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

The First Sermon

 Are Earthquakes a Divine Puishment

His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Rajab 12, 1444/February 19, 2023. Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries, and hundreds of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer. Following is an edited text of the sermons.

 Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: And when those come to you who believe in Our verses, say, “Peace be upon you. Your Lord has decreed upon Himself mercy: that any of you who does wrong out of ignorance and then repents after that and corrects himself – indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful.”Allah the Most Exalted, speaks the truth.

Allah wished to show His servants how much merciful He is and how much He loves them so that they will feel secure in their relationship with Him. He called on His Prophet to say to the people: Your Lord has decreed upon Himself mercy. He also presented Himself as Compassionate and Merciful- and not as an arrogant tyrant- Whose mercy is limitless and comprises everything. This mercy was demonstrated in creating the people: Indeed, We created humans in the best form. And when He put them on earth, He did not do so except after He had ensured that it would provide them comfort and decent living. It was also demonstrated when He did not leave them confused about what is the best course to take in their lives and how to earn His satisfaction. Instead,He gave them minds to differentiate between what is right and what is false and what is good and what is evil. He sent them the prophets and messengers along with the  Heavenly Books to guide them to the right path. He also promised to forgive them when they repent regardless of how big their sins are. Moreover, He said that He would respond to their Dua [O Muhammad], concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided. And: Say, “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Allah also promised to be Merciful when the people stand before Him in the Hereafter, so much so that the Hadith says that   Allah will extend His mercy so vastly that even Satan will expect himself to be included …

 

 Thus, dear loved ones, we feel safe and secure in this world, for we enjoy Allah’s mercy that embraces us wherever we are. We should recall this mercy when we suffer calamities and pains because we ought to be sure that Allah only wishes good for us and that behind these sufferings there is good for us since behind every trial there is a blessing either in this world or the Hereafter.

 We recall this blessing and God’s mercy when we witness these earthquakes that have caused destruction and tragedies so that it would not affect our view of God and tend to believe that He is “cruel”. This would be true if He is the direct cause of what is happening. But this is not the case. Allah indeed has the ultimate decision in this universe, but He has made life move in conformity with the laws He had set. These laws ensure the safety, stability, and security of this universe and they are good for both life and man. This does not mean that these laws might not lead to negativities and even disasters. The sun which life cannot go on without might cause certain harm to man, animals, and plants. The rain whose benefits are enormous might lead to floods. And this is also true for hurricanes, storms, earthquakes, and other national phenomena that are subject to the laws that secure the stability of the universe.

Nevertheless, these negative aspects should not overshadow the positive ones, whether with respect to the environment or man’s life or the positive effects, it leaves on man’s relationship with God, since it reminds man of how weak and incompetent he is, leading him to be humble before God and act as a servant and not as a god as many do…

As for those who die as a result of these phenomena, they will be awarded the rewards of martyrs …

Dear loved ones: What is happening is a part of the trials in life that are the result of the Divine laws that govern it, but we should not forget that a part of them, not all of course, might be the result of man’s own mischief.

We do not agree with those who claim that these phenomena are  Divine punishments since they are assumptions that do not rely on any sound knowledge.

 They are trials that we should deal with patience which God called for when He said: And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, Who, when disaster strikes them, say, “Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.” And hasten to shoulder our responsibility in reducing the sufferings of those inflicted…

 

The Second Sermon

Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted, I advise you and myself, to follow the advice of Imam As-Sqdiq to those who came to him to complain about death:  They asked him to ask God to live forever. When he did, God responded and they had to live long enough to feed their fathers/ mothers, grandparents, and great grandparents…  leaving them with no time even to go to work. They came back to the Prophet to ask God to return them to their previous condition which he did and God responded.

 

Dear loved ones:  we often see the negative side of the laws  God set to govern the universe and our lives, however ought to see the positive aspects… Death indeed makes us lose loved ones but it is good for life and its future. Let us be aware of this to be more responsible and more capable of facing challenges…

We begin with the earthquake in Syria and Turkey that led to the death and injury of hundreds of thousands and made millions homeless amid this severe cold…

Faced with the huge losses of this catastrophe and the fear it generates that it might reoccur, we congratulate the Lebanese and the survivors on their safety, offer our warmest condolences to the Turkish and Syrian peoples, and wish all injured a quick recovery.

We would like also to appreciate all the initiatives to support  them, especially  in the Syrian regions where the earthquake

 aggravated their previous sufferings due to  ongoing war or siege.

It is shameful to find in this world that considers itself a defender of human rights those who deal with what had happened based on politics or settling accounts, unlifting the sanctions and not offering except very little aid if any. We call for surpassing all differences, conflicts, or political or other considerations…

We would like in this respect to praise all the countries that surpassed these considerations and moved quickly to offer aid. We would like to praise in particular the initiative taken by the Lebanese Government which communicated directly with the Syrian administration and opened all routes to enable the aid to reach Syria. We also wish to praise the popular gestures that provided aid despite all the tough circumstances Lebanon is suffering from.

Going back to Lebanon, we call on the Government to take all precautions to deal with the repercussions of earthquakes, whether by increasing public awareness of how to deal with them or by prosecuting those who agitate people’s fear by publishing inaccurate information, especially on social media and the press.

The Government should also inspect crumbling buildings and hasten to reinforce their foundations and be ready for any possible development.

 This requires an emergency plan that puts the Government’s agencies and capacities on alert, along with the civil defense and civil society organizations.

We had hoped that this catastrophe would have united the political forces in Lebanon and driven them to elect a president and reenergize the governmental institutions. Unfortunately, none of these forces demonstrated any desire to move one step forward towards the other at a time the economic and living crisis continue to escalate, threatening not only the Lebanese ability to secure their very basic needs but even their security.

It is regretful that there are no solutions for this tragic situation. In this regard,  the prosecution of speculators, although important, is not enough, if it is not an integral part of dealing with the financial situation and reviewing the fiscal policy of the Central Bank.

In the meantime, the banks continue with their strike which has become clear that it aims to pressurize to evade any attempt from the depositors to retrieve their money as well as any attempt to reveal the truth concerning smuggling the money abroad which it is suspected that many banks are involved in…

 Lastly, we would like, on the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, to congratulate both the leadership and the people, being a revolution that enabled the Iranian people to regain their free decision and independence and enliven the hopes of the downtrodden nations to achieve its freedom and confront those who have seized their wealth…