|
The First Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
Love of God… a sign of belief
Allah says in His Glorious Book:
And there are some among men who take for
themselves objects of worship besides Allah, whom they love as they
love Allah, and those who believe are stronger in love for Allah and
O, that those who are unjust had seen, when they see the chastisement,
that the power is wholly Allah's and that Allah is severe in requiting
(evil).
One of the signs of the faith of a believer is that he loves Allah
more than any one else, since Allah his creator, the Sustainer, the
one who gives birth and and the one who takes life. He is, in the
words of Prophet Ibrahim:
The First Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the
Merciful
The Ghadir Day
Allah says in His Glorious Book.
And there is the type of man who gives his life
to earn the pleasure of Allah: And Allah is full of kindness to (His)
devotees; And whoever takes Allah and His messenger and those who
believe for a guardian, then surely the party of Allah are they that
shall be triumphant.
It is Imam Ali bin Abi Talib whom we are
celebrating his anniversary today, the 18th of Zil-Hijjah, the Day of
Ghadir, and the day he was appointed a caliph.
It is day the Messengers stood on a very
hot day to address the Muslims holding Ali's hand and saying
Do I not have more right over the believers than what
they have over themselves?" He repeated it three times.( this is the
proof that the prophet according to the AQuran ahzab 6 is the ruler .
for he has two capacities : A warner:
Prophet! Surely We have sent you as a witness, and as a
bearer of good news and as a warner,
And as one who invites to Allah's (grace) by His leave, and as a lamp
spreading light
.
And a ruler which means that the
believers should obey him. He who obeys the
Messenger, obeys Allah. People cried and answered: "Yes, O'
Messenger of God." Then the Prophet (P,) held up the hand of Ali and
said: "Whoever I am his leader (Mawla), Ali is his leader (Mawla). O'
God, love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile
to him. And turn the right with him wherever he turns
Thus all Muslims knew that the Messenger
named Ali as his successor, especially that this story is agreed upon
by both Sunnis and Shiites, although that some Sunni's have tried to
interpret the word mawla as meaning the one whom I love or support.
But such an interpretation is naive, because it is meaningless for the
Prophet to gather the Muslims in that very hot day just to tell them
this, especially that he began his address by saying: "Do not I have
none right over the believers than themselves", and went on to say if
I do than Ali does, meaning I am your ruler than Ali is too.
Yet the events that took place after the
Prophet's death, denied Ali his right in being a caliph. But we do not
want to talk about that to preserve the Muslim unity. Nevertheless, we
want to wonder why he chose Ali. Certainly it was not a personal wish,
for Allah told him. O Messenger! Deliver what
bas been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then
you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from
the people; surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving people.
Ali (a.s.) represents the Prophet
Why then was Ali chosen, although there
were among the Muslims many of the Messenger's companions who were
older than him. At the time of the Prophet's death Ali was only 30
years old. When we study the issue we find that there was none among
the Muslims, old or young, who possessed knowledge, courage and
dedication to Allah and His Messenger more than Ali did.
Ali lived all his life with the
Messenger. The latter took him when he was a two year old. He raised
him and lived with him all day and night. He used to take him with him
even when he went to the cave of Hira to contemplate. But the Prophet
did not take Ali with him just because he was his guardian, but rather
to educate him. The Imam says about this: He gave me everyday one of
his traits and I used to follow him like a baby-camel following his
mother.
And The Imam emulated the Prophet in
everything he did or say.
Thus, he talked the same words of the
Prophet, prayed the same supplications and adopted the same morals to
the extent that he used to hear God's revelations, for the Prophet
told him: You see what I see and you hear what I hear, but you are not
a Prophet.
And when Allah sent his Messenger, Ali
was living in the Prophet's house.
Thus there were only three living in that
house Muhammad Ali and Khadija. And it is natural that he was third.
They called on to adopt Islam. There are some who say that Ali was the
first kid to embrace Islam, in an effort to try to play down the
significance of Ali's Islam. But although Ali was a boy in age he was
a man in his mind. It is said he was asked about why he did not
consult his father before adopting Islam and he answered that Allah
did not consult his father when he was born, and that is why I do not
consult any father before I adopt Allah's Message.
Ali the Champion of Islam
Thus, Ali lived in the Messenger house,
and was the student of his school. He went with him whenever the
Messenger wished to go to the Masjid at Haram, and the Imam used to
protect him from the Qurashite kids who tried to harm the Messenger.
When the Messenger immigrated to Makkka,
he told Ali to stay in the Holy city to return the people's trusts.
Then he lived with him in Madinah arousing the jealousy of Muhammad's
hate because he used to preoccupy the Messenger, depriving them of his
company.
And when the unbelievers began their wars
against Islam and the Muslims. Ali was the first fighter. He was the
hero of Badr although he was not trained on fighting, but he used his
mind which able to absorb all the knowledge and experiment he had with
the Messenger to the extent it is said Gabriel was saying while the
angels were cheering the Muslims: “There is no man (champion or
fighter for a cause) except Ali (a.s.) and there is no sword except
Zilfiqur (Ali’s sword ). He was the sword that vowed it will only
fight for a just cause.
Thus, dear loved ones, Ali was also the hero of the
battles of Uhad and Al-Ahzab where the unbelievers wanted through
their alliance with the Jews to defeat the Muslims and gain control
over Madina When they came upon you from above
you and from below you, and when the eyes turned dull, and the hearts
rose up to the throats, and you began to think diverse thoughts of
Allah.
In that situation were the Believers tried: they were
shaken as by a tremendous shaking.
And when Amr bin Wid who was a very
famous and strong warrior challenged the Muslims for a duel, the
Messenger said: Who would fight Amr and I guarantee paradise for him.
And repeated it three times, with Ali the only one standing up and the
Prophet telling him to sit down, until he agreed in the third time and
when Ali went to the fight the Messenger raised his hand and said:
O my Lord leave me not alone; and Thou art the
best of inheritors .And added: "Islam in its entirety has risen
to unbelief in its entirety, meaning if ali won Islam would have won
and if Amr won the unbelief would have won.
Ali played the same major role in all the
other battles and the Prophet told him: You are to me like Haroun was
to Musa, but there is no Prophet after me. He also said: I am the city
of knowledge and Ali is its gate. And the right is with with Ali. It
goes with him wherever he goes.
Ali and the Responsibility of Islam:
This is how Ali was with the Messenger.
His house was the house of the Messenger who gave him his daughter in
marriage.
The Messenger used to say to the Muslims
who asked him to marry Fatima. Were it not for Ali no one would have
been qualified to (marry) Fatima. They were both the students of the
Messenger, with Fatima learning what Ali was learning. Thus Ali was
the only one qualified to be the successor of the Prophet for he was
the most pious, the most willing to sacrifice and struggle for the
cause of religion.
Then after the Messenger, when he was
denied his right he felt that he was responsible for Islam outside the
caliphate, just as if he were a caliph, that is why he gave those who
came before him and denied him his right all assistance and advice for
he wanted them to stay on the course of the straight path to the
extent that the second caliph said: Were not for Ali, Omar would have
been doomed. He shouldered the responsibility of Islam as a child and
continued to shoulder it, through out his life. That is why he said: I
will keep the peace as long as the affairs of Muslims are maintained
and the only injustice believes on me.
And when he became a caliph he said: Behold, by Him who
split the grain (to grow) and created living beings, if people had not
come to me and supporters had not exhausted the argument and if there
had been no pledge of Allah with the learned to the effect that they
should not acquiesce in the gluttony of the oppressor and the hunger
of the oppressed I would have cast the rope of Caliphate on its own
shoulders, and would have given the last one the same treatment as to
the first one. Then you would have seen that in my view this world of
yours is no better than the sneezing of a goat.
He was not thinking about his position in
this world, but to insure that the right is maintained.
Ibn Abbass says:
"Once when I visited Imam Ali, he was mending his shoes.
The Holy Imam asked me, 'What do you think will be the price of this
shoe?' I said, 'It has no value at all'. The Holy Imam then said, 'By
Allah! To my mind this torn shoe is more valuable than my ruling over
the people, if I do not enforce the right and eradicate falsehood".
What is Al-Wilayah
Ali was born in Kabah and martyred in a
house of Allah. That is why, when we celebrate the anniversary of his
Wilayat, we should be linked with him through our minds, and souls,
and inspire his teachings and consider him a role model for our
spirits and life, for Ali does not take us except to God. He
represents in every thing he did, what Allah wants Islam to do and
adopt.
In the light of this, we have to stand in
this day, the day of Ghadir, to pledge our loyalty to the line of Imam
Ali, and on all the knowledge, thought perseverance and patience he
taught us or gave us. We should thank God for making us of those who
believe in his wilayah. We should thank him for completing our
religion and His Grace.
We should say to the Imam: we are with
you. We ask God to make us succeed in emulating you to help us be
patient as he was, to uphold Islam as hid, and be faithful to Allah as
he was. For he loved Allah, as His Messenger did. Was it not the
Messenger who said: "I will give the banner tomorrow a man who loves
Allah and his Messenger and who is loved by Allah and His Messenger.
You have loved Allah and was loved by
Him, for you dedicated your life to Allah. O Commander of the
faithful, intercede for us, for you are close to Allah. May peace be
on you the day you were born, the day you were martyred and the day
you will be brought back to life.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Israel continues its real war against
Gaza, in air, sea and land. It announced that its strategic gaol is to
end Hamas regime in Gaza. At the same time, it dealt a serve blow to
the Palestinian Authority, by announcing that it intends to build 740
new housing units in Jerusalem and in the West Bank, timing this
announcement to coincide with the beginning of the final status
negotiations.
As for the head of the PA, the most he
can do is to ask about the reasons of this feverish settlement
activity, and appeal to the International Community to interfere,
although he knows quite well that this International community is
controlled by the US and cannot pressurize Israel to do that. This
indicates that the coming final status negotiations will not achieve
any gain for the Palestinians, since Israel has the settlements, the
separating wall and the water resources while the PA does not have any
pressurizing cards to play in achieving their liberating goals,
especially with the current division between Gaza and the West Bank,
and that no dialogue between them seems to begin in the foreseeable
future.
We are afraid that the Palestinian
position will turn into a weak one that does not possess any Arab or
international force, since the international Community, led by
America, seeks to execute the Israeli strategy without giving anything
to the Palestinians, and this is what the Palestinians should be aware
of and hold the Palestinian officials accountable for the policies
they are adopting that have led them into falling into political
mazes.
The problem with Bush is that he gave the
Israeli interests the priority over the American interests in the
region, since this Administration is controlled by the
neoconservatives and the Zionist American team who use the American
president to pressurize the Palestinians and accuse his resistance of
terrorism, and deceive it by talking about a Palestinian state while
besieging it by major and minor settlements as well as the separating
wall. At the same time this Administration will do nothing to prevent
the Israelis from creating facts on the ground that will hinder any
chance to create a viable Palestinian state.
In Iraq, the US Administration has
ignored every warning in the last two years concerning the private
security companies that continue to act freely without any
supervision, arbitrarily killing Iraqi civilians (17 were killed last
September) with the American defence and state secretaries doing
nothing about it, since they do not mind the Iraqis being killed as
long as these companies we protecting American soldiers.
This is not an exceptional case in the
attitude of the Americans.
It is rather the norm, since it bombs the
innocent civilians in Afghanistan, showing that it does not respect
human rights as long as its gaols are being accomplished.
This is what we see in the countries that
America pushes to take part in the so-called wars against terrorism,
and through its agents who are employed to watch over their peoples
and deprive it of their freedoms as well as rigging elections by means
of oppression and intelligence means as in Pakistan or by creating
chaos as in Afghanistan.
In sum, we do not find any chance to be
optimistic about a realistic American policy that aims at solving the
region's problems and establishing peace.
On the other hand, we notice that
repression is prevalent in several Arab and Muslim countries. The
peoples have lost their freedom to express their opposition of the
adopted polices to voice their demands including the freedom of
peaceful demonstrations. Such an attitude has made local and foreign
observers feel that these governments fear the rage of their peoples
even if they are demanding justice and equality to the extent that
they might fire shots and innocents might be killed.
We say to these peoples that in the
Western world the governments your leaders are trying to emulate
respect their peoples and are afraid from them since the people might
replace them. In our world however, it is the other way round, the
peoples are afraid from the rulers since they could be subjected to
detentions and other political pressures. Moreover, the rulers insist
on their policies even if objected by the entire nation.
In Lebanon, researchers have noticed that
most politicians, who run the crises of the country and are
responsible for its affairs, are among those who were a complete
failure, those who either committed massacres, or stolen the public
money. That is why the nation was not able to find a realistic
solution of a policy that opens up on the citizen's vital interests,
and not leaving the people stumbling in their problems suffering and
even suffocating in their poverty and crisis.
This is what we are facing in the crisis
of the Presidential elections, where by the men of law differ about
the legality of this or that decision or the politicians in the
cabinet in a way that the people are confused especially that there is
no constitutional council that controls the movement of the rulers and
prevents any tampering with the constitution of the country.
The country needs a new blood that has
not been engaged in the dirt of inciting strife and putting their
personal or sectarian interests before that of Lebanon. And that is
what we call the youth who live in the sun and does not stumble in the
dirtiness, for.
|