FridaySpeeches >2005 Speeches > 25/03/2005

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

The Religious Authority, Ayatullah Al Ozma Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Safar 15 1426 H, March 25 2005 A.D. Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer.

 

Let us seek to please Allah


The First Sermon

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful  

God says in His Glorious Book addressing the believers

“Those who spend (benevolently) in ease as well as in adversity and those who restrain (their) anger and pardon men; and Allah loves the doers of good (to others)”.

“And those who when they commit an indecency or do injustice to their souls remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their faults-- and who forgives the faults but Allah, and (who) do not knowingly persist in what they have done”.

“(As for) these-- their reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and excellent is the reward of the laborers”.

In these Holy Ayahs, Allah calls upon the believers to hasten before it is too late to attain God’s forgiveness, and love, being the way that leads them to Heaven that was prepared for those who fear Allah and wish to please Him.

The pious are those who seek forgiveness

In describing the traits of the pious and how they act in public life, we notice that Allah did not talk about praying and fasting only .It also stressed on the role of the believers in social life. Such an emphasis means that Allah considers that piety in social life is a must: just as the believers are expected to fast and pray they are also expected to be fair and just in their social life. Allah wants the pious believer who would enter His Heaven to be open-minded and tolerant. He wants him to be charitable, feeling the pains of others and trying to relief them. He should live the spirit of giving.

Thus, he calls on the believer to hasten and take the opportunity before he leaves this life, to ask forgiveness for his sins and to repent and pledge not to commit additional ones, for this is the way to Heaven. You spend all your life trying to save money to buy a house or to buy the food you want. What about Heaven that in addition to having everything you desire, there are things you never heard of or even imagined. (The gardens of perpetual abode which they will enter along with those who do good from among their parents and their spouses and their offspring; and the angels will enter in upon them from every gate)

Restraining anger

In addition to giving money to the poor, the needy, orphans and all those who are deprived, the believers who seek a place in Heaven should restrain their anger.

They should try to be calm before they make any reaction. They should never act as a result of being nervous and they should study the situation and be mindful of their attitude, especially at time where various fanaticisms are around, like the situation in this country or other Muslim countries such as Iraq.

Fanaticism leads, as a result of explosion of anger, to cursing, prejudice, killings and ultimately to the fall of the temple on the heads of its people. Those who seek God's forgiveness should restrain their anger preventing it from turning into a problem

They would forgive those who have wronged them and even treat them in a good way.

There are many traditions that call, based on this Ayah, to the need to restrain anger. The Messenger (p) says: "He who restrains his anger, Allah will fill him with belief". He also says: "The best charity in Allah's view is that of anger that has been restrained for Allah's sake.

Imam Ali (a.s.) says: "He who fears Allah would not address His anger", since it could lead to revenge which might be a just one.

As for those who take their anger on others, like their wives or children, they would be prone, as Imam Ali puts it, "to Allah" just wrath".

The third trait of Muslims is asking Allah's forgiveness whenever they commit an indecency or do injustice to themselves, they will be rewarded by Heaven.

These are the Islamic morals, Allah wants us to adopt so that we elevate ourselves and gain His pleasure. Let us struggle against ourselves and keep in our minds a target in everything we say or do in every moment of life this great reward: that of Heaven, for there could be no reward greater than that, except Allah's pleasure and love.

The second sermon

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful  

The latest Arab Summit is much like the previous ones, with their consuming repetitions resolutions that the Arab leaders did not bother to put any mechanism to implement them. Some of the participants in the summit attempted to call for normalization with the enemy to add yet another concession to the enemy. Yet the enemy refused because it wants unconditional surrender. The Arab attempt to revitalize the Beirut initiative is bound to fail for the Israelis and the Americans have killed it the day it was born.

The enemy's foreign minister has announced that there are Ten Arab States studying in line to recognize Israel, although the enemy has announced that it is not ready to withdraw from the Golan and Jerusalem, or to dismantle the settlements and the separating wall. The Israelis had destroyed 3000 houses, in the area near the Palestinian Egyptian boarders; they have also surrounded Jerusalem with their settlements and bought the lands of the Orthodox church… All this gives an idea of what American democracy means, as it is evident in their policies towards the Palestinians.

Some of the Arabs argue for the enemy.

Some of the Arab leaders have in quite a stunning attitude. They said that they told Jewish leaders in Washington to warn Sharon from military operations by Hezbollah and Syria and encouraged him to wage campaigns against them and against Iran, instead of warning them of Sharon's aggressions. The problem is that some of the Arabs seem to care about the enemy's interests more than their own people, especially when they accuse Iran of the massacres in Iraq, since this is the price they have to pay to win the satisfaction of America which has always insisted that the way to Washington passes through Israel.

We warn everybody from the nature of the American-Israeli policies especially after the American-European alliance has begun to pressurize Russia and other countries to complicate their relations with the Arabs and Muslims especially their relations with Iran to hinder its peaceful nuclear project.

Turning to the Iraqi question, that is still floundering in the American whirlpool, we would like the Iraqis to establish through their new government and constitution a true sovereign and independent Iraq that seeks to get rid of occupation and the American military bases that want to turn Iraq into a base for its aggressions on the region under the pretext of spreading democracy and fighting terrorism.

Lebanon and the American plots

We warn the Lebanese people against an American plan that aims to make Lebanon a political and perhaps a security base from which to pressurize Syria, disarm the Resistance and settle Palestinian refugees, paving the way for peace with Israel according to Israeli conditions.

We warn against the American method which continues to disseminate chaos in the country and uses local parties to implement its interests; If some believe that our interests coincide with US interests and thus we are obliged to cooperate with it, we tell them that our interests are totally different, because Washington believes that Lebanon is a card that could be played against more than one force in the region.

As for the rising political tensions in the country, the irresponsible accusations and bickering between different parties will only lead to the fall of the temple on the heads of all Lebanese parties.

People are getting confused of how some parties say one thing today and another tomorrow, adding to the total confusion in the country especially that some ill-willed people have resorted to suspicious bombings and spreading rumors throughout the country to speed fear, destabilize the economy and encourage emigration.

People are awaiting the future with fear, as they are wondering if a new civil war will break out.

But we are positive that war is behind us now, for there are no international or regional favorable conditions for such a prospect. But we call on all parties not to create new problems that could find a base for a new one.

We call on the youth, the future generations, to study in an objective and rational manner how to make the future and not to yield to princes of war who have drowned the country in problems. They should resort to dialogue and avoid any incitation of strife.

I call especially on the university students from all sects to be aware of all these sensitivities, for all citizens have the right to political affiliations, but politics should not be transformed into hatred as a result of fanaticism.

To the youth, the officials and all Lebanese I say: enhance your unity and resort to dialogue, wisdom and fear of God in all your stands and actions. Let each of you be a guard on his house, street and neighborhood, so that we could fail the attempts of all who wish evil for this country.