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 Rajab 11, 1427 AH / July 07, 2006, 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
Restoring Islamic Identity: The Foundation of Strength
Faith Provides Believers with Strength
Allah, the Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: "And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged." (Surat al-Anfal 8:60)
He also said, in the context of talking about some faithful believers who maintained high morale in the face of the great challenge of the disbelievers: "Those to whom people said, 'Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them.' But it [only] increased them in faith, and they said, 'Sufficient for us is Allah, and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs.'" (Surat Ali 'Imran 3:173)
The disbelievers deployed a huge army to arouse fear before the war even started, but the believers were sure that all strength is from Allah, and that He promised to support them since they were supporting Him. Thus, faith gave them a spiritual power, and their reaction to the intimidation efforts was: "Allah is Sufficient for us, and He is the best Guardian." Thus, their morale was high, and their spiritual strength complemented their physical strength. Then Allah bestowed on them His grace and struck the hearts of the disbelievers with pain. "And no harm touched them, for they followed the pleasure of Allah." They followed the straight path in their acts and sayings to ensure Allah's pleasure, even if they wanted to set a foot backwards or forwards, and Allah is the Lord of bounties, especially towards those who are faithful to Him and seek His pleasure.
Then Allah emphasizes the fact that the believer who trusts Allah does not fear anyone, for he is always inspired by Allah's power that fills his heart and mind with strength. It is only Satan who suggests to you the fear of his allies, for they are deprived of any feeling of trust. "So fear them not, but fear Me, if you are [indeed] believers," (Surat Ali 'Imran 3:175) since the believer is the one whose heart is filled with Allah's love and the fear of Him.
Thus, Allah guides the believers that they should feel strong when they fight the disbelievers and the arrogant. He says: "So do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers. If a wound should touch you - there has already touched the [opposing] people a wound similar to it. And these days [of varying conditions] We alternate among the people so that Allah may make evident those who believe and [may] take to Himself from among you martyrs - and Allah does not like the wrongdoers." (Surat Ali 'Imran 3:139-140)
If you had some wounds and defeats in the Battle of Uhud, they had the same in the Battle of Badr. "Such days of varying fortunes We give to men by turns." The balance of power and the movement of the struggle is not static; it constantly changes. We win on one day and lose on another, "that Allah may know those who believe and take from among you martyrs. And Allah does not like the wrongdoers."
In another Ayah, He says: "And do not weaken in pursuit of the enemy. If you should be suffering - so are they suffering as you are suffering, but you expect from Allah that which they expect not. And Allah is ever Knowing and Wise." (Surat an-Nisa' 4:104) They have no source of hope since they do not turn to Allah, while you do. And Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom.
Reclaiming Islamic Identity
In light of this, we understand an Islamic truth: Allah wants the believers to acquire strength and to stay away from all that weakens them. They have to unite on their common goal and hold fast to Allah's rope. Unity is the basis of strength, and Islam unites us if we are committed to it, and so does the Messenger and the Imams if we follow their path. And if we encounter any differences in any field, Allah has told us how to resolve them: we should refer them to Allah and His Messenger.
Allah also wants us to be strong politically, economically, socially, and militarily, and to act as one, for Allah loves those who unite and act as one party for His cause. This means that we should stand against all those who try to incite strife among Muslims, those whose interests, ambitions, and even illusions might link them with the arrogant powers. And this is what we notice in the attitude of some people whose actions serve the international intelligence agencies that plot against Islam and Muslims.
We are facing, in this stage of our history, disbelief and arrogance in their entirety, which wishes to liquidate Islam and Muslims and benefit from their fragmentation and differences to drive them to fight one another. We have to be aware of these plots; if it were not the case, the Jews in the entire world, who do not exceed twenty-five million people, would not have gained all this power. But they managed to play effective roles that turned them into a major force that the major powers need.
Therefore, we have to reclaim our Islamic identity that binds us together and be aware of the American, European, and Zionist challenge that confronts us. We bear the responsibility of returning to Islam its strength and to the Muslims their unity, and build all the elements of strength that are available, especially our unity: "And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided." (Surat Ali 'Imran 3:103)
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
In occupied Palestine, the Israeli war of eradication continues in an organized and systematic way. Every new day, civilians are being killed, and the population as a whole is being dislocated and starved. Meanwhile, the world talks about the brutal massacres in a timid way that calls for self-control and equates the murderer and the victim. They use soft and timid words, claiming that the issue of peace is complicated, and thus they do not dare to ask the Zionist entity to recognize the Palestinian rights, even in the 1967 territories. The US, under its current Bush administration, unconditionally supports Israel in all its barbaric atrocities and considers them a form of self-defense. On the other hand, it does not see any rights for the Palestinians, even to defend themselves against cold-blooded murder, let alone a viable independent state.
It is interesting that the EU talks about releasing the Israeli soldier, while it does not consider detaining Palestinian women and children to be inhumane, suggesting that the West does not respect human rights, since they have fallen under the influence of the American policy that is run by the Jewish lobby and the new conservatives who represent the Christian Zionist line that is hostile to the Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims.
Arab Governments and Peoples
The Arab governments do not allow their peoples to demonstrate in support of the Palestinians. They are afraid of the anger of their peoples for their yielding to the American policies and Zionist strength. They, too, talk about the Israeli soldier and not the Palestinian prisoners. They do not see a need for an Arab summit to take a decisive stand against the aggression, and they do not dare to call their ambassadors, because they are afraid of the Zionist madness.
A Different Swiss Position…
As we appreciate the Swiss position, being the only Western country that tried to look at the issue in a more balanced way when it said that the practices of the Israeli Army are not proportional and are a kind of collective punishment that is prohibited by international law—as we appreciate this stand—we did not hear anybody talking about the issue itself. They are only talking about military details and not the principle of the Palestinian right to independence, since it is useless, as the Israeli Prime Minister claimed, "to provoke Israel, which could behave as though the master of the house has gone mad." It is the madness of force in a mad world in which an Israeli soldier is equal to an entire nation and an Arab world whose regimes have fallen by the knockout punch.
We, in our religious capacity, call on the Arab and Muslim peoples and all free people in the world to stand with this oppressed people and raise the following slogan: No to occupation, No to aggression. We also call on the Palestinians to uphold their unity despite all their internal differences, for they cannot afford to lose it at this stage.
Crimes in Iraq
Innocents still fall in Iraq every day. On the one hand, there is the war waged by groups that claim to belong to Islam, but they insist on targeting innocent Muslims and use a sectarian language in their speeches and communiqués in the aftermath of massacres like the ones in Sadr City and Kufa. This Takfiri hatred intersects, on the other hand, with the American hatred that was demonstrated by the raping of an Iraqi girl and then killing her and her family. They both represent the most criminal aggression against Iraq's security, committed by both the Takfiris and the occupation.
The best way to change this reality should undoubtedly come through a process of Iraqi national reconciliation that does not leave out any of the Iraqi sects, who should attain their rights in the Iraqi state and society. The Takfiri groups should be isolated, and the occupation should be forced to leave, following all the tragedies it has inflicted on Iraq since it invaded it under the pretense of the lie concerning weapons of mass destruction.
Who Protects Lebanese Political Security?
In Lebanon, political rhetoric continues to deteriorate morally, with several parties forgetting all about what is going on in the region and thinking only about their internal positions. What is particularly strange in this wonderland called Lebanon is that those who make somewhat balanced political statements in Lebanon abandon this balance when they leave the country and present the outside powers with stances they know they will not implement. They also know that the Lebanese are not against the arms of the resistance and not against a defense strategy that protects Lebanon from Israeli aggressions and ambitions.
They are talking about the need to protect the tourism season, but we ask: Who is going to protect the political security in Lebanon? Are these people concerned with the supreme national interests, which demand that they should be concerned with the interests of all parties and not call for foreign stances that will neither be in their interest nor in the general Lebanese interests? America and the other powers do not care about the Lebanese interests, especially its independence; their primary interest is consolidating their presence in the region, and we do not know if the visitors to the US are aware of this fact.