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 Jumada al-Oula 10, 1426 AH / June 17, 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
The Call to Freedom in Islam
Man's Freedom
In one of his sayings, the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali (a.s.) asserts: "O people: Adam did not have any slave children, whether boys and girls. And all people are free." In another saying he says: "Don't be a slave to others while Allah has made you free," and also "do not be enslaved by greed, while Allah has made you free." Through these sayings, Ali (a.s.) wants to emphasize the element of freedom in Man. Man should not enslave his thought, his life or his position to any other man or party. Being free means that your positions should be led by what your mind accepts and rejects. Your will should reflect your commitment to good in both lives; you should not fall victim to your greed.
This is what realizes man's humanity. When you submit to others, you are not living life in the way Allah wanted you to: to be free.
In light of this, a man who respects himself and his freedom should study everything from the point of view of worshipping Allah. When you say "there is no god but Allah," you are talking about two things: First, that you are not free with respect to Allah. He is the master and you are His servant. But you are free and equal and sovereign with respect to all humans. You are free and you refuse to submit to anyone except Allah.
Thus, the issue of freedom is associated with the issue of the oneness of Allah. It is also linked with patience. When others want you to submit to them, threatening you with many pains or problems if you do not yield, your freedom tells you that you have to endure and tolerate these pains to be free. This is what Imam Hussein said when he was asked to yield: "I will not give you my hand the way a humiliated person would, nor would I submit like a slave does." I am free to refuse all what Yazid represents, I am free to stay with the right and keep aloof from falsehood, and to uphold my responsibilities in reform and changing the unjust reality and rule. He also said: "Verily the illegitimate (person) (i.e., 'Ubaidullah bin Ziad), son of the illegitimate (person) (i.e., Ziad bin Abih), has given me only two choices: fighting or humiliation and subservience; humiliation and subservience is certainly far from us!"
When the enemy tried to launch an offensive on his camp, he told them: "If you are not afraid of the Hereafter, why don't you be free in this world. And do not let your own greed enslave you."
Freedom is Dignity
When you study the meaning of dignity in the Holy Quran, you will find that it is equivalent to freedom. To respect your dignity means not to submit to those who want to humiliate you. Imam Ali (a.s.) says: "A free man is free even when stricken by harm, and a slave remains a slave even if circumstances help him." You are free even if you are plagued with problems, pains and wrongdoing, and you are a slave even if you have enormous resources, since you do not have your own willpower.
Imam Al-Sadiq (a.s.) says that: "A free man will remain free, regardless of all changes in his status." He would be free, for example, even in prison, as long as he does not yield to the occupier. Prophet Joseph (a.s.) is a case in point. He remained free when he was thrown in the well, and when he was imprisoned, for he clung to his willpower, and he was armed by patience.
Moreover, freedom springs from the inside, especially in the modern conditions of life. Imam Ali says: "Who does not pursue his desires will be free." He also says: "He who sells himself to liberate it is different than the one who sells it to dirty it."
Islam Wants Us Free
Islam wants us to be free, especially in our thinking, which should strive to support the right, based on our free choice. We should not sell our thought, nor accept that others will think for us. Confer with others, but do not yield to what they want. Do not accept that others will think for you. Do not accept to walk with your eyes closed, not knowing where they are taking you. Allah will hold us responsible for the thought we adhere to and for any stand we take. He will not accept the notion that others have asked us to do this or that.
We have to be free in our fight of the unjust, the tyrants and the deviators; Allah has created the mind and gave us the willpower. He made us responsible for our choices, and asked us to confront all challenges and reject any attempt to enslave us… Let us be free and let our freedom emerge from the inside to face all the challenges that face us in the outside world.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
An American–Zionist Scheme
In the Muslim World, with the Arab World at its heart, the vast majority of our people live under the line of poverty, while most of the rulers and the privileged live in an incredible state of luxury, with billions of Dollars left in the banks of the superpowers that would then impose the most severe and humiliating conditions on any loan they would give to the downtrodden countries.
In this Muslim and Arab Worlds, the savage occupation dominates several countries, including Palestine, which the Jews have officially taken over most of its lands, while they are trying to tear up the lands that remain to prevent the emergence of a viable and strong Palestinian state.
In this respect, steps are being taken to Judaize Jerusalem and dislocate its Muslim and Christian population. Any attempt to question the legend of Palestine as a national state for the Jews is being thwarted by accusing it of being an act of anti-Semitism.
We are facing a Zionist plot to end any Arab and Muslim existence in Palestine, and to ensure the success of the Jewish plan to liquidate the Palestinian liberation movement that is described as a terrorist movement. This situation has become more and more dangerous with the European and American West turning into a party that fights the Palestinian aspirations for independence, considering any effort for freedom and human rights to be a terrorist act.
If the West talks about certain solutions, like the Road Map, it's doing so in a hypocritical and lingering way that allows for putting pressures on the Palestinians to force them to yield to the Israeli demands, based on the claim that the issue is not political but one of security.
Thus, the West did not proceed one step forward towards forcing the enemy to withdraw.
On the other hand, there are many internal Palestinian problems that destabilize the Palestinian reality, as well as certain complications in the relations between the authority and the militant organizations, with several Arab and foreign parties trying to complicate things further.
Thus, we feel that we have to appeal to the Palestinian people that they have to be aware of the seriousness of the situation and seek to consolidate national unity, to be able to face the international conspiracies that are being pursued with an insulting Arab silence and a fearful Islamic quietness.
Failure of Occupation
In Iraq, blood is still being spilled by the soldiers of the occupation and the terrorism of the apostatizers, as well as the political anarchy that is trying to incite sectarian fanaticism when it talks about quotas in formulating the constitution and a plan for federalism that could turn into a force of racial separation, as in the Kurdish question.
The American occupation in Iraq has begun to disturb the American public opinion. Due to the increasing number of casualties and the state of chaos that prevails in the country, voices are calling—from within the Congress as well—for a withdrawal. The Americans who claimed that they are presenting a democratic model in Iraq have made a model of anarchy and destabilization.
This is what we would like the Iraqis to understand, so that they will enhance their internal unity and demand the withdrawal of occupation. The Iraqis should determine their own destiny; they are mature enough to run their own affairs and do not need any guardians… They should know that their internal coherence constitutes a guarantee not only for the Iraqis themselves but for the entire nation as well, since they would be thwarting the occupation's strategic plan to dominate the entire region.
Lebanon: Foreign Plans
In Lebanon, the foreign powers have begun to plan for the Lebanese future after the elections, imposing the new speaker and the new cabinet, as well as implementing Resolution 1559 that calls for disarming the resistance and the Palestinian camps, thus sinking the country in a state of political anarchy, under the pretense of what the American President calls "constructive chaos."
We call on those whose alliances are based on national or Arab foundations to bear their responsibility in protecting their country and preventing any foreign tutelage. We also ask them to turn their parliamentary position into a center that studies the problem of the national debt and that plans projects of development that would secure political and economic stability.