The first sermon

Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: And there came from the farthest end of the city a man, running. He said, “O my people, follow the messengers. Follow those who do not ask of you [any] payment, and they are [rightly] guided “Allah, The Most Exalted, speaks the truth.

 InSuratYassin, Allah, The Most Exalted, talks about two messengers He sent to the people of  a city – which is probably,  according to the  interpreters of the Glorious Quran, the city of Antaqia that is located today in Turkey – to guide them to worship God and lift the oppression inflicted against them .They were confronted by the rich and powerful who accused them of lying and turned the people against them . Allah, The Most Exalted, sent a third messenger to support them .But it was to no avail, to the extent that the people  threatened to kill them: They said, “Indeed, we consider you a bad omen. If you do not desist, we will surely stone you, and there will surely touch you, from us, a painful punishment.” A man who believed in what the messengers were calling for heard the news. He left his work and came to support them and guide the people, who were influenced by what the rich and powerful were saying, to the truth . He said: “O my people, follow the messengers. Follow those who do not ask of you [any] payment, and they are [rightly] guided …But he was destined to meet the same fate and was stoned to death along with the three messengers.

Then the Holy Quran takes us to what happened to this honorable man after he died and was rewarded by paradise .But this did not make him forget his people and wished that they would  have been guided: It was said, “Enter Paradise.” He said, “I wish my people could know .Of how my Lord has forgiven me and placed me among the honored.” Hedid not have any grudge against them, despite all what they did to him. And this is the image of the believer, which the Messenger(p.) portrayed after he came back from the city of Taif, exhausted and wounded. When he was asked to curse its people he refused, and replied: I was not sent as a curser. I was sent as a mercy.  This man could have stayed on the sideline, but he chose to stand with the right and fight oppression, as Allah, The Most Exalted, expects the believers to do. He does not want the people to remain neutral when the religion, the morals, or the rights are offended, whether at the political, economic or social levels. He wants them to voice their protests and confront falsehood.  That is why He made enjoining good and forbidding evil a duty that one has to commit himself to. He said: …those who deliver the Messages of Allah and who fear Him, and fear no one else than Allah. The Messenger (p.) said that whoever sees an unjust ruler, who implements misdeeds, violates divine accords, confronts the tradition of the Prophet,  and/or commits sins against the servitudes of God; but doesn’t stand up against that unjust ruler, would be destined for  the same fate as this ruler. Imam Zein  Al-Abidien has  taught every Muslism to apologize to God not because he  missed some prayers or other religious duties , but   due to the fact that he failed to support the wronged:  O God, I ask pardon from You forأ the person wronged in my presence whom I did not help. Moreover, this behavior is not restricted to individuals; It should be also adopted by the society as a whole. That is why God said : And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful…

Dear loved ones, we are in a dire need, in this difficult stage,  to be concerned with public affairs and the problems and needs of  the society .We should help the community to abandon the mentality of indifference and adopt the position in which each individual feels a responsibility towards all  what the society suffers from and all what achieves its inspirations ,and be ready to sacrifice for this cause .This is not a rosy  road , but it is one that makes us feel quite happy, when we see the results of our work and the happiness we bring to others , in addition to Allah, The Most Exalted’s gracious rewards: And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer – those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged, [even as much as] the speck on a date seed.

The second sermon

Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted: I advise you and myself, to follow the example of the Commander of the Faithful, when a poor man came to the mosque while he was praying. The man asked for help but nobody responded. So, the Imam pointed at his ring asking the poor man to take it off . Then,the following Ayat was revealed :  Your ally is none but Allah and [therefore] His Messenger and those who have believed – those who establish prayer and give Zakat, as they bow [in worship].This Ayat indicated that the trait that distinguished  Ali (a.s.) and earned him a high status  with respect to Allah, The Most Exalted , and His Messenger was his concern to help the poor, even when he was praying . This behavior constitutes a call for the followers of Ali (a.s.) to follow his example and not to turn their backs to the poor. Once we do that we would deserve to belong to Ali (a.s.) and build a strong and consolidated society that is able to face challenges.

We begin with Lebanon, where the Lebanese are still under the shock of the catastrophe that caused a lot of destruction in addition to a big number of victims.

Once again we express our appreciation to the initiatives of the associations and organizations from the various Lebanese regions who helped , aided and sympathized with those who lost their loved ones or whose houses were downed or damaged, without taking the political and sectarian calculations into consideration . We would also like to appreciate the aid that several countries donated to Lebanon through the Paris conference that was headed by the French president and which demonstrated the position Lebanon occupies in the world, the fact that it promotes their political interests notwithstanding.  Nevertheless, the fundamental role is the role of the state, which should play its vital role towards its ciizens in alleviating their pains and compensating for their losses .Such a role was not felt by those who suffered and continue to suffer from the consequences of the catastrophe…  On the other hand, the role that the citizens and the foreign countries are playing does not relief the state from its responsibility. In the meantime, the Lebanese are anxiously waiting for the results of the investigation which they want it to be a serious and transparent one, away from the political and sectarian considerations that abort any judiciary effort.

 The judiciary should restore the confidence of the Lebanese, so that no one would need to call for an international investigation or seek the help of this or that country. It possesses all the qualifications and capabilities to ensure justice, if it decides to do so and does not subjugate itself to any other sword except that of justice only.

The Lebanese who suffered from this catastrophe will not forgive the judiciary if it does not reach decisive results that punish all who were guilty whether of neglect or of criminal actions.

On the political level, we were, along with all the Lebanese, expecting that what happened would drive all the political parties to unify  their efforts to save the country. But instead we saw how the partisan political interests and the mentality of revenge and settling accounts overcame the national interests and led to a political and informational  sectarian rhetoric and to certain stances that almost led to an internal strife and to undermine the state and fall into a  critical vacuum, due to the unavailability of another option and threatening the very existence and fate of Lebanon.

Based on this, we call on all politicians or those protesting on the streets to be fully aware of  the consequences of any step that would be taken in this very difficult. Therefore, we call, following the resignation of the government, all the effective leaders to neglect all considerations and speed up the formation of a government that is able to lead the country in this difficult stage. Its priority should be to execute the reforms in all the fundamental sectors and it should be formed of those who are capable, honest, and concerned with the reform, which should stop being a slogan and turn into a practice.

On another level, we recall this day the victory the Lebanese achieved in 2006, when they stood up and supported their army and resistance against the enemy who wanted to avenge the 2000 defeat and change Lebanon into a platform to build a new Middle East but it was defeated along with this project … The Lebanese became certain that they would  be  strong if they unify their efforts and capabilities and do not allow the devils to  play the Lebanese sects against one another. We would also like to stop at the normalization between the UAE and the Zionist Entity, which we wished  that  it had not  happened and which we feel that it weakens the Arab and Palestinian position and constitutes a free gift to the Zionist Entity, at a time the enemy continues to execute its project of Judaizing the whole of Palestine. Lastly, we are about to receive in the coming few days a dear memory (Ashoura) that carries with it sadness and pain, but which at the same time embodies steadfastness and pride and persistence to achieve reform and confront corruption. As we feel sad that we were not able to perform the Ashoura ceremony this year to prevent coronavirus from spreading,  we believe that reviving this memory is not only by holding these ceremonies. Keeping this memory alive involves reviving the values Imam Al -Hussein was martyred for. The Imam will remain alive as long as there are men who seek reform and fight corruption.