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 Dhu al-Qi'dah 26, 1425 AH / January 07, 2005, 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
Striking Balance between the Individual and the Nation
Allah says in His Glorious Book: "Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not." Surat al-Baqarah (2:216).
And: "And let not those who [greedily] withhold what Allah has given them of His bounty ever think that it is better for them. Rather, it is worse for them. Their necks will be encircled by what they withheld on the Day of Resurrection. And to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. And Allah, with what you do, is Acquainted." Surat Aal 'Imran (3:180).
He also says describing relations between men and women: "O you who have believed, it is not lawful for you to inherit women by compulsion. And do not make difficulties for them in order to take [back] part of what you gave them unless they commit a clear immorality. And live with them in kindness. For if you dislike them - perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good." Surat an-Nisa' (4:19).
Stands Should Be Based on Principles
In these Holy verses, Allah is discussing what many people experience: a feeling of dislike for certain responsibilities, tasks, or relations.
In the first Ayah, Allah is revealing to the Muslims that they are allowed to fight to defend themselves when attacked, and wage wars so that they will not be defeated.
But since love of life is innate in man, Allah has told us that man has to balance between his life and that of the nation; between his dignity and Islam; between his love for himself and his love of Allah and His Messenger. Allah does not want man to base his stands on his personal mood or his feelings; He asks him to study any stand on the basis of the balance between interest and principles. When you believe in a principle, you have to make sure that all your stands, sayings, and actions conform with your principles and commitments.
It is not a matter of what you love or hate because such emotions are superficial.
Thinking About Consequences
Thus Allah wanted man to understand that he should not take any stand because this is the way he feels. He should study the consequences of this action and make sure that it conforms with his principles: When Allah legalized defensive fighting, a lot of Muslims disliked the idea, for they love life and fighting would endanger their lives. That is why Allah revealed this Ayah: "Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not." Surat al-Baqarah (2:216). Allah told them not to judge any issue by the balance of love and hate. Instead, try to study the consequences, with a view of your dignity and strength as a nation. Think about what affects the nation’s fate, then you might understand that what you hate could be good for you.
Allah wants man to think about how things end and not how they begin. That is why the Messenger says: "If you want to decide on something, think about its results. If they are good, go ahead, but if they are not, do not do it."
The second Ayah calls on the misers who have money but do not have the heart to give it to the poor whom Allah has made partners in the formers’ wealth.
Those people do not uphold their responsibility, and they think that keeping the money is good for them, since it increases their wealth. But Allah says: "And those within whose wealth is a known right. For the petitioner and the deprived." Surat al-Ma'arij (70:24-25).
It is Allah that gave them the means to earn or possess their money. Moreover, it is but Allah's money. Keeping the money is bad for them, for they will be cleaved to their neck by this money in the Hereafter.
Wisdom in Marriage
In the third Ayah, Allah talks about the relations between husband and wife. Marriage obviously encounters problems since it involves a meeting of two different environments and moods.
The man might hate his wife or persecute her. He might even consider that his feelings of hatred towards her are a valid justification for divorcing her. The wife, on the other hand, might have certain negative aspects in her morals or in the way she runs the house, but she might have, in addition, many positive aspects; she might be wise, chaste, religious, etc.
Therefore, one should not succumb to his feeling of hatred. He has to compare between the pros and cons. If the pros are greater, he has to tolerate the cons and try to fix them by means of wisdom and peace. "Treat them kindly then if you hate them," do not let this superficial hatred make you do something that might not be in your favor, something that "Allah has placed abundant good in." One has to study any issue in an objective and rational way; marital life is not an incidental relationship. It is something that has to do with two families that become in-laws.
It also produces children whose future and interests might be defined by the kind of relations that links the parents. The parents have to understand that they are building a new generation and that their behaviors would have a distinctive impact on this generation.
Moreover, the Quran did not only talk to the husband, telling him not to rush to divorce his wife; it also guided the wife as to how to become a good and responsible one.
The Hereafter
From the Islamic point of view, man must always not be superficial, but he has to try to study the matter at hand in a profound way. Being profound in this case means that man must not think only, or in the first place, about his gains and losses in this world. He has to take the Hereafter into account, for it is the real and eternal gain. Imam Ali (a.s.) says: "There is nothing good if it ends in Hell, and there is nothing bad if it ends in Heaven." However rich and powerful you may get, this will not make you great if you will end in Hell, for you will be alone in your Hereafter, with nothing to defend you but your good deeds.
This is the Islamic rule: to differentiate between our mood in a way that we will not let it decide our actions, and between our principles that ought to guide and direct. We ought to distinguish between love of life and love of Allah, between the good of this life and that of the other, so that we seek only to live with Allah and earn His blessings, for this is the only thing that matters.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Increasing American-Israeli Pressures
What is the American-Israeli plan in Palestine?
First, it is trying to present the Israeli withdrawal from some of the Gaza settlements as a big achievement, suggesting that they are moving forward in the peace process, although they have proposed certain complicated steps that are continuously postponed.
Secondly: penetrating many Palestinian positions, either by arresting or killing Palestinian activists, or by increasing settlement activity in the West Bank, or by continuing to build the racial wall that confiscates additional Palestinian lands, all this without taking into consideration any of the international resolutions, since America prevents any international condemnation of Israel.
Furthermore, America and Israel pressurize the Palestinian Authority to dismantle the Intifada organizations and disarm them as a precondition to enter into political negotiations.
But this, as all parties know, will lead to a Palestinian civil war that all the Palestinian people reject.
The Zionists have even refused the participation of Hamas in the parliamentary elections, claiming that it would no longer be free, and they declared that the Authority is not fit to be a partner in the negotiations.
The American-Israeli offensive on the Palestinian front aims at finding the justification that would enable America to detach itself from the promises it made to establish a viable Palestinian state, claiming that the Palestinians are not helpful. And this is what we have noticed in the successive visits of the American envoys to the occupied lands. For they do not try to solve any problem made by the Israeli aggressions, while presenting booby-trapped advice to the Palestinian Authority that will only lead to chaos.
We have also followed the visits of the Russian President and the Turkish Prime Minister and found out that they did not yield any progress on the road to liberty.
Erdogan himself admitted this when he said that the Palestinians are living in a big prison. But he does not have any solution since Turkey is not in a position to pressure Israel.
American Occupation is Still Drowning in Iraqi Quicksand
As for the American plan in the region, it is stumbling due to military failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US has been unable, despite Bush's talk about progress in spreading democracy in Iraq, to prove to the Iraqis that it had found the right solutions for the security and economy of Iraq. Hundreds of Iraqis are killed and wounded daily in spite of the formation of a new elected government that had to be hindered by sectarian calculations… It is the bloody front that Washington sought to be a model for the region, but has instead had to drown in its quicksand.
Then Washington turned to Lebanon to present to the American public opinion as proof of its victory in spreading democracy in Lebanon, despite the fact that Lebanon has been democratic since the forties… Moreover, Washington continues to pressure Syria and try to tamper with its internal affairs. It is also pressuring Iran politically and economically for it refuses to let Iran possess the nuclear power that would be used solely for peaceful economic purposes. America does not want any Arabs or Muslims to have any kind of power. It wants Israel to monopolize all chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, and provides it with all the protection it needs to defy the UN and the entire world if they are to ask Tel Aviv to destroy them.
America is flexing its military muscles and boasts that it can defeat any state. It has become a problem to all downtrodden nations, which means that they have to join hands and solidify to confront this empire that talks about human rights as a means to violate them and talks about freedom to control all the downtrodden in its name.
The Iraqis, in particular, have to make additional efforts to unify their ranks and solidify their national and Islamic unity and lay the foundations of their unified political and legal unity. They should ask the occupation to leave Iraq and thwart its dreams of putting its hands on its wealth and resources.
Lebanon: The Motherland is Above All Persons and Considerations
In Lebanon, the Lebanese people should ask America and France not to interfere in their affairs, and not to incite internal strife. All Lebanese should consider citizenship as the basis of law, security, economy, and social and welfare relations. They should study the history of the internal political players, and judge all the projects on the basis of the country's interests and not that of the leaders, whether sectarian, partisan, or otherwise.
The motherland is above all persons and all considerations. The new generation ought to preserve its futuristic aspirations and political purity, before it is stained by those who create dirt by their projects, and consequently move Lebanon away from its original human purity.