The speech of his eminence Sheikh Akl Unitarian Druze Confession Sheikh Naim Hassan on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha Al-Mubarak 2010

His eminence Sheikh Akl Unitarian Druze Confession led the prayer of Eid Al-Adha Al-Mubarak in the Prince Abdullah Altanokhi shrine in Abey, in the presence of a number of prominent spiritual and temporal figures and a crowd of religious people.

After the prayer, his eminence delivered his Eid speech in which he said: “Al-Adha is an invitation to be close to God the Almighty by offering a sacrifice of obedience and satisfaction and working exclusively for God’s sake. So it is in fact an invitation to take a trip to meet Him with a heart which likes the company of nobody else but His. The Almighty says {O man! Verily, you are returning towards your Lord with your deeds and actions, a sure returning, so you will meet} Surat Al-'Inshiqāq (The Sundering 6). The Almighty also said {And proclaim to mankind the Hajj. They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, they will come from every deep and distant ravine} Surat Al-Haj (The Pilgrimage 27).

The purpose of this blessed trip is to give in to the will of God and it is expressed by the morning of the Eid with slaughter, and the most glorified of which is what God to whom belongs might and majesty accepts from his obedient servants. The Almighty says {It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah, but it is piety from you that reaches Him} Surat Al-Haj (The Pilgrimage 37).

What is meant by piety is devotion in obedience, and being cautious of the drifts to disobedience, and guarding oneself against passion that slants it away from the grace of the truth and guidance, and preserving the ethics of religion, and it has been said that it is the desertion of self-interest and forsaking whims. If the servant realizes his insight, he embraces the wisdom of God from these rites to ascertain that he must in every moment make all in his power and energy to reach the purification of the heart from chagrins and clearing the physical actions of burdens and pursuing with yearning and love to the extraction of the subtle lights. This is not achievable to him except by sensing the secret of Adha and its exalted meanings.

The Unitarian believer should like the company of God and his brother in God so that there becomes an affinity and a spiritual sharing. The brother for the brother, is in this sense, support and assistance to strengthen and fortify his religion with his love and grow stronger with it and with him to do good, and by protecting him completes his faith as is represented by the honorable Hadith “the believers are in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion like the body if one organ complains, the rest of the bodily parts summon one another for protection and shelter”.

We have to ascend in our thinking and conduct to the proper extent that achieves in ourselves the fruit of virtue. Nothing in this worldly life compares to the beauty of the truth and following it in what grants God’s satisfaction in response to the noble end of his mission that was carried out by his wise messengers God’s prayers be upon them. Following the truth is the greatest good for oneself, especially for being a member of society so that benefit prevails and reform is founded. We have with this light to attest noble ethical values, and give the righteous example in honesty, goodness, justice, love, reasonableness, and in forbearance, humility, altruism, and generosity, and in piety, modesty, simplicity of spirit, and good deeds. We believe that there is no correct social reform and no rooted human strength outside the field of spiritual and practical testimony for those values. This is one of the meanings of Adha that the believer must realize in himself and in all his movements and tranquility,  realizations of the aim of his existence, and an embodiment of the exaltedness of those values above all selfishness. And in hope that this ethical position also affects in the performance of all those who assume public affairs, and all those who assume the responsibility of serving the people and working to manage their affairs in accordance to duty, justice, and conscience.  

On this occasion marking the end of four years on the course of the Confessional Council and Akl Sheikhdom, I renew my invitation to the virtuous elite in our generous sect to support us in order to reunite and preserve our being and seek the best in our Unitarian society and develop it. The development of the entailed estates and its prosperity is a trust that we care for to serve all members of our community without exception. And the rumors that are spread from here and there will not affect our good will in the exercise of our duties and the determination to sacrifice for the sake of our people and society.   

We cannot, in terms of our spiritual and humanitarian commitment but appeal to the various leaders in our dear country to inspire the meaning of sacrifice to approach the delicate situation that threatens our country, which we pray and appeal to God that it might not happen. We urge everyone to remain calm and to avoid verbal violence which increases the chances of collision and deepens the divisions and hatred in the souls. Does it leave the mind of anyone of them that the atmosphere of escalation is a threat to nationalism, and pushes towards the disintegration of the state, and warns of the involvement of Lebanon in the tosses of chaos and decay? Is it necessary to recall that in this trend - God forbid – lies a great service to the enemy ambushing the country and its people, its army and its resistance, not only in intelligence and information surveillance, but also in all practical possibility? The first causes of strength which we should first guard with against all attacks or plots is serious, sincere and hard work, in order to strengthen and fortify the internal front and protect it with the national unity that is based on the lessons of history through time.

We take this opportunity to pray to God to restore our situation and reconcile our divisions and bring us together until we return a single front in the protection of Lebanon from schemes and a single hand in building our beloved country and protecting our society from the blight of violence and rivalry that has constantly been bringing harm and grief to the citizens regardless of the party they belong to, and that there is no way for the Lebanese except through dialogue, and peaceful, patient dialogue and the language of love, tolerance and mutual respect in order to get out of the critical situation and to address controversial issues by giving each his due right and providing reassurance to all parties and partners in the country.

Yes, it comforts our minds and calms the fear of our heart, the engaging of our brothers, with love, to stay vigilant to help Lebanon, and beware the imminent danger, and anticipate any surprise and initiating to meet, confer, and discuss what might ward off the danger, and preserve stability. But the Lebanese should perform the active role to grasp this positive embrace. They have to come up with what makes the concern of other nations with the stability in their countries what saves the wellbeing of Lebanon, not in a way that this concern becomes a door to the sponsorship of conflict and divisiveness. This is the challenge facing the Lebanese today, and they should be up to the level of stature of their country in its ancient history and the messianic role in the eye of civilization, or - God forbid - have set up witness to its non-entitlement to them a country.

We must express our gratitude to the wise leadership of His Excellency the President, and to the many leaders working hard to set a difficult and delicate balance for the country's higher interest and its precious unity. And we salute our national army and its mature and vigilant leadership praying to God to give them resilience and success.

In the Arab world, we cannot on the occasion of the Eid but remember with regret what has become of Palestinian cause, after it was proven over the years that there is no intention whatsoever for the Israeli enemy to open the door for real peace to restore the rights and the land to its owners, but here's the practice of Judaizing Jerusalem and continuing  the settlements and the confiscation of land and other, the least that this should be confronted with is a united Arab and Islamic position, and finding an international pressure to prevent its continuation, as it is imperative to achieve Palestinian reconciliation and to devote the process of Arab - Arab convergence, and the promotion of Islamic unity, and advancing the concepts of its coexistence with various religions. We also have to express on this occasion sympathy with the brotherly Sudanese people threatened with the danger of division, and with the Iraqi people who suffers from waves of extremism and terrorism, hoping that the efforts of the Arab states to heal the rift in these two brotherly countries able to stop the deterioration and restore tranquility and stability to the region.

We ask the Almighty God to make it a blessed holiday, and we call on our brothers in the faith and Islam and all the Lebanese with the best wishes on this blessed religious occasion.  May God return to you good health and happiness. He is All-Hearing and Responding, and Happy Eid. "