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 25, 1423 AH / June 7, 2002, 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 Believer's Word: Commitment to Allah and People
Keep Your Covenant
Allah, the Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: "O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I have bestowed upon you and fulfill My covenant [upon you] that I will fulfill your covenant [from Me], and be afraid of [only] Me." (Surat al-Baqarah 2:40)
and "And fulfill the covenant of Allah when you have taken it, [O believers], and do not break oaths after their confirmation while you have made Allah, over you, a witness. Indeed, Allah knows what you do." (Surat an-Nahl 16:91)
and "And [it is] an oath [to Him], if you could know, most great. That He may warn you and that you may fear Allah." (Surat al-Baqarah 2:197)
In these Holy verses, as well as in others, Allah stresses the course which man has to abide by in all his life: keeping your word, whether with Allah or with fellow men. The believer is the one who respects his word and who is committed to it.
A Covenant Between Man and Allah
In the beginning, there is a general covenant between man and Allah. When the Muslim declares that Allah is but one and that Muhammad (p.) is His Messenger, he is making a covenant with Allah in which he commits himself to believing in His oneness, meaning that there is no god save Him, and that he would worship and obey none save Him. Similarly, testifying that Muhammad is the Messenger (p.) means that he commits himself to everything in Muhammad’s (p.) Message in a way that all his life would abide by it.
Then there is also the promise Allah had made to the believing and committed Muslim: to sustain him and help him to overcome his problems, as well as to reward him in Heaven. Therefore, there is a two-way covenant between Allah and His creations.
That is why Allah said to the Children of Israel: "Keep your covenant and I will be true to My covenant." Because when the agreement is between two parties, it is only natural not to ask the other party for his commitments before the first party has realized his part.
Kinds of Covenants
There are many kinds of covenants. First, we have the vows to Allah. Vows surely are covenants which one has to keep, but they have to be in what pleases Allah, the Most Exalted, and have to be declared in the right formula of "I vow to Allah…"
Oaths too are another kind of covenant. It is a religious duty to uphold it only if you swear by Allah. In this case, if you do not uphold it, you have to pay a penalty. Oaths are of two kinds: the first is to swear by Allah that you will do something, while the second is swearing regarding something that has already happened. In the latter, one has to be truthful in his oath, especially if it is a testimony that might lead to denying or proving the claim of others.
Nevertheless, there are certain cases where lying becomes a duty and truthfulness becomes unlawful, as in the case of having to tell the enemy the secrets of the believers.
Contracts also are one of the kinds of covenants, whether it is a matter of selling and buying something or employing someone for a certain time to do a certain job and take a certain amount of money in return. In these contracts, it makes no difference if the contract is written or verbal, because it is your word that you are committed to.
Let us read how Allah, the Most Exalted, describes those who keep their covenants and those who break them: "Indeed, those who exchange the covenant of Allah and their [own] oaths for a small price will have no share in the Hereafter, and Allah will not speak to them or look at them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them; and they will have a painful punishment." (Surat Ali 'Imran 3:77)
and He says in another Ayah: "And fulfill the covenant of Allah when you have taken it, [O believers], and do not break oaths after their confirmation while you have made Allah, over you, a witness. Indeed, Allah knows what you do. And do not be like she who untwisted her spun thread after it was strong [by] taking your oaths as [means of] deceit between you because one community is more plentiful [in number or wealth] than another community. Allah only tries you thereby. And He will surely make clear to you on the Day of Resurrection that over which you used to differ." (Surat an-Nahl 16:91-92)
Marriage is a Contract Between Free Human Beings
Another covenant is the covenant of marriage. You pledge that you give your wife all her rights, and she promises to do the same. The husband has to sustain his wife and give her marital rights. He also has to respect her and not insult, hit, or throw her out of the house without a rightful cause. The wife too has to obey her husband in what is within his rights. Thus, marriage is just another contract which does not make the first party a slave or a possession of the second party. Thus, no party could force the other to do what is not provided in the contract, except what he chooses willingly to do.
Thus, we assert that the parties, husband and wife, remain free human beings in all that surpasses the marriage contract. Allah, the Most Exalted, has given the husband one of two options: He either lives with his wife in a loving and caring manner, or he gives her dowry and all her rights and divorces her in a very civilized and kind way.
Therefore, one has to be sure of what he is doing before concluding any contract or making any commitment, for the believer is the one who respects his word, whether with respect to Allah or to other human beings. And this is what keeps the community balanced and stable and provides a solid basis for social relations.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
American Pressure on the Intifada is Mounting
There are two events in the Arab modern history that have an ongoing impact on the Arab and Lebanese political reality: the June 1967 war and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. We are still prisoners of the first war that witnessed the beginning of Arab concessions to the enemy. For we have failed to uphold the three Khartoum (capital of Sudan, where a famous Arab summit took place in the late sixties) "Nos": "no peace, no negotiations, and no recognition." We abolished them when we adopted an Arab initiative whose maximum does not extend beyond the 1967 borders, with some Arab countries already engaged in peace treaties with Israel.
The 1982 invasion was meant to lead Lebanon to sign the 17th of May accord. But the people thwarted this plot by their courageous resistance that culminated until it defeated the enemy and forced it to withdraw unconditionally. This defeat was the first of its kind in modern Arab history, for the enemy withdrew without accomplishing any of its goals or gaining anything whatsoever.
Then came the Palestinian Intifada, which boosted the morale of the nation and rid it of the spirit of defeat, giving it, along with the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, a new hope in victory instead of falling under the influence of despair.
But the problem of the Arab world lies in the fact that several Arab regimes feel unable to do anything, whether politically or militarily, due to the American pressure on Israel’s behalf. They started to create their own initiatives to pressure the Palestinians—both the Authority and the Intifada—to accept an American project that helps Israel to win its war against the Palestinians, all in the name of fighting terrorism. It even denounces any martyr operation and describes it as brutal and barbarian, but it does not condemn, not even verbally, the daily Israeli invasions of Palestinian towns and camps that kill and arrest hundreds of Palestinians.
American envoys continue to come to the region to prepare the grounds to force the Arabs and the Palestinians to accept the new demands. They pressure the Intifada in Palestine and the Resistance in Lebanon using all political and economic means and threatening to use military force, having dragged Europe, the United Nations, and Russia to follow the same course.
The International Conference is a Second Stage of War on the Palestinians
We warn that the International Conference they are preparing for is meant to be a political means to continue the war against the Palestinians. Israel, on its part, is planning for a new scheme that will enable it to buy more time to Judaize all of Palestine, with some kind of a nominal Palestinian state that does not have any real sovereignty.
The Zionist officials are saying to the Jews of the world—as they give speeches in the US—that this is their second war of independence that they have to win. Meanwhile, the American Administration is conducting the political agenda in a way that makes the Palestinian cause enter the maze of negotiations, giving Israel all the time it needs to carry out its plots.
The question that is raised now is: Are we about to witness a new defeat similar to that of June 1967 that would be signed over the ruins of the Palestinian people? Is there going to be a new Zionist-American invasion to destroy the spirit of challenge and resistance? The answer to this question is in the hands of the Arab nation. They should voice their opposition to the defeatists and slaves of international arrogance. They should continue to support the Intifada and the Resistance to enlarge the enemy’s impasse with their insistence to keep steadfast and ready to be martyred in their struggle against occupation. The Resistance and the Intifada have proved that we can achieve victory despite all the bleeding wounds. Let us make for the future the history of victory, for no right is lost if there are those who demand it.
Commemorating the Passing of Imam Khomeini
We also receive in these days the anniversary of the passing of Imam Khomeini (r.), who returned Islam to the forefront as a state, a law, and a guide in everything in life. He then presented it to the world as a civilized method of government and as a new force in the face of Western arrogance and Eastern complicity that could face injustice and build the state according to the slogan of no Eastern or Western affiliation.
The Imam was able to diagnose the problem of man in this world as a problem of arrogance and weakness. He was able to determine the Arab and Muslim main problem as being that of Israel as a cancerous gland in the region, as well as their production of the policy of fear instead of that of power in a world that respects the strong and powerful only.
This anniversary reminds us that we ought to serve Islam on the level of the whole world and that we should not be influenced by distortion campaigns.
Lebanon: Internal Feuds and External Threats
In Lebanon, it is quite incredible that at a time the enemy’s council of ministers meets to discuss a new aggression against Lebanon, claiming that it is afraid of a major operation that the Resistance plans to carry out, we find that the internal front is preoccupied with a political row that has almost drawn the country into a state of political emergency.
We were expecting to form contingency committees to face the Israeli threats and to define the means that will help us to overcome the external threats and the economic hardships. Nevertheless, we ought to appreciate the responsible stands of the President in his firm will to confront the external challenges and to support the Resistance.
The real challenge the country faces nowadays lies in how the Lebanese could unite to face internal and external threats. The political and electoral differences should not spread to swallow what is left of their political and economic credibility. We have to learn from the lessons and experiences of the past if we wish to overcome the difficulties of the future, but are we going to?