Sheikh Ali Salman calls to stand up to those who encourage the spread of hostility among Bahrainis

Islam Times: Sheikh Ali Salman, "we the people must take on the responsibility to prove our solidarity toward one another and our community unable to afford the tax change."

The text of the Friday sermon

Reach out to the martyrs themselves, their families, our injured brothers and sisters, the detainees, the laid off and dismissed. There are many ways to do so: financial assistance, continuous visits, making sure that the families know that their beloveds are in our hearts always.

Emphasis on social networking

In these days of Hijjah and Eid, we want to reaffirm the meaning of social networking among the people.

We start with the larger circle. In the holidays, people exchange greetings, visits, respect and appreciation for each other.

The country has been going through political crisis and some of the parties attempted to distort our sectarian and social reality, not for the love of one particular community, but to serve a political benefit .Politicians sometimes degrade from the pure creation of humanity, the values and ethics of religion by playing out their cards to calculate what they think is political gain.

Our community must not respond to these people (whatever team they were from). They can only spread enmity between Sunnis and Shiites. We have to reject their attempts to plant dispute and hatred between the people their friends and neighbors, basing it on racial difference. Reason must prevail. Let the politicians deal with their disputes.

You must know that that religion does not encourage hatred of another human (whomever they were ), and if there seemed to be directions interpreted as "hatred", they are for the actions, the situations that stray far from the divinity of God, and the good.

The basic principle that we must always come back to, the origin, is love. It is the essence of brotherhood. Harvest your relationship with your brothers; reach out to them in Eid, visit or exchanged letters, or any other method. Do not take in what some parties are eager to raise for political goals. Connect with the people who you already know and open the doors to new relationships to be had.

 I would also like to remind you of the basic principles of Eid: the Eid prayer, exchanging food and visits with our loved ones. Do not break these habits but carry with your brothers' pain and acknowledge the reality of your community. These moments of vulnerability are when we are of most need to grow our interdependence and solidarity, give out our sympathy and compassion to the victims of repression and barbarism carried out by the authority.

Reach out to the martyrs themselves, their families, our injured brothers and sisters, the detainees, the laid off and dismissed. There are many ways to do so: financial assistance, continuous visits, making sure that the families know that their beloveds are in our hearts always.

They thought that they can break you from dismissing from your jobs but you have proved to be able to handle the worst (different from the repression, the official lies, and the process of starvation and economic blockade).

All the people - the poor and traders - have borne the responsibility, and proved that the collaboration and solidarity between the community can and will afford the tax for change. There has been an epic chain of communication.
   
Someone comes to me donating 100 dinars when his paycheck spells 400. Everybody is doing what they can. This is part of what this movement stands for: sympathy and solidarity, and the shared responsibility.

The people presented a beautiful picture - May Allah reward you – and we will continue to serve each other until we return to our jobs, the injured are healed within Bahrain and abroad in case they needed that treatment.

Where is this coming from?

It comes from Bahrain - not from the outside – from the inside of Bahrain. When I visited Najaf, one of the things that left me in amazement was that people were spending their savings and disbursements on those less fortunate than themselves.

This comes from Bahrain, from the people of Bahrain, the poor and humble, they reach out to each other and stand by one another in times of need. We will keep on helping each other until God Almighty renounces his victory of righteousness and justice, and establishing the peace in this country.