Justice for all

During the past week, we met with the anniversary of the birth of the Imam of the time, Imam Al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his return ). It is an occasion, we have to live, since it is based on the rule the Prophet (p) made as he was leaving this world when he said: "I am leaving among you what if you adhere to you will never be deviated. The Book of God and my progeny.

Therefore, the imamate that aimed at protecting Islam from the deviations others might try to attribute to, represents the present leadership that accompanies the people and guides them in everything that they might face, aiming at opening their minds on the Right, their hearts on the Good and their life on justice. This is because the imamate and the following of Ahl el-Beit is not a matter of love, but it is also and in the first place an adherence and a commitment to the leadership of the Imams who link the people with the Message of Islam.

The community in every age will remain a Muslim community, with the father living Islam in his house, and the people living Islam in their social life and in struggle fronts, so that they will live all the aspects of their life including those related to the issues of struggle in accordance with the Messenger in all they do or abstain from doing.

This is how we understand the issue of imamate. It is to abide by what the leadership from Imam Ali to Imam Al-Mahdi in all what they left us whether their interpretation of the Quran or the application of the Islamic law in our life, since when the Imams left us, they did not leave us in vacuum, they left us their legacy and their objective interpretation and application of God's law (Shariah). And this is also the role of the religious scholars whom the Messenger(p.) asked us to follow when he said scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets.

The Messenger(p.) also said: "The religious scholars are the heirs of the religion as long as they do not seek they do not enter this world. Asked what is meant by entering this world, the Prophet said: "Following the Sultan" meaning following the unjust tyrant ruler. He added: "If you see a scholar caring about this world then do not trust him with your religion, since he will present his deviation as part of the religion. Imam Mahdi told us that with respect to the new events that we encounter we should go back to the “narrators of our Hadith”, since they are his witness, while he is Allah's witness.

The Imam of justice and Good

Thus, being one of his supporters, means that we should be just whether with respect to God, ourselves or others, and that we should face all tyrants and arrogant men.

We have to study ourselves: Are we among his supporters and helpers? This could be defined by the criterion of justice: To be a follower of the Imam is to be a just person who does not wrong nor does he support the arrogant and the tyrant.

Therefore, it is not necessary to go back, as many people do, to certain books, to try to determine when the Imam will appear since is something that is part of Allah's knowledge, and He alone will decide on it when the right time comes.

The Imam is the Imam of Islam justice and Good, and we have to follow him by being just and seek to spread justice and face tyrants everywhere.

O God, make him the caller for your Book. Make him your Caliph in this earth as you made those before him. Consolidate for him Your religion, the one You chose for him. Change his concern into tranquility … O God, support him… and support others by him… Give him a remarkable victory … Oh, God! Let us become among his supporters

God, we ask you for an honorable state, that gives Islam and Muslims the upper hand and disgraces hypocrisy and its supporters… And make us of those who call for obeying you, and those who lead to your path….O God: we ask You for an honorable state that supports Islam and its people and humiliates hypocrisy and its people. We ask You to make us among the caller for obeying You and of the leaders to Your course

O Allah. O Allah! Show us the rightly guided face of (Imam a.s.), the praiseworthy moon (referring to the face of Imam a.s.) and enlighten our vision by looking at him. And hasten his reappearance, make his arrival smooth, hasten his path, make us tread on his way and implement his authority and strengthen his back.

The Second Sermon

The New Middle East

The region is still under the influence of several complicated political and security factors as a result of the international challenges led by the US in the name of "Fighting terrorism". America is exploiting the anniversary of nine eleven to pressurise the region in order to realize it project of the New Middle East, while its actual aim is to put its hands over the region's oil resources, even if it includes spreading the "constructive chaos" that American New Cons and the Zionist Christians, feel is an important tool in carrying out their plans.

Targeting Islam

As a result of their political weakness, we feel that the Arabs will not attain any positive results through their dealings with America whose only concern is the Israeli interest.

Israel in the American view should remain the strongest power in the region that all the others submit too. The American President has told the Israeli foreign minister that he will not exert any pressure on Israel concerning the Arabs initiative.

Bush's speeches still aim at intimidating the American and Western public opinion by saying that Syria Iran Palestine and Lebanon threaten the entire world.

As a part of this vicious plans, we have noticed how the arrogant American Administration have frozen the process of finding a solution to the Palestinian problem, by stopping the negotiations, under the pretence that the Intifada is a terrorist movement that has to be stopped before any talk about a Palestinian state. America also does not exert any pressure on Israel to stop its daily massacres, which leaves the Palestinians without a chance to catch their breathe, since America feels that the solution lies in the Palestinian unconditional surrender. Even when it comes to the Palestinian state, America wants it to be a marginal satellite state under the Israeli economic and political influence.

We warn the Palestinians, the authority, the cabinet, and the Resistance, against the deceit represented by the expected results of meeting with the Zionist prime minister , since it will not yield any significant results.

We also warn from expecting much from the Security Council, since some of its resolutions were never be into practice, as a result of the interference of America and its allies who target Islam to distort its doctrine and blame it for all the terrorist acts in the world and for the popular hatred of their policies.

In this respect, there are several points that should be highlighted.

Firstly: Israeli denial of the rights of Lebanese civilians, and planning after the end of the war to kill Lebanese farmers and their children by means of over 1.2 million cluster bombes that Israel pounded Lebanon with, without any American condemnation, since the US does not respect the Lebanese civilians.

Secondly: Violating the blue line and annexing Lebanese territory before the UNIFIL eyes.

That the UNIFIL kept silent and did not object suggests that it cannot stop any Israeli aggression against Lebanon.

On the other hand, it is alarming that the Lebanese government did not protest to the Security Council, despite the reports that the Lebanese Army has submitted reports detailing the violations.

Thirdly: The statement of the German Chancellor about sending the German troops to protect Israel's existence, which means that the role of the UNIFIL is to protect Israel not Lebanon. This means that all Lebanese, regardless of their sects, should continue to monitor the developments, especially regarding the UIVFIL movements that reflect a hidden agenda especially that has to do with protecting the enemy.

In this atmosphere, we hear statements that aim at playing one Lebanese party against the other and one Muslim power against the other.

They are trying to make the Arab world afraid from Iran claiming that it wants to dominate Iraq, and citing its nuclear capability. But Iran has declared time and again that it only wants to protect itself from the American occupier in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Israel being a nuclear power, is the only threat to the region, especially as a result of its primitive wars and intelligence subversions.

The Pope's Understanding of Islam

In this recent lecture the Pope claimed that the will of God according to Islam is not related to any of our concepts and not even to reason. He called for a dialogue between civilizations and said that Christianity is closely linked to reason in contrast to those who accept spreading their religion by force, and added that violence contradicts with the nature of God and that of the spirit.

Such statements indicate that the Pope does not possess an academic and objective knowledge of Islam that considered reason a divine power that constitutes the basis of all issues including belief. It also called for calling by means of wisdom the People of the Book, the Jews and Christians, and adopt the best means, to meet on a common factor. It also said that religion could not be coerced. As for the Jihad, the Quran affirms that it is a defensive act and not an offensive one, just as in all civilizations.

As for claiming that the will of Allah does not conform to reason, we believe that this is a wrong understanding, since our faith affirms, the wisdom of God in all His creations and actions, since He is the Wise the Compassionate and the Merciful.

We call on the Pope to study Islam thoroughly and objectively.

Moreover, as we accept his call for a dialogue between civilizations and cultures, that I have called for decades ago, we do not accept the apology of the Vatican sources, that claims that the Pope was not talking about Islam itself but rather about exploiting it to incite violence, since the pope was talking about conceptual issues such as "reason" and "sacred wars'”. We demand that he should apologize personally and not through his sources for this wrong reading which we do not wish that someone in his religious position should present to the world.

But as we denounce all this talk especially the citing of the emperor’s talk that offends our Prophet, we call for a Christian Islamic relationship based on the objective profound understanding for each other's views away from all inciting words.

Building a just state in Lebanon

In Lebanon, we warn against any tension in the political discourse and call for a purposeful objective dialogue on the basis of building the country on a firm foundation that guaranties freedom and peace for all Lebanese. If the aim of this dialogue is building a just and strong state, we have to discus which state we want and how it possess the strength and justice that enable it to confront the Zionist continuous aggression.

The Lebanese ought to conduct the dialogue in a way that avoids scoring points as well as exclusion. They should not once again allow any official to cooperate with those that have hurt Lebanon, or enable the corrupt to hold responsibilities. The just state needs clean hands that do not use sectarianism to promote its political interests.

We also have to warn from some of those who trying to incite civil strife in Lebanon, like Henry Kissinger who is responsible for the Lebanese civil war and who said that Hizbollah next step will be trying to extend his hegemony over the Lebanese government by intimidation, as well as Shimon Peres who said that in a week or two the Shiites might dominate in Lebanon.

We advise them not to be dragged into executing what the enemy and America are planning for inciting civil strife in Lebanon. We call on the government to uphold its economic, social, military and political responsibilities and choose honest people in the field of aid and relief.