Friday Speeches Mosque jamadi Alawwal 11 1424 h, July 11 2003

Allah says His Glorious Book: O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah with the care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslims. And hold fast by the covenant of Allah all together and be not disunited, and remember the favor of Allah on you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts so by His favor you became brethren; and you were on the brink of a pit of fire, then He saved you from it, thus does Allah make clear to you His communications that you may follow the right way. And from among you there should be a party who invite to good and enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong, and these it is that shall be successful. And be not like those who became divided and disagreed after clear arguments had come to them, and these it is that shall have a grievous chastisement. 3:102-105

These Ayats represent a spiritual, social and practical guide for Muslims. It first points out that the belief in God should extend to all of man’s being…Allah should be present in his mind and heart… in his love and hate… He should feel the presence of Allah in all his life, he will not think of something, say anything or take any action unless he is sure that it pleases Allah.

When you do anything you usually take the view and reaction of other into account even if for a certain extent.

But when it comes to Allah you ought to be pious and fear Him in everything you do so that your only purpose is to please Him. This is the meaning of the very-well known saying about those whom Allah would offer refuge on the day of Judgment, those who would not make a step forward or backward unless they are use it pleases Allah, and this is the meaning of the verse :O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah with the care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslims

Be pious, for Allah is the only God and the absolute God.. He is the secret of your existence and the secret of your life... When you really live your belief, you will not see anybody else, and you will not associate Him with any other person... not even the prophets and the Imams, for they are but his servants... We honor them, because they are worthy of being honored and they are honored by God. But when it comes to their relation to Allah, they are His servants who do as they are told, by their God.

Therefore, we should adhere to this line... The line of piety in our homes, in our work ... in our social and political views and actions... to meet God as Muslims

And we should all hold fast to the covenant of Allah, which is the Quran as in some traditions or Islam itself as in other interpretations.

Therefore, when you are a pious Muslims, the Muslims should be identified with your heart and mind. You meet with other Muslims in the belief in the basic principles of the doctrine: the belief in Allah, the most Exalted, His messengers, His books, His angels and the last day... Other Muslims share the same beliefs and you should live the unity of faith with them. If you have certain differences in interpretations, you have to refer it, as Allah said in the Quran to Allah and His Messenger(p.) . When you disagree do not forget that it is a disagreement between brothers that Allah has provided you with the means of solving it. Say we are Muslims and that we have to make the authentic sources of Islam the Quran and the traditions the basis of solving any of our differences.

And even if you continue to disagree over certain issues, do not become disunited for this is the way to weakness and collapse. Remember Allah’s favor, when He united your hearts and made you brethren. You were pagans and every one of you used to believe in a way that is different than the others. And now, you all believe in the same principles and worship God. He turned you into united brothers and saved you from the fire of hell. Turning back into hatred and fragmentation will surely end in your fall and demise.

Allah emphasizes the fact that it is the responsibility of each Muslim to carry Islam as a message in all his life, and according to his capacities And from among you there should be a party who invite to good and enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong, and these it is that shall be successful. And be not like those who became divided and disagreed after clear arguments had come to them, and these it is that shall have a grievous chastisement. 3:103-105

This is Islam. It is a call for the Good for both the individual and the society, and it is a call for each Muslim to try to achieve this good. Those who do so are considered to be as the verse indicates “successful”.

This is how Allah has drown the Muslim social and spiritual personality… He emphasizes the significance of Islamic unity who many are trying now, as they did in past, to undermine. They are focusing on what divides the Muslims so as Muslims will accuse one another of being infidels in a trend that could lead to internal strife and blood shedding as the Muslims had witnessed in the past.

The Muslim’s experience tells us that this status of fragmentation have weakened the Muslims in facing other challenges... They were preoccupied by their trivial differences and grew unconcerned with the major issues that constitute the pillars of Islam, and thus they fell in backwardness. We now hear some Sunni Muftis accusing the Shiite of assuming partners to Allah, and vise versa. They might even kill one another, which makes us forget about the infidels... This is the sad reality and this is what we have to change, before this cancer spreads in the entire body.

The Messenger(p.) have focused on this issue in the farewell pilgrimage when he said:

O people, listen to my words carefully, for I know not whether I would meet you again on such an occasion.
"Return the things kept with you as trust (Amanah) to their rightful owners O people, listen carefully! All the believers are brothers. You are not allowed to spill the blood of another Muslim or take to things belonging to another Muslim unless he gives it to you willingly. Do not wrong yourselves and go back to being infidel who kill one another O people, none is higher than the other unless he is higher in obedience to Allah. No Arab is any superior to a non-Arab except in piety.
O people, reflect on my words. I leave behind me two things, the Qur'an and my family household , and if you follow these, you will not fail.

This is the Prophet’s will; should not we abide by it? Don’t we see that in every stage that has passed, Muslims are being occupied with their differences with other Muslims?

They do not support one another, and they even reach the stage of killing fellow Muslims. This what we witnessed in Pakistan where backwardness, fanaticism and fatwas accusing others of unbelief have led into as attack on a mosque that resulted in the killing of about 50 believes.

Therefore, it is very critical for the Muslims to understand that there are major challenges that face them and that they should not listen to the arrogant media that concentrates on anything that might divide the Sunnis and the Shiites.

We have issues a communiqué in which we said that the Shiite’s problem is not the Sunnis and the Sunnis problem is not the Shiites. The problem of both is America... It is the problem of international arrogance that tries to usurp all our wealth and resources and tries to turn us into fragments applying the same old colonial rule of “Divide and rule”.

But blind fanaticism and elements of backwardness are being used by the arrogance to achieve its goal. Therefore we ought to return to the Book of Allah and the Messenger(p.)’s traditions in order to return the unity that demands that we should refer to them in every thing we differ on. Our relationship should be based on dialogue...

We should refrain from any accusations of unbelief or any cursing and swearing...They will not solve any problems, but rather invigorate them.

Dear loved ones: Every Muslim should hold the responsibility of Islam, Muslims, and the strength and welfare of both in his heart and mind and strive to maintain and enhance them with his utmost effort.

Israel is extending its confiscation of Palestinian lands through building the separating fence, as well as new settlements and preventing the Palestinians from reaching their fields and gardens… Meanwhile, America might hint that it will exert some pressure on Sharon, but without delivering. On the contrary, they are telling the Rabbis in the US that America does not want to strengthen AbuMazen, but to weaken Arafat... The American strategy thus, is based on strengthening the Zionist entity and subjecting the Palestinians. Moreover, America is pressurizing Europe to stop any aid to the Intifada militant organizations… The problem with this “Israeli America’ is that it lies to justify its policies of occupation, and pressurizes the Arab and Muslim nation to promote its interests and that of Israel…

Its talk about the need to destroy weapons of mass destruction is a case in point... It knows that there are no such weapons and this is what has been proven , when it failed to find these weapons in Iraq… On the other hand the “American Israel” finds in the US a force to threaten the world, and the region in particular, with. It also benefits from the American support to proclaim its ultimate victory over the Palestinian Intifada... But the biggest problem is the Arab-Islamic one… We have not seen any indication of an effective plan to pressurize the US, even by reminding it of its vast interests that might be jeopardized, or to confront Israel in any way.

We are monitoring the difficult situation that poses many critical threats in many fronts: For in addition to the situation in Palestine, the occupation in Iraq is still in a political, security and economic whirlpool without any prospect for a solution in the near future... That is because America is the one that is formulating executing or making Iraq’s policy elections, constitution, and even its army that is planned to be a small one that could not deter any aggression… They are using the political council or the interim government as a front that acts under the supervision of the American civil ruler who has the right to veto anything he does not accept. The plan also covers Iran and Syria that are being posed as a threat to the region and the world.

We need to reproduce the nation of the Arab world in the Arab states. And we need to unify the Islamic world and regain its strength to rise to the level of a nation that knows how to defend its freedom and dignity…

In Lebanon , administrative corruption has turned into a kind of cancer that is spreading in the entire body of the people. It is usurping all its wealth, destroying its security, shaking its economy and depriving it of its needs.

Bodies like the civil service council have offered documented proof of this corruption in a way that suggests that political corruption is the inciter and protector of administrative protection and that there are certain positions in the country that nobody dares to hold those who hold them accountable, even if they have abused their positions to earn illegal contracts or commissions.

The law is a sword that is only raised over the heads of the poor, while those who possess power and wealth are above the law, and this what leads to the fall of the society and makes the Lebanese at a loss…

This is the law of history as Allah has laid it, and this what Prophet Muhammad(p.) has told us: “Those who were before you were doomed because they used to leave the “noble: free when he steals and punish the weak.” Should we repeat the famous saying that your rulers will reflect what you are. This saying emphasizes the fact that the summit is the product of the base; how would we then reform the base that would in turn reform and the corruption in the top?