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 18, 1429 AH/ October 17, 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
Confronting Corruption
The Corruption of Society
Allah, the Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: "Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]." Surat ar-Rum (30:41)
Allah talks in this Ayah and in several other Ayats about the corruption people live, as individuals or groups. This corruption can be either social, when the people live the state of dissension, fragmentation, hatred and enmity. It can also be political when those in power are neither faithful to the nation nor do they possess the knowledge to run its affairs. They might not be righteous, even in the affairs that have to do with the nation's pride and very existence.
Then there is the economic corruption; when those who possess the wealth whether big or small, dominate over the economy and the living conditions of the poor exploiting their needs. Things could even reach the level of confiscating the nation's wealth, including the natural resources like oil or other minerals, so that they monopolize them and prevent the poor from benefiting from them except in what benefits the interests of the rich. Imam Ali (a.s.) has drawn this picture, when he said: "No poor has starved except by what the rich has enjoyed," since when the rich use the money to serve their pleasures and their desires, and when they deny the people the basic needs of life, the poor would starve.
Corruption is a Choice
Allah wants to emphasize in this Ayat that the issue of corruption whether political, social, economic or security as in war and peace, is not something that Allah inflicts on people directly, but it rather conforms with the system Allah has set for the entire universe, in accordance with the way the people deal with the resources and potentials it is full of.
Thus, corruption is the result of "what the hands of men have earned." They are the ones that use the elements of corruption found in the society to undermine the life of people whether in their needs or aspirations.
Thus, Allah is saying that those people will suffer when their lives are corrupted, but these sufferings were not imposed by Allah. They are the ones who brought it upon themselves, when they chose the means that inevitably produce corruption. Allah is showing the people in this Ayah that they are the ones responsible, so that when they know the results of the work of their own hands and suffer from the resulting pains they would change their methods and actions.
The Social and Psychological Effects of Corruption
The Messenger (p) has said that punishment will include all people, even those who did not take part in spreading corruption, because they did not oppose what the others did. He says: "If a sin is done by a servant in private – like drinking wine or other sins – It will not harm except the one who did it. But if he does it publicly – like those who sell wine or spread dissolution, or help the tyrants, and he is not opposed, it will hurt the public."
He also says that Allah does not punish the public for an act committed by the notables unless they are able to oppose it and they do not. In this case, Allah will punish both the public and the notables.
As for the differences that are incurred in the nation, the Prophet says: "Any nation which engages in differences after the death of its prophet would witness the victory of the people of falsehood over those of the right." When we live racial, sectarian or political differences, as a result of the fanaticism we have grown inside us, Muslims would be induced to kill one another, giving the people of falsehood the chance to establish their hegemony over the entire reality, since the people of the Right would be occupied with their differences.
On the issue of helping the weak to stand in the face of the strong and prevent them from oppressing them or taking their rights, the Messenger says: "How can Allah bless a nation that the rights of its weak are not taken from its strong."
Imam Ali says: "Those before you perished because they deprived the people of their right, and (thus they had) to buy it – bribing those who can give them their rights. And they dealt with them by falsehood, so that they emulated it. And they forced them to adopt falsehood in their dealings. Then when their second generation emerged, they emulated their fathers thinking that it was the right."
The Responsibility of Giving
In a saying of Imam Ali (a.s.) in which he holds responsible all that have a certain capability to help the people and respond to their needs, he says:
"The world is built on four: A scholar who uses his knowledge – he does not deprive the people from his knowledge especially that they need who guides them and leads them on the path of knowledge. In this respect the Quran emphasizes in several Ayahs that the misguidance of people and their disbelief is a result of what they do not know or understand – and a generous man who gives – both money and effort to those who need them. And a poor man that does not exchange his Hereafter with this world – by being strong and not letting his needs control him. If the scholar loses his knowledge, and the ignorant disdains to learn, and if the rich man withholds his favours, the poor will exchange his Afterlife with this one."
We are all responsible in this life, all according to their capabilities and potentials, of facing corruption on earth so that the earth could be developed, and so that we would be up to the role that Allah has entrusted us with (as viceroys) who build life on earth and raise the level of man.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Expansion of Judaization
The Jewish campaigns against the Palestinians has entered a new stage with the direct targeting of the 1948 Palestinians, especially in Acre where the Zionist settlers burnt a lot of the houses of the Palestinians, enjoying the cover provided by the enemy's authorities who want the settlers to lead the new attack they started in the West Bank and move to the 1948 Palestine.
It seems that the primary motive of this campaign is to transfer the Arabs from their countries, towns and villages and establish a "pure Jewish state", as promised by the American President "George Bush" who is still practicing the role of a grand Rabbi in providing a cover for the continuing Israeli terrorism against the Palestinians, and paving the way for a racial persecution against the Arabs in Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian lands.
It is noteworthy that we did not hear any Arab or any Palestinian figure in the Palestinian Authority raising the issue on the international level. We also did not find any concern from the International Quartet Committee that continues its deceit through its talk about the Road Map.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian reconciliation has not moved any step forward, despite all the pressures, siege and terror practiced by the enemy against the Palestinians.
Palestine: All Priority is for the Reconciliation and the Continuity of the Intifada
As we hope that the Egyptian efforts to further Palestinian reconciliation would be successful in a way that best establishes the Palestinian national unity and lays the foundations for a national unity government that serves its people, and reunites the Palestinian national liberation movement in facing occupation, we would also like the Arab League to move to protect the Palestinians and facilitate their reconciliation, as well as playing its role in raising what they are subjected to in the international circles, especially the European Union.
We would like the Palestinian Resistance to be always fully prepared to face the enemy, especially in the middle of the complications their cause faces, and the blind American support of the Zionist Entity which we fear that it will increase with the advent of the new administration having heard the Democratic and Republican candidates talking about Israel as the country that America is committed to, while considering the Resistance as a terrorist movement whose people should be besieged and pressurized.
We see no way to liberate Palestine from the Jewish occupation that is allied with the American strategy away from the Intifada's liberating efforts, especially if its efforts are accompanied by those of the free men in the Arab and Muslim world against the Israeli and American policies.
Where is Palestine?
A conference for Jerusalem was convened a few days ago, which called for breaking the siege on Palestine, and confronting the Zionist destruction machine, and the digging it does under the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It also called for considering the Shiite–Sunni differences as a secondary issue compared to the Palestinian cause, and called on the Arab and Muslim nation and rulers to challenge the fear and break the unjust blockade against Palestine and Gaza in particular.
We notice that these conferences do not move one step forward towards the Palestinian issue in its political dimensions on the regional and international levels. The West, with America in its forefront, is still planning to Judaize Palestine by supporting the Jewish racial state that occupies most of the Palestinian lands without any effective Arab or Muslim pressure. The officials of the nation have found it enough to resort to statements, rallies and consuming resolutions that only save face, while they yield to the American policies until the rest of Palestine is lost and the cause of Jerusalem – the mosque, the city and the region – witnesses successive collapses in which the cause would disappear as Andalusia did before, especially that those who have supervised the conference are still preoccupying the nation by talking about one sect invading another, instead of focusing on the Israeli invasion of Palestine and the arrogant invasion of the Muslim world. The sectarian fanaticism of some of the symbols (officials) has risen to a level higher than their commitment to Islamic unity and integrity, thus making the Muslims forget in our contemporary world all their real and critical challenges.
On another level, the security threat is still posing a great danger in the region and especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan where many victims have fallen as a result of the American and North Atlantic bombing that hits the civilians and the children in their peaceful homes. Then they would talk about the mistakes that were made or even fabricate sheer lies by saying that they were bombing terrorists.
Iraq: A Security Chaos
The catastrophe has extended also to the occupied Iraq, where more and more Iraqi civilians fall daily as a result of the brutal bombings and the suicidal operations that women who are deceived by the Takfiris are participating in, in addition to the internal complications represented by the annexing of towns to the Kurdish or Arab provinces, which raises the tensions between the security authorities of the central government and that of the provinces in the midst of a general tension that weakens the entire country, especially in the pre-election stage.
On another level, Iraq, that has historically enjoyed peaceful existence between the Muslims and the Christians and between the various different sects, is facing in this stage an aggression against the Christians, that has led to killing eleven of them in ten days and demolishing three houses in Mosul, and threatening them by death. The fanatic Takfiris as well as some political powers that do not want Iraq to become unified and stable, threatened the Christians that they would be killed if they do not leave… which had led to the mass immigration of hundreds of families. We condemn this horrific act that is not accepted by any humanistic logic or heavenly religion, and call for establishing normal relations between the Muslims and the Christians in the entire Arab region that is based on dialogue and mutual respect. At the same time we appreciate the Iraqi government initiative to conduct an immediate investigation, and take all necessary steps to ensure the return of the Christian families that were forced to leave during the last few days, and protect them from any new aggression. Everybody should understand the reality about these aggressions. They are not a conflict between the Muslims and the Christians, but rather a security problem that hurts all Iraqis and that is caused by the occupation, the Takfiris and some political parties that benefit from such instability to promote their own projects.
Thus, we do not envisage an opportunity to exploit these painful incidents to eliminate the Christian presence in the region.
Lebanon: The Priority of Political Security
In Lebanon, and at a time we feel relieved for not being affected by the international financial crisis, we feel sorry for the hundreds of billions of Dollars that the Arabs lost and that could have been sufficient to solve the problems of poverty and debt in the Arab world and in Lebanon in particular or could have solved the problem of electricity or could have secured the sources of energy as we face winter and the new academic year.
We do not want the Arabs to warm themselves by the Lebanese fires that almost eliminated all green trees in Lebanon they describe as a prominent terrorist country, especially that the officials in Lebanon have declared that the country is unable to buy two planes to put them out. We also want them to restore the warmth in their brotherly relations that we want them to return to their best, so that they will be relieved of their problems and their personal complications, and Lebanon will be relieved from their effects. Thus, as we welcome the latest move taken by the Syrian President, we hope that it indicates the beginning of strong Lebanese-Syrian relations and sound internal Arab relations.
Lastly, we believe that it is security that gives the country its strength, stability, development and progress, and that real reconciliations based on frankness, are what establishes national unity. We would also like to express our appreciation to the efforts made by the security forces to capture those who caused the recent political and security tragedies for the Lebanese and call on all Lebanese to play their role in protecting their political and social security and their internal stability.