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May I take this opportunity to wish all the Maldivians a happy and blessed Eid-ul-Adha.
May Allah almighty give us all the ability to get the best out of this great opportunity to reflect on how we have been performing as Muslims and embark upon a resolution to become better Muslims. Amen!
I believe it is worthwhile to highlight at this moment that the importance of Eid in Islam seems to be fading away from our society at an alarming rate. This comes as no surprise since the importance of the five daily prayers, fasting, Hajj, reciting and learning from the Holy Quran, respecting and obeying the parents, observing good manners, to name a few, definitely have been disappearing from the society, specially from the youth, at a distinctively fast rate.
The reasons behind this are many, and I have tried to highlight upon them in numerous articles in the past (such as: http://www.muizzu.com/2008/08/status-of-maldivian-youth-when-will-we.html) (and will address it more in-depthly in the future insha Allah).
Let us take this oppportunity of Eid to sincerely question ourselves - each and everyone of us. Let us test ourselves on the question as to how much importance do we give to Islam in our daily lives? How much importance do I give to perform the five daily prayers and the rest (mentioned above)? What do I do to live as a good Muslim?
And let me remind myself and everyone of us that it is never too late to make amends to our shortcommings. It is never too late to take that little, yet important step, in the direction of making ourselves a little bit better in terms of being a good Muslim, a real Muslim.
And unless we start doing that, unless we start to change from within ourselves by ourselves, we are not going to see the nation change for the better...!
Once again, happy Eid-ul-Adha!
2 comments:
Eid Mubarak
I for one will take up on your advice and use this day to reflect on myself and what my Moslem oath & identity means to me
Peace
A week too late! I wish you a wonderful EID. May Allah Bless you and all Muslims on this day. May Allah Bless you brother for this wonderful piece you have written. It fills me with hope, and gives me strength reading your call to remember our individual states and our cardinal duties. Let’s encourage each other to get back to our roots – The Koran and Hadis, without compromises. Yes! Insha Allah WE CAN DO IT.
What a fiesta of recollection! Meditation and prayer this month offers us by Allah’s Grace. And what memories of love, humility, longing, hope, exhilaration, happiness, jealousy, resignation, tests, submission, despair, sacrifice and deliverance these Hadj days hold for us - Muslims.
On the 9th. Our dear brothers and sisters in Islam presented themselves on the plains of Arafat in answer to their Lord. Here our father Adam –sal and our mother Hawwa - sal, after their expulsion from heaven, met face to face on the desolate plains of Arafat.
Imagine the explosion of feelings of Gratitude and Love for their creator. Imagine the hatred and revulsion for Iblis, and his role.
Imagine the regrets and tears of repentance and longing for Allah in their frightened pounding heats. Imagine the Love, Mercy and Beneficence of their Lord that HE CAME TO THEIR AID.
Subhanallahi! What a story! How wonderful is our Lord! How Caring is our Lord! How Beautiful is our Lord! How worthy of our deepest love and devotion is our lord. What a day this ARAFAT DAY!
How appropriate then that on the 10th we in effect relive the memories of a love story that is unlike any other. A story of an old man’s love of God and his love of his first born - gifted to him against all odds in his ripe old age.
This Blessed man - God Bless him, had first discovered his Lord gazing into the skies. Ever since the love for his Lord grew, grew, grew and grew in his heart; until one day in a test of his sincerity and submission to his Lord he was called to sacrifice the miracle that was his first born gifted to him in his old age.
The test he passed! Under the blazing desert sun, picture now! His willing sacrificial son laid himself resigned and submitted to his Lord, and the knife in his hand descended on the bare skinned neck of the apple of his eyes.
Then Allah, who is closer to us than our jugular veins, Allah whose love for his slaves are tens of times greater than a mothers love for her child intervened.
When Allah wants something he says BE and it is. So at that moment the knife descended before harm to Ishmael - God Bless him, was done a ram/goat was substituted and prophet Ibrahim’s knife sacrificed the substitute.
We now enact this scene in our millions. Do we recollect this Sacrifice? Are we sacrificing our EVERYTHING for Allah in Gurban?
Prophet Ibrahim -pboh, in effect with that slight of knife sacrificed everything he held dear to Allah. EVERYTHING. His son - worth to him more than life. His son more valuable to him than all the riches. His son more valuable than his own life. Every fibre of his whole being conscious of what he was doing, he sacrificed everything with his knife ramming through the ram/goat.
Now we understand with that example what SUBMISSION is. WHY it’s said Ibrahim- sal was the first to submit.
After that! What a beginning! IT WAS FOR PROPHET IBRAHIM - Pboh, What a beginning this splendid story OFFERS EVERY ONE OF US?
How appropriate that Allah made this one of only two days when Muslims are called to celebrate. Both days deeply celebrating victory that comes submitting wholly to Allah. One a sacrifice of food, drink and self. Other –a sacrifice of EVERYTHING!
Yes! TODAY, each one of us needs to make that sacrifice in our hearts. We need to submit ourselves to Allah. No father, no mother, no son, no daughter, no friend no pastime, no riches, NOTHING should come in between our Lord and us.
We take one step towards him; Allah assures us Allah would take many steps more towards us. If we walk towards Allah He would run towards us. Subhanallahi! What promise and calm that affords a Muslim, who is faced with sadness upon sadness and despair upon despair in these difficult times.
What a timely reminder brother Muizu has given us. It’s high time we reexamine our commitment to our submission – for our own sake. May Allah reward him. May Allah Bless us. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
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