Iqbal Gora – Eid ul Adha Khutbah 1 2023 NW Islamic Centre

All praise is due to Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala, the one that has allowed us to

gather here in this great gathering and commemorate

this great occasion of 'Il Al Khar with

billions of Muslims throughout the world. Every time

a nation has a particular celebration

or festivity,

whether that celebration is one of a national

stance, or a national perspective,

or one of a cultural perspective, or one

of a religious perspective, we need to understand

that what is it that we are celebrating.

And we ask ourselves on this great day

of 'Eid Al Adha, what is it that

we are actually commemorating?

This 'Eid Al Adha is in a sense

a celebration of the legacy of our forefather

Ibrahim alaihis salam, minlata abikum Ibrahim.

And this celebration is 1, in fact, of

a graduation

of the test that Ibrahim alayhis salam faced

throughout his life. In a similar

perspective that many of those today who are

young are graduating from high school or junior

high or even university, in the last few

days, Ibrahim alaihis salam

graduated from the test of Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala, and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala made this.

He sent in a sense, his graduation party

that we celebrate every single year, Eid al

Adham. Allah

mentions regarding Ibrahim alaihis salam in the Quran.

He says, Wa idbatala Ibrahim

That we tested Ibrahim alaihis salam with many

tests, and he passed every single one of

those tests. We all know the test that

Ibrahim

faced when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala instructed him

to leave his son and his wife in

the deserts of Mecca, in that scorching heat.

It was difficult for Ibrahim alaihis salam to

do this because he had this son in

a very old age. Alhamdulillahi

wahabaniyaalwwhabili

al kibili Ismaila wizhaq. For the one that

has granted him whom? Ismail and

Ishaq

at an old age. And nonetheless, he has

made such that he is having

to go and leave these children or leave

this child and his wife in the scorching

heat of Makkutul Makarumah.

We also know the test of Ibrahim alaihis

salam, the greater test or the greatest test

in his life, wherein

instructs him to sacrifice his son.

And you find the response in Ibrahim alaihis

salam as he says that,

When Allah

told him to submit and be a Muslim,

one who submits, he said that I submit

to the one who is the Lord of

all the worlds. And we find that his

son,

we find that his son Ismail, his response

is equally as impressive.

Ma tummar, do what you are commanded to

do, satajiduni

inshaaubal minasawbileen.

You will find me from those that are

patient. We see these great tests of Ibrahim

alaihis salam, when we also know that when

Shaytan came to him, and we replicate this

event every single year in the hajj pilgrimage,

every single year we pelted the Jamarat, as

we all know, one of the rituals of

the hajj, when Shaytaan comes and he tries

to tempt you away from that which Allah

Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala instructed a person to do.

All of us know these examples from the

life of Ibrahim alayhis salam. But now the

question that we need to ask ourselves is

that we are commemorating his life and the

Quran is replete with examples of his virtue.

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala talks excessively about the

fact that he is suddiqaan. He is one

that is truthful to his faith. But now

the question you need to ask yourself is

that

even though he as great as he might

be, what effect does his life have on

your life? The point at the end of

the day is that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

is not going to ask you about Ibrahim

Alaihi Salam. He is a nation that has

passed, he is a nation alone, and the

nations before they have passed

They are a nation that has passed, they

will get what they have earned. Ibrahim alaihis

salam will get what he has earned, and

you will also get what you

have earned, and Allah Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

will not ask you about what they did,

but Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, He will ask

you about what you did. And on this

note, let us try to understand what are

things that we can take away from the

lessons of the story of Ibrahim alaihis salam.

We all know this story, what are some

of those lessons that we can take? The

first point that we need to understand is

we need to know within our life. Sometimes

we think following Islam is difficult, we might

not understand the reason, but we need to

understand that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he alone

is Al Hakim. He is the one that

is all wise. We might not understand why

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala told us to do

something. A rational mind would think, why would

you leave your son and your wife in

the beared hot deserts of Makkah al Muqramah?

A rational mind might say, why would you

want to sacrifice your own son? But a

person that submits to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,

you need to understand that if you do

this, even if you don't understand the wisdom,

you will come out on top. And the

proof of this is a fact that every

single year, people commemorate

the actions of Hajar alaihis salam in their

walking between Safa and Marwa. Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala mentions in the Quran, people will come

amikh from every far corner of the earth,

they come and they repu they replicate those

actions of Hajar alaihis salam. We also know

that when it comes to Ibrahim alaihis salam,

he passed those tests.

When he has done this, Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala made Ibrahim alaihis salam an imam, a

leader for the entire world. Can you find

a figure which

has more reverence than that of Ibrahim alayhis

salam in the world today? And that is

what we can also ask ourselves.

Also from this perspective, we learn one of

the fundamental aspects of what it means to

be Muslim. Allah Subhana Wa Ta'alehi describes Ibrahim

alayhis salam Makan Ibrahim yahudiya walanasrani walakin kaanhaifa

Muslima. He was one that was a Muslim.

When you ask yourself what does it mean

to be Muslim? It means you are one

that sacrifices and submits to Allah Subhanahu Wa

Ta'ala. As an example, we all know how

difficult it can be to wake up for

salatul fajr in these long days and stay

up for salatul Isha in these long days.

How willing are you to sacrifice your sleep

for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? We all know

those that might have fasted yesterday how long

the day was. How willing are you to

fast sacrifice your hunger for the sake of

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? How many of us

are willing to sacrifice making Haram money and

spending on Haram for the sake of Allah

Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? How many of us are

willing to sacrifice our desire for the sake

of doing it only in a halal relationship?

How many of us are willing to sacrifice

our ego for the sake of reconciliation?

How many of us are willing to sacrifice

negative friendships which will take us away from

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for the sake of

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? How many of us

are willing to sacrifice

experiences in this dunya that we might otherwise

have as non Muslims for the sake of

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala? We need to understand

the sacrifice of Ibrahim alaihi salam is greater

than any sacrifice Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is

asking of us. But you need to also

ask yourself the question,

are you a Muslim? Are you one that

submits

or are you not from among the category

that is contained within this definition

of sacrifice? And that is what we take

away from the life of Ibrahim

alayhis salaam. We also know that in the

day of Eid ul Adham,

we make takbir excessively in these days. Before

the Eid prayer starts, we are making takbir

at Dhul Hijjah. Before the immediate start of

the Eid prayer itself, we are making Takbiraat.

When their Eid itself begins in the first

rakah, 7 additional and 5 additional in the

second. In the Eid Khutba, we have 5

in the first or rather in the Eid

Khutba, 9 in the first and 7 in

the second, a'id Khutba as well. It is

replete with takbir of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

Why are we making takbir? We're making takbir

of the fact that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

gave us the greatest blessing, and that is

guiding us to Islam. And we're making takbir

of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to affirm the

fact that Allah is greater than my sleep,

Allah is greater than my hunger, Allah is

greater than my ego, Allah is greater than

my desire, Allah is greater than every single

thing in this dunya, Allahu Akbaru Kabira, walhamdulillahi

katheera.

The final point that we'll mention in today's

Khutbah, also from the life of Ibrahim alaihis

salam, is that a person needs to be

from those that lives up to the standards

of Ibrahim alaihis salam, and also be one

that passes away as a Muslim as well.

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he mentions in the

Quran that the most

deserving to be from the Abrahamic tradition, because

many claim to be Abrahamic are those that

follow the teachings of Ibrahim alaihis salam. Are

you going to be one that does this?

Are you going to be one that follows

the teachings of Ibrahim alaihis salam?

The one that is a foolish person will

turn away from the teachings of Ibrahim alaihis

salam. Think about our society that used to

be Christian based in Canada, when a person

turned away from the traditions of Ibrahim alayhis

salam, even from this perspective, you see the

results in society

on account of this. And we need to

be from those that uphold the tradition of

Ibrahim alaihis salam. When a person does this,

they will eventually be successful.

That indeed my prayer and my sacrifice, my

life and my death is for Allah Subhanahu

Wa Ta'ala. The final point here, the very

final point here is that Ibrahim alaihi salam,

he mentions to his son,

when he says, when Allah mentions in the

Quran,

he also gave encouragement to his children to

ensure that they themselves also do not die

except as a Muslim. Rabbanah,

we make dua as well to Allah Subhanahu

Wa Ta'ala. Rabbanajalna

Muslimainalak.

This was the dua of Ibrahim alayhis salam

that Allah submittal makes us from those that

submits. And not only this, when we are

living here, we also make it a priority

that our children also submit,

and become from the Ummah of the Prophet

Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Ask yourself if you are

a father, ask yourself if you are a

son, ask yourself are you from those that

is willing to be from the tradition of

Ibrahim alaihis salaam, and be from those that

died as a Muslim. We ask Allah Subha'ala

to make us from those that learned from

the lessons of Ibrahim alayhi salam. We ask

Allah Subha'ala to make us from those that

truly upholds the Abrahamic faith. And we ask

Allah to make us from those that lives

and dies Muslims, and makes us such that

our children do the same as well.