Friday Speeches Mosque jamadi Alawwal 25 1424 h, July 25 2003

God says in His Glorious Book: O you who believe! Seek assistance through patience and prayer; surely Allah is with the patient.(2:153).

He also says: And We will most certainly try you with somewhat of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits; and give good news to the patient. (2:155)

The Holy Quran and the Prophetic traditions have not concentrated on a virtue as much as they did on patience, for patience is the secret of the power of life in the human being’s movement. It we want to start from the beginning of the human’s life, we find that Allah says: We have created man into toil and struggle”. (90:40).Whether inside his mother’s womb or when he is born both the newborn and his mother suffer a lot. Then it is time for his father to suffer and struggle to provide for him. Thus, right from the beginning, man, either instinctively or willingly, has to confront his problems and responsibilities by being patient.

Patience in this perspective means a sense of balance and stability. It means not letting fear, huger, poverty or loss of beloved ones defeat man and lead him to fall. Patience means the will to confront all hardships with a sense of steadfastness and firmness. If man is able to hold fast and remain composed and feeling that he is still in change, them he would be able to study the problem, assess its size and devise the solutions it needs with the necessary means and timetable. In contrast, when you lose your patience you lose the ability of thinking too, and this is the first reaction of those who lose their temper or patience, for the first thing they will say: I am unable to think.

Patience is needed mostly when it comes to the cost of supporting the right in all domains. Such a stand costs a lot of effort and a lot of sacrifices. The best expression of the cost of standing with the right is Ali’s famous saying that the right left him “no friends”.

But this is something that needs a very strong personality like that of Ali. Such a personality in rare, for many people might weaken when they lose a certain political economic or social privilege. Others might not be able to withstand pressure and say that they want to “live”, meaning that they are not able to confront all the pressures and the loses the people of falsehood might inflict on them.

I myself was asked to compromise and accept falsehood because as I was told by many senior people: we know that you are right but why do you have to speak out…your enemies will exploit this. But I believe that the right is not a subjective issue; it is a message, and those who carry a message do not have the luxury to compromise just because they might be cursed or accused.

Thus, one has to be patient in that he should remain objective and stay with the right regardless of whether people like it or not.

Furthermore, we know that the Prophet (p.) used to be confronted with the idea that says: Surely we found our fathers on a course, and surely we are followers of their footsteps (43:23). Such an attitude is dominant in our society which probably waits until one dies to find some truth in what he was saying.

Thus patience is to endure the hardships that one confronts when he stands with the right, being Allah’s trust not only in doctrinal and faith issues but in all fields of life, including politics, social relations, peace and war …etc.

The arrogant powers in this world, along with the infidels who have a certain complex towards Islam, are working on creating the circumstances that besiege the Muslims politically, economically culturally and militarily. Then they say to them this is the way you have to follow having made sure that they had closed all the other ways and that they had exploited to the greatest extent the weakness of their rulers. They would then say: The cells of prisons are behind you and the solution that the arrogant laid out is in front of you.” People will accept because they see no alternative and utter such sayings as: the eye does not resist the awl.

We have to look for the alternative. The arrogant has made itself the only available alternative. We do not have to accept it. We should study the sources of strength we have to create this alternative and never yield to what we hear in the arrogant media and the lies it spreads.

We need patience in order to face the siege that surrounds us, plan to solve our problems and become aware of what is being plotted against us.

Thus the Glorious Quran has stressed the need in many aspects to be patient and endure all what will happen to you.

Allah urges the Muslims who face hatred and enmity whether in politics or in the media or by economic pressure to be patient and pious, to keep calm and objective and study the matter to reach the solution that best serves the Muslims: You shall certainly be tried respecting your wealth and your souls, and you shall certainly hear from those who have been given the Book before you and from those who are polytheists much annoying talk; and if you are patient and guard (against evil), surely this is one of the affairs (which should be) determined upon. 3:186

Allah, the most Exalted, asks in several verses His Messenger(p.) to be patient until Allah, the most Exalted, grants the final victory. He also tells us that those who enter heavens have earned their reward by being patient.

Patience is the secret of man’s movement in the universe… It is the weapon man should be armed with in his march towards the right and in all the stances he takes in this march and the hatred he is faced with… especially that we are faced with all kinds of challenges that start from the cultural level and does not end at the political and economic levels… Most surely man is in loss. Except those who believe and do good, and enjoin on each other truth, and enjoin on each other patience(103:2-3)

This is what happened in the Battle of Khaibar when Allah, the most Exalted, granted victory to the Muslims when Ali (a.s.) who was the embodiment of patience and belief led the attack . We need the belief of Ali(a.s.) the spirit of Ali (a.s.), the patience of Ali (a.s.) and the steadfastness of Ali (a.s.) even if it a rate of 10%. We ought to learn from the student of the Prophet(p.) and of the Quran the virtue of patience.

We need to stay with Ali(a.s.) and let Ali stay in us.

The execution of the American Israeli plot is still continuing. The Palestinian cause is being reduced. And Israeli image is being polished by such insignificant actions as releasing a small number of pensioners or dismantling uninhabited settlements, while detaining more Palestinian prisoners and building new settlements and even as Sharon declared leaving the issue of settlements to the final negotiations.

On the Palestinian side, the Americans and Israelis continue to praise the Palestinian prime minister but they do not forget to mention that what he is doing is insufficient. They also blame the president of the Palestinian Authority, Yaser Arafat, and the militant Palestinian groups for complicating Abu Mazan’s task. This means that he has to rebel against Arafat and dismantle the infrastructure of these groups and disarm them, a goal that serves the Israeli strategy of provoking a civil war among the Palestinians in which the Zionist Army might interfere to support the Authority’s government.

Thus, we tend to believe that the American President will not accept any of Abu Mazen’s vital demands. He, that is Bush, will be waiting for Sharon whom he needs his support to ensure that the Jews will back him in the coming presidential election.

Sharon goes to America holding most of the political cards he needs to carry out his historical project of taking over the whole of Palestine, and to get a loan of 10 billion Dollars to support the Zionist economy that was weakened by the Intifada. He will not therefore agree on any of the promises that Bush might give to Abu Mazen except certain trivial matters that do not have any actual significance .

We believe that this visit to America will not solve any of the Palestinian security economic or political problems. For America will not pressurize Israel to implement anything of what is stipulated in the Road Map…

On the contrary, it will pressurize the Palestinians to get on with what it calls fighting terrorism.

Facing such developments the militant groups, which have become politically mature, in addition to their maturity in the military sphere, should keep an eye on the political and security developments in Palestine and in the region, and start planning very carefully for the coming stage which could be extremely difficult, which means that they have to be very vigilant and resort to consultation cooperation and unity to prevent any security gap that the enemy might use to create internal strife among the Palestinians.

To the Arab officials we say: You have to be at least once with the Palestinian people and support their independence with the necessary pressures… Do not remain with the Americans and the Israelis and stop this intolerable indifference towards the Palestinian future… This is what Arab nationalism is all about if you still believe in it as your peoples do.

Iraq still has to be liberated from occupation. It should build its strength and develop its potentials, cement its national unity, and found a just state that ensures justice, peace and freedom for all Iraqis… But could those who are now in charge achieve this, as long as the last decision in is the hands of the occupation that decides when to leave, or where to deploy its forces, or even in matters that have to do with the constitution and the elections… Some might say that the occupier has promised that he will give them the freedom of deciding what they see fit, of course with a certain degree of political and security supervision. But what are the guarantees and what are the sources of strength they depend upon to support their relative independence…

America and Britain are asking the United Nations to plays its role in Iraq, but they do not want the international organization to play a leading role. They want the UN to play a subordinate role to help the occupier in getting out of the impasse it has put itself in…

This is what we noticed in the last session of the Security Council which paved the way to deploy troops of the armies of American allies in Iraq, despite the call of the UN Secretary General to set a date for withdrawal from Iraq.

When will the Iraqi people hold their responsibility towards the issue of liberation? Would those who ask: What is the alternative continue to rely on this argument or the fear of chaos or the return of the old regime, should the occupier withdraw?

Those who are wiser might say that the UN in its multilateral composition is the alternative, because it is not an occupying force although the occupiers might have a say in its resolutions.

We are convinced that the Iraqi people if left to enjoy their freedom are capable of building a state and make miracles…

It is a civilized people that do not have to start all over again… We would like also to use this occasion to emphasize to our people in Iraq that they should confront the malicious plans to create a division between the Sunnis and Shiites and we ask them to remember God’s saying: And hold fast by the covenant of Allah all together and be not disunited, and remember the favor of Allah on you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts so by His favor you became brethren (3:103).

In Lebanon, the state of chaos still dominates the administration and it has been recently manifested by the controversial decisions that further complicates the living conditions of the Lebanese… It is as if the power rationing is not enough, the Lebanese were surprised with the new tariffs that further decrease the income of the poor whom the government has not provided them with new job opportunities and left them employed. At the same time it did not try to solve the deficit of the budget of the electricity company by trying to collect the tariffs from those who are not paying or stealing the power, nor had it paid what the official institutions owe to the power company.

We call on a thorough investigation to provide a comprehensive report that details the causes of such a rise in the debt of the state and its institutions, for this the only way that enables the people to know who is honest and works for the common interest and who are exploiting the country to increase their personal wealth.