Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers. And fear Allah that you may receive mercy. Allah, The Most Exalted, speaks the truth.   There are several ties that bond between believers such as the familial, the tribal, the national and the racial…Islam has respected all these bonds and called for enhancing and activating them.

But despite the significance of these bonds and man’s need for them to secure his sustenance and get on in his life, the most important tie and the one that Allah, The Most Exalted, called for and made a duty on believers is the bond of belief. He says: The believers are but brothers. The Messenger (p.) says: Do not envy one another, do not hate one another, do not sever ties with one another, do not turn your backs on one another. The Hadith also says : Fear Allah, and be brothers, loving each other for the sake of Allah helping each other, and showing mercy to each other.    The  Muslim is the brother of a fellow Muslim , whether he likes it or not. And : The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim: He does not betray him, cheat him, oppress him.  Allah, The Most Exalted, has considered this brotherhood as a favor he bestowed on Muslims.   Allah, The Most Exalted, says to His Messenger: And remember the favor of Allah upon you – when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. Imam As-Sadiq(a.s.) says that if a Muslim says to his Muslim brother in the context of a difference that he is his enemy then he  has disbelieved

Allah, The Most Exalted ,did not want this bond to be restricted to feelings , but to surpass them to the level of rights and duties… since the believer  has rights and duties towards the other believers : The Hadith says:  believers have seven obligatory rights incumbent on each other, each of these rights are mandatory on brothers-in-faith to fulfill. If he (a believer) omits any right from these, he has come out of the guardianship of Allah and has forsaken obedience to Him. The simplest of these rights is that you should love for him (your brother-in-faith) what you love for yourself and you should despise for him what you despise for yourself.

The second is that you should help him with your self, your wealth, your tongue, your hands and your feet. The third is that you should pursue what pleases him and avoid his displeasure and obey his command. The fourth is that you should be his eyes, his guide and his mirror. The fifth is that you should not fill your stomach whilst he is hungry, you should not be quenched whilst he is thirsty and you should not clothe yourself whilst he is naked.

The sixth is that if you should have a servant whilst he does not have one and you should have a maid to serve you and he does not have a maid to serve him; you should send over your servant to wash his clothes and prepare his food and bedding. The seventh is that you keep his vows, answer his calls, respond when he invites you, visit him when he is ill and accompany his bier; and if he should have a need, you should rush to fulfill it and not give him the trouble to ask you for it.

When you have done all these, then your friendship unites with his friendship and his friendship with yours.

Imam As-Sadiq have pointed out to these rights when he asked one of his companions who had left his people and travelled with him: How did you leave your brothers?

The man praised them. Then the Imam asked him if their rich help the poor. When the man replied that this was a rare phenomenon, the Imam asked him: “then how do you claim that they are Shiites?”

The Muslims demonstrated brotherhood in its most superior form when the Ansar received the Muhajireen who did not have any money when they came to Medina. They shared with them their money, their houses, and their lands…

 Dear loved ones: we are in a dire need to reinstate this virtue, which we fear that we might have lost, and adopted the logic of private interests at the expense of solidarity and compassion. We should enhance these values and practice them, for they are the security valve that suppresses all tensions and srtifes that might occur inside families, tribes and nations and in social and political entities. Those who live this brotherhood of faith would not live any hatred or hostility or take any stance that offends the believers, or violate their dignity and honor or create a rift among them.

By compassion, cooperation and solidarity, the Messenger (p.) was able to build a strong society that was able to face all challenges, achieve victories and build a civilization that the world still considers a reference.

In this difficult stage, we are badly in need to adopt these superior meanings of brotherhood in our behavior and relations, which will enable us to overcome all our crises and  the conflicts  that might arise out of our diversity; and  actually become the best nation  produced for mankind.  To achieve this, let our prayer be: “Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts [any] resentment toward those who have believed. Our Lord, indeed You are Kind and Merciful.”

The second sermon

Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted: I advise you and myself with what Allah, The Most Exalted, commanded us, when He said to His Messenger: And of the people is he whose speech pleases you in worldly life, and he calls Allah to witness as to what is in his heart, yet he is the fiercest of opponents. And when he goes away, he strives throughout the land to cause corruption therein and destroy crops and animals. And Allah does not like corruption.

Allah has called us through what He said to His Messenger(p.) not to be deceived by bombast speeches. There are those who mastered how to give speeches and gained the methodology of influencing people’s minds and hearts… We ought to study what is beyond these words and speeches and what they aim at with respect to the citizens of the country and what they will do when they become in power.

We are in a dire need to acquire this awareness, especially after information has become a science that is studied in the university so that we could protect ourselves from those who want to hurt us and become more capable of facing challenges.

We begin by Lebanon, where the number of those infected by the coronavirus is increasing  reaching its peak in the last few days, which calls on us once again to remind all citizens to strictly abide by the protection measures of putting on masks and social distancing… For this is so far the only and the safest way to confront the dangerous consequences of this pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese continue to suffer in their living conditions as the price of the dollar continues to fluctuate in the black market without any restrictions. The prices of commodities and foods also continue to rise despite the government’s announcement of subsiding the food basket. The severe rationing of electricity has also not been solved and the crisis of shortage of fuel oil continues… as the crisis of trash reemerges.

These crises have been aggravated by the fact that many institutions have been forced to lay off some of its employees or not give them their full salary. We are sorry that our institutions are among them although we tried our best not to reach this stage. We hope that the circumstances will improve so that they can return to their work.

We once more call on the government to shoulder its responsibility and make every effort to ease the difficulties of the living conditions which, if they continue, would threaten with a popular explosion that nobody knows what its results will be.

This does not mean that we deny that the government is making internal initiatives or external efforts to obtain aid. However, this has become not enough to solve the intractable crises of the country, especially with the continuity of the external pressures that obstruct opening foreign doors. Therefore, an additional effort is needed that is based on taking serious steps to solve the urgent problems.

The government should not hesitate in instituting the reforms and retrieving the looted money… to restore the confidence of the citizens, which will not be attained unless it takes these steps, which are in addition  considered as a perquisite of helping Lebanon by those who wish to help it. We are not trying to downplay the difficulty that the government is facing, both from the inside and outside. But this is not an excuse for not embarking on the required steps. On the contrary, it calls on the government for serious and fast work.

The government has not done what it should have and this is one of its officials said before the councils of ministers. He stated that the government has not taken any measures to prevent the financial decline or let the citizens bear the losses , at a time it had to shoulder the responsibility against those who benefited from the legal system and became rich at the expense of  the people accounts, whether the bankers or those who were in power.

As the internal condition worsens on all levels, the debate in this country increases regarding the issues that it is clear that they  increase their division at a time it is clear that they are in a dire need to join hands to save the country from what is threatening its existence and stability. We once again wish to say to all political parties and religious authorities that the time is not a time for discussing controversial issues that will not lead to any results other than broadening the internal rift. If some people believe that they should be discussed now, it should not be in public but rather in the existing dialogue forums or that may exist, provided that it is an objective and calm dialogue that takes into consideration the interests of this country and the protection of its points of strength.

On our part, we will always side by the right against falsehood and by justice against oppression. And we will never be neutral in this world in which greedy powers practice their hegemony over the entire world to promote their interests at the expense of the downtrodden nations. We are in a world that does not respect except the strong and in which there is no place for the weak or for those who do not preserve their points of strength.

Lastly, we recall in these days the anniversary of the Zionist aggression whose aim was not to retaliate against taking prisoners, but to create a new middle east. Nevertheless, the unity of the Lebanese and their resistance thwarted this project and showed Lebanon as a strong country, which is capable of imposing its stance. We remember all these achievements to reemphasize the need to preserve the points of strength that achieved a victory and protected Lebanon against aggressors. The enemy will continue to target Lebanon to avenge its defeat and those who are concerned for the welfare and integrity of the country should be always prepared for it.