Eid ul Fitr Khutbah, also known as The Adress of Eid ul Fitr, is Sunnah and delivered after the Eid prayer. All the believers have to peacefully listen to the Khutbah. The Imam begins the Khutba by reciting the Takbeer “Allahu Akbar” nine times and begins the second Khutbah after a short pause by reciting the Takbeer seven times. Eid-ul Fitr Khutbah at IIOC By: Mohammed Faqih Source: Dansihriyaz Sep 1, 2011 No Comments Category: Audio, Faith & Spirituality, Featured Topics: Eid Al-Fitr, Festivals (Eid) Views: 1875. This Eid ul Fitr Khutbah was delivered by Dr. Syed to the Muslims of Greater Louisville Area in Kentucky on November 25, 2003 corresponding to 1 Shawwal 1424 AH. MUSLIM VICTORIES 'Second, fasting and Jihad are connected to each other in body, spirit, and soul.
Delivered at London, 14 November 2004
1. Holy Quran’s verdict on some approaches to determining the new moon
2. Fasting teaches holding the Holy Quran as supreme guidance
3. Prayer must lead to practical nearness of man to Allah
by Dr. Zahid Aziz
| 2:185: The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed, a guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the Criterion. So whoever of you is present in the month, he shall fast therein, and whoever is sick or on a journey, (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days. Allah desires ease for you, and He desires not hardship for you, and (He desires) that you should complete the number and that you should exalt the greatness of Allah for having guided you and that you may give thanks. | |
| 2:186: And when My servants ask thee concerning Me, surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should hear My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way. | |
| 2:189: They ask thee of the new moons. Say: They are times appointed for men, and (for) the pilgrimage. And it is not righteousness that you enter the houses by their backs, but he is righteous who keeps his duty. And go into the houses by their doors; and keep your duty to Allah, that you may be successful. |
Entering houses by their doors, not by back
Immediately after the section in the Holy Quran dealing with fasting, this verse 2:189 occurs. Its opening seems appropriate because people ask about the new moon in connection with Ramadan, both at its beginning and its end. This verse says that the new moons are the means of indicating and fixing times. Then it says: “And it is not righteousness that you enter the houses by their backs …”. What has that to do with the new moon? It is said by commentators of the Quran that there was a custom among pre-Islamic Arabs that if one of them went out of his house for some important purpose and failed to achieve it, then when he returned back home he would not enter it through the door, but by going around the back. If these words are directed only against this superstitious custom, then they don’t have any meaning for us today, as no Muslim is involved in this practice today. The classical commentators of the Quran also say that the words “go into the houses by their doors” mean in a more general sense that you should adopt the proper method for doing something, and not a perverse, ridiculous and laughable method. Taking this as the meaning, we can certainly connect it to the subject of the new moon because the way that is being generally used for determining that the new moon has appeared is, indeed, like entering a house by ignoring its direct front door and jumping over its back wall, and moreover, believing that what you are doing constitutes righteousness. This verse instructs us to use the direct, obvious, straightforward method, not take a convoluted, tortuous route.Let me explain briefly. A long time ago, the only way of determining that the moon was new, and thus that the new month had begun, was by someone sighting it with the human eye at sunset (which is when the new moon is about to set). But for many decades now, probably more than a century, published tables have been available showing the precise dates and times of the birth of the new moon, its setting times and position in the sky. There are even websites run by Muslim specialists in astronomy where these dates and times are published for the coming months and years.[1] Yet these specialists, and the Muslim organizations whom they advise, still wait to receive reports of the new moon being sighted by at least two Muslim eye-witnesses in order to announce the start of the new month. They claim that this is required by Islamic law; or in other words it is “righteousness” (to use the term in the above verse). They ask people to look out for the new moon and report whether they sight it or not. When the experts and their committees receive a report of a sighting, they compare it with the scientific figures about the position, shape and movement of the moon, and if the report conflicts with this data they reject the report as mistaken; they know it must be wrong.[2] They only accept a report of a sighting if the moon was seen in the position and the orientation which they already know from the scientific data it should have at the time of observation.
They now have the key to the door allowing them easy entry into the house. But they refuse to enter through that door, although they do open it and look inside! They prefer to enter by the old, inconvenient and uncertain way, claiming that it is righteousness to do it in this way, to go over a hurdle unnecessarily. They have the accurate information, they believe in its correctness, and yet they want it confirmed by a less reliable method of human observation. This is just as a few years ago we could only get news from someone in a distant country by letter, taking several days to arrive. Now we can speak to that person on the phone or communicate by e-mail. So when we receive news from him by these new means, do we demand that we still need to receive a letter from him sent through the postal service conveying the same news? If we study the injunctions of the Holy Quran, they lead us to the conclusion that all inventions and developments which make things easier for mankind are blessings from God which we must use and accept, not reject and turn away from.
The result is that there is complete confusion just before Ramadan and just before Eid as to when it will be. It is not decided till the evening before. It causes inconvenience to people and brings Islam into ridicule. There is disagreement about the day among different groups, they hold it on different days, each group believing that it is following the way prescribed by the religion, and it is adhering to righteousness. But the Quran tells us in this verse that it is not righteousness to do something in an inverted, upside down way, departing from a straight and proper way.
It also tells us here what is righteousness: “he is righteous who keeps his duty”. The purpose of fasting, given in the very first verse about fasting, is to enable us to learn to keep our duty to God and our duty to fellow human beings. Those who learn this lesson from fasting are the righteous. It is not a condition of righteousness that you started and ended Ramadan on exactly the right date. As you may know, our Jamaat here in the U.K. uses a simple system based on the published data about the moon to fix these dates many years in advance. We don’t claim that this makes our fasting any more effective, any more accepted by God, than those who, in the traditional manner, don’t fix the date in advance. But we do say that we have made things more convenient for people, for making their arrangements, and we have shown how in Islam we can take advantage of scientific knowledge in organizing our religious activities. We are able to have this outlook because of the spiritual and intellectual heritage we have received from the great stalwarts of this Ahmadiyya Movement. They have shown how commonsense, reason and logic can be applied in the sphere of religion, while still treating religious teachings as supreme.
Brief note on what happened at this Eid[3]
It was announced on the Muslim moon sighting websites more than a month before this Eid that while the birth of the new moon is on Friday, 12th November at 14.27 GMT, the lunar crescent will not be visible on Friday evening at sunset anywhere in the world. It is declared on the www.hilal-sighting.com website in bold text, using the underlining and capital letters as shown below:
“It is IMPOSSIBLE for the Hilal to be visible anywhere in the world on the evening of Fri 12 Nov 2004 CE. Hence, it is IMPOSSIBLE for EID-ul-FITR to be on Sat 13 Nov 2004 CE anywhere in the world.”
The statement on www.moonsighting.com is as follows:
“On November 12, the moon could not be seen anywhere on earth, with a possible exception of limited Polynesian Islands where telescope will be required to see.”
However, on Friday evening in the U.K. the website of the Central London Mosque issued the following announcement:
EID SPECIAL
EID ON SATURDAY:
Moon sighting signals end of Ramadhan
The Central London Mosque follows Saudi Arabia, where Eid was held on Saturday. The following news item appeared in the Pakistani newspaper The News International and its Urdu sister paper The Jang on Saturday 13th November on their website:
Eid in S Arabia, Gulf states today
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia and some Gulf Arab states will celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr on Saturday, state media said on Friday.
Naturally, one wonders how the “impossible to sight” lunar crescent became visible in these countries. There exist only the following three possibilities:
- The lunar crescent was actually sighted and therefore the calculations are wrong. If this is the case, then why aren’t the Muslim astronomy experts challenging the results of their scientific discipline and declaring that these have been proved to be in error by human observation?
- The sighting was an error by the observer; something else was mistaken for the lunar crescent. In this case, it just shows the unreliability of the method of sighting by eye, and is a strong argument for using the method of calculation.
- It was not an honest error but a deliberately false claim that the moon had been sighted. If this was the case, then it is highly deplorable that there are Muslims who, in collusion with their governments, are prepared to swear false oaths in a religious matter.
I leave this question for Muslim leaders in the fields of religion, science and national and community politics to answer, as to which of these three possibilities is true.[4]
Fasting teaches that the Quran should be the supreme source of guidance
I now refer to the beginning of the first verse that I quoted, which says: “The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed, a guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the Criterion”. Ramadan was selected in Islam as the fasting month because it was the month in which the revelation of the Quran began upon the Holy Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alai-hi wa sallam. The Holy Prophet, before being appointed to his mission, felt deep concern at the morally fallen state of humanity and used to pray to God to seek answers to the fundamental questions about life and solutions to the problems besetting the world. He also undertook very hard fasting in solitude for this purpose. God then granted him guidance in the form of revelation, later collected in book form as the Quran. Both Moses and Jesus had also undertaken hard fasting in solitude immediately prior to receiving their mission from God. Our fasting, much less severe than theirs, is also for a similar purpose on a more limited scale — that of becoming purified so as to be able to receive the understanding of the Word of God in our hearts. Then, while increasing our own understanding of the Word of God, and strengthening our connection with it, it is also our duty to teach its guidance to the world. As it is stated here, the Quran is a guidance to all human beings. The purpose of fasting is not achieved unless it leads us to make the Quran into a guidance for ourselves and then for the whole world.
It is in this respect that the Ahmadiyya Movement has rendered a unique service. When the Ahmadiyya Movement appeared, there was no concept among Muslims in general of:
- Learning anything from the Quran and acquiring knowledge from it,
- Applying the Quran to current problems and issues,
- Translating the Quran,
- Holding the Quran as the uppermost guide in life.
People did learn to recite the Arabic text of the Quran, and their religious scholars did know its language. But their understanding of its teachings was confined to the commentaries of the Quran written several centuries ago. They made little or no effort to understand or learn anything directly from the Quran and apply it to the situation of the current times. The commentaries of centuries ago, that they studied, related to the conditions of those times, and many things in them seemed rather strange, absurd and inapplicable now.
As to translating the Quran, a large number of Muslim ulama considered it disallowed by Islam to translate the Quran at all into any other language. Our Jamaat’s English translation by Maulana Muhammad Ali appeared first in 1917. Twelve years later, when a famous British Muslim, Marmaduke Pickthall, also did an English translation, he took it to Egypt before publication to check it under the guidance of the Ulama there. But he found to his surprise that many of them declared it as unlawful in Islam to translate the Quran. Instead, they advised him to translate one of the traditional commentaries. Pickthall has himself written an account of how he had to refute their objections, try to overcome their opposition and prove the urgent necessity of a translation.[5]
The Ahmadiyya Movement taught a hundred years ago that it was absolutely essential for scholars to translate the Quran into other languages and to write commentaries and explanations based on the Quran itself, instead of the classical commentaries, and apply the Quranic teachings to the questions and issues of the present age. The ordinary people too must study the Quran directly, with the help of these translations and explanations. But they must do this with an enquiring mind, and not blindly or regarding the explanations of the interpreters as being infallible like the word of God. It is their duty to apply their sense and reason to satisfy themselves that the meanings given by the scholars are confirmed by the Quran itself, and even to try to improve their interpretations further.
These days you see in the Muslim press and electronic media all over the world the meanings of the Quran being taught, dars and talks on the Quran and explanations of its passages being given, etc. Teaching the Quran in this way is a practice which was almost unknown among Muslims until long after the Ahmadiyya Movement instituted the teaching of the meanings of the Quran through books, lectures, khutbas, talks etc.
The last point I mentioned above is: Holding the Quran as the uppermost guide. Unfortunately, Muslim scholars and interpreters had been giving greater authority to books such as collections of Sayings of the Holy Prophet, works of what is called Islamic law, and even some books of unreliable history, than to the Holy Quran in determining both the spiritual teachings of Islam and its ordinances for this world’s life. This led to the growth of certain concepts and views among Muslims which are opposed to the Holy Quran’s directives and the actual practice of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Many of these wrong conceptions, regarded as Islamic, in fact cause damage to the dignity of Islam and create obstacles for its progress in the world. In this category are the wrong views on jihad, freedom of religion, rights of women, and the story of Jesus’s life. The Ahmadiyya Movement cleared up these misconceptions by placing the Quran in the position of the highest authority and treating all other sources as secondary to it. If you read Maulana Muhammad Ali’s commentaries on the Quran or his book The Religion of Islam you will see exactly how these wrong interpretations have been corrected by treating the Quran as the highest source of guidance.
So the Ahmadiyya Movement has fulfilled this key purpose of fasting — that we learn to hold the Holy Quran as the supreme guidance for our lives and we strive to make this book reach all of humanity. If we are asked why certain of the Ahmadiyya views are different from the generally-held beliefs prevailing among Muslims, the reason is only that the Ahmadiyya Movement gives the highest place of all to the Holy Quran when deciding what our beliefs should be.
Prayer and attaining closeness to God
The second verse I read out is the one in which Allah says:
“And when My servants ask thee concerning Me, surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should hear My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way”.
This shows that fasting should lead a person to realize that God is near him and, being near, answers his or her prayers. Therefore prayer is of the utmost importance in the month of fasting. No doubt all Muslims believe in the extra importance of prayer during the month of Ramadan. But two points should be noted here. Firstly, prayers had come to be regarded as a ritual to be performed by repeating set words and literally going through the motions. The involvement of the heart and mind was considered unnecessary. The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement stressed that prayer is only meaningful if it comes from the depths of one’s heart and is not merely a ritual. Secondly, the Ahmadiyya Movement has stressed the importance of tahajjud prayers during Ramadan. Generally Muslims hold taraweeh prayers after isha prayers. But the Ahmadiyya Movement urged that, if possible, one should instead pray the solitary tahajjud prayers in the early hours. That is the prayer recommended by the Quran and spoken of very highly in it. It provides a unique opportunity for seeking closeness to God. Unless our fasting makes us realize practically that God is near, He listens to and answers our prayers, and that therefore we too should answer His call, it doesn’t become the true fasting as required by Islam.
Righteous and true Muslims in all ages have demonstrated proof to the world, through their lives, that God was near them and that He answered their prayers. In recent times, it is the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement and then those who accepted him in his lifetime who showed to a very sceptical world that God is near and He hears and answers prayers. Their pure moral conduct and character was testimony that they felt that they were in God’s presence all the time. Their prayers were so effective that the seemingly impossible became possible through them. The power and efficacy of their prayers was widely recognised by other Muslims. It is impossible that we would be gathered here today, in this centre, doing the work of the propagation of Islam, if it were not for their prayers.
We must carry forward the mission they started, even though we cannot by any means reach their calibre of scholarship, level of devotion, readiness to make sacrifices, and high standard of righteousness. The Holy Quran teaches that those who inherit faith from their spiritual forefathers can nonetheless preserve, safeguard and develop their heritage, even though they may not be anything like equal to them: “And those who believe and whose offspring follow them in faith — We unite with them their offspring and We shall deprive them of naught of their work” (52:21). There are people who inherit great monetary wealth from their forefathers, but themselves do not have the capability or knack of creating wealth from nothing as their forefathers did. They can either fail to value their inheritance, and let it deteriorate and go to waste, or they can make efforts to preserve it, maintain it and make it develop and grow by investment. The same applies to us in having received this inheritance of gold mines of faith and knowledge from the founding stalwarts of this Movement. Every generation can always progress, even if it lives in the shadow of the greatness of a previous one.
Footnotes:
[1] See www.moonsighting.com and www.hilal-sighting.com.
[2] For an example of such a rejection at this Eid see www.hilal-sighting.com, whose learned specialist Dr. Mohib Durrani rejected a reported sighting by a Muslim husband and wife in Illinois, U.S.A. on Friday 12 November on the following two grounds. The report stated that the ends of the observed crescent were pointing downwards towards the sun, which is the opposite of the way they should be. Also the moonset time that evening in that place was before the sunset time, so it was “impossible” (as Dr Durrani calls it) to have seen it.
[3] I have added this section after Eid while finalising the published version of the oral khutba.
[4] I should explain why the U.K. Jamaat predetermined the Eid date as Sunday 14th while the birth of the new moon was on Friday 12th at 14.27 (London time). In the unfortunate absence of a predetermination system agreed by Muslims generally, we have to resort to a system of my own devising. Our method requires that at the first sunset following the birth of the moon, the moonset time should be after sunset time or, if not, then the moon should be at least 18 hours old. This condition was not going to be met on Friday in London as moonset time was 15.57 and sunset time 16.14. On this basis we had announced our Eid date about a year in advance.
[5] This account is given in Pickthall’s biography entitled Loyal Enemy by Anne Fremantle, published in London, 1938, from pages 408 to 420.
1424 Eid ul Fitr Khutbah – Part II
by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph. D.
President
Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.
7102 W. Shefford Lane
Louisville, KY 40242-6462, U.S.A.
E-mail: IRFI@INAME.COM
Website: http://WWW.IRFI.ORG
Eid Ul Fitr Khutbah In Arabic Sunni
[This Eid ul Fitr Khutbah was delivered by Dr. Ibrahim B. Syed to the Muslims of Greater Louisville Area in Kentucky on November 25, 2003 corresponding to 1 Shawwal 1424 AH.]
MUSLIM VICTORIES
Eid Ul Fitr Khutbah In Arabic
'Second, fasting and Jihad are connected [to each other] in body, spirit, and soul.
'The significant battles during the month of Ramadan in which Allah granted victory to Islam and Muslims were:'
'The great battle of Badr,
'The Battle of the Ditch
'The conquest of Mecca,
'The battle of Tabouk
'The Muslims conquered Rhodes (a Greek Island) during the month of Ramadan...'
'The Muslims invaded some [Spanish] southern frontier cities on the Andalusian coast and signs of the victory were revealed, and all this happened during the month of Ramadan...'
'In Ramadan, the Muslims, led by the hero Tariq bin Ziyad, vanquished King Roderick in the crucial battle that allowed the Muslims to take Andalusia (Spain), where they stayed for eight hundred years, disseminating Islam. From there, the Muslims spread out to Europe and other places in the world.'
'During the month of Ramadan a great Muslim victory was won over the Crusaders under the leadership of Sultan [Salah Al-Din] [Saladin] Al-Ayubi
'During the month of Ramadan the Muslims resisted the barbaric Mongol invasion that took some of the capitals of the Islamic world. Afterwards, Allah led to the defeat of the Mongols by the Muslims under the leadership of the Mamluk Sultan Qutuz (a slave of the first Mamluk Sultan Aybak), in the battle of 'Ein Jalout. (inPalestine)' The Mongols, led by Hulagu, attacked Iraq, killed people and annihilated all aspects of culture there. They killed the Caliph and occupied Baghdad in 656 A.H (1258 CE). Then they occupied the Levant and came near to the Egyptian borders. Hulagu sent an envoy to the Egyptian Sultan threatening him to give up and submit to the power of the Mongols. But the Muslim Sultan resented that threat and declared Jihad (fighting non-Muslims enemy in the cause of Allah).
On the 10th day of the month of Ramadan [1973] the Egyptian Muslims crossed the Suez Canal to liberate their land from illegal occupation.
You have heard hundreds of Khutaab (plural of Khutbah) in your life and Insha'Allah, you will hear hundreds of them in the future. You may forget this Khutbah, but God willing, you will remember two things in this Khutbah. Those two things are the two Axioms. The word Axiom means TRUTH WITHOUT PROOF. The First Axiom, also called maxim, or saying, or proverb, that says 'Love and Hungerdrive the World.'
Within 90 years of Prophet Muhammad’s(SAS) death in 632CE, the message of Islam had spread from the Atlantic coast in the west to the borders of China in the east. The spread of Islam and the establishment of the Islamic Empire occurred at Lightning speed. This is an incredible achievement in the history of mankind. How did the Muslims achieve this with only primitive weapons of swords and bow and arrows. They had no military training. And yet the Muslims destroyed the two super powers of the time, viz., the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire. How did they do it ?
The answer to this question is The Second Axiom. 'CONQUERTHYSELF AND THOUSHALL CONQUERTHE WORLD.'
An interesting Hadith says, 'Fight your desires as you fight your enemies.' The great jihad is to fight ones own vain desires. According to the Qur'an, man's life is a constant struggle in the way of Allah, be it through sword or through one's hands or one's tongue.Life is a struggle or Jihad. We have to struggle for existence. The Jihadto control one's greed and selfish desires is jihad-e-Akbar i.e. great jihad.
The believers have been charged, by the Qur'an, with the important mission of spreading good and fighting evil (amr bi'l ma`ruf wa nahi 'an al-munkar). In this mission, a believer has to engage himself continuously, controlling his own desires, spreading justice, equality and compassion with wisdom. ('adl - justice, ihsan - benevolence, rahmah- compassion and hikmah - wisdom are concepts of goodness in the Qur'an which are repeatedly stressed). As it is the duty of believers to engage in spreading what is good, it is also their duty to engage in containing what is evil. Thus, a believer has to constantly strive to fight against oppression, injustice, iniquity and cruelty. The world, as we all know, is full of injustices and oppression, and it will be a lifetime mission of a believer to contain them. This is real jihad. A fight is not always with weapons. It could equally be through moral and intellectual means - through persuasion, wisdom, spreading the good word, and setting good examples. It is for this reason that the Prophet (SAS) has said that the ink of a writer's pen is more sacred than the blood of a martyr. The word written with ink lasts longer than a martyr's blood. In a modern world, particularly for us who are living in this great country of United States, the real jihad is to use democracy and democratic institutions to realize the noble goals for which the Prophet of Islam- Muhammad Mustafa (PBUH) struggled all his life.
President Bush on Feb.11, 2003 said, 'Just like Islam, the United States remains committed to promoting justice, tolerance, and understanding through-out the world, and we will continue to work together with our Muslim friends and people of all faiths to build a future of peace, freedom, and opportunity for all.' Said President Bush.
Thus any one striving for social justice and working for ameliorating the plight of the poor is like a warrior in the way of Allah. Thus those who spend their own money or collect from others and spend for the poor in the way Allah is no less than a mujahid. According to the Qur’an Zakat money is to be spent on poor, widows, needy, paying off the debt of indebted and for liberation of slaves. These are all weaker sections of society. It is thus a great merit to help these poorer and weaker sections and to work for them is as meritorious as waging jihad in the way of Allah.
Imagine a life without love and hunger. Then there will not be any motivation to live. Human History is created and based on love and hunger. Thro' fasting we Muslims control these powerful instincts or biological urges. Allah(SWT) has installed in every male and female these two most powerful biological forces. These are indispensable for the survival and propagation of human beings. Allah(SWT) asks the believers to control and harness these two most powerful biological forces so that we can achieve success in Duniya and the Aakhirah. There are many scriptures or sacred texts in the world. But it is only the Qur'an which is not only the Kitabul Hikmah(Book of Wisdom) but also describes practical methodology. Through Fasting we control the two most powerful biological forces.
When the force of the river water is controlled by building a dam, we derive hydroelectric power and plenty of water for irrigation of vast areas of land. The destructive power of the Uranium and Plutonium atom is controlled in a Nuclear Reactor so that we get electricity and Radioisotopes that are used in Medicine, Industry and Agriculture.
What is the benefit of doing this or controlling these powerful instincts? Fasting gives us determination, heroism, and will power. One example is the success in military warfare. The ill-equipped, untrained, highly primitive Muslim Army was equipped with these most powerful armaments-determination, strong will power, Iman and heroism (these are more powerful than guns, missiles, artillery) our ancestors defeated the then existing two super powers-Byzantine Empire (Eastern European Empire) and the Persian Empire. The Citizens in the Byzantine Empire were called, Byzantiums, and they were oppressed by religious and political regimentation and ruinous taxes, and many welcomed the tolerant Muslims. Where the Muslim Ummah has established the virtue and righteousness, the honesty and integrity, the equity and justice, the fraternity and equality then it becomes 'kunthum Khaira Ummathin Ukhrijat linnas: 'You are the best community that has been raised up for mankind.'
Apply determination, strong will power, Iman and heroism in other endeavors of human life. For example we need these traits (qualities) to excel in Science and Technology, Journalism, in Economics, in politics or any social sciences. In short to achieve Islamic Renaissance-that is to be Number One in everything or to achieve Excellence in everything.
To Muslim Women:
The Prophet Muhammad (SAS) addressed the ladies in his Eid Khutbah. Hence it is the Sunnah for the Khatib to address the Ladies.
May Allah (SWT) accept your fasting. As you know it is permissible for a healthy pregnant woman and a lactating mother to fast during the month of Ramadan.
You are half of the Muslim Ummah, we cannot ignore you. We could not have been born without you.
Sisters, please Remember you are a khalifa on earth.
Allah (SWT) says in the Qur'an, 'It is He Who had made you vice-regent on the earth' (35:39)
The Caliphate granted by Allah to the faithful is the popular vice regency and it is not limited to any family, clan or race etc. And even in this context, the guiding principle that determines superiority of one individual over the other depends solely on his/her piousness(taqwa) and good moral character which serves as the sole criterion.
'Surely the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is he who is the most righteous' (49:13)
It is stated in several places in the Qur'an that Allah created the human to be His 'khalifah,' His trustee or viceregent on earth. Humankind's basic trust i.e., our responsibility, is to worship Allah. Where does the Qur'an say that Allah breathes His spirit only into males and not into females?
Islam goes beyond the individual and extends out into society and humanity in general. The Qur'anic injunction 'to enjoin good and forbid evil' (3:104) is a duty which is not exclusive to Muslims, but one that applies to the human race who, according to the Qur'an, are God's vicegerent on earth.
Both men and women are appointed by Allah as His khalifa (trustees) on earth (Qur'an, Ahzab, Confederates, 33:72-73). We have been given this amana (trust) from Allah, and it is our responsibility to care for it. We must not forget that we will all be asked on the Day of Judgement what we did with our time. What did we do for the sake of Allah while we were alive? How did we spend our time, wealth, health, knowledge and other resources Allah(SWT) has entrusted to us as a gift. How have we tried to make our ummah stronger? Will we make the grade?
Who is the most powerful person in the world? President of the US - is the wrong answer.
The correct answer is the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. It is the Mother.
You give love to your children; you feed them and nourish them with your milk, which comes form your blood. You sacrifice your own nutrition, your comforts, your nighttime sleep; in short everything to raise your children. You have the great responsibility of shaping the future of your children. I want you to motivate, invigorate and energize them to become Salah Al-Din, Muhammad bin Qasim, Ibn Sina (the prince of physicians), Al-Khwarizmi (inventor of algebra and algorithm), Al-Biruni (inventor of spherical trigonometry without which there is no space travel). Why we don’t have such heroes in the Muslim world today?
I salute all those mothers who gave birth to, and raised these eminent universal encyclopedic scientists and scholars.
To start with if you are a high school graduate, make your sons and daughters college graduates. If you are a college graduate, make your sons and daughters post graduates. If you are postgraduates, make your sons and daughters to earn their doctorate degrees-let them aim high to receiving the Noble Prizes, Medals of Honor, gold medals.
You are the Ummil Muslimoon-the mothers of the Muslims. Without you, we men would not be here in this world. Allah (SWT) has accorded great respect to you. Woman as a mother commands great respect in Islam. The Noble Qur'an speaks of the rights of the mother in a number of verses. It enjoins Muslims to show respect to their mothers and serve them well even if they are still unbelievers. The Prophet states emphatically that the rights of the mother are paramount. Abu Hurayrah(RA) reported that a man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and asked: 'O Messenger of Allah, who is the person who has the greatest right on me with regards to kindness and attention?' He replied, 'Your mother.' 'Then who?' He replied, 'Your mother.' 'Then who?' He replied, 'Your mother.' 'Then who?' He replied, 'Your father.'
Prophet Muhammad (SAS), our Nabi Kareem said, 'Paradise lies under the feet of your mothers.' The future of Islam is in your hands. You mould the character of the children. You must watch the friends of your children. There are children with double standards. Tell me your friend and I will tell you, who you are. People are known by the company they keep. In Sanskrit 'Yatha Raja Thatha Praja'- as the King is so are his subjects. There are people who show off their outward personality by reciting the Mantra 'Aakhirah'. That is they remind us of the life hereafter. But unfortunately their actions do not match their words. You must judge a person not by his or her sweet words, but by his or her actions, and deeds. The pure of heart can distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil.
Ours is an age of decline and absurdity, an age of conspiracy and deception, with only a faint memory of morality, honour and dignity. Today's badges of pride are betrayal, ingratitude and cowardice. Money and sensuality are the false gods of materialistic men, so what fool would expect that a female in our lost epoch/period might find respect?
Woman has become a mockery, a spiritless doll, a victim of modern morality focused on the trivial instead of the supreme
In early Islamic history Her glory was her courage and honour.
If we study the books, which have been written about Muslim women, we will notice that wherever Islam ruled throughout history, Muslim women have shown the greatest talents in science, literature and social issues. But wherever Islamic societies have declined, women's talents also declined.
The perfume industry today owes its existence and prosperity to the inventions and contributions made by Muslim women. The well known and most popular name that comes to my mind is Noor Jehan, the Empress of India and spouse of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir.
Who is the greatest and foremost Architect in the world today? An Architect is the one who designs buildings. It is a Muslim woman by name of Zaha Hadid. She was born in Iraq in 1950. She is the Architect for the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, now under construction in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In our community there is an urgent need to have a Muslim Lady Doctor who is an OB-GYN specialist. This is Farde Kifayah or community responsibility. Alhamdulillah, we have Muslim Lady Doctors who are Internists, Dermatologists, Pediatricians, Pulmonologists, and Psychiatrists, but no OB-GYN specialists.
Women can work side by side with men in establishing 'amr bi'l ma'ruf wa nahi'an al-munkar', which means spreading the good and fighting the evil
To the Young Muslims I must remind you that
A child is the father of man. Sometimes we must learn from our youth. When they become teenagers, we must interact them with respect.
Muhammad bin Qasim was a 17 years old teenager when he became a Military General. To the best of my knowledge he was the youngest Military General in the history of Warfare. Even Alexander the Great became the military leader at the age of 21. Today we see a 17 year old as a High school senior.
A Muslim army under Muhammad bin Qasim captures the port of Debal, near Karachi, Pakistan in 711 CE, and marches north along the river Indus. Bin Qasim defeats the ruler, Raja Dahir, at what is now Hyderabad in Pakistan, captures the territory up to Multan and annexes it as a province of the Caliphate(Khalifah Walid bin Abdul Malik, during the Umayyad period, located in Damascus, Syria). The Muslims entered Sindh, India, in 711 C.E., the same year they entered Spain(GeneralTariq binZiyad 28th Ramadhan 89 Hijri - Rock that came to be known as Jabal al Tariq or Gibraltar. ). Their entry in India was prompted by an attempt to free the civilian Muslim hostages whose ship was taken and Muslim women were kidnapped by sea pirates in the territory of Raja Dahir, King of Sindh. After diplomatic attempts failed, Hajjaj bin Yusuf, the Umayyad governor in Baghdad, dispatched a 17-year-old commander by the name Muhammad bin Qasim with a small army. Killing of Dahir, King of Sindh occurred on 7th day of Ramadhan in 89 Hijri (711 CE). By 713 C.E., he established his control in Sindh and parts of Punjab up to the borders of Kashmir. A major part of what is now Pakistan came under Muslim control in 713 C.E. and remained so throughout the centuries until some years after the fall of the Mughal Empire in 1857.
Where are the Muhammad Bin Qasims and Sultans like Salah Uddins?
We need to motivate the youngsters to become leaders in every field of human endeavor, in every field of knowledge. They can achieve excellence in Medicine, Engineering, Molecular biology, Space sciences, Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry. Our youth can Bring Honor to the Muslim Ummah by winning the Noble Prizes, and Olympic Gold Medals.
Brothers and sisters, Let us work together. Let us unite our hearts and minds and focus our attention to the issues and problems that are facing us all and facing the world. Someone said rightly that Muslims of America are not yet a community, not in any politically cohesive sense. We are too much divided on ethnic and sectarian lines. Immigrant Muslims, Arab Muslims, Indo-Pakistani Muslims, Afghan Muslims, Afro-American Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Shi’a Muslims, Sufi Muslims, Secular Muslims, Liberal Muslims, Iranian Muslims, Iraqi Muslims, Somali Muslims, Bosnian Muslims, etc. None of these things will help us. We have to become one unified community, caring for each other, speaking with one voice. We must bond together and bind together.
Islam is the religion of peace. Our message is the message of peace for the whole world. We condemn all violence and all terrorism. We condemn those who preach violence in the name of our religion. We feel sorry for those who deliberately misrepresent our faith and try to defame our community. Brothers and sisters, it is our duty to inform others about Islam and its true message. We must try to remove prejudices and misconceptions about our faith from the minds of our neighbors and co-workers.
We stand for peace and justice for all people. We are deeply concerned about the plight and suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine, Kashmir, Gujarat and Chechnya. We like to see honest and representative governments in the Muslim world and in all part of the world. We believe in peaceful ways to reform and transform the world. The people of Iraq have been suffering and we pray for the restoration of peace, democracy, sovereignty and prosperity for the people of Iraq. We urge our Government to work for the resolution of world problems in peaceful and diplomatic ways.
Du'a:
O Allah, let Muslims build a Muslim Hospital in every American city in our life time.
O Allah, let Muslims build an Ivy League equivalent Islamic University in America.
O Allah, inspire the Muslims to achieve excellence in every field of human endeavor.
We pray to Allah(SWT) to protect us and our families, keep us on the right path and guide us to live in peace and give the message of peace to the world. May Allah(SWT) guide the humanity to establish peace and justice on this earth. May Allah(SWT) bless America and all its people with truth, honesty, sincerity and goodness. Ameen.
Congratulations and Eid Mubarak!