FRIDAY SPEECH Ramadan 29 1422,December 14 2001

Before I begin my speech, I have to mention that it has been proven to us, according to trusted precise calculations, that the day after tomorrow, Sunday, is the first day of Eid al-fitr, , Thus the month of Ramadan this year is a full month, since today is the 29th and tomorrow is the 30th. The Eid will be on Sunday which we hope that all Muslims will agree upon, especially as the astronomical calculations say that the possibility of seeing the new moon is rather big, since it will be born this evening a little after ten o’clock. Therefore, it will be rather big by the sunset of tomorrow.

In these two days, we bid farewell to the month of Ramadan that Allah made a month of mercy and forgiveness… The month that Allah wanted the Muslims to practice their Islam and feel it with all their hearts.. He wanted them to read the Quran to learn the truth of Islam and to follow it in all their religious duties and social relations especially the notions of piety and love that draws them nearer to Allah.

Thus, each of us has to examine himself at the end of this month… Did he make any moral or spiritual progress? Does he feel more brotherly towards other people? Does he love fellow human beings more and does he feel more responsible in all that relates to public issues? Does he care more about Islam?

Moreover, we learn from the Glorious Quran that the essence of fasting in this month is to become pious{O ye who believe !Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off (evil)}.

By piety it is meant that Allah should not find you where he told not to be, and conversely He should find you where He ordered you to be. This meaning is explained in several Ayats of the Holy Quran{O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah with right observance, and die not save as those who have surrendered(unto him}.. You have to obey Allah in all His commands whether in What He told you to do or in what He told you to leave ,and you should keep your faith and protect it as you protect yourself your money and your family. You should be the believer who starts as a Muslim, and ends his life as a Muslim.

This is what all the prophets have said in their wills. Ibrahim for Example says:{When his lord said unto him: Surrender! he said: I have surrendered to the Lord of the worlds}{The same did Abraham enjoin upon hid sons, and also Jacob,(saying): o my sons! Lo! Allah hath chosen for you the(true) religion; therefore die not save as men who have surrendered(unto Him).

Prophet Yusuf, remained humble and modest despite all the power that Allah had given him:{O my Lord! Thou has given me(something) of sovereignty and has taught me(something) of the interpretation of events- Creator of the heavens and the earth! Thou art my protecting Friend in the world and the Hereafter. Make me to die submissive (unto Thee), and join me to the righteous}.

When Muhammad(p.) told Imam Ali(a.s.) that he will be killed in the month of Ramadan, the Imam asked will I be then keeping my fuith: When the prophet ensured him that he would the Imam said then I do not care how or when I would die…

Piety also includes upholding and supporting the unity of Muslims, on the basis of the Holy Quran . The Messenger said: I am leaving among you two things , if you cling to them you will never be led astray: “The book of God which is a rope extending from earth to Heaven and my house members”. That is why we have to read the Quran and understand it so that we will follow all that it has dictated. Allah tells us that every good deed we do will be seen by Allah and His Messenger.

Moreover, if there is anything that binds us together in sprite of all own national and individual differences , it is Islam “And remember the grace that Allah bestowed on you: you were enemies…and you turned by His Grace, brothers And you were so close to hellfire and He saved you from it”.

He then clarifies the practical side: To make sure that we follow the right path by means of social Islamic monitoring and studying the roots and causes of corruption: Allah asks us to enjoin the good and forbid evil. Which means that we should be concerned with the problems of the whole nation and not our personal or individual small and trivial concerns.

In the light of this, we ought to be united on the basis of Islam, and to be pious in holding the responsibility of Islam. For the arrogant forces are trying , having failed to remove Islam from our hearts to remove it from the hearts of the coming generations.

These arrogant forces are also trying to dominate over the Muslims, exploit their resources, and even profane their sacred places like Jerusalem which is very special ,because it is the home of all messages, and the place where prophets worship God.

And since we as Muslims, and this is one of the distinguished features of Islam, believe in all of God’s messengers, Jerusalem is not only the first of the two Qiblas and the third of the two sanctuaries, it is also and in the first place the curdle of messages. In the story of the night journey it is said that the Prophet hold a congregation prayer and was the Imam of all prophets to show that Islam contains all prophets.

Thus Jerusalem is a vital sacred symbol for Muslims. Any occupation of the Aqsa mosque and of Jerusalem as a whole is a blow to the Muslims dignity. On the other hand, Israel’s hegemony on the sacred places of both Christians and Muslims in the Holy city provides them with an international status and makes them needed by followers of all religions. Jerusalem too is the symbol of Palestinian resolve and willingness to continue their struggle, if the Palestinians Arabs and Muslims were ready to give up their claim for Jerusalem, the Israelis would have given them alj of the West Bank and Gaza strip.

In the Jewish mentality, Jerusalem is the symbol of dominance onthe religious sites of all religions as well as a tourism center, It is a issue of political, social, cultural religious significance. And thus the importance of the Jerusalem day lies in touching upon al these aspects. I t is to keep this symbol and its significance in our minds, so as we will not forget it as a result of weakness and the passage of time like the Andalus . Thus we should keep in mind the symbol of Jerusalem and refuse the status-que, so that if our generation cannot liberate it the coming generations will.

We should also cling to the chord of Allah and confront all the challenges the arrogant powers and their infidel allies are posing, including the new equating between Islam and terrorism. They want to distort the image of Islam even among Muslims. At the same time they refuse to define what terrorism is. In this respect, Europe suggested holding a conference to determine the meaning of terrorism. Is it any aggression against civilians both in war and peace? Is the fall of civilians as a result of military necessity in a legitimate war terrorism on not? But America refused claiming it has a clear idea about what terrorism is which all should adhere to.

They do not permit any differentiation between resistance and terrorism, and they started to impose their claim that the Lebanese Resistance and the Intifada in Palestine are terrorists. It is a pity that some rulers in the Muslim world have accepted this. And their new concern now is how to curb the Mujahideen who are standing against the Israelis, just because some of their operations may involve Israeli civilians.. Even some religious authorities have issued fatwas to that respect.

We have, all of us men and women alike, to bear the responsibility of Islam, we have to have a clear idea about Islam to present its real picture, so that others cannot impose their understanding of Islam on us . We should be the nation that could continue the march of the call to Islam which began with the Messenger(p.). We have to call for Islam whether to our family or to the society and whether we are at home or abroad. This is our , for Allah said to His Messenger that He was sent to all mankind “say o people I am God’s Messenger to all of you”.

We have to strive to make Islam the religion of the whole world but by wisdom and good words.

Servants, of God, fear God and remember His saying: “Your nation is but one and I am your lord...”.

Dear beloved, as this mad war in the whole world against Islam unfolds, we have to uphold our unity and not allow anybody or any party to incite strife among us… We have to be careful not to fall in the Satanic game of accusing one another by disbelief, We have, as the arrogant world is being unified against Muslims, to be unified in confronting it is a very cortical stage, that we cannot pass through unless we forget all our differences.

The Palestinian land has turned into a playground for the American-Israeli war machine, and the American president, Bush, has told the American Jews that “had he been in Sharon’s shoes, he would have done the same thing Sharon is doing”. Such a statement proves beyond any doubt that the Israeli war against the Palestinians is an American orchestrated war that follows the pattern of the American war on Afghanistan: Destroying the houses and the infrastructure, killing the civilians, and blasting the prisoners in their prisons, all under the pretense of self-defense.

Bush says that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, but what kind of democracy is the one that violates human rights and denies the right of self-determination. The Americans are pressurizing the Palestinians and imposing all the Izraeli conditions on them to leave them with something very much less than mini-state.

America does not recognize the fact that the Palestinians are people who have certain rights as a nation including their right to liberate their country.

Furthermore, it does not view the killing of Palestinian civilians, as an act of terrorism, but rather the killing of who usurped the Palestinian lands and occupied their houses. Bush even says that Syria and Lebanon will be like Talliban if they support Hizbullah . Is he planning to wage his third war in those two countries after the wars in Afghanistan and Palestine.

This is the ugly American face that is confronting the Arabs and Muslims, which has condemned even its Arab allies saying that they don’t represent their peoples while Sharon does.

The question is: What is the reaction of the Arabs and Muslims as it was demonstrated in their political meetings??! Nothing but empty words. There rulers should understand that the more concessions they offer the more they will subjected to additional pressures to end the Intifada and to fight the Mujahdeen in all the countries they are found in . They are being told that you ought to adopt to the new situation and end any relations with the Palestinians, or you will face Sharon in front of you and Bush behind you... This is the real American policy which the European Union has met with in its own way, and which Russia has also accepted when it asked the Palestinian Authority to kill the Mujahideen or put them in jail, being that only thing that makes the Authority accepted by the International Community.

It is the new world war led by Americans against the Palestinians to realize the Zionist dream of absolute security. We say to the Palestinians that there are new threats facing you because you dared to challenge the American policy of maintaining the Zionist conception of the Israeli security. Therefore you ought to face these developments by careful planning on how to develop the Intifada, so that it could besiege them as they besiege you, and so that you will fight them everywhere and turn into a nightmare that scares them. No arrogant power could defect a nation if it decides to be free{ If ye have received a blow, the (disbelieving) people have received a blow the like therefore. These are (only) the vicissitudes which we cause to follow one another for mankind }

On the accession of the Jerusalem day, you and all the Muslim and Arab peoples, have to regain the spirit of Jerusalem that defied the crusades, and be armed with it in the face of those who killed the prophets. Let Jerusalem be the symbol of the sacred places, and of Palestine as a whole, as well as all the fights of the oppressed against the oppressors.