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 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 Eidu Al Adha

By Ali El Hanandeh

إن الحمدَ للهِ, نحمده و نستعينه و نستغفره و نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا و سيّْئات أعمالنا.  من يهـده الله فلآ مضل له و من يضلل فلا هـادي له. 

و أشـهـد أن لا إله إلا ألله و حـده لا شـريك له, و أشـهـد أن محمّدا عبده و رسوله, بلّغ الرساله و أدّى ألأمانه و نصح ألأمه فَتَركها على المحجَّة البيضاء ليلها كنهارها لا يزيغ عنها إلا هالك.  اللهم صلّي و سلم و بارك على سيّدنا محمّد و على آله و صحبه و من سـار على نهجـه.

أمّـا بَعدُ: فإنّ خير الحديث كتـاب الله, و خير الهـدي هدي محَمّـد, و شرّ الأمور مُحدثـاتـهـا و كلّ بدعـة ضلالة.

عباد الله, أوصيكم و نفسي بتقوى الله و طاعته, فقد فاز المتقون.

My dearest brothers and Sisters,

الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله --- الله أكبر الله أكبر و لله الحمد

يقول الله تعالى :

"و أذّن في الناس بالحج يأتوك رجالا و على كلّ ضامر يأتين من كلّ فجّ عميق"

“And proclaim Hajj among people, they will come to you on foot and mounted from every distant place”

My dearest brothers and sisters, Allah (swt) commanded Ibraheem (peace be upon him) to call people to Hajj to gather them together from every corner of the earth.  To summon them together for the worship of Allah.  But also, there is another purpose, another reason that many people miss; that is to join their hearts in love and to understand each others.

My beloved brothers and sisters, if we look at the rituals of Hajj closely, we will see that every act is designed to bring people closer together, every act is prescribed in a manner that unites people in harmony.  Look at the Tawaf for example.  Two million people are expected to circuit the Kabah 7 times, starting at a prescribed point, moving together in particular direction, chanting the same words, wither they understand the meanings of these words or not.

No doubt, my dearest brothers and sisters, Hajj is a great act of worship but there is something in it that goes beyond the ritualistic acts.  Every year, 2 milion people who come from every corner on this earth come to stand on the mount of Arafah.  But, their standing on Arafah is closely watched by every Muslim on the face of the earth.  Then on the next day, they sacrifice something of a material nature and the Muslims around the world join them in sacrifice too.

Let me share a thought with you, my dearest brothers and sisters, I do not think that the sacrificial animal is the important thing here, but it is the act of sacrifice itself.

" لن ينال الله لحومها و لا دمائها و لكن يناله التقوى منكم"

“Neither its meet nor its blood will reach Allah, but the Taqwa will”

Yes, my dearest brothers and sisters, it is the meaning not the act that counts.  And when we think about that we become aware of our situation.  Look here, in a small community, thousands of miles away from mecca, you can see people of different backgrounds, different races, different languages but by some means we are drawn together.

What I am asking you, my dearest brothers and sisters, is to ask yourself; why am I here?

Look around you, see who is next to you? Why did you sit next to him or her?  And then keep the answer to yourself.  Do not tell it to anybody, but when you go home, think about it and decide for yourself if you have achieved the meaning behind:

يأتوك رجالا و على كلّ ضامر يأتين من كلّ فجّ عميق

If you think you did, then congratulate yourself, but do not be proud.  Thank Allah and ask him to help you to remain on the right path.  On the other hand, if you think you have not realized the meaning then stop for a moment and think; why?  And ask Allah for help- because we are all in need of Allah’s guidance.

"يا عبادي كلكم ضال إلا من هديته فاستهدوني أهدكم"

“O My servants! You are all astray except those whom I guided.  So, seek guidance from Me and I shall guide you”

My dearest brothers and sisters, if we want to receive Allah’s guidance we need to humble ourselves by accepting Allah’s will and act upon

"و قالوا سمعنا و أطعنا غفرانك ربّنا و إليك المصير"

“And they say: We hear and we obey!  Our Lord! Have mercy upon us and to you We return”

That is the key, my beloved brothers and sisters, it is not what we sacrifice or how many times we go on a Hajj journey; rather it is “We hear and we obey”.

Remember the sacrifice story of (Ibraheem and Ismaeal), the moral of the story was not offering the sacrifice itself, in fact, the Quran mentions very little about the sacrificial animal or the way it was sacrificed or consumed, but it emphasizes one point in the whole story, that is

"فلمّا أسلما"

“And when they both submitted their will to Allah”

This is what Allah emphasized in the story- and this is what we need to act upon.

We need to humble ourselves, brothers and sisters, we need to bring ourselves to the level of accepting directions and instructions from Allah.  We need to humble ourselves to the point where we can accept and admit that our opinions are not perfect and it can be wrong at times.

To receive the guidance from Allah (swt), my beloved brothers and sisters, we need to abandon our egos, be it personal ego or a collective group ego.  Now a days, we are confronted by many types and forms of egos but the most dangerous form is to view yourself as a person who belongs to the saved group (Al Fe’ah Al Najyah) while other people are deviated, lost or corrupted groups and parties.  Be aware of any group or person who makes such claims or hold such views, for no one who truly understands Islam dares to make such statements.  Be careful, not to identify yourself as a saved person, selected or one who belongs to the saved groups  and others are lost and deviated, rather; follow what Allah (swt) commanded you to do:

"و أعتصموا بحبل الله جميعا و لا تفرّقوا"

 “And hold fast to the path of Allah all together and do not be divided”

My dearest brothers and sisters, I wish here to appeal to all of you that we shall conserve the unity of this community and that we all remain united as we are and we always have been.  And I appeal to you all to make this unity stronger by getting together more often in mosque functions and Islamic festival and events.

And last but not least, I appeal to you to answer the call of Ibraheem:

"و أذّن في الناس بالحج يأتوك رجالا و على كلّ ضامر يأتين من كلّ فجّ عميق"

Answer by saying:

لبيك اللهم.

Say: Here O Allah! I present my self a member of the Muslim ummah.

الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله --- الله أكبر الله أكبر و لله الحمد

عباد الله أقول قولي هذا و استغفر الله العظيم لي و لكم فيا فوز المستغفرين و يا نجاة التائبين.

الحمد لله ربّ العالمين, حمد الشاكرين , حمدا كثيرا طيبا كما أمر.  و صلى الله و سلم و بارك على سيّدنا محمد و على آله و صحبه.

عباد الله:

My beloved brothers and sisters,

الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله --- الله أكبر الله أكبر و لله الحمد

Having said what I said in the first khutbah, I wish to make two points clearer.

First the act of Hajj and second the act of sacrifice.

The act of Hajj in itself is Rukn (pillar) of Islam and it is required from every Muslim who has the ability and capacity to perform Hajj.  In deed, performing Hajj to Mecca is a great act which Allah (swt) rewards for it generously by forgiving all the past sins.  And if a person rejects and knowingly denies that Hajj is a part of Islam then he is no longer a Muslim.

The second point is the act of sacrifice (Qurbani).  The majority of Muslim scholars agreed that Qurban is a highly recommended sunnah.  Abu Hanifah, however, said it is a wajib, which makes it compulsory except in the case of a person who cannot afford it.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

"بكل شعرة حسنة.  قالوا: فالصوف؟ قال: بكل شعرة صوف حسنة"

Prophet Muhamamd (saws) commented regarding the sacrifice, he said:

“For every strand of its hair, Allah rewards a good deed.  The companions inquired: How about the wool, then?  Prophet Muhammad (saws) replied: For every strand of its wool Allah rewards a good deed.”

May Allah accept from all of us and send his mercy and blessings upon us.

الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله --- الله أكبر الله أكبر و لله الحمد

عباد الله:

إن الله العظيم الجليل امركم بامر كريم, بدأ به نفسـه و ثنى بملائكته المسبحة بقدسه و ثلث بكم من إنسه و جنه, فقال و لم يزل قائلا حكيما, تنبيها لنا و تعليما:

"إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا"

لبيك اللهم صلي و سلم و بارك على سيدنا محمد و على آله و صحبه و من إهـتدى بهديه و أقتدى بسنته إلى يوم الدين.