Friday speeches 30 rabi'II 1425h/18 June 2004AD

What according to Islam, as evident in the Book and the Traditions, are the elements of success in this life and the Hereafter? The world success is one of the Islamic slogans that is urged upon in calling for prayers. In this sense, its association with prayer is due to the fact that prayer is the believer's means to ascend through his soul to God and ensure success in both worlds.

This is what man should seek in all his spiritual and social activities. To ensure success, Allah wants us to start by purifying ourselves: He indeed shall be successful who purifies himself, and glorifies the name of his Lord and prays (87:14-15).

Thus, man has to purify himself from all kinds of ideological, spiritual and moral dirt. In doing so, he will head towards God, for if man feels the pureness of God in his life, he will feel that Allah is watching him. Thus, both his love to Allah and his fear from Him will impel him to obey God, and keep away from sin.

We also need to purify our souls: And the soul and Him Who made it perfect, Then He inspired it to understand what is right and wrong for it; He will indeed be successful who purifies it, and he will indeed fail who corrupts it. (91:9-12). Allah wants man to study this soul that He had given him to organize and manage his life, giving it the ability of being creative and asking it to choose between the line of piety and the line of sin. To choose the line of piety, we are asked to purify our souls for they will lead us to success and keep us away from failure as what will happen to those who corrupt their souls.

Continuing to list the elements of success, we read that belief in God, His Messenger and the Hereafter, is an essential element in securing success, and unbelief is a major element in failure.

Successful indeed are the believers Who are humble in their prayers Thus, performing this religious duties in the proper way especially charity, giving the poor their due that it is usually coupled in the Quran with performing prayers will secure some of the elements of success.

And who keep aloof from what is vain, and who are givers of poor-rate, and who guard their private parts. Except before their mates or those whom their right hands possess, for they surely are not blamed, But whoever seeks to go beyond that, these are they that exceed the limits. Those who are committed to avoid doing any sexual act that Allah prohibited, would also be securing another element of success, in contrast to those who transgress the limits of Allah who would be lead astray. Believers should also keep their pledges and return the trusts if they wish to ensure success.

And those who keep a guard on their prayers; they should also perform prayers without any uncalled for delay or ignoring any of its parts or conditions

These are they who are the heirs, who shall inherit the Paradise; they shall abide therein.

Then, Allah tells us about the necessity of those who might deviate and commit sins that Allah deemed unlawful to repent. He calls on them to come to Him, and tells them not to despair.

For Allah is Merciful and Forgiving. Meaning that there is no sin that Allah does not accept repentance for. Most Muslims who entered Islam with the exception of Imam Ali used to pray for the idols, and then they repented. Repentance does not need a confession before a religious man. Just you open your heart to God and say that I repent, and Allah, the most Exalted, will accept your repentance, and have Mercy on you. Thus, repenting too is one of the roads that lead to success.

Allah wants man to witness His Greatness in every thing He has created. He says to the attendants of the Friday prayers: But when the prayer is ended, then disperse abroad in the land and seek of Allah's grace, and remember Allah much, that you may be successful. (62:10)

Thus, Allah wants us to seek success in all aspects of life. God also tells us that seeking success is also sought in not opening up on those who are hostile to Allah and His Messenger.

He says: “You shall not find a people who believe in Allah and the latter day befriending those who act in opposition to Allah and His Messenger, even though they were their (own) fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their kinsfolk; these are they into whose hearts He has impressed faith, and whom He has strengthened with an inspiration from Him: and He will cause them to enter gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein; Allah is well-pleased with them and they are well-pleased with Him these are Allah's party: now surely the party of Allah are the successful ones” (58:22).

As for those who will not be successful, they are those who lie: See how they lie against their own souls, and that which they forged has passed away from them… (6:24) And those who resort to crime to promote their personal and ideological interests. Moreover, those who assume partners to Allah will not be successful. And whoever invokes with Allah another god-- he has no proof of this-- his reckoning is only with his Lord; surely the unbelievers shall not be successful. (23:117).

We have to seek to aspire what draws us nearer to Allah, the most Exalted, and what provides us with the elements of success in both worlds. Allah's satisfaction is the ultimate goal we should all compete to earn.

The meeting of the Islamic countries’ foreign ministers ended up in a generous resolution calling on effectively helping Iraq in the transitional period, asking the UN to deploy peace keeping forces in the occupied Palestinian lands, renewing support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, supporting Lebanon in its confrontation of Israeli occupation and condemning threats and American sanctions against Syria.

All this is beautiful, but what will each country do to implement these decisions. What elements of political and economic pressures do these countries possess?

Are they even able to counter the American pressures that force them to quit any attempt to pursue their vital interests that demand a confrontation of the Israeli aggressions and plots? They all feel that they can do nothing to implement the resolutions on the ground, could they then threaten Israel and America by economic sanctions, as we should in response to their military economic and military threats?

We find that this organization that calls itself Islamic does not represent the aspirations of the Islamic peoples nor does it seriously follow up its resolutions. It rather acts, following the suggestions of the American Arrogant Administration, in a way that reflects its incompetence.

As for the Bush Administration, we cannot find a better description for it than what the former American diplomats and military officers said about its arrogant foreign policy that relies on excessive and immoral use of military force that led to an unprecedented international isolation.

They also accused the Administration of being motivated by ideology and not rational analyses. Thus, the Administration manipulates the information it gets from unreliable intelligence sources and prevents a just solution for the Arab-Israeli struggle.

This arrogant policy towards the Palestinians is evident in all the positions it has taken, whether by encouraging Israel to destroy the Palestinian infrastructure, considering the resistance against occupation as terrorism, or by legalizing the settlements and the separating wall. All this made the Road Map that is supposed to lead to a Palestinian state a silly political joke. America has jeopardized any progress the Quartet Committee could make and turned it to an incompetent group, for those who control the Administration seek to promote the Zionist interests more than they are interested in promoting the American ones.

Thus, faced by the tragic situation in Palestine, we have to take a negative stand against the American policies that are responsible for the tragedies in Palestine, Iraq and the entire region. As a result of the American bias that is demonstrated in blind support for Israel, the people of the region no longer differentiate between the two states in all major issues, especially when it comes to the issue of freedom.

The Americans have dropped this issue from their agenda in Palestine as they chose to back Israeli occupation; while in Iraq, the American occupation forces will stay in Iraq and turn into a de facto one, since the Iraqi authorities will not have any authority over them under the pretense of protecting their own security. Moreover, their stay will be legitimized by a treaty that no Iraqi government can have the option to reject. However, the question is: if America could not guarantee the security of its own soldiers as well as the Iraqis, how could it keep the peace in Iraq in the absence of an Iraqi army or Iraqi security forces?

Iraq has turned into a front where all players meet, and where criminals, both Iraqis and foreigners, kill civilians in a merciless and meaningless way…

Moreover, the American-appointed government officials ask the Iraqis every now and then to expect new massacres and that they have to be patient… However, could the Iraqis get out of this dark tunnel if the Americans refuse to open any outlet for light in it?

On another level, America has been pressuring the European countries to continue to hold a political confrontation with Iran over its peaceful use of nuclear power, despite the fact that Iran has declared that it has signed the non-proliferation treaty, and declared that it is against producing nuclear weapons.

It is as if they are telling the Iranians to sort everything with America and all their problems will be solved.

We appreciate Iran's firm stand in this confrontation with the US. In addition, we believe that the Islamic Republic has the strength and the willpower that will enable it to withstand all American pressures.

In Lebanon, instead of discussing the deep-rooted causes of its economic problems, the political movement turns to superficial and temporary solutions.

In the electricity crisis, there was a lot of talk about corruption, waste and the responsibility of those who have succeeded one another in being in charge of providing power. But, as customary, instead of holding those responsible accountable, they turned their attention to providing power in summer to save the tourist season, by allocating billions of Lebanese pounds, that will further increase the public debt, which lead in turn to an increase in taxes on the poor.

The poor and the hungry in Lebanon are asking: How can we live, and how can we confront these living crises? Meanwhile, political crises concerning the government or the presidential elections continue to emerge, and the Israeli warplanes continue to flow over Lebanon in a way that has become almost natural…

In the meantime, more political drugs are prescribed, and the whole thing looks like a comic tragedy… and nothing but more bad news is in the horizon.