In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Birth Anniversary of Imam Al- Hassan (a.s.): The ideal of knowledge and morals

Allah says in His Glorious Book: Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, you Ahl el Bait (People of the House), and to make you pure and spotless (33:33).

On the fifteenth of this month, the blessed month of Ramadan, Imam Al-Hassan, the first child of Ali (a.s.) and Fatima was born.

As a child, Imam Al-Hassan enjoyed, along with his brother Al-Hussein, the love and care of the Prophet, Who used to hug them and carry them on his shoulders to let the Muslims know that he loved them as his children. Al-Bukhari quotes the Prophet as saying: Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein are my two basils in this world, and Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein are the masters of the youth of Heaven". He also said in his prayers to Allah: Oh God, I love them, and I ask You to love them and love those who love them.

The biographers of Imam Hassan say that he looked like the Messenger. Anas bin Malik says: "Nobody looked like the Messenger (p.) more than Al-Hassan bin Ali". Imam As-Sadiq cites his grandfather Imam Zein Al-Abidein (a.s.) as saying:

"The best way to learn about Imam Al-Hassan is to read what his Imam Zein Al-Abidien said about him: Hassan Bin Ali (a.s.) was the most and greatest worshiper in his times, the most ascetic person (although he had a lot of money whom he used to give to the poor), who fears Allah and the best of men. When he went to Hajj (pilgrimage), he went on foot, and mostly barefooted- in a token of humbleness to Allah and respect to walking to His House. He always used to mention Allah, in all conditions and situations, -since the light of Allah used to shine in his mind fill his hearts and accompanies him in his movement. He sold himself to Allah and was faithful to Him throughout his life. "He was the most truthful and the most logical- when he talks he would say what would enter the people's hearts and minds and open to them the path of guidance.

It is also reported that whenever Al-Hassan (a.s.) approached the door of the Masjid (mosque), he would utter the following words: "O Lord! Your guest is at your door. O Generous! The transgressor has come to You. Forgive my ugly deeds with your generosity. O the most Generous."

We know that the Imam attained the highest level of spiritual moral and intellectual spirituality.

He lived in his childhood the spirituality of His grandfather, the Messenger, and that of his mother, the infallible, As-Zahra. He also accompanied his father in living with Allah, since his father represented the absolute love of Allah, to the extent that he used to say:

"O my God, Master, Guardian and Lord, suppose I could endure Your torment, how would I endure being separated from You".

The author of the "Sira" (biography) Muhammad bin Ishak says that nobody has reached a level of respect and honor after the Messenger like that attained by Al-Hassan bin Ali, whom the people used, when he sat in front of his house, to stop walking on the road to it as a token of respect to him. Then when he used to get in, the people would start passing again. In another story, it is narrated that once in Mecca he dismounted and walked. When he did that everyone started to dismount, even Saad bin Abi Waqas (one of the Prophet’s companions) who walked beside him.

Imam Al-Hassan (a.s.) lived his childhood with his father, grandfather and mother, thus his personality was stamped by their spiritual values, their sublime morals and their extensive knowledge. Some of the Sira books report that as a child he used to come to the mosque, and listen to his grandfather preaching and he used to memorize all what the Messenger had said, and tell his mother about it. When Imam Ali used to come home, she would ask him about it and the Imam would ask her "were you there?" and she would tell him that she had learned it from her son.

He also used to notice how faithful his mother was to Allah and the people. He used to hear her pray for the believers and not for herself, although she was weak and had a lot of work. Seeing how sick and fatigued she was, he asked her, "why don't you pray for yourself, and she told him: "My son: The neighbor comes before the household members."

He was also so generous that it is enough to say that in his lifetime, he (a.s.) spent all his personal wealth twice in the Path of Allah and three times he (a.s.) divided his wealth giving half to charity and retaining half for himself.

He was also his father's companions in all his situations and difficult times. He also accompanied him in upholding Islamic unity although the caliphate was Ali’s right that Allah ordained on Muslims and that the Messenger conveyed when he said: whoever I am his master than Ali is his master". Ali also used to rely on his son in solving some of the crises like the one that took place in Kufa where he stood up and told the people about Ali's greatness, and being the first to adopt Islam and the closet to Allah, the Most Exalted.

Imam Al-Hassan accompanied his father in all his affairs. Sometimes people used to ask Imam Ali some questions, and he used to refer them to his son when he was busy, and he used to agree on all what his son said.

Then, after Imam Ali was martyred and the strife continued against his son, whom the Muslims pledged loyalty to in Kufa… Many developments happened that convinced Imam Al-Hassan that the interest of the Muslims was in making a truce with Muawiyah.

Then when he was martyred by being poisoned by his wife, he asked his brother to be buried near his grandfather, but knowing that the Umayyads might not agree he told him not to spill any blood over the issue. So he was buried somewhere else following the opposition of the Umayyads, led by the Mother of Believers.

Janada bin Umaiyya says: I visited Imam Hassan bin Ali Abu Talib during the ailment which caused his death. I said:"O Lord, why do not you get yourself treated?'

He said, "O Abduallh, with what may I treat death?"

I said: "Indeed, we are from Allah and toward Him shall we go back", then he turned to me and said: "Yes, get ready for your journey (towards Resurrection Day) and get your provisions before your death arrival. And know that you seek the world (material sources) and death is seeking you. Do not load the worry of the Day which had not yet come, upon your present day. And beware that you do not achieve and attain a wealth above your enemy but you are a trustee of it (wealth) for another person. And do know that there is account in it's lawful and permitted, and in it's prohibited lies punishment and retribution, and in it's paradox and doubtful there is reproof."

So, suppose the world as if it is a dead corps (dirt). Take out of it which is sufficient for you. So if it is halal (lawful and legal) you have adopted piety and asceticism. And if it (sustenance) is (from) prohibited there would be no load (upon you) since you took out of it just as you took out of dead corpse. And if there is reproof that reproof is easy (soft one). And work for your world as if you would live here forever and work for your resurrection day and the Hereafter as if you have to die tomorrow. And if you intend to achieve honour without a tribe and availing presence and majesty without a rulership, then, move out of the abjectness and disgrace of committing sin forbidden by Allah, towards the honor of the obedience of Allah."

He added that if you want to befriend a man then choose those who add to you, those if you help them they would be grateful. If you ask them for help they would help you, and if you say something they believe you… those whom you will find when you are in need, and when you share something he would give you a bigger share…

This is Imam Al-Hassan bin Ali, who lived Islam under the guidance of his grandfather, his mother and his father, who held his responsibilities over the Islamic nation, and who suffered from the hateful and the deviator. He met his God with a spirit that was so close to Him.

Peace be on him, the day he was born, the day he martyred and the day he will be brought back to life.

The American vice president, Dick Cheney has accused Russia of going back to the intimidation tactics of the cold war. He accused it also of giving weapons to Syria and Iran, knowing, as he said, that these arms will go to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. He also considered that the Russian Arms deals endanger the peace process in the region.

We notice that it is the American Administration that continues to intimidate the nations, killing innocent civilian, by air and land brutal bombings.

This is what it is practicing in Afghanistan, where one of the Human rights organizations noticed that causalities has tripled in the last three years, from 929 in 2006 to 1633 in 2007 and to 540 civilians in the first seven months of 2008, and this is without counting the victims of the Herat raid that killed 90 civilians most of them are women and children. In addition, there are the thousands that were killed in Iraq, which makes America hold the number one rank in the list of terrorists.

We ask Cheney, who planed for American's war against the Arab and Muslim world about the arms his administration sent to the Jewish state in its continues aggression on Lebanon, to destroy its infrastructure, and provide it with the capability of committing barbaric massacres whether in Qana or Marwahien, Srifa, Shiah… etc, as well as the smart and cluster bombs that continue to kill civilians and farmers. Moreover, it has helped Israel in developing its nuclear weapons that represent the biggest arsenal in the region, as well as providing it with most advanced weapons and joining it to its missile system. This has encouraged Israeli officials and Army to threaten the Lebanese people with future wars against them. It also encouraged Israel to kill more Palestinians, leading the Palestinian track further away from the solutions they talk about, and plunged it into the mazes of siege and catastrophes, in addition to expanding and building new settlements and the separation wall, which further undermine the so-called peace process.

The American Administration has chosen the course of making wars and forbidding peace. Its strategy is built on creating tensions in the world, especially the Muslim world. It is planning to confiscate its wealth and security in partnership with its Israeli ally. A case in point of such a strategy would be the security chaos it created in the Caucasus to besiege Russia politically and threaten it with the rocket defense system to weaken it.

Such a perpetual state of anarchy might drive the European Union to complicate its relations with several parties in the various struggles.

On another level, American military sources have said that the special American units have trained Lebanese security elements on fighting terrorism. We are not against this, but what Lebanon needs is the strength to face the Israeli terrorism that continues its aggressions on Lebanon, especially in the air where Israeli planes continue to violate its space on a daily basis, with the UNIFIL unable to stop them, because the United States does not accept that, and because the Security Council is not able to condemn Israel's rejection of international resolutions, including 1701, since America will not agree.

In addition, the Israeli war minister continues to threaten Lebanon through political and military massages that indicate that the Americans have commissioned the enemy to undermine the Lebanese internal dialogue, which should be faced in a very decisive manner.

The issue of fighting terrorism that the Americans use as a pretense is but a political and security means to besiege all Arab and Muslim groups that oppose American policies employing those whom America installed to turn their countries into a jail for their peoples by means of the emergency laws and the intelligence agencies that are controlled by the CIA, which ultimately leads to intensifying the confrontation with the American presence.

The American forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have fallen down under the impact of the popular resistance. The American Army has lost tens of thousands of wounded and killed soldiers, in addition to the psychological devastation that has inflicted the soldiers. The rate of suicide in the army has approached for the first time since the Vietnam War the rate of suicide among the American civilians. The Army sources have admitted that 93 soldiers have committed suicide this year, which is a number very close to the record that was recorded in 2007 (115).

They have also said that they have not encountered such a situation, since the Vietnam War in the sixties and the seventies.

These statistics suggest that the American soldiers are not convinced with this war, especially when they witness through their own eyes the tragedy of the people they are fighting, especially the killing of children women and innocent civilians, leaving the people homeless and destroying their infrastructure, which made them feel that they are committing a crime against humanity.

In Lebanon, the tense rhetoric which some politicians are resorting to against their foes still dominates the general mentality; each party tries to score points against the other in a way that changes what has been said, which makes the general situation more tense either to serve internal or external interests to complicate the relations with this or that sister countries, indicating that the regional and international suggestions are still dominating the political movement in the country.

Faced by all this, we call all parties to support the reconciliation of the north, and to make every effort to prevent strife, and join hands in building the country on solid basis. Each citizen must open up on fellow citizens away from confessional and sectarian complications and the political prisons we jail ourselves in. We should adopt a national unification dialogue, call for Islamic unity, reject any promotion to build strife and futile differences, and be not overwhelmed with the past while our present and future are absented.

We also call for expanding the dialogue with respected to both political leaders and popular movements, so that Lebanon would become the homeland of dialogue where the south meets the north, and the mountain meets the capital. At the same time, the government should be concerned with the developing progress on all levels political, social, economic… etc.

There should be a special concern to take courageous steps regarding the wages of the workers and employees, and improve the conditions of the poor, especially after the middle class had almost disappeared and the majority of the people are now among the poor classes. To do this, we can increase our resources by turning to the Arab and foreign countries who always say that they care about Lebanon and are ready to help it.

The government must reactivate the laws that fight corruption and prevent the squandering of public money, so that this government, that is called the national unity government, can prove that it is the government of all the people and fight those who squander the public money and give bribes to secure their reelection.

The Lebanese people want the government of the people and not that of some individuals who take the country from one problem to the next, until they have become the problem and not the solution, having been addicted to serving their personal and sectarian interests and not the general interests.

We also believe that the Lebanese should be concerned with safeguarding their political security in addition to their social and economic security. They should not fall before any attempt to change the atmosphere of reconciliation into one of division. They should confront the assassination attempts, as the one that took place two days ago, by their insistence on cooperation and solidarity to thwart the enemy's attempts to break through the internal front and turn the coming stage into one of the assassinations that do not target one party in particular but the security of the Resistance, the people and the Homeland.