The Path of the Messenger (p.) and Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.): Commitment to the Line of Unity
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Religious Authority, Grand Ayatullah H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque on Rabi' al-Awwal 28, 1419 AH - July 17, 1998 AD. Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries, officials, and thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer. (Edited version of the Sermons)
The First Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Path of the Messenger (p.) and Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.):
Commitment to the Line of Unity
Allah, the Most Exalted, says:
"Indeed, this religion of yours is one religion, and I am your Lord, so worship Me" al – Anbiya’ (21: 92).
And He says:
"And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it" Aal 'Imran (03: 103).
In the spirit of the blessed birth — the birth of prophethood with the Prophet (p.) and the continuation of imamate with Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (a.s.) — we are called to live the message that prophethood set forth and that imamate carried forward: to gather people upon the truth, to unite them, and to guide them on the straight path.
This is to help us understand that true commitment to the foundation of Islam requires commitment to the path that flows from it. If we affirm the foundations of Islam — belief in God, His Messenger, the Last Day, the Books He revealed, and the Messengers He sent — then we must come together on those foundations. For God has willed that we unite upon it, and that those who believe in them become one nation, joined in worshipping Him with sincerity, living with God-consciousness in every aspect of personal and social life, and holding fast to the rope of God. And the Qur’an, the very core of Islam, is that rope.
If disputes arise — in matters of belief (theology), in aspects of law (jurisprudence), or in methods and approaches — we must refer the issue to Allah: to reflect on His words, to study them, to discuss them, and to follow what brings us together. And we must return to the Messenger (p.) in what he has said, rather than turning aside from the path of Allah and His Messenger to pursue personal desires, ambitions, or positions of power.
In the same way, when we turn to the path of imamate, we find that the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) taught their followers to uphold the unity of Muslims within the wider Islamic community, and to preserve it within the school of Ahl al-Bayt itself. They did not want secondary differences or varied scholarly opinions (in details) to become a cause for division, conflict, or estrangement. For such division undermines the foundation, weakens the ummah, and opens the way for enemies to dominate its culture, resources, and positions of influence. And this is what has come to us in the sayings of the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.).
Imam Ali: Strength in Unity
And now we recall some of what our Imam, the Imam of the pious, the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.), said in the Sermon of al-Qasi‘a in Nahj al-Balagha.
Imagine that Ali is among you, addressing you. For if he is not addressing you in person, he is addressing you with his words. And he is alive in his words. So we must listen to him as if he were among us. He did not address only the people of his time — he addressed all generations in the line of Islam. The imam says:
“Beware of what befell the nations before you as a result of their evil deeds and shameful actions. Reflect on their conditions when they did good or bad, and beware of becoming like them.
When you think about the difference between their two states, hold firmly to everything that brought them dignity, kept their enemies away, granted them well-being, drew blessings to them, and bestowed honor on them — namely: avoiding division, holding fast to unity, encouraging it, and urging one another to cling to it.
And keep away from everything that broke their back, weakened their strength, and destroyed their standing — such as nursing hatred in the heart, envy in the chest, turning away from one another, and abandoning each other’s support.
Study the conditions of the believers before you: see how they were when their hopes were mutual, their desires were in harmony, their hearts were united, they stood shoulder to shoulder, their swords stood together, their insight was penetrating, and their resolve was one. Were they not then rulers across the lands and kings over the peoples of the world?
Now look at what they ended up with: when division struck them, their unity was broken, their words and hearts conflicted, they split into factions and fought among themselves. In this case, God removed their honor and withdrew His blessings, leaving only their stories as lessons for those who reflect.”
The Effect of Division on the Ummah
We read in the sayings of Ali (a.s.), after we place before us the words of Allah — and Ali (a.s.) is the student of the Qur’an and the student of the Messenger of Allah (p.).
Allah, the Most Exalted, says:
"And do not be like those who became divided and differed after clear proofs had come to them. And those will have a great punishment" Aal 'Imran (3: 105).
The Imam (a.s.) says, as narrated from him:
“By Allah, no nation ever differed after its Prophet, except that the people of falsehood prevailed over the people of right — except for whom Allah willed.”
For when the people of right differ and dispute among themselves, that places the people of falsehood — who are united — in the position of strength, enabling them to benefit from the weakness of the people of right through their division, disunity, and fragmentation.
And he (a.s.) says:
“Be careful not to waver in the religion of Allah, the Most Exalted, so that it does not become changeable according to your desires or circumstances.
For indeed, unity in what you dislike of the truth is better than division in what you like of falsehood.
Allah, the Most Exalted, has never given anyone goodness through division, neither in the past nor now.”
For Allah will not grant good through division and disagreement in any setting — whether social, political, or otherwise — because within them lie all kinds of evil, and they stir up hatred, resentment, enmity, war, and the like.
And thus, he said in Nahj al-Balagha:
“Satan smooths out his paths for you — he lays out the plans for you — and he wants to undo your religion step by step.”
Meaning: Satan does not strip away your religion all at once. He begins with you through a certain idea. For example, he whispers to you that there is no harm in backbiting people. Then he says: these people are against your interests, so try to create discord among them — between a husband and his wife, between a brother and his brother. Then he says: there is no problem if you lie — a white lie. But with time it becomes a black lie. And so on.
Satan uses one sin to lead to another. If you obey him in disobeying Allah in one matter, he takes from your obedience to him the strength to make you disobey Allah in another matter. For once he invades the fortress of faith within yourself and gains a foothold inside it, he then fights you from the inside — just like an enemy who, once he gains a position inside our lands, does he not fight us from within?
In the same way, Satan works to widen this opening and expand this foothold. He gives you division instead of unity. And if you become divided, he seeks to exploit that division among you.
And through division, he gives you fitnah (strife) — by stirring up strife among you.
So turn away from his provocations and his whispers.
Thus, the Imam (a.s.) wants us to be fully aware of Satan’s schemes in this side of our lives. He seeks to exploit certain sensitivities, partisanships, sectarianisms, and various means, methods, and fanaticisms, in order to divide us. And sometimes he even gives division the name of “the right” and the name of “piety.” That is why we must study the matter with awareness.
Confronting World Arrogance
Then the Imam (a.s.) says, pointing to the opposing groups that stood against the authentic line he represented (a.s.):
“By Allah, I think that these people — the opposing group — will gain the upper hand over you because of their unity in falsehood, while you are split despite being on the right.”
Is this not our very image today? Our image, as Muslims, in the face of the disbelievers? as the oppressed in the face of the arrogant powers? And as those moving in the authentic Islamic line in the reality we are living?
What is the image of our reality, beloved ones? It is the image of scattered parties, even within the Islamic line. The image of fragmented peoples, even in facing Zionism. Different factions and peoples, even in confronting world arrogance.
World arrogance stands united behind its interests concerning us. The seven or eight major countries — the countries that possess the world’s wealth — meet at every stage in order to plan how they can organize their interests in what they seize from the wealth of peoples. America from one side, Japan from one side, the European Union from one side, and finally Russia from one side. These countries, considered to be the wealthiest and richest, meet when their interests differ or collide, and then they come out with decisions to organize their interests in how they can weaken us, and how they can confront every movement that works on the basis of raising the calls for freedom, independence, self-sufficiency, and so on.
And thus, we find that disbelief in all its groups, situations, positions, and forms, stands against Islam. There is a cultural war against Islam as a whole — whether it is Sunni Islam or Shia Islam. And all Muslims must stand together in facing this great challenge that seeks to uproot Islam from its cultural roots. After that, when we are relieved from the greater danger, only then can we differ in our sectarian particularities.
And likewise, beloved ones, the line of Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) is exposed to a mad war from more than one side. Therefore, we must freeze many of our disputes in order to unite in confronting this danger that wants to uproot the authentic thinking represented by Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) in Islam from all its roots. We must work on protecting the authentic general Islamic line, and after that we can differ in matters of detail. And this applies to all our political issues, whether connected to the local reality, the regional reality, or the international reality.
Beloved ones, you will not be able to achieve the particular except through the general, and you will not be able to gain individual gains except through the gains of the Ummah. For, when disbelief spreads through the Ummah, its grip impacts everyone, leaving no one unharmed.
Unity in Facing Challenges
Beloved ones, on the birth of the Messenger of Allah (p.), we must set out with Islamic unity, conscious and open to the issues of Islam and the issues of Muslims. And on the birth of Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.), we must work for unity in our fields, so that we can affirm this line in all domains.
This is the call of the Qur’an. This is the call of the Messenger (p.). This is the call of Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.). The reality we live is a reality that is very, very dangerous, very, very difficult, with great challenges. Therefore, Allah will hold us accountable tomorrow: what did we offer in this stage? What were we able to offer to Islam and its people? And how much did we strive to preserve the whole reality through further freezing of disputes that break our strength and weaken our conditions?
Allah says:
"And do not dispute and [thus] lose courage and [then] your strength would depart" al-Anfal (08: 46).
This is the call of the blessed birth of (both the Prophet and the Imam). Will we respond to this call? The arena is before us, the challenges are before us, and we must be the united Ummah:
"You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong" Aal 'Imran (03: 110).
And all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.