The first Sermon

 The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for your hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful. Allah, the Most Exalted, speaks the truth.

In just a few days Allah, The Most Exalted, will have enabled us reach the month of Ramadan, this month which Allah, The Most Exalted, has pointed out to its virtues and great status, being the month in which God revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. It is also the month He put in the Night of Qadr, that is better than a thousand months. It is the month the Messenger used to wait impatiently for and call his companions to receive it with joy and happiness. He also used to say in front of them when the month of Rajab arrived: O God let us reach the month of Ramadan. Then when the month of Sha’ban started he repeated the same prayers.  He also gave a speech at the end of the month of Sha’ban to explain to them the importance of what they were about to welcome: O people! A month has approached you laden with blessing, mercy and forgiveness…

Dear loved ones: the month of Ramadan is not simply one of the months of the year. It is the   best of all months. Its days, are the best of days, its nights are the best of nights, its hours are the best of hours. What blessings could be more than when your breathing in it is regarded as praising Almighty Allah and your sleep as adoration, your voluntary acts of worship are accepted, and your pleas are answered.  It is enough in it to break the fast of one worshiper to be forgiven all your sins   and to lessen the work of your subordinates to ease your burden in the Hereafter, and to honor an orphan or a needy to be honored by God, and to recite one Ayat to be considered as though you have recited the whole of Quran and to visit or communicate with your relatives to enjoy the mercy of Allah, The Most Exalted, when you need it most.

 Therefore, there is no excuse for anyone not to be granted the mercy of Allah, for only a wretch is the one who is deprived of Almighty Allah’s forgiveness during this great month.

However, these honorings and blessings are not for free. They are for those who prepared themselves for this month and did everything that is required to make them worthy of benefiting from them.

In this context, we are goring to cite two stories that point out to these conditions.

The first story:

One of the companions of Imam Al-Rida(a.s.) said: “I entered on Imam Al-Rida in the last week of Sha’ban, so he said to me: “O Abu Al-Salt, most of Sha’ban had passed and this is its last week. So, make up for your negligence in its days that passed with the rest of its days. You must perform what will aid you and frequently plead Allah, ask for forgiveness and recite the Quran. Repent of your sins to Allah, so that you would welcome the Month of Ramadan being faithful to Allah Almighty. Return every entrustment you are responsible of, strip your heart of any spite you have against any believer, quit every sin you had committed. Repeatedly say during the rest of this month: ‘O Allah, if you hadn’t forgiven us in the days that passed of Sha’ban, forgive our sins in the rest of it!’ For, Allah frees in this month many people from Hell for the sanctity of this month… The Imam has    explained that the way to enter the month of Ramadan and receive Allah, The Most Exalted’s hospitality is by enhancing man’s relationship with his God, by means of reciting the Quran, praying, asking for forgiveness and striping one’s heart from all hatred returning all trusts… The second text is part of the Prophet’s sermon in welcoming the month of Ramadan: Therefore, ask your Lord with sincere intentions and pure hearts to help you in fasting during this month and in reciting His Book.

By your thirst and hunger, remember the hunger of the day of judgement and its thirst. Give charity to the poor and needy among you; lower your glances from what is not permissible for you to see, and refrain [from hearing] what is not permissible for you to hear. Repent for your sins, and raise your hands in supplications at the time of your prayers for that is the best of times in which Allah looks towards His servants with mercy, answers them what they whisper to Him, responds to them when they call upon Him, gives to them when they ask Him, and accepts their prayers when they pray to Him. Thus, the Messenger(p.) has called on each one of us to prepare his agenda for this month which should not be limited to fasting as some might think. It should also include   abstaining from all what is HARAM, reading the Quran, giving in charity, honoring the orphans, having mercy on the young …and purifying the soul from everything that might have stained it.   

Dear loved ones: We are called upon to enter the month of Ramadan, being well prepared for it and well aware of its virtues, seeking to attain the blessings and mercy that Allah, The Most Exalted, has promised the pious in this month.

Dear loved ones: Although, this month returns this year, while we are still suffering from the difficult reality on all levels, especially that of corona, we should not lax. On the contrary, we should be more determined to perform our duties in it and benefit from its graceful blessings.

The second sermon

Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted, I advise you to obey Allah, The Most Exalter’s to fast the month of Ramadan, when He said: O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous –(pious).

In this Ayat, God has called us to perform the duty of fasting, but He also pointed out  to its goal when He said that you may become righteous –(pious). Thus, He

made piety the criterion by which the truthfulness of performing this duty is measured; that is not to do anything whether to take an action or not, and whether to support or condemn any stance… except after we are sure that God is pleased with it. That is why, dear loved ones, we have to control our whims and desires. And when we do that we will be among the strong, for the strong is the one who is strong on himself. And when we do that we become more capable of facing challenges.

We begin by Lebanon, where the formation of the government that is anxiously awaited by the Lebanese to rid them of what they are suffering from is still being hampered. Although more than six months have passed, all domestic efforts and foreign and Arab envoys, and even threatening with sanctions to those who are considered as   causing this delay, have succeeded.  Those responsible for forming the government continue to accuse each other, while the gap between them continues to widen…   This makes the Lebanese wonder about the reason.  Is it an external one by those who do not want a solution to Lebanon except within the framework of the solutions that is wanted for the entire region? Or is it in the context of fighting over jurisdictions or seeking a partisan or sectarian interest or improving the position of the parties?    

Meanwhile, the suffering of the Lebanese due to the living conditions or their humiliation continue to increase, as they wait for aid or hang at the doors of banks to receive a small portion of their deposits which have either evaporated or about to evaporate.

 Faced by this fact, and the protracted standstill and this internal incompetence, we renew our call to the responsibles to get out of the prisons of their interests   to care about those who have put them in their posts. They should open dialogue among them and hasten to provide concessions before it is too late, for it is shameful that the doors of dialogue are closed or that each party would not offer any concession before the other party does.

We reaffirm that the foreign parties will not provide any solutions unless the Lebanese themselves would   execute them. We are afraid that they would, instead, further complicate them, as they seek to promote their own interests.  

Meanwhile, the forensic auditing is back in the forefront, as the talk remerges about stalling in submitting the documents that the auditing company demanded which in case it continues would lead this company to despair and resign from its commitment.

In this respect, we stand with all the calls for removing, as fast as possible, all barriers that hinder this auditing and that it would include all the government’s institutions , so that the Lebanese would know where their money and that of the state went… to hold into account  those who wasted the public money and accumulated all this debt  that made the government  beg the IMF and other states  that have their own conditions and that  violate, in return, the dignity of the people and their basic needs. 

But were these waste files opened in earnest, or to be used as part of the political struggle? Then again would those guilty be punished? Or will the punishment be held by the sectarian and political complications, the various vetoes and the fear from strife?

 We remain in the context of the rise of the food commodities, especially in the beginning of the season of Ramadan, to call on the merchants to have pity on the people and to take into consideration what the Lebanese are suffering from, by lowering the prices and abstaining from monopoly. We also call on the ministry of economy and the consumer protection authority to activate their role in fighting greed and monopoly and those who tamper with the people’s daily bread. In this respect, we praise the initiatives of individuals and institutions to secure the basic needs of people or lowering their prices.

In these days, we also observe a sad occasion that hurt the hearts and the minds, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Sayyed Muhammad Baqir As-Sadr, and his sister Bint Al-Huda,  by the previous regime in Iraq…     

 As we commemorate this occasion, we reassert our call to the nation to be guided by this renovating thought that is both open and aware and that presents a pure image of Islam that is able to penetrate all sectarian and racial barriers to reach all places and countries. 

Lastly, we would like to congratulate all Muslims on the advent of the blessed month of Ramadan, which is on next Tuesday, according to the jurisprudent opinion of Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah that takes astronomical calculations into account, asking Allah, The Most Exalted, to make it a month of good, blessings and hope for a better future for the Lebanese.