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 Thul-Hujjah 12, 1425 AH/ December 24, 2004, 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
Ahl al-Bayt's Openness to All Messengers
This week, we come across two vital religious occasions: the birth of an Imam and that of a Prophet. The Imam is Ali bin Musa al-Rida (a.s.), whose birth was on the 11th of Dhu al-Qi'dah, while the Prophet is Jesus Christ (p.), the son of Lady Mary, whose birth, as commonly known, is on the 25th of December.
Spiritual and Humanistic Values
On these two occasions, we should pause and learn the appropriate lessons, and rise to the spiritual values that this Prophet and this Imam represent. When we get to know Imam al-Rida (a.s.), who filled the era he lived in with his science, spirituality, piety and action through his heritage, we feel that our spiritualism, humanitarianism and culture have been elevated. All those who believe and adhere to the Wilayah of the Members of the Household (a.s.) should open up to the heritage they left us.
The Imam (a.s.) lived in unique circumstances; he was chosen by the Abbasid caliph, al-Ma'mun, as his heir, but he refused in the beginning because he did not find it a realistic opportunity to uphold the true line of Islam, as it was a product of al-Ma'mun's struggle with his brother al-Amin, but later he accepted in order to depict a living picture of the spiritual and religious wealth of the school of the Members of the Household.
The Best Life
As abundant and fruitful as the heritage of Imam al-Rida (a.s.) is, we have to be content with some glimpses that teach us some of the spiritual values of Islam that aim to elevate man in all his spiritual, academic and humanistic aspects. The Imam (a.s.) tells us that the best way to live is to use all one's potential, talents and skills to benefit those around him, thus enriching their hearts and minds. The Imam (a.s.) was asked who the one who has the best life is, and he answered that it is he "whom the lives of others benefit from his life," while the worst is the selfish-minded who thinks only about himself.
Befriend Your Mind and Help the Weak
He (a.s.) also considered that "the best charity is helping the weak." He also believes that "one’s friend is one’s mind," meaning that you have to befriend your mind and consult it in all your business, projects and human relations, for it is the tool that differentiates between good and bad, and between the harmful and the beneficial. In his advice to his followers, he explained to them what the meaning of being a Shiite and a follower of the Members of the Household is. He says to 'Abd al-'Adhim al-Hasani, one of the great scholars who lived in his age: "Tell my followers not to let Satan find a way to them" – meaning not to follow what Satan would incite them to do, such as hatred and deviation – "Adhere to Allah's line as evident by what He revealed to His messengers. Order them to be truthful and trustworthy. Order them to keep silent and not to argue in what is not their business. Tell them to visit one another; this is how they will become close to me, and tell them not to be occupied in tearing each other up." Did we apply this will? Are we not tearing each other up on all levels, be they political, religious, sectarian, and even at the level of the religious authorities?
The Imam (a.s.) goes on to say: "I have called on Allah to torture whoever does this, in this life and to end him as a loser in the Hereafter." Those who visit Imam ar-Rida (a.s.) and then harm other believers and distort their image should know that he said that Allah forgives the believers except those who ascribe partners to Him or harm one of the Imams' pious followers. Those who do so will not be forgiven unless they change their attitude…
This is what Imam ar-Rida (a.s.) has told us in his will. Have we executed it? When we go and visit him or when we recite the visitation supplication from far away, do we remember this will? This is what following the line of the Members of the Household means, and this is what we ought to keep in our minds in all our sayings and actions.
The Birth of Christ
The birth of Christ (p.) was one of Allah’s miracles, and just as Allah proved that He can create Adam without having a father or a mother, He proved that He can create a human being without a father. He chose Mary (a.s.) to embody this ability. How did the Quran relate the story of Christ's birth?
"And mention, [O Muhammad], in the Book [the story of] Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place toward the east. And she took, in seclusion from them, a screen. Then We sent to her Our Angel, and he represented himself to her as a well-proportioned man. She said, 'Indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, [so leave me], if you should be fearing of Allah.' He said, 'I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure boy.' She said, 'How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?' He said, 'Thus [it will be]; your Lord says, 'It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign to the people and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter [already] decreed.' So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, 'Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.' But he called her from below her, 'Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream. And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.' Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, 'O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste.' So she pointed to him. They said, 'How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?' [Jesus] said, 'Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I am and has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I remain alive. And [made me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant. And peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I am raised alive.' That is Jesus, the son of Mary - the word of truth about which they are in dispute. It is not [befitting] for Allah to take a son; exalted is He! When He decrees an affair, He only says to it, 'Be,' and it is. [Jesus said], 'And indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is a straight path.'" Surat Maryam (19:16-36)
This is the story of the birth of Jesus Christ (p.), the birth of the Divine sign, the Divine power, the Divine message… This is the birth that when we read about it in the Quran we will live the greatness of Allah, His grace and His power. I say to all my brothers, sisters and children: when you want to celebrate the birth of Christ, do not imitate the Western practices of idolatry. If your children in certain countries ask you to celebrate Christmas, sit with them and talk to them about Christ, his mother and his birth as it was narrated in the Glorious Quran. Your children will then know that Islam embraces all messages and that we do not have a problem with celebrating the birth of Christ (p.), but in the way that the Quran did, since the Quran is the whole truth.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Occupation: The Highest Form of Terrorism
In Palestine, several martyrs fall every day, several children are slaughtered, and hundreds of families are left homeless… all under the indifferent eyes of an arrogant world led by the Western states that have given Israel a free hand in all these savage actions against the Palestinian people… On their part, the Palestinians are demanding their freedom and independence.
The Palestinians, whose actions are but a reaction to occupation, are crying in the face of this world that accuses them of terrorism: Let the occupier get out of our lands and we will not fire any shot at him… Occupation is, by the criteria of all civilizations, the highest form of terrorism… But the problem is that those who created the Israeli state, threw the Palestinians out and besieged them in camps do not believe that the Palestinians deserve freedom; they only believe that the Jews are the only ones who should be protected from those who are defending the freedom of their country.
Blair's Visit
It is ironic that the British Prime Minister, who was talking about an international peace conference, has yielded to Israel's conditions in turning it into a conference to reform the Palestinian internal conditions, meaning the various American-Israeli conditions.
It is as if the Palestinian people are minors who need to be reformed and guided… He also adopted the Israeli rationale of linking the negotiations to ending the Intifada without asking Israel to stop its assassinations, detentions, bulldozing… and without asking it to accept the right of return or dismantle the settlements and the racial wall… The negotiations would then start with the help of American and European pressures, and with the aim of executing the Road Map within the framework of the Israeli-American conditions, as agreed upon by the letters exchanged by Sharon and Bush.
We ask Blair, whose country bears the historic responsibility of creating a national Jewish homeland in Palestine: what kind of a Palestinian state is he calling for? Can he give them an independent and viable state? Or does the American-Israeli alliance forbid the EU, Russia and the United Nations from crossing the Israeli red lines?
It seems that Blair's visit was to support Israel at the expense of the Palestinian rights.
Iraq: Occupation is the Greatest Danger
Iraq is still in the midst of a bloody tragedy in which innocent people fall every day, and chaos flourishes... Then, there is the living crisis where people cannot find their vital needs… Yet, Iraq still embodies the national unity, despite all the deviators who are trying to incite sectarian, confessional or racial sensitivities, including some of the highest Arab authorities who are talking about the concern for the Arab identity of Iraq as a result of the Shiite dominance, which might create an Islamic republic like the one in Iran. They are also talking about a Shiite crescent that includes Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran.
Those who are posing the Shiites as a danger to pan-Arabism, Islam and the Sunnis do not see in the American occupation a threat to Iraq and the region… They also do not complain about the Israeli clandestine interference and do not see in it a huge problem for the Iraqi people.
Does inciting sectarianism help Pan-Arabism?
We say to them: The Muslim Shiites are more pan-Arabist than many. They have a long history of confronting British colonialism, to assert their pure Arabism that finds no problem in its Islamic commitment. They have never thought of a Shiite crescent because they find their strength in their Arab-Islamic environment on the basis of being equal to the others in their rights and duties.
We demand that they should provide evidence for their claim, so that all people in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Lebanon can discuss them. We hope that they should be occupied instead with the Israeli danger that threatens the entire region, and even the countries whose leaders are making these claims… They should stop inciting these divisions among Muslims, for they are not in the interests of any party, not even those who are making them.
We also say that the Iraqi people are not minors... When they are given the right to choose, they will choose a united, Arab, Muslim Iraq, in which the Sunnis and the Shiites join hands to drive the occupier out of this sacred land.
These voices are offering a free gift to America and Israel; they serve the American plans to pressure Syria, Lebanon and Iran. Is this what preserves pan-Arabism?
Lebanon: A Call for a Referendum
The voices that discuss the electoral law only seek to promote their partisan interests.
We demand a law that enables the Lebanese citizens to know the person to whom they give their vote of confidence. The voter should know the politician's political history, his foreign relations, and his commitment to his people… In these proposed laws, the voters might not even know the names of those they are voting for… What we want is a law that preserves the credibility of representation and the freedom of choice without any political, local or outside pressure.
We suggest a referendum that asks people: are they concerned about the electoral law or the economic and political collapse, the moral disintegration and the political dispute that has undermined the national unity and the image of Lebanon?