The Pope’s Understanding of Islam

The Religious Authority H.E. Sayyed Muhammad Husain Fadlullah delivered
the
two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hasanain Mosque Beirut,
15th
September 2006 / 22 Sha'aban 1427 H, Several prominent religious
scholars,
dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer.

Islam : the Religion of Justice

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Justice for all

God says in His Glorious Book. And We desired to bestow a favor upon
those
who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the Imams, and to
make
them the heirs, And to grant them power in the land, and to make
Pharaoh and
Haman and their hosts see from them what they feared. (28:5-6).

During the past week, we met with the anniversary of the birth of the
Imam
of the time, Imam Al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his return ). It is an
occasion, we have to live, since it is based on the rule the Prophet
(p)
made as he was leaving this world when he said: "I am leaving among you
what
if you adhere to you will never be deviated. The Book of God and my
progeny.

Therefore, the imamate that aimed at protecting Islam from the
deviations
others might try to attribute to, represents the present leadership
that
accompanies the people and guides them in everything that they might
face,
aiming at opening their minds on the Right, their hearts on the Good
and
their life on justice. This is because the imamate and the following of
Ahl
el-Beit is not a matter of love, but it is also and in the first place
an
adherence and a commitment to the leadership of the Imams who link the
people with the Message of Islam.

The community in every age will remain a Muslim community, with the
father
living Islam in his house, and the people living Islam in their social
life
and in struggle fronts, so that they will live all the aspects of their
life
including those related to the issues of struggle in accordance with
the
Messenger in all they do or abstain from doing.

This is how we understand the issue of imamate. It is to abide by what
the
leadership from Imam Ali to Imam Al-Mahdi in all what they left us
whether
their interpretation of the Quran or the application of the Islamic law
in
our life, since when the Imams left us, they did not leave us in
vacuum,
they left us their legacy and their objective interpretation and
application
of God's law (Shariah). And this is also the role of the religious
scholars
whom the Messenger(p.) asked us to follow when he said scholars are the
inheritors of the Prophets.

The Messenger(p.) also said: "The religious scholars are the heirs of
the
religion as long as they do not seek they do not enter this world.
Asked
what is meant by entering this world, the Prophet said: "Following the
Sultan" meaning following the unjust tyrant ruler. He added: "If you
see a
scholar caring about this world then do not trust him with your
religion,
since he will present his deviation as part of the religion. Imam Mahdi
told
us that with respect to the new events that we encounter we should go
back
to the “narrators of our Hadith”, since they are his witness, while he
is
Allah's witness.

The Imam of justice and Good

According to our faith, Imam Al Mahdi, is the Imam of the downtrodden,
the
poor, the needy and the wronged. His role is to fill the earth with
justice
having been filled with tyranny. Thus his message is one of justice,
since
this is the base all message since Adam:We sent aforetime our
messengers
with Clear Signs and sent down with them the Book and the Balance (of
Right
and Wrong), that men may stand forth in justice.

Thus, being one of his supporters, means that we should be just whether
with
respect to God, ourselves or others, and that we should face all
tyrants and
arrogant men.

We have to study ourselves: Are we among his supporters and helpers?
This
could be defined by the criterion of justice: To be a follower of the
Imam
is to be a just person who does not wrong nor does he support the
arrogant
and the tyrant.

Therefore, it is not necessary to go back, as many people do, to
certain
books, to try to determine when the Imam will appear since is something
that
is part of Allah's knowledge, and He alone will decide on it when the
right
time comes.

The Imam is the Imam of Islam justice and Good, and we have to follow
him by
being just and seek to spread justice and face tyrants everywhere.

We have to wait for him not by sitting to drink after or tea but by
struggling for the cause of Allah. Thus, the Mujahideen are the ones
who
have earnestly waited for him, because are men who are true to that
which
they covenanted with Allah. Some of them have paid their vow by death
(in
battle), and some of them still are waiting; and they have not altered
in
the least).

O God, make him the caller for your Book. Make him your Caliph in this
earth
as you made those before him. Consolidate for him Your religion, the
one You
chose for him. Change his concern into tranquility … O God, support
him… and
support others by him… Give him a remarkable victory … Oh, God! Let us
become among his supporters

God, we ask you for an honorable state, that gives Islam and Muslims
the
upper hand and disgraces hypocrisy and its supporters… And make us of
those
who call for obeying you, and those who lead to your path….O God: we
ask You
for an honorable state that supports Islam and its people and
humiliates
hypocrisy and its people. We ask You to make us among the caller for
obeying
You and of the leaders to Your course

O Allah. O Allah! Show us the rightly guided face of (Imam a.s.), the
praiseworthy moon (referring to the face of Imam a.s.) and enlighten
our
vision by looking at him. And hasten his reappearance, make his arrival
smooth, hasten his path, make us tread on his way and implement his
authority and strengthen his back.

The Second Sermon

The New Middle East

The region is still under the influence of several complicated
political and
security factors as a result of the international challenges led by the
US
in the name of "Fighting terrorism". America is exploiting the
anniversary
of nine eleven to pressurise the region in order to realize it project
of
the New Middle East, while its actual aim is to put its hands over the
region's oil resources, even if it includes spreading the "constructive
chaos" that American New Cons and the Zionist Christians, feel is an
important tool in carrying out their plans.

Targeting Islam

As a result of their political weakness, we feel that the Arabs will
not
attain any positive results through their dealings with America whose
only
concern is the Israeli interest.

Israel in the American view should remain the strongest power in the
region
that all the others submit too. The American President has told the
Israeli
foreign minister that he will not exert any pressure on Israel
concerning
the Arabs initiative.

Bush's speeches still aim at intimidating the American and Western
public
opinion by saying that Syria Iran Palestine and Lebanon threaten the
entire
world.

As a part of this vicious plans, we have noticed how the arrogant
American
Administration have frozen the process of finding a solution to the
Palestinian problem, by stopping the negotiations, under the pretence
that
the Intifada is a terrorist movement that has to be stopped before any
talk
about a Palestinian state. America also does not exert any pressure on
Israel to stop its daily massacres, which leaves the Palestinians
without a
chance to catch their breathe, since America feels that the solution
lies in
the Palestinian unconditional surrender. Even when it comes to the
Palestinian state, America wants it to be a marginal satellite state
under
the Israeli economic and political influence.

We warn the Palestinians, the authority, the cabinet, and the
Resistance,
against the deceit represented by the expected results of meeting with
the
Zionist prime minister , since it will not yield any significant
results.

We also warn from expecting much from the Security Council, since some
of
its resolutions were never be into practice, as a result of the
interference
of America and its allies who target Islam to distort its doctrine and
blame
it for all the terrorist acts in the world and for the popular hatred
of
their policies.

In this respect, there are several points that should be highlighted.

Firstly: Israeli denial of the rights of Lebanese civilians, and
planning
after the end of the war to kill Lebanese farmers and their children by
means of over 1.2 million cluster bombes that Israel pounded Lebanon
with,
without any American condemnation, since the US does not respect the
Lebanese civilians.

Secondly: Violating the blue line and annexing Lebanese territory
before the
UNIFIL eyes.

That the UNIFIL kept silent and did not object suggests that it cannot
stop
any Israeli aggression against Lebanon.

On the other hand, it is alarming that the Lebanese government did not
protest to the Security Council, despite the reports that the Lebanese
Army
has submitted reports detailing the violations.

Thirdly: The statement of the German Chancellor about sending the
German
troops to protect Israel's existence, which means that the role of the
UNIFIL is to protect Israel not Lebanon. This means that all Lebanese,
regardless of their sects, should continue to monitor the developments,
especially regarding the UIVFIL movements that reflect a hidden agenda
especially that has to do with protecting the enemy.

In this atmosphere, we hear statements that aim at playing one Lebanese
party against the other and one Muslim power against the other.

They are trying to make the Arab world afraid from Iran claiming that
it
wants to dominate Iraq, and citing its nuclear capability. But Iran has
declared time and again that it only wants to protect itself from the
American occupier in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Israel being a nuclear
power, is the only threat to the region, especially as a result of its
primitive wars and intelligence subversions.

The Pope's Understanding of Islam

In this recent lecture the Pope claimed that the will of God according
to
Islam is not related to any of our concepts and not even to reason. He
called for a dialogue between civilizations and said that Christianity
is
closely linked to reason in contrast to those who accept spreading
their
religion by force, and added that violence contradicts with the nature
of
God and that of the spirit.

Such statements indicate that the Pope does not possess an academic and
objective knowledge of Islam that considered reason a divine power that
constitutes the basis of all issues including belief. It also called
for
calling by means of wisdom the People of the Book, the Jews and
Christians,
and adopt the best means, to meet on a common factor. It also said that
religion could not be coerced. As for the Jihad, the Quran affirms that
it
is a defensive act and not an offensive one, just as in all
civilizations.

As for claiming that the will of Allah does not conform to reason, we
believe that this is a wrong understanding, since our faith affirms,
the
wisdom of God in all His creations and actions, since He is the Wise
the
Compassionate and the Merciful.

We call on the Pope to study Islam thoroughly and objectively.

Moreover, as we accept his call for a dialogue between civilizations
and
cultures, that I have called for decades ago, we do not accept the
apology
of the Vatican sources, that claims that the Pope was not talking about
Islam itself but rather about exploiting it to incite violence, since
the
pope was talking about conceptual issues such as "reason" and "sacred
wars'”. We demand that he should apologize personally and not through
his
sources for this wrong reading which we do not wish that someone in his
religious position should present to the world.

But as we denounce all this talk especially the citing of the emperor’s
talk
that offends our Prophet, we call for a Christian Islamic relationship
based
on the objective profound understanding for each other's views away
from all
inciting words.

Building a just state in Lebanon

In Lebanon, we warn against any tension in the political discourse and
call
for a purposeful objective dialogue on the basis of building the
country on
a firm foundation that guaranties freedom and peace for all Lebanese.
If the
aim of this dialogue is building a just and strong state, we have to
discus
which state we want and how it possess the strength and justice that
enable
it to confront the Zionist continuous aggression.

The Lebanese ought to conduct the dialogue in a way that avoids scoring
points as well as exclusion. They should not once again allow any
official
to cooperate with those that have hurt Lebanon, or enable the corrupt
to
hold responsibilities. The just state needs clean hands that do not use
sectarianism to promote its political interests.

We also have to warn from some of those who trying to incite civil
strife in
Lebanon, like Henry Kissinger who is responsible for the Lebanese civil
war
and who said that Hizbollah next step will be trying to extend his
hegemony
over the Lebanese government by intimidation, as well as Shimon Peres
who
said that in a week or two the Shiites might dominate in Lebanon.

We advise them not to be dragged into executing what the enemy and
America
are planning for inciting civil strife in Lebanon. We call on the
government
to uphold its economic, social, military and political responsibilities
and
choose honest people in the field of aid and relief.

Patriotism is measured by the sacrifices one makes and not by his
statements. And all parties should fear Allah in what they say before
the
country sinks to chaos, having been returned by the Resistance and the
Lebanese people into victory and just peace.

Courtesy:http://www.bayynat.org