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 23, 1429 AH/ June 27, 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
Belief and Good Deeds
Allah says in His Glorious Book:
"Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do." Surat an-Nahl (16:97)
"But whoever repents and believes and does righteousness; then those are the ones whose repentance Allah will accept, and He is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful." Surat al-Furqan (25:70)
"But those who have believed and done righteous deeds - they will have the Gardens of Refuge as accommodation." Surat as-Sajdah (32:19)
In addition to its openness to the intellect, Allah emphasizes in these Ayats that the Islamic faith is not separated from practice. Allah, the Most Exalted, has created this world and created man in it to fill it with good and justice.
Faith is not a personal matter that Allah, the Most Exalted, wants man to keep within himself. It is a movement that aims to change the reality in a way that Allah, the Most Exalted, accepts and is pleased by.
Allah, the Most Exalted, has associated belief with good deeds. It is not enough to be a believer without doing good or to do good without it being a manifestation of belief.
Belief is what gives the action its spirituality and viability. It elevates man to Allah, the Most Exalted. If action does not emerge from belief it cannot rise to the highest levels.
This association was emphasized by the Messenger (p.) and the Imams of Ahl el-Beit. This is what we read in their sermons. Imam Ali (a.s.) says: "Actions, actions, then the end, the end which is a happy one, since it is the result of your good deeds."
He then adds "righteousness, righteousness," since Allah wants man not to deviate from the straight path he has followed from its beginning to its end. "Patience, patience," since righteousness would create difficulties and troubles, which means one should be patient and strong so that he would not be defeated by these problems.
Then there is "piety," which means to fear Allah and abstain from doing what He has forbidden. You will have an end (a day you will be held accountable) so be mindful of it.
Unrest
Imam Ali (a.s.) talks about those who are restless in this life and calls on us not to be of them. He says: "Do not be of those who seek their abode with anything except good deeds." There are those who think about Paradise and wish that Allah would bestow this gift on them, but they would not make every effort to reach their goal, which involves good deeds and piety, for Allah says: "And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous." Surat Al 'Imran (3:133). Heaven, as Allah says in this Ayah, is the reward of piety.
When Imam As-Sadiq was told about a group of people who hoped to be in Heaven and were afraid of Hell, he said: "They are liars. Those are the people who are deceived by false hopes. He who hopes for something should work for it, and he who fears something should run away from it. But those who love the good-doers and do not follow their behavior, and those who hate the sinners and are among them… those who are afraid that others will go to Hell because of their sins, but they are not afraid they too would end up in Hell although their sins are greater. Those who hope that their reward will be bigger than their work are not truthful and will not be awarded Heaven."
Imam Ali says to all people that they have to work in this world where one's work will be written for him, and when one has a chance to repent, and not wait because then it will be too late.
Allah says: "That is not according to your suppositions or the suppositions of the People of the Scripture. Whoever does a wrong will be recompensed for it, and he will not find besides Allah a protector or a helper. And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer - those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged, [even as much as] the speck on a date seed." Surat an-Nisa' (4:123-124)
The Messenger (p.) says: "When a man dies, his deeds come to an end except for three: recurring charity, beneficial knowledge, or a righteous child who prays for him." (which is like running water, meaning people will continue to benefit from it). But we, in general, care about the job and the career of our children, but we do not care about their future in the Hereafter.
He also says: "There are seven deeds for which man will continue to be rewarded even after his death: planting a palm tree that would feed people after his death, digging a new way for a river to flow, building a mosque, bequeathing (printing) Allah's book, teaching people by either actual teaching or writing books, and begetting a child who will beg Allah's forgiveness for him after his death."
How to Win Paradise
Imam Ali says: "What difference is there between a deed whose pleasure passes away, leaving behind it the pangs of pain and punishment, and a deed whose harshness comes to an end, leaving behind heavenly rewards and blessings?" When you commit adultery or steal money you might enjoy it, but this pleasure will end and what will remain is the responsibility and the subsequent punishment, while when you worship Allah and give charity to people, all the hard work and the feeling of being tired will pass by and you are left with their rewards.
Finally, there is a Surah in the Holy Quran that guides us to the road of success on both the individual and social levels:
Allah says: "By time, Indeed, mankind is in loss, Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience." Surat al-'Asr (103:1-3) Since truth is bitter and needs a lot of patience to stick to it.
Your life is going to end, and when it does you are left only with your work.
"So, he who has done an atom's weight of good shall see it. And he who has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it." Surat az-Zalzalah (99:7-8)
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
American Policies Are Israeli in Content and Performance
The news and facts continue to confirm that the United States does not have a foreign policy towards the Middle East, but an Israeli one.
The latest development in this respect was the freezing of an arms deal with Lebanon worth about 400 million dollars, because the Lebanese Army is deemed unreliable. The American Administration decided it is sufficient to provide the Lebanese Army with light weapons, in addition to training. It is also noteworthy that some Arab states have provided the Lebanese Army with helicopters, but without rocket-launching capabilities. This is because America and Israel do not want Lebanon to possess weapons that would enable it to defend itself against Israeli aggression.
We ask all rational people in Lebanon and beyond: is it acceptable, under circumstances that prevent Lebanon from having the ability to defend itself—at a time when no ceasefire has been proclaimed by the UN Security Council, and in the face of international protection of Israel that supports it to the extent of endorsing any future aggression against Lebanon to avenge its successive defeats—is it logical in these circumstances to talk about disarming the Resistance, which the Lebanese have witnessed protecting them and liberating their lands?
Civilized logic dictates that one who possesses strong cards does not discard them, especially in view of the great challenges and threats facing our Muslim world and in the absence of any moral values in today’s international politics, which is dominated by arrogant powers.
Europe and Israel
The attitudes of most European countries seem to confirm that their humanitarian values have been crushed by Israel. The French President, who recently visited Israel, disavowed before the Israeli Knesset the principle of the freedom of nations championed by the French Revolution. He emphasized the protection of Israel, the state built on the ruins of a people expelled from their land by force. Yet we did not hear him, or any other European official, utter a word about protecting the Palestinians, who face barbaric massacres and a suffocating siege…
Then there was the French President's visit to the family of the Israeli prisoner Shalit, ignoring the suffering of thousands of Palestinian detainees and the barbaric torture they endure. Although protests against this inhuman torture have been heard within Israel, we have heard no international or even Arab protests, as the humanity of the Palestinians is not respected.
It is quite ironic that the French President considers the Iranian crisis the biggest in the world, given that Iran's nuclear project is peaceful. Even if it were military, how could it be the most dangerous in the world, with all the nuclear arsenals of the superpowers and with Israel possessing more than 200 nuclear weapons? Moreover, Israel has conducted a major military maneuver involving 100 F-15 and F-16 warplanes to practice a possible attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Such a development can only be seen as part of the psychological war America is waging against Iran, since Israel would not dare to strike Iran without an American green light.
They seek to intimidate the nation, especially the Arab peoples, by claiming that nuclear deployments—including Israel’s—are for peace, while Iran’s peaceful nuclear project is for war.
The European Union: A Political and Economic Dictatorship
The EU has responded to the American President's demand to impose new diplomatic and economic sanctions on Iran, thus turning into a dictatorship that pressures the freedom of Muslim nations seeking to acquire scientific expertise in order to impose its political and economic conditions.
It is regrettable that the Muslim world, which has failed to become a self-sufficient power exporting its wealth on its own terms, has fragmented into pieces that yield to superpower policies regarding the management of its resources—as seen in attempts to force increased oil production without economic need, given that rising oil prices are due to speculation, not a shortage in production.
Lebanon: The Prison
Local and external games continue to control Lebanon's security situation and the formation of its government, which everyone expects to be delivered by cesarean section. Many are convinced that the exchange of accusations hindering its birth reflects the intervention of external powers, including Arab states and superpowers, as well as Israeli intelligence agencies that are tampering with the country's security one way or another.
Perhaps some regional countries do not want the Doha Agreement to succeed and seek to overwhelm the country with security problems or sectarian divisions within the Islamic community through certain religious or political parties. These parties see no security threat to Lebanon from America or Israel, but rather from followers of this or that sect, thus yielding to pressures from certain regional or international parties that aim to incite sectarian strife.
What aggravates this danger is that some regional states have adopted sectarian policies to promote their interests and have even begun discriminating among their own citizens based on sect.
The recent spiritual summit in Lebanon produced a communiqué that the Lebanese feel offers no solution to the crisis, since the spiritual leaders do not manage the country's affairs and merely represent the facade of the sectarian regime. Thus, their meeting may offer slight relief from the suffocating situation but holds no key to a solution.
There is no longer any effectiveness in summits in Lebanon, for we have lost those who cherish the values of right, justice, love, and mercy, and have begun to wander in the mud of hatred and fanaticism. The people are held in a vast prison with which big and small players toy.