His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Zul Qida, 6 1444/May 26, 2023. Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries, and hundreds of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer. Following is an edited text of the sermons.

The First Sermon 

Allah’s victory promise is dependable on securing its conditions

 

 Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: (And Our Word has already gone ahead in favor of Our servants – the messengers – they are the ones who will have Allah’s support, and verily it will be Our army that prevails. Allah, the Most Exalted, speaks the Truth. 

In this Holy Ayat,  Allah points out a fact  He wanted the Muslims to be aware of: He will not leave them alone in the face of their enemies who wish to violate their pride or dignity and seize their wealth and lands. He will support and strengthen them and fill the hearts of their enemies with panic. He has promised that in His saying:  It was incumbent on Us to come to the aid of the believers. This is proven by the victories the Messengers and the prophets and their followers have achieved throughout history, when they were faced with challenges and pressures, and when wars were waged against them although they were few in number and poorly armed. Allah says: how many a prophet [fought and] with him fought many religious scholars. But they never lost assurance due to what afflicted them in the cause of Allah, nor did they weaken or submit. And Allah loves the steadfast.

However,  God made His promise of victory contingent on securing its conditions. Thus, today, too, we ought to secure these conditions to enjoy this Divine support in our battles against international arrogance and local despots.

The first condition:  The Believers’ goal in any struggle they engage in should be to gain God’s satisfaction and none else. This takes place by accomplishing the goals Allah set for us in this life: to free the downtrodden from injustice, establish justice, deter the aggressors, liberate the lands and remove the burdens that stand in the face of the call for God.   He says:  Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you and And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children and: And fight them until there is no fitnah and [until] the religion, all of it, is for Allah. Allah promised those who do that with a sincere intention with support and victory: O you who have believed, if you support Allah, He will support you and plant firmly your feet.

On the other hand, when the love of this world invaded the hearts of Muslims and they sought to gain its spoils, such as in the battle of Uhud, when the companions of the Messenger left their posts to grab the spoils, although he had warned them not to regardless of the results of the battle…

The second condition is the indefinite readiness for the sacrifice that the battle might demand… to withstand all pains and sufferings and not to be deceived by the enemy’s threats and disinformation or afraid by the vast number of its army or shocked by the sacrifices the believer has to make. This was the basis of  God’s call  for Jihad which He urged people to engage in:

 

O you who have believed, shall I guide you to a transaction that will save you from a painful punishment?

 [It is that] you believe in Allah and His Messenger and strive in the cause of Allah with your wealth and your lives. That is best for you if you should know.

He will forgive for you your sins and admit you to gardens beneath which rivers flow and pleasant dwellings in gardens of perpetual residence. That is the great attainment.

And [you will obtain] another [favor] that you love – victory from Allah and an imminent conquest; and give good tidings to the believers. For this reason, God asked the believers to join between Jihad and patience: O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful…

The third condition: The believers should never forget to mention and remember Allah during the battle, being one of the main elements of achieving triumph. He says: O you who have believed, when you encounter a company [from the enemy forces], stand firm and remember Allah much that you may be successful…

 

The fourth condition is  the sufficient and adequate preparation for  the battle without which no victory can be reached … Allah, the Most Exalted says: And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy. In this Ayat, we notice that God called on the Muslims to prepare whatever they are able of power and not all the power. He would then, if they were faithful to Him, compensate for them what they did not manage to secure, just as He did in the battle of Badr…

The fifth condition is not to be pleased and blinded by their number for this is a prelude to defeat, since it would lead them to underestimate the enemy’s power and capabilities as in the battle of Hunayn. Allah says: And [even] on the day of Hunayn, when your great number pleased you, but it did not avail you at all, and the earth was confining for you with its vastness; then you turned back, fleeing…

The last condition in this respect is to ensure the persistence of victory, which could not be achieved except by glorifying and thanking God, as well as asking constantly for His forgiveness…

 Dear loved ones: we are in utter need to achieve victory in these circumstances in which we face challenges by those who seek to violate our security undermine our values and plunder our wealth. Thus, we should work at unifying the ranks and enhance our effort and give the general precedence over the specific to fulfill God’s promise of victory…

 

The Second Sermon

Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted, I advise you and myself to fear Allah and be pious, which constitutes the best provision for the Hereafter. In this sense, piety is not to take any position …to support or condemn… to love or hate … unless we are sure that it pleases God… By this, we ensure the good of this world as well as that of the Hereafter and become more responsible and capable of facing challenges.

We begin with the 23^rd anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation day in which we recall the victory the Lebanese achieved on 25 May 2000; the day the Zionist Enemy had to withdraw in disgrace for the first time and exposed the reality of its army which was claimed to be invincible…By observing this anniversary, we recall the heroism and great sacrifices of those who fought, martyred, were armed with patience and imprisoned, so that we may not forget , but rather express our gratitude and pride of those who made glory for this country and solidified one of their points of power that joined the Lebanese Army, which represents a power that there is no substitute for…    

 Thus we call for strengthening this force and benefiting from it in the face of an enemy that still occupies some Lebanese lands and constitutes a constant threat, as it wants to avenge its defeat and seeks to usurp the Lebanese wealth and lands. Moreover, it also sees in the Lebanese formula a threat to its very existence.  Thus, the enemy is waiting for the moment Lebanon shows some weakness to attack it, as evident from its maneuvers that simulate how to invade Lebanese cities and villages …

The Lebanese should be proud that there are in this country those who are thinking day and night of how to confront this enemy and who offer sacrifices to increase their capabilities and even prepare to penetrate the Entity’s borders in case it thinks about reinvading Lebanon.

However, as we recall these scenes of power and pride,  we are dismayed by the scenes of humiliating the Lebanese in the internal front which might destroy all accomplishments. Division and disruption dominate the political arena to the extent that they jeopardize any measurements towards finding a solution to the living and economic crises that are aggravating…

In this respect, it is regretful that the Lebanese political parties are still holding to their positions, accusing one another of obstructing the election of a new president, with no party ready to take any step towards the other, to facilitate  the overdue election. This makes the country hostage to external developments, although it seems that the foreign powers have decided to let the Lebanese elect the president on their own.  Thus, we call on the political parties to shoulder their national and moral responsibility and hasten to do so as it is a prelude to the other steps that would prevent any further dangerous financial and even security consequences.

As for the judicial rulings of some European countries that indict the highest ranking financial official, thus distorting the reputation of the whole sector and might lead to termination of any dealing with the Lebanese banks, we call yet again on the Lebanese government to do what is demanded from her and take the decision that returns to the financial institutions their credibility instead of the lagging we have been witnessing, which suggests that there are those who wish to cover up for the perpetrators.

At the same time, we call on the Lebanese judiciary to take hold of this issue so that the Lebanese would know what has been happening in the Central Bank and the other banks that led the country to this abyss and the loss of the money of the depositors.

 

It is regretful that the international judiciary is engaged in unraveling the coverts of the corruption in Lebanon, while the Lebanese judiciary’s hands are tied and their movement is limited   leaving those who were untrustworthy and distorted the image of the country free.