The First Sermon

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Muslims are but brothers.

Allah says in His Glorious Book: “The believers are but brethren ,therefore make peace between your brethren and be careful of (your duty to) Allah that mercy may be had on you” (49:10)

From the moment Islam began its international call as a religion that is bound to be victorious, even if the infidels did not like it, one of the first tasks the Muhammad(p.) attended to was to make each Muslim a brother of another Muslim to establish the spirit of brotherhood among Muslims that is as strong as, or even stronger than ,the bond among brothers by blood.

He started in Mecca by assigning a brother for each Muslim from among the Muslims in Mecca. It is said that Imam Ali (a.s.) alone was left without a brother. He came to the Messenger(p.) feeling rather sad. The Prophet told him: “Do not you want to be my brother?” For this is a brotherhood not only in blood but also in the spirit and the Message. When the Imam(a.s) said yes, Muhammad(p.) told him: “You are my brother in this world and in the Hereafter”. The relationship between them is not a temporary one, it started when the Imam was a child raised and educated spiritually and mentally by the Prophet and it will extend indefinitely.

When the Messenger(p.) immigrated to Medina along with a group of Muslims, he once again repeated the same experiment but this time between those who immigrated with him and those who welcomed and supported them. This brother hood was based on right and equality. It is a militant brotherhood to defend the right and call for it. It is also a brotherhood of equality and compassion. Muslim brothers should share the wealth, the pleasures and sufferings of fellow Muslims to demonstrate that being a brother in Islam is greater than being a brother in blood. We all have to live and apply this brotherhood in our relations with our fellow Muslims.

Thus the Medina supporter (Ansar) used to come their Muhajir brother and say to him: You are my brother in Islam. You cannot be poor while I am rich

we will share what I have “And those who made their abode in the city and in the faith before them love those who have fled to them, and do not find in their hearts a need of what they are given, and prefer (them) before themselves though poverty may afflict them, and whoever is preserved from the niggardliness of his soul, these it is that are the successful ones.”(59:9). 

They even inherited one another in the first stage which lasted until the battle of Badr the following Ayah was revealed “ And (as for) those who believed afterwards and fled and struggled hard along with you, they are of you; and the possessors of relationships are nearer to each other in the ordinance of Allah; surely Allah knows all things.(8-75)

Muhammad is Ali’s brother

Again Ali(a.s.) was left without a Muslim brother and he came, according to Tabakat by Ibn saa’d, to the Prophet asking to have a Muslim brother, and again the Messenger(p.) said to him :you are my brother in both worlds,

Such a brotherhood indicates the greatness of the Imam(a.s.) for there were many companions and most of them were older than the Imam and closer in age to Muhammad(p.) who was at that time 53 years old. Yet the Messenger(p.) chose this young man whom he raised and educated to grow as the most prefect example of Muslims. Moreover, it was not a matter of being blood relatives, for Muhammad has many other cousins. It was because the Prophet knew that this cousin was the most knowledgeable, faithful and virtuous.

We are talking today about the concept of brotherhood because this day is the anniversary of the day Muhammad concluded the pact of brotherhood between the Muhajireen and Alansar and between him(p)and Imam Ali(a.s). This day is a day of emphasizing this brotherhood on both the private and public levels. For this is what unites Muslims with a firm bond.

It makes the Muslim lives the pains, concerns and problems of fellow Muslims, and enable the Muslims to act as a unified nation.

That is why we find that Allah associated between the Muslims being brothers with the need to “make peace between your brethren”.

Being brothers, believers ought to solve any differences that might appear. Those who try to settle these differences should fear Allah and not side with any of the parties.

Regarding the nature of this brotherhood there are many traditions that have touched on this point:

The Messenger, for example, compares between the tranquility a Muslims feels when he deals with a fellow Muslim to that of a thirsty man when he finds water. He also teaches us that the Muslims are brothers who provide their blood for other believers and who stand unified against their enemies…

Imam Al-Sadiq(a.s.) says: “The believer is a brother of a fellow believers. He is his eye and his guide…

He does not be betray him nor wrong or cheat him …..”

Imam Ali (a.s.) says: “Muslims are brothers and there is nothing more important for a brother than his brother”

Following the Messenger

On this day, the day of brotherhood and in this time, when Muslims all over the world pray, we have to open our hearts to God and say: “O God, We believed in You and followed Your course . Give us of Your Mercy what will make us brothers who support one another in all our causes”.

To the Messenger(p.) we say: In this day, the day of brotherhood… We bear you witness that we fellow your example and live the brotherhood you made between the Muhajireen and the Ansar that enabled them to face their enemy with their unbreakable unity...

We promise you that we will unite again and act as the human body which if any organ is in pain the other organs will look after it.

It is the day of brotherhood… let us be brothers especially as we live in a very critical era of grave threats.

If we want Heaven then Heaven is attained with love in the hearts, righteousness in the minds and good in our deeds… You cannot end up in paradise with all this hatred and enmity that flourish among you.

The Second Sermon

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

The American Democracy: A support of totalitarianism

What is new in America these days?

The American President has called for establishing democracy in the Middle East being the “most deprived” region of the benefits of democracy and freedom. He went on to admit that the American support of dictatorships in the region that lasted for about 60 years has generated an anti-American feeling that feeds terrorism.

He ended by emphasizing that no country or no nation should be deprived of the great benefits that freedom and democratic progress could produce.

Bush talks like a prophet sent by Heaven to change the world and especially the Middle East. Yet he wants to accomplish this aim through a team of Zionist-Christians allied with the Jewish Lobby and an administration that is controlled by the giant oil companies...

The question is: What does Bush understand by democracy? Is it a privilege of the American people alone? And even at this level, the public freedoms especially those of Arabs and Muslims have been restricted in the US and international law and human rights have been violated with its treatment to the prisoners of war.

In addition, the American President considers the Palestinians who are fighting for freedom and liberation as terrorists, and supports the Israeli strategy of eradication. Does this American-Israeli policy of massacres and demolishment of houses and bulldozing farms represent democracy…

Does not democracy extend to the occupied nations?

America that admits that it has been supporting oppressive regimes continues to do so when it supports the Zionist entity… It also practices dissect oppression by its pressures on several Middle Eastern countries that do not accommodate its interests.

It is the democracy of the American Administration that seeks to preserve the US strategic interests in the region and not that of the peoples of the Middle East… What America wants is the freedom of its intelligence agencies in inciting internal strife, initiating wars to put its hands much more firmly on the region.

Demonizing international media

The international media who has been reporting in an objective manner the actions of the Jews that threaten the world peace and Israeli threats to the countries of the region has been attacked by America that criticizes the reporting of any story that exposes Israeli atrocities and violations of human rights, without anybody including the UN, daring to condemn them as they rush to do against what they claim Iran is doing. Nevertheless, America remains silent or even encourages the American and other media that attack Islam, the Muslims and the Arabs, under the pretense that America is the land of freedom.

Such a twisted logic gives every American the right to take any Arab or Muslim to task but it does not give anybody, even those outside America, the right to criticize the Jews, for they are above any criticism. They are , as Mahateer Muhammad said, in control of the world and they let other nations, fight their wars by proxy for them, with the help of the United States which is the first country to fight these wars ... Is this the democracy Bush is calling for?

America and Israel are in the same impasse

On another level, America is going to give a military grant to Israel that is worth more that 2 Billion Dollars... to secure Israel’s supremacy in the region. It is as if America is telling the world that it fighting Israel’s war against the Palestinian people, and killing the elderly, the women, the children and the civilian youth who are being killed in the name of preserving peace.

We believe that the Palestinian steadfastness have made Israel and the US fall into the same impasse despite all the operations of eradication and demolition, especially that those who oppose the occupation in Iraq and inspired by this formidable spirit of resolve and resistance in Palestine.

Thus, America wants to lessen the pressure in Palestine, to lessen the pressure on the Americans in Iraq, keeping all the burden on other states or the region, such as Syria, Iran and Lebanon… Hence, the Palestinians, and the other peoples in the region, ought not be deceived by this ploy... The issue is not to reduce the pressure here or there... It is the issue of the freedom of the oppressed peoples of the nation... The impasse encompasses both the occupier and the fighters for freedom who have to make sure that the only way out for the occupier is liberation.

Resettling the Palestinians in Lebanon

In Lebanon, the issue of resettling the Palestinians has begun to impose itself in the political life, as a result of new American and European initiatives…

This issue is very critical because it has to do with the international recognition of the Palestinians’ right of return., The Lebanese politicians have started to issue statements that indicate that there is a consensus regarding the issue of rejecting resettlement . But what has Lebanon done in the level if its international relations? Has Lebanon studied the far-fetched goals and far-reaching plans to drive the Palestinians to a level of despair that would impel them to accept their fate?

Lebanon should be a state that shoulders its responsibility when it comes to these critical issues especially that Lebanon’s problem is inherently interrelated with what happens in the region. If there are some who are raising the issue to test the waters, the desired reaction should be political and not by any way informational, for we are dealing with one of the most dangerous problems that target Lebanon both from the inside and the outside.