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 Shawwal 11, 1429 AH/ October 10, 2008, 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 Role of the Intellect in Confronting Passions and Instincts
The Glorious Quran talks about two forces in man: one that elevates him to shoulder his responsibility and draws him closer to Allah, and a negative one that could lead to the lowest levels and put him away from Allah and lead him on the path of self-destruction and chaos.
Those forces are the mind and the emotions; the thought and the instinct; the principle and the desire. When we want to establish and build a conscious personality that has an insight and follows the straight path of the Right in everything we think about or practice, we have to rely on the intellect, being the tool that allows man to distinguish between good and bad; right from wrong and good from evil, and choose what is right, good and righteous.
The Proof of the Mind
Allah has made the mind a light that illuminates man's life. That is why He considered it evidence that justifies holding man accountable, since he has the tool that makes him reach the truth, especially that of Allah's existence. The Holy traditions say:
When Allah created the mind He said: "I have not created anything better than you. It is you that I command, it is you that I reward, and it is you that I punish."
The mind is what gives any action its worth. That is why the Holy tradition says: "Meditating for an hour is better than a year of worship", and also: "Two Rak'ahs by a scholar are better than a thousand by a worshipper." That is why man has to develop his mind through thinking about everything that he is presented with or has to shoulder its responsibility.
The Negative Emotion
Opposite to the mind, we have the emotion, which has to do with feelings and desires, but which is uncontrollable by itself, and might be agitated by some circumstances one might pass through.
We have, for example, the blind love, in which one does not know why he loves someone or hates him, and does not study the principal elements of this love or hatred. Allah has drawn for us the principle we have to abide by, asking us to love for the sake of Allah and hate for the sake of Allah. The Holy tradition says: "If you want to know that there is good in you, then look at your heart. If it loves those who obey Allah and hates those who disobey Him then there is good in you, and Allah loves you. If it hates those who obey Allah and loves those who disobey Allah then there is no good in you and Allah hates you."
Emotions can lead man to self-destruction. That is why we have always said that we have to give the mind a dose of emotions to become gentle and kind, and give the emotion a dose of the mind to become balanced. Thus, in his movement in life, man has to use his mind and follow it, and not become a prisoner of his emotions and desires, since this could endanger his fate in the Hereafter. That is why Allah, the Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: Is he who is on a clear proof from his Lord like one to whom the evil of his work has been made attractive and they follow their [own] desires? Surat Muhammad (47:14)
Allah also says: But if they do not respond to you - then know that they only follow their [own] desires. And who is more astray than one who follows his desire without guidance from Allah? Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people. Surat al-Qasas (28:50)
The Falsehood of Desires
Allah gives us an example of those who deviate and try to influence their friends to follow the line of deviation: Allah wants to accept your repentance, but those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation. Surat an-Nisa' (4:27)
He also tells us about those who worshipped their desires instead of Allah, since obedience is a form of worshipping. He says: Have you seen he who has taken as his god his [own] desire, and Allah has sent him astray due to knowledge and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil? So who will guide him after Allah? Then will you not be reminded? Surat al-Jathiyah (45:23)
The Messenger (p.) said: "There is under the shadow of the sky no god that is worshipped other than Allah, greater than following one's desires."
Imam Ali says: "The ignorant is a slave of his desire."
Talking to His Prophet, Dawood, Allah says in a guide to all those who deal with people's affairs such as judges and the like: O David, indeed We have made you a successor upon the earth, so judge between the people in truth and do not follow [your own] desire, as it will lead you astray from the way of Allah. Indeed, those who go astray from the way of Allah will have a severe punishment for having forgotten the Day of Account. Surat Sad (38:26)
He also says: And recite to them the news of him to whom We gave Our signs, but he detached himself from them; so Satan pursued him, and he became of the deviators. And if We had willed, We could have elevated him thereby, but he adhered [instead] to the earth and followed his own desire. So his example is like that of the dog: if you chase him, he pants, or if you leave him, he [still] pants. That is the example of the people who denied Our signs. So relate the stories that perhaps they will give thought. Surat al-A'raf (7:175-176)
We can find many of these people, including those who possess knowledge but do not practice it or be guided by it. Allah says: But as for he who transgressed. And preferred the life of the world, Then indeed, Hellfire will be [his] refuge. But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination, Then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge. Surat an-Nazi'at (79:37-41)
We, as believers, have to make every effort to develop our minds and let them control our instincts, desires and emotions. Imam Ali says: "The tongue of a wise man is behind his heart, while the heart of the mad man is behind his tongue." Let our movement in life, as vast as it is, be governed by the mind and not by our desires, since those whose desires drive them will be thrown in Hellfire.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The US Administration: An Intelligence and Military Support to Israel
The United States war ministry is supplying the world and especially Israel with more and more advanced weapons. It has supplied the Jewish Entity with a rocket defense system, advanced radars and smart missiles and bombs. And it is now promising to give Israel F-35 stealth warplanes that cannot be discovered by radars.
The Americans, who do not want to give Lebanon’s army even the most ordinary weapons like night vision binoculars or ordinary military helicopters, and who continue to talk about the armament of the Resistance, look at Israel’s acquisition of the most advanced American weapons from a viewpoint that sees that American national interests cannot be preserved except by preserving the Israeli interests and ensuring its military supremacy, even if it means destroying Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and all Muslim regions.
Faced with this reality, we ask the countries of the Arab moderate axis: Why does the US impose all these conditions on every arms deal they make with it, while giving Israel a free hand in all the weapons it provides for it?
The US even helps Israel, both by intelligence information and on the battlefield, in bombing Arab positions, as in the 2006 war on Lebanon or the Israeli aggression on Deir ez-Zor in Syria.
This continuous talk about ensuring Israeli supremacy, and providing it with a political and military cover when it wishes to strike any state or movement that opposes American policy, indicates that both the US and Israel wish to destroy any Arab communication, and split them on the basis of considering Israel a friendly state while dealing with Iran as an enemy and Syria as a state that supports terrorism, and distorting the image of the Resistance in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lately, many people have read the archives of the British, the French and recently the Americans, concerning the support of the Israeli nuclear project that represents a threat to world peace and the region's security. On the other hand, we notice certain fanaticism and hatred in the American and European view towards the Iranian peaceful nuclear project, which was culminated by the latest statement of the French Foreign Minister in which he threatened that Israel will destroy Iran, or strike it as in a corrected version, if it owns nuclear weapons.
In both cases, he was trying to suggest that his country gives a green light to Israel to strike Iran.
This mad and usurping Israel, whose cluster bombs are still haunting our people in the South and West Bekaa, and which provided Georgia with the most advanced arms, is not ashamed of going to Russia to ask its officials not to provide Syria and Iran with any weapons that might protect them from any possible Israeli attack.
This enemy, whose commander of its northern front issued a statement saying that he will destroy any Lebanese village that will be the source of launching missiles against Israel. He added that this is not merely a recommendation but a plan that has been approved… this enemy is the one that defines to the Americans the ceiling of arming the Lebanese Army, thus forbidding the American Administration from providing it even ordinary arms that do not enable it to confront the Israeli aggression. Moreover, the Americans stipulate that the military aid they give to Lebanon is to be used in the internal challenges or the so-called "war on terrorism".
In this respect, a recent American study made by an institute that is close to the Jewish Lobby has unfolded what is even worse: If the pro-American party loses the Lebanese parliamentary elections in 2009, and a coalition led by Hezbollah wins, the US aid to the Lebanese Army might completely stop. This study, which can be adopted by the new administration as it is adopted by the current one, is founded on keeping Lebanon as a base for the West, and the Americans in particular. This study indicates that the US is not faithful to Lebanon and does not respect its independence and sovereignty. Rather, it suggests that it stands with one Lebanese party against the other, probably to create an internal Lebanese crisis and hinder the on-going reconciliations that represent a means of establishing national unity. And this is what the Lebanese should understand and be mindful of.
The Resistance's Supremacy
Faced with such US policies that do not see their interest except from the angle of the Israeli interests, and faced with the European and Arab silence towards the recent Israeli threats to Lebanon, we call on both the Resistance and the Lebanese Army to remain alert and prepared for any possible Israeli mad move, although we believe that the Israeli intimidations are made by a frightened party that tries to suggest that it has confidence in its army, especially that the Zionists have become more doubtful of the ability of their army to win any new battle with the Resistance and the Lebanese army.
As we feel assured by the Resistance's potentials and the bravery of its Mujahideen, as well as the preparedness of the soldiers of the Lebanese Army to defend their country and lands, we call on all Lebanese to fully appreciate the enemy's threats, and stand with the Resistance that is fully aware of its responsibility to safeguard its people, and that it would not indulge in any adventure that would give the enemy an opportunity to make an aggression, since its role is to deter the aggression. We also call on the Lebanese to support their army in its duty to confront the occupier and maintain internal civil peace.
Lebanon: Seeking a Local Solution
In Lebanon, we notice that there are still those who put their stakes on exploiting the Arab differences to thwart any real political understanding and let the Lebanese feel that they are too weak to produce realistic and necessary solutions, which we believe represents a kind of playing with the fate and the future of the country.
We want all Lebanese to work hard and faithfully to produce practical solutions through the reconciliatory moves that would fortify the internal unity and confront the external projects of extremism and fragmentation. The Lebanese have to safeguard their independence through their internal unity and accord and through building a strong and just country that should not remain a matter of rhetoric in the speeches of politicians; rather, work to turn it into a reality should find its way in the programmes of officials and politicians.
The Lebanese state, represented by the Bank of Lebanon and the various economic departments, should face the repercussions of the international financial crises, especially that the Lebanese economy already faces a lot of suffocating crises, and in particular the escalating debt, and the problems the state is besieged by when it tries to finance its vital and necessary projects that serve the poor people and provide them with public services.
The entire world is negatively affected by this international economic crisis, and Lebanon should devise the plans to save its weak economy from its consequences, lest it will grow weaker and weaker.
To do this, we emphasize the need to make every political effort to consolidate the national unity that repeals all complications. The issue is one of national fate and not of internal electoral politics that is overwhelmed by sectarian and partisan sensitivities; there is no point in the success of any person or any party if the entire country is shaken, since when the temple falls, it will fall on the heads of all.