Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book:

And of the people is he who sells himself, seeking means to the approval of Allah . And Allah is kind to [His] servants. Allah, The Most Exalted, speaks the truth

The blessed birth anniversary of the Commander of the Faithful, Ali bin Abi Talib(a.s.) was on the 13^th of Rajab. Allah, The Most Exalted, wished his birth to be in the holiest place on earth; His Beit Al-Haram (The Sacred House) a unique birth that did not occur to anyone before him and that will not occur to anybody after him.

This occasion, like any such occasions of Ahl El-Beit, constitutes an opportunity to learn about his life so that we would assess how much we are committed to this great Imam. In this respect, it is not enough to express our love to him or to visit him.  This love should be demonstrated in one’s actions, stances and sayings.

 Imam Al-Baqir(a.s.)says:   Is it enough for a man to say: I love Ali and I accept his Guardianship but he does not carry out his commands. For his love would not be beneficial.

Although no matter how long we talk, we will not be able to cover the life of the Imam, for he filled the world with his courage, knowledge, generosity, sacrifice and dedication to the cause of Allah, The Most Exalted, we are going to highlight briefly some of his stances.

In the Battle of Sefien, Muawiyah’s army controlled the bank of the river and refused to allow Ali’s army to drink, but when Ali’s Army drove them away, the Imam refused to treat them in the same way and allowed the army of Muawiyah to drink as much as they wanted.

 Here we ask ourselves if we were in Ali’s place would we have adopted his sublime morals or acted like Muawiyah’s army?

Another stance in the same battle happened when he heard some of his soldiers cursing Muawiyah and his army. He said: I detest committing such acts as cursing. Instead if you describe the situation and comment on their actions showing how they went wrong, it would be more correct… Instead of cursing them you should say: O lord, preserve our blood (life) and theirs, and reconcile us, and guide them out of their falsehood, so that those who are ignorant of the Right would know it, and those who aggress and wrong will refrain from such acts.

Another stance was when he saw a man begging in Kufa during his caliphate. He was surprised to find out that there was even one person who was poor enough to beg at that time. When he was told that the man was a Christian he grew very angry and ordered that the man should be provided for from Beitilmal (the Muslim’s treasury.) There was no difference to him between a Muslim, a Christian or one who belongs to any other religion. All are entitled to a decent level of living.

Another stance occurred when he heard some people praising him. He said: I would really hate that it may occur to your mind that I love high praises or to hear eulogies. By the grace of Allah, I am not like this. Even If I had loved to be mentioned like this, I would have given it up in submissiveness before Allah, the Glorified, rather than accept greatness and sublimity to which He is more entitled.

Generally, people feel pleased at praise after good performances; but do not mention for me handsome praise for the obligations I have discharged towards Allah and towards you, because of (my) fear about those obligations which I have not discharged and for issuing injunctions which could not be avoided, and do not address me in the manner despots are addressed.

Do not evade me as the people of passion are (to be) evaded, do not meet me with flattery and do not think that I shall take it ill if a true thing is said to me, because the person who feels disgusted when truth is said to him or a just matter is placed before him would find it more difficult to act upon them. Therefore, do not abstain from saying a truth or pointing out a matter of justice because I do not regard myself above erring…

This is Imam Ali(a.s.) and these are his stances which were not driven by passion or personal interests or rage or any other impulsive reactions. They were all founded on his belief, virtues and values. That is why he did not curse back when someone cursed him or return a misdeed by a similar one and he never favored anyone at the expense of the right. He said in a letter to Abdullah bin Al-Abbas: Therefore, you should not regard the attainment of pleasure and the satisfaction of the desire for revenge as the best favor of this world, but it should be the putting off of the (flame of) wrong and the revival of right.

Imam Ali was humanitarian and messengerial in all his moves, sayings and actions. That is why he was bound to suffer, but he was able to reach the hearts and minds of people regardless of their sect and religion.

The second sermon

Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted, I advise you and myself to be guided with Zainab (a.s.) when she decided to take part in the revolution of her brother, Imam Al-Hussein(a.s.) against the corrupt tyrant, although she knew that she was going to suffer. We should follow her lead in the patience and strength she demonstrated when she saw all what had happened in Karbala and did    not tear her clothes, or scratch her face… She only stood before the purified bodies and said: O  Lord . Accept this sacrifice. And then when she stood dignified before Yazid to say: Do what you want, by Allah, you will not erase our remembrance and you will not wipe out revelation (Islam).  Then in Medina, she continued to call for the values the Imam martyred for till the end of her life.

This Zainabi spirit has played a part in making previous victories and will also contribute in achieving futuristic ones. It is the spirit that that would enable us to face challenges.

We begin by Lebanon, where things will get worse at all levels, each day the government is not formed, as the foreign currency reserves which are said to be what is left of the savings of the depositors decrease and the price of the dollar and the basic goods increase, while unemployment and poverty rates and crime and robberies are on the rise. It has become clear for everybody that forming a reform government is the door that should be opened to halt the ongoing collapse. It is also the condition that the countries that wish to help Lebanon to end its crises insist on.

 Yet, it is regretful to say that all the stances of the parties concerned with forming the government indicate that there is no government in the near future, since none of them has signaled that it is willing to offer any concessions as they either seek to enhance their position in their sects or waiting for external changes that might enhance their positions. In the meantime, they are all armed with constitutional or sectarian deceitful arguments without taking into consideration their consequences on the country and the Lebanese.

Therefore, we renew our call to the political parties to shoulder their responsibilities towards those who put them in their positions. Stop stalling and tampering with the people’s fate and future. And don’t bet on the people’s silence for it will not remain indefinitely. If they are betting on inciting sectarian instincts and fears so that the Lebanese would accept whatever is dictated, this ploy will not succeed and the people will no longer be deceived.

 We say to all those who hold positions whether in the political domain or the religious one: this is not the time for the proposals that increase the divide, but one for joining hands to stop the collapse. As for the vaccine, which the Lebanese were promised to be distributed justly and in a transparent manner, they were shocked by the violations and politicizing the issue whose repercussions are not limited to depriving those who have the priority, but also on the continuation of the vaccine supply… which provides another proof to how deep those in power have fallen. We had hoped that explanatory statements would have been issued by those who had committed the violation that would ensure    the Lebanese that it would not be repeated instead of these false justifications that made them afraid that it would continue and made them despair more from the political reality and those responsible.

 After naming a new judge to lead probe into Beirut Port blast, we renew our call to end this delaying   and hasten to find out what led to what had happened away from any political pressures to ensure the families of victims that changing the judge does not aim to undermine the investigation, but to enhance it, and ensure that justice would be served.

As for the students studying abroad, we call for ending the stalling in funding them, since all the state’s institutions    and not only the parents of these students are responsible for finding a solution for this problem.

Lastly, faced by the Israeli threats that have been repeated a lot lately to target the civilians in any new aggression, we believe that it is part of the war of nerves and aims at intimidating the Lebanese, but this does not mean that we should not be wary of the enemy’s intentions and enhance our points of strength and our national unity.