The scholar Sayyed Ali Fadlallah sponsored the opening of the Al-Taakhi Medical Centre in the southern town of Ain Baal, attended by the Mufti of Tyre and Jabal Amel His Eminence Sheikh Hassan Abdullah represented by His Eminence Sheikh Rabih Kobeissi, the Mufti of Tyre His Eminence Sheikh Madrar Al-Habbal represented by His Eminence Sheikh Hassan Moussa, the Greek Catholic Archbishop of Tyre Georges Iskandar represented by Father Kamil Elia, MPs Ali Khreis and Hussein Jashi, the governor of Tyre Mr. Mohammad Jaffal, the organizational official of the Jabal Amel region in the Amal Movement Eng. Ali Ismail, the head of the first region in Hezbollah Haj Abu Hussein Nasser, the head of the union of Tyre district municipalities Eng. Hassan Dbouk, the commander of the Italian battalion Colonel Roberto Vergori, the head of Ain Baal municipality Mr. Hatem Bosma, the Director General of Al-Mabarrat Charitable Association Dr. Baqer Fadlallah at the head of a delegation, a delegation from the civil defence of the Islamic Message Scouts, a delegation from the civil defence of the Islamic Health Authority, a delegation from the Imam Al-Sadr Foundations, a delegation of doctors and health centres from the area, as well as religious, party, military, municipal, cultural, social, medical and media figures…
The ceremony opened with verses from the Holy Quran, then the Lebanese national anthem, followed by a word from Haj Hussein Hassoun on behalf of the Al-Taakhi medical centres, in which he began by welcoming the honoured guests and explaining to them the importance of this centre for the modern and advanced technology it contains, whose aim is to provide the best service at the lowest prices. Then the scholar Fadlallah delivered a speech in which he began by welcoming those present, appreciating their participation in this gathering in which we honour a human and faith value - the value of boundless giving and generosity, embodied in the establishment of this humanitarian medical edifice which we are opening together. We want it to complement and cooperate with all the other medical edifices, not to be a substitute for them or a competitor to them, but to provide the best health service to every needy person and every patient, setting out from the principle that whoever comes to it will find in it what heals their wounds and eases their pains and their cares.
He added: The spirit from which we set out is human brotherhood, which it took as its title when it named all its centres Al-Taakhi (fraternity), and which it has expressed and will express in being for the service of the human being - every human being - far from any sectarian, denominational or political consideration. This arises from its conviction that a person is not truly human until they feel the pains of others and strive to serve them; that a believer is not a believer until they love for their brother what they love for themselves; and that His love and pleasure are reached only through serving people: “All creatures are God's dependants, and the dearest of them to Him is the one most beneficial to His dependants, and whoever brings joy to a household…” - and that the summit of worship is the service of people, and what God, glorified and exalted, said: “And whatever good you put forward for yourselves, you will find it with God; it is better and greater in reward”…
This centre comes out of a concern for this homeland, that it be strong and capable and that its people feel pride and dignity. We do not want them to feel humiliated when they seek to obtain their needs, or to loiter before this door or that to obtain medicine or treatment. For that reason it has striven, and strives, for its performance to be exemplary and distinguished, setting out from the basis on which the religious authority, the Sayyed my father (RA), built every edifice of goodness and giving, when he used to say to those running them: I want distinguished institutions, I do not want them ordinary - distinguished in their administration and their people, in their knowledge, their expertise and their ethics, and distinguished in their equipment and their technology, so that you offer people the service in the finest form…
He continued: It is a great human value that in this homeland, in this difficult stage, there should be someone who thinks of their society and its people and of leaving a good trace when they depart this life - which is what he did when he bequeathed this edifice to be part of his wealth devoted to the work of goodness and an ongoing charity for him, remaining a good trace in people's hearts. Every mercy be upon him and every appreciation to him; blessed be what he did, and he will of course be an example to others…
The value grows greater when the project is a health one, now that the need is pressing for health projects that carry a charitable dimension in their work, since health has become every citizen's concern and daily preoccupation. In this homeland a person has come to fear falling ill because they cannot pay the cost of treatment and medicine, and we know that many now make do with painkillers at home because they have no financial means to go to a doctor…
He said: The value of this edifice grows greater still when it falls to this good town of Ain Baal and to this region - the Tyre area and its surroundings and beyond - regions that deserve every good, generosity and giving, and to which their history and their present bear witness that they were always equal to the responsibility in facing all who sought to violate them. For that they made sacrifices in defence of this land, and in embracing the nation's great causes, above all the Palestinian cause. They were present in the fields of generosity and giving through their people resident there and through the emigrants who did not forget their homeland but were always a hand extended to their people, when they helped establish projects and offered assistance to the needy and the poor - even though their homeland did not give them the attention and care they deserve, and their resources, their means and their money deposited in the banks were abused.
He affirmed that this edifice will not be the last but is part of a blessed series that will continue until sites of goodness and giving fill every corner of the homeland. It has always been thanks to people of goodness and giving like these noble figures, without recourse to any body or state, and its whole concern is to be wherever there is someone in need, an orphan, a person unable to provide for themselves, or a seeker of knowledge. We ask God to help us be faithful to the path of giving and messengers of love and goodness to people, all people…
He pointed out that in this land goodness has mingled with the pure blood that flowed in rivers on the altar of the homeland, and that all the massacres were unable to break its people, as happened in Qana, Mansouri and elsewhere. This land was always inhabited by love of the homeland, and it produced leaders, scholars and fighters. It was and remains a banner at the level of national and Islamic unity, of the Islamic-Christian and national meeting, and of coexistence - whose finest expressions were those whose presence still lives in the conscience and on the ground: Imam Sayyed Abdul Hussein Sharafeddine and Imam Sayyed Moussa Al-Sadr… It deserves from all of us, and from the state which is the party principally concerned, a gesture of loyalty, and that all efforts be combined to lift the injustice from it.
He went on: Through the opening of this edifice we affirm that Lebanon is built by goodness and love, and that it can face its crises through communication and dialogue among its people… For a homeland is not built by rancour, enmity and conflict… We have tried all of that and arrived at this precipice. So we say that addressing our crises and our problems will come only through a spirit of love and through serious dialogue that takes into account everyone's anxieties and fears and the Lebanese people's hopes and ambitions. When that happens there will be no obstacles to electing a president of the republic, to forming a government, or to completing the necessary steps that lead to monetary, security and political stability.
He added: It is our destiny in this homeland to work together - sects, denominations, political and non-political positions - and to pull out our own thorns with our own hands, not with the hands of others, who if they act will act for their interests and not for ours, and who may not act at all when their interests require the country to stay as it is and it ceases to be among their priorities… and to support one another in healing our wounds and soothing our pains, and to cooperate with one another. Then we will achieve much, as we achieved liberation and victories - whose anniversary we are living these days…
In closing he offered abundant thanks and gratitude to the one who gave and was generous, asking the Lord to place him in the highest ranks; and to those who designed and built and presented us with this beautiful picture; and to the administration of the Al-Taakhi centres in all their branches spread across this homeland - Beirut, the South, the Bekaa, Hermel and Mount Lebanon… We are fully confident that this centre's medical and administrative staff will be equal to the hopes placed in it and the ambitions sought from it.
