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 Rabi' al-Awwal 27, 1428 AH / March 16, 2007, 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 Prophet’s Legacy: To Keep the Trust of the Message
Allah, the Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: "O Prophet, indeed We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner. And one who invites to Allah, by His permission, and an illuminating lamp." Surat al-Ahzab (33:45-46)
On the 28th of Safar, the Prophet (p.) departed this world to be near to Allah, the Most Exalted, having conveyed the Message, struggled for Allah's cause, and was hurt and harmed severely in due course. He left after Allah, the Most Exalted, has perfected the religion. He entrusted all coming generations with the Message, so that the callers will open up through Islam in every stage until Allah inherits the earth and all that is on it.
The Prophet’s Death and the Immortal Message
After the Prophet was hurt in the battle of Uhud, a man cried: "Muhammad has died," while others whose belief was not firm in faith said that they should go to Abu Sufyan to ensure their safety. Yet there were those who said: "Who used to worship Muhammad (p.), Muhammad (p.) has died, but who used to worship Allah, Allah will never die…" Commenting on these developments, the following Ayah was revealed: "Muhammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allah at all; but Allah will reward the grateful." Surat Al 'Imran (3:144)
The Prophet's role is to carry the Message and strive for the development of the people’s humanitarianism and piety.
Allah, the Most Exalted, also promised those who are thankful, who believe in Allah, the Most Exalted, and in His oneness as the only God that should be worshipped and obeyed.
But being thankful to Allah, the Most Exalted, is not a verbal expression. It is a firmness and perseverance in doing all that pleases Allah in all personal and social affairs.
To Love Allah
The Messenger (p.) performed the duty of conveying the Message and being a witness on the nation in its commitment to do what Allah, the Most Exalted, and His Messenger (p.) love.
He told the people that if they hold to the straight path, Allah, the Most Exalted, will bestow on them several of His graces. They should convey it to the people who will adopt it and be committed to it. Therefore, the Message of Allah, the Most Exalted, is independent of the Messenger who carries it. The Messenger (p.) dies and the message stays. And since all Messengers are mortals who will eventually die, if he – Muhammad (p.) – dies, you will leave Islam. This will not harm Allah, because Allah is not benefited from those who obey Him or harmed by those who sin. He has sent the Message to guide them to the good in both lives. "And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allah at all; but Allah will reward the grateful." Surat Al 'Imran (3:144)
The Ayah suggests a lot to those who remind Allah of the favor of believing in Him and ignore the fact that He, the Exalted, has guided them to belief, which is for their own good in all aspects of life.
Nevertheless, the Messenger was also a bringer of good news to those who believe and follow the straight path: "Indeed, those who have said, 'Our Lord is Allah,' and then remained on a right course - the angels will descend upon them, [saying], 'Do not fear and do not grieve but receive good tidings of Paradise, which you were promised.'" Surat Fussilat (41:30)
He also was a warner to all people of Allah's wrath if they deviate. Thus, the Prophet was a caller to Allah, by Allah's permission, and a lamp spreading light that illuminates the people's minds, leading them to the Right, illuminating their hearts by opening them on love, and their lives by leading them to follow the path of justice and righteousness. He was the Messenger whom Allah sent as He sent the Prophets before him to guide people from darkness to light. Thus, the Messenger (p.) is but a light, whether in his mind and heart, or in his sayings and actions.
The Messenger (p.) represented in all his life, character and Message the sublime morals that no one could match. One of his most prominent virtues was gentleness: "So by mercy from Allah, [O Muhammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you." Surat Al 'Imran (3:159) He was with the poor who obeyed Allah, the Most Exalted, although he was close to the rich, but not because they were rich and self-indulgent.
He was one of the downtrodden who lived with the others to raise their level, guide them to the straight path and raise their morals and teach them how to be free and proud.
Embodying the Message
The Prophet's Message was a message for all mankind. He lived to embody the Message, whether by conveying Allah's verses, or by his morals and actions. He was a mobile Quran and an embodied Islam. That is why when he was about to die, he said to the people: "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. He is a Muslim like any other Muslim who would be punished if he disobeys Allah, although he would not, because he was infallible. Then he asked the people to claim any trust they have left with him. Then, he talked to his closest relatives, saying: "O Bani Abdul Muttalib! You should act in such a way that Allah may not punish you, and you should know that I cannot help you in this matter. O Bani Murra bin Kab! 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 Safiyya (aunt of Muhammad)! You, too, should be free… 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 endeavour to save yourself from Divine punishment, because your father cannot help you in this matter and has no control over your gain and loss." The Messenger (p.) wanted to tell all people that what relates them to Allah is not their wealth or their lineage, but rather their actions.
On this occasion of the Prophet's death, what is our responsibility? The Prophet has left Islam to us as a trust that he wanted us to preserve with all our efforts, whether in doctrine, Shariah, or in what challenges and issues the nation should respond to. We read the supplications of Imam Ali bin al-Hussein (a.s.), in which he asks Allah to help him protect Islam. We too should make every effort to protect Islam, especially in these difficult days where the arrogance and unbelief have waged a war on Islam and the downtrodden.
Thus, we ought not to be neutral in this confrontation. Allah will ask us about how we called for Islam and how we sought to make our children Muslims, and how we called our people to Islam, as the Messenger (p.) called his people.
We should not care only about how our children will be successful in their life in wealth and education, but also how they will be successful in the experiment of belief and piety.
On this occasion, we feel the big responsibility of staying with Islam and of how Muslims would become a firm and compact wall, for Allah will ask us about all this. May Allah, the Most Exalted, bless His Messenger (p.) the day he was born, the day he died and the day he will be brought back to life.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Israeli Wars Serve American Projects
The most prominent Jewish lobby in the US has held its conference in a show of force to demonstrate its ability to influence political decision-making in America. Such an influence cannot be reduced by any intelligence agency, even when it provides evidence against Israel, especially that the majority of members of both Democratic and Republican parties in the US Congress agree on the need to support Israel politically and militarily, and pressurize the Administration to provide Israel with billions of Dollars worth of advanced weapons. This is especially true when Israel wages a war against an Arab country, as the world has witnessed in its last aggression on Lebanon, since the Israeli wars are part of the American strategy against the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine.
Cheney: Giving Priority to Israeli Interests Over American Ones
It is interesting that the American Vice-President has attended the conference as a staunch supporter of Israel that never had a closer friend in the White House. Cheney talked about the Israeli war of aggression as a terrorist war being waged against Israel, killing Israeli civilians. But he did not mention the destruction of the Lebanese infrastructure and the killing and wounding of more than a thousand Lebanese civilians. He also made no mention of the American smart and cluster bombs that were provided by the US and that are still killing Lebanese civilians and farmers in particular. He also said that Israel continues to be threatened, as the Resistance is preventing it from continuing its aggression.
This is because the American plan gives Israel the freedom to kill, destroy and besiege any Arab country, and considers any self-defence as an aggression against the Zionist Entity. Cheney also considered that withdrawing from Iraq before achieving victory would harm Israel, but he did not talk about the American interests, since he and others of the neocons believe that Israel's interests come first.
This man, who is full of hate for the Muslim world, influences Bush's decisions towards the region, including planning for new wars and asking the Palestinians to stop resisting occupation without asking Israel to recognize the legitimate Palestinian rights, even in the 1967 occupied territories.
Israel: Demanding to Change the Priorities of the Arab Peace Initiative
In the same conference, the enemy's Foreign Minister asked the Arabs to change their priorities of peace first and then comes the normalization process, which constitutes the essence of the Arab initiative. She addressed the Arabs, saying: "Do not expect peace before you normalize the relations, which you should start right away." This means that the Arabs, especially the "moderates," according to the American classification, should surrender to the enemy first. Do that, and Israel will study what humiliating peace it will offer them… A peace that will enable Israel to accomplish all of its settlement strategy, since the Arabs are too weak to protest.
The Israeli Foreign Minister also demanded that the Arab Summit that will be convened in Riyadh should delete the right of return for the Palestinian refugees from the Arab peace initiative, which Israel does not accept, despite the fact that UN Resolution 194 had confirmed it. Israel does not respect the UN resolutions that run counter to its interests, and enjoys the support of America, which has turned the UN into a tool to pressurize any country that opposes its policies, including even the EU and the permanent members of the Security Council.
We hope that the Arab Summit will not let the Palestinian cause fall into this political abyss that involves forgoing of this vital Palestinian issue of the right of return, which Israel counters with calling all Jews in the entire world to come to Palestine, whose lands are confiscated by the settlements and the racist wall.
The Arabs have grown accustomed to present free concessions to Israel, which is used to insist on its demands without offering anything in return. This shows how much the rulers of the Arab world have become humiliated, with nothing to save face with.
The Intifada: The Only Means for Liberation
On another level, the meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister and the PA President was a political failure. In this meeting, the Zionists resorted to exert pressure on the Palestinians, saying that they will not deal with the national unity government if the Israeli imprisoned soldiers were not set free. It seems as if Israel controls the formation of the Palestinian national unity government, which it opposes, since it opposes the Makkah Agreement, which was considered by the Israeli Foreign Minister a problem that undermines the American-Israeli efforts to jumpstart the peace process. They want the war between Hamas and Fatah to continue, to prevent Hamas from assuming political power and remain subject to the rules of the game that are dictated by Israel and the arrogant powers.
In light of this, we appeal to the Palestinian people, its militant factions, its authority and its government not to be deceived by the moves of the Quartet Committee and the international envoys, since the entire scene is controlled by the US that aims to carry out the Israeli strategy, and would this lead to the fall of the Palestinians in the game of nations that gave Palestine to the Jews and that continues to eradicate them. This strategy cannot be fought except by the Intifada, since this is the way that enables the Palestinians to impose their will on those who pressurize them by means of a carefully studied plan that answers the challenge with a counter challenge.
Baghdad Conference Is Not Planned to Serve Iraq
In Iraq, the tragedy continues to evolve with more victims falling daily as a result of the various barbaric means of bombing, exploding and assassinating, whether by the occupation that tries to cover up its failure by arbitrary violence, or of the Takfiris whose hatred and ignorant understanding of Islam has led them to legitimize the spilling of Muslim blood.
The conference that convened in Baghdad is also a step in the same direction, for it does not seek to protect the Iraqis, but to mend the US relations with Iraq’s neighboring countries by means of trading in issues that do not concern the Iraqi people. Meanwhile, the political differences of the Iraqi parties, which could sometimes acquire a sectarian character, remain unsolved, without any planning for a national reconciliation that reinforces the national unity and kicks the occupation, the source of all Iraqi problems, out.
Moreover, the Iraqi tragedy is extending to other Islamic countries, including Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen… and then to Lebanon and Iran, by means of the constructive anarchy that America initiated to impoverish the Muslim region and undermine all its unifying and reform projects and usurp all its natural resources.
Lebanon: The Problem Lies in the Sectarian Regime
In Lebanon, the row concerning the international court and the need to depoliticize it, as well as the cabinet – which if the debaters agree upon the number, they will differ on the division of the portfolios among the sects. The Lebanese are also living the debate between the politicians about being optimistic or pessimistic that is affected by the regional and international pressures, especially the US and France, who pressurize the Arab and regional states to promote arrogant interests at the expense of the interests of the region and the Lebanese in particular.
In the meantime, the Lebanese are that much lost by the flood of statements, analyses and slogans that they do not know what to believe in or what they should discard. They are losing any confidence in the political reality in which they find no interest for their devastated and hungry country that is torn between the conflicting interests of the foreign states, and the absence of careful planning for reform in the future. Those who killed and robbed remain at the top, having influenced their sectarian base and drove it to think about the sect and not the country. Thus, solidifying the sectarian foundations of the regime that makes the Lebanese feel lost in the face of all problems and regional challenges and developments.