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 Muharram 2, 1426 AH / February 11, 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
Make Ashura a Movement of Awareness and Commitment
Learning from Ashura
On these two occasions—the Prophet's immigration and that of Imam Hussein (a.s.)—as we enter a new year, we have to pause and think about our past actions. We have to hold ourselves accountable and judge for ourselves if we have upheld the responsibility Allah has entrusted us with. The Prophet's Hijra is an event that has become a part of history, and we are left with its meanings, implications, and guidance which we benefit from in our Islamic movement through time. We have to fill every day and every month with Islam. Allah did not make time a vacuum, but wanted man to fill it with the thought he produces, the spirits he motivates, and the good he calls for and practices.
Similarly, when we remember Ashura, we know that it has become a part of history, yet it opens for us in our struggle a new movement towards victory and one on whose way we might be martyred. Therefore, the nation has to live history as a lesson to turn it into a victory for the Islamic call and the progress of mankind.
Muhammad (p.) and Islam
In this context, we have to study the Prophet's personality, for it was the embodiment of the message and of Islam as a whole.
The people used to hear a verse from the Prophet and discover that his actions reflect this verse.
That is why Allah, the Most Exalted, wanted us to consider him as a role model in everything he said or did.
He is also described as being of "sublime manners." And we have to follow his lead: to be ethical in our homes and in the community at large, so that the Muslim would be the man from whom others do not expect anything except good, love, and mercy.
Let each of us become like the Messenger even at a rate of 10 percent. Allah has said, describing His Messenger: "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). He is a Messenger who feels the pains and sufferings of his people, and he used to care about each of them with compassion and mercy like a mother who loves her children.
Allah is saying to the believers that you have a humanitarian Messenger who carried the grievances of the people in his heart. And you ought to be like him. You have to understand that Islam is not simply praying and fasting. It is in living the grievances, concerns, problems, and challenges of Muslims.
The Messenger wanted the nation to overcome all challenges to be free and dignified… you too have to make every effort to raise your nation to this level.
The Messenger was kind and merciful: "And by the mercy of Allah, you dealt with them gently. And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you." Surat Ali ‘Imran (3:159). Do not be hard-hearted, because those who are hard-hearted lose the meaning of being humane.
Al-Hussein: A Continuation in the Movement of the Message
When we study the movement of the Imam, we will find out that his sole concern was the message of Islam and the nation of Islam.
Al-Hussein (a.s.) was the Imam just as his grandfather was the Messenger. And since the Imamate is a continuation of the role of the Messenger in defending and conveying the message, the Imam declared that "the aim of my stand is not inspired by vain exultation and it is also not for the quest of kingdom, neither it is to cause dissension and corruption nor it is to wrong anybody unjustly." His purpose was "the reformation of my grandfather's nation. I intend to enjoin goodness and forbid evil. I want to emulate my grandfather, the Holy Prophet, and my father Ali ibn Abi Talib."
And he reminded them that those who accept him are accepting Allah and not him as a person. "Whosoever accepts me by accepting the truth, then Allah is higher than the truth. And whosoever rejects me then I will bear patiently until Allah adjudges between me and them and He is the best Judge."
Then the Imam began his march to introduce to the people the Islamic ruling of confronting an unjust ruler. He said: "The one who sees a tyrant King who is making unlawful as lawful, violating the pledge (of Allah), opposing the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet, ruling over the servants of Allah with sins and oppression, and by his words and actions does not oppose the King and does not strive to reform the circumstances, then it behooves Allah to hurl him into Hell along with the King."
Then he continued about the Yazidi regime thus: "They have shunned the obedience of Allah and acted following Satan. They are instigating commotion and dismissing the divine laws. They are expending from the public exchequer for their selfish end and are changing the prohibited things to permissible things."
Ashura: A Movement of Struggle and Awareness
The Prophet's immigration from Mecca to Medina aimed at establishing an Islamic base of righteousness against the unbelievers, while the Husseini immigration from Medina to Mecca and from Mecca to Karbala aimed at protecting the Message from deviation… Thus, as we commence the Ashura sermons in the beginning of the new Islamic year, we have to fill this year with Islam… We have to change our souls to become fully Islamic, reflecting themselves in their beliefs, actions, sayings…etc. We have to strive to turn our country into an Islamic country, our leadership into an Islamic leadership, and our nation into an Islamic nation.
We have to fight the belief that by performing the inherited traditions we have done our duty. Ashura is not hitting the heads with swords. This act is against Ashura; it is a backward act… It is also not whipping the backs; it is a movement of awareness, struggle for the cause of Islam, and Islamic unity to face all challenges…
They want to eliminate Islam, and it is our duty to preserve it with all the power we have… This is what Allah has entrusted us with.
Let our commemorating of Ashura be in an Islamic, civilized way that is open to awareness, struggle, and unity. Peace be upon the Imam, his companions, and those who fought with him. I testify that you have enjoined good and forbidden evil. Peace be upon your grandfather, the Messenger, your father, Imam Ali, your mother Fatimah al-Zahra, and all the Infallible Imams.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Besieging the Intifada
What were the results of the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh?
Were the Arabs who called for it able to present a clear future for the Palestinians in the political sphere, which is the core of the problem since the Israeli occupation?
Did they negotiate as the champions of a cause, or were they merely mediators but without any effectiveness?
The Summit was one of security, meaning that it dealt with the security demands of Sharon. It also gave Sharon the normalization of diplomatic relations with Jordan and Egypt and gave a green light to the Gulf and Arab Maghreb to enhance their relations with the enemy. Sharon thus became "a man of peace" without having to offer anything or even promise to give the Palestinians any of their rightful demands.
America wants to sideline all the Arab and Islamic rejection of the Israeli occupation. It is exploiting their political and security weaknesses and trying to engage each country in internal problems. What America wants is to destroy any source of strength in the Arab and Islamic World, so that it could continue to pressure the Arabs and Muslims to force unconditional surrender. To accomplish this goal, it resorts to hot wars as in Iraq, and psychological wars as in the American stands towards Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, with the aim of isolating each country within its own boundaries where it could easily impose its conditions over it.
Israel Is the Threat
American mass media, as well as that of other Western nations, are talking about the WMDs lie in Iraq, and that some officials are worried about the new lie that accuses Syria and Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, although they have repeatedly denied it.
There is also some talk about American development of a new generation of nuclear weapons which could pose a threat to the entire world. As for Israel, the Americans and Europeans claim that Israel, being a disciplined and self-controlled country, does not pose by its nuclear weapons any threat to its neighbors, while Iran in contrast does. The fact is that Israel is a threat to the whole region and even to the entire world by its aggressions and occupation of the Palestinian territories, while Iran has never been involved in any of these practices.
The arrogant world is executing a plan to besiege all the countries of the Third World, especially the Arab and Muslim states, so that they will never acquire any strength. This is what we notice in the turtle-like movement of the EU negotiations with Iran and in the way they play concerted roles that complement one another…
We warn the Palestinian people of the real motives of this summit and of the plans of the American allies, both Arabs and Europeans, for they are based on deceit.
Chirac: Sectarian Incitement
It is interesting that the French President had his say in the differences between the Shiites and the Sunnis, declaring that he cannot trust the Shiites but he can trust the Sunnis. Those who follow his lead in Lebanon have begun to talk about the Shiite threat, although the Shiites have opened up to all sects and political ends, and although they do not have, in all the countries they live in, their own project.
Thus, they do not represent a danger for anyone. All they want is to live as citizens with equal rights and duties.
If some of them have certain views or relations, this is true in every sect, but this does not mean that this is the Shiite stand. It is within their right of expression.
In this context, the Shiites are wronged in this view because they have liberated Lebanon and they are still fighting. They have supported the Palestinians, and they are fighting international arrogance.
We warn all those who are talking in this way because they will be serving the occupation authority in the entire region.
Occupation in Iraq
Iraq continues to live in a state of security anarchy with more daily bombings and assassinations. The occupation forces not only are not trying to stop them, but they are encouraging them. And this renders the talk about the occupation withdrawal leading to a state of chaos meaningless, for it is the occupation that is creating it, especially as the American media has revealed that American companies have been stealing billions of Dollars of Iraqi money.
Political Anarchy in Lebanon
Lebanon is in a state of political anarchy as its sects lose the sense of realism in their mutual coexistence... The Lebanese have become two parties who do not meet to discuss their critical issues. Sectarianism has become the major dividing factor, although there are some who have been added to give a certain sectarian party some different sectarian coloring.
We believe that agitated accusations in the name of freedom and democracy will lead to the fall of these values. Since everyone knows that rationalism and objectivity are the only means to save the country, especially with some of the Lebanese resorting to exploiting the international offensive against their fellow Lebanese and the Arabs.