Friday speeches Zu elhujja 22 1424 h,February 13 2004

Allah says in His Glorious Book: Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! And to purify you a (thorough) purifying (33:33). One of the members of the House is the tenth Imam, Ali bin Muhammad Al-Hadi (a.s.) whose birth anniversary passes in this month.

As we have said many a time, we need to study over and over again the lives sayings and teachings of the Members of the House, because they undoubtedly convey the teachings of the Messenger (p.) and because they teach us how to live righteously and how to straighten any deviation in the Islamic march.

Although this Imam did not live for a long period, he earned the trust of his society including the Abbasid rulers. People used to stand for him, whenever he came and they used to seat him in the front of all the Bani Hashim seniors in a gesture of respect for his vast knowledge in all the fields they need to learn, whether in Islam or in life.

He used to be like his fathers before him a very spiritual man, living with God in his mind heart and spirit, to the extent that we can say that he was a materialized spirit. He also was righteous in his conduct with himself and others in all his affairs, for he represented Islam.

One of the traditions we are going to remember today, is what he has narrated citing Imam Ali bin Abi Talib who used to say: The Messenger (p.) once said to me: Write. I asked: What should I write, and he said: Belief is what has lived in the heart and was credited by what one does… While Islam is what is announced by the tongue and legalizes marriage”.

This tradition reflects the Quranic Ayah that says: The dwellers of the desert say: We believe. Say: You do not believe but say, we submit; and faith has not yet entered into your hearts (49:14)

According to this Verse, there were two kinds of people who entered Islam: the first consists of those who sought to benefit financially after Islam was dominant in Arabia and those who entered out of fear. The Prophet used to accept the latter to neutralize them and to enable them to live Islam so that they might eventually turn into true believers.

The other kind is those who embraced Islam in their hearts, minds and spirits. They were ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Islam, and some like Yasser and Summaya, did just that. Islam in this sense is not merely an intellectual attitude. It is a state that engulfs the mind and the heart, one that is reflected in every emotion you express, every position you take, every word you utter and every action you do. It is an attitude towards life as a whole, since one seeks in all what he does or says to please Allah, the most Exalted, and earn His satisfaction.

Thus Islam is commitment, and the Holy Quran has in several verses associated between belief and good deeds… while submission is simply saying that you are a Muslim, and that you belong to the Muslim community. However, this does not make one a believer.

One of the Imam’s companions asked him the following question: “Why did Allah, the most Exalted, send Musa with Magic, Jesus with Medicine and Muhammad with words?” The Imam told him that each was sent with what was dominant in his age. Then the companion asked what then the proof is today. The Imam said: “It is the fact that Allah has given us the mind, which enables us to differentiate between what is right and what is false”.

The Imam based his belief on the Quran and the prophetic tradition that considers the mind as what justifies Allah’s holding the people accountable for their actions including the belief in God. The tradition, which both Shiites and Sunnis believe to be authentic, holds that when Allah created the mind He said: “I have not created anything better than you. It is you that I command, it is you that I reward, and it is you that I punish. Therefore, the mind is what Allah gave the people so that they can think and reach the right conclusions including the belief in His existence... And it is what justifies holding them accountable, even those who received no Heavenly Messages. Therefore, the mind is the tool that we should resort to in solving all our scientific, intellectual, practical and political problems. We should never be driven by our whims or desires, for the mind does not betray those who seek its consult.

In the Imam’s age, there were lots of people who used to exaggerate to the extent that they even equated between the Imams and Allah, the most Exalted.

When asked by one of his followers about certain interpretations of the Quranic verse stating that prayers forbid evil is actually referring to a man, in addition to several such interpretations which could lead to the devastation of the nation, he said: “This is not our religion…” He also said: “We are but servants of God, who ascribe no partners to Him. If we obey Him He would have Mercy on us, and if we disobey Him He would punish us”. And this is what Allah told His Messenger (p.) to say: Say: Surely I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the chastisement of a grievous day.(6:15)

Imam Al-Hadi was trying to set the concepts straight adopting the line of righteousness and the line of Ahl Al-Beit. And this is what we too should always do, remembering that we have to compare what we are told that it has been said by the Imams whether by a good persons or corrupt ones, with what has been said in the Book. If it confirms with it, we would accept it, but if it does not, we should discard it .

The American president describes himself as a “war president”. He says that when he thinks about politics, he thinks of war, suggesting that he is searching for a country to stage a war at, all under the pretext of preemptive wars to protect American interests across the world.

He then says that his war on Iraq is a result of a report by the C.I.A, all this at a time he is been accused at home of lying about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that proved to be a lie fabricated by the British and American intelligence to justify the war.

Is the world looking for a man of peace or a man of war?

And could freedom and democracy be achieved by waging war knowing that the people would then have to react to the atrocities it involves? Moreover, is terrorism an intellectual decision or the direct result of the planning of international arrogance to exert pressure on the people’s economic, security, and independent decisions?

America talks about transferring power to the Iraqis by the end of June, but it also states that its army, and those of its allies, will stagy until they finish their job. Iraq in the American plan is a bridge to pressurize the region politically, culturally, economically and even militarily should the need arise, in order to transform to the new age in the Middle East into an American one that has nothing to do with Islam or the Arabs .

In this respect, we ask: what kind of an Iraqi government would be established under the protection of occupation and what kind of legitimate treaty is the interim governing council talking about that would be held with the Iraqi government and America in the presence of occupation forces in Iraq? Could not the Iraqis safeguard their independence and security on their own?

Unemployment in Iraq has reached unprecedented levels, and the Iraqis can no longer find jobs to earn their living…

In these severe conditions, the Iraqis are asking why are the American companies given in all the contracts to rebuild Iraq while credible and well experiment Iraqi companies are denied? Is the American Administration seeking to solve the employment problem in America to improve Bush’s chances of winning the elections?

And is this the way to democratize Iraq as they claim?

What is even more dangerous is the talk about the Israeli companies being allowed a share in the rebuilding projects.

Is not this one of the real objectives of so-called democratization of Iraq?

At the same time, the American Secretary of Defense tries to justify Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons by saying that Israel is a democratic state living in a hostile environment and that they do not want to throw themselves in the sea. Whom does this secretary think he is fooling?

Everybody knows that all Arabs, Palestinians included, have agreed to make peace if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders. However, Israel refuses even to negotiate unless these negotiations are based on its own conditions that actually confiscate all of Palestine. It wants to keep the settlements as well as the racial wall, and impose all the other political and economic conditions that turn the Palestinian state into a distorted creature that cannot run itself in any possible way.

Does this minister know that Israel is the one threatening the entire region by advanced American weapons supported by the American full backing? Does he know that the Arabs are the ones asking for non-proliferation, with American refusing?

It is ironic that the British prime minister has resorted to the same logic while at the same time his government is trying along with the E.U. and America to prevent the Arabs and Muslims from any peaceful use of nuclear power, although they have signed the nonproliferation treaty while Israel did not. Whom are they fooling? They know quite well that Israel intends to invade the Arab world, but the problem lies in the fact the Arab regimes have surrendered any position of strength they might have that they no longer care about them.

In Palestine, massacres that nobody condemns, take place everyday, while Sharon the aggressor is hailed as a man of peace. Meanwhile he continues to coordinate with America to stall any forward movement towards achieving a settlement.

He also continues to build the racial wall, but he talks about a new peace plan, which we hope the Palestinians will not be deceived by …for they have been deceived by this man before.

In Iraq, the massacres that target civilians continue, with no security solutions in sight and with the Americans preoccupied with their own security. Meanwhile, the elections enter a vicious circle with all the talk about security and political obstacles, which might lead the UN to conclude that they are not possible, and this is what the occupation wants to instate the government that serves its interests.

As for the French law that bans the veil in public schools, it seems that they cannot withstand personal religious convictions that do not harm the French general law and order. We are afraid there might be some internal political considerations since there is no other reasonable explanation.

Meanwhile, Germany has begun to talk about banning the veil in civil service buildings..

We ask: Do they have a complex against Islam and the freedom of Muslim women to practice their religious commitments, or are their racial dispositions?

In Lebanon, where it is increasingly believed to be the country in which businessmen and contracts can get what they want, for they are above the law, being backed by the politicians whose terms are renewed in the ballot boxes, since the people have grown addicted to those who practice political hypocrisy and sectarian incitement...