Sayyed Ali Fadlulla: "Imam Ali: A life dedicated to establishing justice"

The First SermonIn the first sermon, His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, commemorated the martyrdom anniversary of the Imam of the Pious, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali Bin Abi Taleb (a.s.). This Imam rejoiced when he knew he was going to die, because he knew that he was going to Heaven; that is why he said: “By the Lord of the Ka’ba, I have won”.Imam Ali sought, throughout his life, to establish justice, even if it was to the detriment of his own interests or those of the closest people to him.He also gave top priority to the unity of the nation of Islam that he did not engage in a fight when he was denied his right to the caliphate. That is why it is wrong to say that the stage in which the other caliphs held power was one of Islamic conquests, while his reign was one of internal wars. Actually, it was his position of maintaining peace as well as his advice to the caliphs that made these conquests possible.As for the wars during his reign, they took place because his rule exposed the corruption that had already inflicted the Muslim nation. It was not a matter of the spur of the moment; but rather, there were a lot of accumulations that he had to face. It is worth noting that he never engaged in any fight before he made sure that all his attempts for conducting a dialogue had failed; a dialogue in which he did not use a strong language or made any threat of violence.Even on his death-bed, the Imam was concerned with internal peace and not shedding any innocent blood. Actually, this is what made him order his followers not to kill anyone but the one who killed him.Peace be upon the Imam the day he was born, the day he was martyred and the day he will be brought back to life.The second sermonIn the second sermon, His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, shed light on the ongoing violence and bombings in Iraq, saying that they are meant to give the conflict there a sectarian dimension, although the truth is that it is yet another part of the struggle of the regional axes. He called on all Iraqi parties to be aware of what is schemed for their country and to solidify their unity by means of an earnest dialogue.In Syria, where the conflict is aggravating, it has become evident that the international plot aims at extending the conflict for as much time as possible to weaken all the Syrian parties and the regional forces that support them. Then, the solution that might be proposed will pour in the interests of the great powers and not that of Syria or the Arab world. The Sayyed also called on all who are putting their stakes on the military solution in Syria to relinquish their gambling and resort to dialogue for it is the only viable solution.On another level, the Sayyed expressed his fear that Egypt might enter into a deadly strife, announcing that the country does not need hot-headed people; but rather, fire extinguishers who would promote dialogue and unity.The Sayyed ended his sermon in Lebanon. He considered that the EU decision regarding the resistance would fuel the acute political division in the country and give the Zionist enemy a pretense to wage a war on Lebanon. He called on the EU to annul this decision and not to appear as succumbing to the Zionist entity. He also called on the Lebanese to beware the dangers of trying to benefit from this decision in their internal calculations as this will only widen the rift between the Lebanese.The Sayyed ended by calling for an internal dialogue to agree on a defense strategy that would open the way for establishing a new government in which all parties take part; thus, preventing those who want to undermine the country’s stability from realizing their goals./129