Sayyed Nasrallah’s Full Speech At Launch of Jabal Amel Forum-Part 1

Full speech delivered by Hizbullah Secretary General, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, at the launch of the Jabal Amel Culture and literature Forum in the Southern town of Ainatha.
I take refuge in Allah from the stoned devil. In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Most Merciful. Peace be upon the Seal of Prophets, our Master and Prophet, Abi Al Qassem Mohammad, on his chaste and pure Household, on his chosen companions and on all messengers and prophets.
Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

It is also my obligation to welcome you all in this dear occasion and kind meeting which is an occasion which is looked forward to from last summer one way or another, as the brethrens mentioned. God-willing we would be granted success this day in launching this forum, this institution, and this edifice so that it would join this blessed, continuous, optimistic, and victorious procession from its field of specialty, role, and nature, God-willing.

Today my speech is divided into two parts. In the first part, I will go back to some aspects of the very beginning from which I will usher to Jabal Amel and poetry and literature in Jabal Amel. From the first part, I will move to the second part in which I would like to talk about some current issues and required responsibilities from the perspective of the first part too.

In the second part, we will talk some politics. As for the first part, let us keep it in harmony with the occasion and the status quo.

From the very beginning, Allah Al Mighty created man in the best of moulds whether on the physical or the spiritual level. Allah granted man the mind. What a mind it is! This noble creation which was granted to man has enormous capacities in acquiring knowledge as well as in producing knowledge. Thus human mind is not a receiver only; it is also a producer and a generator. It has the ability to roam in the horizons, the land, and the skies as well as the worldly and divine realms. It can also transcend barriers and borders and penetrate through screens…

Then Allah Al Mighty bestowed another blessing on man in granting him the ability – the various abilities- to articulate and to express what he thinks of and believes and what crosses his mind, as well as the emotions and feelings he experiences and even the imagination and illusions and everything he wants. This man was empowered with this ability – the ability to express and translate this internal content to the other – to every rational other who hears and comprehends. This ability to articulate and express is one of the most important reasons of human life development and enhancement on all perspectives and levels. It’s because all ideas, information, conclusions, morals, and experiences pass among people in the very generation and in the very era and from one generation to another until Doom’s Day via the various and diversified means of expression. That is because when Allah Al Mighty granted man this ability, He did not limit it to one means. He rather diversified and varied these means; on top of these means comes language and words. In words, I do not mean spoken words only. Words or language can be spoken at times and written at others. In fact, writing started even before pens and pencils were invented.

I will return to this means in a while.

One of these means is signaling. Man can express the ideas that cross his mind and his emotions through signals: hand signals and body movements. Other examples of these means are painting, sculpturing, and music. In some ways, music expresses the hidden contents of man – the feelings of man: his joy, his sadness, his hope, his despair, his estrangement, his loneliness…. Each has a different expression. Indeed, all of these abilities have been always available and activated from old times to our very day. However, in our present day, thanks to the scientific developments and the abilities granted to man, broad horizons were opened for the mission of expression including what we witnessed and are witnessing now on the level of cinema, TV screens, theater, internet, and the various communication means.

However, all through history until Doom’s Day, the most powerful and important among these abilities remains language and words; words and sentences which stand for meanings used by man. Man uses words and sentences to express meanings which he means or wants to convey to others.

Thus man was granted the mind and the ability to express. With his mental strength, he specifies meanings. With his mental strength, he forms in the mind sentences and words through which he wants to express definite meanings which in turn he articulates through his throat and tongue and consequently, they get out in the form of voice or through his pen he writes them down as letters.
One of the wonders of Allah Al Mighty in His creation is diversification in languages and tongues. From the beginning of mankind until our very day, there are thousands – not hundreds – of human languages.

Some became extent and came to an end; others still exist. Others are developing and will remain developing to the Day of Resurrection. Every language has its special characteristics and elements of beauty. Moreover, any language – as I am not talking about a definite language – is one of the things in which the wonders of beauty are manifested. Inasmuch as the wonders of beauty are manifested in all the entities of this Universe, and one of these entities in this Universe in which the wonders of beauty is manifested is human language.

Languages have levels and degrees among themselves. They have diversified means in prose and poetry and others. The people of every language vary in their personal and innate abilities in using this language and exploiting its diversified capabilities to convey these required ideas and images.

Here the Arab language mounts the throne of human languages. We are not saying so because we are Arabs. In fact, non Arabs also acknowledge this fact. The Arab language mounts the throne of human languages thanks to its strength, wealth, broadness, flexibility, beauty, grace, charm, and ability to comprise and develop. It is enough pride and nobleness that Allah Al Mighty chose the Arabic Language to be the language of revelation of His last, eternal Divine Book. This is enough pride. That does not need evidence. In fact, electing the Arabic Language to be the language of revelation of the last Divine Book has much great and substantial wisdom but there is no chance to explain that now.

All through history, the Arabs – and those who turned to Arabs later – have been known for their fluency and eloquence and their professionalism in the styles and arts of literature and poetry. It can even be said that the distinctive characteristic and the main topic for these peoples are fluency and eloquence. The elite among these peoples are the poets and the speakers, and the source of pride for every tribe and clan is its poet and speaker. From the very beginning to our very day, some of this literature and poetry was a product to be bought and sold. The poet would compose the poem for the one who pays him money generously – and at times ungenerously too. Some literature and poetry come under the title of fake pride and precipitated fanaticism.

However, what I care to say on this occasion is that what is important is that all through history some of this literature and poetry was at the service of missions, human and moral values, righteousness, justice, confronting tyranny, and defending the dignity of the nation and its existence, sanctities, and resisting invaders and occupiers and awaking the peoples and arousing their emotions and zeal. This is the primary, most important, greatest, and the most humanistic mission of literature and poetry which must be part of the weapon, abilities, personality, civilization, and the makers of the future of this nation.

Numerous in history are the stories of poets and men of letters who were hurled in jails or were beheaded or were crucified in squares because of a poem they wrote or an eloquent speech they delivered as the contents of this poem or that speech did not appeal to the warden or the hangman.

This kind of literature and poetry has always existed in Jabal Amel. For hundreds of years, Jabal Amal has been known for his scholar and jurisprudent heritage. It is also known for its jurists and scholars – some of whom are first class jurists in the Islamic world all through history.

However, among the characteristics of Jabal Amel is that its jurists and scholars are men of letters and poets in most cases. I am saying in most cases not to say in all cases to be on the safe side. This is one of the characteristics of the jurists and scholars of Jabal Amel.

A simple review mentioned in the Book “Amel Al Aamel fi Ulama’ Jabal Amel” mentions the names of scholars. The writer almost always refers to the figures he mentions saying: “He was a great jurist, scholar, poet and author”. He rarely talks about a scholar or a jurist without referring to him as a poet and a man of letter. Moreover, poetry in its various forms – the eloquent and the colloquial – was a remarkable characteristic whether of the diversified educated elite or of the common people in Jabal Amel. On the scientific level, we find that the literary powers of the jurists in Jabal Amel were excellently invested even in writing scientific and juristic texts as well as texts on principles. Moreover, the issues of these sciences were put into poetry – charming and enchanting poetry that can be memorized easily.

That’s why we also find that the books and publications of Jabal Amel authors added fluency, beauty, and eloquence of expression to their scientific strength and power of evidence what granted them this level of immortality, care, and consideration in the scientific hawzas and scientific studies centers for Muslims and especially for Shiites.

Poetry and any literary work in Jabal Amal had always been a platform that expresses the commitment of the people, scholars, jurists, and elite of this are to the causes of the homeland and the nation from the literary, cultural, political, jihadi as well as all levels. We are talking now about Jabal Amel because the occasion is the inauguration of the forum of Jabal Amel; thus we reserve the right of all areas and regions in their heritage, history, and role.

From a temporal point of view we can see that from the beginning of the previous century and especially before and after WWI, we find this commitment in more than one dimension. Indeed because we do not have enough time, I will not mention names and evidences. I will make a general presentation only.

The first topic: Defending the Arabic Language. One of the major missions which the poets, authors, and scholars of Jabal Amal contributed in achieving and performing is safeguarding and defending the Arabic language at one stage in face of the Turkish language and following the WWI in face of western languages – namely the French language. Language to any people or to any nation is part of its civilization identity, and the loss of this language is the loss of this civilization identity. For us and for the people of Jabal Amel, the Arabic Language represented this concept and what is deeper and farther from this concept because this language came to be integrated with our conviction, Holy Book, the Traditions of our Prophet (Peace be upon him), history, values, morals, fate, future, and relations. Thus today, dear sirs and scholars, one of the obligations is to safeguard and defend this language.

Now, we – Arabs – do not understand Arabic. Some Arabic words need translation and interpretation. There is a new creation in more than one place in the Arab word: half of the spoken words is Arabic and the other half is foreign – not to say French or English not to target a definite language. Thus defending and safeguarding this language is one of the most important obligations.
In the past, the scholars of Jabal Amel turned schools, hawzas, and even houses to centers for teaching the Arabic language and its sciences and terminologies so as to enable the generations to safeguard the language and to confront the illiteracy and ignorance that were prevailing.

The second topic: Confronting foreign colonialism. This was true not only in Lebanon. In fact, the scholars of Jabal Amel had their stances in all the causes of the nation. Today this resistance – this state that exists – is an original expression and an original extension to this history and to these generations.
Today, some people call on you saying: “Today, we – Lebanese – have in Lebanon enough problems. Why are we to take a stance from the causes of the region and the threats that confront the nation and the struggles in the region which concern us one way or another?

The scholars, men of letters, poets, elites, and common people in Jabal Amel as well as in many Lebanese regions and all over the Arab and Islamic world not only in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Syria, or Egypt – meaning the neighboring countries – were always active. Even in 1911, when Italy invaded Libya, one of the jurists of Jabal Amel who was the son of this kind town – Ainatha – who was a jurist, a man of letters and a poet – issued a statement, gave speeches, and composed poetry on the call to confront the Italian occupation of Libya.

Here we are not talking about the neighboring states. The stances of Jabal Amel scholars and jurists are recorded, and God-willing among the missions of this forum is presenting this history and these documents besides highlighting that historic stage and the stances that were taken and the sufferings that took place.
The third topic: The stance from Palestine in particular, the decisive and early confrontation of the Zionist project and “Israeli” ambitions, and the establishment of the usurper state and this Zionist project in Palestine. This is evident in Jabal Amel’s jurists’ stances, poems, fatwas, statements, literature, instigations, and motivations. I will talk about this when talking about the resistance; so I will come back to this point.

There are other causes that concern the nation including safeguarding the unity of the nation, opposing disintegrating and disjointing it. The jurists, scholars, and poets of Jabal Amel also took well-known positions from these causes. However, after there came to be a new situation and when the Arab country was divided into sectors and entities, they still believed in, were faithful to, and defended this nation too. We can refer to their terminologies, words, and poetry which talk about Lebanon as a homeland, about loving this nation, about being attached to this country, and about getting ready to defend this nation. The stances of Jabal Amel, the people of Jabal Amel, and the elites of Jabal Amel always backed unity, cooperation, and integration, as they also refused ordeals, evaded seditions, and called for organizing priorities.

We inherit from these senior figures and from these generations this culture and this mentality and this understanding. Had the people of Jabal Amel wanted to seek a stance towards Palestine or what is taking place at the level of the nation or towards integrating and not dividing the Arab and Islamic world based on the oppression, tyranny, deprivation, and injustice they suffered from on the hands of the Ottoman authorities which was ruling the nation in the name of Islamic caliphate at that time, they were supposed to back isolation, divisions, and partitions. They were supposed to be unsociable.

They were supposed to care only for their own integrity and the safety of their people and area. However, since the very beginning, Jabal Amel backed all the national pioneers and all the pioneers of this nation in defending the sanctities and Palestine as well as in confronting the Zionist project and disintegration, partition, and division, and in facing seditions. Today when we belong to this intellect and to this resistance, we do not belong to an imported intellect. This is the original intellect in our nation, land, environment, society and history. This is the original. If we are not as they were, we would be the strangers. But because we are trying to be as they were, we are the ones who truly belong to this land, this history, and these values.

Before ushering to the second part of the speech, I say that what we expect from this forum – Jabal Amel Culture and literature Forum – God-willing is to keep, safeguard, develop, present, and contribute in presenting this great heritage of our ancestors to our people in this region and to the present and future generations which do not know much about the near past.

Unfortunately, not only the youth but also many of the political, media, and cultural elites in Lebanon do not know much about the near past.
God-willing, I hope they would carry on in their path especially that we are before very serious cultural, civilizational, political, and existing challenges. Hereof, I usher to the second part of my speech.

In the second part, I would like to talk about two topics. The first topic has to do with Lebanon, and the second part has to do with Syria. At last, I will wrap my speech with Lebanon.

There is always a great challenge called the Zionist project. It had posed a serious threat since the beginning of the past century until 1948 when the usurper entity of this project was established. This challenge still exists.
Some try to ignore this threat and consider it inexistent. In fact, this is not only wrong; it is also a grave sin.

The only option which was available and is still available before the peoples of our nation- including the Lebanese people – is the resistance with all its cultural, political, economic, security, and military dimensions.

In depth, the truth, origin, the depth of the resistance is the culture of direct jihadi, military action or remaining steadfast: the steadfastness of the owners of the land in their land and their tolerating of the consequences, and their offering of sacrifices… all of these express and embody this culture. If this culture did not exist, none of these things would have existed. All these aspects of the resistance are manifestations of the culture of resistance. In depth, the resistance is a culture. Some in Lebanon and in the Arab world too have arguments. Let’s talk about Lebanon. Some have arguments on the resistance. It is not something new. The argument over the resistance has nothing to do with fighting in Syria or with the events of 2006, 1982, 1978, or the beginning of the seventies when the Palestinian resistance factions immigrated to Lebanon, if we went backwards.

No, since the establishment of the Zionist entity in the region – in Palestine – there was an argument over the resistance. There has always been a dispute over understanding and defining this enemy and the options of confronting this enemy. This is not a new argument. This has nothing to do with a party or a movement or a leader or a personality or an organization or a sect or a region or a faction. Never! This argument existed even before and after Imam Mussa Sader, and before and after the resistance of Amal and Hizbullah. When the national secular forces were the primary title of the resistance, this argument and debate over the resistance existed. So let no one make the mistake by saying that a national debate took place because of the performance of the true resistance. No! This debate exists since the very beginning – since 1948.

Thus I always used to tell those who confront us in arguments saying the resistance has lost the national consensus over it by saying that never one day there was a national consensus over the resistance in Lebanon. Even on the eve of May 25th or 26th – even in the peak of the resistance when the resistance was presenting its victory in Bint Jbeil to all the Lebanese – there was not a national consensus over the resistance. This is misleading. This is not true. Thus today, some people say: We have a problem with the resistance because it has an Islamic title and because the resistance men are Shiites.

Now, were you with the resistance when all the resistance fighters were from all sects? Were you with the resistance when its title was the national and secular sects? The big fallacy exists today. However, the generation of youths who were not contemporary to that stage might be misled with this speech. Thus they may conclude that after Hizbullah went to fight in Syria or because of its political stance in year so and so or in the such and such cause, the national consensus over the resistance in Lebanon was toppled and came to an end.