The First Sermon

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Last week the world celebrated the mother’s and the child’s day, due to significance of the role of the mother in raising children and their development and growth to become the men of the future.

The Appreciation of motherhood in Islam

Right from the beginning, and in both the Holy Quran and the Prophet’s actions and sayings, Islam has given the mother a status higher than the father, as to loving or treating her with love and kindness. For mothers suffer a lot before the child is born.

Moreover, if she is sick before getting pregnant, she tends to get worse during pregnancy. Then her life will be threatened when she gives birth. Then she has to nurse and take care of the child, which restricts her freedom of movement.

That is why Allah talked about the suffering of the mother which is not shared by the father: “And We have enjoined on man doing of good to his parents; with trouble did his mother bear him and with trouble did she bring him forth; and the bearing of him and the weaning of him was thirty months” {46:15} .On the other hand, the father has a duty in providing for his children and in raising and educating them.

That is why Allah equated between them when it comes to treating them kindly… Allah repeated the word “parents” several times in the Holy Quran: And your Lord has commanded that you shall not serve (any) but Him, and goodness to your parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, say not to them (so much as) "Ugh" nor chide them, and speak to them a generous word, while preserving precedence for the mother since she is the one who has suffers more.

This is why the Messenger (p.) said: “Heaven is under the feet of mothers”. Meaning that Heaven is the reward of her endurance and patience… Certain traditions have it that if the mother dies while giving birth she is considered a martyr.

Imam Zein Al-Abidein says: “It is also said that once a man came to the Messenger (p.) and asked: “I feed my parents, carry them on my back and clean them, have I fulfilled my duty towards them? The Prophet (p.) answered: No, because, you are serving them in anticipation for their death while they served you wishing you a long life”.

Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said that the Prophet (p.) was asked once by a Muslim: Whom should I be kind to?” The Prophet said your mother. He repeated it three times, and he then said your father.

A man called Ibrahim bin Mohazzam narrated the following story: I once quarreled with my mother and I was cruel to her. The following day Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said to me: How could you that? Don’t you know that her womb is a house that you had lived in… and that her breast is a bowl that you drank from? Do not do that again.

The Quran prohibited any harm to the parents even if by words, but lower to them the wing of humility " And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: My Lord! Bestow on them thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood". This kind of humility, does not lower man but elevates him, since it is out of kindness.

A man came to Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) saying that he has embraced Islam while his mother did not, and asked him about what he should do.

The Imam said: “See how you used to take care of her when you and her were embracing the same religion and multiply it”.

When he did so, the mother noticed and asked him why. He told her: “I was ordered to do so by the leader of this religion”. The mother asked: “Is he a prophet?”; “No he is a son of the prophet” the man answered. The women ended up in adopting such a religion whose morals are that high and spiritual.

Thus, the issue of motherhood is very fundamental in the Islamic view of the family. What we have said so far about it implies two responsibilities: the responsibility of children towards their parents and that of the husband. The problem with some husbands is that they under-appreciate motherhood... But they would act as thugs, threatening all the time to divorce women.

It is true that Islam made divorce in the hands of the man, but it was to be decided by his mind and not by his whims or emotions. The Quran condemns in a very clear way this trend when it says, that you might hate them, in the course of talking about wives, “while Allah has placed abundant good in them”. Therefore, do not let feelings control your actions, but look for the common interest of both. Threatening of divorce distorts the relationship among you, but if you insist, then you should give her all what is due to her, since you have promised to do so to none other than Allah, the most Exalted .

The second point: man has to be very careful when he chooses a mother for his children.

He has to choose a woman who is well educated and well raised.

Beauty and money will not last. Moreover you do not live with a check book or a painting... You live with a spiritual and social companion. That is why the prophet advised us to marry those who are pious in their religion.

Then when a man chooses a wife he has to appreciate all the efforts she makes in bringing up the children. Women too have to appreciate man’s struggle to provide for the family… Thus, theirs is a relationship of complementing one another. And if both husband and wife are good to one another and to their children, Allah, the most Exalted, will bring them together in paradise as He has promised in the Quran.

The Second Sermon

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Condemnations for the brutal crime of assassinating Martyr Sheik Ahmad Yassin are still being issued, from many parts of the world, especially the European Union which under American pressure views Hamas as a terrorist organization. Nevertheless it sees in the assassination a violation of international laws. At the same time, we find some countries, like Britain, say that they are freezing the funds of the leaders of Hamas, although in fact there is not any.

Russia, Human Rights International Committee, Islamic Organization Conference and the Arab League have also condemned… But did they exert any political pressure on Israel? Did they stand in the Security Council to ask for a strong condemnation?

They are all monitoring the American stand which considered this act as self-defense. Thus, the American imperial thinking is imposing its will on the world. They even ask the Palestinians for restraint. No need for asking Israel for any such conduct for America considers Israel as a partner in the war on terrorism.

Israel in American’s view has the right to kill Palestinian leaders and common civilians at will, while the Palestinians have not even the right to retaliate because they are “terrorists”, the fact that they are under occupation and daily oppression notwithstanding.

The murder of Sheik Yassin is essentially an American one although it was executed by Israeli hands. As such no state or international organization could punish it. The American veto is waiting for any such attempts, and this is what actually happened. Moreover, America does not accept the trial of its soldiers before the International Criminal Court. Consequently, it would not allow the world to try any Israeli murder, for it extends the same imperial privileges to Israel.

The Arab League: learning from Palestinians

We ask all the states of the Arab League: How could we turn the Arab anger into a policy? Are they going to study in their summit the ways to exert pressure on America and Israel if only once, and defy the American Zionist challenge to the Arabs and to the whole world.

No, for they are helpless, and it is not realistic to hope for such a stand because they have given all their cards to the Americans and Israelis… Yet they still talk about peace and about concessions they made in the Beirut Summit which were not respected by the Americans and Israelis. Golda Meir used to say that there is no Palestinian people, and Sharon is saying now: There is no Palestinian partner and that the negotiations with them are impossible. He calls the Palestinians and Arabs to follow the Egyptian model and accept the Israeli terms, since they understand peace to mean surrender. But we know that the Palestinian people, who was united by the blood of his martyrs with Sheik Yassin in their forefront, will not surrender. New leaders will emerge, and the struggle for freedom will continue.

The Arab Summit should learn from the Palestinians how to take a strategic stand by both resistance and diplomacy to embarrass the American policy that faces a growing isolation in the world, so that the US would understand that force does not make peace or even victory.

The Arab and Muslim peoples should learn how to exert pressure on their regimes in a wise way that exposes their state of helplessness … We should all learn from the Palestinian people who will teach the enemy an unforgettable lesson and who will not let the Zionists determine the Palestinian future.

The Arabs and Muslims have to know where the American arrogant projects are leading to and what the meaning of its support to the Israeli crimes is, so that there will be a unified opposition to its imperial policies against the nation.

Iraq: The occupation is in the back group

The situation in Iraq is still very dangerous whether in security with respect to the other general conditions. The future is blurred and does not promise to be stable.

The occupation still controls every thing and even vetoes any decision the Iraqis make even in providing services.

As for the coming stage in which the occupation promises to give sovereignty to the Iraqis, the Americans plan to stay behind the curtains to ensure that the interests of the American companies is secured, in the name of the need of sign a treaty with the new Iraq government, to ensure law and order. This is treaty between the strong and the weak. Consequently it will keep the real authority in the hands of the one who possesses the power and it would legitimize the existing hegemony.

We call on the Iraqi people, whose history is the history of many civilizations, including the Islamic civilization that shaped its values, laws and thought, to understand this game of nations, and not to be bitten by the same snake twice.

They have to uphold their unity to ensure that Iraq will have a bright and unified future.

Lebanon: self -dependence

Lebanon is still living in a state of feuds between the top politicians that is curtailing national reconciliation. But when the politicians reach certain understandings and compromises,differences at the grass-root level persist,creating several problems and inciting sectarian partisanship.

In the meantime, the Israelis continue to threaten Lebanon, and America continues to exert pressures that might heighten or lessen according to the political climate in the region.

The Lebanese should solve their own problems, because those who are interfering in their affairs whether regionally or internationally will only aggravate their existing problems, planting more thorns and preventing the timely coming of spring.