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 Zoul-Qi'dah 26, 1425 AH/ January 7, 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
Do not betray Allah and the Messenger,
nor betray your trusts while you know
Trustworthiness
Allah says in His Glorious Book: "O you who have believed, do not betray Allah and the Messenger or betray your trusts while you know [the consequence]." (Surat al-Anfal 8:27)
According to Islam, the Muslim has to build his personality on the basis of keeping one’s promises and commitments, whether towards Allah (to believe in Him and His oneness and to obey and worship Him), towards His Messenger (p.) in following the guidance he was commissioned by Allah to clarify to the people, towards other people, and towards the major causes of the nation. This is what self-respect actually means.
If you promise something and you do not uphold it, you would be despising yourself.
How Do You Respect Yourself?
To respect yourself is to be in harmony in everything you believe in and in everything you commit yourself to. Your commitments are what give you your meaning as a human being. They are you—because they represent your decisions towards your positions and relations. If you do not keep your promises and fulfill your commitments, then you do not respect yourself.
Starting with one's commitment to Allah and the Messenger (p.); such a commitment implies that you stay the course of Islam. When you say in confirmation of your Islam that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger, you are saying that you are committed to worshipping Allah and obeying Him, as well as following the guidance of His Messenger. Pronouncing the two testimonies is actually an announcement that you are committed to staying the course of Islam: that you will never deviate and you will never betray the two testimonies. It is an expression of the unity between thought and practice in Islam, and a promise of being faithful to the line of Islam and that you will never betray it. Thus, we have to understand that whoever adopts another ideology other than Islam is a traitor to Allah and His Messenger. There are those who say they are Muslims but who adopt other ideologies whose bases are at odds with Islam. This will not do, for Allah says: "And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers." (Surat Al ‘Imran 3:85)
If you want to become a Marxist, for example, do not say you are a Muslim. Therefore, whoever adopts an ideology other than Islam betrays Allah and His Messenger, for he has betrayed his beliefs. Similarly, when you do not pray, fast or pay your financial obligations, you would be betraying your Islamic obligations, since you are either not doing what Allah ordered you to do, or doing something He has explicitly forbidden, like committing adultery or supporting tyrants. Those would be betraying what they committed themselves to do when they stated that they are Muslims.
To be a Muslim you have to be committed not only in your tongue and heart but also in your actions.
In addition to the betrayal of Allah and His Messenger, there is also the betrayal of one's nation. Allah has ordered the Muslim not to betray his homeland by helping its enemy. Anybody who spies against his nation to enable the occupier to further strengthen his grip, or to enable him to control his nation’s economy and security, betrays Allah and His Messenger (p.). Allah and His Messenger do not want man to betray his homeland that represents his source of pride and the place where his Islam thrives. Imam Ali (a.s.) says: "Fear Allah concerning His worshippers and His lands, for you are responsible even for the lands and animals." Thus, all those who deal with the occupation forces, especially those who spy for the arrogant agencies, like the CIA and the Mossad, are traitors to Allah and His Messenger.
Kinds of Treason
The Quran has made it clear that we are not allowed to defend anyone who betrays, no matter how close to us he may be. Allah says in the course of speaking to His Messenger and to us through him: "And do not argue on behalf of those who deceive themselves. Indeed, Allah loves not one who is a habitually sinful deceiver." (Surat an-Nisa’ 4:107)
Your relation to Allah, His Messenger (p.), your principles and your nation is closer than to any traitor.
The Messenger has emphasized this point in several sayings. He has told us, for example, that those who betray their trusts are not considered to belong to us.
He also said that whoever betrays a fellow Muslim in his family or property is not a Muslim.
He further said that deceit and treason lead to Hell and added: "If you betray one who betrays you, you become like him." Imam Ali (a.s.) explains that treason is against Islam and considers it the mother of hypocrisy.
There is also another kind of treason, and that is represented by not keeping the secret that you were entrusted with. Muhammad (p.) tells us that this action is a treason we ought not to do. Even defending those who betray or helping them is itself a kind of treason.
Moreover, scholars, especially religious scholars, ought to be faithful and make sure that when they convey their knowledge to the people, they are telling them what they believe is right. It has been narrated that: "To betray someone in the knowledge you give him is worse than betraying him in his money." Money comes and goes, but if you give someone wrong advice, you might destroy his whole life, for he will act in accordance with it.
Imam Ali (a.s.) says: "The worst kind of treason is that of the nation." He also says: "The most evil men are deceitful merchants."
Thus, there are many kinds of betrayal that have to do with trusts, property, politics, security… etc., and to be a believer is to uphold all your commitments in all these fields: "O you who have believed, do not betray Allah and the Messenger or betray your trusts while you know [the consequence]." (Surat al-Anfal 8:27)
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Targeting the Entire Region
The American Administration, with all its officials and media sources, is still pressuring the world to confront what it calls anti-Semitism. But it considers this anti-Semitism to include any criticism of Zionism and any rejection to recognize the state of Israel.
It also encompasses all the massacres that the Zionists commit, as well as the devastation of Palestinian life… This Administration seeks to make its Israeli ally above any criticism, benefiting from the freedom the latter enjoys in neglecting all international resolutions and human rights, as well as creating problems in many places.
Thus, we have seen how the US has included the Palestinian Resistance through their Intifada in the sphere of what it calls the war against terrorism, the fact that its activities, as everyone knows, are a reaction to the Zionist occupation and not an unprovoked aggression against the Zionists notwithstanding. The American Administration has even hindered any political negotiations with the Palestinians, unless they are based on yielding to the Zionist conditions of dismantling the Intifada, whether by the Palestinians themselves or by the barbaric Zionist acts of assassinating its leaders and innocent civilians alike.
The Americans have besieged the political negotiations by building a wall of Israeli rejection to the extent that the latter has protested against Abu Mazen for describing the Israelis as the "Zionist enemy". Ironically, it is as if he was expected to describe the brutal acts of killing Palestinian children as actions committed by our "butcher friends."
It is as if they were not satisfied with the Palestinian leader’s statements about stopping the militarization of the Intifada at a time Israel rejects all political negotiations unless they are based on its conditions of refusing the right of return, the issue of Jerusalem, and the dismantling of the settlements, and dealing with the Palestinians through brutal murder and assassinations. All this means that the Palestinian state will be a fragmented entity under the hegemony of the Israelis. In short, it will not even be an autonomous region.
But the American-Israeli pressure at this stage does not target the Palestinians alone; it includes the Arab region, which has yielded to these pressures, and the Islamic world, which was shaken by the earthquake that was generated by the political, economic and security pressures.
The Pressures on Syria and Lebanon
These pressures, whether by the Congress or by the Administration, are applied through many means, the most significant of which is UN Resolution 1559 that aims at exerting pressure concerning the US occupation of Iraq, with Lebanon used as a means to exert this pressure along with certain political intimidations that seek to create certain fears, turning the political climate into a state of anticipation for additional quakes that take place in the aftermath of a major earthquake.
We believe that there is an ample chance to study the Syrian-Lebanese relations in order to establish a state of balance in these relations, thus finding a solution for all the points of weakness in them, and preventing the counter forces from exploiting them to create problems. But we also believe that it is necessary to begin this process in an atmosphere that is void of the influences of such pressures, so as to be able to confront the international changes that need a change in the political and security methods.
The two sister countries represent a state of organic association and of integration of common interests and unity of major vital causes.
Consequently, they should rise to the level of the challenges in this state to be able to reach the major targets, and leave no chance for those who want to incite strife, be they internal or external players.
Iraq is Capable of Making a Free Future
Iraq's neighboring countries have met to discuss the unstable political and security conditions of the country. But we believe that the fundamental problem that ought to be studied is the American occupation, being the major cause of all the catastrophes, which is not by any means Syria and Iran's alleged interference in inciting violence. These are false claims to create provocations, just as the talk about the so-called "Shiite threat."
We believe the Iraqis are able, through their religious and political leadership, to run their affairs on their own, provided they have the authority to do so, especially if they uphold their national unity and confront those who are trying to incite sectarian fanaticism and terrorist parties.
Iraq is capable of building a future as a strong, free, and productive country, but it needs freedom, independence, and stability. Therefore, do not further destabilize it, for it only serves international arrogance and its associates.
Lebanon in the Election Dilemma
Lebanon has drowned in the election maze, where everybody is focusing on the rights of his sect more than looking after the rights of the nation.
Lebanon is eager to look for its citizens' will in choosing their representatives, who ought to be credible, honest, skilled, and devoted to humanity, added the cleric.
The new MPs should be devoted to the new generation, which we hope does not drown in muddy water, since past generations failed in establishing a free, independent, balanced and productive state.
This generation should benefit from the spirituality of the good found in religions, particularly Christianity and Islam.