---
title: "Stand for the Truth, Even If It Is Bitter"
event: "Patience"
session_number: 2
published_at: "2024-10-09"
canonical_url: "https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/stand-for-the-truth-even-if-it-is-bitter"
event_url: "https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/patience"
type: "event-session"
scripture_reference: "Sahifa Sajjadiyyah, Prayer 7: His Supplication in Worrisome Tasks, Verse 9"
---

# Stand for the Truth, Even If It Is Bitter

*Session 2 of [Patience](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/patience) — 9 October 2024*

One sentence was passed down, unchanged, from a dying father to his son, across eight generations of Imams.

In his final hours at Karbala, Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, returned to his tent to speak with his son and successor, Imam Sajjad, giving him exactly what his own father had given him: "My son, stand for the Truth, even if it is bitter." The session traces that sentence back to Imam Ali's parting words to Imam Hasan, and forward through every Imam after Husayn, to the instruction given to Imam al-Mahdi — the will every believer today inherits.

It then turns to how that instruction gets subverted. A well-known verse commands believers to obey God, the Messenger, and "those in authority among you" — and history is full of people who stopped reading at that clause, using it to justify obeying whoever held power. The verse's own condition, that obedience only applies when authority answers to God, is usually left out. The session traces this to Kufa, where a call to rise up for Imam Husayn was undercut by a respected local voice urging caution, at the cost of two lives.

How do you tell a leader who deserves obedience from one who has merely seized it?

What the evening covers

The will passed down eight generations. From Imam Ali to Imam Hasan, to Imam Husayn, to Imam Sajjad, and onward to Imam al-Mahdi.
The verse people stop reading too early. Qur'an 4:59 on obeying "those in authority," and the condition most quoters leave out.
Kufa's cost of caution. A call to rise up, undercut by hesitation, and what it cost the believers who answered it.
Imam Husayn's final stand. His refusal to choose between salvation and humiliation.

## Scripture

> وَلَا تَشْغَلْنِي بِالِاهْتِمَامِ عَنْ تَعَاهُدِ فُرُوضِكَ، وَاسْتِعْمَالِ سُنَّتِكَ
>
> Distract me not through worry from observing Your obligations and acting in accordance with Your prescriptions.

— *Sahifa Sajjadiyyah, Prayer 7: His Supplication in Worrisome Tasks, Verse 9*

## Programme

- [Sermon: Stand for the Truth, Even If It Is Bitter — written](https://www.reflections313.com/p/patience-part-2?r=a79sw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)

## Other sessions in this event

- [Session 8 — Burn the Ships](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/burn-the-ships) — 20 November 2024
- [Session 7 — The Gardener Who Never Saw the Fruit](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-gardener-who-never-saw-the-fruit) — 13 November 2024
- [Session 6 — The Man Who Shut His Door](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-man-who-shut-his-door) — 6 November 2024
- [Session 5 — The Rope Around His Neck](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-rope-around-his-neck) — 30 October 2024
- [Session 4 — Oh Bilal, Make My Heart and Soul Peaceful](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/oh-bilal-make-my-heart-and-soul-peaceful) — 23 October 2024
- [Session 3 — The Head of the Body](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-head-of-the-body) — 16 October 2024
- [Session 1 — Nothing But Beauty](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/nothing-but-beauty) — 1 October 2024

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_Read this session on the web: https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/stand-for-the-truth-even-if-it-is-bitter_