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 Rabi' al-Awwal 15, 1424 AH/ May 16, 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
Celebrating the Birth of the Messenger of Mercy
The Birth of Muhammad (p.) and the Birth of Islam
On the anniversary of the Birth of the Prophet (p.), we are reborn in his Message. The birth of the Messenger (p.) is not only manifested in his physical existence, but in the birth of his message that was meant to be for all mankind in all times and places.
It is the Mercy Allah bestowed on humanity when He sent them what guides them to what makes their lives a mind that produces truth, a heart that radiates love, and a movement that seeks justice.
Therefore, when we want to celebrate the birth of the master of all creation, we should not resort to the traditional way of reading some of the texts that celebrate the occasion, or engaging in having an evening of fun that actually distances us from the Prophet (p.)… The Prophet's birth is an occasion that ought to make us feel as if he is living among us. We would be listening to his teachings and following his steps. He is the embodiment of guidance that Allah sent to take people out of darkness into the light of truth. For in all stages of our life we meet with this darkness, whether ideological, spiritual, political or social, and in all times and situations: "With it Allah guides those who pursue His pleasure to the ways of peace and brings them out from darkness into light, by His permission, and guides them to a straight path." (Surat al-Ma’idah 5:16)
The Supreme Role Model
When we remember the Messenger (p.), we have to remember his morals and his attitude in life. Allah, the Most Exalted, wanted Muhammad (p.) to be a role model in our lives, having been the message in his lifetime: "There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often." (Surat al-Ahzab 33:21)
If we want to express our love to Allah, the Most Exalted, we have to follow His Messenger (p.), for this is what Allah, the Most Exalted, tells us when He asks His Prophet to say: "If you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you." Of all the sublime traits Allah, the Most Exalted, has bestowed the Prophet (p.) with, He describes him as one of sublime morality: "And indeed, you are of a great moral character." (Surat al-Qalam 68:4)
This is because Allah wants man to live morality as a value that he carries in his heart and mind. For morals represent the depth of the humanity of man. When you are ethical, you would not be selfish… You would love for your brother what you love for yourself and hate for him what you hate for yourself... You will carry the love of good in your heart and demonstrate it with all you have any relation with.
You would respect the humanity of those you are responsible for in your house; you will not think that the household members ought to respect you, while you do not respect the children, women, and elderly you live with. Dealing with people will be ethical in a spontaneous way, just as the river flows from the spring.
Moreover, we notice that Allah, the Most Exalted, has described how the Prophet dealt with the people. How he, the master of all creation, whom Allah has made unique in stature, felt towards them. The Prophet (p.) lived with the people as one of them, loving them, and thinking about their problems, pains, and concerns: "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)
The Prophet was of a kind and open heart, whose tongue was so lenient that he never said but kind and merciful words that would open the people's hearts upon Allah, the Most Exalted: "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." (Surat Al ‘Imran 3:159)
It is as if Allah, the Most Exalted, is saying to us, by presenting us with the role model of the Prophet of Mercy: This was how the Messenger (p.) dealt with people with love, compassion, understanding, and kindness. Be like him in your dealings, loving everybody and ready to help and guide everybody… never feeling tired or hot-tempered… Your Messenger (p.) never insulted or cursed anyone; he was always kind and warm in his words… those words that were so merciful and loving that they spread tranquility and security among the hearts of those who heard them.
The Best Method
Allah, the Most Exalted, wanted His Messenger (p.) to teach the people that they have to learn how to deal with words. There is the good word and the better one, and there is the bad word and the one that is worse… If you want to speak to others in your house or in the community, choose the best words. For Satan exploits bad words to incite strife: "And tell My servants to say that which is best. Indeed, Satan induces [dissension] among them. Indeed Satan is ever, to mankind, a clear enemy." (Surat al-Isra’ 17:53)
Furthermore, Allah, the Most Exalted, emphasizes the need for those who work for the call to adopt the right methodology. It is not enough to know what you want to say; you have to know how to say it.
One word might drive them away from you, while another might gather them around you, and you have to choose which word to use.
And then you have to resort to peaceful solutions and not to violence: "And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend." (Surah Fussilat 41:34)
Choose the method that changes your enemy into a friend and not the other way around, as we tend to do nowadays.
The Morals of the Quran
The morals of the Messenger (p.) were the morals the Quran calls for. And he wanted us to read the entire Quran and follow everything in it.
He was a man of love, peace, good, and justice… If you love the Messenger, study what he was like and follow what he taught us in his sayings, teachings, and actions… He was a mercy to mankind… A mercy we should not lose. We have to follow the man who used to say that no other prophet was hurt as much as he was, yet he stood up before his God, with blood all over his face, to say: "If You are not angry with me, then nothing else matters." We have to uphold this slogan. To say the truth in the right way and use the right style at the right time and in the right place.
We should not be concerned whether saying the truth will please the others… There will always be those who will be pleased and those who will be annoyed, and there will always be those who will put their interests first.
"Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace." (Surat al-Ahzab 33:56)
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The State of the Islamic Nation
How does the Islamic World look on the anniversary of the birth of the Messenger (p.)?
Firstly: On the level of the existing regimes, there is no Islamic world that has a common Islamic political, security, and economic strategy. There are scattered states of conflicting interests and diverging alliances that could turn into political or economic rupture or even security problems and insane occupations, as well as seeking the support of foreign powers against one another.
No Freedom of Taking Independent Decisions
The problem of these Islamic states is that they do not possess the freedom of taking independent decisions to solve their problems, despite the huge arsenals of weapons they spent their budgets to buy, which turned into useless junk just years later. The decision of war and peace is in the hands of international arrogance in general and the Americans in particular. That is why it is not surprising to see that the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which was supposed to be a solution for the Islamic situation, has turned into a problem and one of the means of protecting the interests of others.
Thus, we saw how the Islamic world, and the Arabs in particular, were not able to achieve anything for the Palestinian cause. They were not able to prevent the Jews from destroying the Palestinians throughout all these years. On the contrary, they fell under American-Israeli pressures to crack down on the Intifada and accept their suggestions that take Israeli interests into account but do not care about the Arabs, who are no longer a force to reckon with.
This is what we noticed in the talk about the "Road Map" that Sharon considered as nonexistent, with nobody, including the Quartet Committee, protesting, for Israel relies on American power to terrorize the world and treat the UN with disdain.
It is worth noticing that some of those who are presiding over the Islamic Conference Organization have met with the enemy's foreign minister, suggesting that they have established diplomatic relations at a time scores of Palestinian civilians fall every day under the pretense of "serving peace and saving the Palestinian cause". Even mothers of recently deceased children will laugh at such satire.
Furthermore, this Islamic world neither helped the Iraqi people to oust the dictator, nor is it helping them to get rid of the occupation, which acts under the false slogan of "liberating Iraq of the autocratic rule". And that is why we saw how this Arab and Muslim country entered the American dark tunnel that wants to put its hand on Iraqi resources and reformulate the Iraqi security, economic, and political future, to turn it into a base for American interests in the region…
The Iraqi people are still living in this whirlpool because they neither possess the leaders on the ground nor a broad plan for the future. Meanwhile, the occupation is building the political leadership that protects its interests…
In several other Muslim countries, problems and crises are also abound… The problem of Kashmir, for example, is not solved yet, while Afghanistan is still living in a state of chaos… while Pakistan shakes every once in a while… The wealth of the Muslim world in general is still controlled by the arrogance, as well as a handful of natives who confiscated this vast wealth and left the nations to live in poverty, starvation, and deprivation.
Islamic Unity is a Source of Strength
Secondly, on the popular level, the emotional unity of feeling towards the vital Islamic issues is surely a positive point. In addition, there is also the meeting of Muslims of various sects when they practice their religious duties collectively, such as in pilgrimage and the like.
But this does not conceal the deep-rooted sectarian partisanship that has even reached the Islamic mosques, which have become divided into a Sunni mosque and a Shiite mosque… Thus, unbelief and arrogance were able to deepen the differences and even transform them into devastating wars, to the extent that the callers for Islamic unity became accused of deviating away from Islam.
Muslims should understand that Islamic unity is their basic source of strength in all fields.
They have to consolidate their unity in striving to achieve what they agree on and debate in an objective manner what they differ on, referring it to the Book and the traditions of the Prophet, in compliance with the several calls in the Glorious Quran that stress the need for unity and to refer all differences to Allah and the Messenger (p.).
Another problem is the problem of the fundamentalist, fanatic, and backward understanding which neither gives room to practice any judgment that is based on the general objectives of Islamic law nor studies the situation on the ground.
They always call for violence as a means of achieving goals without paying attention to what it might lead to… Such an attitude could lead to many political, security, and economic problems, especially when the violence targets civilians that have no relevance to their political goals, as in the cases of what happened on September 11, and in Riyadh recently... Such acts could lead to accusing Islam of terrorism and cause damage and harm to Muslims at various levels.
Go Back to the Quran
We call upon Muslims to go back to the Quran and study the rules it made for resorting either to violence or to peace. It has outlined the conditions and circumstances of Jihad, especially against occupation… It condemns the killing of innocent civilians.
We want to live with the world on the basis of our principles and morals and not based on any extremism, which will deviate us from the straight path.
Thirdly, Muslims have to find the way to achieve their unity; they have to plan how to solve their problems and fight their battles, especially that of confronting the Jewish occupation of Palestine that has been existing for 55 years, as well as the American occupation of Iraq.
They have to adopt the decisive stand and the realistic approach at the same time.
We also call upon the countries targeted by America in the Arab and Islamic region, especially Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, to unify their position in a carefully planned manner.
Meanwhile, let us freeze a lot of issues, which could wait for the sake of the major ones that deal with our destiny.