Sayyed Ali Fadlullah: Muhammad (p.): The Leader and the role Model

The First Sermon
In the first sermon, His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, celebrated the birth anniversary of the Messenger of Allah (p.), explaining that it is an occasion in which we should deduce lessons from the biography of the man whom Allah had chosen to be the best role model for all mankind.

The Sayyed explained that the Messenger's personality is so vast that we cannot limit it to certain traits. He is the symbol and the embodiment of knowledge, morals, tolerance, mercy, love, lenience, dignity… etc.

His mercy and tolerance were acknowledged by his friends and foes alike, and most importantly by Allah Who said: “Now hath come unto you a Messenger from amongst yourselves: it grieves him that ye should perish: ardently anxious is he over you: to the Believers is he most kind and merciful.” (09:128).

The Sayyed gave several examples that demonstrated only a bit of the Prophet's mercy, especially when he forgave the idolaters after conquering Mecca and told those who tortured and fought him: “No reproach shall this day be upon you, and Allah will forgive you, He is the Most Merciful of those who have mercy,” (12: 92), and then he set them free.

By such a flow of mercy from the heart and mind of the Messenger (p.), his Message was able to penetrate even the most limited and narrow minds. It is the mercy Allah has mentioned in His Quran, when he said: “Thus it is due to mercy from Allah that you deal with them gently, and had you been rough, hard-hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around you.” (03:159).

The Sayyed explained that the Messenger's morals, being the morals of Islam, were the basis on which the Islamic civilization was built. The secret of the success of Islam is that it was built on morals. It was built on building human beings before building a force or an economy. In this respect, had not Muhammad (p.) been a miracle in patience, mercy, tolerance, forgiveness, kindness, and sublime manners, he would not have been able to efface any trace of the idols from the people’s hearts before destroying them and completely removing them from Mecca.

Yet, we have to understand that it is not enough to love the Messenger (p.). We have to emulate him and build our relation with him on the basis of practicing good deeds. The Messenger (p.) was very clear on this when he told his own daughter that he cannot do her any good on the Day of Judgment and that only her good deeds would save her.

The Sayyed called for celebrating the birth anniversary of Muhammad by rejoicing with pure heats, so that we would be reborn anew and do nothing but good deeds. It is a blessed day in which the Sayyed hoped that the Nation of Muhammad will be blessed with peace, strength and willpower to achieve its goals; the goals of Islam.

The second sermon

In the second sermon, His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, reconfirmed the significance of the value of unity in providing the Muslim nation with the strength it needs to confront the challenges it is facing. He warned against those who are trying to foment sedition in our internal front, but this does not mean that we should accuse everyone we do not agree with of being a disbeliever (Kafir) or a deviant.

He reminded the believers of the dangerousness of the Zionist enemy that is aggressive in its very nature and that would not change whether ruled by the left, the right or the center.

In the same breathe, he considered that what the American President, Barack Obama, said about not getting the United States involved in any war anywhere does not indicate a change in the US strategy, but merely in its tactics. It might not engage in military wars, but it would wage more dreadful wars such the starvation war… Its mentality will remain arrogant as it seeks to dominate the world and usurp the resources of all nations.

As for Iraq, the Sayyed called on all parties to resort to dialogue and not to link the country’s fate with what is happening in the region.

In Syria as well the Sayyed called for dialogue, especially that all parties have come to feel that a decisive result in the war is rather unattainable and that the war will last for several years.

On another level, the Sayyed welcomed the latest calls by the King of Bahrain to dialogue and hoped that the mechanisms for turning them into a physical reality would be set out.

In Lebanon, the Sayyed expressed his fear that the ongoing debate about the electoral law only aims at passing time until the regional and internal balances change. Thus, he called on all leaders to relinquish their confessional and sectarian calculations and think about the interests of the citizens and the country. The Sayyed also called for giving citizenship to the children of Lebanese women who are married to non-Lebanese.

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