The Religious Authority H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque,31th March 2006, Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer.
The First Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Allah says in His Glorious Book: Surely you shall die and they (too) shall surely die. He also says: And We did not ordain abiding for any mortal before you. What! Then if you die, will they abide?
God, did not give the opportunity of immortality to any of His servants, rather He emphasized that :every soul shall taste of death.
Moreover, one of the verses emphasize that the role of the Prophet from the point of view of his relations with the people is to convey the message and then meet his God. But when the Messenger dies the Message does not die with him. It stays as a trust with those the Muslims who believe in it. And Muhammad is no more than a messenger; the messengers have already passed away before him; if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels! he will by no means do harm to Allah in the least and Allah will reward the grateful.
This verse was revealed during the battle of Uhud. When someone said: "Muhammad is killed" and another one answered him: "If Muhammad has died, his God has not".
But another man of those whose faith was not strong enough suggested that they should go to Abu-Sufain, one of the leaders of Quraish and surrender.
That is why this verse was revealed to emphasize to the Muslims that if the Messenger(p.) were to be killed or died, the Message would not die and the responsibility of conveying it from each generation to the next until Allah inherits the earth, and those on it would not cease.
No Muslim could be indifferent towards Islam. And Muslims have a responsibility to educate their children on Islam and to consider this duty as one of their top priorities. God says: Enjoin prayer on thy people, and be constant therein. He also says: O ye who believe! save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who flinch not (from executing) the Commands they receive from Allah, but do (precisely) what they are commanded.
Completing the Message
Towards the end of his life, the Messenger(p.) stood in Mina to deliver his farewell speech through which he was completing his mission. He stood up and asked the people :what city is this?. They all answered it is the sacred city, and what month is this and what day. And they said it is the sacred month and the sacred day . The Messenger then told them.: Just as you regard this month, this day and this city sacred, so regard the lives and property of all amongst you as sacred and inviolable
Then the Messenger(p.) reached a place called Ghadir Khum where he gave his farewell speech, so that the people will know who is the best, the most pious, the nearest to God and the most experienced in running the affairs of Muslims. He was the one who loved Allah and His Messenger and who was loved by Allah and His Messenger(p.) .
He was following Allah's command to deliver Allah has revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message.
The Messenger(p.) , thus gathered the people in the blazing sun and stood up to say
Do I not have more right over the believers than what they have over themselves?"
People cried and answered:"Yes, O' Messenger of God
He then held up the hand of 'Ali and said:
"For whoever I am his Leader (mawla), 'Ali is his Leader (mawla)." O' God, love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile to him."
The Messenger(p.) wanted the people to pledge their loyalty to Ali, but it was a pledge that many were not committed to. The Messenger(p.) felt that there was some instability among the Muslims, so tried to solve the problem, and asked while he was on his deathbed to bring him a pen and something to write on, to write to them what if they adhere to they will never fall astray. But some of them said that the Prophet was hallucinating, forgetting what Allah has said that the Prophet never says anything on his own, and that it was always revealed from God.
The Messenger(p.) addressed the people and said:
I am about to be called and I will respond. O people. Let no one hope or claim anything. There is nothing in the relation between Allah and His servants that would lead Him to bestow good on them or repel evil except good work.
He added that if he were to sin he too would have fallen. Then he asked the people to claim any trust, they have left with him. Then, he talked to his closet relatives saying: O Bani Abdul Muttalib! You should act in such away that Allah may not punish you, and you should know that I cannot help you in the matter. O Bani Murra bin Kāb! O Bani Hashim! O Bani Abdush-Shams! Deliver yourselves from the torture on account of polytheism by worshipping Allah, for I cannot do anything for you in this regard. O Abbas, (uncle of the Prophet)! You, too, should free yourself from Divine torture. O Safia, (aunt of Muhammad)! You too should think of your freedom and deliverance for I cannot do anything for you. Neither your profit in this world nor your share in the Hereafter is in my hands. So you must believe in Allah and say: "There is no deity but Allah". O Fatima daughter of Muhammad! You must also endeavor to save yourself from Divine punishment because your father cannot help you in the matter and has no control over your gain and loss ". The Messenger(p.) wanted to tell all the people that what relates them to God is not their wealth or their linage, but rather actions.
To emphasize this issue, Imam Ali says: "Friends of Muhammad are those who obey Allah even if they are not related to him, while his enemies are those who disobey Allah even if they were close relations.”
When we commemorate the occasion of the Prophet's death on the 25th of the month of Safar, we have to remember the responsibility towards the end of the revelation after Allah has completed His religion, chose Islam as our religion and told us :Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: They are the ones to attain felicity. Therefore, Allah and His Messenger(p.) have entrusted us with Islam, we have to hold fast to the rope of Allah which is Islam and the Quran… we should be united by them adhere to them, and call on the people to introduce to them the truths of Islam, especially to those who did not study it in depth and accuse it of terrorism and backwardness.
We have to carry Islam to this world, and act as a role model to others in adhering to its teachings and values. This is our responsibility before God on the Day of Judgement. In this respect, God asked us to learn the Prophet's morals and actions and follow their lead: Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much.
The arrogant world and the vicious Zionism have mobilized all their forces and unified their ranks to face Islam and limit its movement to become the religion of man in the world.
That is why we have to unite all of us, and let not our differences stand in the face of this unity. We have also to solve our differences on the basis of referring them, as we are told in the Quran, to Allah and His Messenger.
This stage is one of the most critical with respect to the future of Islam and Muslims. We have to unify our ranks to fight on the cultural, political, security and econometric levels, for Allah says: Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure
The Second Sermon
The American lies
The American President is using an underlying threatening language in his daily talks about the region. He accuses Syria of acting against democracy in Lebanon through its intelligence elements, which , he claims, are still in Lebanon. He also questions the Syrian cooperation with the international investigation committee on the assassination of Premier Harriri, despite Syria's continuous announcement that it is ready to fully cooperate. We in turn ask about the US intelligence elements that are in Lebanon and interfere through the US Embassy with its political affairs.
On another level. It is funny that the American President claims to sympathize with the Palestinian sufferings, but he does not mention the occupation, the root cause of all the Palestinian sufferings, nor does he do anything to elevate them. He also talks about a viable Palestinian state, but he does not exert any pressure on Israel that had unilaterally defined is borders, thus preventing the establishment of the state. Israel depends on the American and European support to the extent that it has set the line between Jerusalem and the West Bank as the line of its borders, with no objection from president Bush who has become addicted to lying since he talked about mass destruction weapons to justify his occupation of Iraq, and accusing Syria and the militant Palestinian factions of terrorism as well as accusing Iran of supporting terrorism… He is lying at his people and the entire world, and pressurizing the European Union in all that…
Moreover, President Bush asserts that Israel has the right to possess nuclear weapons, but he pressurizes Iran to stop its peaceful nuclear program and refuses to talk with Iran and listen to what it has to say about its peaceful project.
Furthermore, although President Bush recognizes that the Palestinian elections was democratic, he refused to accept the results of these elections, which unveils the biggest American lie of spreading democracy in the world. The American President wants Israel to continue its project of appropriating the Palestinian lands killing the people and executing its terrorist projects that encourage terrorism in the region.
Destroying Iraq:
In Iraq, the American Occupation has revealed its real face yet again, through the bloody massacre in the Mustupah Hassaynie, by which America tried to say to the Iraqis that you are not free to draw your own policies or to determine your own destiny and build your unified independent country.
The American and British occupation is even pressurizing all Iraqi political parties, even in matters like choosing the prime minister or other posts. They also incite sectarian strife as in the latest statemens by President Bush and his ambassador in Baghdad.
As for Bush's talk about a national unity government, he is in fact defining the agenda of this government that he wants to serve his occupation policies.
Therefore we call on all Iraqis to confront the occupation plans of a long stay in Iraq in order to usurp Iraqi national resources. The occupation has destroyed Iraq in the name of destroying tyranny and created anarchy in the name or spreading democracy.
The Arab Summit
Although the Arab summit has preserved the right of the Resistance, it did not say no in the face of Israel and America. The three nos of Khartoum (No peace, no recognition and no surrender) have been dropped of the Arab Leaders' dictionary , for they have become addicted to saying yes to the US that wants the culture of defeatism to impose itself on the Arab and Islamic reality, even in the age of Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine.
Political Anarchy in Lebanon
Lebanon is still stumbling through political chaos under the banner of dialogue and reform, keeping the country in a state of stagnation in matters of economy finance and security. Lebanon has not come up with a defense policy to liberate the remaining occupied territories and stand up to the Israeli threat which reminds us of its hostility through water, land and air violations, at a time some Lebanese officials who, despite this critical phase, are still discussing the legitimacy of the arms of the resistance indirectly reinforcing the U.S.-Israeli plan for the region, and recalling the slogan that says that Lebanese strength lies in its weakness.
It is the Resistance that gave Lebanon its real independence power , and honor , in this Arab climate of defeatism . That is why the Arab peoples stand with the resistance that some Lebanese have begun to shun. Is there a state in Lebanon or is the country represented by a handful of former warlords and confessional leaders aiming to keep the Lebanese caught in the labyrinth where they have been thrown?