Grand Ayatollah H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Rajab 29 1424 h,September 26 2003, (Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu'a prayer)
The First Sermon
The birth of Islam
On the 27th of the month of Rajab, we meet with two occasions: the birth of Islam and the second, which is part of the first, is the Prophet’s night journey in which he ascended to Heaven. For when Allah chose the Messenger (p.) to convey the Message, He wanted to arm him from the beginning with all the spiritual, cultural, political, educational and other elements that would enable him to sustain the Message… being a message for all peoples, places and times.
Therefore, the Messenger (p.) ought to integrate in his personality all the elements that would provide man in all times and places all his needs of culture, virtues, values, righteousness, soundness, awareness, and all that ensures his balance in life. That is why Allah has charged one of His greatest angels to take care of him and teach him on a daily basis starting from his very early childhood.
Then when he became a mature adult he sent the Quran to fill his mind with the book that constitutes the constitution of life in all its aspects and fields.
The Quran was sent gradually to accompany the Islamic movement of the Prophet (p.) to guide the Muslims, provide them with legislations, to articulate the concepts of Islam, to plan their war and peace… to guide them to the straight path and warn them against any deviation… The Quran was thus the book of the Islamic movement in which you can review the Prophet’s personality and read his biography that is presented in association with his capacity as a Messenger who has a message to convey and who acts as a role model to be followed.
In this context, the experience of the night journey is a step in teaching and educating Muhammad
“Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing”. (17:1)
so that the Prophet (p.) through the connection between Ibrahim’s base that has become in the process of the movement of the call for the Message the base of Muhammad and that of the other Prophets in Al-Quds, proves that all prophets are related since they deliver the same Message from the same God.
All messages are but one
Historical sources go on to say that Allah, the most Exalted, made His Messenger (p.) meet all the other prophets to show him some of “Our signs” that prove His greatness and links the Prophet with all the other prophets and messages, so that he will become the seal of the prophets carrying the seal of Messages.
As for the ascension to Heaven, it aimed at making the Prophet (p.) aware about what is in Heaven, too. Allah, the most Exalted, wanted His Messenger (p.) to take a tour in the cosmos, after his tour on earth by a vehicle whose nature is not known, but that represents Allah’s absolute ability.
The Messenger (p.)’s virtues
When the Messenger (p.) launched his call, he did not resort to violence. On the contrary, he was kind and lenient, telling the people, I am a human being like you, with the difference that I am guided with Allah, the most Exalted’s, revelation. He was of exemplary conduct and of the greatest morals that used to tell the people I have come from you and I am no stranger to your pains, ambitions, dreams and traditions… I came by the Message to make you adopt the correct and sound thought, and carry nothing in your hearts but love… I came to ensure that your life is that of joining hands to do what is good and not what is sinful or aggressive... I came to make life better in the way that Allah wills. I do not carry a national message.
The Quran is a universal message
It is true that the Quran is conveyed in Arabic, but this is because it had to be conveyed in a certain language. This does not mean that it is intended for a certain people. The Quran is a universal message, for all nations, places and times. When Islam launched its message to the world, it told man that the first thing he should adopt is to respect the mind, which Allah has given man to make him distinguish between right and wrong, and which as such justifies the notion that man will be held accountable for his deeds. By extension, respecting the mind is also respecting science and knowledge, for they are the product of the mind through experimentation.
The importance of the mind cannot be over exaggerated since it is also the means to know Allah. Through the mind you learn about the secrets of creation, which will make you discover the greatness of Allah. You will also be able to understand how much Allah, the most Exalted, has been kind to you and the graces He bestowed on you
In social and in human relations, Allah tells man that he has to be just.
For justice is the secret of continuity of life and the secret of what is human in you. Therefore, be just in your mind when you evaluate things and decide if they are negative or positive. Be just in your sayings and don’t praise who do not deserve or criticize what is not called for.
Do not do wrong in your dealings with others. Wish for others what you wish for yourself and hate for them what you hate for yourself.
Islam is the Religion of life
In the light of the above, we say that Islam is the religion of all life, and the religion of humanity in all times, for man will always need the mind, and science will always be the means of progress and discovering the secrets of life and the cosmos. And what better slogan for progress and development than the Quranic slogan “Say: My Lord, increase my knowledge”(20:114) Man in the Quranic conception, seeks to constantly develop his mastering of science and never stops.
If such are the principles of Islam could it be said that they only suite what was existing 14 or 15 centuries ago... Values like justice are not restricted to a certain of time or place. What is the problem of the world now? What is the word that summaries the solution of the economic political, social, environmental, developmental, racist and other problem if not justice... The same thing applies in the West and in the East and in every time and society, even the primitive ones…
These universal issues, the mind, knowledge and justice are what make Islam a universal religion. The mind that is created by Allah, the most Exalted, guides man to Him, while knowledge and science are the means of the mind to develop life, and justice is the means to elevate us to Allah. That is why Islam does not respect does who do not use their mind and does not like those who are unjust. If you want Allah to love you, use your mind to the greatest extent and adopt justice as the most basic virtue in life.
Our responsibility towards the call
On these occasions, the initiation of the Message and the night journey, we have to understand that all of us, young and old, women and men intellectuals and non-intellectuals, are called upon to carry the Message of Islam and teach our religion to the people… At the time of the Prophet, the Muslims were able to support the Prophet (p.) emigrate with him, provide him with a safe refuge and fight with him… Since then, every generation passed the torch to the next generation.
And here we are now, our generation too must uphold its responsibility, especially after unbelief has entered our society whether through the media or through the cultural and political centers.
Therefore we are responsible now, as our fathers and grandfathers were, to firmly establish Islam in our lives. We have to educate our children on Islam and not to leave them in the hands of unbelief.
We, like the Prophet (p.), do not want only to keep Islam alive in our societies, but to spread Islam in all the world through our Muslim communities and our cultural forums.
The Prophet has died, (Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Last of the prophets (33:40))but the Message remains with each generation passing it to the next. The is why we have to work, even if after a hundred years, to Islamize the world, for the arrogant and the infidels are working on dominating the world… We have to engage in the struggle against the arrogant and the Infidels, but we have to present Islam as it is; an element of civilization that has noting to do with the backwardness and myths the attach to it. There is no place for compliments and leniency. No one, as the traditions has told us, can remain neutral, when one has to choose between right and wrong or good and evil. May Allah, the most Exalted, guide us to carry out our responsibilities in spreading His Message and calling for the straight path.
The Second Sermon
Undermining the world order.
The American President’s address to the General Assembly was a failure not only with respect to the UN, but even in the eyes of the Congress and the American media. He did not come up with anything new.
He only asked the Congress for 87 Billion US Dollars and the world to help him in reconstructing Iraq, which proves that he is in the midst of political and economic impasse whose effects have begun to negatively impact the Iraqi people.
It is the season of speeches in the UN General Assembly, which are made by the leaders of the major powers, with the American president in the forefront. In his address, President Bush praised the preemptive war as it was practiced in Iraq that is by undermining the world order and preventing the UN from carrying out its effective role in diffusing tensions in the world.
He also talked about the weapons of mass destruction threatening the states he claims to possess or plan to produce such weapons without giving any evidence of his accusations. Such an attitude was met by the condemnation of most of the states of the world for he does not respect the international public opinion. His speech was addressed not to that public opinion as much as it targeted the Americans whom Bush is trying to deceive and intimidate through constantly reminding them of terrorism. This is but a political joke, especially when it is accompanied by depriving the Americans, especially the Muslims and the Arabs among them, from most of their civilian rights, and violating the basic human rights of the detainees in Guantanamu, who are not even charged, and who are not allowed to meet their relatives or lawyers. In addition children under 13 years of age are also held there.
A secondary UN role
It is funny that Bush in his speech that is addressed in fact to the Americans to gain their support in the coming presidential elections gives a rosy picture of the situation in Iraq that fails to mention any of the facts on the ground. And even when he asks for the UN help to his occupation, he fails to give it any leading role.
In all this, he does not consider the occupation itself as a part of the problem the Iraqis are suffering from. On the contrary, he and his secretaries of state and defense, talk about a long stay in Iraq, refusing to hand over the power to the Iraqis and want the UN to play a subordinate role.
It is appalling and astonishing that a state like the US that occupied Iraq and like Israel that occupied Palestine ask the world to help them in their occupation and protect their soldiers who kill the civilians daily under the pretense of haunting certain “terrorists” in the beginning of the third millennium whose slogans are supposed to be freedom and human rights.
Israeli terror.
As for the Israeli atrocities which in addition to the killing of civilians and the house demolitions, even prevent the children from going to their schools…these violations or terrorist acts are not condemned by the Quartet Committee or the European Union who decided to consider the political organization of Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, we read in the Israeli newspapers that 27 Israeli pilots announced that they are opposed to carry out illegal and immoral orders to attack and added that they refuse to continue to hit “innocent civilians”. Stating that “the continued occupation is critically harming the country’s security” and moral fiber.”
We ask the Quartet Committee and especially the European Union:
Isn’t that opposition a proof that the Israeli government is a terrorist organization? It is not enough for the EU to condemn the American war against Iraq for violating the UN laws?
It has, if it still believes in freedom and human rights, to condemn the Israeli occupation and its daily acts of terror against the Palestinian people.
Why doesn’t the Quartet Committee call l for the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and send an international force to separate between the Israelis and the Palestinians who said that they would end the Intifada if the Israelis withdraw? Are we to understand that there is a kind of historical racism against the Muslims and the Arabs?
The Arabs’ political helplessness
The states of the Arab world are not playing any active role in the UN. There are merely some hypocrite statements to save face and pay lip service, while some try to memorize what the Americans say about terrorism and necessity of change to go back and apply it in their countries... For the Americans believe that their instructions alone could make the change and not the nation’s will… The question is: Did these regimes leave what we can call the Arab World? We stare at the horizon but we do not see anything.
The banking secrecy in Lebanon.
In Lebanon the “game” still imposes itself on national politics as in the dispute going on between the foreign Affairs Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank over manipulation of banking secrecy.
The US is behind the attempt to freeze the accounts of the Islamic militant group Hamas, one of the most sacred positions of the Jihad against the enemy. I believe that this is because it wants to impose an economic siege on Lebanon, because of its political principles. The US is working hard to threaten Lebanon with an economic collapse, as had happened in Argentina... But why is all this mutual lying and why do political players use the national issues to promote their personal interests?
These twisted methods deepened the gap between the public and statesmen, causing people to lose confidence in politics. What is said in public is different than what is said behind doors, while country has turned in to a ball that is being kicked by the international players and their allies. Is this the way to build the future of our country?
Grand Ayatollah H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Rajab 29 1424 h,September 26 2003, (Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu'a prayer)
The First Sermon
The birth of Islam
On the 27th of the month of Rajab, we meet with two occasions: the birth of Islam and the second, which is part of the first, is the Prophet’s night journey in which he ascended to Heaven. For when Allah chose the Messenger (p.) to convey the Message, He wanted to arm him from the beginning with all the spiritual, cultural, political, educational and other elements that would enable him to sustain the Message… being a message for all peoples, places and times.
Therefore, the Messenger (p.) ought to integrate in his personality all the elements that would provide man in all times and places all his needs of culture, virtues, values, righteousness, soundness, awareness, and all that ensures his balance in life. That is why Allah has charged one of His greatest angels to take care of him and teach him on a daily basis starting from his very early childhood.
Then when he became a mature adult he sent the Quran to fill his mind with the book that constitutes the constitution of life in all its aspects and fields.
The Quran was sent gradually to accompany the Islamic movement of the Prophet (p.) to guide the Muslims, provide them with legislations, to articulate the concepts of Islam, to plan their war and peace… to guide them to the straight path and warn them against any deviation… The Quran was thus the book of the Islamic movement in which you can review the Prophet’s personality and read his biography that is presented in association with his capacity as a Messenger who has a message to convey and who acts as a role model to be followed.
In this context, the experience of the night journey is a step in teaching and educating Muhammad
“Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing”. (17:1)
so that the Prophet (p.) through the connection between Ibrahim’s base that has become in the process of the movement of the call for the Message the base of Muhammad and that of the other Prophets in Al-Quds, proves that all prophets are related since they deliver the same Message from the same God.
All messages are but one
Historical sources go on to say that Allah, the most Exalted, made His Messenger (p.) meet all the other prophets to show him some of “Our signs” that prove His greatness and links the Prophet with all the other prophets and messages, so that he will become the seal of the prophets carrying the seal of Messages.
As for the ascension to Heaven, it aimed at making the Prophet (p.) aware about what is in Heaven, too. Allah, the most Exalted, wanted His Messenger (p.) to take a tour in the cosmos, after his tour on earth by a vehicle whose nature is not known, but that represents Allah’s absolute ability.
The Messenger (p.)’s virtues
When the Messenger (p.) launched his call, he did not resort to violence. On the contrary, he was kind and lenient, telling the people, I am a human being like you, with the difference that I am guided with Allah, the most Exalted’s, revelation. He was of exemplary conduct and of the greatest morals that used to tell the people I have come from you and I am no stranger to your pains, ambitions, dreams and traditions… I came by the Message to make you adopt the correct and sound thought, and carry nothing in your hearts but love… I came to ensure that your life is that of joining hands to do what is good and not what is sinful or aggressive... I came to make life better in the way that Allah wills. I do not carry a national message.
The Quran is a universal message
It is true that the Quran is conveyed in Arabic, but this is because it had to be conveyed in a certain language. This does not mean that it is intended for a certain people. The Quran is a universal message, for all nations, places and times. When Islam launched its message to the world, it told man that the first thing he should adopt is to respect the mind, which Allah has given man to make him distinguish between right and wrong, and which as such justifies the notion that man will be held accountable for his deeds. By extension, respecting the mind is also respecting science and knowledge, for they are the product of the mind through experimentation.
The importance of the mind cannot be over exaggerated since it is also the means to know Allah. Through the mind you learn about the secrets of creation, which will make you discover the greatness of Allah. You will also be able to understand how much Allah, the most Exalted, has been kind to you and the graces He bestowed on you
In social and in human relations, Allah tells man that he has to be just.
For justice is the secret of continuity of life and the secret of what is human in you. Therefore, be just in your mind when you evaluate things and decide if they are negative or positive. Be just in your sayings and don’t praise who do not deserve or criticize what is not called for.
Do not do wrong in your dealings with others. Wish for others what you wish for yourself and hate for them what you hate for yourself.
Islam is the Religion of life
In the light of the above, we say that Islam is the religion of all life, and the religion of humanity in all times, for man will always need the mind, and science will always be the means of progress and discovering the secrets of life and the cosmos. And what better slogan for progress and development than the Quranic slogan “Say: My Lord, increase my knowledge”(20:114) Man in the Quranic conception, seeks to constantly develop his mastering of science and never stops.
If such are the principles of Islam could it be said that they only suite what was existing 14 or 15 centuries ago... Values like justice are not restricted to a certain of time or place. What is the problem of the world now? What is the word that summaries the solution of the economic political, social, environmental, developmental, racist and other problem if not justice... The same thing applies in the West and in the East and in every time and society, even the primitive ones…
These universal issues, the mind, knowledge and justice are what make Islam a universal religion. The mind that is created by Allah, the most Exalted, guides man to Him, while knowledge and science are the means of the mind to develop life, and justice is the means to elevate us to Allah. That is why Islam does not respect does who do not use their mind and does not like those who are unjust. If you want Allah to love you, use your mind to the greatest extent and adopt justice as the most basic virtue in life.
Our responsibility towards the call
On these occasions, the initiation of the Message and the night journey, we have to understand that all of us, young and old, women and men intellectuals and non-intellectuals, are called upon to carry the Message of Islam and teach our religion to the people… At the time of the Prophet, the Muslims were able to support the Prophet (p.) emigrate with him, provide him with a safe refuge and fight with him… Since then, every generation passed the torch to the next generation.
And here we are now, our generation too must uphold its responsibility, especially after unbelief has entered our society whether through the media or through the cultural and political centers.
Therefore we are responsible now, as our fathers and grandfathers were, to firmly establish Islam in our lives. We have to educate our children on Islam and not to leave them in the hands of unbelief.
We, like the Prophet (p.), do not want only to keep Islam alive in our societies, but to spread Islam in all the world through our Muslim communities and our cultural forums.
The Prophet has died, (Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Last of the prophets (33:40))but the Message remains with each generation passing it to the next. The is why we have to work, even if after a hundred years, to Islamize the world, for the arrogant and the infidels are working on dominating the world… We have to engage in the struggle against the arrogant and the Infidels, but we have to present Islam as it is; an element of civilization that has noting to do with the backwardness and myths the attach to it. There is no place for compliments and leniency. No one, as the traditions has told us, can remain neutral, when one has to choose between right and wrong or good and evil. May Allah, the most Exalted, guide us to carry out our responsibilities in spreading His Message and calling for the straight path.
The Second Sermon
Undermining the world order.
The American President’s address to the General Assembly was a failure not only with respect to the UN, but even in the eyes of the Congress and the American media. He did not come up with anything new.
He only asked the Congress for 87 Billion US Dollars and the world to help him in reconstructing Iraq, which proves that he is in the midst of political and economic impasse whose effects have begun to negatively impact the Iraqi people.
It is the season of speeches in the UN General Assembly, which are made by the leaders of the major powers, with the American president in the forefront. In his address, President Bush praised the preemptive war as it was practiced in Iraq that is by undermining the world order and preventing the UN from carrying out its effective role in diffusing tensions in the world.
He also talked about the weapons of mass destruction threatening the states he claims to possess or plan to produce such weapons without giving any evidence of his accusations. Such an attitude was met by the condemnation of most of the states of the world for he does not respect the international public opinion. His speech was addressed not to that public opinion as much as it targeted the Americans whom Bush is trying to deceive and intimidate through constantly reminding them of terrorism. This is but a political joke, especially when it is accompanied by depriving the Americans, especially the Muslims and the Arabs among them, from most of their civilian rights, and violating the basic human rights of the detainees in Guantanamu, who are not even charged, and who are not allowed to meet their relatives or lawyers. In addition children under 13 years of age are also held there.
A secondary UN role
It is funny that Bush in his speech that is addressed in fact to the Americans to gain their support in the coming presidential elections gives a rosy picture of the situation in Iraq that fails to mention any of the facts on the ground. And even when he asks for the UN help to his occupation, he fails to give it any leading role.
In all this, he does not consider the occupation itself as a part of the problem the Iraqis are suffering from. On the contrary, he and his secretaries of state and defense, talk about a long stay in Iraq, refusing to hand over the power to the Iraqis and want the UN to play a subordinate role.
It is appalling and astonishing that a state like the US that occupied Iraq and like Israel that occupied Palestine ask the world to help them in their occupation and protect their soldiers who kill the civilians daily under the pretense of haunting certain “terrorists” in the beginning of the third millennium whose slogans are supposed to be freedom and human rights.
Israeli terror.
As for the Israeli atrocities which in addition to the killing of civilians and the house demolitions, even prevent the children from going to their schools…these violations or terrorist acts are not condemned by the Quartet Committee or the European Union who decided to consider the political organization of Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, we read in the Israeli newspapers that 27 Israeli pilots announced that they are opposed to carry out illegal and immoral orders to attack and added that they refuse to continue to hit “innocent civilians”. Stating that “the continued occupation is critically harming the country’s security” and moral fiber.”
We ask the Quartet Committee and especially the European Union:
Isn’t that opposition a proof that the Israeli government is a terrorist organization? It is not enough for the EU to condemn the American war against Iraq for violating the UN laws?
It has, if it still believes in freedom and human rights, to condemn the Israeli occupation and its daily acts of terror against the Palestinian people.
Why doesn’t the Quartet Committee call l for the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and send an international force to separate between the Israelis and the Palestinians who said that they would end the Intifada if the Israelis withdraw? Are we to understand that there is a kind of historical racism against the Muslims and the Arabs?
The Arabs’ political helplessness
The states of the Arab world are not playing any active role in the UN. There are merely some hypocrite statements to save face and pay lip service, while some try to memorize what the Americans say about terrorism and necessity of change to go back and apply it in their countries... For the Americans believe that their instructions alone could make the change and not the nation’s will… The question is: Did these regimes leave what we can call the Arab World? We stare at the horizon but we do not see anything.
The banking secrecy in Lebanon.
In Lebanon the “game” still imposes itself on national politics as in the dispute going on between the foreign Affairs Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank over manipulation of banking secrecy.
The US is behind the attempt to freeze the accounts of the Islamic militant group Hamas, one of the most sacred positions of the Jihad against the enemy. I believe that this is because it wants to impose an economic siege on Lebanon, because of its political principles. The US is working hard to threaten Lebanon with an economic collapse, as had happened in Argentina... But why is all this mutual lying and why do political players use the national issues to promote their personal interests?
These twisted methods deepened the gap between the public and statesmen, causing people to lose confidence in politics. What is said in public is different than what is said behind doors, while country has turned in to a ball that is being kicked by the international players and their allies. Is this the way to build the future of our country?