His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlallah, delivered on Jamada II 9, 1442 H. /January 22, 2021.  two Fridays speeches. Following is the edited text of them:

The first Sermon

 Allah says in His Glorious Book: And each [story] We relate to you from the news of the messengers is that by which We make firm your heart. And there has come to you, in this, the truth and an instruction and a reminder for the believers. Allah, the Most Exalted, speaks the truth.

One of the stories that were narrated in several Surahs in the Holy Quran, and which contains several lessons to learn from and be guided by is the story of Prophet Younis b. Matta. He was mentioned in the Quran either by name or by his nickname Zun-Noun having stayed inside the whale for a certain period.

Allah sent this prophet to the village of Ninawa in Al-Mosul, Iraq, to call its people to abandon their worshipping of idols and worship the one and only God. But he was faced by rejection and persecution, which made him leave its people and look for another place he could be effective in, after he warned them that they would be punished after three days of the days of Allah. But Younis did not wait, as he should have, to see how they would react to his warning, and if it would have driven them to accept his call.

When the people of Ninawa saw that Younis had left them they became convinced that his warning was serious and they all left, along with their livestock, to what they thought to be  a safe place, and declared their belief in what  Prophet Younis  came with, and they prayed to Allah  to relief them and not to punish them. Then Allah responded to their call and removed from them the punishment: Then has there not been a [single] town that believed so its faith benefited it except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the punishment of disgrace in worldly life and gave them enjoyment for a time. 

 Meanwhile, Younis went to the coast, not knowing what happened to his people. He found an overloaded ship and stepped aboard:  he ran away to the laden ship. When the ship got to the high seas it was about to sink. The passengers thought that the only way to be saved was to drop one of them and decided that the fair way to do that was the draw, which fell on Younis.  And he drew lots and was among the losers. Younis did not hesitate and he immediately threw himself into the sea, where he was swallowed by a whale.

Although Younis suffered a lot while he was inside the whale, he did not despair as he knew that he could pray to a forgiving God who could save him.

And [mention] Zun Noun , when he went off in anger and thought that We would not decree [anything] upon him. And he called out within the darknesses, “There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoer. He thus professed (yet again) that there is no other deity but Allah and acknowledged his shortcomings towards his God Whom no one can pay back for His blessings and gracious gifts. Then Allah responded to him and saved him.  So We responded to him and saved him from the distress. And thus do We save the believers. And the whale threw him out on the sea shore, and grew a tree that he could eat from and be shadowed by. But We threw him onto the open shore while he was ill. And We caused to grow over him a gourd vine.

He stayed there until he became well, then he went to his people, after Allah told him that they have believed, to enhance their belief and teach them how they would express it in their lives. This is story of Prophet Younis, of which we can learn several lessons. Following are some of them:

First: this story has pointed out how wide ranging is God’s mercy. He has forgiven Younis’s people, in spite of the way they responded to their prophet and the fact that they did not repent except after Younis told them that they were going to be punished.

Second: It showed the importance of exaltation(TASBIEH) . Allah says:  and had he not been of those who exalt Allah  he would have remained inside its belly until the Day they are resurrected. Exaltation which is the acknowledgement of Allah’s greatness and perfection was what saved this prophet, for he would not have got out of the whale ‘s belly was it not for this exaltation. And this is what Allah called on His prophet to resort to: So be patient over what they say and exalt [Allah] with praise of your Lord before the rising of the sun and before its setting; and during periods of the night [exalt Him] and at the ends of the day, that you may be satisfied. This is a clear call for man to exalt Allah, when he faces any challenge or hardship.

Third: it indicated the effect of belief and showed that when man is faithful, Allah will not let him down. For Allah has pointed out that what happened with Younis can be repeated with every believer: So We responded to him and saved him from the distress. And thus do We save the believers.

  Fourth: it pointed out to the significance od DUA (prayer) being what every believer should resort to when he faces any trouble, sickness or hardship.  Prophet Younis indicated that the Dua Allah responds to most is: There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoer. And this is the Dua Muhammad(p.) called on believers to recite, adding that anyone in hardship recites it would be relieved.

The second sermon

Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted, I advise you and myself with what Imam Ali (a.s.) advised us:

‘Observe this world, which you desire, towards which you move with desire and proximity, which sometimes angers you and at other times makes you happy. It is neither your actual abode nor the station for which you were created, nor is it the place towards which you are invited.’

‘Take lesson, for it is not going to remain for you, nor are you in it forever. If it has beguiled you with its charm then it has also made you fearful with its wickedness. Do not be influenced by its scare and do not seek it greedily out of its fear.’

‘Advance towards that abode towards which you have been invited and turn your hearts away from this world. None of you should lament like maids on deprivation of a thing of this world. Be patient on the obedience of Allah and wish for the completion of the bounties by safeguarding that which has been commanded by our Book to be safeguarded.’

‘Pay heed, if you have safeguarded your religious beliefs

then loss of anything of this world will not harm you. And if you have wasted and destroyed your religion then none of the worldly things, which you have safeguarded, can bring you any benefit.’

Let us follow the advice of the Commander of the Faithful, so that we would learn the truth about this world and know what path we should embrace and what we were created for. And become more aware and more capable of facing challenges.  

We begin by Lebanon, which continues to sufferاon the economic, financial and health levels, with catastrophic repercussions on the lives and security of the Lebanese. Meanwhile, the ruling class that is supposed to form a government that would put an end to these crises is still occupied with its concern for personal and private interests and which faction will hold power without taking into consideration where the country is headed to.

  We renew our call to all those concerned with forming the government to stop playing with the interests of a country that is collapsing. No country can be built on the basis of such political skirmishes or private interests, or when each party insists on its stances and does not compromise. It is built on the basis of partnership and courageousness to offer mutual concessions in the interest of the country and all people.

It is high time that the parties concerned should meet and start working to form a government that is able to revive the country and restore its image abroad.

 We hope that the last initiatives and mediations would get the government out of the bottleneck, and we join all those who voiced their support to these initiatives and call those in charge in the political class to cleanse their hearts and avoid   the rows and the agitating words that only add fuel to the fire.

It is regretful that there are some foreign parties who are shouldering the responsibility and providing aid to the Lebanese while there are some in the political class who are not shouldering this responsibility towards their own people.

It has become clear that crisis in this country is the responsibility of those in charge. The outside world is preoccupied with its own problems, which means that the Lebanese and those in charge among them should reinforce the pillars of their house before the temple falls on all of them. As for the health catastrophe which has hit Lebanon, with the increase in the number of those infected and of causalities as well the new variants of covid-19, we hope that the latest lockdown has contributed in containing it and eased the burden of the medical staff who are making huge efforts and demonstrating a sense of steadfastness and determination to confront this pandemic that we are proud of. In this respect, we call on the government to perform its natural duties in supporting the hospitals to enable them to face the pandemic and not to be content with punishing the hospitals that have carried out their duties in this respect.

We also call on the Lebanese to abide by the necessary protection measures that are the main tool to alleviate the consequences of this catastrophe.

We hope that the government would speedup the measures of helping the poorest classes, and the rich and the NGOs would shoulder their responsibilities of helping the poor and the needy in these difficult times that call for more social solidarity.

On another level, we welcome the latest call in the Gulf to engage in a dialogue with Iran and view in it a real beginning to go back to the right path, since the regional security is maintained by the countries of the region, especially that Iran has declared that it is open to all and looks forward for good and brotherly relations.

Lastly, we would like to comment on the inauguration of the new American President to stress on the importance of restoring the unity between various American races, religions and colors. We also call on the new administration to rethink its foreign policies and in particular its dealing with this region, which paid a dear price as a result of the policy of the former administration, which did not take its interests and aspirations into consideration, but only that of Israel to ensure that it maintains the upper hand.