In The Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful.
His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Jamada Al-Oula22,1441H/ January17, 2020. Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer. Following is an edited text of the sermons
The first sermon
Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book:“Indeed, they who are apprehensive from fear of their Lord .And they who believe in the signs of their Lord. And they who do not associate anything with their Lord.And they who give what they give while their hearts are fearful because they will be returning to their Lord. It is those who hasten to good deeds, and they outstrip [others] therein…” [23; 55-61]Allah, The Most Exalted,speaks the truth.
In these Ayats, The Holy Quran talks about a theme it wants to be deep-rooted in our lives: to hasten to help all people, withoutany discrimination,fulfilling their needs and lessening their sufferings.
These Ayats considered such help as a practical expression of the belief in Allah, the Most Exalted, and the Hereafter. The Hadith says:“None of you will believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself”, and “He who sleeps knowingly on a full stomach while his neighbor is hungry is not one of us”.
Man does not have the right to deny his capabilities, whether money, advice, relationsand the like, to those in need. He is not the sole owner of these capabilities, for others,too, have a share in them. He has benefited from others in acquiring them and has to benefit others bythem. And Allah, The Most Exalted, will hold him responsible for that:“Then you will surely be asked that Day about pleasure”[102; 8].
The Hadith says:“Whenever Allah grants a servant a bounty, He holds him in account for it. So, when Allah grants someone power, He will ask him about the powers he had giving him and about tolerating those who are weaker than him. When Allah grants someone wealth, He will ask him how he spent his money and how he aided the poor after aiding his relatives. When Allah grants someone honor, authority and beauty, He will ask him if he praised Allah, the Most Exalted, for that and not to surmount others by depriving the weak from their rights because of his authority and beauty.”
It is regrettable that some people grumble when people ask anything from them, and act as if heis doing them a favor not knowing that he is doing his duty and that he will be held accountable for not helping all those he could have helped.
Respecting the ones who ask for help
Imam Ali(a.s.) said that the Messenger of Allah (p.) never said: "No" to anyone who asked him for something.
He(p.) stressed on this benevolent behavior, even if one is afraid that the one who is asking for help is lying .
The Messenger (p.) even asked for honoring the [needy] petitioner, because he will earn all the blessings of giving in this world and in the Hereafter. Imam Zein Al-Abidein (a.s.) used to rejoice when one asked himto fulfill a need and say: here comes hewho would carry my provision to the Day of Judgment.
Taking the initiative
Not only Islam called for helping people, when they ask, it also called for searching for these needy people. There are those who cannot tolerate the humility of asking. Thosepeople one has to search for them to provide them with the much-neededsupport. Imam Ali (a.s.) toldKumayl binZiyad to direct his people to go out in the day to achieve noble traits and to go out in the night to meet the needs of those who might be sleeping.Moreover, ImamZein Al-Abidein (a.s) used to carry the food at night in a bag and put it in front of the people’s doors without even waiting to be thanked.The Hadithsays:“Allah will help His servant so long as he helps his brothers”, and“Whoever fulfills the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs”.
What honor could be greater than this: Allah, The Most Exalted, will help the believer in the Hereafter if he helps his brother in this world. The Hadith says:“When Allah sends believers from their graves, Allah sends a lookalike escort to walk in front of him. Whenever the believer sees a terrifying seen of Resurrection, the escort tells him: “Fear not, grieve not, and receive glad tidings of gladness and honor from Allah”.
Those who do not help
On the other hand, those who are selfish and do not care about the needs of others, they will face Allah, The Most Exalted’s anger and punishment . The Hadith says:“Whichever believer withholds his wealth from another believer who is in need, by Allah he will not taste the food of Paradise and he will not drink from the sealed wine [of Paradise]”.Although the punishment in the Hereafter is the most significant,Allah, The Most Exalted, will notbless the fortunes of those who do not shoulder the responsibility of serving the people and attending to their needs. The Hadith says:“If favors of Allah abound on a person the people's needs towards him also abound. Therefore, he who fulfills for Allah all that is obligatory on him in this regard will preserve them (Allah's favors) in continuance and perpetuity, while he who does not fulfill those obligations will expose them to decay and destruction”.
Join hands for the good
Dear loved ones.In these rough times where the poor become poorer and the sufferings of the people increase,we desperately need to mobilize allthe doers of good either as individuals or as institutions to confront poverty, sickness and ignorance ... And we all know how catastrophic things will end up to if we do not work together, for this is amanifestation of our humanitarianism and belief in God. The Hadith says:“To help a needy Muslim family by giving them food, clothes or the like is better than performing pilgrimage twice, three times… until he reached seventy”.
Dear loved ones;
Leteach of us begin his day by asking himself the same question the Commander of the Faithful used to ask himself every morning. He used to tell himself that a day has passed and that it will never come back and wanted to make sure thaton that day he had mentioned and thanked God or done good deeds to other believers or any good in general.
Try adopting this habit and commit yourself to it and you will experience the tranquility that will overwhelm you …as a result of the prayers of the poor or the sad whom you have helped for which the Almighty God will surely reward you with His Best rewards.
The second sermon
Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted: I advise you and myself, with what Allah, the Most Exalted, has commanded us, when He…more