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 Zoul-Hijjah 17, 1422 AH/ March 01, 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
Imam Ali the Keeper of the Message:
“I’ll Keep the Peace as Long as the Affairs of Muslims Remain Secured”
Allah, the Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: "O Messenger, announce that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, and if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people." Surat al-Ma'idah (5:67) The Muslims were on their way back from the farewell pilgrimage when this Ayat was revealed, to make the Prophet extend the march of his prophethood by that of the wilayah, so that the Imamate will ensure that Muslims will pursue the straight path of Islam.
In this respect, who is more qualified to be the guardian after the Prophet than Ali, who was raised by the Messenger, and whose mind, beliefs, ideas, and emotions were educated and nourished by the Prophet? Ali used to say: "The Messenger taught me day by day his ethical and moral principles, and I used to follow him like a baby-camel following its mother." Ali accompanied the Prophet since the beginning of the Message. He was with him when the Messenger fought against the unbelievers, and he was with him when the Quran was being revealed.
That is why the Prophet told him: "You hear what I hear and see what I see, but you are not a prophet." He mastered all the fields of knowledge the Prophet taught him, which made the Prophet say: "I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate." In short, Ali had the mind and the spirit of the Messenger.
He was truthful and honest, just as the Messenger was truthful and honest. In this respect, a man told Imam Jaafar al-Sadiq: "I want to get nearer to you and earn your love; what should I do?" The Imam said: "Do the same as Ali did to earn his position in the eyes of the Messenger. He was honest and truthful just as the Prophet was honest and truthful."
Ali (a.s.) got the most prestigious medal at the Al-Ahzab battle when he fought Amr bin Abd-Wid, after the Prophet called three times: "Who would fight Amr, and I would guarantee that Allah will let him be in Heaven." The only one who offered to enter the duel all three times was Ali. Then the Messenger said when Ali went into the arena: "Faith as a whole had gone to fight unbelief as a whole."
The same thing happened in the battle of Khaibar, when the Prophet said as he found that the others were afraid: "I will give the banner tomorrow to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and who is loved by Allah and His Messenger. A man who is courageous to attack. A man who does not flee, and does not return until he fulfills the victory of Allah."
Furthermore, the Messenger used to describe Ali in words that he never used about any other companion, for he wanted to make the Muslims understand that Ali is his successor. He told Ali: "Are you not satisfied that you are to me as Harun was to Musa, except that there is no prophet after me?"
On his return from the Farewell Pilgrimage, the following Ayat was revealed to him when he reached Ghadir Khum: "O Messenger, announce that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, and if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people." Surat al-Ma'idah (5:67) He ordered the convoy to stop and started to address them in a long speech despite the overwhelming hot weather.
"Praise belongs to Allah. We ask Him for help, and believe in Him, and in Him we trust. We seek refuge in Him from the evil of our souls and the sins of our deeds. Verily, there is no guide for the one whom Allah leaves in stray, and there is none who leads astray the one whom Allah has guided.
O People! Know that Gabriel came down to me several times bringing me an order from the Lord, the Merciful, that I should stop at this place and inform you. Behold! It is as if the time approached when I shall be called away (by Allah) and I shall answer that call.
O Folk! Do you not witness that there is no deity but Allah, Muhammad is His servant and His Apostle, Paradise is truth, Hell is truth, death is truth, resurrection is truth, and that the Hour shall certainly arrive and Allah shall raise people from the graves?" People replied: "Yes, we believe in them."
He continued: "O people! Do you hear my voice (clearly)?" They said: "Yes." The Prophet said: "Behold! I am leaving among you two precious and weighty symbols; that if you adhere to both of them, you shall never go astray after me. Each of these two surpasses the other in its grandeur."
A person asked: "O Messenger of Allah, what are those two precious things?" The Prophet replied: "One of them is the Book of Allah and the other one is my select progeny (Itrat), that is my family (Ahlul-Bayt). Beware of how you behave with them when I am gone from amongst you, for Allah, the Merciful, has informed me that these two (that is, the Quran and Ahlul-Bayt) shall never separate from each other until they reach me in Heaven at the Pool (of al-Kawthar). I remind you, in the name of Allah, about my Ahlul-Bayt. Once more! I remind you, in the name of Allah, about my Ahlul-Bayt.
Behold! I am your predecessor at the Pool (of Paradise) and I shall be a witness against you. Thus be careful how you treat these two precious things after me. Do not precede these two for you will perish, and do not stay away from them for you will perish.
O People! Do you not know that I have more authority upon you than you have upon yourselves?" People cried and said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." Then the Prophet repeated: "O Folk! Do I not have more right over the believers than they have over themselves?" They said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." Then the Prophet said: "O people! Surely Allah is my master, and I am the master of all believers." When he grasped the hand of Ali and raised it, he said:
"'For whoever I am his master, Ali is his master' (repeating three times). O Allah! Love those who love him. Be hostile to those who are hostile to him. Help those who help him. Forsake those who forsake him. And keep the truth with him wherever he turns." Immediately after the Prophet (p.) finished his speech, the following verse of the Holy Quran was revealed: "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion." Surat al-Ma'idah (5:3)
Oath of Allegiance
After his speech, the Messenger of Allah asked everybody to give the oath of allegiance to Ali (a.s.) and congratulate him. Among those who gave him the oath were Umar, Abu Bakr, and Uthman. It is narrated that Umar and Abu Bakr said: "Well done Ibn Abi Talib! Today you became the leader (Mawla) of all believing men and women."
But believing in Ali’s leadership is not merely a matter of emotions; it involves belief and adherence to his line. Imam al-Baqir says: "Is it enough for a man to say 'I love Ali and believe in his leadership' without becoming active? No, because the Messenger is better than Ali, and it is not enough to love the Messenger without adhering to his Sunnah (tradition). Believing in our leadership is believing in what Allah commanded and abiding by its injunctions..."
Days passed by and Ali was deprived of his lawful right of leadership, but being the guardian and protector of Islam, he declared in one of his wonderful sayings: "You know that I have more right than others to assume your leadership, but I will not fight as long as the Muslims' affairs are not undermined and the wrong that has occurred falls only on me."
Ali helped the rulers who came before him until it was said: "Were it not for Ali, Umar would have been doomed." He used to give them whatever advice was needed, for he was a man of the Mission and Message and not one of personal ambitions.
On this occasion, I would like to reassert that I could not have doubted the authenticity of Muhammad’s saying at Al-Ghadir, which was narrated by 110 companions of the Prophet and 360 religious scholars, both Shiites and Sunnah, although some have claimed that I did. Yet we ought not make our difference regarding the issue of the Imamate a cause of polarization and fanaticism, since Allah has told us to refer all our differences to Him and His Messenger.
International unbelief makes a lot of research to study our differences, whether among each of the Shiite and Sunni sects or between the two sects, to incite strife and disperse our unity. We should fight this scheme and uphold our unity. Do not listen to anybody who incites strife and wants to exploit your differences. Such a prosecutor has no place among you.
Furthermore, when you want to discuss your differences, do not curse, for the Imam says: "I hate for you to be cursers. You better describe their actions in a realistic manner and then pray that Allah will reconcile us and lead them out of their deviation..."
Thus, we call for Islamic unity, but Islamic unity does not mean that the Shiites will forego their Shiism or that the Sunnah will change their convictions; it only means that we should meet on what we agree upon and have an objective dialogue on what we disagree upon. We need in this critical stage to reduce to a minimum all that divides Muslims, for Ali, our leader and role model, did not want to be an Imam except for the sole reason of serving Allah. Were it not for the love of Allah, this whole world with all its pleasures meant nothing to him; such a man is not only infallible, he is even above that.
Ali loved Allah and obeyed Him. Therefore, we ought to love him and obey him. Ali is our role model, second only to the Prophet, so let us emulate him in order to meet Allah with a pure heart when nothing else would do us any good.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Sectarian Balance: When Will Lebanon Rise?
The Intifada is the Symbol of Arab Continued Resistance
The Intifada still holds on, despite the extinction attempt the Zionists are carrying out, supported by the American Administration. In addition to providing Israel the most advanced weapons, America provides a political cover by insisting to blame the Palestinians for inciting violence and exerting pressure on them to drop their arms, forgetting all the while that they are fighting against occupation and considering their lands as disputed ones.
The problem is that America, which used the pretense of human rights to force all those who oppose its policies to accept its demands, does not believe in the right of the Palestinians to live. All this talk about a Palestinian state is sheer hypocrisy, for it exerts no pressure on the Zionists to withdraw. Moreover, all the brutal massacres the Zionists are committing are considered by the administration as self-defense.
The media has been talking of late about certain Arab peace initiatives, in the general line of proving that the Arabs seek peace. But despite the fact that the Palestinians are the victims and the Jews are the aggressors, America—along with Israel—did not talk about the withdrawal that the latest Arab initiative has considered as the basis of peace. They only talked about certain details that will leave Jerusalem outside the scope of the negotiations and consider the return of the refugees as unrealistic. All this leads us to the question: who is supposed to come up with a peace initiative; the victim or the aggressors?
In the history of the Arab Palestinian struggle, the Arabs have made successive concessions, but Israel wants them to continue to offer more and more concessions until the Palestinians lose most of their lands and become cheap labor for the Israelis.
We say to the Palestinians that America and Israel, and I am afraid the Muslims and Arabs as well, want to give you the remains of Palestine. We are not being extremists when we say that you ought to continue the Intifada, for you have made the enemy fall into an impasse, and you have been able to expose the deception that lies in the American war against terrorism and shown that it is actually a war against free nations.
Nobody will fight your war for you, for they are afraid that they will burn their hands, and remember that freedom has its price, and all sacrifices are worthy of it.
Strife in Pakistan and India
We have heard the news about shootings targeting those performing prayers in a Shiite mosque in Pakistan, in an act motivated by this hateful sectarianism that might lead to a reaction of the same kind. We would like to draw the attention of our Muslim brothers there that your problem lies in the American hegemony over your resources and political freedom and not in this sectarian difference, which ought to be resolved by referring it to Allah and the Messenger, as we have been instructed in the Holy Quran. Rise to the level of the challenges and cling to the path of Allah and do not disperse.
In India, Muslims' houses and mosques are being demolished and burnt. We say to the Muslims there that what you are experiencing is a result of your weakness, which is, in turn, a result of your divisions. Thus, they have to remove all this backwardness and ignorance to become a force to reckon with.
Lebanon: A Seemingly Endless Crisis
In Lebanon, the question is: Are we in the stage of managing the crisis or trying to resolve it? Why is nobody talking about political reform if we are sincere when we talk about economic reform, it being the obligatory prerequisite to it? And why do the people not feel that the solutions they are presented with satisfactorily address their concerns? Furthermore, if the country is on the verge of economic collapse, why does not everybody rise to this emergency situation? Could the rescue come from the outside—especially from America—whose only concern is to make Lebanon enter into the alliance against "terrorism" and end all forms of resistance against the occupier?
The solutions that are being carried out today are creating additional problems that make people suffer even more, while those who have are enjoying the advantages of the Lebanese regime that protects corruption and theft, all in the name of preserving sectarian balance. When will Lebanon rise from the dead?