The First Sermon
In the first sermon, His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, celebrated the birth anniversary of Imam Al-Baqir (a.s). He pointed out in the beginning that each Imam had his own method to achieve the same goal of spreading and reinforcing Islam as it was bought by the Prophet (p.).
Imam Al-Baqir adopted the method of rebuilding the doctrinal and legal structure of the nation. The Sayyed explained that the Imam was able to achieve this aim, because of the weakness of the Ummayad rule and their preoccupation with the revolutions that attempted to overthrow them.
The first step was instituting his school in the Prophet's mosque, which became very famous and graduated thousands of religious scholars who narrated the authentic sayings of the Prophet (p.) and Ahl El-Beit (a.s.), which were deviated by the Ummayads.
He also taught his students how to engage in dialogue and how to confront deviation. Imam Al-Baqir (a.s.) also talked with the people at large, trying to explain what they did not know or what they understood wrongly. Thus, the Imam dealt with the issue of knowledge and learning and founded it on the following bases:
He first emphasized the importance of knowledge and science as a value and necessity.
He, then, explained that seeking knowledge starts by asking questions, but we have to know where we should get our answers from. The Imam emphasized that one should resort to the right sources for answers; the scholars who serve the good and the right, and not any ruler or those who seek personal interests.
The last point the Imam highlighted was the purpose of seeking knowledge, which should do not be for reasons such as competition or becoming famous; but rather, for serving the people.
The Sayyed then talked about the importance of knowledge and science in our contemporary age. He asserted that we are way behind in this field which is the key to all success, not because we do not have the brains, but because we do not care if our scholars immigrate.
He ended by concluding that we need a learned society to be able to build our nation and regain our position among the nations and serve Islam; the religion of Allah to all people.
The Second Sermon
In the second sermon, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah warned that the Zionist enemy is passing a new law that considers Jerusalem as the permanent and unified capital of Israel. The Sayyed noted that Israel is seizing the opportunity of the Arabs’ preoccupation with their internal problems, and he considered that not taking any action is an indirect permission for the enemy to continue to judaize Jerusalem. Thus, the Arab and Muslim peoples have to assert to the Zionist entity that they have not forgotten their major Palestinian cause.
In Iraq, the recent explosions call on all parties to unify their ranks and confront those who are trying to incite strife. The Sayyed emphasized that once strife breaks out, it will burn everything and provide an excuse for the occupation to return. He also called on the Iraqi people and their responsible leaderships to reject any kind of division or federalism.
In Syria, the Sayyed saw that there is no solution for the crisis in Syria other than internal dialogue. He explained that the role of the Arab monitors should not substitute the role that the Syrian people should play. They should encourage the return of peace to the country and not act as a prelude to internationalization.
As for Bahrain, the Sayyed called on the government to make good of its promises and open up to its people and engage in a dialogue with them, since dialogue is the only way to get out of the crisis.
The Sayyed ended the sermon by talking about Lebanon. He expressed, firstly, his fear that the Lebanese situation has been linked with what is going on in Syria. To combat the negative consequences of such a development, he called on the Lebanese to try to put off the fire in Syria, since any escalation in violence in Syria would be of tragic consequences on Lebanon, which is in a desperate need for some rest.
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