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 Shawwal 16, 1423 AH/ December 20, 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
Calling with Wisdom and Kindness:
The Path to Unity
Wisdom and Fair Exhortation
Allah, the Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book:
"Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is guided." Surat an-Nahl (16:125).
This is the way the Muslim should follow when he wants to call people to believe in something or be committed to it. When you want to convince someone of something, you should study the way he thinks, what opens his mind and what closes it, for the mind has keys and locks… One word might open it, and another might close it.
That is why Allah, the Most Exalted, asks us through what He says to His Prophet (p.) to be wise when we call, and being wise is saying the right word at the right place and time… Just as we need a civil engineer to construct the road to a certain destination, we need engineers who would design and construct the roads to the feelings and minds of others, and this is what wisdom means.
We also notice that Allah, the Most Exalted, has divided the Prophet’s mission into two tasks: to teach them two things: the Book and wisdom.
The Book is the Quran, which contains everything and which represents the theory, while wisdom is the practice: The way to transform this theory into a belief in the hearts and into a reality. "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom" means that you ought to study the mentality of those you are addressing… If you are talking to your children, for example, you should turn into a child.
Study the Mentality of the Other
A youth’s mentality should also be studied… It differs whether he is an intellectual or not. If he is an intellectual, you should be an intellectual too. Or you should let an intellectual talk to him. We have to study the mentality of our children, whether they are still young or have turned into teenagers. Certain fathers consider themselves autocratic rulers in their houses; they impose their views upon all their members. But this is not what the Quran tells us. It asks us to reason in the best manner: to use kind words that enter the heart.
This way you can live in peace. If you use force, they might obey, but they might develop a feeling of uneasiness towards you, which might complicate things… For there is no difference between a dictator of a country and that of a house… Our children are not things… they are human beings.
When we were young, we used to be angry when our parents used violence against us. Our children too will undoubtedly feel the same… Therefore, when we become parents, we should remember how we felt towards our parents when we were children... Your children are human beings, and so is your wife. They are not pieces of furniture; you did not buy your wife:
"They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them." Surat al-Baqarah (2:187).
"And live with them in kindness. For if you dislike them - perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good." Surat an-Nisa (4:19).
"And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought." Surat ar-Rum (30:21).
It is a relation between two human beings and not between a ruler and a subject. Each party has certain rights and certain duties in a relationship governed by love and understanding.
Dear loved ones… We are now living in a community that does not adopt this method of resorting to wisdom. We live in fanaticism and individualism. Our morals are beastly, in which the strong oppresses the weak… We have turned our houses into psychiatry wards whose members need therapy… We live in an ever-mounting tension and do not know how to live in peace. We try to compensate by consuming… buying furniture and new houses and the like… But this is not what makes us feel happiness and tranquility… What bestows this feeling on us is tolerance, wisdom, and humanitarianism.
Reason with Them in the Better Way
"And argue with them in a way that is best." When there are differences of ideas or creeds, there are two ways to go about them: violence, whereby one resorts to cursing and threatening—this way you might feel relieved, but you will never win the person you are talking to your side. On the contrary, you will make him more hostile. Thus, the violent manner that dominates the political and religious differences of our society is in breach of what Allah, the Most Exalted, has ordered us… The Holy Quran says:
"And do not insult those they invoke other than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge. Thus We have made pleasing to every community their deeds. Then to their Lord is their return, and He will inform them about what they used to do." Surat al-An'am (6:108). The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (a.s.), tells his followers, while they are at war against Muawiyah, who later became the first Umayyad ruler, that instead of abusing their foes, they ought to describe what they are doing. Moreover, he asks them to pray to Allah, the Most Exalted, to save the lives of Muslims on both sides and guide them to the right.
This is the sublime Islamic spirit: Even when you are at war against fellow Muslims, you should never hold a grudge, and you should always try to resort to reasoning with them in the better way. This is your duty, but it does not extend to whether they are guided or not:
"So remind, [O Muhammad]; you are only a reminder." Surat al-Ghashiyah (88:21).
Even when we are arguing with the People of the Book, we should use the method that lets our words enter the hearts and minds:
"And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that is best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say, 'We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you. And our God and your God is one; and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him.'" Surat al-'Ankabut (29:46).
This method is not restricted to religious or sectarian differences, for Allah commands us to go back to Allah, the Most Exalted, and His Messenger (p.) in everything we differ about. We should know that good and kind words will surely have an impact on others, but unfortunately, we have let our hearts be filled with hatred, so that our ears no longer hear. Our role model in our moral behavior should be the Prophet (p.), whom Allah, the Most Exalted, told us of how merciful he was:
"So by mercy from Allah, [O Muhammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter." Surat Al 'Imran (3:159). "There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer; [he is] concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful." Surat at-Tawbah (9:128).
Dear loved ones:
We are living in a world that wants to divide and control us. It wants to exploit our differences so that it can dominate us… We have to be aware of that, because this is the weapon that can defeat us. Whereas if we unify our ranks, no power will defeat us:
"And obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not dispute and [thus] lose courage and [then] your strength would depart; and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient." Surat al-Anfal (8:46).
This is the issue: If you want freedom, freedom comes with wisdom and unity, and if you want power, it also comes with wisdom and unity…
May Allah, the Most Exalted, grant us success in what pleases Him.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Attempts to end the Intifada
On the Palestinian front everything is frozen, even with respect to the “road map” project of the Palestinian state. The American Secretary of State has forced the Quartet Committee to accept this freeze, for this is what Israel has asked: to postpone everything until after its elections. But no one has asked Israel to stop its military and economic aggression on the Palestinian people, for the American policy aims at giving the Jewish State a chance to create a new situation one on the ground that prevents the Palestinians from achieving their goal of establishing an independent state on the entire occupied lands, being. according to the American logic, disputed territories.
As for the British call for the Palestinian Authority to meet in London to discuss political and security reform, it is a call to freeze the Intifada and preoccupy it with trivial issues until the Zionist elections end in peace and the war against Iraq proceeds in the planned manner.
The Americans now want to reassure the Arab World, and this is what explains the phone calls that Bush had with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Soothing words
He wants to tell the Arabs some soothing words to calm them without giving them anything on the ground. At the same time America coordinates with Israel, its strategic partner, to plan for the future of the region after overthrowing the Iraq regime and substituting it with a regime that serves its interests. The strategy also includes making more threats against Syria and Iran to end their support to the Intifada in Palestine.
All those who are free in the region should study these threats thoroughly… It is not yet clear whether the war in Iraq is going to topple the regime only or it is also going to kill tens of thousands of Iraqis. The nature of the regime it is going to install in Iraq is also not clear. Does America believe in democracy knowing that such a democracy will lead to the Iraqis’ rejection of American hegemony? The American democracy in the Third World is determined by what serves its interests and not by the people’s will and freedom. Moreover, what are the guarantees America offers the Iraqi people following the oust of the dictator? What are the real capabilities of the opposition to fight the American hegemony that replaced an autocratic regime by another autocratic one with some democratic makeup?
When the nation decides to confront
Some might talk about helplessness, like the Arab regimes and most of the Islamic states, but this is not true. When the nation decides to confront, it is capable of doing so even by taking to the streets with all resolve and determination, and this might thwart many plans. As for the war against what it calls terrorism, America is continuing it by passing additional laws, that permit its security and intelligence agencies to kill whoever it accuses without trial, just like what Israel is doing. It is the law of the jungle, with all the barbarism and primitivism it involves… Yet America asks why do the Arabs and Muslims hate us? It is the American extremists that are distorting America ’s image. It is the American Administration policy that have made the nations see in the States a beast that wants to change the peoples into herds of innocent animals that willingly accept to be slaughtered.
Discard trivial differences and enhance internal unity
As for Lebanon whose people are starving, dreaming of job opportunities, demanding stability, revolting against corruption and yearning to immigrate to find a decent living… As for Lebanon whose people have sunk in the quagmire of sectarianism and partisanship…and whose people are ignorant of the dangerous events that await its economy and security… This Lebanon whose political life is so fragile, that any political raw might destabilize it… What are its people’s politicians and leaders waiting for to rise to the level of the imminent threats?
In these times of critical challenges, we have to know how to confront them as unified people who are looking forward to build their future... We have to discard our trivial differences and enhance our internal unity, the unity of strong and free men.