Thursday 8 August 2013

2013 Eid ul Fitr Sermon

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ



 
اَللهُ أَكْبَرُ ، اَللهُ أَكْبَرُ ، اَللهُ أَكْبَرُ ، لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ ، اَللهُ أَكْبَرُ ، اَللهُ  أَكْبَرُ ،.وَ للهِ الْحَمْدُ
 
Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar, laa ilaaha ill-Allaah, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu Akbar, wa lillaahi’l-hamd
Congratulations to all those who were able to keep the fast and observed extra acts of worship during the days and nights of the blessed month of Ramadan. May Allah accept all what was done for His sake during the month.
Dear brothers and sisters, today as you have decorated your outward personalities with beautiful garments; know that your soul is now also decorated as you had your Satan chained for a whole month, because you aspired to observe righteousness during the days and night of Ramadan.  Allah tells us about this in the following verse of the Holy Qur’an. He says:
O ye Children of Adam! we have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, As well As to be an adornment to you. but the raiment of righteousness,- that is the best. such are among the Signs of Allah, that They may receive admonition! (7:26)
 
Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar, laa ilaaha ill-Allaah, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu Akbar, wa lillaahi’l-hamd
 
As Ramadan is meant to decorate and purify the body and the soul, all those who kept the fast would have wiped out all the past stains that were on their hearts, they will rise with brightened faces on the Day of Judgment, if they take the care not to soil their hearts with wrong-doing in the future.  Allah gave the good news for striving to please Him, as follows:
One Day shalt Thou see the believing men and the believing women- How their light runs forward before them and by their right hands: (Their greeting will be): "Good news for you This day! Gardens beneath which flow rivers! to dwell therein for aye! This is indeed the highest Achievement!" (57:12)
Brothers and sisters, just as you made every effort to chain your devil during the month by restraining yourselves, and showing patience, keep up the struggle, as Satan took a vow to prevent the progeny of Adam from staying on the Straight Path. He said:
"Then will I assault them from before them and behind them, from their right and their left: nor wilt Thou find, In Most of them, gratitude (for Thy mercies)." (7:17)
Satan will appear on that day dirty and disgraced, and he wants us all to be like him, so Allah warns us to be careful. He says:
O ye Children of Adam! let not Satan seduce you, In the same manner As He got your parents out of the garden, stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame: for He and His tribe watch you from a position where ye cannot see them: we made the evil ones friends (only) to those without Faith (7:27)
 
Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar, laa ilaaha ill-Allaah, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu Akbar, wa lillaahi’l-hamd
 
Remember all the good that you will do will be kept by your Lord and will be given to you with much more rewards. Allah says:
and whatever good ye send forth for your souls ye shall find it In Allah’s Presence (73:20)
Brothers and sisters, as you grow older you will begin to realize that all material achievements and matters are just for a time, as they are separable, and have limitations. Allah tells us so in the following verse of the Holy Qur’an. He says:
What is with you must vanish: what is with Allah will and we will certainly bestow, on those who patiently persevere, their reward to the best of their actions. (16:96)
Try your best to build a big account with your Lord by giving charity, helping the poor, the needy by giving back to Allah some of the things He gave to you. He calls such charitable acts as goodly loans which He will have to repay. He says:
If ye loan to Allah, a beautiful loan, He will double it to your (credit), and He will grant you forgiveness: for Allah is Most ready to appreciate (service), Most Forbearing. (64:17)
Some people learn the hard way, that after struggling night and day for years and amassing a lot of material assets, they suddenly find that all that they worked for disappeared either by destruction or through natural disasters, etc. Others realized that they wasted their lives, as, at the time of death, they will realize that they are leaving behind all that they have acquired in the world and because they sent nothing ahead of them, they will be destitute in the next life.
Allah warns us to be careful about our focus and purpose of life. He says:
O men! Certainly, the promise of Allah is true. Let not then this present life deceive you, nor let the chief Deceiver deceive you about Allah. (35:5)
Allah also says:
Is He, then, to whom the evil of His conduct is made alluring, so that He looks upon it As good, (equal to one who is rightly guided)? (35:8)
 
Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar, laa ilaaha ill-Allaah, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu Akbar, wa lillaahi’l-hamd
 
Dear brothers and sisters Allah has given every one of us the capacity to know good from evil, and the capability to be able to choose. Ramadan assisted us to make the correct choices. Do not go back and do the things that will not be of benefit to us on the onward journey. Remember good and evil cannot mix. Allah says: 
The blind and the seeing are not alike; nor are the depths of darkness and the light; nor are the (chilly) shade and the (genial) heat of the sun: nor are alike those that are Living and those that are dead. Allah can make any that He wills to hear; but Thou canst not make those to Hear who are (buried) In graves. (35:19-22)
Now is the time to listen and take action.  Take care that you do not now soil your beautiful personalities with wrong doing, in order that you will rise with the righteous on the Day of Judgment in the Companionship of the Prophet, the Martyrs and the Righteous.
May Allah forgive us all and guide and protect us so that we will be pleased to meet Him on that day and He will be well pleased to entertain us.
EID MUBARAK

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