The First Sermon

There are two positive traits that Allah wants the Muslim to acquire and be committed to in building his Islamic personality.

He wants the believer to aspire among the people he lives with a feeling of trust whether in what he says or in how he deals with them, so that they would feel that the money or other trusts they have with him are safe, while the things he says to them are true.

There is no difference, on this level, between the parents in their families or in political social and economic dealings.

These two traits, truthfulness and trustworthiness, are among the traits Allah wanted all the Prophets he sent to possess, since they are very crucial in the success of his movement.

Imam As-Sadiq says: Allah did not send any Prophet except with truthfulness and returning trusts to the good and the unworthy alike. The Prophet should be known by his honesty and truthfulness, before he would be sent with a message.

People should feel that they can leave their money with him. They can also entrust him with their lives and honour.

Muhammad, as we are told by his sira (biography), was known, in the forty years before he became a Prophet by his truthfulness and returning the trusts, to the extent that he was called: The truthful and the trustworthy. And people used when they want to talk about him to say: the truthful and trustworthy said or did, instead of saying Muhammad said or did.

Even after he became a messenger and the people stood against him, they used to trust him with their money, and keep it with him. That is why Imam Ali (a.s.) remained in Makk'a for a few days after the Prophet(p.) left to return the trust to the people. To emphasize this Allah says: Allah doth command you to render back your Trusts to those to whom they are due. ye that believe! Betray not the trust of Allah and the Messenger, nor misappropriate knowingly things entrusted to you..

As for truthfulness, it is one of the issues that establish political and social stability, for if a person is truthful in what he tells others, they will tend to believe, and believe that the message he is conveying to them is the truth. Allah, The Most Exalted, says And he who brings the Truth and he who confirms (and supports) it - such are the men who do right:.

As for being trustworthy, people might believe that it essentially involves giving back the money that one is entrusted with.

But trustworthiness includes any commitment one makes to other people. A marriage contract is a commitment in which the husband and wife have to abide by the terms of the contract. The husband is entrusted with his wife, He should not betray her, or treat her unjustly. The husband too is Allah's trust to the wife where by she should not betray him, or deny him any of the commitments she pledged to fulfil.

In the economic sphere too, one can say that economic commitments are trusts, that some people entrust others with. This is true also in the political sphere, when officials and decision makers have to preserve the trust people gave them when they put them in their positions….

Being truthful and trustworthy makes people trust you. This fact has led Ahl el-Beit and Imam As-Sadiq (a.s.) to say that truthfulness and trustworthiness are the true indications of belief: Do not be deceived by their praying or fasting… but test them when it comes to truthfulness and returning the trusts meaning that one should not be deceived by praying and fasting, but he should test the truthfulness, and trustworthiness of a person to trust him.

Asked by a companion of his about how to gain his trust Imam Jaafar advised him to learn what made Ali (a.s.) attain that supreme position in the Prophet’s eyes and adopt it. For “Ali (a.s.) did not reach the position he did, except by being truthful and returning the trusts” to their owners. Muhammad (p.) loved Ali (a.s.) all that love and made him that close to him because he was truthful and trustworthy. If you want me to love you and make you as close to me as Ali (a.s.) was to Muhammad (p.) you have to be truthful and trustworthy. Imam As-Sadiq says addressing all those who preach and call people for Islam that we have to call for the religion not by our tongues. He adds: They have to see that you have perseverance truthfulness and piety. If people see that you have these traits and that they are embodied in your behaviour and practice they will love you and love Islam.

Imam Al-Baqir quotes his father Imam Ali bin Al-Hussein to be advising his son by saying. "Avoid lying whether small or big; a serious one or a joke – like the April fool which is prohibited just like the serious lying. Since if man starts by small lies he will end up making big lies. Do not you know that The Messenger says: God's servant will keep telling the truth until Allah writes him as truthful, and lies until Allah writes him as a liar. Imam Al-Baqir says: "Allah has made locks for evil and made drinking the keys to these locks". Since drinking makes one loses his mind and ultimately commits evil. But the Imam added: "But lying is more evil than drinking". Drinking makes man loses his mind and unintentionally hurt others, but the liar commits evil deeds intentionally. That is why imam Al-Baqir says that lying corrupts belief and Imam Ali says that no servant will feel the taste of belief unless he abandons all types of lying.

But there are cases in which lying is permissible and even recommendable.

Imam Sadiq says: talking is of three kinds: Truth, lies and reconciliation among people. Asked what reconciliation is he said that you would say that the other person said good things about him which the former did not. He also says: He whose tongue is truthful his work will be blessed.

Dear beloved: These are the sayings of the Prophet and the Ahl el-Beit (a.s). They are sayings which elevate the spirit of man and ensure the stability of the community. We have to abide by them and to take them as our role models since Allah, The Most Exalted, says: Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much. (Ahzab-21).

This is what our Wilayat to Ali and the imams mean to take them as role models to learn their sciences and to abide by their advices, since it is the absolute right. May Allah help us attain these goals.

The enemy's Prime minister has made new threats to the Palestinian Authority. He has made fighting what he calls terrorist organizations before a condition of making any progress in the negotiations. He also talked about the Resistance being able to kill two Israeli soldiers without talking about all the atrocities the Israeli army is doing or the enlarging of the settlements in Jerusalem and other places which have impelled a reaction from the Palestinian Intifada. Then, there is the suffering of the Palestinian pilgrims at the Zionist crossings that indicates that although they returned to their homes in the end, most of the Arab rulers have abandoned their responsibilities towards Palestine and its people.

On the other hand, internal political and security tensions continue to widen the Palestinian division which could have an impact on the entire situation, especially on the Resistance. The Authority's cooperation with the enemy against the Mujahideen encourages the Zionist Army to continue its terrorist practices in the West Bank and Gaza strip where there are daily killing by the American war machine that the US hast granted to Israel to continue to kill Palestinians in the name of fighting terrorism.

America has turned in the places where its strategic interests and world empire lies, into a state that ignites crises in many parts of the world. The fires have expanded to include most of the Middle East region that are of extreme importance to the US because of oil and strategic location. The C.I.A, in particular, is playing a major role in implementing American strategies, by means of political assassinations, military coups and acts of subversion, terrorism and internal strife.

This role has been enlarged of late under the pretence of all so-called war on Islamic fascism, religious extremism or Islamic fundamentalism and so on. What they really want is to extend America's influence in the world especially the Muslim world with its natural resources and consumer markets.

Thus, the US continues to spread chaos in the region to protect its interests and execute its projects. It also provides Israel with money, weapons and political support.

It also creates devastating crimes as in Palestine Lebanon and Iran, and creates massacres among the weakened peoples in Iraq, Afghanistan Somalia and Sudan.

The entire would has followed the unrest in Pakistan, through the assassination of Bhutto and the electoral chaos that followed to make the political development in this poor country unfold in a way that serve the US influence, especially that Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons. This chaos may extend to the entire region which could have an impact on Iran which the American Administration is trying to confront through military threats on the one hand and conspiring against its Islamic regime and directing its neighbours to have unstable relations with it, on the other hand.

We call upon all downtrodden peoples, especially those of the Arab Muslim and third worlds, to confront the situation by additional political awareness that will lead them to consolidate their unity against arrogant powers, for this is the only way that will keep them on their feet in the face of the arrogant offensive.

Lebanon is still in the midst of a fruitless debate instead of engaging in a rational and objective dialogue that studies the demands of the opposition and the minority in a realistic manner that contributes in activating the crisis, especially in view of the lost trust between the political factions that is reflected through the sectarian atmosphere to the masses that hail this politician or that without thinking about the results of its positions, that could take the country to a state of vacuum or confusion. In addition, we have the Arabic game that supports this or that party and the international game that does not think about the Lebanese parties but seeks to let Lebanon remain in chaos that guards regional and international interests far from the interests of Lebanon, our small country that has been turned into an open arena for all projects and conspiracies.