Eid Al Fitr 2026 Khutbah | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, there is no God but Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, and all praise is due to Allah.

Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. We thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for every blessing that He has given and bestowed upon us.

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions this reality of thanking Him on the day of Eid. The day of Eid is a day of shukr. The day of Eid is a day of appreciation. The day of Eid is a day of praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is directly in the Qur'an when it comes to Eid al-Fitr in particular. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about fasting Ramadan:

And so that you may finish the days of the fast. You may finish the 30 days. وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ - And you may praise Allah because He guided you. Our takbirat today are in thanks of Allah. And then how does Allah finish the verse of fasting? وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ - The ending of the verse of Siyam Ramadan, so that you may achieve the shukr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Reality of Shukr (Gratitude)

Very briefly today inshaAllah ta'ala our khutbah, our theme is going to be about this reality of shukr. Because Allah wants us to finish Ramadan upon shukr. And to then maintain a state of shukr.

What exactly is shukr? Shukr means that you appreciate a blessing that has been given to you. And you then want to payback or return or praise the one who has given you that blessing. Shukr means you understand something good has happened and you wish to somehow do something in return. This is what shukr means.

And when it comes to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the shukr is not for His benefit, it is for ours. In fact, Allah is the Ash-Shakur, one of the names of Allah is Ash-Shakur. Only He can truly give us more than what we deserve. As for us, we do shukr in order to appreciate Allah's blessings. He is not in need of that shukr.

How is Shukr Done?

Ibn Qayyim mentions this and I will summarize his points. First and foremost, how you begin shukr is by understanding and appreciating and knowing the blessings Allah has given you. It begins in the mind. Allah says in the Qur'an:

If you attempt to count the blessings of Allah, you will not be able to finish that list. We begin by enumerating, by counting. Don't take things for granted. Allah says in the Qur'an:

He has given you your sense of cognition, your brains, He has given you your eyes, He has given you your ears. How little do you show thanks? We are supposed to show thanks for that which we take for granted. So we begin by appreciating in our minds. We know Allah has given it to us. Every day before we go to sleep, we should think about the blessings Allah has given us.

Number two, that knowledge should then be transferred to our heart. The real actions begin in the qalb. How so? The qalb has to acknowledge, this is not from me. لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ - This is not from what I have done. Allah criticizes Qarun. When Qarun said, all of this wealth إِنَّمَا أُوتِيتُهُ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ عِندِي - This is from me. I know how to do this. I have skills. Allah says, no, this is not from you, this is from me.

So the qalb acknowledges, the heart acknowledges, all that Allah has given, it is His gift, His ni'mah, it is His complete generosity. I did not do anything to earn and deserve this, this is from Allah. So we negate from our heart, entitlement, arrogance, self-fulfillment, self-aggrandization.

Number three, once the brain, then the heart, number three, the tongue. From the tongue, we then do a shukr, and a tahmeed, and a takbeer, and a tahleel, that is meant to indicate, we understand, O Allah, You are worthy of praise for all that You have given us. Alhamdulillah, should be a constant routine of ours. Allah calls His Prophet Nuh, that, إِنَّهُ كَانَ عَبْدًا شَكُورًا - And Allah calls the Prophet Ibrahim, شَاكِرًا لِّأَنْعُمِهِ - He was thankful of the blessings, because they would constantly praise Allah with the tongue, while their heart was in sync and harmony.

So the brain, the qalb, and then the tongue, and then the highest level of shukr is what? The highest level of shukr is to then demonstrate the thanks in your actions and body. You live a lifestyle of thanks. Your rituals, your ibadat, your mu'amalat, all that you do is demonstrative of your gratefulness to Allah.

If somebody has done a good favor to you, if somebody financed your education, if somebody paid off your debt, every time you would see him, how would you do? You would show extra gratitude. Well then, to Allah belongs the perfect example. How should our lifestyle be when Allah has given us our life and its style? How should our entire actions and rituals be when everything we have is from Allah? And that's why Allah says to the Prophet Dawud alayhi as-salam and his son Sulaiman:

Show me in your actions that you are thankful. اعْمَلُوا شُكْرًا - And that is manifested by our rituals, our salah, our ibadat, and then by how we treat other people.

The Reward of Gratitude

My dear brothers and sisters, shukr is of the highest levels of ibadah, of worship, of servitude to Allah. And Allah reminds us:

So few of my creation is shakur. We want to be from the shakireen. We do so by following this four-point plan from the brain to the heart, to the tongue, to the actions, and then by recognizing that when we thank Allah, subhanAllah, what does Allah give us back? Unbelievable.

When we thank Allah, Allah gives us even more than what we have. Allah says in the Quran:

Don't you want to live a better life? Don't you want to have more blessings? Don't you want to feel satisfied and happy? Then realize, when you show shukr to Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you even more.

Gratitude in Times of Trial

And my dear brothers and sisters, one particular point that needs to be emphasized, in light of all that is going on in the world, in light of the Gaza genocide that is taking place, in light of all of the political turmoil, in light of all of the rise of Islamophobia, it is even more imperative that we show shukr to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because we are living in safety and security. We have amenities, we have food and drink, we are so blessed and privileged compared to so many other parts of the ummah. So this means our attitude, and our shukr, and our lifestyle should be demonstrative of that thankfulness. Because what happened to others can happen to us as well. But we ask Allah for aafiyah.

Given the rise of Islamophobia, dear brothers and sisters, it is imperative that we remain proud to be Muslim. We demonstrate what it means to be Muslim. We show shukr to Allah by never being ashamed of our Islam, never hiding our Islam, by preaching Islam through our actions, by showing the beauty of Islam through our colleagues and neighbors. This is the height of shukr. We appreciate Allah's blessings on us, and therefore we have to do extra effort in order that we counter the evil of Islamophobia, the evil of anti-Muslim bigotry, and we change the hearts and minds of those before us and those around us.

The Greatest Blessing

O Muslims, today is the day of Eid, today is the day of thankfulness, today is the day of shukr, today is the day where we thank Allah for all of His blessings, and the greatest blessing that He has given to me and you, the biggest blessing, more important than our creation, more important than our faculties of hearing and seeing. The biggest blessing He has given us is the blessing of Islam and Iman.

Alhamdulillah for Islam, Alhamdulillah for Iman, Alhamdulillah for the Qur'an, Alhamdulillah for being in the ummah of the Prophet ﷺ. Thank Allah for these blessings. Never be ashamed of who you are and your Islamic identity. Show that identity to others, and this is the height of shukr and the height of gratefulness.

Du'a