The first Sermon

Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book: I do not ask you for this any payment [but] only good will through kinship. Allah, The Most Exalted, speaks the truth

 On the twenty fifth of the month of Rajab, we commemorate the death anniversary of Imam Al-Kazim (a.s.). This Imam whom Imam As-Sadiq(a.s. )  indicated his status when he said: O my son! Praise be to God who designated you to be the successor of your forefathers, and as a source of pleasure among my children, and in return for my lost friends.” In his book, “Kitab Al-Irshad”, Sheikh Al-Mufid says that Imam Al-Kazim “was the most religious of the men of his time, the most knowledgeable in religious law, the most generous and the noblest in spirit…

After his father Imam As-Sadiq (a.s.)died , Al-Kazim succeeded him at the age of twenty.  Throughout his Imamate that lasted for 35 years, he had to endure the wronging and oppression of the successive Abbasid rulers that ruled in that period: Al-Abbas, Al-Mansour, Al-Hadi and Al-Mahdi, but the toughest era was that of Haroun Al-Rashid. The Tyrant, Al-Rashid used to be afraid from the Imam, despite the vastness of his kingdom, due to his status and   position among the people, to the extent that someone told Al-Rashid: I did not think that were two caliphs on earth until I saw Musa Bin Jafar… for the Imam was truly the caliph of the hearts and minds of the people.

On this occasion, we are going to go over several stances that show the Imam’s courage and strength in the face of the tyrant, as we usually remember only his sufferings in the prisons of Al-Rashid. 

The first stance was, when Ar-Rashid visited Al-Medina and stood before the Prophet (p.)’s shrine and said: “Peace be upon you, cousin”, he was seeking to show his distinguished position over the others by his blood relation with the Prophet, thus enhancing his legitimacy. Imam Al-Kazim wanted to show the falseness of this claim and delegitimize his caliphate. He went straight to the shrine and said: “Peace be upon you, father.” He meant to say that if you, Haroun, claim to be a relative to the Messenger, I am nearer to him than you, for I am one of his sons. Al-Rashid was furious and said: how can you claim that you are his son while you are his relative on your mother’s side?

The Imam said: it seems that you did not read the Quran. Had you read it you would not have said so. The Holy Quran says: Should anyone argue with you concerning him (Jesus), after the knowledge that has come to you, say, ‘Come! Let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, our souls and your souls, then let us pray earnestly and call down Allah’s curse upon the liars. This Ayat was revealed on the Day of Mubuhalat, when the Messenger(p.) brought with him Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein along with Imam Ali and Al-Zahra(a.s.) in answer to Allah, The Most Exalted’s call to the Messenger to bring with him his sons. Therefore, it is the Messenger who said that we are his sons. Faced by this undisputable argument Haroun could not find anything to say. He grew very angry, and left, determined to punish Al-Kazim.

Another stance was made when Safwan Aj-Jammal, one of his companions, who had many camels went to Imam Al-Kazim one day. The Imam (a.s.) told him: “everything about you is good except one thing!” He asked: “may I be your ransom! What is it?” The Imam (a.s.) said: “that you rent your camels to this man (that is, Haroun,). Safwan said: “I do not do this out of avarice and foolishness. I rent my camels to him because he goes to hajj rituals. I do not serve and accompany him. Instead, I send my servants to him”. The Imam asked: “does he owe you anything?” Safwan replied: “yes”. The Imam asked: “do you want him to live as long as he can pay his debts to you?” Safwan replied: “yes”. Then the Imam said:”if a person wants them to live, then he is one of them, and a person who is one of them will go to the Hell. Did not you hear God’s saying:  And do not be inclined to the wrongdoers or you will be touched by the Fire.”

After the conversation with Imam al-Kazim (a), Safwan sold all of his camels. When Harun heard the news, he summoned Safwan and told him: “I am told that you have sold all of your camels. Why did you do so?” He replied: “because I am too old and senile, and my servants cannot manage to do this”. Harun said: “No way! I know that you have sold your camels at the order of Musa b. Ja’far “.    Thus, we deduce that the Imam believed that it is unlawful to help the tyrant even if only wishing that his life will continue.

The third stance was when Haroun sent his minister to tell the Imam that he was ready to set him out of jail, having been imprisoned for a long period, provided that he apologizes to him. The Imam answered that It is Harun who has to apologize and that the time they will meet God is near and He is the One who will hold both of us accountable.  The Imam chose to stay in prison, for he did not accept a humiliating freedom that will make him remain silent in the face of wronging and oppression and support the oppressed or accept the legitimacy of a tyrannical rule. That is why he did not complain. On the contrary, he felt happy for being in jail gave him the chance to dedicate his life for worshipping Allah, The Most Exalted. This made Haroun feel that he would not be able to change the Imam’s attitude, and decided to poison him in his prison.

 Dear loved ones: this is Imam Al-Kazim and these are his positions in the face of injustice, corruption and deviation, which we should recall. We should not fear when we support the cause of Right and restore to patience when this leads us to suffer. Instead, it should make us happy, for it will make us attain a high position in life and in the eyes of Allah.

 By this only we deserve to be among his Shia and supporters.

The second sermon

Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted, I advise you and myself to follow the Imam’s example of forbearance and patience. When the Imam was told once that a man in Medina   was cursing him so much to the extent that the Imam’s followers asked for a permission to kill him. However, the Imam refused and asked them to accompany him to the man’s farm. The imam said to the man: I was told of what you said about me. If it is untrue I ask Allah, The Most Exalted, to forgive you.  Then he entered with the man in a conversation about all what the man has heard about the Imam and Ahl El- Beit, and he did not leave him before the man said: Allah Knows best with whom to trust His message. The Imam then asked his companions: Which means is better mine or yours?

Dear loved ones: The Imam was capable of telling his companions to kill him. But he used to believe that this was not the way the missionary should act. A missionary should not kill the other, but rather he should kill the hatred and malice in his heart. We need to enhance this spirit in ourselves so as we can turn our enemies into friends and those who hate us into callers for our call. And thus we can end strives and become more capable of facing challenges.

We begin by Lebanon, where the unprecedented rise in the price of the dollar has aggravated the sufferings of the Lebanese, having raised the prices of basic needs, medication and hospitalization.

That is why it was natural to see the street protests we saw and which we will continue to see, although the protesters are quite aware of the negative health consequences the protest will lead to, with the spread of corona, as well as what the protests could bring forth on the security level or the chaos they could generate. However, they had no other alternative means to confront a political class whose economic and financial policies, in addition to its corruption and neglect of the people’s interests played a major part in reaching this level of deterioration. 

We had hoped, along with the Lebanese that what had happened could have constituted a motive that would drive the political class to rethink its policies and join hands to end the deadlock and to hasten to form a government and stop the draining after it has become clear that no foreign aid will be offered unless a reform government is formed.

Although we have our reservations on blocking roads, despite our understanding to the people’s pains and sufferings, yet we are astonished by the indifference of this political class that merely watched the burnt wheels that dismembered the country without being moved by all the protests.  They might be betting on controlling or containing them or creating sectarian struggles among them… And that the Lebanese will get used   to the new status quo and return back to their sectarian camps…so that each political party will stick to its stances and will not make one move towards the other and blame him for the stalling.

 We say to all those in charge that you will lose this bet, for the people have become more aware and will not be deceived by this game and they will not accept to be humiliated in order to earn their daily living, their medication, hospitalization and the milk of their children, knowing that you can get rid of all their crises if you forego your personal interests and partisan and foreign

 Calculations and feel the pains of the people, and return to your humanitarianism and think as Imam Ali did when he said: If I wished I could have taken the way leading towards (worldly pleasures like) pure honey, fine wheat and silk clothes but it cannot be that my passions lead me and greed take me to choosing good meals while in the Hijaz or in Yamamah there may be people who have no hope of getting bread or who do not have a full meal. Shall I lie with a satiated belly while around me there may be hungry bellies and thirsty livers?

As for the rows concerning several issues that were renewed lately, we call, yet again, to end these arguments that will only lead to widening the rift among the Lebanese and return to the language of calm and objective dialogue that remains the only way to solve the problems and deal with the fears of the various Lebanese components.

 We would also like to point out the habit of avenging that have lead and still leading to the killing of the innocent and destabilized the security of families and tribes. We call on the political, social and religious leaderships to strive to end this habit and end the spilling of the blood of innocent victims   and return to the language of the law and Sharia.

Lastly, we have several occasions that we have mark in   these days.

The first is woman’s international day, which we like to celebrate by  saluting every woman who is aware enough to share  men in  building life  in all  the social, cultural  and political fields and does not forget her fundamental  role in building a conscious generation, and we call for enabling her to perform her roles and not making her a prisoner of taking care of her  physical beauty .We also call for changing all the laws that discriminate women  and annul any discriminating policies that Islam came to change.

 As for teacher’s day, we would like to congratulate all teachers and express our appreciation to their efforts especially in these difficult times and call for honoring them, since no nation can rise and survive if its teachers are not well taken care of.

Lastly we would like to commemorate the horrific massacre of Beir Al-Abd in which innocent victims fell and many were wounded. The massacre aimed to silence the voice of Sayyed Fadlallah, the guider, inspirer and instiller of life in the minds and souls and the one who confronted occupation and foreign and domestic oppression.

 We recall this occasion to emphasize our commitment to this aware, bold and open line that voices the right and abides by it regardless of the challenges and difficulties and the price one has to pay.