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 Jumada al-Thania 9, 1429 AH/ June 13, 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
Self-Accountability: A Key to Success
Accountability for Deeds
Allah, the Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. And whether you conceal what is in your hearts or reveal it, Allah will bring you to account for it. Then He will forgive whom He wills and punish whom He wills, and Allah is over all things competent. (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:284).
Man is destined to be held accountable for all his deeds in his private and public life, whether their motives are clear or hidden.
Allah, the Most Exalted, will ask man about everything he has done, holding him accountable for all his deeds in this life, for Allah, the Most Exalted, is watching him and knows all of his secrets.
In the light of this fact, everyone who believes that he is going to meet Allah, sooner or later, has to study his history since he became responsible of performing his religious duties: Did he perform his duties and obey Allah, the Most Exalted, in what He deemed lawful and in what He prohibited. Did he ask himself everyday about the source of his income and the way he dealt with those he is responsible of, be they his family or his subordinates in work? Has he been careful to fulfil his commitments in work with everyone he dealt with?
Knowing Yourself
Therefore, everyone should know himself, and we should not claim, as we do, that we know others more than we know ourselves. Let us suppose that someone asks another about a friend of his, whether his ideas, his relations or his behaviour… etc., he would answer him in detail, since he spends most of his time with him and follows his moves one by one, but when one asks himself about his belief in Allah and His Messenger (p.), the motives behind his deeds, his mistakes in his sayings, stands, relations and behaviour, the way he deals with his family, neighbours and employees, his political stands… etc… would he answer right away, or would he ask for some time? Why? Because he knows about others more than he knows about himself, and holds them accountable for their deeds more than he holds himself. If he does not know himself in this world, how can he know it in the other world when he stands before Allah, the Most Exalted, to be held accountable for his deeds.
Thus, the Holy Ayats of the Quran emphasize that man will be held responsible before Allah: O you who have believed, fear Allah. And let every soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow - and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:18). What have you done for your other life? What are the provisions that you have accumulated for the Hereafter and not what are the sums that you deposited in the bank?
Thus, we have, when money and wealth are concerned, to think about if we got it in a way that pleases Allah, and if we made use of it in a way that nears us to Allah.
But there are some people whom when you ask to take part in charity, they will feel that they have lost. But Allah, the Most Exalted, says that man is not the owner of the money he is entrusted with, and that he has to spend it in the way Allah, who has entrusted him, wants. Thus, we have to be pious,
and be not like those who forgot Allah, as those whom when you remind them of Allah, they will tell you to leave Allah aside, and obey only those in a position of leadership or those who are rich.
so He made them forget themselves. Those are the defiantly disobedient. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:19). If you want Heaven, the price of Heaven is piety: Not equal are the companions of the Fire and the companions of Paradise. The companions of Paradise - they are the attainers [of success]. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:20).
The Messenger of Allah (p.) says: "Take account of yourself before you are taken account of, and weigh yourself (do not weigh yourself in kilograms, but in the balance of obeying Allah and pleasing Him) before you are weighed (on the Day of Judgment where the balance is very precise) and prepare for the great staging, by accounting yourself in a way that is stronger than the accounting of a (business) partner." Imagine how a business partner accounts his partner, in a very strict manner leaving no details.
This is how you should account yourself. So one should know where his food comes from and from where his drink comes, and from where his clothes come. Do they come from a lawful means or from a prohibited ones?
Imam Ali (a.s.) says: "Hold yourself accountable for your deeds and demand that it does what is ordained (of acts of worship and other duties) and be prepared before you are brought back to life."
He also says that you are the one who should hold himself accountable, for others have those whom they will be held accountable by. Imam Al-Kazim (a.s.) says: "It is not one of us who does not hold himself accountable every day. If he finds that he has done good, he would ask Allah for more and thank Allah for guiding him to do so. If he has done evil, he would ask Allah to forgive him and repent."
These Ayahs and sayings demand that man has to live in a continuous state of watching oneself to straighten it and correct its mistakes, especially if he is in a position of leadership that affects the lives of people, whether on the political or the social levels. He has to study his points of weakness just as he studies his points of strength, so that he will stand before Allah tomorrow in the state Ibrahim (a.s.) has described in his supplication: And do not disgrace me on the Day they are [all] resurrected - The Day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children, But only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart. (Surat ash-Shu'ara, 26:87-89).
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
American and Israeli Barbarism
Amnesty International and international human rights consider the American Administration as the biggest jailer in the world, since it views the entire world as a sphere of its influence, even to the extent of kidnapping those who oppose its policies and throwing them in the jails it has established in its military bases in the world or in its ships that float in the high seas.
Nevertheless, the American Secretary of State talks about the sorrow it feels for the jailing of few Israeli prisoners, without feeling even regretful for the imprisonment of 11 thousand Palestinian prisoners who are being tortured in the most brutal psychological and physical way in the Israeli prisons. This is probably because the Israeli jailer is not different from the American one who killed hundreds of the detainees by strangling them in Afghanistan, and used the most inhumane methods of torture in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib…
The killings that America practices in the world is not different in its barbarism from that of the Israelis. It is eradicating entire innocent civilian families in the Afghani countryside, just as Israel does in Gaza. The scene of the Afghani child whose family has been killed by the Americans in Afghanistan is similar to the scene of the Palestinian girl whom the Israelis killed all her family on the Gaza shore.
The Israeli America and the American Israel are two sides of the same coin: The American warplanes bomb the Pakistani army to inform it that it is not to exceed the role the Americans have drawn for it in the so-called war on terrorism, just as the Israeli planes bomb the Gaza peaceful neighbourhoods.
The American justifications of the bombings in Pakistan are similar to the Israeli ones in Gaza. Both talk about "self defence".
When Will the Arabs Move?
In such circumstances, what does some talk about a peace that the killers would give the victims in the Arab and Muslim worlds mean? How could the Arabs and the Palestinians listen to the advice of Western envoys, including that of the former British Prime Minister and the representative of the International Quartet Committee, Tony Blair?
We call on the Arabs, and the leaders in the first place, not to listen to the American calls of normalization with the enemy.
We call on Egypt in particular to rise to the level of Arab and Muslim responsibility and not leave the Palestinian people face the siege and the killings all alone…
We wonder what should happen to the Palestinians, before the Arab leaders feel that they should call for an Arab summit to pressurize the Israelis by all means, and there are plenty of these means, especially that those who have recognized Israel or established economic ties with it possess, in order to prove to the world that they are a nation that respects itself and earns the respect of history.
The Arrogant Wars
As for the rest of the Islamic world, it is plagued by the arrogant wars that move from one place to the other.
In Iraq, innocent civilians are falling by the barbaric Takfiris on the one hand and the indiscriminate brutality of the occupation on the other. They do not want Iraq to enjoy any stability to justify the long stay of the occupation and impose on the Iraqi government a security agreement that would ensure this long stay, mess with the Iraqi security and future and use Iraq as a base to threaten the region. This could not be accepted by any free nation, regardless of any justifications.
The Iraqis have tried a similar agreement with the British occupation that used it to strengthen its dominance over Iraq's resources and political decision.
In Afghanistan, the NATO forces led by the US continue its killing and detaining practices, while the Afghanis only use the ordinary means they possess to defend their freedom.
In Sudan too, the security problems move from one region to another because the Sudanese people did not succumb to the American demands of changing its political system to reconcile with Israel or to let the American companies put their hand on its resources.
In Algeria, the indiscriminate massacres committed by the extremists are renewed. This is coupled by the civil strife that is instigated by the attempts to christianize the Muslims by taking advantage of their poverty and their worsening social conditions.
Faced by this dark image, the Muslims should possess the awareness that turns them into a unified nation that protects its existence, resources, and geopolitical position to assume its natural position in the world.
When Will the Lebanese Have Mercy on Themselves?
Lebanese politicians are still busy with ministerial portfolios through which they hope to promote their positions during the upcoming electoral battle and their positions as sectarian leaders. At the same time, security problems which are meant to shuffle the cards to achieve some political gains are still plunging the country, while the sectarian rhetoric whose instigators do not know what kind of fire they are playing with is increasing…. The situation is aggravating while the people's confidence in the security forces is decreasing since they do not curb the criminals waiting for the political reconciliation… This shows how much the sectarian regime has deteriorated. This regime cannot build a state, particularly when the majority of the political class only care about their personal interests. The people now have to serve those leaders instead of being served by them. Meanwhile, the people's poverty and debt and dependence on the big players are also increasing.
Who would have mercy on the Lebanese?
Or would the Lebanese have mercy on themselves and refuse all this and know that they should institute change, knowing that it is a people that can create miracles despite all those who are trying to belittle it and make it lose its self-confidence.