Friday speeches Ramadan 17 1426 H, October 21 2005 A.D

Today, the 17th of the month of Ramadan is the anniversary of Badr, the first military encounter between the Muslims and the infidels that resulted in the victory of the Muslims and created a new force to be reckoned within the Arabian Peninsula.

The Messenger (p.) planned to challenge Quraish on the economic level. Quraish used to have two yearly trade caravans, one to Syria and the other to Yemen, in which every Quraishite took part.

The Messenger(p.) wanted to appropriate the goods not because of gaining the money but to weaken Quraish(1), in retaliation for its practices against Muslims. Abu Sufian(2), the leader of the caravan, learned about the Muslims' intentions and sent word to Quraish that deployed a huge force to protect the caravan and fight the Muslims. He also took another road avoiding the ambush the Muslims had prepared. But the Quraishites who had already had a huge force of 1000 strong, and who were certain that they will be victorious, insisted on fighting the Muslims

The Messenger(p.) gathered his companions and consulted them. Some of the Muhajireen(3) were reluctant to fight fearing the strength of Quraish but Al-Muqded bin Omar told him that they will not repeat what the Children of Israel told Moses: to go and fight with His God, for they will sit and wait. He added : By Allah, if you were to travel until you reached the Bark Ghamdar we would go with you".

Then the Prophet (p.) consulted them again. The Ansar(4) knew that he was talking to them for they have vowed to protect him inside Medina and the war was going to take place outside it. Thus, Sa'd Ibn Mu'adh replied: It seems that you are alluding to us. O Messenger of Allah, we have believed in you and we believe that you are saying the truth. We give you, based on that, our covenant to listen to and obey you.....By Allah, the One Who sent you with the truth, if you were to enter the sea, we would rush into it with you and not one of us would stay behind...May Allah show you in our actions what will satisfy your eyes. So march with us, putting our trust in Allah's blessings

God, the most exalted, pointed out to the psychological situation the Muslims felt before and after the badr battle.

Thus we notice that the Quran talks about the weaknesses of Muslims just as it talks in other places about their points of strength. This is what we should learn. We should abandon our habit of avoiding discussing our weaknesses whether on the political , military or on the religious level. The Quran wants us to be realistic: ( Even as your Lord caused you to go forth from your house with the truth, though a party of the believers were surely averse;) Quraish is so strong and we are no match for it. ( Disputing with thee concerning the truth after it was made manifest, as if they were being driven to death and they (actually) saw it) They are like those who are taken to be hanged. Behold! Allah promised you one of the two (enemy) parties, that it should be yours: either the caravan's wealth or the war Ye wished that the one unarmed should be yours, but Allah willed to justify the Truth according to His words and to cut off the roots of the Unbelievers. Allah, the most Exalted, wants you to be strong and at the same time you should not care about the bounties.

. Allah, the most Exalted, then portrays the Muslims feeling after the Prophet(p.) decided to go to war. They felt that Quraish was so strong and they asked God for help. It is also said that when Prophet saw how numerous the infidels were, he invoked God by saying: O God fulfill what you had promised me of. If this band perished, you will not be worshipped on earth anymore. He kept praying until Allah revealed this Ayah : Remember ye implored the assistance of your Lord, and He answered you: "I will assist you with a thousand of the angels, ranks on ranks." to let the Muslims be reassured. And made them feel sleepy to bestow tranquility on them: Remember He covered you with a sort of drowsiness, to give you calm as from Himself. He also sent rain and he caused rain to descend on you from heaven, to clean you therewith, to remove from you the stain of Satan, to strengthen your hearts, and to plant your feet firmly therewith, to purify them, and let the soil under them become more solid, since the rain was not strong enough to turn to mud. Then Allah told the angles to make the believers feel safe and secure, and let the infidels feel terrified : Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them."

Thus the Muslims fought and were victorious. Those who had written the chronicles of the battle of Badr all agree on the fact that the champion and hero of Badr was Imam Ali (a.s.) who was only 25 and had never engaged in a fight before, but it is the strength of belief that makes him capable of confronting all challenges. It is said that Ali (a.s.) alone killed half of the unbelievers who were killed in Badr, while keeping his eye on the Messenger(p.) to ensure his safety. It is said that whenever he went back to see the Prophet (p.) he used to find him prostrating and saying: Oh, My God, the most high, you are great.

Despite the fact that they were few in number, the Muslims were able to achieve victory, with the help of Allah, the most Exalted, who described the battle by saying. It is not ye who slew them; it was Allah: when thou threw (a handful of dust), it was not thy act, but Allah's: in order that He might test the Believers by a gracious trial from Himself: for Allah is He Who hears and knows all things

This is the battle of Badr that we ought to learn its lessons whenever we are confronted by the arrogant , we should not feel that we are weak; we should deploy all our points of strength and be armed with our faith in God so as to achieve victory over the forces of arrogant and unbelief :O ye who believe! If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly.

Detaining Palestinians is still being practiced daily in Palestine at a time the Israelis have frozen the contacts with the Palestinians Authority to discuss the security and political issues, or even to prepare the meeting with Sharon(5) who tries to humiliate the Palestinian leadership either by neglect of by stalling, The PA, in his view, is not a political partner that he would negotiate with. It is merely an Israeli tool to pressurize the Palestinian people. In the meantime, certain Arab parties are calling for declaring a Palestinian state in Gaza, and to annex the Western Bank to Jordan in a confederation, since the international political climate, in the words of a high ranking Jordanian official, does not present favorable conditions to realize any Palestinian progress, and not even at the level of the “Road Map”. This plan might also be currently studied by the American Administration, which seeks to execute Sharon's strategy of trying to avoid the idea of establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied lands of 1967.

The current problem lies in the Arab – Israeli – American and even European planning to trap the Palestinian cause in political and security dilemmas that will leave no chance for freedom and independence. They want to put them in a situation where they have to accept what is being offered to them without any objection.

Thus what is going on in Palestine intersects with the American plan for the region that is supposed to yield to the American demands in maintaining Israeli security including disarming the resistance in Lebanon, restraining the Palestinian arms, pressurizing Syria to restrain the Palestinians and protecting occupation in Iraq, as well as threatening all who do not yield to the American conditions by the sanctions made by the American dominated UN Security Council, especially Iran and its peaceful Nuclear program.

This the American colonial policy that wants to extort and dominate all nations of the world, and this what the world should be aware of, in order to protect itself against it

Even after the Iraqi people proved through the referendum that they have a free will that enables them to have their say in the future of the country, the occupation still dominates every step or development that occurs in Iraq. Not only did the people prove that they could express their opinion freely but also that they are able to protect their security on their own. They do not need the occupation which has created the security problem in the first place and which did not give the Iraqi forces the means of strength that could maintain the security to the citizens, to make them dependable on that of the occupation.

We believe that the Iraqis have to be unified in one voice that demands the withdrawal of the occupation to enable them to determine their own destiny. In this respect, any leadership that legalizes the occupation's continued presence is illegitimate and unpatriotic. On the other hand, the Arabs' new interference in Iraq should avoid associating it with their schemes that aim to protect American occupation in one way or another.

As for trying the Iraqi dictator and his regime, we believe that it should turn to a trial to the American policies that installed Sadam in the first place to usurp Iraqi resources and to engage Iraq in many wars especially against Iran and Kuwait, then, it helped the regime to crush the popular Intifada to claim afterwards that its subsequent occupation aims at saving the Iraqis, while their actual make aim was to occupy the country and put its hands on its resources. As for the talk about democracy it is but a lie to protect the American strategy and its ability to interfere in the various regions of the world.

The Lebanese political activity has moved to France which runs the Lebanese situation in all its details on behalf of the US whose Secretary of State strives to turn Lebanon into a card to pressurize Syria, and force her to succumb to its conditions.

The UN Resolution 1559 will soon bring pressure to bear on the weapons of the resistance and that of the Palestinians to secure the interests of the Israeli security. This resolution, devised by the US, Israel and France, aims to divide Lebanon between two camps: one that favors the resolution and one that opposes it. In addition to a third party that resorts to hypocrisy that relies on making some rightful stands that actually serve goals of falsehood.

Nevertheless, there is no reason to fear from a sectarian tension or civil war in Lebanon. But, we are afraid of a disruption in national unity created by political chaos.

We call on the Lebanese to uphold their internal unity, and to look further into what is happening in the region, because it is the reason behind all the divisions in Lebanon. Divisions that could make the Lebanese a fuel for a war that serves the interests of the others.

We want Lebanon to be a free and sovereign country, and not a card that some Lebanese have become addicted to.

We want our Lebanon and not that of the others.

1. the Arabian prominent ancient tribe that dominated Mekka at the time of the Prophet Mohammed (p.)
2. a prominent Quraishite infidel at that time
3. the Muslims who emigrated with the prophet from Mekka to Medina to avoid Quraishite practices
4. the people who embraced Islam in Medina and backed the prophet (p.) .
5. The Israeli prime minister