Al-Mabarrat Charitable Association organized the tenth annual Giving Exhibition at Prophet Ibrahim Mabarrat in the town of Khiam, entitled “Gifts from the People to the People”. It included in-kind offerings of clothing, shoes, foodstuffs and school bags, distributed to 300 families of Syrian displaced people in the Marjeyoun region and 100 families of Al-Mabarrat's orphans, in the manner of a free market, under the patronage and in the presence of Allama Sayyed Ali Fadlallah, the president of Khiam municipality the engineer Abbas Awada, and educational, social and party figures from the area.
Al-Aqla
The exhibition opened with the national anthem, then a welcoming artistic segment presented by a group of girls from Prophet Ibrahim Mabarrat, then a speech by Father Philippe Al-Aqla representing the metropolitan of Sidon, Tyre and their dependencies for the Greek Orthodox Elias Kfoury, in which he said: “Giving is to offer the other something of yourself, of what you yourself need. This is the giving that God accepts: we give with a cheerful face and in complete silence so as to deserve the reward hoped for from such a work; to feel that the human being deserves dignity and esteem and that he is one of the creatures of God Almighty.”
He added: “We are not for coexistence between Muslims and Christians; we are for living together, because we have lived this test in word and deed, since each of us accepts the other as he is. We form a mosaic painting, or an icon in which the spiritual families of this country gather to form the spiritual meaning of what is called faith in God Almighty. And what confirms my words is the founder of this home, Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, peace be upon his pure soul; for he was a school in faith and in giving, in thought, word and deed.”
Nasser
Then came a speech by Sheikh Jamal Nasser of the Islamic Waqf department in Marjeyoun and Hasbaya, in which he said: “When we host people of ours who have migrated to us under compulsion, oppression and force, they have in fact migrated to their second and first country, and to hearts that are wide enough for them with their love, and to hands that give without being asked.”
He added: “In this noble edifice, if we offer to our people, we offer out of mercy and love; and if we have helped a human being, it is a duty upon us so that we may be worthy of respect before ourselves first, and then before our Lord worthy of asking for mercy and of winning the hereafter.”
Fadlallah
Afterwards came the speech of the ceremony's patron, in which he said: “I express my happiness at this varied and unifying meeting, which comes to soothe the pains of the poverty suffered by the human being of this country, especially the Syrian displaced people in it, and to affirm a value that the prophets and messengers lived and that was fundamental in their messages, namely the recovery of the human being's humanity at every level.”
He added: “A human being cannot be human without living the humanity of the other and sensing people's pains and their suffering, far from all the barriers we have become addicted to; for hearts must know no barriers in their love and their giving to others.”
He continued: “Our problem is that we sectarianize and denominationalize everything, until we have reached the point of dividing up human wounds and pains, so that each of us is affected only by the wounds of the child of his sect, his denomination or his political party, while he turns his back on the pains and wounds of others.”
Affirming that “faith is not realized if the believer does not feel for those around him and sense their pains, and if he does not feel the necessity of giving to every poor person and everyone in need”, Fadlallah said: “A believer cannot be selfish or fanatical, or live closed in upon himself; rather he lives openness and is keen to meet with everyone. Here we meet with all our religious and denominational varieties around the shared human value. It is true that we may differ in the manner of worship and in how we communicate with God, but we agree on making the human being's life in our reality better and his future better.”
He continued: “These institutions were built on the value of giving, and with this value we continue the journey. We meet here for the sake of giving to these people in need, so that they may in return give us the deed of our humanity and the deed of our faith. We want this homeland to be a model in the meeting of its sons and their cooperation. We are keen on these varied meetings, which we do not want to be meetings of courtesy but meetings of joint work; and in this way we can build a unified homeland and close all the gaps and divisions that the enemies exploit to increase the rift among people and to confuse our reality, so as to advance their interests and not ours.”
He touched on the subject of the municipal elections and stressed “the importance of unity - but unity in diversity, which is not at the expense of competencies or the cancelling out of others”.
He addressed those who speak of proportional representation, saying: “If you are sincere in your proposal, then apply it as a practical reality before it is legislated in parliament; perhaps in that way you will feel its importance and show its positives.”
He added: “We are for the representation of everyone, for when any denomination or sect feels wronged, this feeling will turn into a time bomb in the future.”
He praised the slogan put forward, “from the people to the people”, saying: “It contributes to building the society of goodness - the society in which people cooperate so as to strengthen one another, and this comes about only through their joining together and their unity, which helps us to bring this homeland out of its suffering and its ordeal.”
He concluded by calling “for working quickly to emerge from the dark tunnel this country is suffering, so as to confront the many internal challenges and the repercussions of what is happening outside, to rebuild the state, to strengthen the work of the institutions and to activate their role”.
The ceremony closed with a speech of thanks from the principal of Issa Bin Maryam School in Khiam Ahmad Attieh, after which about 250 Syrian and Lebanese children moved on to a “joy fair” for the occasion.
