Sadullah Khan – Eid ulFitr Lecture
AI: Summary ©
The importance of believers in the holy month of Book ASAP, the final month of Islam, and the challenges faced by believers in the pandemic and the importance of spirituality in society are emphasized. The need for practicality and generosity in society is emphasized, along with embracing the reality and finding ways to create a sense of peace and positivity. The importance of self expression and fulfillment in achieving God's faith is emphasized, along with the importance of living a fulfilling life, which is not just a fulfilling life, but a meaningful one made up of daily acts of goodness.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, most gracious, most
merciful,
All praise is due to our creator, our
cherisher, our nourisher, and our sustainer.
We bear witness. There's none worthy of worship
but Allah.
We bear witness, we believe in all the
prophets who came in the great line of
divine.
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, peace be upon each and
every one of them. And we bear witness
in Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi
Wa Alaihi Was Habi Wasallam
is the final of all the emissaries of
Allah.
Teachers, elders,
brothers and sisters,
respected youth,
I greet you with the Islamic universal greeting
of peace.
May the peace, the mercies, and blessings of
Allah be upon each and every one on
this glorious day of Eid, in this wonderful
house of Allah, in this most beautiful city
of Cape Town, the most beautiful city in
the world. I say to you, Aybubaarakan
as salamu alaykum, warahmatullahi
ta'ala, warahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
On this day of Eid al Fitr,
we are bidding farewell Al Bida
to the blessed month of Ramadan,
the month of the revelation of the Quran,
the month of Siam of fasting, the month
of Tiam of the night prayer,
the month of Gufran, the month of forgiveness,
The month of Ihsan, the month of goodness.
The month of Karam,
the month of generosity
and charity.
The month that hosts Leir el Qadib, the
night of power,
grander
in value than a 1000 months.
A month that harbors Yomul Furqan,
the day of criterion
occasioned by Badr.
And we bid today
a sentimental farewell to that month, Shahram Barak.
A blessed month indeed.
As we celebrate the Eid ul Fitr,
this year,
we do so as a global community of
believers, as an Ummah.
Part of a larger human family
who are all still reading under the devastating
wave
of a worldwide COVID 19 pandemic.
A pandemic that is infected
over a 160,000,000
people all over the world
and cost the lives of 3,300,000
people
on earth and counting.
This pandemic has ushered
a crucial time in human history.
Probably a defining moment in human history.
And certainly a critical period in the lives
of communities and individuals.
And
it has
collectively made us realize that we are facing
a
colossal challenge
and is making us face the fragility
of our life
and the vulnerability of human situation.
Swimming in the sea of uncertainty
against the tide of emotional discomfort.
We're trying to navigate an unfamiliar
reality
without it seems, the show of relief in
sight.
Living in lockdown
has created a mirror for the world.
A mirror
reflecting our frailties as human beings,
exposing the fragility of our existence on earth,
and unveiling the need for us to prioritize
our lives,
to prioritize what is really important
in each life.
It has made us actually see
the importance
of time.
Every morning you wake up, you notice a
check who has passed on.
And in this week alone,
everybody,
2 of my students have passed on.
May Allah grant them mafir al jen.
It made us receive the significance of human
relations
because children are dying.
I went yesterday to speak to a youngster
when he's last,
and he's asking me about death,
and how the roof will leave the body.
And I'm looking at the 18 year old
boy asking this kind of questions.
It made us realize the interdependence
of the human family.
A human family that seems to be fractured.
A human family
largely dictated to its seems
by global selfish colonial and imperial interests.
A human family divided by regional and political
powers
at the expense
of innocent human lives.
Here we are as believers,
designated
as the best of community,
not because we are a chosen people,
primarily because we ought to be of benefit
to humanity.
Having emerged from this blessed month of Ramadan,
not only fasting and increasing our prayer, but
also manifesting
our care for others through increased charity and
generosity.
We have emerged from an annual month,
a month long
practice of internal spirituality
and external generosity.
We had to pay Sir Doctor. Tull Fitr
or zakatul Fitar before we could come and
celebrate Eid. And this is very significant.
When we cannot fast, we pay fidayah
to feed the poor.
Allah did not ask us to pray extra,
to do extra worship.
Prayer
or fasting rather is a very personal thing.
No one knows that you are fasting.
Yet Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says when you
cannot fast, do something practical for the society
around you. A practical expression of your generosity,
of your kindness, and your mercy.
And therefore,
we are seeing that though when we miss
a fast, we are asked to give fidya.
We rather provide a social benefit by helping
or feeding
someone through that generosity of ours. You see,
spirituality
was social duty.
Worship
and civic duty and responsibility.
And all of this, the spirit of Ramadan
plants within us the seed for showing greater
empathy
to those who are in need
and those who are victims of oppression, whoever
they may be irrespective of the religion, or
the color, or the nationality,
or the gender.
So we cannot be leaving Ramadan today
with all our attempts at heighten level of
spiritual
consciousness and spiritual rejuvenation.
And resetting our moral cause
through our siyam al qiyam, our fasting and
prayer, without being concerned about the suffering of
those who are desperate,
those who are oppressed and those who are
dispossessed.
We continue to witness daily disturbing images
of brutality against innocent civilians
and the killing of defenseless children,
majority unfortunately
tend to be Muslims.
Whether it be the brutalized Rohingya in Myanmar
or the incarcerated Uighurs in China
or the oppressed people in Kashmir
or the victims of war in Yemen or
in Syria, or the continued
inhumane racist occupation
of Palestine.
Our hearts cannot beat.
Our hearts cannot beat. But in solidarity with
all the oppressed of the world.
Masalul mummininafi
tawadihim wa tarahumihim
wa ta'atufim
masalul
justad
The Prophet peace be upon him said, hadith
documented the sahiyah of Imam al Bukhari and
Sahih Muslim.
The believers
in their affection, in their compassion, in their
mercy
towards each other are like one body.
When one of them aches, the whole body
feels discomfort and pain and fever.
A Mu'min is 1 in whom humanity at
large, Muslim or non Muslim,
believer or non believer, good or evil.
But the point is, they find safety and
security regarding their honor, their dignity and property
regarding
themselves as far as we are concerned as
people of faith.
Never, however, compromising on justice or in
truth. We are now in the 3rd decade
of 21st century.
And as human beings, we seem to have
advanced
scientifically
but it seems we have regressed morally.
What sense is there in trying to create
vaccines
to save people when we are developing more
sophisticated bombs and weapons
that destroy lives of people.
Of what use is enhanced
theology,
high technology,
deep philosophy,
when we lack the empathy
and are losing our humanity.
Allah my Iqbal said,
He said, If you cannot face the realities
of life on earth, if you cannot engage
the challenges that you are faced with on
on earth,
then it's useless to try to complain about,
contemplate about matters of heaven. Engage the reality.
We have a spiritual dimension and a physical
dimension.
We are grounded on earth, life is a
test. And unless we engage these realities
in a practical and in an efficient way,
he says, if you cannot engage yourself with
these realities, it's useless for you to try
to contemplate matters of heaven.
Of what value is the preponderance of religious
centers and religious institutions
when we have not produced better human beings.
Of what use is our religiosity
if it does not enhance our humanity.
Human beings
have advanced scientifically alhamdulillah.
In leaps and bounds.
Instruments in our hand that make virtually the
whole world accessible to us.
However the question is,
have we really progressed as human beings? Really,
I mean.
Technologically,
scientifically, alhamdulillah. And we are grateful for that.
Are we more free?
Are we more safe?
Are we more secure?
Are we more hopeful?
Are we are we more content?
Are we happy?
If not,
what are we going to do on this
day of retrospection and introspection?
What are we going to do about it
collectively and individually?
How much are we prepared to engage the
challenges of the world
to make a difference?
As the Rasool said,
It's better for a believer to be engaged
in the realities and the problems
of the society and of the world, than
to distance himself or herself and isolate themselves
from these challenges.
Each one of us individually,
and all of us collectively
must choose to be agents of ihsan, agents
of goodness,
agents of healing, of growth, if we are
to create a hopeful, a sustainable future for
us and for those around us.
Haven't we learned from the pandemic?
That what affects one, impacts everyone else.
Every nation has been touched by this pandemic.
It has brought a global disaster
of biblical proportions.
We observe the butterfly effect
when incident in a marketplace in Wuhan in
China affecting one person
has resulted in the most devastating global crisis
of the past century. We are so interconnected
as human beings
that we cannot even be afford to be
indifferent.
Our lives are so intertwined,
so interconnected,
and more interlinked than ever before.
So
at the same time,
as diseases can spread,
love can spread, compassion can spread. Our interconnectedness
affords us tremendous potential
and so many avenues to express our love
and to manifest our peace.
Yet, we have so much hatred, so much
prejudice,
and so many wars.
And therefore,
we need to reflect
individually
and collectively.
We have gone through a month long journey
of moral and spiritual
disciplining through Ramadan.
Let's introspect and ask.
Have we journeyed from self centeredness
to social consciousness?
Have we moved from self righteousness
to righteousness?
Have we become better human beings?
Have we become more considerate in the process?
More caring? Have we become more compassionate?
Is it reflected in our homes? In our
families? It's no use beating people. By the
way, no embracing today. You say it Mubarak
from here.
But it's no use embracing the Sheikh and
kissing the hand of the imam and all
of that and you don't greet your wife
or your brother or sister. It doesn't mean
it's pure hypocrisy.
Pure hypocrisy.
And the sister or brother or uncle who
didn't call you, you call them.
Make yourself the standard between yourself and other
people. Don't say they didn't call, you call
so that they may say, oh, sadhuulah called,
didn't we call?
Don't let them become the standard, you become
the standard. There's absolutely no excuse
for that kind of barrier between us and
our loved ones.
So,
Rasooloolallahu
alaihi wa sallam. You see, the manifestation of
our faith
is in the expression of our love. Rasulullah
salallahu alaihi wa sallam. Al Adi documented in
the musnat of Imam Ahmad ibn Anbal. He
said,
No believer can truly reach or taste faith
or reach the heights of faith. No
believe. Unless you desire for humanity at large,
the good things that you desire for self.
And as we read in the Quran,
We're all trying to attain righteousness.
The Quran says, you'll never achieve righteous. Never.
That means never ever.
Until and unless you are prepared to afford
for others, that which you yourself love most
for yourself.
So here we are on our Eid ul
Fitr.
Making muhasa,
taking stock of ourselves
at the conclusion of a month of reinvigorating
our souls,
and we continue moving through life towards the
hereafter.
Knowing
that part of the reality of life is
that inevitability of death.
That you will eventually have
to give individual account for what we are
doing in this world.
On that day,
on the day of reckoning.
A day on which we will be presented
our books individually.
Have you noticed how people were not even
religious before?
We may not even greet you in the
mosque, suddenly every Jumah they send Jumah Mubarak
in beautiful messages.
Suddenly we realize death may be there, death
is always there. It's always been there but
the reality is staring us in the face
because we see the numbers, we're losing friends,
we're losing family, and we don't know who's
next. Through a virus that we cannot see.
And no one knows who's got it until
you suffer the consequence of it.
So, on the day of reckoning where each
and everyone will have to give a count
for themselves.
Every person
tied to themselves on the day of Qiyamah
will be the book of deeds, the record
of deeds, and will produce for them produce
for them a record which will be spread
open for them to witness.
We will indeed be presented with a book
of deeds.
And we are the ones who dictate the
content of that book.
It's almost like a story we're writing. It's
our story. And it's determined by our actions
and by our choices.
And on the day of
read your book, read Read your story. You
wrote the story.
Read your book. Allah didn't say, Read the
book.
Read your own book. You wrote this. You
did this. You chose us.
Today, sufficient for you is your deeds, as
evident for you, or against you.
It's essential to realize our eventual accountability.
Live as you wish, someday you'll have to
give account for it. And do as you
please,
but someday you'll be paid back.
Someday you will be paid back.
So we'll be held accountable
for whatever is documented,
and we will be retributed according
to the choice of our deeds and according
to the record of our actions.
On that day people will come forth,
shown the record of the deeds. Whoever has
done an atom's weight of good
will be rewarded.
And remember Allah's bias.
In His mercy, He's bias.
In His fairness, He's bias.
If you do good, He'll give you 10
times the good.
He'll hold you accountable only for the wrong
you've done, not 10 times. And He may
forgive you if you were forgiving to others.
If you can pardon people who wrong you,
if you can eng engage them, enhance them,
and praise them,
and you can pardon them and forgive them
till Allah says, no. I am most forgiving,
most merciful.
We will indeed be presented with a book
of deeds.
That will indicate our eternal faith in the
hereafter.
A record of the choices we made, and
the actions we engaged in.
The question for us on this day, what
are we contributing to that book?
What are we allowing to be written in
our book?
Allah asked,
Carefully consider
what you're sending forth for tomorrow.
Through our daily life,
what are we sending forth for tomorrow?
And the pertinent question of tomorrow
is whatever done with my yesterdays.
You see,
remember
that today
was yesterday's tomorrow.
Today
was yesterday's tomorrow. And today is tomorrow's yesterday.
Remember that every today
well learned
will make all yesterdays
memories of happiness,
and perchance
every tomorrow a vision of hope.
So let's ponder on this day of Eid
ul Fitr. Where am I in relation to
myself?
Where am I in relation to my creator?
We must have self esteem, must have dignity.
It's a general principle in all religions. Buddhism,
Hinduism, Christianity, Islam. Love for others what you
love for yourself. A universal principle. The ethic
of reciprocity, the golden rule we call it.
Love for others what you love for yourself.
Imagine if you hate yourself, the whole world
is messed up.
Respond on this day of Eid ul Fitr,
what is my relationship with myself?
What am I allowing to be written in
my book?
Your relationship with your Creator.
Relationship
with our near and dear ones, our loved
ones. How many have we buried
In relation to the key issues,
what is my relationship
to the key issues affecting society?
Where am I in relation to the key
issues facing the world? Allah will ask you.
Remember the famous hadithi Qudsi?
Allah is self sufficient. Vaniur hameed.
It's shirk to think otherwise that Allah is
in need. Yet the hadithi Qudsi
that Rasool informs us, Allah inspires him to
say,
oh so and so,
you did not feed me. He said, oh
it's not sufficient. How do we feed? You
don't eat.
And Allah will say, don't you know so
and so was in need and you could
help and you walk by? Don't you know
had you helped him, you would find me
with him?
Don't walk past the people of Allah,
Whoever they may be.
As we journey beyond Ramadan,
we should make a resolution on this day
of Eid
to aim at living a fulfilling life.
A life of significance.
We can't go in Ramadan, Ramadan, in Ramadan,
out. Eid in, Eid out, Into a pandemic,
and we don't know if we'll get out
of it.
We cannot do this.
It cannot go on like this.
Otherwise it's merely a ritual.
Islam is not about rituality, it's about spirituality.
It's beyond
just
the physicality of things.
It's about the reality of life. The inner
dimensions, and the higher dimensions of our existence
in this world and beyond.
As we journey beyond Ramadan,
we should make a resolution on this day
of Eid
to aim at living a fulfilling life, a
life of significance.
A fulfilling life is not necessarily an extraordinary
life. Doesn't mean you must stand in front
and give lecture or something.
No. The people who influenced my life most
have never spoken in front. My
grandmother, may Allah bless her soul,
Spent her life, she even boarded with me
in the Bucca when I came. Took for
me, I was a 5 year old boy.
What she has done for me,
nobody else has done for me.
All the titles that people give you, all
the accolades, none of it will be there
if she didn't give her love. But nobody
knows her. But Allah knows that and I
know that. The least I can do is
appreciate it.
And Allah will remind me.
So, don't take for granted. It doesn't mean
you must have a life which is flamboyant,
that people must notice you. No. Islam is
not about noticing.
From all the people Allah could say,
Shame on the believers, on the Muslims. He
says,
Shame on those who are making salah. Not
those not making salah. Those who are making
salah. Why? It's a physical act people can
see. People can see my listen to my
cheera. They can see how I perform. How
many namaz I perform. What time I'm there.
Very good, Mashallah.
Woe unto those worshipping ones who are unmindful
of the dimensions of their worship.
Those who do things to be noticed by
people.
Despite their prayer and wanting to be noticed
by people, they don't see to the needs
of those around them.
Means basic needs. Muslim, non Muslim, doesn't matter
who it is. Allah will ask you about
it.
If anybody calls out, anywhere in the world,
O Muslim,
you know, you are supposed to be people
of peace, supposed to be people of justice,
that would you say, Khayra Ummah,
please help me. The Prophet said, if anybody
calls out,
whoever
calls out, anybody
calls out, oh Muslim and you don't respond
to his call, don't consider yourself a Muslim.
We need to inculcate that spirit.
We are too caught up in too many
internal fights and moon issue and aid issue,
mother issue, and whose car fare and all.
This time.
All of these things. All stuff has been
there for 1400 years. We regurgitate
and we gain nothing right except separation. That's
why they can't do to us what they
do to us in the same Palestine.
That's exactly why they can't do it to
us.
Because we are too fragmented.
And when you react, you want to know
what's their madhab,
as if we know what madhab is all
about.
A fulfilling life
is not necessarily an extraordinary life, but rather
a meaningful life
made up of daily acts of goodness.
You don't have to feed the whole world.
Can you feed your neighbor? Feed your neighbor.
Can you feed 1 person? You have wonderful
bread, can you give one slice? Give 1
slice. Let those millionaires give or not give,
that's their business. Don't worry about the millionaires
not giving. Allah will ask you, so you
had 10 slices in one loaf, how many
did you give? But the millionaire didn't give,
but neither did you.
A fulfilling life is not necessarily an extraordinary
life, But rather, a meaningful life made up
of daily acts of goodness. A life of
compassion. A life of mercy.
Allah merciful. Rasul merciful.
A rewarding life
where we commit ourselves to being loving and
caring on a daily basis and engaging in
seemingly small but consistent acts of benevolence,
which over the course of lifetime,
amounts to a life of significance.
And a significant life
emanates from being an asset to the universal
community of believers, to all the Ummah.
But also being a blessing to all of
humanity,
a benefit in any situation you find yourself,
and a source of goodness to all of
creation.
I'm supposed to finish at Koratul, I have
1 minute, I'll finish your time.
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
All of creation,
so to say the family, they are the
dependents of Allah.
Allah. All of creation
are the family of Allah.
And the most loved by Allah are those
who are best to His universal family of
creation.
May we be loved by Allah.
By being the best that we can be.
May Allah enhance us spiritually,
morally, physically.
And may we engage and become agents of
goodness.
And we know the goodness results in goodness.
And the consequence of goodness is nothing but
goodness.