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 Ramadan 10, 1423 AH / November 15, 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
Protecting the Family from Immoral Influences
In the Prophet’s (p.) speech with which he received the month of Ramadan, he talked about not looking at what Allah, the Most Exalted, has prohibited you from seeing, and not listening to anything your ears are forbidden to hear. Allah, the Most Exalted, has given man the freedom to see all that enriches his mind and offers him happiness and promotes his knowledge, but He wanted him not to look at anything that might damage his manners, or that might decrease his self-immunity that gives him the will to guard himself against deviation.
Do Not Look at What Is Prohibited
As for hearing, Allah, the Most Exalted, wants us to listen to all that enriches us culturally, socially and politically, and all that gives us joy and happiness, but He wanted us not to listen to all that compromises our ethical responsibility.
As for seeing, Allah, the Most Exalted, says: "Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do. And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof." Surat an-Nur (24:30-31)
Because taking a look would leave an impact on us, since the instinctual aspect inside both men and women is something Allah has created to preserve mankind, such as the desire for food, sex and the like.
Strengthening Chastity
That is why Allah, the Most Exalted, wished to protect both men and women from falling under the influence of our desires. He wanted the women not to show their beauty in front of strangers. He wanted them not to feel that physical beauty is what gives them their value.
It is a gift that Allah bestowed on human beings, men and women, but He wanted them to use it in what benefits them and not in what degrades them. He did not make the streets, schools and other public places showrooms for beauty and fashions… Nevertheless, women are allowed to unveil and show their beauty while they are among women only, but not in front of men, for this creates an atmosphere that is not for the good of both sexes.
That is why Allah, the Most Exalted, has prohibited the look of desire. He prevented man from looking at what woman should cover, and He prevented woman from looking at what men should cover, all this to further strengthen chastity.
Because when we live in a society that adopts the freedoms of the West, including sexual freedom, we will be living in a state of emergency. It is not the veil, as some observers maintain, that creates an atmosphere conducive of sexual aggression. When we study the vast number of cases of rape in the West, America in particular, and those in our societies, we will find that while in the West the number is catastrophic, the cases of rape in our society are quite limited.
Thus, the theory that says that giving the women their freedom in showing their beauty and in the way they socialize with men immunizes both men and women is wrong. On the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of sexual hunger that invites aggression.
The Problem of the Media
We are facing a real problem, as the television channels and the videotapes broadcast dissolute movies.
There are even cases where parents and children sit down together to watch such scenes, which has led to an unpredicted level of deviation. Never before did we hear about a father raping his daughter, or a brother raping his sister, but with the promotion of such movies, we began to witness the emergence of a culture that was never even thought possible.
We do not want to deem T.V. watching unlawful, but we say that watching such movies destroys the immunity of the family.
In this respect, we have had several cases of girls coming to our legal office to complain about sexual harassment made by their fathers, especially after they divorce their wives.
We could not have even imagined such actions before, as we used to consider, and we still do, that the relation between the father and the daughter or the sister and the brother to be sacred. We have issued a judgment (fatwa) on these ethical grounds prohibiting watching any pornographic movies, and when we were asked if there were cases where it is necessary, as for someone who suffers from incompetence, we said that he is not allowed to watch these movies, unless they are the only medicine available and in as much as it is necessary.
The family creates a balanced and stable society if it believes in the sacredness of its values, but if these values fall, our societies will undoubtedly lose their stability. This is something we ought to monitor… The parents should control what the family watches before it turns into a major problem.
Moreover, we should institute the veil in our society. We are not talking of resorting to violence towards unveiled girls and women, but we have to use the best means to prove that the veil is not a punishment imposed on women. It is there to make men respect women.
Islam does not want a woman to be merely a body that is desired. It wants women to be human beings who have minds and hearts that have to be developed and educated. They also have capabilities and potentials that they have to make use of.
Allah, the Most Exalted, has created both men and women to build life and protect and organize the community they live in. He says: "The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those - Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise." Surat at-Tawbah (9:71) Enjoining the good and the right is doing all that Allah, the Most Exalted, likes and raises the level of man, while evil is all that degrades it.
Therefore, Allah, the Most Exalted, does not want women to be looked at as objects, but as human beings who ought to be respected. But when we study the policies of the media in the entire world, we find that they focus on their physical beauty: When they want to advertise for a cigarette, they show an almost naked woman; what have naked women to do with cigarettes?
The media is treating women as sex objects, to the extent that the world has become preoccupied with beauty contests… On the other hand, we find that the Palestinian women have engaged in different kinds of beauty contests: the beauty of liberation… the beauty of the women who struggle and fight for the cause of their countries… the beauty of women who generate the sublime values for the world… Beauty is a grace, and as such, it should benefit the good of mankind… Thus, we want women to respect their humanity, just as we want men to respect theirs.
Some might say: we are living in a community that is unveiled; what do we do? Shall we not go to work or to the marketplace? In this respect, traditions tell us that we are allowed to look, but not desirably, at those who insist on not wearing the veil. It is an issue of integrity of our values and of the community. If we adopt Western values, which accept sexual freedoms, we will be living in a sexual state of emergency.
Adhering to Islamic Values
We notice that there are a lot of people who manage to join between Western values and Eastern norms and traditions… They tell their wives or daughters to go out wearing the latest fashions and leading a social life that has no restrictions towards socializing with men. But when these women are tempted, they want to kill them to retaliate for their lost honor. Nevertheless, they do not stop to think who is really responsible for what happened.
We have to choose one of two alternatives: we either adopt all the Western values of freedom and accept the consequences, or we adhere to the Islamic values, which we have a religious duty to establish and provide the society with the immunity it needs. This means that we have to confront the Western dissolution campaigns to prevent our children from being led astray.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Returning Palestine to the Forefront
The barbaric Israeli war against Palestinian children continues, with several cities in the West Bank invaded and many regions in Gaza raided, in addition to the curfew and the blockade imposed on all cities and towns in the West Bank. All this is taking place with massive American support, while the rest of the world is only looking and the Arabs are shamefully silent.
Meanwhile, the American envoy to occupied Palestine, who represents his country in the Quartet Committee, is still engaged in a meaningless dialogue concerning the Road Map plan that is supposed to detail the timetable for creating a Palestinian state, while in reality it gives the Israelis more time to execute their schemes.
In view of all this, we would like to ask the Arab states that accepted unanimously the Security Council resolution and went along with the American plan of focusing on Iraq, so that no one will talk about the mass destruction weapons of Israel or its refusal of executing any international resolution… We ask the Arab states: Why don't they return the Palestinian cause to the forefront, whether with regard to the occupation and its Nazi practices or the Israeli mass destruction weapons that threaten the entire region?
In these circumstances in particular, the Palestinians should solidify their national unity, especially between Hamas and Fatah, as well as all the other parties, by means of a dialogue that aims at achieving a state of coordination behind closed doors that would best enable them to realize their goals.
A Zionist Cultural Campaign
On another level, we are subjected to a cultural aggression that has reached the level of a malicious racist campaign that takes religion as its cover. An American Evangelical preacher has recently stated: "Muslims are worse than Nazis," and added, to incite the American Jews: "When will the Jews in America wake up, open their eyes and read what is being said against them?"
He added that the Muslims want to eradicate the Jews and that they are worse than Hitler.
Thus, the criminal has turned into a victim, and the victim is portrayed as a murderer—a total blackout that hides all Jewish crimes against the Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, not to mention their crimes in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, etc., although the Muslims have been very tolerant with the Jews and gave them religious and economic freedoms at a time they were persecuted in the West.
We believe that Jesus Christ (p.) and Christianity, which call for love, justice and peace, do not have anything to do with this racist mentality. And we call upon the Christians to deplore such statements of hatred.
We also call on Muslims in America and elsewhere to show the falsehood of this malignant logic and to show the West the real content of Islam, which called the People of the Book—Christians and Jews—for a common understanding on what they believe in and for dialogue based on mutual respect and love, in the way that turns enemies into friends.
Continuing the Struggle for Liberation
The Lebanese, whose unity has enabled them to be victorious in the war of liberation, as well as the Wazzani project, have to consolidate their unity to continue their struggle and thwart the American attempts to deny us the right of using the Wazzani waters to irrigate our lands, especially that this issue, as well as the balance of terror on the borders, will be raised in the coming Israeli elections to prepare for a new aggression on Lebanon that might be either political or even military.
In this stage, we need to consolidate our unity, especially that the region is still in a state of anguish and concern, as it waits for the expected American offensive to impose the US hegemony and usurp all its resources.
As for our internal needs, we have to concentrate on the economic crisis whose impact has reached every house. In this respect, we call upon the officials to tell the Lebanese frankly and candidly all about the economic solutions they have been planning for. Unrealistic rosy dreams might lead to a psychological crisis when the people discover their futility. That is why we want them to tell us about what they expect from *"Paris-2"* and how it could become a solution and not a problem, like the conference of the friends of Lebanon. We are not trying to discredit the officials, but we believe that the people have the right to know everything that concerns their future.
One final word… We say to all who are serving in the political domain: As we are in the season of fasting, could we hope that they should fast from saying all that incites instincts and causes fragmentation? In the face of all the dangers and threats we are facing, there is a dire need for tighter solidarity and stronger unity… Stop this irresponsible inciting crossfire, for if you have mercy on those on earth, He in Heaven will have mercy on you.