Friday speeches Shawwal 9 1426 H, November 11 2005 A.D

When we are faced with the sins and deviations that are committed by the responsible sectors of the society, that is those who hold social or political religious positions. These people when they deviate, and wrong the weak, steal the nation’s money and corrupt the society both politically and ethically, would the general public hold the responsibility of their wrong doing ?

The Messenger (p.), in a hadith narrated by Imam As-Sadiq(a.s), says: "When the sin is committed publicly without being confronted, it will hurt the public". When someone commits a sin of stealing or wronging, people should confront him and deter him. If they don't, and act indifferently, it will hurt them, because it will be like a contagious disease.

Therefore, people should attack the person who commits sins in public so that they will not be influenced by these sins either psychologically or practically.

Imam Ali (a.s) says that Allah, the most exalted, does not consider the public guilty of the sins of some of them as long as it is done in secret but once it becomes public, both parties will become responsible if the public do not try to stop the guilt. Thus, God would punish those who committed the sin for committing it, and He would punish the public for not trying to prevent it.

The core theme in these Hadith is that when the elite starts practicing oppression, corruption and stealing the money of the people, nobody should be neutral or indifferent. The entire nation should organize itself, on both the political and the social levels, so that it could stop those people and prevent them from going on with their wronging and deviation. If it does not, the entire nation will also be punished. Thus, the nation's confrontation of the oppressor and traitors is but a responsibility on its part.

On another level, how do the people confront individuals who commit sins? People might face an oppressor who wrongs the weak or who creates corruption in the community. In this case, there are two kinds of people: There are those who could prevent the sinners by force and in this case they have a duty to do so, or Allah will punish them if they don’t. And there are those who cannot stop the sinners because they are too strong, and in this case they have to oppose them in their hearts so that the idea of rejecting evil and corruption will remain inside them, so that they will strive to acquire the force that will enable them to stop the evil in the future. This is what the following Hadith means: "who ever sees an evil must change it by his hands, if he cannot then he should change it by his tongue. If he cannot then by his heart and this the least he can do, as an act of faith".

Imam Ali (a.s) has said: "He who accepts what others do, would be taking part in it with them. When you belong to a party or support a leader, and they kill or detain those who are innocent, and accepts such actions, would be a partner to them in guilt and punishment. He also said: what joins between people is satisfaction and anger. Satisfaction unites the society, and in this case if some members commit evil and others accept it then the entire society will be held responsible .Thamoud's Camel was killed by one man, but they were all punished because they all accepted this act.

Another example would be when a tribe picks one of its members to kill a young girl accused of committing adultery even if it were only a rumour.

In this case, the entire tribe would have committed the murder, although the one who actually killed is only one of them.

Imam As-Sadiq (a.s.) explains Allah's saying about what the Jews say regarding the prophets: (Say: Indeed, there came to you messengers before me with clear arguments and with that which you demand; why then did you kill them if you are truthful. Thus, Allah has held the Jews the responsibility of killing the prophets, although He knew that they did not kill them, but they supported those who killed them so, Allah considered them to be killers, for supporting that action, although the actual killing happened 500 years ago.

If we are repeating these sayings it is because we ought to learn how to become followers of the Prophet and the Imams. We ought to adhere to their teachings and instructions, because when they talk to the people of their time, they are actually talking to all people in every time and place.

When Imam Ali (a.s.) was asked by one of his companions, who wanted his brother to attend God's victory in the battle of Camel, he asked the man: Is your brother's passions with us? The man said yes and the Imam told him: We have seen among our fighters who will shake the time and strengthen the faith.

When man faces the issues of right and falsehood, he has to make his heart stand with the right: to be with the right and reject and confront falsehood even if you are not present in the scene of events.

Thus you a have to be a pious believer in what you think of just as you obey Allah in what you do.

As Israel states before the world that it will continue its war of assassinations, detentions and invasions in the name of self defense, it refuses to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian lands, and insists on building the settlements and racist wall to besiege the entire Palestinian people in moving prisons in every town and village.

The question we want to ask to those who control the Security Council namely the US and its allies is : Why did they issue three resolutions concerning internal Lebanese affairs to put pressure on it and on Syria, to the extent that it resorted to threaten by sanctions and even to the use of force, but they did not issue not even one resolution that asks Israel to stop its gradual and daily eradication of the Palestinians, although all the Palestinians are asking for, is to liberate their country from occupation, establish their state and live in peace, on the basis of holding political negotiations with Israel and the implementation of UN resolutions, especially those of 194, 242, and 338.

America and its allies do not make any move in this direction. They only keep stalling and stalling, to lead the Palestinians to fall in despair and lose any hope of achieving their political and human rights of freedom and independence. Israel to them is above the law, and the US Administration prevents all states, including permanent Security Council members, form supporting any resolution that condemn Israel, then when the militant Palestinian Mujahideen start defending themselves by their martyr operations, the International Community will protest and accuse them of terrorism and the like.

Arab and Muslims now have a complex regarding the international legitimacy that only resorts to pressure when it has to do with a vital Arab or Islamic cause, but it never pressurizes Israel which has always represented a threat to the region and the world.

Thus, any study to the international resolutions suggests that the Council is but a card that America plays to serve its interests in the region that calls for pressurizing Syria, supporting its occupation of Iraq and supporting Israel.

And this leads us to ask: What kind of international legitimacy is this when measured by the political justice of the downtrodden nations?

On the other hand, the Arab leaders have opted to normalize the relations with the enemy being the policy that is rewarded by American praise. They cooperate with the US in fighting terrorism and claim to be working for peace in their public and secret relations with Israeli enemy, believing that it gives them additional time on their thrones. This is what the Palestinians and the other Arab and Muslim people should well understand to know how to deal with the developing situations.

On another level, the aggressive language America adopts, along with Britain and France, when it comes to the Arab and Muslim issues, is one of imposition that threatens with sanctions and the use of force. They also refuse to engage in any political or economic objective dialogue in a way that makes the Arabs and Muslims feel humiliated, because the arrogant powers have decided to engage in a political and economic war that could turn into a military one: You either yield to our demands or the only option that left to you is war.

We know that the relations among states should be based on mutual respect and common interests, but the arrogant powers are acting on the basis that their strength enables them to establish their hegemony in all fields.

Thus, we want our Muslim and Arab peoples, as well as those of the Third world, to assert their stand of rejection, and plan to confront this arrogant force that seeks to destroy the nation to ensure the maintenance of its monopolizing interests. We should not believe their talk about reform, democracy, political freedoms and human rights, because they only use it as a tool to serve their interests, as we have seen in the big lie of America and Britain to justify their war on Iraq.

On another level, we would like to note that as we condemn the negative acts of arson in some of Paris suburbs, we would like to note that the French government has neglected the poor classes, which could lead to a popular revolution that could turn into a state of general anarchy that nobody wants.

At the same time, we condemn the terrorist acts in Jordan that killed and wounded hundreds of innocent civilians. We believe that such actions distort the image of Islam and Muslims and provide the nation's enemy with a chance to wage war against it. Islam does not legalize these actions in any way, whether against Muslims of other sects of different political stands, or against non-Muslims who are not at war with the Muslims.

As we follow up the situation in Iraq, we notice that the occupation relies on the official request to stay as long as America feels strategically necessary to stay in the region. Meanwhile, they are not giving the people in Iraq any chance to become stronger and be able to run their own affairs. We do not know how we can get out of this impasse in the next Arab Summit with all the political complications that pose themselves as sectarian ones.

In Lebanon, everybody is busy with everything except the economic crisis. They talk about international legitimacy that some have been considering as a holy book without noticing that the others who plan to dominate the region are using Lebanon as a tool to pressurize others without any real concern for Lebanese interests.

We say to the Lebanese that despite all the problems in the relations between them and Syria, the unity of the two tracks is a given fact in politics, security and economy. We should accordingly draw plans on the basis of the common interests, the historic relations, and the independence of each party in the issues of freedom and sovereignty, so that we do not let others play with us to serve their own interests.

We wonder along with all our people in Lebanon: What Lebanon do we you want for the future? What freedom are you dreaming of? What have you prepared for the coming generations to restore Lebanon as a homeland and untie its people on the basis of citizenship and national unity?