushing you in a negative direction you do this before you pray before you go to sleep excuse me you perform وضو you perform وضو and then before you go to bed when you're lying down sitting down whatever it might be you recite سورة قل أعوذ برب الفلق قل أعوذ برب الناس and you recite آيات الكرسي آيات الكرسي chapter 2 verse 255 verse 256 and 2 verse 257 every single night that if we do these things we'll see that الله سبحانه و تعالى will allow for that faith will allow for the strength of our faith to increase then if we go to other word other supplications دعاز from رمزين أعبديد and that's صحيحة السجاديه he says the دعاز to take away for instance the evil eye this is a real thing again it's a negative energy that someone sends but if you know that you have control over anyone's negative energy because you believe in God you won't get influenced by anything else but nonetheless we have دعاز let's say read this دعاز recite verses of the Holy Quran but if we do something as simple as this as I mentioned before like before you sleep recite صورة فلاق صورة ناس آيات الكرسي that's it recite صراوات before you sleep صراوات when you wake up and you understand that your faith in God is greater than any other force that might potentially influence you الله سبحانه و تعالى that no one is going to reckon with that Allah سبحانه و تعالى his mercy and his generosity is that vast اللهم أن يسألك برحمة كالتي وسأت كل شيء that Allah يسأل by your mercy which is comprehensive of all things when you have the mercy of God that's covering you at every moment what's going to bother you and what's going to influence you صدارة محمد الله سبحانه و تعالى الله سبحانه و تعالى الله سبحانه و تعالى and when going back toward again this idea and I'll conclude with this point that we have to understand that Allah سبحانه و تعالى has created the creation every single one of us with a responsibility a responsibility to be obedient a responsibility to fulfill the the the the the the the the responsibility to fulfill our divine covenant with our Creator but plenty of individuals they will go astray from the path that Allah سبحانه و تعالى has designated from them and amongst those creations again are the human being and the Jinn Iblis himself Iblis meaning TheShayqan himself as we know him the one who refuses to prostrate toward Adam as I mentioned before و الله سبحانه وتعالى يستخدام وضع نفس الشيطان في العربية الشيطان يعني شخص ما لا يتبقى حقاً لا يعني أنك يجب أن تدخل شيطان لأنه ليس جميل ولكن كما أكبرت كما أكبرت الله سبحانه وتعالى يستخدام وضع نفس الشيطان لسطين الشيطان سبب شياطين من الجنين والإنين و أعطيكم مؤسسة أخي الشيطان إبليس الشيطان وقاعته و نحجر بلغة كان يكفي من أرسل الله سبحانه وتعالى لسطين وضعن وضعن وضعن سطين because we said before that jinn are created before the human being as well he was a man or a creation who worshipped الله سبحانه وتعالى for thousands of years to the extent that he would be one who would teach the angels how to make dua and how to recite اذكار of الله سبحانه وتعالى can you imagine it is stated that on one occasion before he was known as Iblis his initial name, his real name is Azazid he said that one day he was sitting on a throne in paradise and he was performing dhikr he was giving a lecture and he was playing with this dhikr saying Allah like that Allah like that Allah as he was giving his lecture he was playing with it with his fingers you might see me do that sometimes other people they do that concentration or because we have ADHD or a lot of other things as he is preaching toward this congregation of angels the tradition states he dropped his prayer beads and because of how respected that he was in the community of angels they rushed toward it so they can be the one who picks it up so they can give it to their teacher that's the status that he had and Allah سبحانه وتعالى what does he state he states that tomorrow one of you is going to disobey me when I tell you what you have to do one of you is going to disobey me what happens when he goes into his chamber and he says oh Allah I really hope it's not oh Allah no this is what our tradition tells us oh Allah I hope it's not oh Allah do not make from amongst those who disobey you he was concerned about everyone else except for himself and on that day when Allah سبحانه وتعالى he commands all of the angels to prostrate and all of the creations in heaven toward prostrating toward Adam فسجدوهم إلا إبليس and every one of them prostrated toward Adam except for إبليس and that arrogance and that pride of his allows for him to be casted away into eternal punishment I mentioned before شاياطين من الجنة والإنس what's worse إبليس who refuses to prostrate toward Adam or those men who surrounded the grandson of the messenger of God سيد شباب أحل الجنة the leader of paradise in and of itself the leader of Adam and of Abraham and of Moses and of Jesus ready to shed his blood at any moment as he was alone with his women and his children that's the شاياطين that we're talking about when Allah سبحانه وتعالى state شاياطين من الجنة والإنس the grandson of the messenger of God the greatest of all creation the mercy to the worlds 30,000 people last night I told you that إمام الحسين عليه السلام he changes his intention on the eighth of the month of the حجة the day known as يوم التررية as all of the حجاج they begin to make their way toward أرفات the caravan of إمام الحسين عليه السلام began to make its way toward كربرا and on the way toward كربرا they alighted at a location known as شرف which is a town which is a city in between مكة and in between كوفة because again إمام الحسين عليه السلام's intention was to going toward the city of كوفة which was the stronghold of the followers of Ahlul Bayt during that day why? because علي ابن أبطالب when he became the caliph after the death of أفمان ابن أفان he moves the خلافة toward the city of كوفة in order to repel a lot of the military threats that were transpiring in the Muslim world during that time so for four years and nine months علي ابن أبطالب he lives in كوفة and with him is الحسن and الحسين and the members of Ahlul Bayt the family of the messenger of God peace and blessings be upon them and the إمام علي السلام had received 512 between 12 and 16 and 18,000 letters from the people of كوفة saying you come to us and we will support you and we will help overthrow the أميذ كالفت of course the إمام علي السلام also receives news of the martyrdom of مسلم بن أقيل during the course of that journey as I mentioned a couple of nights ago who was his successor who was his cousin who was his brother who he had sent and appointed towards scoping out the situation at كوفة but the إمام علي السلام had nowhere else to go can you imagine can you imagine this is the grandson of the messenger of God the man who would sit on the shoulders of the Prophet when the Prophet would go into سجود the إمام علي the Prophet علي السلام would not get up from سجود and they would go to him out of disrespect for the Prophet of God and they would say إمام علي السلام did you make a mistake in your سجود did you make a mistake in your prostration he says no I'm the messenger of God they said then why did you elongate it he said because my son حسين was on my back and I want to demonstrate to you all of the importance of حسين this is حسين fast forward 50 years later and he has nowhere to go along with a band of women and a band of children who are looking for some sense of contentment and solace on that way they reach a town a city known as شرف and at the same time when إمام علي السلام leaves the city of مكة to make his way toward كوفا I mentioned last night there were a thousand people from the army of يزيد of بن أمية that were ready to shed the blood of إمام علي السلام within the holy city of مكة and immediately after leaving naturally the news is going to spread very quickly that he left مكة so from the government in Damascus of بن أمية يزيد بن معاوية had instructed the army of حر بن يزيد الرياه which was one of the contingencies of army in كوفا to going toward intercepting the إمام علي السلام in order to direct him toward a location where they can shed his blood now please understand this point super important and if I could just ask for that door to be closed in the back if you don't mind now understand this point super important super important that at this moment حر بن يزيد الرياه is amongst the most important military commanders of that initial 30,000 and يزيد بن معاوية he comes and he catches the إمام علي السلام and his group of the contingency of the army in the city known as شراف and he goes toward إمام علي السلام and he says أو أبا عبدالله I've been instructed two things he said either number one you come with me to Damascus to pledge allegiance to يزيد بن معاوية or I have to kill you to which the إمام علي السلام he says like I said before مثلي لا يباي أمثلا that a man like me will never pledge allegiance to a man like him but then he said that little fire under him he states that may your mother grieve over you you know أهر البيت the family of the prophet they don't talk like that very often they don't talk with a sense of such stern language but sometimes in order to prove a point they have to do what they have to do what happens to her he says أو أبا عبدالله if your mother was anyone other than I would have responded with the same response meaning may your mother grieve over you what happens هر he begins to think he says this man just cursed me who am I to curse him when he's the son of when he's the son of the daughter of the messenger of God who am I this is instance number one that begins to allow for the heart of حر to become a softent صحر leaves him he doesn't want to kill him he doesn't really believe that this battle is going to take place so a few moments later the أضان of ظهر is called and حر is approached by Imam al-Hussain and he says أو حر you take your army and you lead them in prayers over here and I'm going to take my army and my family and I'm going to lead them in prayers over here you know what حر says he says أو أبا عبدالله you are the son of the messenger of God how can I lead prayers and you lead prayers no we'll all pray behind you again he knows he realizes and he's beginning to allow for that sense of softness of his heart to overcome you fast forward a couple of moments later they were there for a couple of days they said that a group from the army of حر on their way from كوفا towards شارف where they were intercepting the Imam they got lost so on that journey they finally caught up toward their rest of their group and they had lost water they were away in the desert for 3-4 days without anything so when they saw the army of حر they saw the army they saw these thousands of people gathered together they were so excited they're going to get water they're going to get food حر he states or some of the army of حر they state that at that moment that when we saw the members of our community coming members of our army coming from كوفا we saw two luminous faces run toward them pouring water into their hands and giving it toward the army of حر who were those people إمام الحسين عليه السلام number one and أبل فضل أباس number two they were putting water in their hands toward feeding it toward those same individuals who were ready to shed their blood only a few days later but that's not it my friends you know what else they saw they saw that إمام الحسين عليه السلام this is the mercy that we talk about he put water in his hand and he began to feed it to the horses of those members of the army of حر for all of those of you who know the story you know that إمام الحسين عليه السلام was thirsty on the day of أشورة how much that water could have helped his children on the day of أشورة as they called out لا تأش لا تأش يا أبا عبدالله the thirst is killing us oh our father أبا عبدالله but they were ready to serve because that's who حسين was we fast forward to the tenth of محرر it is said that حر الرياه he is looking at the camp of إمام الحسين عليه السلام and he is observing before the battle takes place a few moments before the أضان of فجر he goes outside of the tense and he begins to walk toward the center of the battlefield and he is just looking at إمام الحسين's camp which is so small in comparison with theirs which has women running around and children which has these individuals with really beautiful faces it was before the time of فجر so he saw them standing and bowing and prostrating performing the night prayer he heard them reciting verses of the whole of القرآن and حر الرياه he turns back and he goes toward أمر ابن سعاد and he says oh أمر ابن سعاد tell me are we really going to kill the son of the messenger of God to which he states oh حر know that in a couple of moments heads will be rolling on this desert and at this moment he goes back toward that center of that battlefield and he takes his horse and they begin to make these small steps and one man he comes and he states toward حر he says oh حر if I was to be asked about the most courageous and the most brave man of كوفا by God I would have said that it is حر ابن يزيد الرياه but today I see you shaking I see you trembling I see that you're so nervous what is it he responds with this epic line إني أرى نفسي بي نجنة ونار that surely I see myself at this moment between the gardens of paradise and eternal hellfire and by God nothing is greater than paradise with the grandson of the messenger of God he has said that at that moment that man he says I didn't think anything I saw حر making some small steps toward the other side I thought he was going to use the restroom he had his son and he had his brother and he had a slave and a couple of members of the family who were with him and they began to make ways toward the tent and the camp of Imam الحسين عليه السلام my dear friends every one of you again who know the anecdote you know that حر is this legendary personality that every single one of us we can relate to every single one of us are sinners every single one of us have done plenty of wrong things every single one of us have our hearts that have been darkened by vice but none of them compared toward the sin that حر committed and that was by channeling the Imam عليه السلام to his eventual martyrdom so in what way did he go it is said that he climbed on top of his horse and he put his he put his face mask over his head and he took his sword and he took his spear and he turned them upside down and he lowered his head to the ground and it began to ride slowly slowly slowly until it reached the bank of the tent of Imam الحسين عليه السلام and أبل فضل الأباص عليه السلام he exits from the tent and he says which one of you dare to come toward the tent of Imam الحسين عليه السلام I will kill you if you come any closer and at this moment سيد الشهداء الحسين he enters and he says أبل فضل الأباص leave this one for me I got this and it is said that at that moment حر he falls down to the ground and the Imam عليه السلام he says يا رجل من and oh man who are you but Imam knew who he was he wanted him to admit he wanted him to seek forgiveness he didn't respond out of sadness out of embarrassment he says again من أنت يا رجل who are you oh man he does not respond a third time Imam الحسين says يا رجل oh man who are you you know the way حر responds he says يا أبا عبدالله أنا الذي جأجأ بك من الطريق oh my master أبا عبدالله I am the one who took you away from your path أبا عبدالله I am the one who has orphaned your children أبا عبدالله I am the one who has widowed your wives حلي من توبية أبا عبدالله is there forgiveness for me can I repent is there an opportunity for me at this moment and I tell you my dear friends our hearts are filled with advice but not like that of حر الرياه who coughs for the face of Zaynab to be slapped on the night of the 11th of Muharram at this moment Imam الحسين عليه السلام says if you seek forgiveness and you'll find that Allah is the all forgiving and at that moment he stands up he embraces Imam الحسين and according to one report he says أبا عبدالله please go to your sister the granddaughter of the messenger of God and tell her that I'm really sorry for what I've done Imam الحسين says don't worry she will forgive you and he says أبا عبدالله I'm given this I am the one who has led you toward this path I ask you for one thing and that is that you allow for me to be the first of those who go and defend your family Imam الحسين عليه السلام he permits him he gets on top of his horse first his brother is killed his slave is killed his son is killed during the course as well according to the tradition and he comes and he recites his lines of poetry and then he goes and he begins to fight the army of and he fights very bravely and courageously until a man he comes and he strikes him from the right and another man comes and strikes him from the left and another man comes and strikes him on his head and he recites his line السلام عليك يا أبا عبدالله Peace be upon you Oh Imam الحسين Imam الحسين عليه السلام he leaves the tent he rushes تخور الرياه he goes down on the ground he places his head on his lap and he begins to remove the blood from his face and he states يا أبا عبدالله انتخور كما سمتك أمك that oh har you are free just as your mother named you and then again he looks at and he says Oh my master are you sure that I've been forgiven he says of course and the Imam عليه السلام he looks at his face as he's weeping and as he's grieving looking at the last site of Imam الحسين عليه السلام he begins to wipe off the blood and wipe off the tears but I ask you Oh Abba عبدالله every one of those companions of yours on the tent of وحرم every single one of them before they died they were able to see your face but oh Abba عبدالله before you died which face you have to see you saw the face of شمر بالجوشن ready to sever your head from your body هلالعنة الله للنقام الظالمين إِنَّا لِلَّا وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِرَا تُرُؤُونَ وَيَسْكَ اللَّهُ سُبْحَنَهُ وَتَعَالَا بَيَرَا لَبْفَرَة وَيَسْكَ اللَّهُ سُبْحَنَهُ وَتَعَالَا بَيْسْكَ اللَّهُ سُبْحَنَهُ وَتَعَالَا إذا أستطيع أن أسأل لك جميعا سورة الفاتحة لكن قبل ذلك سروات على محمد وآله محمد الفاتحة