The First Sermon 

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Imam Rida (a.s.)was the most Knowledgeable scholar of his age whether at Medina, or in Iran. He was appointed by Al-Mamoun as his successor in an act of acknowledgment of his knowledge and wisdom. Al- Mamoun was aware of the fact that there was no one in the Abbasids or Alawites could even be close to him in his knowledge, morals, spirituality and piety. Speaking about how knowledgeable he was, some of his contemporaries say:

“ I have not seen any one more knowledgeable than Ali bin Musu Al-Rida”. Every scholar who saw him has come up with the same testimony. Al-Ma'moun gathered a number of scholars, theologians, and jurists of all religious sects, and asked them to ask him any questions they wanted. The Imam (a.s) answered each question on the basis of the religion of the inquirer. And he was able to overcome all of them, until they all admitted that he was more knowledgeable.

It is said that the Imam used to sit in the Prophet’s Mosque which was at that time full of scholars whom people referred to. When those scholars found it difficult to answer any questions they referred them to Imam Al-Rida (a.s) , who used to answer all of them.

He was a role model in his piety, spending his night praying and invoking God. He was also an example in his modesty. He used to sit at the same table with his servants and slaves. Asked why he does not let them sit at a different table he said: "We all have the same god, the same father and the same mother, Adam and Eve, and we are all rewarded (or punished) on the basis of our actions”. He then pointed at a black slave and said: “I swear that I do not believe that I am better then this black salve because of my relationship to the Prophet, unless I do good deeds that are better than his”.

People are better because they perform good deeds and not according to whom they are related to. This is an important lesson to all those who consider themselves better then others because they are decedents of the Prophet (p.).

Muhammad's friend is he who obeys God even if he is not related to him, and Muhammad's enemy is he who disobeys God if he was a close relative.

When the Imam went to Khurasan, people, and especially those who narrated the Prophet's hadith, used to gather around him and ask him to talk, to narrate some of Muhammad (p.)'s sayings. He narrated once this hadith that has become to be known as the Gold chain: My father Mousa al-Kazim (A.S.) narrated to me from his father Ja'fer al-Sadiq (A.S.) from his father Muhammad al-Baqir (A.S.) from his father Ali Zaynul-Abidin (A.S.) from his father, the Martyr of Kerbala (A.S.), from his father Ali ibn Abu Talib (A.S.) saying: `My loved one, and the pleasure of my eyes, the Messenger of God (S.A.W.), narrated to me once that Jibrail (Gabriel) told him that he had heard the Lord of the Throne, Glorified and Praised be His Name, saying, `The kalima of LA ILAHA ILLA-ALLAH is My citadel; whoever said it would enter My citadel, and whoever entered My citadel was safe from My retribution’.

He wanted to say that unifying God is the fundamental principle of the message that calls to worship one god and not ascribe partners to Him.

This is the basis of all unifying religions that wanted to liberate man from serving other men and be free in worshipping Allah only.

The Imam(a.s.) also emphasized the necessity of abiding by the Quran. Asked about his opinion of the Quran, he said : The Quran is the speech of Allah. Do not step ahead of it. And do not seek the guidance, except from Quran, for you will go astray.

He also said in answering a question about how the Quran seems to be always new, he said this is because that it was not meant to some people and not others and to a certain time and not all times.

He used to send Messages to his followers who follow the Islamic line of that Ahl al-Beit to guide them to their own good.

I n one of his letters to Sayyed Abdilazim al-Hassani, one of the great Shiite scholars who used to follow the school of Ahl el-Beit, the Imam (a.s) says: “Give my best whishes to my followers, and tell them not to enable Satan to find his way to them. They should consider him their enemy - Do not let him seduce you to obey him in what makes you disobey God - And tell them to be truthful in what they say, and to return what they are entrusted with to its owners, I don’t want my followers to be liars in what they say or promise, and they should not involve in debates in what does not concern them. If they want to engage in debates it should be about their responsibility in life … Tell them also to be close to one another and exchange visits.

They ought to visit one another ... He added: “They should not be concerned in breaking up one another.- Those who do so, the Imam has asked God to punish them in this world and in the Hereafter - He ends by saying: Let them know that Allah has rewarded those who had done good deeds among them, and forgiven those who sinned, except those who assumed partners to God or hurt one of Allah’s followers… If they do so, Allah will not forgive them until they cease to do so”.

He also used to guide people to keep the memory of Ahl-el-Beit (a.s) alive, so that people will follow their line.

But how do we do this? Some people consider that this should be done by hitting our backs with chains and our heads with swords .

But the Imam states that the only way to revive their memory is by learning their theological sciences, and all what they have said in the domains of doctrine, Shariah and morals then "teach them to the people for if they know the good is in what we tell them they will follow us”.

On the other hand, being excessive in our sayings will lead the people to accuse us of unbelief. Moreover, some people curse our enemies, which will lead these enemies to retaliate by cursing us.

He also called for helping the poor, considering it the best kind of charity.

Furthermore, he believed that man's friend is his mind, while man's enemy is his ignorance.

The Imam (a.s.) is one of the summits of Islam. He has drawn so close to Allah that we can draw nearer to Allah through his intercession and that of his fathers and sons. This is line Ahl el-Beit (a.s), the line of Islam that leads us to the straight path.

The region is becoming more and more destabilized as a result of the American policy that relied on intelligence lies to justify its occupation especially that of Iraq.

In this respect, the American President has admitted that he attacked Iraq on the basis of false intelligence information. Nevertheless, he expressed his determination to stay in Iraq until he achieves victory.

The question we would like to ask President Bush and his Administration is: Who will protect the peoples from further intelligence mistakes, especially that the American political and economic plans requires further pressures on to subjugate both friends and opposing peoples to the American imperial interests?

We have even read that the Pentagon is waging a 400 million Dollar media campaign to boost America's image in all parts of the world including the allied countries. At the same time, the American intelligence agencies continue to spy on the American antiwar organizations.

To the European countries, and especially to Britain, that supported the American occupation we ask: What do they have to say now that the American President undermined all their arguments to support occupation?

America continues its political war against the region. It threatens with economic sanctions the countries that oppose its occupation especially Syria to make them support its occupation, as well as ending their support to the Palestinian people, considering such a support as a support to terrorism.

Lebanon lies in a state of a shaking security situation which led to an attack on the freedom of the press and the opposition.

This situation threatens to distort the credibility of the judiciary system and its ability to rule in the crimes that take place in Lebanon. It also undermines the confidence in the Lebanese security that seems unable of discovering and controlling the brutal assassinations so as to justify the call for an international aid and possibly for an international security forces under the pretext that Lebanon is incapable of defending its territories.

We are afraid that things could reach such a level, and we call on those who claim that they care about this small country to promote its security and military potentials. We especially call the rich Arab states that express their concern in the security and prosperity of Lebanon.

We call on the Lebanese political club to be balanced in its positions and analysis so as it would open up on the objective rational dialogue that does not aim at scoring points, and that keeps away from inciting sectarianism that could turn political differences into sectarian troubles. Let our unified slogan be the slogan of national unity within a framework of political cultural and religious diversity that represents the country's civilizational wealth.

The Lebanese should be decisive in their saying that they will not yield to any other power that wants to temper with the country security and polities. There is a difference between friendship with others and completely be subordinate to them. Let us establish our relations with our Arab brothers, and our international friends on the basis of common interests and mutual respect. Let Lebanon be the front that opens up on the region by planning for the good, especially the good of Palestine, and the good of the entire world. Lebanon should remain a message of spiritual and humane values, and let us ensure to all parties that our opposition to various internal and foreign policies opens up on the positive aspects and is not restricted to seeing the negative ones.

Then there is the cause of freedom for the Palestinian people who face the daily atrocities of the Zionist occupation, and who are fighting for liberating their country from the Zionist occupation.

We should also demand the withdrawal of occupation from Iraq, We also congratulate the Iraqis on holding their elections, and we hope that they will uphold their Islamic and national unity and preserve its Arab identity to act as a positive factor that promotes the civilization and Islamic development of entire region.