The 24th of the month of Dhul Hijja was the Day of Beseech (invocation). Beseech is an Islamic means resorted to when people engaged in a dialogue fail to convince one another, each party will bring these whom he loves most and ask Allah to damn the liars.

It is known that the result would be that Allah, the most Exalted, will torture the liars.

This is what happened to the Messenger on year nine Hijri. By then, the Prophet has established his victory over the unbelievers, and people were coming in groups to declare their adoption to the new religion. One of these groups was the delegation of the Christians of the city of Najran. But these people came to argue with the Prophet (p.) about Islam and Christ (p.). The Messenger (p.) received them as he received all others, believers or not, in the Mosque; since he had no other place. That is why we say that non-Muslims are allowed to enter mosques, except Masjid Al-Haram which Allah, the most Exalted, has specifically prohibited non-Muslims to enter. Moreover, the Prophet, and the Caliphs who came after him, including Imam Ali (a.s.), used to receive non-Muslims in the Mosque. The Prophet (p.) even allowed the Christians to pray in the mosques, despite the protests of Muslims who happened to be there.

{This is the truth from your Lord, so be not of the disputers. Most surely this is the true explanation, and there is no god but Allah; and most surely Allah-- He is the Mighty, the Wise}.

This is the truth. Issa (p.) is a human being, like any other. He eats, sleeps, walks and does everything other humans do, but he is a spirit from God, and he is a messenger who has the advantage of being born through God's word.

When they accepted the principle of beseeching, their leader told them to look for whom Muhammad (p.) will be bringing along. When they saw that he brought Imam Ali (a.s.) , Fatima Al-Zahra (a.s.) Al-Hassan (a.s.) and Al-Hussein (a.s.), the leader told them: “I see faces if they ask God to remove a mountain from its place, He would. Do not agree to beseech lest you will be doomed".

They backed away because they were sure that had the Messenger been unconvinced in what he was saying, he would not have brought the people whom he loved most and endanger them. Moreover, he brought them along, because he believed that they were pious believers whom Allah is pleased with and would answer their prayers when they do.

These Ayahs clarifies the position of Islam. It believes in dialogue with the other as an option that should be chosen. That is why Allah says: {O followers of the Book! Come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but Allah and (that) we shall not associate aught with Him, and (that) some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allah; but if they turn back, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims}.

This is what Islam calls for as a means to deal with the people of the Book and all people: To base our arguments on proof and evidence and to open up on the other and to accept him on the basis of rationalism and logic.

This is what we should learn and adopt to solve all over differences whether with Christians, unbelievers and atheists, or in internal Muslim differences. Allah, the most Exalted, has called on us to adopt this method in all disputes. He says in His Book:

In Palestine, there is new initiative led by Egypt, along with Jordan, to join between Sharon and Abbas in a summit which might be attended by the American Secretary of State. It is evident that this summit would be held on the basis of the last Israeli conditions of giving security issues precedence over political issues. The Palestinians should according to the American Israeli strategy fight terrorism first, which amounts to dismantling the armed organizations. Convincing these organizations with cooling it down will not be enough to restart the negotiations, since Israel will reject the Palestinian demands on the political front before fulfilling the security commitments which means going back to square one.

What Israel wants is to deprive the Palestinians from any source of strength they might have and keep all the pressurizing cards, including the American and perhaps the Arabian card to themselves.

Therefore, it will be difficult to reach any progress towards a solution in this summit, which, we are afraid, will constitute another means to pressurize the Palestinian Authority to provide additional security and perhaps political concessions.

That is why we are watching closely this difficult stage in which the Palestinian question enters into a political and security minefield, which means that the Palestinians ought to increase their awareness, unity and steadfastness.

They should not cross any red lines leading to civil strife among them, and enhance their unity and struggle to get nearer towards accomplishing their great goal of liberation.

If the American President and his Secretary of State are saying that the Palestinian state is within reach and that it should be a "viable" and geographically connected, they are not talking about its area, and whether it will conform with the UN resolutions, or with the Israeli ambitions that were confirmed in President Bush's Letter of guarantees to Sharon as well as his continuous talk about the developments on the ground which impels the Palestinians to forego the right of return and the acceptance of the unlawful settlements… etc.

Faced by these facts, the Palestinian Authority that says that it is committed to the Palestinian basic rights should keep its eyes wide opens and act in a responsible way that does not deviate from the strategy devised by the historical leaders and the martyrs who fell on the road of executing it.

In Iraq, elections took place under the pressure of both the occupation and the accusers of unbelief, to suggest that the Iraqis are choosing freely their representatives, which led to a state of joy among the people despite the boycott of certain political factions.

But the question is: what is behind all that? And how would the new government look like? What are the conditions of establishing a new constitution? What kind of federal state is going to emerge?

Would Iraq be based on the concept of citizenship on sectarianism…? How would a new national security force be built…?

We are afraid that the occupation forces will stay for a long time in Iraq to accomplish its strategic goals in the region with Iraq as a military and political base.

It will seek to gain the legitimacy of its presence by a security treaty with the Iraqi government under the pretense of keeping order and security which will be undermined, if it withdraws, the fact that it did not even keep its own security notwithstanding.

President Bush considers elections as one of his accomplishments. But we believe it is an accomplishment of the Iraqi people.

Moreover, the Iraqis still have to achieve their greater goal of freeing Iraq of the occupation; the root-cause of their problem. On its part, the occupation that entered Iraq with the intention of staying refused to present a timetable for its withdrawal and wants to legitimize its staying for more than one decade.

We would like the Iraqis to work for their future, preserving their national unity and confronting all those who kill innocent people whether for sectarian reasons or to extort money, and we add that the real trail starts now: let the national unity be your answer to all those who claim that the events have enhanced division and not unity. All religious and political leaders should strive to thwart all the plots of those who are talking loudly about a civil war; the goal of the enemies of Iraq, whether the symbols of backwardness, the agents of the previous regime, or the agents and soldiers of occupation.

It might well be that Lebanon whose sects are debating sectarian interests, while political leaders and parties are arguing about their partisan interests... In such a state of affairs the country might well need to correct its political course, and to establish ethical rules in its political dealing before any correction of the relations with the neighborhood... We are saying this because there are those in the opposition or in the ruling front who suggest that the Lebanese politicians are angels who are graced with the virtues of purity and honesty, despite the fact that many of those cursing the devil in their statements were some of his aids who executed its plots.