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 Ramadan 29, 1425 AH/ November 12, 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
Let All Our Lives Be a Continuous Ramadan
The Month of Obedience and Jihad
As we prepare ourselves to bid the Holy month of Ramadan farewell, with the Eid beginning next Sunday according to precise astronomical calculations, we have to pause and study what we have earned in this month. Imam Ali says that the Eid is: "An Eid for those whom Allah accepts their fasting and praying. It is the Eid of being responsible, and we celebrate the Eid because we have obeyed Allah in this month."
"Each day in which Allah is not disobeyed is an Eid." Thus, Muslims could turn every day into an Eid.
And this is known as the struggle for the cause of Allah (Jihad). It is not merely a struggle against the enemy, but it also extends to a struggle against oneself to guide it to what Allah has ordered. Many texts, both in the Glorious Book and traditions, confirm this fact…
They assert that we are going to work hard to meet Allah. Thus, turning all our life into worship in which we do what Allah has ordered us to do and avoid what He told us not to do. This is the mission that Allah has assigned for us, and that is what traditions have said: This world is the farm of the Hereafter. What you plant in this world is what you harvest in the Hereafter. If it is good you will harvest good, and if it is evil your crop will be evil. "So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it." Surat al-Zalzalah (99:07).
This is what we ought to think about… We are always busy with what others are doing, saying that someone will enter Hell while another will go to Heaven, but never about ourselves… Each one of us has to think if he has pleased Allah by studying all his actions and sayings, and correcting any wrong in them.
Obeying Allah
Let us read some of the texts that talk about the struggle against oneself. Allah says: "And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good." Surat al-'Ankabut (29:69). This means that those who strive to make their souls act in the way that pleases Allah by keeping a constant watch over their desires and actions, they will be guided to the road that leads to Allah. He also says: "And whoever strives only strives for [the benefit of] himself. Indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds." Surat al-'Ankabut (29:6).
Imam As-Sadiq says: "One cannot receive Allah's gracious gifts, except through obeying Him." And this is what the Prophet Muhammad said towards the end of his life: "No one of you should claim, or wish… Nothing will save you except your work, with mercy. If I were to disobey, I will fall." And this is what the Quran says in the context of the Prophet’s reply to those who asked him to join them: "Say, 'Indeed, I fear, if I should disobey my Lord, the punishment of a tremendous Day.'"
The Messenger says: "The best jihad is when you come to a point where you no longer are unjust to anyone." This means that you should not deny anybody his right, for this is what injustice is all about.
Imam Ali says: "Struggle for the cause of Allah, and do not pay attention to any blame… You should not be thinking of them. Think only about seeking to please Allah and your own conscience."
Imam Ali asks us to follow his example, for he lived for the right that left him no friend. That is why we used to say that being a Shiite is very costly; it demands that we adhere to the right whatever the cost, following the example of our Messenger who kept calling for Allah despite all accusations, as well as Imam Ali who was cursed in mosques for over seventy years.
We also read that the Messenger has considered as the most pious those who do not commit sins. A man came to Imam Al-Baqir and said: "My praying and fasting are not much, but I try not to eat or marry, except what is permitted (Halal)." The Imam said: "What jihad is better than this chastity."
Therefore, at the end of this month in which we have practiced a lot of worship acts which we ask Allah to accept, we believe that the most important thing is to preserve the spirit we lived and the obedience we practiced and extend them to every day in the entire year. The month of Ramadan is the month that Allah wanted us to assert our relationship with our Lord, so that all our life will be a month of Ramadan, not only in fasting but also in obeying Allah and doing what He told us to do and avoiding what He deemed wrong.
We should not be like those who pray and fast in this month and then stop praying when it ends.
The Eid is the day where the believer waits for the gift of the Eid, and Allah’s gift is His forgiveness and Mercy.
Let us be ready to accept Allah's gifts, and I wish you the best in this Eid.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Steadfastness of the Palestinian People
The Palestinian people enter a new phase whose features are not clear yet. They are going to face a difficult situation whether at the level of institutions or the political and security tactics that are open to the influence of the constantly changing international projects, especially the Roadmap, which the Israelis and the Americans had frozen until they could end the Intifada and isolate the Palestinian leadership that they considered responsible for the violence including the martyr operations.
The Palestinians had a unified leadership that summarized all institutions to secure the unity of Palestinian decision in confronting the enemy. But now, as this historical leadership has passed, things might be different and confused, especially as those who wish to create problems in the relations between the leadership and the Intifada are seizing the opportunity, helped by American pressures and Israeli aggressions that wish to impose an unconditional surrender on the Palestinians and accept a meaningless state.
The Jews used to say that there is no Palestinian people in Palestine and that those people do not have any status in the past, for there was no Palestinian state and consequently they do not have a right to this state. But this resisting people have proved its struggle… And they are talking now in America about a Palestinian state, but they did not talk about its nature, borders and ability to be independent. On the contrary, they are talking about the legitimacy of the wall and the settlements… which deprives the Palestinian state of its meaning. We want the Palestinian people to be the leader whom other leaders are afraid of, to be the one that supervises and holds accountable, especially as the future is still loaded with various local, regional and international threats, especially as it has lost its historical leadership that, whatever different assessments people have of it, they all agree that it represented the Palestinian aspiration towards the future which it was able to hold fast to throughout.
The Palestinian people, who were able to remain steadfast in the battle they fought for the liberation of their country, will never fall despite all conspiracies, and will continue to lead its liberation movement through national fighting unity.
Iraq: Condemning the Occupation’s Atrocities
In Iraq, the occupation is using the most advanced weapons against civilians in Fallujah and other cities, claiming that it has the permission of the Iraqi government and that it is cooperating with the Iraqi forces.
We condemn this aggression against civilians, just as we condemn all killings, slaughters and kidnappings targeting civilians in Iraq and making it a place where violence and anarchy dominate, without any political plans that study the negative or positive impact of such crimes on the future.
The occupation is waging this war in Iraq to promote its own interests, while the Iraqi forces are responsible for protecting their people. Consequently, they have no interest in participating in the occupier's war against the Iraqi people.
Moreover, the killing by sectarian forces of Muslims just because they are of a different sect, and the sectarian slogans they are raising, will undermine the Islamic and national unities and provide the occupation with a chance to incite a sectarian war or a confessional one through the bombing of churches.
Lebanon: Maintain National Unity
In Lebanon, and on Jerusalem Day that represents a part of our commitment towards the Palestinian cause, we have to maintain our political position that is based on what Jerusalem represents as a sacred religious symbol and a political symbol in its confrontation of international arrogance, especially the American one that provides comprehensive support to the Israelis... All Muslims and free people in the world should unite in their unyielding confrontation of the currents and future aggressions against Jerusalem, the mosque, the city and the cause.
We also have, as our country is still under occupation, at least in part of its lands, to keep vigilant and ready to face the enemy, especially with the deployment of Israeli forces on the borders, and the new threats of waging a preemptive war against the Resistance, especially after its political and media war represented by the unnamed place.
In this respect we ask: Why did the Security Council consider it a violation of the blue line, while it keeps silent towards daily Israeli aggression, both in the skies and at sea?
Lastly, we want Lebanon to engage in a serious national dialogue regarding all national, social and security issues... We ask all those who are talking about waste, corruption and freedom: what did they do when they were in charge? Moreover, do they accept that they will be held accountable?
Does anybody have a magical solution for the problem? Or are we going to stay in the same whirlpool in which the old generation corrupts the new ones, keeping the country prey to all kinds of theft and corruption.