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 Safar 3, 1430 AH / January 30, 2009, 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 Value of Being Truthful
One of the moral Islamic values is being truthful, whether in man's relation with his God, himself, or with people. It also indicates living the concept of truthfulness so that man doesn't load his mind with the lies he reads or hears, and is truthful in what he says without diverging from the truth and distorting the reality to people. It is also being truthful in his stand in the sense that his stand is identical to his principles, faith, and belief, and doesn't contradict his ideological commitments. Being truthful represents adhering to the truth, the commitments, and upholding them right and keeping away from falsehood.
On the other hand, there is lying that falsifies the reality and drifts man away from his principles when he says what he doesn't believe in and when he tells people lies to divert them from the actual picture of reality or when he speaks to them about an invented history set by fabricators and liars or about a security matter that did not actually happen, leading to psychological, social, and political instability. If someone talks about a negative security condition that does not exist, it will create a state of fear, while if he spreads a positive view he would make the people feel relaxed towards the situation and ignore urgent and critical threats. Thus, the issue of truthfulness or lying might lead either to stability or instability.
The Positive Results of Telling the Truth
Allah has talked in several verses about the results that the truthful will earn on the Day of Judgment, when they stand before Allah. We read in Surat al-Ma'idah Allah's saying: "That Day, Allah will reward them [in accordance with] their truthfulness, and they will have Gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. That is the great attainment." Surat al-Ma'idah (5:119). Whoever is truthful in his belief, saying, and stands, and whoever is truthful with his God, himself and others, will benefit from his honesty.
This kind of mutual satisfaction between God and His servant raises the level of the servant in the eyes of his God, and He will grant him His love and satisfaction, for Allah loves the truthful since they represent the right and keep away from falsehood.
Allah says: "That is because Allah is the Truth, and that which they call upon other than Him is falsehood, and because Allah is the Most High, the Grand." Surat al-Hajj (22:62).
As for honouring one's pledges and commitments, whether when they promise their Lord and their Islamic leaders, especially the infallibles, Allah described these people. Allah says: "Among the believers are men true to what they promised Allah. Among them is he who has fulfilled his vow [to the death], and among them is he who awaits [his chance]. And they did not alter [the terms of their commitment] by any alteration." Surat al-Ahzab (33:23).
They promised God to stand with the right and keep away from falsehood, and to support Islam with their lives, money, and stands. They promised the people to give them their right and promised the nation to uphold its unity and to confront those who wish to undermine it, and to support those who want to deny its freedom and dignity. This is the march of the believers who believed in the prophets and Prophet Muhammad (P.) and stood with him in times of hardship. And they endured a lot of pressure, with some of them being martyred in the course of defending Allah, His Messenger and Islam, and some still "await" to engage in the battle against unbelief and arrogance, and earn either victory or martyrdom, and they have never changed despite all pressures or means of allurement used to force them to change their positions. Yet, they did not, and they held fast in their support of the principle they believed in and the right they chose to support.
This was also the commitment of those who were martyred in Karbala. Before each of them went into the battlefield, he used to come to Imam Al-Husayn to bid him farewell, and the Imam would give him this medal: "Among the believers are men true to what they promised Allah. Among them is he who has fulfilled his vow [to the death], and among them is he who awaits [his chance]. And they did not alter [the terms of their commitment] by any alteration." Surat al-Ahzab (33:23).
In another verse Allah says: "And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allah a lie or denies the truth when it has come to him? Is there not in Hell a [sufficient] residence for the disbelievers? And the one who has brought the truth and [they who] believed in it - those are the righteous." Surat az-Zumar (39:32-33).
The Messenger is in the forefront of the truthful. He is the honest who brought Islam that represents the truth in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet. He also confirmed and supported this truth. He did not call people to believe in certain principles as some do to exploit others. Prophets, Awliya' (Ahl al-Bayt) and the callers for Allah are watchful for Allah in all they say or do and in all their movements and relations. Then, what good is better than being honest with God, others, and oneself?!
Truthfulness in the Quran and Hadith
Allah gives us another example of the truthful when he talks about those who were with the Messenger (p.) in Makkah and endured all sufferings and pains and left with him to Al-Madinah, considering those people to be the truthful: "[It is] for the poor emigrants who were expelled from their homes and their properties, seeking bounty from Allah and [His] approval and supporting Allah and His Messenger. Those are the truthful." Surat al-Hashr (59:8).
The Messenger says: "Be truthful in all situations, since it is one of the doors of Heaven."
Imam Ali says: "Being truthful is being trustworthy," since truthfulness is the right and the right is a trust Allah has entrusted His servants with. And lying is betrayal.
He also says: "Belief is to choose being truthful when it harms you over lying when it benefits you," whether financially or otherwise.
The Messenger guides us as to how to judge the belief of others. He asks us not to look for their prayer, fast, or other duties, "but see if they are truthful and return the trusts."
Imam As-Sadiq asks us not to be deceived by prayers and fasting of others, which they could practice virtually all the time, but to test them if they are truthful and return trusts.
Imam As-Sadiq also said: "Allah did not send any prophet except for telling the truth and returning the trusts." The prophets were set to call people to be truthful and keep the trust of what they are entrusted with.
Before the Prophet (p.) was sent, he was known by his honesty and truthfulness that they became part of his name. Even when he began the struggle with his people, they used to come to him to keep their trusts. His biography tells us that when he immigrated to Madinah he asked Ali (a.s.) to stay in Makkah for three days and return the trusts.
Finally, Allah says in His Holy Book: "O you who have believed, fear Allah and be with those who are true." Surat at-Tawbah (9:119).
When you want to follow someone or support him, see if he is truthful. If he is, then go ahead and support him because you will be with the truth that is embodied in him.
We are to witness in the near future a general election in which money and promises are given in return for voting with falsehood and corruption. This is haram. And the money that is taken is haram too. When you give your vote to someone who does not deserve it, you will be betraying Allah, His Messenger, the believers, and the entire nation.
Thus, if you want to be with any leadership, you have to know if it is truthful or not, before you decide to follow it.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Siege Continues
The war against the resistance in Palestine continues on many levels. Although the big military aggression has somehow ended, the severe blockade on the Palestinian people continues, by means of closing the crossing points, even the Arab ones. There is also the continuing international pressure posed by the arrogant states that wish to impose their will on the Palestinian patient and resisting people since the Israeli war machine was unable to defeat their will.
In this respect, we have met last week several stands that highlight the complete siding of Western administrations and several international organizations with the Israeli racial and terrorist enemy. The statement of the European commissioner for development is a revealing example. It described Hamas as a terrorist movement, emphasizing that any dialogue with it should be preceded by Hamas accepting Israel's right to exist and abandoning its resistance which constitutes its "terrorist dimension". We also have the position of the European states that sided with Israel once the war ended. This European stand reflects an ethical and civilizational deterioration towards the unprecedented carnages throughout history in its atrocity and savageness, knowing that Israel threatens to commit more. The same position was taken by the United States, whose president talks about security for Israel in return for aid to the Palestinians.
The US Secretary of State has also said that Hamas's provocation made Israel exercise its right of self-defense. It is as if she is giving Israel the freedom to go back to its murderous and dislocation practices. The question is: What is the role of the United States as the main broker, being the main supporter of Israel, both politically and militarily?
Israel's Security
It has become evident that the main constant in the foreign policy of the arrogant powers is security of the usurping entity that is based on murder, terrorism and occupation as well as threatening the security of the entire region. This entity is the only one in the world that does not adhere to international law and the human rights charter and that is not subjected to any accountability since it enjoys an American support that surpasses all laws and norms. Thus, it is not surprising that the American envoy (Mitchell) has declared that Israel can choose whatever it wants to fight terrorism, since America views its interests in the region from the point of view of Israeli security. And there is no way to change that except by Arab and Muslim pressure. But the Arabs are preoccupied by their internal struggles and announce that they lack strength and elements of pressure, since they no longer stand with their causes and only care about their personal interests and not that of their nation.
Moreover, it has become evident that the UN has become so weak that its Secretary General awaits the results of the Israeli investigations, despite the fact that the enemy's entity has declined to protect its soldiers from any legal persecution. Therefore, there are real doubts that the UN will run any investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel has committed in its war against the Palestinian people.
Preserving the Gains
The Zionist entity remains above any criticism even in the form of a condemning communiqué.
This state of affairs should let the Palestinians as well as the Arab and Muslim states understand that negotiations and continuous concessions will not lead except to more weakness and humiliation. How can one consider the option of negotiation while Israel continues to change the situation on the ground and forces its own rules of the game? There are already several decisions of the Security Council that deal with the Palestinian question, occupation and refugees. Let the world impose the respect of the Security Council whose only resolutions that are put to practice are the ones that open up our countries to more killing, plunder and playing with our future.
We live in a world that respects the powerful only… would we (Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims) preserve and develop our points of strength? Or should we continue to bear up all the cards of power we have, and freeze any state of realistic pressure we have on the arrogant state so that it would take into account, at least the minimum level of our vital interests and causes.
We say to the Palestinians, you have achieved, despite the wounds and the pains, a considerable achievement in Gaza which you can build on to continue your march to remove the occupation. Let all efforts focus on preserving the gains, and not enabling the regional and international powers to mess with the Palestinian reality, so that preserving the interests of the Palestinian people and their dignity is the criterion of any stand taken.
The Role of the Dialogue
In Lebanon, several politicians prove that they do not take the magnitude or the challenges of the threats on their country into account. They have shown that they do not care about providing strength to this country, or immunizing it from the effects of the change that strikes this country. They actually do not care about the human being in Lebanon and his economy, security, and just policies. People to them are mere numbers in the ballot box, or tools to achieve partial and sectarian goals, even when it has to do with the right of the people to build what the Israeli aggression has ruined more than two years ago.
The question is: Could the politicians decide at the negotiation table to change this country from being a farm to a state of institutions and from being subject to the effect of regional and international axes to a strong country that builds its own strength and does not beg for it from the international powers that we have come to know where they would lead us.