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 24, 1427 AH/ August 18, 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
More Patience, Awareness and Steadfastness
in the Line of Freedom and Dignity
In this blessed Friday, we remember all our youth, who were the blossoming flowers in the spring of the nation. The believers who used to pray and fast with us… those believers are still with us in our hearts and minds. They are with the entire nation… they made us proud before the world.
To those martyrs we read Surat al-Fatihah.
Patience is the Virtue of the Prophets
Allah says in His Holy Book: "And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient." Surat al-Baqarah (2:155).
"Who, when disaster strikes them, say, 'Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.'" Surat al-Baqarah (2:156).
"Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the [rightly] guided." Surat al-Baqarah (2:157).
And He also says: "Or did you think that you would enter Paradise while Allah has not yet made evident those of you who fight in His cause and made evident those who are steadfast?" Surat Aal 'Imran (3:142).
And: "Every soul will taste death. And you will be paid in full only on the Day of Resurrection. So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire]. And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion." Surat Aal 'Imran (3:185).
Allah did not emphasize the significance of any spiritual and moral value as much as the value of patience. He says: "And the earth is spacious. Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account." Surat az-Zumar (39:10).
And "You will surely be tested in your possessions and in yourselves. And you will surely hear from those who were given the Scripture before you and from those who associate others with Allah much abuse. But if you are patient and fear Allah - indeed, that is of the matters [worthy] of determination." Surat Aal 'Imran (3:186).
Thus, the history of this nation since the time of the Prophet and those who were with him, as well as the purified Members of the House, was a history of patience. They were patient in hunger and sickness. And they were patient in the battlefield where they struggled for the cause of Allah bravely and faithfully.
Patience was the theme the Messenger adhered to throughout his march. He was patient when he was fought and hurt by the unbelievers like no prophet before him. It was patience that was the characteristic of his immigration, his war and peace, and all his movements.
This is also the theme that governed all the actions and behavior of the Messenger's caliph, Imam Ali (a.s.), when he endured what no other human could, foregoing his rights to safeguard the interests of Muslims, and that is why he said: "I will keep the peace as long as the Muslims' affairs are maintained and the only injustice is on me."
And this was the attitude of his children, Imams Hassan and Hussein, and all the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt, as well as his and their companions.
The importance of patience lies in that it prevents people from surrendering when confronting challenges. It helps the nation to become aware of what it is facing. If you are not patient, you will not be able to think or plan.
Thus, patience is not weakness, and Allah says: "And [mention, O Muhammad], when Luqman said to his son while he was instructing him, 'O my son, do not associate [anything] with Allah. Indeed, association [with him] is great injustice.'" Surat Luqman (31:13).
"And be patient over what befalls you. Indeed, that is of the matters [requiring] determination." Surat Luqman (31:17).
Patience that resorts to thinking and planning is what lets the nation know from where it starts and to where it is going.
Patience is the Road to Freedom
The Nation of Islam is still facing the challenges of the unbelievers and the arrogant. And although some have fallen, the majority is still standing.
This country was the vanguard of the nation in its struggle and confronting the challenges. Israel wanted to dominate and exploit the nation through Lebanon, while the US wanted to turn it into a base for its influence and a base to attack other countries. But the free Lebanese, especially the people of the South and Biqaa', who fought all American and Israeli challenges, gave Lebanon by their patience, courage and firmness the meaning of freedom.
No drop of blood was spilt in the independence the Lebanese knew before, but the new independence was established by the glorious freedom and the blood of our children, women, elderly and youth that turned for the first time in its history into a river that waters the freedom of the entire Arab and Muslim worlds.
My children and brothers: The houses were destroyed on the heads of our people while others became homeless. But you stood tall and refused to be convinced that the Resistance is responsible for this war. You demonstrated the highest degree of awareness, and we respect this awareness of those who look at their destroyed houses and villages and declare that we are with the Resistance. Thus, be patient and hold fast and reject all those who want to constitute a barrier between you and the stands of dignity, for Allah said: "Honor belongs to Allah and His Messenger and the believers." Surat al-Munafiqun (63:8).
Therefore, dear beloved and children, continue the march. And let America, Israel and this arrogant world understand that we will remain with freedom… Not the freedom the American President talks about, but the freedom that is from the depth of Islam, Arabism and humanitarianism. We should remain patient and steadfast and from the midst of all these tragedies the dawn will rise. The dawn of the free and believing man.
"So do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers." Surat Aal 'Imran (3:139).
"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 Aal 'Imran (3:140).
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
It is victory… the victory of the believing and struggling youth, of those who were promised Paradise because they were fighting for the cause of Allah. Those who lived for freedom to liberate the land, building the power that Allah wanted them to establish to face the arrogance.
It is the victory of the Islamic vanguard that rose in its spirit to become near Allah, to worship Him through martyrdom and fighting the enemies of Allah and humanity: the Jews who killed the Prophets and spread corruption on earth.
They are those who committed brutal and barbaric massacres, destroying houses on the heads of those living in them, including children. Those racists who love nobody and think only about themselves, killing the people and destroying the land.
It is the victory that was made for the living Islam that opens up to man and freedom… the victory that made a new history, a new conquest of Khaibar that opens the castles fortified by the most sophisticated American weapons that were given to the Jews to kill the Palestinians and the Lebanese. The Resistance won the war when they started to fight the enemy face to face, when they destroyed developed tanks and advanced bulldozers and pounded its settlements. The enemy, used to defeating the Arabs, did not expect such a resounding surprise. They were the Islamic vanguard that restored Arab and Muslim dignity and washed away the humiliation of the previous defeats.
America Gives Israel a Free Hand
Dear beloved: this war was an American war carried out by Israel to execute the American arrogant plans to establish political, economic and security hegemony over the entire region.
The plan for this war was set out long before, waiting only for an excuse to carry it out.
They wanted to destroy Lebanon, especially the South, and eliminate the Resistance to turn Lebanon into a base for its efforts to pressure other countries in the region, as well as a front to protect Israeli security, and not that of Lebanon. Because we all know that it gave the Israeli Mossad a free hand to assassinate whomever it wants and prevented Lebanon from submitting a complaint against Israel when the Israeli intelligence killing networks were discovered.
And we now hear the enemy's Prime Minister threatening to kill the leaders and the fighters of the Resistance by means of his intelligence elements that are spread in Lebanon.
Yet we hear no protest either by the Americans or the West, although they continue to talk about the presence of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon and the threat they constitute. The West that encouraged the enemy to destroy Lebanon and kill the Lebanese does not see in the Mossad's subversion any problem, since it is executing its plans that are a result of their complex against Arabs and Muslims.
Deceitful Slogans
Thus, the great lie of the West that talks about freedom and human rights, or their so-called war against terrorism in which America and Israel practice barbaric state terrorism against the people. That is why they are encouraging the occupation and deny the right of peoples, especially the Palestinians, to fight. They consider the Palestinian struggle to liberate their country a form of terrorism. They also considered what happened to the Iraqis, the Palestinians and the Lebanese lately, including all the massacres and devastation, as self-defense. That is why they refused in their conferences and their Security Council any ceasefire that does not impose their conditions.
Israel Acknowledges Defeat
The US President said when the battle was over that the Resistance was "defeated." This is but one additional lie that we are used to from the American President. Had he said the truth that was acknowledged by the enemy's politicians and military leaders, he would have said that Israel was defeated on the battlefield despite all the political games the US and the West have practiced to save Israel's face and give it a chance to defend itself before its people, and impose certain conditions on Lebanon that would undermine its internal front, and incite internal strife and civil war that the Lebanese still refuse.
What is ironic in this respect is that some US officials still claim that there is nobody who supports Lebanese interests more than the US. We wonder, along with the Lebanese: What is the interest of Lebanon in destroying its infrastructure and killing its civilians by destroying their houses and committing horrific massacres, and then preventing the UN from passing an immediate ceasefire?
The Resistance and the State
As for the US President’s claim that the Resistance is a state within the state, it is not true. The Resistance is a part of the state, whether in the Cabinet or the Parliament. It did not use its arms to pressure any internal party, whether an official or a popular one. Its arms' only role was to confront the Israeli aggression, and as a reaction to the Israeli war that pounded the south and other regions and that destroyed the Lebanese infrastructure.
As for the abducting of the two Israeli soldiers, it is naïve to think that it started the war.
Several similar incidents occurred, and the Israeli enemy did not initiate a war, but exchanged the prisoners. Were America faithful and supportive of Lebanon, it would have intervened to solve the problem without a war in a way that preserves Israeli soldiers and Lebanese security.
But the plan for the war was made by both the US and Israel, to the extent that some Zionist officials believed that America is using Israel to carry out its project of the new Middle East, and not to release the two soldiers and maintain Israel's security.
Lastly, the return of the southerners to their destroyed lands represents a political resistance against America and Israel, who wanted them to return under their humiliating conditions. The people of the South have always had a very strong bond with their land and with the cause of freedom that is not going to change.
Studying the Resistance's Experiment
We call on all the Lebanese parties, as well as the Arabs and Muslims, to study this wonderful experience of struggle with Israel… the defeat of its advanced weapons and the rejection of the arrogant policies. It is a new experience that should be studied thoroughly to search for how to fight their dictatorships that change their countries into jails for the people.
The Resistance's Arms
One last word to the Lebanese who consider that Israel is the enemy. If they mean it, they should preserve the arms of the Resistance and stand with the Mujahideen to turn the Resistance into a resistance of the Lebanese against the Israeli aggression. They ought to study Israel’s record towards Lebanon, which has always been one of aggression.
That is why we called on the international community to deploy its forces on the Palestinian side, since they should protect Lebanon from Israel, for Lebanon has always been the party that is trying to protect itself against Israeli aggressions.