Friday speeches Rajab 28 1426 H, September 02 2005 A.D

The occasions of commissioning the Messenger and the Night Journey that occurred on the 24th of Rajab, are occasions that call on opening up on Islam and the Messenger. The first occasion is the occasion of the birth of Islam, which Allah sent to rescue people from the darkness they lived in .

People were living in the blind ignorance of myths and worshiping of idols .They did not base their belief on a rational quest that will allow them to know God and base their human relations on the need to respect one another and the universality of justice.

God spoke of this mission in several Ayahs: It is He Who has sent amongst the Unlettered a messenger from among themselves, to rehearse to them His Signs, to sanctify them, and to instruct them in Scripture and Wisdom,- although they had been, before, in manifest error

The Messenger(p), Allah (s.w.t) has revealed the Quran to, was commissioned with reciting its verses, to teach the people their meanings with all its implications , so that the Muslims would rely on inspiring the Qruan in their thinking and actions just like the Messenger (p) did . Muhammad (p)’s morals were the embodiment of the morals of the Quran, in a way that people could read the Quran both in the Book and in the Prophet (p)'s actions.

That is why Allah (s.w.t) wants man to emulate the Messenger (p) as his role Model, for he was a moving book and an embodied Islam.

The Messenger was the talking Quran, while the Quran was the silent messenger, Allah (s.w.t) has described the morality, humanitarian kindness and compassion of His Messenger (p.). He said :Certainly a Messenger has come to you from among yourselves; grievous to him is your falling into distress, excessively solicitous respecting you; to the believers (he is) compassionate.

Surely We have sent you with the truth as a bearer of good news and as a warner, and you shall not be called upon to answer for the companions of the flaming fire.

Thus, he sent the Message to all mankind. He was not a Messenger to the people of Mecca or to the Arabs alone. He was the Messenger to all mankind who wished to guide them to the right and humanitarianism and all that establish the relations among them on this basis.

O you men! surely We have created you of a male and a female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other; surely the most honorable of you with Allah is the one among you most careful (of his duty); surely Allah is Knowing, Aware.

Islam has emphasized that justice should be the norm that governs the relations among people with each attaining his rights and no one wronging the other including nonbelievers, who should not be wronged by Muslims. Moreover, blood relations should not be a factor that deviates justice nor should enmity. Whenever ye speak, speak justly, even if a near relative is concerned

O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.

The issue of justice finds its universality in being emphasized in all heavenly messages: Certainly We sent Our messengers with clear arguments, and sent down with them the Book and the balance that men may conduct themselves with equity

Therefore, the meaning of being a Muslim is to be just with your friend and enemy; with your relatives as well as strangers. Your duty towards God is to be just towards yourself: You should not wrong yourself by committing what hurts it in both worlds. You should also be just with your father, mother, brothers, sisters, children and all those you deal with. Thus, the slogan of the Day of Judgment is "No injustice will be there that day" where wronged people come to stand before God (s.w.t) and say: "O, Just and Wise: Judge between me and this man who has wronged me in such and such”.

Thus, man should know where he stands so as to come to God wearing a pure gown. This is the value of Islam: it is the religion of justice.

It wants Muslims to stand with the wronged in all cases, and help them attain his their rights. This is what the Imams advised his sons in his will. "Be a foe to the unjust and a supporter to the wronged".

The greatness of Islam lies in that it considered man's mind the reason that justifies Allah's judgment of His worshippers. It is the tool the produces truth for man and enables him to distinguish right form wrong, good from evil and righteousness from deviations.

Moreover, Islam wants man to seek knowledge and to continue to do so endlessly: and say: O my Lord ! increase me in knowledge

In the anniversary of the beginning of the Message of Islam that the Messenger (p.) had to endure all kinds of hardships , we have to adopt the Prophet(p.)’s slogan who said ( to Almighty God (s.w.t)):

"If You are not angry with me then I do not mind". This is what all callers should say, no matter how much they were harmed or persecuted. For this is how the Prophet(p.) was able to attain victory: by patience, endurance, struggle and confronting challenges.

Islam is what Allah, the most Exalted, and His Messenger(p.) has entrusted us with. We have to hold fast to Islam and educate ourselves, and our children on it . Our generation is responsible to transfer it to the coming generations until Allah inherits the earth…

We are also responsible for protecting it against all those who plot to distort the image of Islam or wish to see its fall. Each one of us should stand in the first rows to act as the first Muslim and the first caller to Islam :And from among you there should be a party who invite to good and enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong.

The International unbelief and international arrogance want us to cave in. In these conditions in particular no Muslim should incite strife among Muslims. We should all be like Imam Ali (a.s) in the Battle of Ahazb that the Quran described as

Behold! they came on you from above you and from below you, and behold, the eyes became dim and the hearts gaped up to the throats, and ye imagined various (vain) thoughts about Allah! In that situation were the Believers tried: they were shaken as by a tremendous shaking.

Ali (a.s.) was the only one who dared to confront Amr bin Abd Wid, which made the Messenger say when he went to challenge him: "Belief in its entirety has risen to fight unbelief in its entirety". The whole nation should become Ali (a.s.): that is all the courage, heroism, Jihad and dedication of Ali (a.s.) should be embedded in the nation, so faith as a whole would confront unbelief and arrogance as a whole .

When we turn to the night journey ( The Mohammad (p.) night journey to the seven heavens): (Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who hears and sees (all things), we find that the Messenger , travelled by a Divine miracle to Jerusalem in the same night. There he met all Prophets, and led them in prayers . In this trip, the link between the Aqsa Mosque and at Haram Mosque was established. The Messenger tied between the two mosques in such a way that the Muslims are responsible for the sanctity of both.

As for the Prophet's rise to Heaven, where he became so close to God, it was intended to give Muhammad (p.) the knowledge of Heaven as he was given the knowledge of earth. Such a knowledge was given in turn to Ali (a.s.) who said: "The Messenger(p.) of Allah, the most Exalted, has taught me one thousands fields of knowledge, of each one thousand gates will be opened for me”. The Messenger(p.) said: “I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its door. Who wants to enter the city let him get in from the door".

We have to live these Islamic memories, which guide our minds to the right and our hearts to love and mercy, so that we could bear the responsibility of holding them.

The Palestinian cause is still the midst of political and security instability. The struggle inside the Likud between Sharon and Netanyahu is based on competing: on confiscating Palestinian lands and pressurizing the Palestinians to cancel the project of the Palestinian state. Thus, we see Sharon trying to dismantle the infrastructure of the Palestinian Intifada factions.

He wants the Palestinian Authority to accomplish such a task in the name of what they call "terrorism", although it could lead to a Palestinian civil war. This is also accomplished by the talk about the absence of a Palestinian partner in the final status negotiations. They are also trying to stall the withdrawal form Gaza, and they continue to build the racist wall that is sweeping the West Bank along with Jerusalem.

On its part, the US is still taking about Sharon’s bold move of withdrawal form the Gaza settlements, but it neglects the issue of those in the West Bank and Jerusalem, demolishing the Wall, and implementing “the Road Map”, unless it takes the Israeli conditions into consideration: that is the "facts on the ground" , the settlements which, according to Bush himself, hinder the establishment of a Palestinian state.

America and the Quartet Committee, are yielding to the Israeli demands, because they cannot pressurize Israel, giving the impression that Israel rules the entire West. American representatives roam the Arab and Muslim Worlds to pressurize the regimes and force them to recognize Israel as a condition to develop the relations with the US. Pakistan has already recognized Israel and is planning to establish diplomatic relations with it, with the blessings of certain Arab and Muslim countries. Moreover, the Israeli War Minister has declared that all Arab countries do secretly recognize Israel.

We see in all that an encouragement to Israel to continue to pressurize and besiege the Palestinian people, as well as killing and detaining the civilians, the youth and the Mujahideen.

Faced by all this, we call on the Palestinians to be aware of the dangerousness of what is going on. We ask them not to be deceived by certain illusions that some Arabs who are moved by Israel or the US , since these illusions will not yield anything, and both the US and Israel despise the Arab and Muslim regimes that have fallen down with a single knockout punch.

We also call on the Arab and Muslim peoples to continue to struggle for the Palestinian cause, since if it falls they will have no future or dignity.

In Iraq, the specter of death haunts the Iraqis everywhere, even ins religious processions. This is what happened when the believers were visiting the Shrine of Imam Musa al Kazim (a.s.), whether as a result of vicious rumors or aerial bombing, and led to a catastrophe reminiscent of the major massacres and tragedies in history.

As we face this bloody catastrophe with pain and condemnation, and as we ask God to bless these innocent souls, and cure the wounded, we believe that the occupation is responsible for all that. It is the one that created this security atmosphere marked by total anarchy. In addition, it is trying to destabilize the entire region through the so called “constructive chaos”.

On another level, the West continues to threaten and accuse Iran. The last statement in this respect was the one made by president Chiraque, when he threatened to impose sanctions on Iran, if it does not comply with the Paris agreement and stop its nuclear activities.

The West does not want Iran to possess the scientific know-how that allows it to build and develop its economy.

Furthermore, France and the US threaten to impose sanctions on Syria too, claiming that there is concrete evidence that it possesses biological weapons or that it has assassinated Premier Hariri (another accusation to be added to the usual intelligence agencies lies). In the meantime, the West remains silent towards the Israeli WMDs and all its brutal crimes.

Faced by all these crimes and tragedies, we call on the Iraqis to unite over one goal: Getting rid of occupation and building a united Iraq away from all kinds of partition, regardless of the names given to them. They should adopt a constitution that takes into consideration the rights of all groups, but it should not be preoccupied with sectarian and racial issues. They should adhere to the unifying spirit of Islam that embraces all religions and races. This is what saves Iraq and the nation, before they lose their balance under the impact of occupation on the one hand and the anarchy beast on the other.

As we remember the disappearance of Imam Musa Al-Sadr, a leading and pioneer personality that dedicated itself to the good, the right and the nation, we call, in view of the absence of international concern to find what happened in this crime, which ought to have demanded an international investigating committee and not this celebratory media coverage….

We call for putting this case in the limelight, and making every effort to discover what happened and punish those who were responsible for this major crime.

We want the Lebanese, who have been plunged into an atmosphere of intimidation and political confusion by the recent security steps and subsequent rumors, to be more aware, for as we want the truth of what happened to be revealed we call on the Lebanese people not to rush to any conclusions regarding the investigation into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hairi. We also urge caution, and to be aware of the purpose of interpretations and analysis that might open the way for civil strife, since there are some international parties that are trying to exploit the current situation in the country to push it in a direction that promotes their interests in the region.

We want justice to be a part of all government plans. But the government should not neglect its other duties. Any investigation should extend to uncovering the truth behind the massive public debt, as well as the identities of those who robbed and squandered public capital and facilitated the way for foreign tutelage.

Those people have forced the Lebanese to choose between two options; a choice between submission to international parties or a conflict that would destroy the country.

I say to the officials in charge: You have to solve the problems in Lebanon with realistic and just solutions. Do not turn like those before you and become the problem of Lebanon instead of the solution.