What is Eid , When is it done, to Whom and Why.
Image credit: Hoton Fiki
Q: As we approach the end of Ramadan fasting, would you give us some comments and focus for Eid Al-Fitr?
IWDM: On the Eid Day it is Prophet Muhammed's (PBUH) tradition to have a full bath before joining the Eid prayer. We are to wear our best clothes, be attractive but not a spectacle. The dress and color should be beautiful but not such as would cause everyone to focus on or stare at us.
On the Eid Day moreso than the Night of Power you can be a little fashionable. As long as the dress is modest, it can be elegant. Especially for the sisters, yet there is nothing wrong with brothers coming out on the Eid day in their beautiful fashions if they have a taste for that.
If a person has a rich garment, the time to wear it is on Eid Day. If the brother has a $500.00 suit, don't wear it Friday night out on the town; wear it to the Eid Observance.
The Eid Day is a day of glorifying and praising G'd. From the time we get out of bed, we are beginning to prepare ourselves to attend the Eid Prayers. We should be thinking about having completed the fast and the worshipping and celebrating that comes at its completion.
We should be praising and thanking G'd for His Blessings.
We are to give the Sadaqah Al-Fitr, or charity. It is very important for everyone to give this charity. Even the poor person should not want to come to the Eid Prayers without having some little amount of money to put into the common treasure to cover the expenses of the Eid.
If the poor can afford it, they should put something in the charity for a person poorer than themselves.
We should want all of our able and healthy family members to attend the Eid Prayer. The whole household, men, women and children should join the Eid Prayer.
We should start planning for that day days before. Deciding what we have to do in order to bring the whole family.
If you do not have the necessary clothing, you should think about it weeks in advance so that everyone will be prepared.
We should be aware that everyone is not going to be as conscious as we are of the respect or behavior we should have for that day. Do not let anyone's behavior destroy your peace.
When you see them, for maybe a split second, they may make you feel ashamed, angry, or hurt. Such persons are not supposed to be so important, so big that they can affect your peace.
We should not let anything that is happening around us while we are trying to observe the Eid prayer take our attention.
The American Christian society believes in exchanging holiday gifts. Most of us come from a Christian background, maybe we still have that spirit in us to have a holiday where we exchange gifts or give them without expecting one in return.
It is very important for us to know that both of the major Eids are days we give gifts to our loved ones, family and friends. Giving gifts should start in your own household and every year our children will look forward to getting special gifts on the Eid Day.
They will say: "On the Eid Day I am going to get a gift and I don't know what it is going to be." It would be excellent if we encourage the exchange of gifts.
Every Muslim should read something from the Qur'an on the Eid Day before they leave home and when they return home from the observance.
We are to glorify G'd and let our good feelings for people be expressed, starting with the family members. And we are to have a good time. There should be some merriment, chanting of the Qur'an in the afternoon or evening, and a meal where all of the believers can come and eat together. We should have socializing and some beautiful singing. The Eid should be a day of merriment; controlled, disciplined; that is to say, within the spirit of Al-Islam.
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Eid Al Adhaa: Comments by Imam W Deen Mohammed
With G-d’s name we begin, the praise and the thanks is for G-d, we thank Him for the gift and blessing of the model human person Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the honorable and noble servant and Messenger of G-d and what follows of that salute or that traditional salutation to the last Prophet (pbuh), the seal of the Prophets mentioned in the Bible as it is given in the Quran.
Let me explain this occasion before we perform the rituals. This is Eid Al Adhaa, Eid means re-occurring happiness, something that comes over and over at the same time, it is appearing or coming in at the same time yearly.
It means in common language holiday, celebration and it is not pronounced “Id”, a lot of you say Id, that is wrong. Id is is what the scientist of colleges who are psychoanalyst gave us, the word that was the term given long after Allah swt revealed the Quran. The correct pronunciation is “Eid” you have to say it with and “E” sound not the letter “I” sound all of you should correct it and I have been working on that for a long time, trying to get you to correct it, if your Imams would stop maybe you will stop.
Eid Al Fitraa celebrates the victory of human nature Eid Al Adhaa celebrates the victory of the intellect
Abraham fulfilled the needs of the intellect
Eid is a recurring happiness and we have two Eids, the Eid Al Fitraa is the Eid celebrating the victory of human nature. This Eid Adhaa is celebrating the victory of the intellect that is associated with Prophet Abraham or it is also pronounced in Arabic Ibraheem, he led the world into the fulfillment of the needs or the appetites of the intellect, the human brain. He is the one who showed us the way to an ethical world, an ethical society, firstly of believers but eventually to an ethical world because the work of the believers will eventually triumph over the work of the unbelievers. We are not the only children of Abraham, the Jews are the children of Abraham, the Christians are the children of Abraham I believe Abraham has many more children who we do not know about and they want an ethical world like we do. They want an ethical order and en sha Allah (swt) we will be talking on the importance of that for our community models all over these United States wherever we can put them up so that we can have a complete Muslim life, business life as well as spiritual life.
Lamb without spot was Isinail, Jesus and Muhammad
Q. 37.102; Abraham’s vision was to sacrifice his son
“Then when (the son) reached (the age of) (serious) work with him he said: “O my son! I see in vision that I offer thee in sacrifice: now see what is thy view!” (The son) said: “O my father! do as thou art commanded: thou will find me if Allah so wills one practicing Patience and Constancy!”
It is the day of sacrifice, it is the 10th day of the Hajj, on this day we sacrifice whatever you can afford, poor people may sacrifice a chicken or something smaller that is halal meaning it is fit to eat. Those who have more money will sacrifice a cow and a sheep. The sheep is the symbol associated with Abraham because it was his son – - this is not the khutbah, this is preparing for the khutbah. Because of his son Ismail being the son that he thought he should sacrifice. He saw in a vision that he should sacrifice him, but G-d showed him when he was about to sacrifice his son, G-d showed him a sheep, or a lamb instead of Ismail.
Lamb is symbolic of Prophets and pious people in religion
Abraham, the father was shown in a vision by G-d a lamb not his son Ismail, he was to see the lamb. The lamb was to be slaughtered, not Ismail but his son is symbolic of the lamb without spot or blemish, a lamb pure, untainted, unspoiled by the world. That is symbolic also of Jesus Christ as you know he was called a lamb and before him we talk about Ismail as the lamb. And Muhammad the Prophet pbuh in his nature was also a lamb without spot or blemish before he was even called by G-d.
The 10th day of the Hajj we sacrifice whatever we can afford but is a sacrifice of life isn’t it? It is a living thing that you are sacrificing, and there was an ancient philosopher who said “In man can be found all the creatures of the earth,” he said this long before people brought us the teachings on these things in religion, this is in myth or in Greek philosophy.
We don’t sacrifice something inferior or something offensive to good human nature or good human taste, you cannot sacrifice a coon it won’t be accepted. What does sacrifice mean? It deceives us what is happening because it appears that you are getting rid of this thing, but you did not get rid of it, you made it more tasty and then you consumed it, you put it in yourself. So it is symbolic of what is in ourselves, but what is not quite ready for G-d, it is not quite good enough for G-d.
A sheep nature in a man is not quite good enough for G-d, but if you could take that social nature in man, that is spiritual also because it is like, the lamb goes up on the mountain and the lamb can stand on a little thin edge, it is sure footed, it has great balance. It is not the real lamb, it is symbolic of the social nature of the wise and pious people in religion, those who have the knowledge of not only spiritual sciences but they have the knowledge of those sciences that helps us free the social life for its destiny that G-d wants for it. These are great pious men of science and they are called the sheep in the scriptures. So these are great pious men of science and they are called sheep and Ismail was going to be that kind of leader and Abraham was a rational man he did not like to have secretes and mysteries.
Abraham wanted liberal education for people
Q. 2.124; Abraham leader of all nations
“And remember that Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain commands which he fulfilled; He said: “I will make thee an Imam to the nations.” He pleaded: “And also (Imams) from my offspring!” He answered: “But my promise is not within the reach of evil-doers.”
Genesis 17:5; Abraham father of all nations
“Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.”
Abraham wanted liberal education for the people he didn’t want the knowledge to be held by people who were mystics who kept it secret for their elects, he wanted to break that order So Abraham broke from that order and that is the meaning of slaying the lamb and feeding it to the multitudes. He broke from that order and gave the keys to their sciences to the multitudes. This is the one who G-d loves so much He said, “I will make you leader of all people” The Bible says I will make a father of all the nations, ” in the Bible it says you shall be a father of all the nations.
I told the staff, “You have to remind me of the schedule because I’m busy, you should keep your leader informed, your leader is more important to be kept informed than anybody else. If you know your leader has to do something you should be keeping him informed and I’m telling you so you will be better to the next leader, so you will do a better job for the next leader. We want progress, we want it better after I’m gone. Your leader is the person you should be looking for to supply him with all of his needs, all of the information he needs. Do everything you can to assist him and make his work less difficult, this is what should be your purpose and I’m not talking to all of you I’m talking to you in the circle of the helpers. If you’re going to be helpers then study so you can be better helpers.
Eid prayer starting time Q. 2.189; They ask of the new moons
“They ask thee concerning the new moons. Say: they are but signs to mark fixed periods of time in (the affairs of) men and for pilgrimage. It is no virtue if ye enter your houses from the back; it is virtue if ye fear Allah. Enter houses through the proper doors and fear Allah that ye may prosper.”
The time for the ending of the Eid is when the sun is half way from the rising point to noon, when it is half way there that is the time for the Eid. When it starts to be less than half way it is getting too late, I just saw the sun, it is a little cloudy but it was showing and 1 only have about two minutes left, but it will be 5 or 10 minutes before we are finished here. Understand this that these things are signs, when Muhammad the Prophet pbuh was asked in the Quran, “And what is the crescent moon, the Hilal?” He said, “Signs marking the time,” so you will know what time to do the Eid, so you will know what time to do your prayers etc., time markers that is what he said. What was he doing? He was teaching like Abraham he was taking the mystery out of things. They wanted him to tell them the mysteries to see if he knew the particular science of their particular secret order, but he ignored their secret order and just gave them a rational answer.
That’s Abraham’s leadership. You stroke yourself in your own private places but out here we’re going to turn the light on:
Eid prayer said aloud at a time when you are supposed to keep quiet
Isn’t it wonder that the Eid prayer is said at a time when we say our prayer silently? But today it is not said silently, we are going to say is audibly so everybody hears it at a time when you are supposed to keep quiet, praise be to Allah swt He is the greatest.
Knowledge for rich, poor maybe the better leader will come from the poor
I just want you understand better this Eid, what it represents. We should be charitable that is the point and we should feed those less fortunate than us, not only feed ourselves.
The sacrificial meal or meat is for the leaders yes, but it is also for the poorest in knowledge, the poorest in his pocket, it is for the poorest of the people knowledge-wise and also materially, it is for the poor people as well, it is equally for them. We have to give it to them because maybe one of them if equipped correctly and well, maybe one of them will become a better leader than the top man in the society. So we do not want to miss the chance of having our best serve, lead us and take care of us as the leader takes care of his following with the blessing of G-d that G-d reveals.
Takbir 5 are said before 7
We thank Allah swt for this occasion and you know it begins with a Khutbah I have given a long Khutbah haven’t I? It begins with a khutbah and followed by two rakats of prayer and there are 5 takbirs in the first standing and 7 takbirs in second standing making a total 12 Takbirs. You can increase it to many numbers some do eighteen, but the way most of the leaders, Imams in the world do it is 12 Takbirs. Five goes before seven and my father said, “Our savior WD Fard said think five times before you speak and maybe you will be correct.”
So five goes before seven and we know seven is the spiritual realm and if you get in there you better go with your 5 senses. The Eid will have 5 Takbirs and then 7 Takbirs for a total of 12Takbirs One will be just the regular signal to start the pray and then we will signal the movements, the steps of the prayer with Takbir.
No eqamah called on the Eid days means the people are tired of mysteries
Prepare to stand and after we stand we will have a very short Eid Al Adhaa khutbah. There is no Eqamah called on Eid days, do you know that, why? Because that is the day when you are already standing, nobody has to signal you to stand, the people have gotten disgusted with all of this darkness and mystery and they are standing, that is the time for Eid and that is the day we’re living in. People want light they do not want mysteries.
Q. 2.152; Remember Allah He will remember you
“Then do ye remember Me; I will remember you.”
We praise G-d , we glorify Him with much praise, much glorification and we remember Him always. We remember Him in our bad times and our good times, we remember Him when we are poor and have nothing, we remember Him when we have richness and power. We never forget Him in any circumstances, we remember Him in the privacy of our lives at home with our wives and children. We remember Him when we are alone with ourselves with our souls, we remember Him always and G-d says to His servants, “Tell them to remember Me and I will remember them,” praise be to Allah swt.
How wonder He is, G-d has created man in the best of molds, Muhammad the Prophet pbuh the model man was a fit person to lead people before G-d called him, he was already fit. In the world of ignorance, darkness, indecency, bestiality in the world of violence and the sacrifice of innocent lives, the murder of babies before they could even be taught how to live, the killing of them especially the girls who they did not want. And in that time and in that kind of world a man was able to keep his best life that G-d created Adam wit his life intact.
Adam lost his best life to the subtle deceits of the shaytan, as we know he was deceived by the subtle words of the shaytan to come out of the nature that G-d had put him in and made him for. Muhammad the Prophet pbuh had survived in a world of corruption, ignorance, violent, and the loss respect for mankind, he survived in such a world and was not worshiping any idols and was not behaving in any way that G-d would not approve. So he was again like Ismail the son of Abraham a lamb without spot or blemish, like Christ Jesus and others who are called by or given such wonder descriptions.
Q. 93.1-2; The bright morning and the night
1. By the Glorious Morning Light.
2. And by the Night when it is still.
Ramadan is personal sacrifice Adhaa is group sacrifice
This is the Bid al Adhaa and Adhaa means the brightest time of the day. Duha is morning time when it is in its brightness. We have the saying in the Quran “Wa duha wal layle edhaa sajaa,” meaning “By the brightness of the day then the darkness of night when it spreads out.” We want to understand that the celebration of Al Adhaa is the brighter and therefore it is the bigger Eid. It is hard to understand when you are not making Hajj, but when you make Hajj you understand that the 1 Oth day of the Hajj is the bigger celebration, bigger than even the more personal sacrifice we make in fact the sacrifice during the month of fasting is a personal sacrifice, but the sacrifice of the Hajj is a group sacrifice, it is the sacrifice we make all together.
Bukhari 8.615; Man cannot read minds
Narrated Ibn Umar that The Prophet said to Ibn Saiyad, “I have kept for you a secret.” Ibn Saiyad said, “Ad-Dukh.” The Prophet said, “Keep quiet, for you cannot go beyond your limits (or you cannot exceed what has been foreordained for you).”
You don’t know if your brother is fasting with you or not you have to trust him and Prophet Muhammad pbuh said, “We were not given eyes to see inside of his stomach to see if he had taken something, don’t be suspicious we are not suspicious, trust our brothers and sisters. If they say they’re fasting then they are fasting until we learn without looking for it.
Hajj means meeting the social difficulty
The ones who are making Hajj they are going through the same difficulty together. Hajj means meeting the difficulty and going, succeeding despite of the difficulty. You are going against the difficulty the Hajj is a victory over the difficulty and so is fasting too but it is a personal and spiritual difficulty and the other one is social. Hence meeting on mount Arafat is the most important time for the Hajj that is what the Prophet pbuh said, he said if you miss the meeting on Arafat you have missed your Hajj. If you circle the kabah and do all those things, cut your hair, drink from zam zam, run the Sai, but if you miss being on Arafat for the prayers you have missed your whole hajj that is according to the words of our Prophet Muhammad pbuh.
Q. 16.125; Argue in ways that are best
“Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance.”
The talk for the Eid is supposed to be a khutbah, now what is the meaning of khutbah? Khutbah means lecture and it is not preaching, you may preach a little during your lecture but if you characterize your lecture by preaching it is not a khutbah, you did not give a khutbah it will spoil the nature and identity of the khutbah if you preached.
Preach means to raise your voice and play on emotions
Preach means raising your voice and playing on emotions, and expressing emotions, responding to your emotional side, that is preaching. That’s good we’re supposed to do good preaching, excellent, beautiful preaching and it says in Quranic Arabic “Wa jaadilhum bil-latee heyaa ahsanu.” Translated it means, “And debate them and discuss with them in manners most beautiful and excellent,” this is the teachings. But we also to preach it is acceptable.
But for the Eid it shouldn’t be preaching it should be teaching, khutbah is a lecture it should be for teaching, informing people, giving them some understanding, helping them with their understanding of the Islamic life so they can live it with better understanding and performance it better. Better understanding is what puts us in a situation to live better that is what I mean by perform it better, to live better as Muslims and that is what we want, that is what the soul want. This is a very short khutah I’m going to give you because the time is about out for the Eid prayers and khutbah in the morning.
I don’t want to close without saying this, we are living in the last days of the plan that you find in scripture for people on this earth that we find in the Bible and that we find the Quran, we are living in the last days of that plan. Nothing will come after this, there is nothing else to come, we are at the end of it. The world leaders know it, the leaders of the religions know it and government leaders know it.
Government leaders have the knowledge of the religions
You should not think that the government does not have what religions have, they are separated but they did not separate until they knew they had all that the good religious leaders had. And they keep if for their leaders so tht when they run into problems with the church or with the Mosque or anything, they can go to what was left to them by their government leaders. They can go and look at it and find just what is Christianity, just what is Al Islam, just what is Judaism, they know it better than most of the religious leaders, the government people especially the president of the United States. To be president he has to be informed of this and he knows just who to ask for in his cabinet if he has a question, the same way it was for Pharaoh he had his high priest. So if Moses came he turned it over to his high priest and said, “Moses said he has something here, take a look at this boy.” They found out he wasn’t a boy he was a man child, praise be to Allah swt.
Praise Allah for creating man’s excellent heart and nature
Q. 37.105; Abraham’s sacrifice, he fulfilled the vision
“Thou hast already fulfilled the vision!” thus indeed do We reward those who do right.”
We glorify G-d, He is the greatest and for G-d is the praise all of it, so whatever we get or whatever we are due or we’re deserving of that but it is owing to G-d that we have the nature and the decent hearts and minds to achieve those things. So all the praise belongs to G-d and we have little specks of it, we thank Allah swt and we’re going to conclude the khutbah remembering that this is the celebration of the sacrifice of Abraham which is the willingness to sacrifice his only child, that is a great sacrifice especially when you’re pleased with that child. You love that child, you’re so happy you say “Oh this is a beautiful child, I see no flaws in him” and then G-d shows you in a vision saying, “You have to kill him.” Oh my G-d how Abraham must have suffered and he went to the altar suffering, gritting his teeth, but he took that knife and just when he was about to do it G-d showed him a lamb and said, “You have already fulfilled what was ordered,” isn’t that beautiful?
Kabah is a sign of how mankind is to be established
G-d does not want us to hurt yourselves or hurt our children, G-d He wants us to be wiling to give Him our all, and once you are willing to give Him your all, that is all He wants. So why kill your son? Let him live and you live and they lived as two Prophets together father and son, and they built a sign of the establishment of the world of mankind, that is what the kabah is. It is a sign of how the world of mankind is to be established under, G-d respecting the good human nature that He has given to all people, black, brown, yellow, red any color. The United States, Canada, China, Russia any country, we all come from all these countries for the Hajj and there we see each other not as colors, not as nationals but we see each other as Muslims under G-d building to a society of righteousness but rationally informed, scientifically based and rationally informed so we can be a model for all the worlds. Thank you very much we praise G-d.
By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
