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 Safar 9, 1424 AH/ April 11, 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
Imam Al-Hassan’s Legacy and Current Affairs
Raised by the Prophet
One of the Members of the Prophet’s house whom Allah purified is Imam Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib. He was the firstborn for Ali (a.s.) and Fatimah (a.s.) and the first grandchild of the Messenger.
Imam al-Hasan lived the early years of his childhood with the Prophet, who used to kiss him, hug him and spend a lot of time playing with him.
The Prophet used to say when the Imam ran towards him and hugged him, "Oh Allah, I love him. Oh Allah, love those who love him." He used to say the same thing after the birth of Imam Hussein, saying about both of them: "Oh Allah, I love them, Oh Allah, love those who love them."
Imam Ali ibn al-Hussein (a.s.) is quoted to have described him as "most ascetic." He was also the "best man" of his time, being the Imam who was nearest to Allah, and whose knowledge and manners were unique. The Messenger used to say that the Imam was the one who looked most like him both physically and morally.
He used to travel heading for Mecca to perform pilgrimage on foot, and probably barefooted.
He would remember Allah in any situation that he passed through... He was the most truthful and the most eloquent.
A Man for Difficult Tasks
After the death of his mother, Imam al-Hasan began to help his father, who used to rely on him in the difficult tasks he faced after he became a caliph. Al-Hasan used to take tough and consistent stances, indicating how resolved he was in serving the Right. Yet, as his father and grandfather before him, he proved after he succeeded his father and Mu‘awiyah began to unjustly challenge his rule, that he believed in dialogue.
But Mu‘awiyah, who usurped the caliphate from its rightful holders, began to buy the heads of tribes, which resulted in destabilizing the Imam’s army to the extent that some of them threatened to kill him.
Thus, treason led to a truce, which Mu‘awiyah did not respect any of its articles. He then started to think about killing the Imam (a.s.), because one of the conditions was that the Imam would become a caliph after Mu‘awiyah, while the latter wanted his son to succeed him, thus establishing an autocratic dynasty, and the only way to realize this scheme was by killing the Imam (a.s.). And he did so by driving one of the Imam’s wives to poison him. When the Imam was dying as a result of this conspiracy, he asked his brother not to fight for the sake of burying him near his grandfather’s grave, for he knew that the Umayyads would not agree. Thus, the Imam (a.s.) continued to safeguard the Muslims’ interests even after his death.
The Imam’s Teachings
The Imam emphasized the importance of consultation (Shura) in all the domains of life. A Muslim has to rely on consultation whether in his house, his work, or in the wider sphere of the community. He described once a pious believer, and told us through the image of that man what the moral and spiritual values Muslims should adhere to are. He said: He was one of the greatest men, and what made him that great was, among other things, that this world meant little to him. He used not to complain or lose his temper—always the patient man who accepted Allah’s fate. He used to spend most of his time sitting silently, because he was busy thinking, whether about Allah to know Him better, or about the people to serve them more…
If he sat with scholars, he was more concerned to listen than to talk. He used not to say what he did not intend to do. And he used to do what he did not talk about. He stayed away from bragging and showing off. If he had to choose between two things he did not know which was nearer to Allah, he would see which one his instincts and desires led him to choose and discredit it.
He did not blame anyone for things that there might be an excuse for.
In one of his sermons about how to be a pious faithful, he said: "If you do not do what Allah has prohibited, you will be a worshiper. And if you are content with what Allah has given you, you will be rich… Be good to your neighbors, you will be a Muslim… And treat people as you would like them to treat you, you will be just."
This is also what Imam Ali (a.s.) has told us in his will, asking us to love for ourselves what we love for others and to hate for them what we hate for ourselves. Adding that those who used to care about making money and were obsessed with material possessions have perished, leaving nothing for their Hereafter. He concluded that one’s life begins to end once it starts. We thus have to benefit from every day we live to provide for the Hereafter.
Those are the Members of the House whom Allah, the Most Exalted, has purified. "Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity, O people of the House, and to purify you with purification." Surat al-Ahzab (33:33)
And this is Imam al-Hasan, whom the Muslims have to study thoroughly to learn that he led a spiritual and moral revolution against falsehood and injustice. They will also learn that what happened to Imam al-Hasan was the prelude to Imam Hussein’s revolution.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
A Heroic Iraqi Stand
At long last, the Iraqi dictator and his regime have been toppled, although it had actually fallen a long time ago when the Iraqi people lost their trust in it. Nevertheless, Iraq, the homeland and the people, did not fall. They remained steadfast in the face of this brutal war that killed civilians and destroyed much of the Iraqi infrastructure.
This wronged and wounded people stood up to the occupation. They did not cheer for it, which surprised the occupier, who had used all possible means of intimidation and appeal.
If some, and perhaps the majority, of the Iraqis celebrated the fall of the autocratic regime, they were not celebrating the occupation. The celebration did not reflect that they are convinced by the role of an occupation that serves only arrogant interests. It is true that they celebrated the removal of this tyrant, but they reject substituting it with another nightmare; that of occupation. They want freedom and human dignity.
One of the interesting and indicative coincidences is that this autocratic regime fell on the same day as the commemorating the passing of the religious authority, the great Islamic thinker, Sayyed Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, who has given to Islamic thought in our age more than any other Islamic thinker, whether in the domains of philosophy, economics, or several religious sciences.
Sayyed al-Sadr remains alive in us.
Sayyed al-Sadr confronted the tyrant with all the resolve and faithfulness to Islam and Muslims, until he was assassinated with his sister Bint al-Huda... He will always remain in the conscience of this nation, a torch, a spirit, a movement, and a message in the line of freedom for the Muslims and the downtrodden, while the tyrants will be buried in the trash bin of history.
The autocracy of the regime made history move backwards, bringing colonialism back to Iraq and leaving the people to choose between the humiliation of autocracy and the humiliation of foreign occupation.
But as the Iraqi people were able to oust British colonialism, I am sure that these good people, whose struggle for the cause of freedom has been recorded in history, will rise to the level of the current challenges… They should study what the occupation aims at so that they will not be deceived anew, and so that their pains and sufferings—which very few nations have suffered from—will not be exploited.
Occupation benefits from certain unstable conditions that the nation might experience to impose an autocratic regime that guards its interests, but one which would be presented in a democratic outlook. International arrogance might talk about democracy, but the regime it will impose is in reality another dictatorship.
I call upon you—dear children, brothers and sisters—with all love and a deep feeling of responsibility to uphold your unity and to secure the safety and property of the people around you… I also call upon you to cooperate in doing good and to plan for the future with a cool head, to prove to the world that the Iraqi people, with its great civilization embedded in its history and religious values, will not be exploited by the occupier to promote its own interests…They might try to create internal strife to preoccupy you, and thus distract you from the main task of confronting it… Uphold your unity, and be sure that the future is for freedom and dignity that will allow you to take your place among civilized nations.
Palestine: The Resistance
Palestine still holds on, and the Intifada is still facing the Jewish-American coalition that wants to intimidate the Palestinians, calling on them to learn from what happened in Iraq.
Nevertheless, the Palestinians will not yield, regardless of the sacrifices they continue to present, for they ought to drag the Zionist-American coalition to a security and political impasse as a response to the impasse the arrogant powers have planned to put the Palestinians in.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to commit additional massacres, the last of which was the bomb that killed Palestinian students in a school in Jenin, with no condemnation from President Bush, the EU, or anyone else… It is almost as if they have the right to kill civilians in cold blood, just as the coalition, which shells women and children in the name of liberating them, is doing in Iraq.
Freezing Differences
Dear loved ones:
In this stage, in which many developments and changes are taking place in every aspect of our political, economic, cultural, and security life, let us freeze most of our marginal differences. For President Bush declared before the war on Iraq that they will spread horror and death in every part of the world to protect the American nation. To execute their schemes, they cited the illusion of weapons of mass destruction…
That is what we have noticed in Washington’s warning to Syria, Iran, and North Korea, and in asking Damascus to learn the lesson of what happened to Iraq, as if they possess imperial authority over the whole world.
Military power could be victorious on the battlefield, but it will not create political power that will allow the arrogant to maintain their hegemony...
The nation has many sources of power... Dictators will die and the nations will stay alive.