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FridaySpeeches
> 2006 Speeches > 22/09/2006
The Religious
Authority H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer
sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque,22th
September 2006, Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and
thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer.
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The
Advent of the Month of Ramadan the month of Piety and Honor |
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The First Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
This is the Last Friday of the month
of Shaaban, since we are going to receive, Allah willing, the Month of
Ramandan, next Sunday. The Messenger(p.) received this month in a
famous speech in which he wanted the nation to know the value of this
month and its role in building the man who is close to Allah and to
the people and who upholds the responsibility towards himself and
towards others.
The Month of blessings and forgiveness
According to Imam Ali (a.s.) the Prophet said in
the beginning of his speech : O people the Month of Allah has
approached you. This month in distinguished by the fact that Allah
considered it His month something He did not do with respect to any
other month although they are all created by Allah. Moreover, Ramadan
is the Month of Allah in that he bestows on the believers His graces
like He does in other months since it is full with blessings mercy and
forgiveness. Allah, the Most Exalted, blesses in this month man's
life, family and all his affairs, and bestows on man His Mercy in a
way that exceeds God's Mercy that accompany him throughout life.
It is also the month of forgiveness, since Allah
forgives in this month the believers’ sins, in an ascending way that
grows as the month progresses, until it searches in its great aim at
the end of the Month.
Allah also talks about the special status of this
month saying that it is the best of months and its days are the best
among days, its nights are the best of rights. Its hours are the best
of hours.
There is also another aspect of this month: We in
this month are the guests of Allah, whose hospitability is different
than any other. Thus when Allah receives us, He will offers us from
his generous Divine menu which is an increase in His blessings,
mercies and forgiveness.
It is a month you have been invited by Allah and
selected to be the recipients of the honours of Allah, which is
different and higher than the honour Allah – bestowed on mankind.
When you breathe in this month it has the heavenly
reward of Tasbeeh and when you sleep it will be rewarded as worships,
since sleep gives you the strength to obey Allah in fasting and
praying. Your good deeds are accepted. So are your invocations.
When the Messenger reached this point Imam Ali
(a.s.) stood up and said: "What is the best deed in this month"?
The Messenger answered: It is not doing what Allah
has prohibited. That is not telling a lie or supporting a tyrant or a
deviator. And committing anything that Allah has prohibitted in what
you eat, drink or trade in… The Messenger(p.) went on to say: Verily
the person who may not receive the mercy of Allah in this month must
be very very unfortunate. Who loses in this season, the season of
fasting, may not gain in others, since it is the season of mercy and
forgiveness.
The Month of Islam
Imam Zein AlAbidien in his supplication at the
beginning of the month of Ramadan, a supplication I call on all my
brothers and sisters to read, says: Praise belongs to God Who
showed favour for us through His religion – Islam – singled us for
His creed – that of Islam, and directed us onto the roads of His
beneficence in order that through His kindness we might travel on
them. A praise which He will accept from us-being the praise of
the faithful, the pious and the obedient.
And praise belongs to God Who appointed among those
roads His month… the month of Ramadan, the month of fasting and the
month of Islam.
This the month that Allah wanted to be the month of
Islam, so that the people will hold their responsibility as in other
months towards Islam and confront anybody who wishes to weaken it, and
to call for it wherever we are.
Islam the religion of reason and lenience
In the light of this, Muslims in the entire world
should be aware of all the plans of the arrogant and unbelievers, who
attack Islam, distort its image. And offend its Messenger (p.) Thus
all Muslims in the Muslim world stood against the cartoons that
offended the Prophet. They also stood up, when the Pope talked about
Islam in a negative way claiming that Islam does not respect reason.
This is not true, for Islam, unlike all religion,
is based on reason. We discover Means of reason and believe in His
Messenger through reason etc… The Messenger and Ahl Al Beit have told
us that reason is what makes Allah holds us accountable, since the
mind is an interior messenger, just as the Messenger(p.) is an
external mind.
The Pope also said in his lecture that Islam is the
religion of violence although Islam is the religion of kindness. Allah
says:
Invite (all) to the Way
of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them
in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best,
who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance.
And the Messenger(p.) says: "Whenever lenience is added to anything
it gives it extra weight. He also said: Allah is kind and
gives, on lenience what He does not give on violence.
The Pope also talked about Jihad in Islam as a
sword that threatens people, but Allah says:
Allah forbids you not,
with regard to those who fight you not for (your) Faith nor drive you
out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: for Allah
loves those who are just. (60:8).
Thus Islam makes peace with all who are peaceful with it even if of a
different religion, Islam also says: There is no
compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly
distinct from error (02: 256) and Allah says to His Messenger(p.)
Therefore do remind, for you are only a reminder. (88:21).
Call for an Islamic – Christian Dialogue
We also notice that the Pope cities a 14th
century emperor who say in his dialogue with a Persian Muslim.
That Muhammad gave his followers evil ideas,
because he instructed them to call by means of the sword. But when he
was asked about this, he said that he only quoted him but he does not
adopt him.
But you were giving an academic lecture, which
means that when you quote someone, you either agree with it or reject
it. And since he did not criticize it, it means, that he accepts it.
That is why we asked him to apologize.
Although we are criticizing the Pope, whom we wanted to be as his
predecessor who used to talk positively about Islam, we do not want to
create any problem with the Christians because they are not
responsible for what he said. Moreover, we called and we still call,
for an objective Muslim Christian dialogue.
The month of Ramadan is the most of Islam, and we
have to observe it in peace and in war; in thinking and in practice.
On this basis we were with the Mujahideen who have achieved a
dignifying victory against the last Jewish aggression and against all
the previous aggressions.
And we believe that all Muslims should stand up to
show the world that they are with this Resistance that defends Islam
and Muslims, to achieve the victory that Allah has promised those who
defend this religion and their nation and land
The Second Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The emperor
Talking to the entire world from the podium of the
UN General Assembly the American President gave no room for
discussions – since they do not allow the Third Word especially the
Arabs and Muslims to practice their freedom in refusing the dictates
and the arrogant policies of the American Emperor. If they dare do so,
they will be accused of terror, extremism and Islamic fascism.
This is also what we noticed in supporting Israeli
brutality that is demonstrated in the ongoing process of eradicating
the Palestinian people in the name of self-defence against the
Resistance, although the latter aims at liberating the land and the
people from occupation.
It is also indicative that this president called
Israel the Jewish state, as if denying the Arabs in 1948 Palestine
their citizenship. This could lead to displacing them, especially that
the US has refused the UN 194 resolution giving the Palestinians the
right to return, although it has given all Jews in the world the right
to settle in Palestine.
It is true that this President has talked about a
Palestinian state, but he has obstructed any mechanism aiming at
establishing it… Having frozen the Road Map by freezing the
International Quartet Committee, for he plans to enable Israel to
dominate over most of the West Bank and Jerusalem, leaving the
Palestinians with no land to establish their viable state.
This suggests that this President is more Israeli
than the Israelis, and that to win the coming election in which the
Jewish vote plays a significant role, he is willing to burn the
Palestinians and the Arab world.
It is ironic that while he praises democracy and
admits that the Palestinians’ election to be democratic and free, he
refuses the results of the elections since he wants the government of
Hamas to recognize Israel. Yet there are several other states that
have established relations with the US and do not recognize Israel.
To pressurize Hamas, he resorted to economic
pressure, employing even some Arab yielding states. It is a pity that
the EU has also yielded and began a blockade that is inhumane and
barbaric.
National unity
We call on the Palestinian people to be aware of
this American Imperial game, and demand that the Palestinian President
should not accept in his meeting with the American and Israeli foreign
ministers the conditions of forming a national unity government, for
they could lead to a dangerous civil strife.
The terror brand
Moreover, the American President accuses Iran and
Syria with supporting terrorism because they support the Lebanese and
Palestinian resistances that fight for the freedom of their countries.
He also accuses Iran of aiming to possess the bomb. The fact that Iran
denies this accusation is notwithstanding, since the American
President is used to make false accusations against the countries that
oppose his policies, especially in Iraq where he falsely accused it of
having WMDs.
President Bush accused the Resistance in Lebanon of
beginning the war, while it declared that it only wished to exchange
prisoners, as in previous cases. But he was planning for this war with
Israel, while the Resistance has to defend its country in the face of
Israel that started the war. It is particularly ironic that he holds
the Resistance responsible for what Israel had committed by destroying
the Lebanese infrastructure and killing thousands of civilians who had
no role in this brutal war.
A bright future
When this deceitful president talks about the
Lebanese future he tries to draw a bright image .Yet we all know that
what he and his administration are doing is to turn Lebanon to a plane
where chaos rules, and use the country as a base to fight Syria and
Iran by claiming that they are behind the war.
America is working with the Lebanese party that
obeys its orders and does not work with all the Lebanese, which could
lead to an opposing stand that could have a negative impact both
internally and externally.
President Bush also continues to praise Iraqi
democracy to restore his support among the American public opinion
whose majority no longer have confidence in him.
The blood that spills out daily from the bodies of
Iraqis of all sects does not represent a problem to American
President.
He has ready–made answer: terrorism. We do not deny
that the Takfiri terror plays a role in this daily bleeding of the
Iraqi people, but the question is: Where are the American, British and
the rest of the multi-national troops? What is their role in
maintaining the security of Iraq? It is but a false witness who
benefits from the Iraqi blood to prolong the occupation stay in Iraq.
Bush the terrorist
President Bush is the leader of terror in the
world, whether by his political moves or through his personal
arrogance that makes him imagine that he is sent by God to reform the
world. On our part, we believe that he was sent by the Devil to
destroy the world threatening the downtrodden nations’ security and
economy. And we have noted in his speech in the UN how he talks to the
leaders of the world intimidating some and threatening others, and
saying that the way he is running things in the Middle East could be
adopted in their part of the world if they do not follow the American
guidelines. He also praises the countries that follow his orders, by
claiming that they are moderate, although they are totalitarian
regimes who give no freedoms to their people.
We ask the Lebanese to monitor and confront the
Israeli game that steals their waters, violates their lands, and kills
the citizens. All this without any preventing moves by the UNIFIL.
We want the government to be more resolute and
decisive in preserving the integrity of the homeland, and to ask the
UN and the UNIFIL to hold their responsibilities in deterring the
aggression, so that the people will not think that they came to
protect Israel not Lebanon.
To the officials in Lebanon, we say: You have to
keep the country's stability and shy away from the nervous negative
rows. You should respect your people whose steadfast has demonstrated
their firm stand. You should stand with the Resistance that opened by
its victory a new page in the history of Lebanon and the Arab world.
You should also not use negative irresponsible expressions that
despise the masses that support the Resistance in Lebanon and the
Arabs and Muslim worlds, like accusing them of not having the ability
to think but only to follow.
They should all know that the people are more
conscious and intelligent than a lot of politicians who live in their
personal cells and follow foreign suggestions.
Lastly: The Lebanese expect the officials to be
trustworthy in reconstructing the country and not to trust it to those
who robbed the country in the past and are still robbing it.
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