Seiful Islam
05-11-02, 09:37 AM
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The Grand Ayatullah H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Shaaban 25, 1423h - November 01, 2002, several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu'a prayer.
_
_With the advent of the Blessed Month of Ramadan
Let Us Build ourselves Islamicly, Spiritually and Morally_
The First Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate the Merciful _
_ Allah says in His Glorious Book: {the month of Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed, guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion (of right and wrong)} [2:185].
_Wednesday is the first of Ramadan
_This the last Friday of this month, Sha'ban, and we receive the month of Ramadan next Wednesday, according to our juristic theory that is based on: if the crescent is proved to be born and if the possibility of its being seen, and not actually seeing it, is proved, then we can tell when it will begin ahead of time
The crescent will born on Monday evening at 10:34 pm , which means that nobody could see it on that night in the entire world. Therefore, the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan is Wednesday. In this manner, and by using this method, we do not have to worry anymore about who saw it and who did not, and how many did actually see it. We want to end this endless debate in which Muslims appear to be at odds in the beginning and end of the month, at a time man has landed on the moon.
Thus, Wednesday is the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan we ask Allah to make it a month of good, victory, blessings, obedience and mercy for all Muslims.
_The month of good and blessing
The Messenger (p.) wants us to prepare ourselves spiritually to receive this month. He emphasized in his speech in the last Friday a of Sha'ban that we have to be ready for this month with blessing mercy and forgiveness, as if he was saying that we should be preparing ourselves for the Divine gifts of this month.
He added that his month is the best of all months, being the season of Allah's Mercy and kindness, which He bestows on the believers.
Moreover, its days are the best of days for one can acquire Allah's satisfaction by obeying Him and refraining from committing sins. His nights are the best of nights for it's a time of worship and supplication to ask Him to grant us success, and realize our dreams and to repent before Him from our sins and ask for forgiveness.
Allah, the most exalted, has invited us in this month to be His guests, and we know that the host provides his guest with respect care and hospitality. And since every guest should be provided with a certain form of hospitality we pray in this month that heaven will be our reward. On the other hand, the guest too should be polite and a gentleman one, who does not hurt his host.
Allah, the most exalted, has bestowed many of his gifts on us in this month for our breathing in it praises the Almighty, and our sleeping adores Him. Our voluntary acts of worship are accepted and our pleas are answered.
He wanted us to respond to all these mercies by asking Him from all our hearts to make us succeed in fasting and in reading His Book to desire these mercies, for only a wretch is the one who is deprived of Allah's forgiveness during this great month.
_Fasting makes us remember the Day of Judgment
If you are obedient in this life you will not suffer from thirst and hunger on that day. Therefore, we have always to remember the Day of Judgment, because if we forget it we will be forgetting our Lord and our responsibility towards Him.
Then the prophet (saw) moves to the spiritual and moral virtues we ought to put into practice in this month in particular but in all months as well.
_Give alms to the poor
He starts by charity: Give alms to the poor and indigent among you. It has been said that "a charity in secret drives the Lord's anger", and " Treat you sick with charity", which is considered by God, the most exalted, as a means of purifying the soul.
Moreover, charity could take various forms, depending on the needs of the poor, especially those who are so chaste that they do not ask.
_Respect the elderly and be kind to the young.
Then the Prophet (saw)_ talks about respecting the elderly and being Kind to the young. Surround your elderly with respect, and be Kind to your youngsters.
We have to respect the senior citizens and provide them with care, for once they get very old they become like children in their need for care to get on with their life. Thus, Islam not only wants us to treat our parents with love and respect and not even to shout at them, but also we should care about all old Muslims.
As for the children and the young, being merciful to them, is by understanding them in accordance to the way they think, that is to understand that their minds are still not fully developed. We should not be violent to them or held them accountable in the way we hold adults.
We have to be merciful and kind in our treatment to them remembering that their thinking is still limited. We have to be lenient, and not to resort to beating as a means of punishment; Allah, the most exalted, did not give fathers, elder brothers or teachers the authority to beat children.
If you beat a child and his hands grow red, there is a compensation that you have to pay. There might be certain cases when the child might need some violence but it should be weighed to ensure that it is the precise doze of violence, just as doctors study the dose of the medication they give. If you are having problems at home or at work, this does not mean that you can take it on your child. This is an injustice that is punished by Allah, the most exalted.
I say to all brothers and sisters: your son or your daughter is not something you own. It is a creation of Allah, the most exalted, that has its rights and that you were appointed to supervise its development.
Moreover, in an Islamic state, if you abuse a child the state has the right to take it away from you. The West too has a similar law. In short they are Allah's trust among us.
_The importance of visiting your kin
_Visit your Kin: Visiting one's kin is one of the duties the Quran has emphasized. "A man came once to the Messenger (saw)_ and said: My Household members treat me very badly, they boycott and curse me, should I reject them".
"The Prophet (saw)_ told him: Then Allah will reject all of you". The man asked what do I do? and the Messenger answered: "You visit who boycott you and give who deprived you and forgive who wronged your, for if you do that Allah will support you" Imam Al-Baqir (a.s.) says that visiting the Kin, grows the wealth and elongates the life and easies the punishment on the Day of Judgment. Some of you might find it difficult to visit those who have boycotted them, but Allah, the most exalted, rewards such good manners, especially if they ran counter to one's inclinations with big rewards.
__Being conscious of moral and spiritual development
_Thus these human values are emphasized by the Prophet's speech as well as in the Holy Quran as an indication that we should seek to develop our moral and spiritual side just as we care about our physical side, so that we would be worthy of living in God's paradise, being the place of good, faithfulness, truth, brotherhood …etc
_Allah, the most exalted, wants us to turn this world into a smaller paradise that we use to train ourselves on the morals of Paradise just as we train to learn any other profession.
The Month of Ramadan represents the month of training on what pleases Allah, the month of building ourselves spiritually and humanly, so as to be worthy of Allah's Mercy and Hospitality.
Source:www.bayynat.org
__
The Grand Ayatullah H.E. Sayyed M. H. Fadlullah delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Shaaban 25, 1423h - November 01, 2002, several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu'a prayer.
_
_With the advent of the Blessed Month of Ramadan
Let Us Build ourselves Islamicly, Spiritually and Morally_
The First Sermon
In the Name of God, the Compassionate the Merciful _
_ Allah says in His Glorious Book: {the month of Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed, guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion (of right and wrong)} [2:185].
_Wednesday is the first of Ramadan
_This the last Friday of this month, Sha'ban, and we receive the month of Ramadan next Wednesday, according to our juristic theory that is based on: if the crescent is proved to be born and if the possibility of its being seen, and not actually seeing it, is proved, then we can tell when it will begin ahead of time
The crescent will born on Monday evening at 10:34 pm , which means that nobody could see it on that night in the entire world. Therefore, the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan is Wednesday. In this manner, and by using this method, we do not have to worry anymore about who saw it and who did not, and how many did actually see it. We want to end this endless debate in which Muslims appear to be at odds in the beginning and end of the month, at a time man has landed on the moon.
Thus, Wednesday is the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan we ask Allah to make it a month of good, victory, blessings, obedience and mercy for all Muslims.
_The month of good and blessing
The Messenger (p.) wants us to prepare ourselves spiritually to receive this month. He emphasized in his speech in the last Friday a of Sha'ban that we have to be ready for this month with blessing mercy and forgiveness, as if he was saying that we should be preparing ourselves for the Divine gifts of this month.
He added that his month is the best of all months, being the season of Allah's Mercy and kindness, which He bestows on the believers.
Moreover, its days are the best of days for one can acquire Allah's satisfaction by obeying Him and refraining from committing sins. His nights are the best of nights for it's a time of worship and supplication to ask Him to grant us success, and realize our dreams and to repent before Him from our sins and ask for forgiveness.
Allah, the most exalted, has invited us in this month to be His guests, and we know that the host provides his guest with respect care and hospitality. And since every guest should be provided with a certain form of hospitality we pray in this month that heaven will be our reward. On the other hand, the guest too should be polite and a gentleman one, who does not hurt his host.
Allah, the most exalted, has bestowed many of his gifts on us in this month for our breathing in it praises the Almighty, and our sleeping adores Him. Our voluntary acts of worship are accepted and our pleas are answered.
He wanted us to respond to all these mercies by asking Him from all our hearts to make us succeed in fasting and in reading His Book to desire these mercies, for only a wretch is the one who is deprived of Allah's forgiveness during this great month.
_Fasting makes us remember the Day of Judgment
If you are obedient in this life you will not suffer from thirst and hunger on that day. Therefore, we have always to remember the Day of Judgment, because if we forget it we will be forgetting our Lord and our responsibility towards Him.
Then the prophet (saw) moves to the spiritual and moral virtues we ought to put into practice in this month in particular but in all months as well.
_Give alms to the poor
He starts by charity: Give alms to the poor and indigent among you. It has been said that "a charity in secret drives the Lord's anger", and " Treat you sick with charity", which is considered by God, the most exalted, as a means of purifying the soul.
Moreover, charity could take various forms, depending on the needs of the poor, especially those who are so chaste that they do not ask.
_Respect the elderly and be kind to the young.
Then the Prophet (saw)_ talks about respecting the elderly and being Kind to the young. Surround your elderly with respect, and be Kind to your youngsters.
We have to respect the senior citizens and provide them with care, for once they get very old they become like children in their need for care to get on with their life. Thus, Islam not only wants us to treat our parents with love and respect and not even to shout at them, but also we should care about all old Muslims.
As for the children and the young, being merciful to them, is by understanding them in accordance to the way they think, that is to understand that their minds are still not fully developed. We should not be violent to them or held them accountable in the way we hold adults.
We have to be merciful and kind in our treatment to them remembering that their thinking is still limited. We have to be lenient, and not to resort to beating as a means of punishment; Allah, the most exalted, did not give fathers, elder brothers or teachers the authority to beat children.
If you beat a child and his hands grow red, there is a compensation that you have to pay. There might be certain cases when the child might need some violence but it should be weighed to ensure that it is the precise doze of violence, just as doctors study the dose of the medication they give. If you are having problems at home or at work, this does not mean that you can take it on your child. This is an injustice that is punished by Allah, the most exalted.
I say to all brothers and sisters: your son or your daughter is not something you own. It is a creation of Allah, the most exalted, that has its rights and that you were appointed to supervise its development.
Moreover, in an Islamic state, if you abuse a child the state has the right to take it away from you. The West too has a similar law. In short they are Allah's trust among us.
_The importance of visiting your kin
_Visit your Kin: Visiting one's kin is one of the duties the Quran has emphasized. "A man came once to the Messenger (saw)_ and said: My Household members treat me very badly, they boycott and curse me, should I reject them".
"The Prophet (saw)_ told him: Then Allah will reject all of you". The man asked what do I do? and the Messenger answered: "You visit who boycott you and give who deprived you and forgive who wronged your, for if you do that Allah will support you" Imam Al-Baqir (a.s.) says that visiting the Kin, grows the wealth and elongates the life and easies the punishment on the Day of Judgment. Some of you might find it difficult to visit those who have boycotted them, but Allah, the most exalted, rewards such good manners, especially if they ran counter to one's inclinations with big rewards.
__Being conscious of moral and spiritual development
_Thus these human values are emphasized by the Prophet's speech as well as in the Holy Quran as an indication that we should seek to develop our moral and spiritual side just as we care about our physical side, so that we would be worthy of living in God's paradise, being the place of good, faithfulness, truth, brotherhood …etc
_Allah, the most exalted, wants us to turn this world into a smaller paradise that we use to train ourselves on the morals of Paradise just as we train to learn any other profession.
The Month of Ramadan represents the month of training on what pleases Allah, the month of building ourselves spiritually and humanly, so as to be worthy of Allah's Mercy and Hospitality.
Source:www.bayynat.org