Beirut Friday Prayer: The dangers of extravagance

The First SermonIn the first sermon, His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, discussed the issue of extravagance. He started by explaining the position of Islam from this vice and reminded the Muslims that Allah says in the Quran that He does not like the extravagant. He, then, said that Islam is the Message of moderation and balance in everything, be it between the body and the soul or the individual and the society. Moreover, he asserted that Allah has promised the extravagant with Hell as his abode, and described the squanderers as the brothers of the devils.The Sayyed then defined extravagance as the act of exceeding the limits in any expenditure. It is the opposite of stinginess, while moderation is the path that Allah wants us to follow.The justice of Islam is based on fighting poverty and on controlling the fortunes and wealths to be distributed among all people.Imam Ali (a.s.), one thousand four hundred years ago, asserted that no poor man becomes hungry except by what a rich man enjoys. This saying also applies to the generations and states. Extravagance in Islam includes all the aspects of life, even the water used for performing Wudu’ and Ghusl. Moreover, it includes the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the money we spend.The Sayyed gave an example of extravagance from our daily life, such as the use of electricity in lighting, the use of the phone and chatting on the internet… etc.Finally, the Sayyed concluded by a saying by Imam Ja’afar As-Sadiq (a.s.). “Certainly, moderation is liked by Allah and He dislikes extravagance; even in the throwing away of a date-seed, because that too can be used (Arabs feed date-seeds to camels). And the same is with the throwing away of water left after drinking (because even this can be put to some use).”The Second SermonIn the second sermon, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah shed light on the situation in Iraq where the arrogant forces are trying to prevent the Iraqis from establishing stability in the country by unifying their ranks and building their strong state. He called on the Iraqis to avoid the sectarian struggle and turn it into a political and institutional one.In Syria, America and France have already declared that the mission of the Arab monitors has failed, although it is still in its beginning, which means that they do not want it to succeed in creating a calm atmosphere that lays the foundations for an internal Syrian dialogue. In this respect, we call on the Arab League not to succumb to the western pressures that want the final report of the Arab monitors to come in the interest of their goals of further destabilizing Syria.On another level, we notice the increase in the Western pressures on Iran, aiming to weaken it and prevent it from continuing its role in supporting the resistance forces. The Sayyed called on all Arab and Muslim countries to unify their ranks against these pressures, since weakening any Muslim country could weaken the entire nation.The Sayyed, then, talked about Palestine and expressed his fears from the repercussions of resuming the talks between the Palestinian Authority and the enemy, considering it as a means that would liberate the Zionist enemy from the Arab isolation. He considered that these negotiations will not achieve anything for the Palestinians and that they will only give more time for the Zionists to continue their settlement project. Instead, the Sayyed called for internal dialogue and promotion of Palestinian reconciliation under the slogan of liberating all of Palestine.In Lebanon, the Sayyed called for ending the ongoing debate over the raise of salaries that has already led to a big rise in the prices which would consume any future raise. He also called on the government to act as a unified team in facing the economic crisis and dealing with the security problem that has aggravated lately./129