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The
First Sermon
In
the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Justice and wrongdoing are two major issues that all Holy
Messages have dealt with. The first issue is a positive one that
Allah, the most Exalted, wants man to uphold in every aspect of his
individual and socials life, while the second is a negative value
which Allah, the most Exalted, wants people to keep away from. The
religious law basically deals in all its commands with these two
issues, and this is what we understand when we read these verses in
Al-Hadid Surah that says that we have sent all messages and
messengers, to uphold justice.
{Certainly
we sent Our messengers with clear arguments, and sent down with them
the Book and the balance that men may conduct themselves with equity}
(57:25)
Believing
in the Unity of Allah is being just
To
be just is universal, whether with God; the most Exalted, with
oneself, with others, or with nature and the environment, and so is
wrongdoing.
In
brief, justice means to give everyone his due right. Thus, Justice
to God, the most Exalted, is believing in his oneness. For ascribing
partners to Allah, the most Exalted, is, as Luqman told his
son, A tremendous wrong :{ And (remember) when
Luqman said unto his son, when he was exhorting him: O my dear son!
Ascribe no partners unto Allah. Lo! to ascribe partners (unto Him)
is a tremendous wrong }(31:13) [31:13] while doing wrong to
God, the most Exalted, could not be done by force, but rather by not giving Him His rights. Being just to Allah, the
most Exalted, is believing in His oneness on all levels.
On
the level of the doctrine, you would be unifying Allah, the most
Exalted, by believing that there are no other gods but Him. You
should be just towards Him in practice by obeying no body else but
Him you should unify Him in your love by not loving any one else
except through Him.
Believing
in the Prophet’s Traditions
The
same thing goes to being just with the Messenger (p.); you have to
believe in his teachings and traditions since this what Allah, the
most Exalted, has told us: {If you love Allah,
then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your faults, and
Allah is Forgiving, Merciful} ( 3:31 )
Being
just to you means making yourself live in such a way that seeks good
and salvation in both worlds.
To
be just to yourself is to believe in Allah, His messengers and His
messages, to make your heart full of love, with no hatred evil or
malice. You should be just to yourself in using the capacities and
potentials that Allah, the most Exalted, has
given you in all that benefits others, and gets closer to Allah, the
most Exalted, and this
is what Islam calls purifying the soul : He says:{ He will indeed be successful who
purifies it, : And he fails that corrupts it }(91:11-12 ) . On the other hand, being unjust towards oneself is
leading it to deviation, on the road of obeying its desires and
passions and not in what pleases Allah, the most Exalted. {We
did them no wrong, but they were used to doing wrong to themselves}(16:118).
Giving
others their Rights.
As
for being just to others it means that you ought to believe that
others have their rights, just as you yourself have your own rights,
and that you have to give these rights to them. There is a right to
your wife, a right to every individual and a right to the community
that enables it to be balanced and efficient. Injustice is to deny
all these people their rights whether those ordained by Allah, the
most Exalted, or these that you yourself promised.
Traditions
that talk about injustice include one that classifies its kinds: There
are three kinds of wrongdoing: one that Allah forgives, one that
Allah does not forgive, and one that Allah would not let go without
punishment… The wrong that Allah does not forgive is ascribing
partners to Him {Surely Allah does not forgive
that anything should be associated with Him, and forgives what is
besides that to whomsoever He pleases; and whoever associates
anything with Allah, he devises indeed a great sin} [4:48], and the one that He forgives is one’s wrong towards
himself, and the one that he will not let go without punishment, is
the denial of the rights of others.
Once
a governor who was appointed by the Umayyad unjust ruler Al-Hajjaj
asked Imam Al-Baqir (a.s.) about the possibility of Allah’s
accepting his repentance. The Imam (a.s.) said: not
until you give back everybody what is due to him.
The
Messenger (p.) says: “The
most severe kind of wrong doing is the one against he who does not
have anybody to support him but God”.
Then
there is the wrongdoing of taking people’s money in an unlawful
manner. According to traditions this will be punished by being
tortured by hellfire.
The
day the wronged will stand before God, the most Exalted, to ask Him
to return his right by punishing the wrongdoers, is certainly more
severe than the pain felt by the wronged. For this will take place
in the hereafter.
{The
day that no sons or wealth avail except those who comes to Allah
with a heart free of evil}(26:89).
Prohibition
of injustice for human beings and animals.
Some traditions stated
that the human being must think carefully when he is about to
inflict others with any harm or oppression, such as hitting his
wife, his son, his neighbors, or any weak person, just because be
possesses political, military, social or tribal power. He must think
of the Day of Judgment, the day people have to show up before the
Lord of the worlds. Indeed, such thoughts will prevent him from
carrying out any wrongdoing. In this respect, it has been reposted
that Imam Zain El-Abiddin (a.s.) tried once to mount his camel and
it didn’t let him. He then picked his whip in an attempt to hit
the animal, but he quickly refrained from doing so saying, “Hadn’t
been there any punishment”, that is how the Imam (a.s.)
used to handle the matters of life, something that teaches us a very
useful lesson: Human beings must not deal with others oppressively
nor with animals.
We must know that there
is no difference when it comes to prohibiting injustice whether
towards human beings or animals. Although you are allowed to
slaughter animals, because God, the most Exalted, had made it lawful
for you to do so, you must not torture them.
Some traditions reported
that a woman went to Hell because she killed her cat through
starvation. Moreover, no distinction is made between oppressing a
Muslim and oppressing an unbeliever, because oppression and justice
have no religion. Justice is for all people –Muslims and
unbelievers. It has been written in some works that Allah, the most
Exalted, inspired one of his prophets who used to live under the
rule of a dictator: Go to that dictator and tell him that I have
appointed you to end any injustice, even if it were upon
unbelievers.
The most severe
oppression is eating up the property of orphans, for Allah, the most
Exalted, says: {Those who unjustly eat up the
property of orphans, eat up a fire unto there own bodies: they will
soon be enduring a playing fire}(
4:10
).
And if you don’t intend
to practice any oppression, Imam Al-Sadeq (a.s) shows you the reward
God, the most Exalted, will bestow on you. He says (a.s.): “He
who wakes up not intending to oppress any body, God will forgive all
the sins he commits on that day, as long as he doesn’t kill any
one and the doesn’t eat up an orphan’s properties:
Allah, the most Exalted,
wants people to live to justice in this world. He wants them to
preserve each other’s rights, to be fair with their Lord, with
themselves and with people around them. He wants them to be fair
with the environment they live in, because that environment embraces
some creatures that Allah, the most Exalted, wants to be respected
and protected from any harm. Furthermore, preserving the environment
as well as preserving Justice leads to protection from all the
deceases and disasters.
Let us learn from how to
be just, and respect the human in us by respecting it in others, for
this is what elevates our society in this world, and what makes us
close to Allah, the most Exalted, in the Hereafter.
The
Second Sermon
In
the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
America ’s
current target: the Islamic countries
The
American military bases in the region, especially in the Gulf, has
started to hit the drums of war against the region’s peoples… in
a masked military mandate that seeks to dominate political stances
and economic circumstances, and threaten with preventive strikes to
several probable targets, such as Syria, Libya and Iran.
The Americans are claiming that they want to prevent these
countries from possessing mass destruction weapons, they are even
threatening to use biological, chemical and nuclear weapons against
any party that might use these weapons against them or against any
of their friends and allies.
In
this respect, it is quite ironic that the country that offered America the biggest
military base in the region is the country that holds the presidency
of the Islamic Conference Organization, at a time everyone knows
that these bases target the Islamic states especially Palestine (the people), Iran and others… America wants these
bases to punish any country or organization that wishes to practice
its freedom or independence or opposes the American hegemony over
the peoples’ resources and policies. These bases also serve to
protect Israel against the
strikes of the Palestinian Intifada that struggles to attain the
rights of self-determination and independence.
It
is also ironic that America has announced
an initiative to help the Arabs to enhance democracy, develop the
civil society institutions and ensure the rule of law in this part
of the world. The slogan of democracy aims at preserving the
American interests by finding a formal and superficial state of
change that does not deal with such issues as protecting the
national wealth and the consuming markets from the arrogant
dominance. We also know that America ’s allies in
the region are the ones who confiscate the nation’s interests
though they might cover their actions with certain marginal features
of democracy.
Democracy
as a cover
America
also knows that most down-trodden nations, including those of the
Arab and Islamic worlds have carried in their hearts a hatred for
the successive American successive
Administrations, for they stood with the Zionist occupation of
Palestine with all its atrocities and massacres. It even prevents
the Security Council from any condemnation of the Zionist barbaric
acts… It gives the butcher, Sharon , all the
support he needs to finish his criminal plan. In this respect Bush has appointed a new official “Abrams” in charge of the Middle East region in the
American National Security Council, who believes that Sharon “is the one
qualified to confront and fight Palestinian violence”.
Is
this state of indifference going to continue?
If the Arab and Islamic peoples would be able to gain their
freedom by removing the officials that America has installed
to serve its interests, it will naturally stand against the American
aggressive policies… Would America accept such a
real change in the region?
Is
it ready to accept the decisive outcome, or does it want to redraw
the political map of the region?
As
for the Arabs and Muslims, the real question is: Is this state of
indifference going to continue? Are they going to stay in this state
of subjugation, surrender and obedience! Certain officials in these
countries have started to obey the American dictates, and others are
expected to follow. Where is the Arab league? How does it remain
silent with all what is going on?
And
how does the Islamic conference remain absent with all the threats
that face the Islamic states?
And
to those who are waiting for America to save them from internal
oppression, expecting that it will install them in power, we ask: Is
America, which has installed all those dictators in our region to
protect its interests, a charity organization or does it want to
re-impose its hegemony in the region to serve its economic and
political interests? How could you be sure that it will not create
new dictators like the ones it helped to create in the past?
What
is needed, if you are up to it, is to plan for a change that takes
into account your interests and not that of others.
All
our problems have been caused by America and its
arrogant allies, as a result of a grand act of deception…
We
need to keep our eyes wide open to see all what is being plotted
against the nation at all levels.
Do
not forget Palestine
And
we have to keep in mind the issue of Palestine , as all the
political instability in the region aims at making us be distracted
so that Israel and America will be able to
end the Intifada. We should also not forget the Golan and the
occupied regions in Lebanon , and continue
to monitor the new Israeli acts to destabilize the Lebanese
security. In this respect, we ask: why was not this issue of the
bombs that killed Lebanese civilians raised at the international
level, while Israel made a lot of
fuss, over the reaction.
The
fire that was burning under the ashes has surfaced… How are we
going to extinguish it?
We
need an awareness that matches the events, a resolve that matches
the danger and a unity that matches the challenges
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