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 Muharram 4, 1424 AH / March 7, 2003, 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
Let’s Learn from Ashoura How to Confront Falsehood
The Members of the House Embody the Message
Ashura is the event that holds in all its events, speeches, sacrifices, and stances the life of the Members of the House, who were raised and taught by the Prophet (p.), beginning with Ali (a.s.) and Fatima (a.s.), and then the Imams Hassan and al-Hussein (a.s.).
This house that was brought up by the Prophet (p.) is the house of the Message, a house whom Allah has purified and whose members were infallible in everything they did or said. They did not have any other line but Islam and sought nothing but the Right. They defended the faith from all falsehood others tried to insert, for their love was solely for Allah, the Most Exalted, His Messenger, and those who love Allah and His Messenger. And they wanted all people to follow their model and base any stand they take on the same basis, seeking to establish the Right, since Allah is the Right, the only Right, and what others call for is falsehood.
Their Resolve and Dedication
Thus, the Members of the House were destined to endure all they went through because they insisted on being with the Right and allowing no falsehood to draw near it. That is why it was said that the right is bitter, because those who adhere to it bear a heavy responsibility and because those who hold this responsibility have to stick to the straight line without deviation, whether right or left.
Thus, Ali's experience in adhering to the cause of the right was similar to that of the Messenger (p.). The Messenger (p.) refused to succumb under pressure and agree to worship the pagans' gods for a year in return for their worshipping of his God for another year. There are no compromises when it comes to defending the Right. The pagans, on the other hand, did not mind worshipping Muhammad's God because they did not have a faith based on the Right that would be violated if any partnership with Allah was accepted. And this is unfortunately what we are witnessing now when people start to exaggerate, thus letting disbelief into their doctrine and making their belief in the oneness of Allah compromised. That is why the Imam (a.s.) said that two kinds of people will meet a disastrous fate because of him: those who exaggerate in their love of him and those whose hate to him is blind.
The Prophet suffered all that he had suffered because he refused to deviate away from the Right even by one percent.
This is also what the Imam (a.s.) did after the death of the Prophet, when he refused to become part of the political game as others did then and do now. He refused to accept the caliphate when Abdulrahman bin Awf told him that he pledged loyalty to him on the basis of Allah's Book, the Prophet's traditions, and the legacy of Abu Bakr and Omar. He accepted the first two but refused the third, for it might contain what could not agree with Allah's Book, and consequently, Uthman became the caliph.
He could have easily agreed, as politicians do nowadays, and then gone back on his word. But he had no personal ambitions of becoming a caliph. It was a matter of principle and a means of serving Allah, Islam, and Muslims.
Then when he became caliph, he refused to give money to certain people to ensure the stability of his rule, saying that the money is not mine; it is Allah's. Thus, Ali (a.s.) drew himself away from the political game and suffered a lot as a result of this stand. He did not lack the ability to take part in the political game, but he did not want to do anything that is against Allah's commands.
It was not as he says that his adversary, Muawiyah, was clever, but that he did not mind resorting to deceiving and treachery. The difference between Imam Ali (a.s.) and those who came before and after him is that he considered himself responsible for showing Islam in its purest forms, just as the Prophet did. He considered himself a messenger who, although he was not a prophet, held the responsibility of the Message. He did not strive to gather supporters around him but wanted those who supported him to remain righteous. He says: "Having too many people around me does not increase my glory, and if they go away, I will not feel more lonely." The Imam (a.s.) wanted us to follow his path in thought and practice: "Do not feel lonely on the path of guidance if the people walking with you are few..."
Imam Hussein (a.s.) followed the same path, choosing to face difficulties and opposing the mainstream of deviation that culminated when Muawiyah appointed his son as his successor, using both the carrot and the stick (He used to give money to those who agree and kill those who do not). The people were by that time used to this mentality. They began to choose their leadership on the basis of their own interests and not according to their principles, a practice that is still dominant today. That is why the Imam went all his way to ensure that his job was not only to rule but to educate the people as well.
Ashura as a Right Cause
Similarly, when Imam Hussein (a.s.) said: "I rose to seek reform in my grandfather’s nation," he was talking about this deviation, whereby the corruption did not only strike the leadership but the entire nation as well. The nation affected by the Umayyad leadership was beginning to forget the Right and adopt falsehood.
Therefore, Ashura was in the first place a revolt to reestablish the Right. It is a historical event whose details are known and filling it with thousands of lies to move the people is uncalled for. The event itself is enough to catch the hearts and the souls, while lies might make people skeptical about what really happened.
It is quite unfortunate that as things turned out, the speaker who makes the audience cry more is considered more successful, even if he relies on myths and lies.
Ashura should be an occasion to enlighten our minds and elevate our spiritual and humane levels. This means that we should engage in a political, social, and cultural revaluation to raise the level of Muslims, to rid the nation of the backwardness, the ignorant, and the deviated have pumped into it.
Imam Hussein, like his father before him, held the task of criticizing all wrong attitudes. He was a man who flew the flag of the right and truthfulness. To honor him, we have to rid Ashura of all lies and myths. And be sure that what actually happened in Ashura could enrich the minds and break the hearts.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
America Legalizes Zionist Terror
The Arab and Islamic summits that are being convened in an atmosphere of marginal differences did not produce any results, whether against the American war or in support of the Palestinian cause. They are helpless because some of the Arabs are engaged in defense treaties to protect themselves against other Arabs, and they cannot therefore exert any pressure on the aggressors.
As for the American-Israeli summit that Sharon and Bush are actually implementing its plans, it deploys the armies in the region in a manifestation of a political-military alliance that shows itself sometimes and acts behind the scenes in others. In any case, it always leaves to Israel a free hand to use its massive war machine against the Palestinian people to force them to surrender.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian martyrs and wounded fall, and houses fall on the heads of their inhabitants, with America justifying all this as self-defense. Although it might sometimes talk about the misuse of excessive force by Israel, once a martyr operation (like the one in Haifa) takes place, the Americans will use the strongest words they have to condemn this so-called terrorist action, while the Israeli army's brutal targeting of civilians is a war necessity of self-defense.
Palestinians Should Continue Their Fight
Recently, France, Germany, and Russia took the same stand without studying the destructive conditions that suffocate the Palestinians, who stand alone in the face of American-Israeli barbarism. We say to the Palestinians: The Zionist government led by Sharon and supported by America will not be deterred if you put an end to martyr operations; they will ask for more and more concessions until they make you accept all their humiliating conditions. Did the enemy stop any of its brutal actions of killing, demolition, and blockade in the last two months in which they were not attacked by this means?
Therefore, continue your wonderful struggle that makes a new history for the Arab and Islamic nation. Do not be deceived by the international and Arab calls for a truce, because Israel will not respect it, and the Quartet Committee cannot impose any solution on Israel. We are in a stage of finger-biting. Do not be the first to scream; you have endured all these pains. Surely, Israel will scream in the end, for no state could subject a free people that seeks a free life.
A Sharon-Like Mentality
On another level, the American president, with some of his allies, especially Britain, seems more and more of a mind like that of Sharon, the tyrant that has a thirst for blood that cannot be quelled, for the feeling of how powerful he is drives him to threaten the world with war in the name of peace and oppress the freedom of nations in the name of realizing Allah's will, as if Allah wants him to suppress the downtrodden along with some arrogant powers to end any sharing in decision-taking in the whole world.
We notice that America is using the carrot-and-stick policy in its pressures on certain countries to deploy its troops. This is what we noticed in America’s pressure on Turkey, whose parliament refused to accept the American hegemony. Nevertheless, diplomatic and economic pressures might lead Turkey to yield, especially with the pressures the Turkish military is making.
The question that imposes itself, with the war seeming to be so imminent, is about what is going on in the coming few days: Would America force the Security Council to accept its war, or would it end its international legitimacy and go to war unilaterally? And what is the stand of the Iraqi opposition towards the American plan that intends to establish a military rule in Iraq while claiming that it intends to liberate the Iraqis? What options do they have, and what are the potentials of pressurizing the Americans? Should they start a war against this occupation or continue to wait until the Americans decide to pull out, a decision that is determined by the American strategic interests? These questions need definite answers. But in any case, we call on all Iraqi people to continue their struggle for liberation from the tyrannical regime and from foreign occupation. They should know, as history whose laws are divinely established tells us, that no arrogant power could prevent any nation from achieving its freedom. Furthermore, we call on all Arab and Islamic peoples, as well as all the free ones, to remain in opposition to the arrogant military, economic, and political hegemony, for no tyrant could resist the free will of nations.
Lastly, the anniversary of the Bir al-Abed massacre that was committed by the American Central Intelligence Agency, as admitted by its director William Casey. We ought not to forget this massacre that killed many innocent women, children, and elderly, so that we would learn how Americans practice terror while claiming to fight terrorism. America's logic is that terrorism should not target America, but it could be practiced if it serves American interests all over the world. Search for America in any injustice or terror against the downtrodden, especially the Arabs and Muslims.