Friday speeches 29 Zu elhujja 1424h/20 February 2004AD

God 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. There are two occasions related to the Members of the House that took place towards the end of this month, the first is that of earnest praying that God mentioned it in the context of the story of the Christians of Najran who came to the Prophet to argue about Islam.
The Messenger (p.) welcomed them warmly and received them in his mosque. He even allowed them to pray in the mosque which angered some of the Muslims, but the Messenger (p.) told them: let them pray as they wish.
During the course of the dialogue they asked him whom do you call to, and the Messenger (p.) said: I call for the one god, and that Jesus is His servant, Messenger and word which He communicated to Mary…”
But they asked him: How could he be a human being while he has no father … (They believed that he is human only in part and divine in the other part).
The Messenger told them he is like Adam whom Allah created from dust, “then said to him, be and he was”.
They were unable to find any thing to say. For they believed that the divinity of Christ was due to the fact that he had no father.
They had to agree that Allah who created Adam of no father or mother can create another man without a father. Allah’s creation is not governed by any law. He only says be and there it would be.

The debate continued with the Christians not willing to be convinced. The Messenger (p.) then had to resort to that form of earnest praying that was customary at that time: The two parties would stand before God and pray that those who are lying should be cursed and punished. They agreed to do so and asked Muhammad to bring his loved ones with him. When they saw that Muhammad brought along his daughter Fatima, his cousin, Ali and their sons Al-Hussein and Al-Hassan, they refused to pray, for they knew that he would not have brought them had not he been sincere, They signed an agreement with him and Allah revealed the following verse: If any one disputes in this matter with thee, now after (full) knowledge Hath come to thee, say: "Come! Let us gather together,- our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves: Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke the curse of Allah on those who lie!" 3:61

This verse was considered an honor for Ahl El Beit. For although the Messenger (p.) loved through his emotions, he did not love except those who were worthy of this love, and those whom Allah loved.

Another lesson, we learn from this Ayat is that we could resort to this form of praying in any similar situation we face. It also tells us that the Messenger (p.) welcomed any dialogue with the Christians. He even let them pray in his mosque although their prayers were different to show us how tolerant Islam is. This call and willingness to conduct a dialogue was emphasized in the Glorious Book: And do not dispute with the followers of the Book except by what is best, except those of them who act unjustly, and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you, and our Allah and your Allah is One, and to Him do we submit. 46:29

The second occasion that the Quran mentions has to do with the virtues of Ahl El-Beit.

It was narrated that once Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein got sick, and the Prophet visited them. He then told Ali (a.s.) and Fatima to vow to do something for God or to fast if Allah heals them.

They vowed to fast for three days. And when they were healed they embarked on fulfilling their vow. Imam Ali (a.s.) borrowed some money from a Jew to bake some bread so that they can break their fast.

On sunset, and when they were about to eat, they were visited by three poor men with each asking for food. They gave them all the food they have.

In another version it is said that each of the three poor people came in a different day, an in each day they gave them all the food they had. There after Allah, the most Exalted, sent the following verse: And they give food out of love for Him to the poor and the orphan and the captive. We only feed you for Allah's sake; we desire from you neither reward nor thanks

These are the Members of the House who give for the sake of getting nearer to God without asking for any gratitude… This also tells us that we have to think about the orphans, the poor, the needy and the prisoners, and give them from what Allah, the most Exalted, has given us, and be sure that Allah, the most Exalted, will reward us with His unrestricted reward.

Moreover we have to think about the Day of Judgment ,the day we are going to meet our God and make sure that we have earned his satisfaction and not his wrath, for at that day no money or children will do one any good, but only one’s good deeds.

Dear beloved, these are the Members of the House who have taught us these values. They are the ones who earned Allah’s pleasure, for they loved him as he ought to be loved and obeyed him as he ought to be obeyed. We have to follow their example and learn what they taught us. For to be a follower of Ahl El-Beit is in fact an issue of practice; for one can not be of their Shiites unless he loves God and fellow humans and seek to translate this love into actions.

With the advent of Ashoura the epic of sacrifice and brutality on the part of the unjust, we should enter into Ashoura in an active and conscious manner.
True, Ashoura is tragic and one cannot but cry, but Ashoura is also a message and an example.
It is a message of rebellion and challenge to all unjust arrogant powers.
Thus to relive Ashoura is to confront the current challenge of the arrogant world.
To do this we should know what is being planned for us.

To ensure its hegemony of the expanded Middle East that includes the Arab World, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan…America is trying to change this Middle East under the pretense of freedom, democracy and human rights. But Washington does not mention anything about the Arab Israeli struggle and Israel’s role in destabilizing the region, or of engaging it in several wars and occupying Arab lands which gave way for the creation of several dictatorships and states of violence, as a result of foreign interventions, especially those of the U.S.

America has tried to make the European Union and NATO a part of this project in a way that is similar to the alliance against the Ottoman Empire that changed the face of this region at the beginning of the last century.

In this respect, we notice that this project that is being planned and which is going to be proposed to the eight super powers was not discussed with the countries of the region. These countries are not allowed to protest or even inquire… We ask the coming Arab Summit that announced that it would study this project: Are they going to study it in an independent way?

What if they don’t agree with it? Could they transfer their objection into action, or would what had happened in the last summit in Beirut where they offered free concessions that nobody bothered with, be repeated. We can no longer decide on anything.. We only can agree with what is being dictated on us, admitting that we have become so sick that we should be treated in American or a NATO hospital.

America has sent envoys to Palestine to discuss Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and change the course of the racial wall to lessen the Palestinian sufferings. But we are used to the fact that the Americans do not exert any pressure on Israel and they only talk to them to pay lip service to the Arabs or to the world that has begun to oppose America’s support of Israel.

Although the Arabs have heard some nice words from the American spokesman, but Israel is waiting for Sharon to visit the US to convince the American president of all its projects, and ask him for additional aid in return for withdrawing from Gaza and to exert further pressure on the Palestinian Authority to fight the Intifada leading to a civil war that would make Israel achieve what it was not able to, by the wars it waged.

The Secretary General of the UN said that it is impossible to hold elections in Iraq before the end of June, and those who demanded elections started to look for alternatives. Meanwhile, there is much debate going on regarding federalism and its racial and geographic implications, as well as the institution and its basis. The American ruler of Iraq has refused to consider Islam a basis for the constitution, and reviewed the Iraqis that he has the right to veto any law the Iraqis pass. What kind of democracy are the Americans talking about? And what kind of an Iraqi authority are they building, especially that they have announced that they will stay in Iraq for several years? Meanwhile they even warn of a civil war between the Sunnis and the Shiites…

We warn the Iraqis of the American plans and call for a Muslim unity among Muslims and a national unity among all Iraqis… Any war will destroy all Iraqis and will end their future.

We are following the situation in Iran very cautiously, especially with view of the challenges it faces now that America has become on the Iranian borders in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries with America military basis. In the face of these challenges which seek to destabilize Iran both from the inside and the outside, we call on the Iranians to safeguard the Islamic regime, for it unifies the nation and upholds the Islamic law. Everybody should know that Islam is not afraid of freedom that is based upon responsibility… for it has the power to face all political and ideological challenges. Moreover, restricting freedoms does not protect any regime, especially with the outside influences that try to exploit the internal differences.

With all the issues or its agenda, whether in the field of communication and electricity, or that are related to local governments and freedom, Lebanon is besieged by clientalism and partisanship to the extent that the people have no choice, which in turn makes them fall in despair…

All that talk about coexistence, national reconciliation, and Islamic- Christian dialogue is nothing but illusions… while the solid facts are starvation, darkness, sufferings and pains… to the extent that one can no longer say: Many happy returns in any occasion in Lebanon.