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The First Sermon
In
the Name of God, the Compassionate the Merciful
Right is life and
light
A few days ago, we received
the anniversary commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (a.s.). On this occasion, I would like to remind you that the Imam
(a.s.) is not someone
whom we forget and remember only on such occasions. He is always
present in our hearts and minds. He guides our actions, whenever
right faces falsehood.
We hear Imam Hussein (a.s.) saying bitterly: "Don't you see that right is not
followed and falsehood is not discouraged. The situation is so
severe that the believer wishes to meet Allah. Today I do not see
death but a prosperity, and living with a tyrant is nothing but
disgrace". In this call, he goes to the heart of our belief
in Islam to say to all Muslims in all times: You have a duty to
follow the right and forbid falsehood.
Thus adhering to the right is
what links between the earth and the Heaven. It is what draws your
nearer to God.
On the other hand, living with
tyrants (accepting their wrong-doings) is a life in disgrace. Yet,
the Imam (a.s.) does not
wish death. He is merely saying that living with falsehood is
actually a state of death, while the right is life and light.
Imam Hussein (a.s.) holds
every believer and every human being the responsibility of changing
any corrupt situation, each in accordance to his capabilities under
the given circumstances. He is saying to the people: You have to
forbid falsehood and to revolt against tyranny.
This is what he said in the
speech at the start of his revolution: O people, the Messenger of
Allah (p.) said: Whoever sees an unjust ruler, who enjoins what
Allah has forbidden, breaks the vows of Allah, and who violates the
Sunnah of His prophet, and who transgresses against the worshippers
of Allah, yet he does not act to impose change, he deserves to be
treated by Allah in the same way the unjust is treated.
Change is a collective responsibility
Thus the Imam is calling upon
us in every time and place, in every generation that is plagued with
tyranny falsehood and arrogance, to plan to change and refuse to
accept the unjust state of affairs. For Allah, the most Exalted,
tells us that we ought to change ourselves so that He will change
what is in us. Therefore, the Imam's message, if we want to carry
it, is a message of change, change of corruption into righteousness
and change of tyranny into justice. It is the message that all
messengers were sent to convey.
Neutrality is not
an option
The Imam (a.s.) is thus
telling us that in such a conflict, there is no chance of remaining
neutral when the conflict is one between right and falsehood. There
is no standing on the sidewalk, when the confrontation is between
wrongdoers and the wronged. This is what Imam Ali (a.s.) has emphasized in his will to his children, Imam Al-Hassan
and Imam Al-Hussein (a.s.): "Be an opponent to the wrong-doer
and a supporter to the wronged" regardless if the wrong-doer is
a state, an international alliance, a group of people or an
individual, and regardless of what they claim to be.
Thus, the infallible Imams
wanted us to visit Imam Hussein, in addition to the Ashoura meeting,
to remember and relive the message of Imam Hussein and the values he
scarified for. They did not want us to transfer this message to a
set of rituals.
It is claimed that these
rituals are an expression of love, but we would like to remind those
who say so that when you want to express your love or sympathy, you
should adopt means and ways of expression that are in harmony with
what you are feeling sorrow for. Furthermore, we have always said
that these means develop with time, and with the change of
circumstances.
A need for change
in ways of expressing sorrow
Therefore, hitting the head
with swords, the backs with chains or crawling and the like, to
express love and loyalty is performed by people who really love
Hussein (a.s.), yet they have resorted to the wrong methods of
expressing this love. They portray the wrong idea when these images
are broadcasted throughout the world.
Let us make of the slogan we
heard in Karabala that we will never forget Imam Hussein our daily
slogan throughout our life, pledging that we will not forget the
message, and this great Imam who represented the glory of this
message and the willpower of humanity when he stood, with his
bleeding wounds and unbearable pains, to say that he will not submit
and act as a slave.
Let us remember this
magnificent stand that no one, after his father and grandfather, has
taken. Let every one of us become a Hussein even if at a rate of 1
percent. For he wanted us to see him as role model of piety and
revolt against tyranny. And let us not turn these noble and glorious
values and themes into a set of rituals and habits that are void of
the vitality of the Husseini revolution.
In this occasion and in all
such occasions, we discover that Imam Hussein (a.s.) is inside us. He is not absent or dead. He is present among
us and his presence is as strong as it could be. He is present among
us in every field of struggle. He is with us, when we deviate to
remind us to go back to Allah, and to follow his lead as he gave
everything to Allah having loved Him as Allah alone should be loved.
Restoring values and commitment
When we visit him, we have to
remember him when we say: "I testify that you have performed
prayers and paid alms tax and enjoined good and forbade evil...”
If you want to be with Imam Hussein (a.s.) then perform prayers, and
give the poor and the needy and enjoin good and forbid evil. That is
how you will be with the Imam, his father his grandfather, and the
other infallibles. To be with Imam Hussein is to be with the
Messenger and the
Message that Allah sent with His messengers and wanted it to be
followed until He inherits the earth and all who are on it.
Dear loved ones renew your methods and even
your awareness as you remember Imam Hussein (a.s.). Let him be a
message and not merely tear drops… Tears are good when they
express pains but tears in the case of tyranny are demonstrated by
resisting this tyranny as the Imam and all the others Imams, as well
as his mother, the pure and infallible Fatima al -Zahra, did.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of God,
the Compassionate, the Merciful
The enemy’s
impasse
The American-Israeli ploy is
now planning to push the Palestinian cause into a new tunnel called
the "Road Map". They have, as an initial step, pressurized
the Palestinians into accepting a new government that was
commissioned with the task of cracking down the armed Intifada that
Israel itself with all its massacres and atrocities was unable to
end.
The enemy has started to
pressurize the new government to use force against the Intifada. In
this respect, the new martyr operations in the heart of the Israeli
entity is a proof that no one, Palestinian or otherwise, is allowed
to liquidate the Intifada before the end of the occupation and the
achievement of Palestinian rights.
We believe that the party who
is still in trouble is the enemy. For as long the Palestinians are
still fighting, the Israelis are the ones who are politically
defeated and the Americans have politically failed. No massacres,
however barbaric they are, could thwart the resolve of a nation that
has decided to fight, one generation after the other.
There is a lot of talk in the
regional and international political spheres suggesting that the
Nation was defeated in the Iraqi war… and that it should act
accordingly in the Palestinian front. But we believe that it is the
regimes that were made by the international arrogance especially the
Americans that were defeated, and not the peoples that began to
demonstrate and voice their opposition to the occupation and all its
consequences such as any government that might be supervised by the
occupation or used as a cover. It is the Iraqi people that will
determine its future and choose its government.
The enemy’s plans
unfold
It is being revealed day by
day that the occupation did not come to liberate the Iraqis, despite
the fact that the war has rescued them from the tyrant. The
occupation came to turn Iraq into a military base to extend its
influence over the entire region and threaten other countries and
force them to offer concessions, thus attaining all the political
economic and military gains without having to go to war.
What happened in the 40th
day anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (a.s.) proves that
history does not overwhelm the Muslims. On the contrary, they learn
its lessons, in order of making a new one. It proved Furthermore
that changing an unjust situation is an integral part of Islam. For
it is a religious duty to establish justice among men.
This uprising that took the
form of a revolutionary demonstration of faith could change into a
multi dimensional resistance that employs various means, as the ugly
face of occupation because clearer. Nations know quite well that
there is no such thing as a liberating occupation. Occupation is a
hegemony that plunders the occupied wealth and undermines their
interests.
Uphold unity
We call upon the Iraqis and
the Palestinians to uphold their internal unity, on the basis of
freedom and change. They should confront all the arrogance attempts
to incite internal strife, that would defeat them before they even
go to war.
We believe that this American-
Israeli war was intended to deprive the region from any source of
strength it may have. And this is what the Americans and Israeli
declared when they said that the war on Iraq has protected the
Israeli security and removed a big threat, that of Iraq which has a
lot of potential… They might even be planning to establish their
direct control on the region without having to do so by means of
their agents.
The peoples of the region
should rise to the level of the challenges, and try to integrate
their confrontational efforts, especially with the renewed threats
to Syria, Iran and the Resistance in Lebanon. We have to resort to
more planning and studying all the means we should adopt, and take
the right stance without any emotional reactions or improvisations.
A state or
confederation of conflicting interests
The Lebanese in particular
have to prove, if only once, that they are ready to preserve and
enhance their unity to confront all the threats that are facing
them.
They have to prove that they
are able to choose an effective government whose formation is not
based on dividing the cake, but on the interests of the Lebanese
people.
Moreover, Lebanese should not
put their stakes on the external developments, for the outside
parties might use them to incite internal differences whenever they
see this fit. They have to rely on dialogue and reconciliation
rebuilding their country and confronting the Israeli threats. Their
only option is to intensify their belief in the unity of the Syrian
and Lebanese tracks being a major source of strength, that is open
on the mutual respect, as well as containing the country's
independence and right of self-determination.
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