02/01/2004
IWDM Study Library
Eid Al-Adha 
Homewood IL

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
As salaamu alaikum. Let me explain what's happening here. It is all just down to the earth human. I just got word coming over here just five minutes or so ago that some sisters was coming from Pittsburgh and they had a gift they had made for me. This is the gift. So, which is better for me to wear something from a commercial person or from a person that made this for their leader. It is very nice, very nice. I'm looking up close. Fine details here. Now let me explain this occasion before we perform the ritual. This is Eidul Adha.
Eid means reoccurring happiness. Something that comes over and over, the same time, all the time of the year. That's Eid and it's means in common language, holiday celebration. It is not Id. A lot of you say Id, that's wrong. Id is what a scientist of psychology, pardon me, psychoanalysis more correctly. A scientist of psychoanalysis gave us that term, Id, gave the word that term, Id, long after Allah revealed the Qur'an. So it's not Id, it's Eid. You have to say E sound. "E" sound, not 'I' sound "E". So all of you all should correct that and I've been working on that for a long time, trying to get you all to correct that. If your Imams will stop, maybe you'll stop. It's Eid, not Id. So it's reoccurring happiness. We have two Eid's. The Eidul Fitr is the Eid celebrating the victory of nature, of human nature.
That's the Eidul Fitr. This Eid is celebrating the victory of the intellect, that's Prophet Ibrahim. He led the world into the fulfillment of the needs or appetite of the intellect, the human brain, the intellect. And he is the one that showed us the way to an ethical world, an ethical society, firstly of believers, but eventually to an ethical world because the work of the believers will eventually triumph over the works of the unbelievers. And we are not the only children of Abraham. The Jews are the children of Abraham. The Christians are the children of Abraham. And I believe Abraham have many more children that we don't know about. Yes. And they want an ethical world like we do. So, Insha’Allah, we'll be talking on the importance of that for our community models that we want all over these United States, wherever we can put 'em up so that we can have a complete Muslim life, business life as well as spiritual life.
So, Insha’Allah, we'll be speaking on that this afternoon. So it is the day of sacrifice, the tenth day of the Hajj. On the tenth day of the Hajj, we sacrifice whatever you can afford. Poor people may sacrifice a chicken or something even smaller, that's halal, that's fit to eat. Those who have more money sacrifice a cow and a sheep. But the sheep is the symbol associated with Abraham because it was his son. This is not the Khutbah, this is preparing. Because of his son Ismael being the son that he thought he should sacrifice, he saw in a vision that he should sacrifice him. But G-d showed him that when he was about to sacrifice him, He showed him a sheep, a lamb, instead of Ibrahim. I mean Ismael, sorry. Ibrahim, the father, was shown in the vision by G-d, a lamb and not his son, Ismael.
So he was to see the lamb and not Ismael. So the lamb was to be slaughtered, not Ismael. Ismael was his son. But his son is symbolic of the lamb. A lamb without spot of blemish, a lamb, pure, untainted, unspoiled by the world. Ismael's (Ibrahim's) son. Yes, symbolic also that symbolic also of Jesus Christ. As you know, lamb, he's also called a lamb. And before him we talk about Ismael, a lamb. And Mohamed, in his nature, was a lamb without spot of blemish, before he was even called by G-d. Yes, Muhammed the Prophet, prayers and peace be upon the prophets and messengers of G-d. So the tenth day we sacrifice and we sacrifice whatever we could afford to sacrifice. But the sacrifice of life, its a sacrifice of life, isn't it? It's a living thing that you're sacrificing. And there was a philosopher, ancient philosopher, he said, in man can be found all the creatures of the earth, all the creatures of the earth. So he said this long before the people brought us the teachings on these things and the religion, you see. This is in myth or in philosophy and myth, Greek philosophy, and it's also in myth. So we don't sacrifice something inferior or something offensive to human nature, good human nature or good human taste. You can't sacrifice a coon.
It won't be accepted. And so what does sacrifice mean? It deceives us. What's happening deceives us because it appears that you're getting rid of this thing, but you didn't get rid of it. You made it more tasty and then you consumed it. You put it in yourself. So it's symbolic of what's in ourselves, but not quite ready for G-d, not quite good enough for G-d. See, a sheep nature in a man is not quite good enough for G-d. But if you could take that social nature in man, that spiritual will also, see the lamb goes up on the mountain and the lamb can stand on a little thin edge. Sure-footed.
Yeah, very sure-footed got great balance. So the lamb, is not the real lamb. The lamb is symbolic of the social nature of the wise and pious people in religion. Those who have the knowledge of not only spiritual sciences, but they have the knowledge of the spiritual sciences that helps us free the social life, free the social life for its destiny that G-d wants for it. So these are great men of science, great pious men of science, and they're called the sheep in the scriptures. And Ismael was going to be that kind of leader. And Abraham is a rational man. He doesn't like to have secrets and mysteries. So Abraham wanted liberal education for the people and he didn't want the knowledge to be held by people who were mystics, who kept his secret for their elects. So he wanted to break that order. So Abraham broke from that order and that's the meaning of slaying the lamb and feeding it to the multitudes. He broke from that order and gave the keys to their sciences, to the multitudes. This is the one that G-d loves so much. He say, I make you leader of all the people, all the nations. And the Bible say you should be a father of all the nations.
This is Abraham. This a great day, this Eid. Great day, great day. I wish I could say much more, but the time is running out for the Eid. It's about 10 o'clock, it should be finished. So we are running a little late. Over here, I told 'em I'm running a little late. I said, they tell me shit going to be this early. You have to remind me I'm busy, busy, busy, busy. So if something's going be, you should keep your leader informed. Your leader is more important to be kept informed than anybody else. If you know your leader has to do something, you should be keeping them informed. And I'm telling you so you'll be better to the next leader. So you'll do a better job for the next leader. We want progress. We want it better after I'm gone. So your leader is the person you should be looking for to supply him with all of his needs, all the information he needs. Do everything you can to assist him and make his work less difficult.
This is what should be your purpose. And I'm not talking to all of you. I'm talking to you in the circle of helpers, okay? If you're going to be helpers, then study so you can be better helpers. Be better helpers. Yes. Okay, so the time for the ending of the Eid is when the sun is halfway from what they call the rising point to noon. When it's halfway there, that's the time of the Eid. When it starts to be less than halfway, it's getting too late. So I just saw the sun. The sun, its a little cloudy, but the sun was showing, and I only have about two minutes, but , Insha’Allah, it'll be five or 10 minutes before we're finished here and understand this, that these things are signs. When Muhammed was asked in the Qur'an, Muhammed was asked, and what is the crescent moon? The hilal. What is the crescent moon, the hilal and different things?
He said, signs, marking the time, so you'll know what time to do your Eid, so you'll know what time to do your prayers, et cetera. Time markers. That's what he said. What was he doing? He was teaching like Abraham. He was taking the mystery out of things. They wanted him to tell him the mystery, to see if he knew the particular science of their particular secret order. But he ignored their secret order and just gave them a rational answer. That's Abraham's leadership. You stroke yourself in your own place in your private places. But out here we 're going to turn the light on. Isn't it wonderful that the Eid prayer is said at a time when we say our prayer silently, but it's not said silently. We going to say it audibly. So everybody hear(s) it at a time when you're supposed to keep quiet, Praise be to Allah.
Allah is the greatest., So I just want you to understand better, this Eid, what it represents. And we should be charitable. That's the point. We should be charitable and we should feed those less fortunate than us. Not only feed ourselves. The sacrificial meal or meat is for the leaders, yes, but it's also for the poorest and knowledge, the poorest in his pocket, its for the poorest of the people, knowledge wise, and also materially, its for the poorest of the people as well, equally for them. So we have to give it to them because maybe one of them will, if equipped correctly and well, maybe one of them will become a better leader than the top man in the society. So we don't want to miss the chance of having our best serve us and lead us to take care of us as a leader takes care of his following with the blessings of G-d that G-d reveals. So we thank Allah for this occasion and you know it begins with the Khutbah. I've given a long Khutbah, haven't I?
It begins with a Khutbah and followed by two rakats, of prayer. And there is five takbirs in the first standing and seven takbirs in the second standing in the second standing, making a total of 12 takbirs. You can increase it to many numbers, some do eighteen and many numbers. A way most of the leaders, Imams in the world do it, is twelve. Twelve takbirs. Five go(es) before seven, but five go(es) before seven. My father told us, he said our savior, W.D. Fard, he said think five times before you speak and maybe you'll be correct. Maybe you'll be correct. So five go(es) before seven. And we know seven is a spiritual realm. If you get in there, you better go with your five senses, buddy. So the Eid will be five takbirs and then seven. Alright, for a total of twelve. One will be just a signal to start the prayer, the regular signal to start the prayer. And we'll do five, pardon me. And then we'll signal the motion, the movements of the prayer, the steps of the prayer with takbir. Prepare to stand now, sorry. and then after we stand, we'll have a short, a very short Khutbah, Eidul Khutbah. There is no iqamah called on Eid days. You know that? Why? Because that's the day when you're already standing. Nobody have to signal you to stand, the people have gotten disgusted with all this darkness and mystery and they're standing. That's the time for Eid.
That's the day we are living in. People want light, they don't want mysteries. We praise G-d. We glorify Him with much praise and much glorification. And we remember Him always. We remember him in our bad times, in our good times. We remember Him. When we are poor and have nothing. We remember Him when we have rich richness and power, we remember Him. We never forget him. In any circumstances. We remember Him in the privacy of our lives at home with our wives and children. We remember Him. We remember Him when we are alone with ourselves, with our souls. We remember him. We remember Him always. And He says to His servants, tell them to remember Me and I will remember them. Praise be to Allah. How wonderful He has created man in the best of molds. Muhammed the model man was a fit person to lead people before G-d called him.
He was already fit. In the world of ignorance and darkness and indecency, bestiality in the world of violence and the sacrifice of innocent lives. The murder of babies before they could even be taught how to live. The killing of them, especially the girls that they didn't want girls, females that they didn't want. And in that time and in that kind of world, a man was able to keep his best life that G-d created Adam with intact. Adam lost his to the subtle deceits of the shaitan as we know. He was deceived by those subtle words of the shaitan to come out of the nature that G-d had put him in, made him for. Muhammed, had survived in a world of corruption, ignorance and violence, loss of respect for mankind. He survived in such a world and was not worshiping any idols, was not behaving in any way that G-d wouldn't approve, Muhammed the Prophet. So he was again like Ismael, son of Ismael. He was like Ismael lamb without spot or blemish like Christ Jesus and others that are called by such wonderful description or giving such wonderful description. So this is the Eidul Adha. Adha means the brightest time of the day.
Dhuha is a morning time when it's in its brightness, morning in its brightness. We have the saying in Qur'an, (Arabic) "wa dhuha wa layly da suja".- by the brightness of the day and the darkness of the night when it spreads out , when it stretches, yes, out. So we want to understand that the celebration of Al Adha is the brighter and therefore it is the bigger Eid. Now, it's hard to understand that when you're not making Hajj, but when you make Hajj, you understand that the tenth day of the Hajj is the bigger celebration. Bigger than even the more personal sacrifice we make doing the, in fact, the sacrifice during the month of fasting is personal sacrifice. It's a personal sacrifice. But the sacrifice and the Hajj is a group sacrifice. It's the sacrifice we make all together. We do it all together. You don't know if your brother is fasting with you or not. You have to trust him. And Muhammed said he wasn't giving eyes to see inside of the stomach to see if he ate something or not. Don't be suspicious. We are not suspicious. Trust our brothers and sisters. If they say they're fasting, they're fasting, until we learn something without looking for it.
So the ones who make a Hajj, they are going through the same difficulty together. Same difficulty together. Hajj means difficulty, Hajj- difficulty. It means meeting the difficulty and going succeeding, in spite of the difficulty. You are going against the difficulty. The Hajj is a victory over the difficulty. It's a victory over the difficulty. And so is fasting too, but it's a personal and spiritual, and the other one is social. Meeting on the Mount Arafat. Hence I should say hence, meeting on the Mount Arafat is the most important time for the haajj. Now that's what the prophet said. He said if you miss meeting on Arafat, you have missed your Hajj. So, if (SAW) prayers and peace be on him, if you circle the Kaabah and all that and do all those things, cut your hair and drink from Zamzam and do all that, run the Sa'ee and all that.
But if you miss being on Arafat, for the prayers on Arafat, you have missed your whole Hajj. According to the words of our prophet and our teacher, Muhammed , (SAW), prayers and peace be on him. So the Khutbah for the Eid is supposed to be a Khutbah. Now what is the meaning the Khutbah? Khutbah means lecture. Lecture is not preaching. You may preach a little bit during your lecture, but if you characterize your lecture by preaching, it was not a Khutbah. You didn't give a Khutbah. It will spoil the nature and identity of the Khutbah, if you preach. Preach means raising your voice and playing on emotions and expressing emotion, responding to your emotional side. That's preaching. That's preaching. That's good. We are supposed to do good preaching, excellent, beautiful preaching. (Arabic), "and debate them, discuss with them in manners most beautiful and excellent."
This is the teaching. But we are also to preach. Preaching is acceptable, but for the Eid, there shouldn't be preaching. It should be teaching. Khutbah is a lecture. You should be teaching, informing people, giving them some understanding, helping them with their understanding of Islamic life so they can live it with better understanding and perform it better. Understanding, better understanding is what puts us in a situation to live better and perform it. That's what I mean by perform it better, to live better as Muslims. And that's what we want. That's what our souls want. So this is a very short Khutbah I'm going to give you because the time is about out now I think for the Eid prayers and the Khutbah in the morning, but I don't want to close without saying this. We are living in the last days of the plan that you find in scripture, the plan for people on this earth, the plan for people on this earth that you find in the Bible and that you find in the Qur'an.
We are living in the last days of that plan. Nothing will come after this. Nothing more will come after this. There's nothing else to come. We're at the end of it. It's the closing of it. The world leaders know it. The leaders of the religions know it and government leaders know it. Don't think governments don't have what religion has. They separate it, but they didn't separate until they knew they had all that the religious leaders had. And they keep it for their leaders so when they run into any problem with the church or with the mosque or anything, they can go to what was left to them, what their leaders, what their government leaders left to them. They can go and look at it and find just what is Christianity, just what is Islam, just what is Judaism. They know it better than most of the religious leaders, government people, Especially the President of these United States. If he is to be president, he has to be informed of this, and he knows just who to ask for in his Cabinet if he has a question. Same way it was with the Pharaoh. He had his high priest. So if Moses came, he turned it over to his high priest, said, Hey, Moses, says he's got something here. Take a look at this boy. Well they found out he wasn't no boy. He was a man child.
Praise be to Allah. So we glorify G-d. So let's glorify G-d some more. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! La ilaha illallah, wa ila il hamd. G-d is the greatest. G-d is the greatest. G-d is the greatest. G-d is the greatest. And for G-d is the praise G-d. Yes for G-d is the praise. All of it. So whatever we get deserving of, we do that or deserving of that, but it's owing to G-d that we have the nature and the decent hearts and mind to achieve those things. So all the praise belongs to G-d, and we have little specs of it.
That's all. Just little specs of it. We thank Allah. So we are going to conclude the Khutbah, remembering that this is a celebration of the sacrifice of Abraham, which is the sacrifice, the willingness to sacrifice his only child. That's a great sacrifice, especially when you're pleased with that child. You love that child. You are so happy. Oh, this is a beautiful child. I see no flaws in him. And then G-d shows you in a vision. Say you got to kill him. Oh my G-d. How Abraham must have suffered and he went to the altar suffering. He was gritting his teeth, but he took that knife and just when he was about to do it, G-d showed him a lamb. Say, you've already fulfilled what was ordered. You have already fulfilled what was ordered. Isn't that beautiful? So G-d doesn't want us to hurt ourselves or hurt our children. G-d want us to be willing to give Him our all. And once you are willing to give Him your all, that's all He wants. So why kill your son?
Let him live and you live. And they lived. There are two prophets together, father and son, and built the sign of the establishment of the world of mankind. That's what the Ka'ba is, a sign of how the world of mankind is to be established, under G-d, respecting the good human nature that he's given to all people. Black, brown, yellow, red, any color, United States, Canada, China, Russia, any country. We all come from all these countries for the Hajj. And then we see each other, not as colors, not as nationals, but we see each other as Muslims under G-d, building a society of righteousness, a society of righteousness. A society of righteousness, but informed. Rationally informed, scientifically based and rationally informed. So we can be a model for all the worlds. Thank you very much. We praise G-d. So we close the Khutbah with a du'a.(Qur'an 2:201)


