In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, delivered the two Friday prayer sermons, at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Ramadan 10th 1431 H. - August, 20th 2010. Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer.

The First Sermon

Charity and Social Consolidation in Islam

Allah says in His Glorious Book: "It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards the East and the West, but righteousness is this that one should believe in Allah and the last day and the angels and the Book and the prophets, and give away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for (the emancipation of) the captives…" (02:177).

Charity is the path towards Allah

The Holy Quran introduces in this Ayah a clear and explicit equation, which says decisively that the sincerity of the relation with Him, in terms of love, gratitude, and responsibility, cannot be based only on the good relation with Allah, despite its significance, but it should also be based on serving people and shouldering one's responsibilities.

If one wants Allah to be pleased with him, he ought to serve His servants and bring about delight into their hearts, for it is narrated that the Prophet (p.) said: "All people are the children of Allah, and the most beloved of them to Allah is he who is the most beneficial to His children." It is also narrated that he (p.) also said: "The most beloved of the children of Allah to Him is he who enters pleasure into the house of a believer and helps a brother in need."

If you wish to thank Allah and praise Him for his blessings, make sure to thank people and express your gratitude for their giving, for it is narrated that Imam Zein Al-Abideen (a.s.) said: "He who is the most thankful to people is the most thankful to Allah."

It is also narrated that Imam Zein Al-Abideen (a.s.) once said: "Allah would ask one of His servants on the Day of Judgment: have you thanked so-and-so? He would answer: "No, I have thanked You, my Lord"… so Allah would say: "If you did not thank him then you would not have thanked Me."

When you ask Allah for help and success, make sure that you help your brother in faith and your fellow human, for it is narrated that the Messenger of Allah (p.) said: "Allah continues to help a servant so long as he goes on helping his own fellow-believer."

If man wishes to show his gratitude to Allah for all the blessings, such as beauty, sustenance, power, position and knowledge, He has bestowed upon him, he should employ them for the benefit of His creatures.

If we want to attain the Heaven of Allah and be worthy of His satisfaction and mercy, which is the ultimate wish of every worshipping believer, we should take the road exemplified in the following Ayah: "Surely those who guard (against evil) shall be in gardens and fountains.Taking what their Lord gives them; surely they were before that, the doers of good.They used to sleep but little in the night.And in the morning they asked forgiveness. And in their property was a portion due to him who begs and to him who is denied (good)." (51:15-19).

Aspects of social consolidation 

Dear beloved, the relation with Allah might be destabilized due to man's sins and guilt. But being a faithful believer, you feel that you should make every effort to restore this relation… Then, Allah would step in to guide you to the best way to do so and He would say: Help the poor and support them, for feeding the poor and relieving the distressed are the best means to compensate for your sins.

It is narrated that Imam Ali (a.s.) said: "To render relief to the distressed and to help the distressed make amends for great sins."

We deduce that one of the most important responsibilities Allah has charged people with is solving their problems, especially the economic ones. Allah also called on people in several positions and levels to support one another and cooperate so as to satiate the needs of each of them… Actually, Allah did not rely on that only, but He also organized everything by ordaining financial obligations, such as Zakat (almsgiving), and He commanded His Messenger (p.) to make sure that it is collected, for He said: "Take alms out of their property, you would cleanse them and purify them thereby, and pray for them; surely your prayer is a relief to them; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing." (09:103). It is narrated that Imam As-Sadiq (a.s.) said: "Indeed, Allah has established a portion of the food for the poor in the wealth of the rich, and had he known that it was not enough, He would have increased it." He (a.s.) also explained the rationale behind stipulating payment of Zakat: "Zakat has been imposed as a measure of trying the rich and a source of subsidy for the poor.  And if people paid the Zakat due on their property, there will not be any needy or poor Muslims.  What you see of want, poverty, and hunger are the result of the rich not fulfilling their obligations.  It is worthy of God, the Glorified, to hold back His mercy from those who withheld His right in His property (that was entrusted to them)."

Allah, the Most Exalted, has also called for performing the duty of Khums (one fifth of one's property), which He considered as a binding act of worship, just as Zakat and the prayer, knowing that the Messenger of Allah (p.) applied it in the society he started spreading his message from, for Allah says: "And know that whatever thing you gain, a fifth of it is for Allah and for the Messenger and for the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer…" (08:41).

As for charity, it is the most important aspect of social solidarity, and many traditions have expressed that it safeguards man from Hellfire, quenches Allah's wrath, drives calamity away, blocks seventy doors of evil, brings about sustenance, and prolongs man's life and increases his good deeds. Moreover, Allah has pointed out that charity comes to Him before it goes to the poor and the needy.

This is demonstrated in the following Ayah: "Do they not know that Allah accepts repentance from His servants and takes the alms…" (09:104). It is narrated in a Divine saying: "I have authorized for everything someone to collect it, except for charity, I take it with My own hands."

Imagine the graces and blessings of this good deed (charity)! So dear beloved, let us not deprive ourselves from its credits, by not giving out charity to the poor, the needy, the orphans and the disabled who are entitled to it.

The objective of fasting

Allah, the Most Exalted, did not only remind us and make us enjoy shouldering our responsibilities towards the poor, but He also wanted to nurture us on the act of giving and make us live and experience the sufferings and pains of the poor; the pain of hunger, thirst, destitution and poverty; thus, Allah was so Merciful that He imposed the duty of fasting on us…

Allah, actually, aimed to awaken our senses by means of fasting, for pain is the best motivation to look after those who spend their entire lives plunged in pain, poverty and hunger that do not come to an end by the end of the day as the sun sets, or by the end of the month [of Ramadan] and the advent of the Eid.

On the objective of fasting, it is narrated that Imam As-Sadiq (a.s.) said: "Fasting is so that the wealthy and the needy become equal, because the able has not tasted hunger in order that he is kind to the needy.This is because whatever the able wants he can attain and God wants there to be equality between His servants and so the wealthy also tastes hunger and its pains in order that he may have sympathy for the hungry and be kind to them."

The Messenger of Allah (p.) pointed out the responsibilities one should shoulder towards the poor, the orphans and the needy, in his sermon on the advent of the month of Ramadan, for he (p.) said: "Give alms to the poor and the needy… Be kind to orphans so that when your children become orphans they also may be treated with kindness."

He (p.) also urged to honor the orphans, especially in the month of Ramadan, for he (p.) said: "As for one who honors an orphan; Allah will honor him on the Day of Judgment," and to keep doing so until he (the orphan) become sufficient. The Prophet (p.) also highlighted the position of he who sponsors an orphan, for he (p.) said: "I and the sponsor of an orphan will be together in Heaven, like this – pointing to his index and middle fingers."

In the month of Ramadan, the voice of Imam Ali (a.s.) filled the air appealing to Muslims in his last will: "Fear Allah in matters concerning orphans. Attend to their nutrition and do not forget their interests in the middle of yours. for I heard the Messenger of Allah (p.) saying: "Whoever sponsors an orphan till he becomes independent, Allah makes his admission into paradise obligatory, just as he made the admission into hellfire obligatory for whoever wrongfully consumes his due (wealth)."

Helping the weak

Dear beloved, Allah wanted the month of Ramadan to be the opportunity that enables us to cooperate on solving our problems that are escalating as days go by, due to a handful of crises, namely the economic one. This should force us to integrate and cooperate to shoulder our responsibilities towards Allah and support whoever is weak in our society, who might turn into a problem if we turn our backs to them; thus, losing their potentials that we might usefully employ in life.

Starting from this blessed month, the month of compassion and consolation towards the poor, the orphans and the needy, we ought to shoulder our responsibilities towards them by supporting the institutions that sponsor them, whether the institutions specified for them or even in their houses. We should also launch group initiatives that set out from the mosques, by forming in every mosque a committee that looks after the affairs of the poor, the needy, the orphans, and the indebted; thus, restoring to the mosque its efficient role. We might even form committees in the quarters, villages and cities, for it is not accepted to justify the act of not fulfilling our duties towards those by saying that we are not able to serve them, for we can actually do something by urging people and the society to cooperate if they do not do so on their own.

We can accomplish a lot if we combine our forces, cooperate and develop our potentials, for Allah lends a hand to those who cooperate: "And help one another in goodness and piety," (05:02), keeping in mind that: "he who points out [the act of] good is just like he who does it."

Dear beloved: Imagine the ultimate happiness you feel as you draw a smile on the face of the poor, plant hope in the hearts of orphans, relieve the distressed and alleviate the concerns of the distraught by embracing them all in your heart; thus, extending your life into theirs.

Dear brothers and sisters: These are the true values of our religion; it does not accept that you satiate your hunger while others are hungry, or rest while others are in pain… This spirit; the act of feeling with the other and the essence of integration, cooperation, embracement and volunteering, is what the West lacks, knowing that sociologists and teachers did not find any way that enables them to embody this spirit except by enlisting community services and looking after social affairs as a prerequisite for admission to important universities and colleges and certain jobs, since all other methods failed.

We cannot but thank Allah for all the blessings and graces He has bestowed upon us, as He planted the sense of responsibility in us and left us His Divine spring to devour from and made us worthy of the title of humanity… We will always say: "O Lord! Make me love the company of the poor. Help me in associating with them abundant patience. Whatever Thou has denied me of the goods of this mortal world, be pleased to store them up for me in Thy everlasting stores."

The Second Sermon

Palestine: The hostage of the Zionist project

In occupied Palestine, the American – Zionist project remains the same and persists on the liquefaction of the cause of Palestine that is meant to be fully judaized, at a time the project of establishing an independent Palestinian State is cancelled.

In this context, the movement of the Arab League appears more like a tool used by the arrogant project to pressure the Palestinians to conduct direct negotiations [with the enemy], submitting to the Zionist terms that the enemy had initially set; negotiations without preconditions. This means that the initiative of the Quartet Committee would be nothing more than a fig leaf on the road of a defeatist settlement…

The dangerous threat lies in the fact that this new slip will not only break the back of the Palestinians, but it will also be the bridge from which the enemy will set out to launch new aggressions, starting by Lebanon which might be the arena from which it would penetrate into the Arab and Islamic region in general, in addition to the International Tribunal that is meant to be – in the international political game – a part of a grand scheme to prepare the atmosphere for new arrogant projects and aggressions.

The arrogant campaign against the nation

On another level, we are fully aware that the American – European campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran, under the pretext of being concerned of utilizing the Iranian nuclear program in military purposes, constitutes a part of the scheme that aims to focus at the movements of resistance and opposition, in an attempt to depict that they represent a threat on the peace and the security of the region. Actually, this would give the enemy more opportunities to whiten its image and prepare for new rounds of aggressions, which makes us understand the danger of drifting into the sectarian game, which several media outlets and satellite channels that have become a sword hanging over the nation are marketing for, all for the sake of boosting the hostile project by inciting all forms of sensitivities and fanaticisms. It is as if the nation has not had enough of others drooling over it to witness the establishment of media and political command and control centers to topple the Islamic temple over the heads of everyone, by means of systematic Takfir operations in which loads of money are being spent.

Iraq: Withdrawal of the occupation

In the meantime, the Iraqi tragedy continues to impose itself on the reality, amidst the state of anxious anticipation and wait and fear from the withdrawal of the American troops from Iraq…

We say to everyone that they should not fear the withdrawal of the occupier from any position in the Arab and Islamic region, under the pretext that this will leave a gap that cannot be filled. Actually, we believe that any other solution is better than occupation, which brought about poverty, killings, and destruction to the entire nation, for it cannot breathe the air of true freedom, sovereignty and dignity in the presence of any form of occupation.

In the meantime, we call on the Iraqis to safeguard their internal unity and step out of the dark tunnel they have locked themselves in, which is shaking people's trust in those who rule them… closing that up by the full withdrawal of the occupation troops from their lands and preventing the occupier from manipulating their security and policy under the pretext of preserving stability.

Lebanon: Attending to people's issues

On the Lebanese level, amidst the unfolding rows and external suggestions that the country is meant to succumb to, we call on all officials to shoulder their responsibilities of protecting the country and its unity and not to fall in the trap of the international game that aims to burn Lebanon, or at least use it as the fuel that ignites and inflames the region.

We say to the Lebanese officials: This country is on the verge of a huge explosion as a result of people's anger, desperation, and frustration that might burst at any time. Actually, people's pains and problems cannot be resolved by "throwing" the responsibilities at each other, or enlisting them as part of the ongoing struggle between the political axes, or delaying them until other files are wrapped up, claiming that a radical reform for the electricity and water crises requires a long-term plan.

If the country's officials and rich people are capable of waiting all these long years in their spacious offices and soft comfortable chairs with fresh breeze in the air… we say to them that the majority of the Lebanese people who elected them and got them to their positions cannot be patient, nor can they wait any longer… Therefore, all the officials must think of short-term temporary solutions, until they find long-term permanent ones. Actually, they are capable of doing so if they act seriously and determinately, or else they ought to reveal the truth to the people and declare that they are incapable of solving their problems, so that the people will come to know how and where to go, and to whom they shall hand over the lead.

We say to the officials: These people are your people whom the days, wars, seditions, and tough economic situations have exhausted. You can do a lot if you set your mind to, yet you neglect them claiming that you are preoccupied with big issues, but is not the people's primary and vital needs a big issue?! How can you expect to lean on someone who is deprived of food, water and electricity and even the simplest services?!

O officials, Fear Allah in matters concerning this patient people and this country that was exhausted by the ordeals caused by these officials who were so preoccupied with their own wealth and positions that they forgot all about people's primary and essential issues…  Fear Allah in matters concerning His servants and countries, for you are held responsible even for the lands and beasts.