In The Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful.

His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, delivered in the context of the Friday Talk, a religious speech on Sha’ban 17,1441 H. /April 10, 2020. Following is an edited textof his talk:

“And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous. Who spend [in the cause of Allah] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people – and Allah loves the doers of good”[03; 133-134], Allah, the Most Exalted says the truth.

Anger is a human feeling that God put in man. It is a natural feeling that expresses his interaction with what goes inside him or in his surroundings. It is natural for man to be angry if he is hurt physically or morally or if he is humiliated or feels frustrated or if he recalls painful memories or if his values, religion or sacred symbols are offended…What is unnatural is not to be angry if he is subjected to such incidents. Thus, anger is a natural feeling and it becomes a duty when the sacredness of Allah, The Most Exalted, are violated (What Allah has declared Haram). It couldalso be a wise way to enjoin good and deter evil or deviation

 Imam Ali son of Al-Hussein (a.s.) said: “Moussa (a.s.) said: ‘O Lord, who are Your people whom You shade with the shade of Your throne on the day when there is no shade but Your shade?’Allah, The Most Exalted, said: ‘O Moussa, those with pure hearts and innocent hands. Those who remember My glory like they remember their fathers. Those who are satisfied with obeying Me like how an infant is satisfied with milk. Those who seek My mosques like how eagles seek their nests. Those who rage when My sacredness is violated like how a tiger rages”.When Imam Ali (a.s.) got angry for the right nothing would quench his anger until the right was restored.

 On the other hand, anger can become a problem to both the angry person and those around him if he loses control of himself. That is why it was said that anger is like a raging volcano, which would destroy everything it finds in its way, if it does not abide by the orders of the mind and the religion!

 To take an idea about the catastrophic results of anger it is enoughto visit the graveyards, the prisons and the hospitals or learn about the causes of tensions and differences be they political or social. If anger is not controlled, it will turn into a wild beast . . . Therefore, we should establish these controls, which Islam was concerned toinstitute, as evident in several Ayahs and Hadiths.

 Allah, The Most Exalted, motivated man to do this when it considered its prize to be“hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous. Who spend [in the cause of Allah ] duringease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people – and Allah loves the doers of good”.The  Hadith  also says :“Anyone who suppresses an anger which could be brought into operation, Allah will fill his heart with His pleasing till the Day of Judgement”.The Messenger (p.) considered suppressinganger an indication of the strength of man, not his weakness.

The Prophet is said to have passed by a group of people trying each in turn to lift a rock,since they thought, as was prevalent among them and still is now, that strength is a physical phenomenon.

The Prophet (p.) told them:”Would you want me to tell you who the strongest among youis?”

He added: “Thestrongest among you is he who if pleased, he would not let hisfeelings lead to committing any sin or falsehood, and if angered, hewould not let his anger prevent him from saying the truth, and ifenabled (become strong enough to force his wishes), he would not actin a way that violates rights”.

Anger is also the opposite of belief,for it opens up on all evils and the whispers of Satan. It alsobegins with committing a sinand ends up hurting others.

Dear loved Ones: we are in a dire need to control our emotions and guide them in this difficult stage, because we are living in a reality that brings about tensions and loss of temper,becauseof worry from coronavirus and theneed of staying home and the burdens of the economic crisis.

As we cannot avoid the impact of this reality on our emotions and feelings, especially with the political forces still fighting over sectarian and partisan issues, all we can do is to ease and rationalize the tension. We should believe that anger would not solve our problems, but would rather complicate and increase them. It could also, on the psychological level, create mental and physical illnesses inside each of us. It is not true that we cannot control our temper, or else how would Allah order us to do that. If this isnot true, how do people control their temper when they are witnessed by people they fear or when they learn that they are being watched. The Quranic Ayat recited above, did not only call for avoiding anger, but also called on turning it into a chance for doing something good, when it called on the angry person to forgive and to meet the offense with charity.

Dear loved ones, we are responsible in these circumstances, where man is naturally nervous out of fear for himself or for those around him, and as a result of hearing the news about catastrophes that occur inside the country and outside it, to control our emotions, and count to ten before we take any stance, and to refer everything we do and say to the intellect and faith. We should remember that Allah, The Most Exalted, ordered us to be patient and to remember that He has promised the patient with his rewards.

 We should also remember Allah’s mercy, by being merciful towards the weak among His servants who need our love and charity and not our anger and rage at all times and especially until these circumstances end out peacefully

In The Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful.

His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullahissued onSha’ban 17, 1441 H. /April 10, 2020 a press release in the context of his regular Friday talk. Followingare the main points he touched upon:

The Sayyed began his talk by stressing on the importance of controlling our feelings and anger in these circumstances that build up tension as a result of the health and economic conditions we live in. He indicated that suppressing anger would ease up a lot of familial and social problems and would be rewarded by Allah, The Most Exalted, Who gives the believers His favors andendless rewards.

His Eminence considered that Lebanon is among the countries that have dealt, in a responsible and serious way, with the coronavirus, as a result of its citizens’ abidance by the measures the government took to reduce infections. However, this does not mean that we should ease up our commitment and feel relaxed. We should remain committed to everything that provides our safety and that of the others’, for Lebanon has not got out of the circle of dangers and any slackness would get us back to square one. The Sayyed added that there is a need for more patience to surpass this stage with the least possible losses. He emphasized the need of national unity in dealing with this pandemic and keeping it out of the sectarian and political rows after it became clear to everybody that this virus does not differentiate between one sect or political power and another. It could only be confronted by the cooperation of all parties.

 In this respect, the Sayyed praised the efforts of the minister of health and his concern to confront the pandemic in all regions on the basis of national and ethical criteria.

 Sayyed Ali added that along with confronting this pandemic, there is an equally important need to deal with the worsening economic and social conditions, especially with the increase in unemployment and the effects of general mobilization that prevented many people from going to work and the inability of many private institutions to pay full salaries. All this calls for an increased effort to help the affected sectors and consider it as a priority or else we would be facing a real catastrophe when these people do not find their daily bread.

The Sayyed called for speeding up helping the poorest families away from any bureaucratic complications, and according to a well -coordinated and studied plan.

Sayyed Ali Fadlullah touched on the irrational rise of prices. He praised the stance of the prime minister since he stressed that harming the food security is prohibited and that the food of the Lebanese is a red line. His Eminence called on the government to stand firm in the face of importing companies that hold the responsibilityof the rise in prices. He also urged the government to daily supervise the prices of consumer goods. He added that if the ministry of economy does not have enough civil servants, the government can resort to the army of employees in the other ministries. He explained that it is about time to start hearing that legal measures have been taken against those who raise the prices.

The Sayyed welcomed all the initiatives taken by individuals, societiesand institutions to lessen the burdens of the needy and called for maximum coordination among them, so that there will not be some persons receivingmultiple aid while other families getting nothing.

 He then talked about the suffering of the citizens at the doors of the banks and their inability to get backtheir money, which is a trust they have kept in the banks. The Sayyed stressed the need that these trusts should bereturned. In thisrespect, he highlighted the significanceof the circular issued by the Central Bank that will benefit a large part of the people. Nevertheless, it is still not enough,forthere are many people who still cannot restore their money.

Sayyed Ali noted that the Lebanese are waiting for the reform plan that the government has promised to solve the financial and economic crises that got worse after the coronavirus outbreak. He pointed out that the beginning to solve these crises cannot be but a real confrontation of waste and corruption,and appropriate investment of the state’s resources, away from the logic of sharing the spoils that governed and is still governing many political parties, to the extent that we have been hearing lately about posts belonging to certain sects and other posts belonging to others.

The Sayyed called for reviewing the arbitrary employments in civil servant agencies that have exacerbated of late to serve the interests of the politicians. He also called for dealing with the files that have created an unprecedented deficit in the treasury especially that of electricity, as well as adopting changes in the state’s bureaucraticstructure and the banking sector.

Moreover, he urged the government that came to deal with the difficult reality the country is suffering from, to prove that it is qualified and that it is the master of itself and it is the one that makes its decisions for the benefit of all its citizens, and not this or that party that wants the country to remain a milking cow… Despite the fact that the way of dealing with judicial and financial appointments has tarnished the image of this government and almost casted doubts on its ability to put an end to power sharing.

He called on the government to continue to keep up its promises of restructuring the state in the manner the Lebanese want so thatthey will continue to trust it.

On another level, the Sayyed hoped the ceasefire in Yemen is a permanent and not temporary one and that it will pave the way for a complete political solution. He called for eliminating all the consequences of the war and rebuilding the country.