His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Rabi Al-Awal 13, 1442 H. October 30, 2020 Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and believers attended the Jumu’a prayer. Following is the edited text of the sermons:

The first Sermon

Allah, The Most Exalted, says: Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah often. Allah, The Most Exalted, speaks the truth.  We celebrate on the 12^th or the 17^th of this month, depending on the different stories, the birth anniversary of the Prophet of Mercy, Muhammad b. Abdullah(p.). This prophet that Allah has sent as sent as a mercy for mankind. He educated him and brought him up to be an excellent example so as to be an image of the Message he came up with, for he is the one whom Allah said about: And the one who has brought the truth and those who embrace it—it is they who are the righteous.   And we are going, on this honorable occasion to shed light on some of his enlightening deeds:

 The first took place when  a lady of Bani Makhzoum  committed theft. Her folk went to Usama bin Zaid to intercede for her (with the Prophet) who commanded that her hand was to be cut off. When Usama interceded for her with Allah’s Apostle, the color of the face of Allah’s Apostle changed and he said, “Do you intercede with me in a matter involving one of the legal punishments prescribed by Allah?” Usama said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Ask Allah’s Forgiveness for me.” So in the afternoon, Allah’s Apostle got up and addressed the people. He praised Allah as He deserved and then said, “The nations prior to you were destroyed because if a noble amongst them stole, they used to excuse him, and if a poor person amongst them stole, they would apply (Allah’s) Legal Punishment to him. By Him in Whose Hand Muhammad’s soul is, if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad stole, I would cut her hand.” The Messenger wanted to teach the nation  a very important principle: there are no exceptions in applying justice, whether the guilty is rich or poor and even a believer and an unbeliever. Justice knows no exceptions and cannot be divided. And this is the meaning of His saying:  Believers! Be upholders of justice, and bearers of witness to truth for the sake of Allah, even though it may either be against yourselves or against your parents and kinsmen, or the rich or the poor: for Allah is more concerned with their well-being than you are. Do not, then, follow your own desires lest you keep away from justice. If you twist or turn away from (the truth), know that Allah is well aware of all that you do.

 In another incident, one Muslim and one Jew started to argue and went into verbal fight and abuse. The Muslim swore, “By Him Who preferred Muhammad over all people!” The Jew swore, “By Him Who preferred Musa over all people!”  The Muslim insulted the Jew who went to the Messenger to complain. The Prophet was very angry; anger was manifest on his face features, and he commanded not getting involved in such comparisons between Prophets. He wanted the Muslims to respect all prophets. It is enough to swear by any of them to be believed.  Members of religions or sects should avoid the differences that might arise from  arguments about who the better prophet or Imam or even political leaders and parties that might lead to conflicts and blood shedding are .

 The third incident was when a poor man came to the Prophet, and wanted to sit among those present . But he did not find a place except near a rich man. When he sat , the rich man moved a little bit away from him. The Messenger was angry and asked the rich man: were you afraid that you would become poor,  the man said no and the Prophet continued : then were you afraid that some of your money would go to him ? Again the rich man said no. Then were you afraid that your clothes would become dirty?  No, the man said, and the Messenger asked: then why did you do that? the rich man said: it is a bad habit and I am ready to give him half of my wealth to compensate for my mistake. The Prophet then asked the poor man to sit by his side to honor him and to enhance the position of the poor in the eyes of their rich  

 The last incident occurred when a companion killed a disbeliever in battle after  he pronounced Tashahud. When the Messenger knew this he got very angry  and asked the companion:”Did you kill him in spite of his professing La ilaha illallah?” the companion said  “O Messenger of Allah! He said it out of fear of our arms.” Muhammad  said, ” did you not cut his heart open to find out whether he had done so sincerely or not?” He continued repeating it until the companion felt he wished that he had died before that day.

All these incidents indicate one of traits that distinguished the Messenger of Allah: Anger for Allah’s sake and not for any worldly or personal affair. He did not become angry when the pagans threw stones at him, or when a man came running and stopped right beside the Prophet. He pulled the robe hard and the thick fringe tightened around the Prophet’s neck.

The Prophet turned towards him. The man said loudly, ‘O Muhammad, give me from what you have of God’s wealth with you’. The Prophet smiled at him. There was no trace of anger on his face and ordered that some money would be given to the man…He also was not angry and forgave the people of Mecca after the conquest.

But The Messenger used to be angry for any injustice or wronging to any person or group. He was as Imam Ali described him, never angry for worldly affairs ,but if something that has to do with the  right angered him , he would not  calm down until the right is restored.

Dear loved ones: we are in a dire need for this kind of anger.. to be angry if the dignity of a believer is offended or if someone is wronged, or when poor people do not find something to eat …By this alone we would partly repay the Messenger (p) and become worthy of being among his followers.   

The Second Sermon

  Worshippers of Allah:  I advise you and I advise myself with one of the advice of the Prophet of Mercy:

 “Do not envy one another; do not inflate prices by overbidding against one another; do not hate one another; do not harbor malice against one another; and do not enter into commercial transaction when others have entered into that (transaction); but be you O worshippers of Allah, as brothers. A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim; he neither oppresses him nor does he look down upon him, nor does he humiliate him. Piety is here, (and he pointed to his chest three times). It is enough evil for a Muslim to hold his brother Muslim in contempt. All things of a Muslim are inviolable for his brother-in-faith: his blood, his property and his honor”. By this, the Messenger  wanted to emphasize the need of compassion , mercy and cohesion of the Muslim community so that it will be the best community ever and more capable of   facing challenges.

We begin by Lebanon where the crises continue to mount as the number of those infected with coronavirus continue to increase reaching  a record high of 2000 which constitutes a warning of a health disaster if the necessary measures are not taken.  The price the price of food items  also continues to increase, the medications are not available and the unemployment is on the rise which has impacted the lives of the Lebanese at all levels including that of security.

 In the meantime, the Lebanese are waiting for the formation of a new government that will relief them of the tragic situation they are suffering from and ending the collapse that the country is quickly moving to.

 Faced by this reality, we call, along all Lebanese, to speed up the formation of this government and removing all the barriers that still stand in its way. We do not want this government to repeat the falling experiments of the previous governments that made the country reach the current state. Instead, we want a   coherent government of competent and honest members that have the interest of the country in heart and not their own private or partisan interests. In this respect, we call on the political parties which are going to be represented in the government to regain the confidence it lost in the previous stage and prove that it is capable of saving the country and resolving its problems.

We believe that the success of the government does not depend on a regional or international green light, despite its importance. It depends on the confidence of the Lebanese people who will not remain silent towards those who are undermining their future and that of their country.

 in this respect, the issue of the fate of many of the students who are studying abroad returns to the forefront, since the law that the Parliament enacted has not been executed. We emphasize that their problem should be solved, since those students represent the capital of this country and their promising future.

We should also not be heedless of the maneuvers the Zionist Enemy has executed  a few days ago, which simulate a war it is preparing for against Syria and Lebanon.

The Lebanese should always be vigilant and prepared for the enemy is waiting for a chance to get back at those who   disgraced it even when it is negotiating to draw the borders.

In France, we condemn the aggression against the worshippers in the church. And call on France to end the offence towards a billion and a half Muslims which offered a chance to those who tarnish the image of Islam and Muslims to exploit.