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 Jumada al-Thani 3, 1424 AH / August 01, 2003, 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
Care for Fellow Muslims
Social Islamic Ethics
One of the virtues of social Islamic ethics, which aims to enhance relations between fellow Muslims, whether as individuals or groups, is the virtue of wishing well for others. This theme is demonstrated when the believer prays for his brother while standing before Allah.
In this state, when the Muslim reaches a highly spiritual level and becomes detached from his material surroundings, living in an elevated state of purity and piety, he remembers the various problems his Muslim brothers suffer from and the pains and hardships they endure. He calls upon Allah to solve their problems and lessen their pains. He lets Allah, the Most Exalted, bear witness that he is concerned with the pains and sorrows of his Muslim brothers just as he is concerned with his own or those of his actual brothers and relatives.
Supplication Teaches Concern for Others
This practice elevates the soul of man and purifies it from any selfishness. He begins to be concerned with the problems of his brothers even when he is praying. He thus prays and asks Allah to grant them what he would ask for himself, thereby reaching a supreme state of altruism.
Our supplication heritage, especially those from the Quran, the Prophets, and the Imams, has taught us to adhere to this spiritual path. They are full of supplications asking Allah to address the miseries of fellow believers. The prophets, for example, ask Allah to forgive them, forgive their parents, and all believers, while the supplication read after prayers in the month of Ramadan says: "O Allah, make the dwellers of graves happy… make each poor person rich… feed all those who are hungry… pay the debt of all who are in debt… return all those who have immigrated to foreign countries… release all prisoners and heal all the sick…"
This supplication teaches Muslims that when they finish their prayers, they should think even about those who are dead and ask Allah to forgive them. They should, while living the spirit of fasting, think about the hungry, the poor, the sick, the distressed, the deprived, the oppressed, the prisoners, and the Muslims who live in corruption due to external or internal factors. Thus, this Islamic moral guidance suggests that the spiritual aspect of worship is not separate from the social aspect: one cannot be neutral towards all the tragedies and hardships that Muslims live; nor can he believe it is sufficient to fast and pray. One’s prayer is important because, among other things, it makes you feel more responsible to help all those you are able to help.
In this respect, praying for fellow believers is expressing a feeling of solidarity and trying to find a way, whether consciously or unconsciously, to help them. Thereby, acts of worship, especially supplication, will lead to participating in enhancing social unity among believers. Let us read some of the traditions of the Members of the House (a.s.), whom we have said many times voice those of the Messenger (p.). We certainly believe that citing the Messenger’s sayings, as well as the Holy Book, is the basic pillar. But we also believe that citing the sayings of the Imams is also citing the sayings of the Messenger (p.). This is what Imam Al-Sadiq (a.s.) told us: "My sayings are those of my father. And his are those of my grandfather. My grandfather’s are those of Imam Al-Hussein (a.s.). The sayings of Imam Al-Hussein (a.s.) are those of Ali (a.s.). And the sayings of Ali (a.s.) are those of the Messenger (p.)."
Allah Responds Fast to These Prayers
Imam Al-Baqir (a.s.), in the context of explaining who is meant by the believers "who do good deeds and to them He will give more of His grace" (Surat ash-Shura 42:26), says that those are the ones who pray for their Muslim brothers. We can imagine, then, what would be the punishment of those who produce hatred and try to incite strife among Muslims. Imam Al-Baqir also says that praying for a Muslim brother is the prayer closest to Allah and the fastest to be answered.
Imam Al-Sadiq (a.s.), Al-Baqir’s son, says: "Praying for your Muslim brother increases wealth and prevents hardships."
This spiritual and moral guidance suggests a general rule: Believers should care about one another… They should be concerned with the affairs and problems of fellow Muslims to create an Islamic unity that fosters cooperation and unity of goals and destiny. We must remember in this respect the Prophet’s saying, which considers those who are not concerned with Muslims’ affairs as having stopped being Muslims in the profound sense of the word. Did he not say: "Whoever stops being concerned about the affairs of Muslims is not a Muslim."
Learn How to Love
Faced by all this hatred, and the political, cultural, and media war that aims at undermining the unity of Muslims and driving them to become fragmented into parties and tribes… we have, if we truly care about our Islamic future, to learn how to love one another instead of hating and fighting each other. The meaning of loving Allah is to love all who love Allah and open up to all those you meet on the basis of belief in Allah and Islam.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Palestinian Cause in a Dark Tunnel
It does not seem that the Palestinian cause is anywhere nearer to getting out of the dark tunnel… Not even the dimmest light of any solution can be seen on the horizon… Meanwhile, the Arabs continue to put their stakes on America, which has begun to play the game of accusing its nearest allies, like Saudi Arabia. Both the Congress and the Administration are taking turns pressuring this country, although it is one of the oldest countries whose oil Americans have exploited.
Thus, America benefits from Arab political and military incompetence. It pressures the Arab regimes to deploy them against basic Palestinian demands… They are using the intelligence game to destabilize and create divisions among the Palestinian people and even the Palestinian Authority; all in the name of seeking peace. They even asked for the return of the Jordanian and Egyptian ambassadors to Israel before any positive development had taken place…
Such a state of affairs has left the Palestinian people standing all alone, with the Arab official front complementing Israeli and American policies… The Arab regimes are tired and have begun to recognize Israel politically and deal with it economically. Israel has even entered occupied Iraq through the wide gate America opened, with no protest whatsoever from most Arabs.
It is the Occupation
The Palestinian prime minister performed a "pilgrimage" to the White House, hoping to find the best solution to the problem and pave the way to "liberation"… He heard some words of praise that also included some of his ministers. He also heard that he was worthy of trust and that Bush agrees with him on the necessity of fighting the "terrorist Intifada." Bush also considered the separation wall a problem that makes the establishment of a Palestinian state more difficult.
But he went back on all that when Sharon came and began to call the wall a "security fence," which, in his new view after Sharon’s visit, is a "sensitive issue" and not a problem.
Thus, the American President gave Israel a victory over the Palestinians… In his view, the problem is terrorism—that is, combating those fighting the barbaric historical occupation… He also asked Sharon to "ease up" the life of the Palestinians… but he did not protest against destroying this life… He cried over the Israeli civilians but did not talk about the pains of the civilians in occupied Palestine.
Then came the big ploy when the American Administration announced that it did not change its position regarding the wall issue. They wanted to save Abu Mazen’s face, because they know that the Arabs and the Palestinian Authority could be drugged by words while Israel defies American policies by actions. And thus we saw how Sharon announced that the Israelis wish to continue building the fence, despite any American protest.
The American Administration, and the Congress, believe that Israel’s security is more important than that of the Arabs and Muslims… In fact, it is more important than that of the world. This suggests that the American Administration has converted America into a satellite state to Israel, especially when it comes to foreign policies and its war and peace decisions… This is what we have noticed in its hostile declarations against Syria and Iran and the lies it used to justify its war on Iraq.
In short, what the visits of Sharon and Abu Mazen served was returning the fight against so-called "terrorism" to the forefront, while withdrawing any hint that the occupation is the cause of the problem… We wonder, along with the Palestinians, about the reasons behind the hatred of certain American officials who called on Israel to kill Palestinians until the last "Intifada terrorist." Is the American media, whose policies are directed by the Administration, antagonizing the American public against the Arabs and Muslims, and especially the Palestinians, so that it can justify its policies of pressure against them, all in the name of freedom and democracy?
We call upon the Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim peoples to be more careful and to resort to planning and dialogue. We warn the Palestinian Authority, which is putting its stakes on the Road Map, not to be bitten by the same American-Israeli snake again…
Finally, we ask the Quartet Committee members: Why do you accept playing a marginal role? Have you too become incompetent like the Arab and Muslim regimes?
Building an Islamic, Civilized Iraq
Iraq still represents the major concern of the region and perhaps the entire world. The fall of the tyrant regime on one hand and the American-British occupation on the other have created a major earthquake in the region, with the American Administration trying to change the whole region both politically and economically.
If the wronged Iraqi people breathed a sigh of relief and began to feel free on the interior level, they still feel deprived in issues of security and public services. Moreover, what the occupation is doing might have negative repercussions on the situation in Iraq, which could turn into total chaos.
We call on the Iraqi people to be very careful towards these negative repercussions and to change these conditions towards building a free and independent Iraq, using all the potentials and capabilities we are sure they possess, and creating new circumstances that would cement their national and religious unity on the road to a new, civilized, and Islamic Iraq. They should face the challenges with strong willpower, firm determination, and a love broad enough to reach every Iraqi.
Absence of Planning
In Lebanon, we notice that the traditional political game is active once again in shrinking the big issues and inflating the trivial ones to serve some private interests here and there that could be linked to certain sectarian or even personal interests. It seems irrelevant that such actions are undermining the living conditions of the people or poisoning the political life in the country.
If the oppressed and deprived people could raise their voices, they would certainly say a lot of things that the officials would not be happy to hear, with those in charge responding with empty words that would not solve any of the problems.
Meanwhile, as the power taxes have been frozen until those in charge could find a legal way to re-impose them, the old-new problem of the social security fund has reemerged with an overwhelming fear that they plan to lead it to bankruptcy… But we know that several governmental departments, as well as influential rich businessmen, do not pay their dues to the power company because the law in this country is imposed on the poor alone.
The problem is that we live in a country that does not have a ministry of planning, for planning might hinder many of those who benefit from every kind of corruption to increase their fortunes.