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 19, 1427 AH / February 17, 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
A Life of Good Deeds
Allah says in His Glorious Book: "Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion, and He is over all things competent - [He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving." Surat al-Mulk (67:1-2).
He also says: "And We have certainly made whatever is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed." Surat al-Kahf (18:7).
In these verses, Allah wants to emphasize to all people that one should live in this world in competition with others in doing good deeds. The motive should not be trying to become the richest or boasting that you are the most beautiful, but to uphold the responsibility Allah has entrusted us with towards ourselves, others, and towards life. One should live to do the best deeds in all fields, whether in knowledge, production, emphasizing human rights, supporting the right, helping the poor, or standing against the wrong and the unjust.
This is the story of life and death. Allah has brought us to life to learn how life moves through practice. And then when we die and return to Him, we will have to submit our good deeds. These good deeds will be rewarded in the Hereafter, which mirrors our actions in this world. That is what we should think about, since money, beauty, and power will perish with man, but man's deeds will stay and enter the grave with him. And they will stay with him until the Day of Judgment, where he will be rewarded or punished: "And obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not dispute and [thus] lose courage and [then] your strength would depart; and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient." Surat al-Anfal (8:46) and "Enter it, then. [It is all the same] whether you are patient or impatient, you will only be recompensed for what you used to do." Surat an-Naml (27:39).
Orphan's Money
Doing good deeds and acting in the best way covers all aspects of life, including how we deal, for example, with the inheritance of orphans we are entrusted with. "And do not approach the property of an orphan, except in the way that is best, until he reaches maturity." Surat al-An‘am (6:152). Try to save and increase the orphan's money until they are mature adults: "And test the orphans [in their abilities] until they reach marriageable age. Then if you perceive in them sound judgment, release their property to them." Surat an-Nisa’ (4:6). Allah has warned us of the consequences of usurping the orphan's money, who cannot defend himself, as in the case of elder children taking the money of their younger brothers and sisters: "Indeed, those who devour the property of orphans unjustly are only consuming into their bellies fire. And they will be burned in a Blaze." Surat an-Nisa’ (4:10).
Greetings
Greetings too should be returned in the best way: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, greet [in return] with one better than it or [at least] return it [in a like manner]. Indeed, Allah is ever, over all things, an Accountant." Surat an-Nisa’ (4:86). Traditions have it that a greeting is of two rewards: one for the one who offers it and one for the one who returns it, but he who returns it in a better way will earn ten rewards.
Calling to Allah
Allah says in His Holy Book: "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best." Surat an-Nahl (16:125). This includes everything that Allah wants man to believe and work by, with wisdom and goodly exhortation (wisdom is putting things in their place, while goodly exhortation is what penetrates the heart and drives it to open up and reach with love and tenderness). "Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has gone astray from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided." Use the style and the words that endear people, the words that unite and not the ones that disperse. Thus, you have to prepare all the conditions and the words to convince others in what you believe in. As for their guidance, you are not responsible for this aspect—since it has to do with several subjective and objective elements and not only a word you say or a speech you give.
Allah also commands us to "say what is best"… When we talk to others (your husband, your wife, your children), try to choose the best words; study what you are about to say, and how it would be received, and choose the best words, those that concentrate love and good relations so as not to let Satan exploit the situation to create dissension. "And tell My servants to say that which is best. Indeed, Satan induces [dissension] among them. Indeed Satan is ever, to mankind, a clear enemy." Surat al-Isra’ (17:53). This is Allah's call to His Messenger, to educate the Islamic nation on using good words so as not to give Satan a chance to create enmities.
How to Conduct a Dialogue
In dialogue too, and in discussions with those of different religions, especially the Christians and Jews with whom the Muslims were discussing matters, Allah wants us to argue with them in the best way, except those who inflict wrong, for those don't believe in any dialogue: "And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that is best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say, 'We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you. And our God and your God is one; and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him.'" Surat al-‘Ankabut (29:46), for Muslims believe in the Quran, the Bible and the Torah and in all Messengers.
Repel with What is Better
We also read in the Quran how Allah guides us to solve the problems or the feuds that we might fall into, like those between the husband and wife, parents and children, or at a larger level between tribes or between political parties. How do we solve these problems? Allah says that there are two ways: violence, and tolerance or lenience. But Allah says that goodness cannot be equal to evil, and violence cannot be equal to lenience. "Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend." Surat Fussilat (41:34). Choose the way that turns your enemy into a friend, for Allah wants us to befriend the world. He wants us to broaden the scope of friends and reduce the number of our enemies. But we should not compromise our principles, but rather seek to earn the friendship of others to our causes and religion. Allah emphasizes that such an option requires an intellectual, cultural and spiritual effort as well as a strong will power: "But none is granted it except those who are patient, and none is granted it except one having a great portion [of good]." This is what was asserted by the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s.), when he encouraged us to increase our friends, saying: "The most incompetent is he who cannot make friends, but he who loses the friends he had already made is even more incompetent."
Furthermore, Allah also wants us to listen to all sermons, political stands, or social positions, and only follow what is best after we thoroughly study what we have heard: "So give good tidings to My servants who listen to speech and follow the best of it." Surat az-Zumar (39:17-18).
In this respect, Allah tells us that in all our life the best word is the word of Islam: "And who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah and does righteousness and says, 'Indeed, I am of the Muslims.'" Surat Fussilat (41:33). This is the word of man who asserts his Islam and his call to Allah, adheres to righteousness, and emphasizes in every act or saying he does or says that he is a Muslim.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Failing Hamas
In Palestine, Israel continues bombing Gaza, killing, assassinating and destroying without any objection from the International Quartet Committee.
Moreover, Israel decided to annex the Jordan Rift Valley, which constitutes about a third of the West Bank's area, having almost finished the construction of the Western separation wall. Thus, Israel is destroying the last component of an independent Palestinian state, preventing it from any future expansion, and denying the Palestinians any chance for agricultural and industrial development, and depriving them of an outlet on the Dead Sea.
The Western States are also exerting pressures on Hamas, which was chosen democratically and freely by the Palestinian people. They are demanding that Hamas should recognize Israel first, without pressurizing Israel to recognize Palestine—the land, the politics and the economy—since the Zionist state does not conceive any right for the Palestinian people, whether in their land or in self-determination. It only accepts giving them what is left of the shattered land as an act of charity.
We also notice that America and the European Union have announced that they will sanction the Palestinians if Hamas rules, since their aid was not meant for the people of Palestine but to allure them to their Israeli-oriented policies of dominating all Palestinian land, preventing the Palestinian refugees from returning, and turning those in Palestine into a work force in their factories and farms.
America is planning, along with Israel and all its allies, to fail Hamas’s experiment in ruling, but we believe that it will be successful in government as it was in Jihad. It will prove to the world that it will remain committed to all the causes of its people.
We ask the Muslim and Arab world to bear its responsibility in supporting and financially aiding Hamas for the benefit of the entire Palestinian people, since such aid will support its struggle for freedom and independence.
On its part, the United States is still planning and working on consolidating its power over the entire world. It accuses any state or movement that tries to liberate its lands and will from arrogant hegemony of terrorism.
Thus, America and the European Union are trying to deny Iran the nuclear technology it needs for peaceful purposes. They have declared war against Iran and accused it of planning to make the bomb, while we all know that America and other major powers have thousands of nuclear warheads.
America, and Israel, represent the most barbaric kind of terrorism. The international media, including the American media, are talking about the torturing of the detainees in Iraq, Guantanamo, and all the American prisons in the world.
America, the Biggest Terrorist
Moreover, the Americans are torturing the Iraqis in the big prison of occupied Iraq, which turns the American talk about human rights into a ridiculous joke. The only thing they care for is the human rights of the Americans and Israelis.
This is what all the world, especially the Third World, should understand so as to be able to protect itself from the war against it under the pretense of fighting terrorism, at a time everyone knows that America supports the terrorist regimes and movements in all the world and fights the free regimes and movements.
Consolidating Foreign Tutelage
This is what we notice in its Lebanese policy of tutelage: The American President and his Secretary of State interfere in every Lebanese affair and even in the issue of the presidency. It incites its people in the Lebanese political club to destabilize the situation and shake the coexistence formula, serving the Israeli project. It also demands the implementation of the international resolutions that the Zionists announced they are behind, especially the ones that have to do with the resistance, which has never interfered in the internal front but has always been a reserve army to protect Lebanon.
We say to the International Community: The Lebanese will accept to implement the international resolutions if Israel agrees on implementing all of them. The international legitimacy you demand cannot be divided. We want freedom, independence and sovereignty for Lebanon. No Lebanese accepts to succumb to foreign dictates that will deprive him of his freedom, whether from a near or faraway power. The rhetoric of the Lebanese should be wise, calm and moderate so as to raise the level of the Lebanese awareness and not arouse their instincts. They should keep away from the inciting language that does not serve the country or build the future.
O Lebanese: Have mercy on your country and do not kick it around like a ball to score personal points, while you should all seek to accumulate additional points for the country and for all parties. The international community, that is dominated by the US and planned for by Israel, wants to use your country as a card to exert pressure somewhere else. You have suffered enough from the game of nations, and you should not allow it to direct you instead of seeking to promote the interests of your own country and build its future.