In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Religious Authority H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, 26th September 2008 A.D., 26th Ramadan 1429 H.. Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer.
The First Sermon
Orphans are Allah's trust:
Having been hit on the head by Ibn Maljam, Imam Ali made his will to his sons, Imams Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein. One of the teachings he left for them and consequently for all Muslims was about the importance of being good to orphan: Fear Allah in matters concerning orphans. Attend to their nutrition and do not forget their interests in the middle of yours.
These words by Imam Ali (a.s.) represent a cry for help by which he calls people to be in a state of emergency when it comes to caring about orphans. He calls us not to let them eat in one day and starve in another, and not to forget their interests, whether in the fields of health, education or any other social or economic need. Thus, we have to take care of them in every aspect of life, by ensuring their dignity and providing for them the opportunity of finding a job and a decent living, since the orphans are Allah's trust to His servants.
In his focusing on the significance of taking care of the orphan and providing for him until he is able to provide for himself, Imam Ali quotes the Messenger (p) as saying: Who provides for an orphan until he no longer needs him, Allah has decreed that his abode is paradise, and who ever eats the money of an orphan will be in Hell. Imam Ali (a.s.) wanted the society to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of the orphans. Thus, he ensured that the reward of this good deed is big: when you spend on an orphan and you qualify him to independent in this world, then your reward is Heaven.
Allah has talked in the Holy Quran about the covenant He took from the children of Israel to be charitable to all including the orphans: And remember We took a covenant from the Children of Israel (to this effect): Worship none but Allah; treat with kindness your parents and kindred, and orphans and those in need
The responsibility of setting right of the orphans affairs
As for charity, we read that it is according to Allah 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 needy. Allah says also in the context of talking to His Messenger. "And they ask you about the orphans": What we should do about them now that they do not have anybody to take care of them.
Say: to set right for them (their affairs) you have to make them righteousness people –And if you be come co-partners to them, they are your brethren.
Don’t look at them as if they are inferior to you, but as your brothers – And Allah knows the spoilers and those who seek the good. And if Allah had pleased, He would certainly have caused you to fall into a difficulthave caused Surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.
He also says in Al-Duha surah. "As for the orphan, do not oppress him". When an orphan lives with you in your house, in school or in an institution, you have to preserve his humanity and his rights and never be harsh with him.
And test the orphans, male or female until they reach the age of marriage.
Then if you find in them maturity of intellect, make over to them their property, and do not consume it extravagantly and hastily, lest they attain to full age; since their money is Allah's trust.
In Al-Fajar Surah Allah's talks about those who have money, but they would not give it from it to those who are in need.
Nay! but you do not honour the orphan, Nor do ye encourage one another to feed the poor.
He also says:
To orphans restore their property (when they reach their age), nor substitute (your) worthless things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by mixing it up) with your won. For this is indeed a great sin.
Allah also says:
I and do not approach the property of the orphan except in the best manner until he attains his maturity. And He threatens those who do by saying.
Those who unjustly eat up the property or orphans, eat up a fire into their own bodies: They will soon be enduring a Blazing fire!
The Messenger says:
I and the person who supports an orphan shall be as close in Jannah as these (index and middle) fingers are to each other if he fears Allah.
Those who sponsor orphans and fear Allah will be the Messenger's companions in Paradise. What a great reward!
Thus, we have to take care of orphans, whether individually or collectively, by supporting the institutions that take care of them and provide them with food shelter, education … etc.
The Messenger says: "There is a house in Paradise called the house of Joy, which no one enters except those who have made the orphans of Muslims happy.
In these days as we are getting ready to receive the Eid, we have to remember those orphans who will stand by and watch other children enjoying the Eid with their parents.
We should strive to make those orphans as happy as our own children not only in the Eid but at all times, for by doing this we could win the company of the Messenger in Heaven and the joy of obeying Allah.
The Second Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The American Administration: Illusive Armament of the Lebanese Army
Israel continues to oppose any armament of the Lebanese Army, even by night vision binoculars, because it is afraid that they will fall as an Israeli official stated, in the hands of Hezbollah. Thus, those who support Israel in the US, whether in the Democratic or the Republican party or the neoconservatives who dominate the Administration, will pressurize the US officials to makes sure it will not give Lebanon any arms, except the light ones that do not represent any deterring means. Thus, the American officers who visit Lebanon and talk about the needs of the Lebanese Army are not authorized to respond to the Army demands of weapons that would allow it to defend the country against Israel, since the American policy is to arm the enemy and perhaps encourage it to make another aggression, and reject any confrontation to this aggression by the Lebanese Army and the Resistance.
Therefore, we believe that the American Administration wants Lebanon to remain an open front for Israeli aggressions without enabling the Lebanese Army of confronting them.
As for the claim of the Israeli officials that the weapons will find their way to the Resistance, it is but an American – Israeli plot to stir dissention between the Army and the Resistance, as well as being an implicit recognition of the importance of the coordination between the Resistance and the Army that prevents the enemy from feeling free to make a new aggression.
We are also following up the Israeli policy of monitoring all arms deals between America and the Arab countries who have recognized Israel or those who practically support it… In this respect, Israel demands that these weapons should not be able, even in the future, to harm Israel. It might also oppose certain deals because they might imbalance its strategic plan of being the strongest country in the entire region. It contacted Russia to prevent it from selling Syria some defensive weapons, since it will change the balance of force in the region, for it wants to maintain its supremacy and keep Syria in the weak position of a country whose land is occupied.
This is what the Arab states should understand in order to set out the strategy that their peoples are demanding; a strategy of possessing a deterring force that could defend their countries against Israel or a new occupation like the American occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan or any new Arab or Muslim state, especially Iran, whom America is threatening a pre-emptive war against.
Confronting the Israeli Judaization of Jerusalem
We should all know that the Jewish State wants the Palestinians to be always overwhelmed by a deep state of concern and uncertainty towards their fate and future, to lose any hope in determining their destiny through a viable Palestinian state, despite all the empty promises of the International Community, and despite the Road Map which has lost any affectivity, since Tony Blair was installed to act on behalf of the International Community in Israel's favour, thus reviving the Belford Declaration.
A Palestinian Mujahid from Jerusalem has recently performed a qualitative operation, when he crashed with his car a group of Israeli soldiers.
Although he was driven by the psychological state he was living in and wanted to confront the Israeli judaization of Jerusalem, and the persecution of the people of this city in all their life conditions, as well as the threats to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque…etc we have heard, and we will still hear, international Arab and perhaps even Palestinian condemnations, of this operation, because they did not appreciate the Patriotic motives of this Palestinian Mujahid, especially with all these Zionist and American statements asserting that Israel will remain the eternal capital of Israel and that the Palestinians have no place in it.
The UN: A Failing Institution
On another level, the city of New York witnessed an international meeting of 120 world leaders within the framework of the UN General Assembly which became impotent in solving the complicated problems of the world, especially that of the Third World states, whose representatives have, submitted their complains to those who do not hear, and offered themselves and their countries for sale to those who do not buy, so that the word that pressurizes all countries in the world is that of the United States which acts as the world leader and dictator, threatening those who disobey with sanctions, and expects the entire world to comply.
Moreover, the American President also talked about Syria and Iran as supporters of terrorism, which the International Community should impose sanctions on, along with North Korea and the Liberation movements in Lebanon and Palestine. All this means that nobody will come out of this international celebration with any realistic results, since its role is not more than an informational one that might suggest certain verbal support…
As for the Security Council which turned into a problem for the nations that are looking to solve their problems…. The resolutions the Council issues represent the international hegemony that is practiced by the US and some of its European allies to punish those who oppose their polices and prevent any sanctions against those who abide by them. And this is what we notice in its justification of the Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians and the Iraqi occupation of Iraq which the Council was not able to prevent and which led to the devastation of the country and destroying the unity of its people. Moreover, since most of the EU states yield to the American polices of the Arab and Muslim world, the EU has become a partner in the crimes committed by the NATO in Afghanistan and Pakistan where there is no longer any stability in these two countries, since this is what ensures the American dominance on these strategic countries in the region.
The problem is that the United Nations has turned into a failing institution that is not allowed to run the world which America plans to manage alone, although it does not mind to use the UN to serve its interests.
Lebanon: A New Stage of National Understanding and Reconciliation
In Lebanon we have heard some talks about an apology in a vague way. We would like to say in this context that we welcome any explicit apology by any Lebanese politician whose actions had left a negative impact in the entire country.
But we want this apology to turn into a practical step that benefits all Lebanese and the future of the coming generations, by resigning from politics altogether, as we see in the countries where the officials respect their peoples. We believe that such a resignation would encourage other warlords to do the same, thus opening the way for new young leaders to emerge that would lead Lebanon to the safe shore.
We are also entering a new stage of understanding and reconciliation between the political parties… We welcome a national reconciliation in general and any Islamic one in particular. And we are ready to make every effort to help establish an Islamic reconciliation that serves Islamic unity inside Lebanon and outside it, and which lays the foundations of a true national reconciliation which everybody is looking forward to, to leave the sectarian and dispersing rhetoric towards the joining and unifying national one.