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, JamadaAth-Thaniya20,1441H/ February 14, 2020. Following is an edited text of the sermons
The first sermon
Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book:“Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muhammad], al-Kawthar.So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him].Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off”[108; 1-3].Allah, The Most Exalted, speaks the truth.A logic that was established by Islam
It was narrated that this Surah was revealed after the infidels nicknamed Muhammad as the one cut off after his male children Al-Kassim and Abdullah had died. They sought to demean the Messenger (p.),since their Jahiliya reasoning supposed that man has no value or status if he does not have male children who would keep his memory and help him in the affairs of this world. There is no value for those who only have girls.
This Surah was revealed to point out to the reasoning that Allah, The Most Exalted, wishes to establish the memory of someone after he dies and his assistance in the burdens of this life is undertaken by both male and female children. It also gave the Messenger(p.) the glad tidings of the birth of his daughterthat will help him manage the affairs of life and that willensure the continuity of his progeny through the Imams of guidance, while those who opposed him will be completely forgotten. By this Surah, the Holy Quran wanted to point out to two fundamental things:
The first is to reject the Jahili belief that the girl has no part to play or any presence and entity. She even calls for pessimism when she is born:“And when one of them is informed of [the birth of] a female, his face becomes dark, and he suppresses grief. He hides himself from the people because of the ill of which he has been informed. Should he keep it in humiliation or bury it in the ground? Unquestionably, evil is what they decide” [16; 58-59].Some of them even went to the extent of burying the girl alive, so as not to become a burden on them. This is what Allah, The Most Exalted, warned about, when he said: “And do not kill your children in apprehension of want; We provide for them and for you (too); surely the killing of them has been a great sinning”[17; 31].
The beliefs of Jahiliya
It is regretful that these wrong beliefs and ideas are still present in our societyand even among those who consider themselves religious; we still see those who feel angry and dissatisfied whena daughter is born. They would not feel happy or feel less happy,and this would reflect itself on the punishment they give to their children: forgiving the boy for his mistakes and punishing the girl for hers.
Some have gone as far as denying the daughter’s legal right in inheritance,which is stated in the Quran, by distributing their wealth before they die …
This discrimination also extends to the role and movement of the woman in the society and the way her abilities and potentials are evaluated. That is why we do not find her sufficiently present in many of the fieldsshe has proven worthy of and successful in. Her presence in these fields is still shy and has had an impact on the woman herself.
Some might justify their position by referring to certain religious texts that have not proven to be authentic in both content and source andwhich also contradicts with the Quran and the Islamic rationale, such as the Hadith that is claimed to said by the Messenger(p.): people who entrust a woman to run their affairs will never be successful, or the Hadiths attributed to Imam Ali (a.s.):“Women are deficient in faith, deficient in shares, and deficient in intellect”.and“A woman is evil, all of her; and worse than it is that she is indispensable”!
Islam does not accept discrimination
ThisSurah came to eradicate this Jahili logic and to assert the Islamic decisive stance of equalityand institutionalize the woman’s status in Islam. And this is what the Prophet demonstrated in the way he dealt with Fatima (a.s.) and his respect to her in public. He says:“Whoever had a daughtermanners properly, educates her properly, he will get a double reward,and he did not favor his son over her, God will enter him into paradise”. He also used to say to his companions:“Be just between your children when giving”.
And this is what the Holy Quran affirms: “O mankind! We have created you out of a male and a female, and We have made you tribes and sub-tribes that you may recognize (and do good to) one another. Surely the most honorable of you in the sight of Allâh is he who guards against evil the most”[49; 13]. Allah, The Most Exalted, did not differentiate,since He began to reveal the Quran, between the man and the woman:“Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so - for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward”[33; 35].The Quran called for cooperation between men and women in their roles and responsibilities in work and in all fields of life:“The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those - Allah will have mercy upon them”[9; 71].It called for an equal wage: “For men is a share of what they have earned, and for women is a share of what they have earned”[4; 31]. It also called for not discriminating in punishment…If some contends that thereis a discrimination based on the woman’s inheritance being less than that of the man, this is the result on the additional burdens that he was commissioned with. As for the testimony,being equal to half of that of the woman, it is not a discrimination in as much as a precaution to ensure that justice is done, as the women are more emotional than men.
The second issue the Surah wants to highlight is the status of Az-Zahra(a.s.): She was purified by Allah, The Most Exalted, and considered one of the people of the cloak(kisa). And she was the one whom the Prophet described as a part of him that“he would be hurt by anything that hurther and pleased by anything that pleasedher”. She was her father’s mother and she used to pray until her feet are swollen. She was so knowledgeable that people seeking to learn used to come to her. She was also the ideal wife and mother and the helper of the poor and the needy who used to supplicate to her neighbors, before her family.
She was also present in allthe fields of Jihad to support the Muslims and boost their morale.She alsochampioned the cause of the right and fought against wronging and injustice …In short, she was a role model of the women who practiced Jihad in the public and political domains as well as others.
On the anniversary of the birth of Az-Zahra (a.s.), the day of the Muslim woman, we are in a dire need to inspire her worshipping, knowledge,Jihad and stances, by making her a role model, so that our societywould be blessed by her purity, authenticity and presence that should not be restricted to emotions.
The second sermon
Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted: I advise you and myself with what FatimaAz-Zahra(a.s)advised a man who went to her and said … more