Eid al-Adha Khutbah - Mufti Azeemuddin

And glory be to Allah morning and evening. And peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad. And peace and blessings be upon his family and companions.

Eid Prayer Instructions

As soon as Mufti Azeem is here, we're going to get started with the prayer, inshallah. So, we will be praying the Eid Salah with six extra takbeers, inshallah. So we're praying two rak'ahs of Eid al-Adha prayer for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with six extra takbeers behind the Imam.

And inshallah, the method that we will do this is three takbeers in the first rak'ah and the three takbeers in the second rak'ah. So we'll start our prayer as we normally do. Recite the thana, سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ, until the end. And before the Imam recites surah al-Fatiha, he will do three takbeers. So we will raise our hands, Allahu Akbar, put them to the side. Allahu Akbar, put them to the side. Allahu Akbar, the third one, and we will tie our hands. The Imam will recite surah al-Fatiha, we'll add another surah, we'll continue the prayer as normal.

In the second rak'ah, the Imam will stand up, the Imam will recite surah al-Fatiha, the Imam will recite another surah. And before going into ruku, we'll have three takbeers, inshallah. So before going into ruku, Allahu Akbar, we raise our hands, put them to the side. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, the third time. And then the fourth takbeer that we hear will be for ruku, we'll go into ruku. And we will end the prayer as normal, inshallah.

Immediately after the salah is the Eid khutbah, which is part of the prayer. So all the brothers and sisters are requested that as soon as the prayer is over, to continue to stay seated, to listen to the khutbah, to benefit from the advice that will be given. And then after the khutbah is done, then we can get up and congratulate each other, and say Eid Mubarak to each other, inshallah.

Eid Khutbah

Alhamdulillahi, we praise Him and we seek His help and we seek His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the bad deeds of our actions. Whomever Allah guides, no one can misguide him, and whomever He misguides, no one can guide him. And we bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and we bear witness that our master and beloved and our leader Muhammad is His servant and His messenger. He sent him with the truth as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner before the Hour. Whoever obeys Allah and His messenger has been rightly guided, and whoever disobeys Allah and His messenger, he harms none but himself and does not harm Allah at all.

The Day of Eid and Sacrifice

Know that your day today is a day of Eid, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

(Reported in various collections)

"Indeed, for every people there is a celebration, and this is our celebration."

And your day today is the day of sacrifice, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1493)

"The son of Adam does not do any deed on the Day of Sacrifice that is more beloved to Allah than spilling blood. It will come on the Day of Resurrection with its horns, hair, and hooves, and indeed the blood reaches a place with Allah before it falls to the ground, so be content with it."

The Sunnah of Prophet Ibrahim

And the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "O Messenger of Allah, what are these sacrifices?" He said: "The sunnah of your father Ibrahim (peace be upon him)." They said: "What do we get from them, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "For every hair, a good deed." They said: "What about wool, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "For every hair of wool, a good deed."

And he (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever has the means to sacrifice but does not sacrifice, let him not come near our place of prayer."

The Prophet's Example

And the Prophet (peace be upon him) sacrificed on the day of sacrifice two horned, castrated rams. When he directed them (for sacrifice), he said:

"Indeed, I have directed my face toward He who created the heavens and the earth, inclining toward truth, and I am not of those who associate others with Allah. Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. No partner has He. And this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims. O Allah, from You and for You, on behalf of Muhammad and his ummah. In the name of Allah, Allah is Greatest."

The True Meaning of Sacrifice

And Allah the Exalted has said:

"Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you. Thus have We subjected them to you that you may glorify Allah for that to which He has guided you; and give good tidings to the doers of good."

Prayers and Blessings

And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The most merciful of my ummah toward my ummah is Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), and the strongest in the matter of Allah is Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), and the most modest among them is Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), and the best judge among them is Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), and Fatimah is the leader of the women of Paradise, and al-Hasan and al-Husayn are the leaders of the youth of Paradise (may Allah be pleased with them), and Hamza is the lion of Allah and the lion of His messenger. Allah forgive al-Abbas and his children with a forgiveness that is apparent and hidden, not leaving any sin (may Allah be pleased with them and with all the companions altogether)."

English Portion of the Khutbah

Respected friends, brothers and sisters, dear elders, dear listeners,

I ask Allah عز وجل that He inspires me to say those things which would be of most benefit to this crowd, to myself and the audience. We ask Allah عز وجل to put effect in these words and may He make it easy for the speaker and the listeners alike to enable us to put into practice. Inshallah, Ameen.

The Purpose of Eid al-Adha

Respected friends, we've gathered here of course for the Eid al-Adha and it is a celebration that many times we forget the purpose of why we have gathered or why this is celebrated throughout the world. This is known as Eid al-Adha. It's known as Qurbani Eid. It's known as Eid al-Qurbani. Qurbani, Qurbani, Adhia, Adahi obviously means sacrifice. And so this is an Eid of sacrifice. And what is that supposed to mean?

The Celebration of Sacrifice

This is an Eid in which we celebrate the achievement of our sacrifices. This is an Eid in which we thank Allah for granting us success in our exam. Like someone who passes a very difficult exam would like to throw a party and out of appreciation to Allah of what he has been able to achieve, he gathers his friends and has a big party for the fact that he has passed such and such of an exam. Eid al-Adha is such a party that is celebrated by the Ummah across the globe celebrating the success, insha'Allah, of our exam.

And as we go through this story we realize that if we haven't succeeded in our exam then this is the opportune time for us to start reflecting on how we can succeed because it's never too late. It becomes late when the soul leaves this earth, when our soul leaves this earth, when the soul leaves our body and we move on to the next world - of course then it becomes too late. But as long as we are alive, talking, listening and communicating with one another, much can be done.

The Story of Ibrahim

This all started off with the story of Ibrahim Khalilullah, known as a friend of Allah. And Allah mentions in Surah Al-Baqarah:

When Ibrahim was tested by Allah with certain words - كَلِمَات, the words of Allah.

The Two Types of Allah's Words

Allah's words you could say are of two types. One is when Allah speaks about events of the past, events of the future. He is informing us what has happened or what shall happen - خَبَر صَادِق. وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ اللَّهِ حَدِيثًا وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ اللَّهِ قِيلًا - Allah says there is no one who is more truthful than Allah. That's one type of speech.

Then there is another type of speech of Allah which is directed towards us in which we are asked to do certain things and stay away from certain things - أَوَامِر وَنَوَاهِي. Do certain things and leave certain things. And that second category is what is meant over here. That Allah directed his statements towards Ibrahim and he tested him with these statements. And those statements were: "Oh Ibrahim, do this and don't do that."

What was the response of Ibrahim? فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ - He did a superb job of fulfilling all the requirements of his test. And he did excellent. He passed with excellent marks.

What was the response from Allah?

"Oh Ibrahim, I am now going to confer upon you Imamat. I am going to make you a prophet. I am going to make you a Muqtada - a person who is worthy of emulation for the globe. This is your gift."

A Father's Concern

Immediately the response of a father who is yet to have Ismail and Ishaq - but he is worried about his children. And he is worried about his progeny. What does he say? An answer that any of us fathers here would say.

When someone were to tell us - Allah forbid, may Allah protect us - if you are in a war-torn country or you are in a country in which a national disaster has struck. I was just reading about Sri Lanka - I have classmates over there. May Allah ease the situation there. Very tough situation that they are going through. And wherever the ummah is going through difficulty, may Allah ease their suffering. Ameen Rabbil Alameen.

So imagine you get a ticket. Someone says here is a ticket to safety. You have one seat on a plane to get you out of this island. As father sitting here, would you really just jump? When you have behind you your children, your toddlers, your wife? None of us who have an iota of fatherhood would just simply say "Alright, leave you all, I'm going." Instead everyone would be saying "But what about my children? Can you find a spot? Please, somewhere or another. I cannot leave my kids here on this island. I must take them with me to safety. Otherwise I'll wait for another day. But I cannot leave my children here." That is the expectation of fatherhood.

And that is exactly what Ibrahim tells Allah. He says, "You're making me an imam." وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِي - "What about my children? What about my progeny? What's gonna happen to them? Are they gonna be safe or not?"

And the response from Allah is - the gist of it is: "My love and commitment is with attributes and qualities. No matter who has it. My commitment is not with a lineage. My commitment is not with a certain ethnicity. Not with a certain skin color. My commitment and loyalty is with people who have certain qualities - obedience. If your children, if they're obedient - مَرْحَبًا - no problem. But if they're not, just because you're Khalilullah doesn't mean it's gonna get passed down to them."

He said لَا يَنَالُ عَهْدِي الظَّالِمِينَ - "But remember the statement: My commitment - the oppressors will not be able to enjoy. They're not gonna have it. So if your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren are oppressors - meaning they are sinful - then your friendship with me will not be able to benefit them."

As the Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith: مَن بَطَّأَ بِهِ عَمَلُهُ لَمْ يُسْرِعْ بِهِ نَسَبُهُ - "Whosoever's actions slow him down, his lineage will not be able to push him forward."

The Ultimate Test

Now Ibrahim spends much of his time making dua. That's mentioned in various parts of the Qur'an. But then Allah in Surah As-Saffat mentions the beautiful scene where Allah gave him the ultimate test. Allah gave him the ultimate test.

And Allah made Ibrahim see a dream. And in that dream Ibrahim - obviously as you all know - sees that he is slaughtering his son. And he sees إِنِّي أَذْبَحُكَ - he sees he's slaughtering his son. And he says فَانظُرْ مَاذَا تَرَى - "What do you think about this dream?"

The Miraculous Gift

Beloved friends, let's paint the picture here. Husband and wife are in their 90s. Old elderly people. Extremely old people who are absolutely not expected to have children. Who haven't had children till now. What do you expect them to have children now? All their lives. And now Allah miraculously grants them in this absolutely unexpected circumstances a child which means a world to a father.

A mother here who doesn't have had children for 10-12 years - ask them the value of a child. And then after granting that child, He makes him a son - a young obedient son. What could definitely be more worthy, more worthy in the eyes of the father than this gift? No material things of this world could match the price of this gift that Allah had given to Prophet Ibrahim - of Prophet Ismail.

The Conversation Between Father and Son

And he has a conversation. He says, "My dear son, I have been seeing, I saw a dream that I am taking your life. I was slaughtering you. Now prophets are known to have their dreams a revelation. It's not just a random dream. So what do you say my son?" He's testing his son. "What do you say? Has my nurturing of my son been effective or not? Has the tarbiyah I've given my son - is it paying off or not?" So he asks, "What do you say?"

And he says: "O my son, do as you have been commanded. This was not a dream you merely saw. This was a command been given to you." The son has that farsightedness, that deep understanding due to the upbringing his father gave him. "Do as you've been commanded. Insha'Allah I'm gonna play my part. I'm gonna try my best to remain patient as you put that knife on my throat. Insha'Allah patience comes from Allah. I will play my part and I pray Allah gives me the resilience and the patience to stay put."

This is not sitting in a dentist chair. This is being slaughtered. SubhanAllah.

The True Meaning of Submission

When the father and son both submitted themselves to the demand of Allah and he put him down on his forehead - my brothers and sisters, Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Qurbani is not the Eid of a ram. It's not the Eid surrounding of animals and goats, lambs, cows. It's not. It is the Eid of giving the ultimate sacrifice for Allah - your life, your desires, your wealth, your health, your children - for the pleasure of Allah. That's what this Eid is about.

When he made that commitment and father and son were committed to the ask of Allah, Allah says:

We called out to him: "Ya Ibrahim, ya Ibrahim, why would I want you to kill your son? No, no, no. I want you to simply see what level of commitment you are willing to make with me if you want me to be your friend."

The Lesson for All of Us

And this is for all of us. If you want Allah to be on your side, you want Allah to take care of your needs when you're in pain at night, you want Allah to listen to the pain in your heart as you pour your heart out in front of Allah on any given day, on any given night, you want Allah to listen to the prayers of your parents, of your spouse and your children, you want Allah to improve your business, you want Allah to save your children, you want Allah to take care of your health, your parents' health, and you want Allah to be with you - Allah says: "I want to see commitment from you first."

Talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله is talk. Dressing in a certain manner is cheap. Let's get down to business. Put on the table what you've got for me. I want commitment. If you are committed in the long run, نِعْمَ الْمَوْلَىٰ وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ - there's no better helper than Allah. No better caretaker than Allah. But Allah wants to see that are you willing to fulfill your end of the deal?

True Commitment to Allah

Are you willing to make a commitment to Him that: "Ya Allah, your name is more beloved to me than my name. Your deen is more beloved to me than my family name. Every sunnah of your Habib ﷺ is more beloved to me than my job, my physical health, my mental health. Nothing is more beloved to me than your commands and the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. And any price I have to pay to fulfill that, to establish that is a cheap price. Because at the end I'm getting your pleasure and I'm getting your paradise."

And we are عِبَادُ اللهِ - we are servants of Allah. We are not عِبَادُ الْهَوَى - we are not servants of our desires, or are we? We are not servants of anyone besides Allah. We are absolutely no one's servant.

If someone comes between us and the command of Allah, we say: "I'm out, I'm out. I don't need this paycheck. I don't need this job. Because I'm not your servant. I am the slave of Allah. And anyone who comes between me and my servitude to my Lord, I don't need him to be in my place. And I will move out of my way if he doesn't move."

That commitment Allah wants to see. And Ibrahim and his son Ismail presented this commitment to Allah. And Allah says: "That's it, game over. That's all I was checking." فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ - He completed, he was successful.

Allah's Reward

What happened?

"Ya Ibrahim, you have proven your dream to be true." So now, what are we gonna do? "Indeed, this is how We reward the doers of good. And we will now give ransom of this young boy of yours, replace him with a ram from Jannah."

And so now, we will establish a sunnah that billions of people from the time of Ibrahim till the last practicing Muslim before the day of judgment, on the day of Eid, and these three days, what will he do? He will revive not the sunnah of Ibrahim, no. He will revive the gift of Allah for the sunnah of Ibrahim, which was sacrificing of the animal.

Because Ibrahim's sunnah was not sacrificing of the animal. Ibrahim's sunnah was putting the knife upon the most prized possession a man can have. That is his sunnah. And today, we are not asked here to simply follow the reward that Allah gave him. Yes, that's there.

But more importantly, this Eid is about following the footsteps of Ibrahim عليه السلام about putting the knife to our desires. As someone so nicely said:

The real discussion, the real sacrifice was the discussion between father and son. Between an old elderly father and an 8-9 year old son asking him that, are you ready to give your life for Allah? And if it was hard for the son to give up his life, as father sitting here, you know it would be harder for the father to put the knife on the son. It would be. The son will be gone. How would a father remember? Every single day would think what I cannot believe I lost my son. And did I do it right? Did I follow that dream was true or not? That sacrifice was, are you willing to close your eyes in front of Allah's command and give up everything for the sake of Allah?

The Du'as of Ibrahim

My beloved friends, Ibrahim was successful and he's gone forward. And Allah then mentions in the Qur'an the various du'as. The various du'as that he made throughout the Qur'an. And all these du'as Allah mentions in Surah Baqarah, Surah Al-Imran or Nisa, and Surah Ibrahim. Du'as, what are they? They are for his children. That is a talk in itself. The amazing du'as of Ibrahim for his children.

Ibrahim is an amazing example of what a father should be. A father who not only nurtures his children in the best manner, and makes lots and lots of du'a for them, but is always worried as well, doesn't ever give up. So he keeps on asking, رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ O Allah, after I'm gone, take care of my, not my sons, no, take care of my progeny, send prophets amongst my progeny, who will guide them, who will teach them Qur'an and Sunnah, who will teach them wisdom, who will purify their hearts.

Ibrahim's du'a is reaching us still today. As a father, as a mother, we are not to be worried about the child in our womb only, or child in our lap only, but we need to be worried about the generations to come.

The Concern for Future Generations

Beloved friends, Ibrahim taught us an amazing story, that he is a خليل الله. Yet, how much he was worried about his kids. Ya'qub is one of his kids, grandkids. What happened to him? Same فكر, same concern moved on.

Ibrahim advised his children: "My children, please, my children, please, Allah has chosen deen for you. I beg you, don't die, except in a state that you are Muslims." Father is dying, who is a? Son is a prophet. Grandson is a prophet. Great-grandson is a prophet. Every dying father is saying, please make sure that you remain firm on Islam.

And then the grandson, time has come to die. And Allah Azawajal says:

Were you all present when death came knocking on the door of Ya'qub, the grandson of Ibrahim? And what happened? Allah mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah. He spoke to his sons. And he said, "What will you worship after I die?" He didn't say, I come from a very good family. Your dad is a prophet. Your grandfather is a prophet. Your great-grandfather is a prophet. One of your brothers, Yusuf, is a prophet. You're all in good shape. Instead, he sits them together and he says, What will you worship after I leave?

And they said, "Oh our father, we're gonna worship your god, and the god of your forefathers, Ibrahim, Ismail, Ishaq. It is all one same god. And we will all be submitting ourselves to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala."

Our Reality Today

What do these prophets show? The ultimate absolute concern of their children. Not only the physical needs, but also the spiritual needs of their children. And this is where my message takes a final turn today.

Is that on this day of Eid, we need to reflect the time and the place where we are today. As children or as immigrants, children of immigrants or grandchildren of immigrants at most. Mostly. We are accustomed, this older generation, of being born and raised in predominantly Muslim communities abroad. You are accustomed to listen to the Adhan, multiple Adhans from Fajr, throughout the whole day. And you are accustomed to seeing the amazing environment of Eid. No, just not of Eid, Ramadan, throughout the whole year.

The children on the streets did not need to go to Islamic schools, yet they would still have so much of Islamic IQ knowledge. Children, young children would sit together with their moms and dads after Salatul Fajr and recite Qur'an at home. At night, everyone had an 8pm curfew, would come together, have their dinner together. Dad and mom would share some stories, would go to bed according to the sunnah of the Prophet. There was a very beautiful Islamic environment created by society and within homes. That generation is slowly leaving us. Who witnessed that?

Now we are giving birth to a generation or have given birth to a generation that has not seen poverty, that has not seen difficulty, that has not seen Islam being practiced out. And has not seen Islam being practiced in, unfortunately. A society of children, youth, young adults, of new generation, that is born into luxury, born with cellphones in their hands, technology in their hands, and now born with all sorts of new metaverse goggles that are coming out.

A generation, we are now at the turning point. This is the last generation, my generation, that knows of an existence that was pre-LGBTQ. This generation will never know that there was a time, that in the East and the West, both from the Islamic perspective and from the Western perspective, that this was not a lifestyle that people spoke about. That generation is gone. The generation that is born today is opening up their eyes to this new lifestyle that is devoid of whatever spirituality that the elders brought to this country and they saw.

A Call to Action

My beloved friends, today is a day of Eid. Yes, it's a day of celebration. It's a day of celebrating the success of our exam. But at the same time, you and I need to reflect how successful are our generations going to be. This is the question at hand. As we enjoy this weekend, we must all ask ourselves, to what degree have I made an effort and am I making an effort for my sons and my daughters to simply remain Muslims?

Our scholars and our elders in the 60s and the 70s gave talks overseas. Even in India I was reading Shaykh Abul Hassan al-Ali Nadwi's talks where he is openly speaking to the crowds and saying, that if you do not educate your children from the Islamic perspective, don't send them to the masjid, to the maktab, don't allow them to get an Islamic upbringing, in a nutshell he said, they're pretty much going to lose Islam completely by the next generation. That was in that situation 60 years ago. Where do we stand today?

You and I cannot say, oh, there's a lot of masjids, there's a lot of programs. The question is, to what amount of these programs are your children participating in? To what degree are you and I connected to our local institutions? We are in Chicago and we're blessed. Chicago is the Mecca of higher Islamic education in the United States. We have so many programs taking place. It is fard, it is fard, it is fard incumbent upon the moms and dads to ensure that their children are connected to dini environments, to good company, and to educate themselves about Islam.

Just yesterday my heart broke as an Islamic studies teacher of the summer school told me, a 14 year old girl came to her class, wallahi I'm not making anything up, and she told me that the child, the 14 year old, was asked, do you know the name of the last prophet? No. Do you know about getting up for fajr? No. Do you know about adhan and iqamah? No. Somehow or another she walked to summer school herself because her parents at work, she saw she lives near a masjid, she ended up walking herself. A 14 year old.

My brothers, what oppression are we doing on our kids? We are crying about the oppression that others are doing on the children of the ummah. While we ourselves are the greatest oppressors on our kids? By not teaching them the basics of the deen. Today, basics of the deen is not sufficient because the onslaught of atheism out there in university high schools, of the evolution theory that is being pushed down and leading to something else, the left's efforts there, it is not basic stuff, it's very advanced. Hence, the Islamic studies curriculum and the spirituality has to be double that in intensity and in power to be able to protect our young ones from being influenced.

Our Responsibility

The ball is in my court and your court. The administration of each masjid has to play their role. The imam of each masjid has to play his role. But Allah is not going to blame them for our fault. As fathers and mothers, myself first and foremost, let us inshallah today make this commitment. I've taken responsibility of our children. I've been worried about the future of our children and doing everything possible to keep our children connected.

I had the honor of visiting some of the greatest scholars around in this past, I just came back last night. I visited overseas. And one of the great scholars I was speaking to, Mawlana Sajjad Nu'mani, and I told him about the situation, and he was discussing some current situations as well. And I want to end with what he said. And he said the fact that in this day and age, salah with jama'ah is not wajib or sunnah. He said if you really want to save your generation, regard praying salah, in order to keep your Islam regarded as farad, to pray salah with your children, with your adult children, young children, whoever they may be, in the front row, meaning being a regular in the masjid.

This is a message to me. And to all moms and dads, please let us connect ourselves back with the house of Allah. Let us make sure our children are here. And let us always be on the lookout what's out there. Ask Allah to give you and I the sixth sense, the eye of the heart, for you to be able to see the fitnah that is coming.

In this past few years, thousands of ulama have passed away, and those who I've met are asking the du'a that Rasul taught us. What is that?

Oh Allah, when you choose to put an ummah into fitnah, then pull me back safe and sound. They're being asked to pull back safe and sound. What happens when the embassy pulls back its staff? You know something is happening. The ulama are being lifted. It's time for us to wake up to realize it's a challenging time we're living in.

Celebrating with Awareness

It's a happy occasion this weekend, yes. Celebrate it while being alert. Just like those in Syria, those in Iraq, those in Afghanistan, those in Sri Lanka, and all the other war-torn countries of the world that I haven't named. All are celebrating Eid, yes. But they are not sleeping. They're aware of the situation they're in.

Similarly, we in the United States of America, as we celebrate Eid with beautiful peace and calm, alhamdulillah, with so much ease here. May Allah never test us with difficulty. Say ameen. But in this ease and comfort, let us also remember that our children are a great pearl, in great danger if we do not make an effort.

As we spend the rest of the weekend here inshallah, I encourage you to please make an attempt to call people. Call your uncles and aunts, your dada, dadi, nana, nani, your grandparents. Don't send just random generic messages. Try your best to pick up the phone call. The original sunnah was what? To go visit people. If we can't do that, pick up the phone and call people. Teach your children to say, here you go, talk to this one, talk to this one. Let's make sure this beautiful etiquette within the Muslim community remains. That we do not unfortunately commercialize this as others have done.

Continuing Our Eid Celebrations

Make sure we make an attempt to meet, if not, at least a personal call. And additionally, if we have not done our udhiyah, there is still opportunity, the next three days, today, all the way till Monday evening, you can do udhiyah.

If you don't have the means to do so, it costs 60, 70, 80 dollars to get a lamb slaughtered or goat slaughtered overseas in much needed areas. Available online, I'm sure outside as well, there's flyers. Please do so of animal on yourself, on behalf of yourself and your family.

The Reward of Qurbani

As Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said, for every single strand of hair, there's a hasanah. And before the blood falls in the ground, it falls with Allah عز وجل. So let us not underestimate the value of qurbani.

Days of Tashreeq

And this is known as Eid al-Tashreeq. So after every salah, we started yesterday from Fajr, all the way till Tuesday, Tuesday Asr, which is the 13th of Dhul-Hijjah. After every salah, all men, all women, whether collectively or individually praying, we should be reciting:

As we are glorifying Allah سبحانه وتعالى.

Du'as for Our Community

I ask Allah Almighty to bring peace and comfort to all of our homes. I ask Allah عز وجل to inspire us to protect ourselves from following our desires. I ask Allah عز وجل to inspire us to raise our children in the most beautiful manner.

I ask Allah عز وجل that He protect our youth and our children and ourselves from falling into the deceptions of nafs and shaitan. I ask Allah عز وجل to protect us from the wave of atheism. And I ask Allah عز وجل to protect us all from the wave of hedonism and nihilism that is overtaking the communities.

I ask Allah عز وجل to instill within us a burning desire to meet Allah and to meet His Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. I ask Allah عز وجل to instill in our heart the love of Allah, the love of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, the love of the sunnah of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, and a deep desire to make sacrifices for Allah سبحانه وتعالى's sake.

I ask Allah عز وجل to accept the fast that we've kept in these past days, the sadaqah we have given, the qurbani that we are doing, and that He allows us to gather like this again and again in His house and allow us all to remain attached with His houses.

Eid Greetings and Sunnah

Eid Mubarak كل عام وأنتم بخير. As you shake hands, the sunnah method is to say, يغفر الله لنا ولكم. This is sunnah. Shake hands, يغفر الله لنا ولكم. May Allah forgive me, may Allah forgive you. This is the sunnah method.

جزاكم الله خيراً. وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته.