12/06/2002
IWDM Study Library
IWDM Eid Al-Fitr Lecture

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed: All right, we're going to give a quick explanation of the Salat Eid. The Salat Eid is done exactly like the Salat Al-Fajr two rakats of prayer, but there's no iqama for the Eid prayers, there's no iqama. We'll just stand and we'll begin the eid prayers once we have formed the lines correctly. Brothers and sisters, we will begin the Eid prayers and we will do seven takbirs and then followed by five takbirs, a total of 12 takbirs. Seven for the first section of the prayer faqat, and then five for the second and last section of the prayer. Then we will have the khutbah of the Eid, khutbah ul Eid. We should stand now.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: La ilaha illallah.
Congregation: La ilaha illallah.
Mohammed: Allahu Akbar.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: Walillah Ilham.
Congregation: Walillah Ilham.
Mohammed: [Arabic language] We glorify God, we praise him with takbirs saying Allah is greater than anything and everything and creation. For God is the praise, for God is the thanks. We celebrate the completion of the fast month and those who have completed it, not breaking it except by error or mistake, not consciously breaking it, you celebrate also a victory, not just a celebration of the conclusion of the fast month or the end of the fast month, but you celebrate also a personal victory. There's a personal victory for us and our children that fast this month. We love them so much.
When we see them struggling, and turning away the food, and avoiding the temptation to keep obedience to Allah, to obey Allah, and fast a month for Muhammad was inspired by God in the collection called the Hadith Qudsi, the holy sacred hadith. He was inspired by Allah and Allah said to Muhammad for us "Fasting is for God. Fasting is for me," Allah said. Fasting is for me. When we fast in that spirit, we are fasting in the spirit of our best human nature. When we are fasting in that spirit, we are fasting, and, of course, we want Allah to accept us. When we fast that way, we are fasting in the best human spirit.
This month is a month of victory and this training in this month is training to strengthen us to survive in a world of temptations, a world of great temptations. This world will take us away from the best of our human nature. It will spoil our beautiful human nature if we give in to these temptations. This training is to protect us against that, give us more strength for us to endure for the rest of the year the temptations of this world. The practice is not to stop during the month of Ramadan. This is intense training in the month of Ramadan. The practice is continued for the rest of your life, all your life. All your life strive to please God with your utmost, strive to stay away from lies, untruthfulness.
Try to stay away from any bad behavior because any bad behavior you tolerate it weakens your good human nature, your original nature that Allah praised you for. The best of your human nature will be destroyed and lost to the world. We don't want to give in to the sins of this world and we strive always to please Allah and satisfy him with our obedience because our obedience was created for Allah. Allah created us with our obedience in our nature for him as our obedience is firstly for Allah. If we give our obedience to Allah first, then all the other relationships will be protected, but if we give our obedience to something else first, then all the relationships are not protected, they'll be lost.
You'll find that your relationship with your loved one will be lost, your relationship with your job will be lost. Everything will be spoiled if you let your relationship with Allah come second to anything. Our relationship with Allah is first. Coming out of the house today, I told Muhammad, our young son here, a 12-year-old son, I told him, I said, "We obey Allah, our obedience is for Allah first." I said, "After obedience to Allah, then our obedience is to our country, the United States of America." I told him "Our obedience to Allah will urge us and insist that we make our country and our people, American people better if we can do it."
We're to work to make the country better, the government better, and also the society, the culture, the people, the public, to make that life better if we can do it. We can only make our small contributions and go on, and others will take it from there after we have gone. We ask Allah to give us victory, not only in the fast month but also give us victory in the training ground that the fast month prepares us for, the training ground of the sinful world that we train always to keep away from sin, fight sin, and conquer sin in ourselves firstly, but also make a contribution to make the world better. With the help of God, we will be victorious there too.
I think we are succeeding in the world too. Praise be to Allah. Allahu Akbar.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: La ilaha illallah.
Congregation: La ilaha illallah.
Mohammed: Walillah Ilham.
Congregation: Walillah Ilham.
Mohammed: Such as truthfulness, good judgment, decency, kindness, charity and alike belong to human nature. Allah tells us in the Quran to obey God, that is obey Allah and obey his messenger. [Arabic language], obey God and obey the messenger. This is what Allah tells us in the Quran. Over and over again we're reminded that we are to obey God and obey his messenger. We should understand that obedience to Allah is our nature. It's not something that comes to us after we are created, no. Obedience to Allah is human nature, the nature of all human beings is to obey God.
The world blinds them to that may be or leads them astray, but they will never find happiness complete and satisfying for their souls until they accept to please the one who created them, made them, and made all the good things possible for them that they enjoy. Obedience to God is human nature, obey God and obey his messenger, obedience to his messenger is also human nature. Obedience to Muhammad the profit is also human nature.
Jesus Christ told his people according to the gospel, peace be on the prophet and messenger of God, and the word from God, and the spirit from Him, Jesus Christ the Messiah, He told his people according to the gospel, "I and the father and the father in me," but He didn't stop there. He said, "I and you also and you and me." So He connected himself with human mortals as a human mortal that His life was the same as the life in all the human mortals. Muhammad the prophet is told by Allah in the Quran saying, speaking to Muhammad to them, "I am a human mortal like you."
So if we are the same in our human nature and life as Muhammad the prophet, as Christ Jesus and all the best of the God's servants, if we are the same in our human nature as him, then it is in our human nature to obey the best of that human nature. When you're trying to obey, it's natural even if you don't go to church or to a religious place, a mosque, or synagogue or whatever or a Buddhist temple, it's natural for you to want to follow the best that's in your life. The best urge is inside your heart, inside your soul, inside your spirit, that's human nature. When you are following that and responding like that, you are really obeying your original nature in his excellent mode or excellent form, you're obeying that.
Muhammad is the victorious one among us who succeeded even before God gave him revelation, he succeeded in keeping that nature, that beautiful human life in its correct form. He didn't lose it to the world. He never worshiped idols, he never lied, he's called the one who always spoke the truth, called that before he was mission called by God, his people called him that. The people of Quraysh his tribe, the most notable tribe of Arabia, they called him Asad, the one who never speaks lies. They called him El Amin, the trustworthy one, the one who will never break the trust. He will keep his word to you, he will keep his trust. He did this and God says of him and he have already lived among you all 40 years.
Meaning that he had lived among the people long enough to prove that he did not spoil his original nature. In it's best form, the human nature in its best form was never spoiled for Muhammad the Prophet. He is called the [Arabic word] after Prophet Ibraheem. Upright in his nature and he belonged to the [Arabic word], the upright in their nature even before the Quran was revealed to him, even before he knew about religion, he was already the best in his nation. That is to tell us that God created Adam right, not wrong. Adam was not created a sinner, he was created in the best human nature and we descended from him, we all inherit the best human nature from our father Adam.
We inherit the best human nature and all of us are his descendants or his children from that point of view. Not in his sin, but in his excellence we're all his descendants, his children. If we follow sin, it's not because of the nature that God gave us, it's because of the world that deceives us or tempts us out of our righteousness. As we're told that Satan seduced our father and our mother, our parents and caused them to come out of the clothes that God had given them, the clothing of righteousness. Allahu Akbar.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: La ilaha illallah.
Congregation: La ilaha illallah.
Mohammed: Allahu Akbar.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: Walillah Ilham.
Congregation: Walillah Ilham.
Mohammed: [Arabic language] Muhammad you know was given a great victory over those who were trying to prevent Islam from ever being established on this earth. He was given a big victory over them, it was the idolaters, the mushriks, the mushrikin and also their supporters from Jews and from some other people were supporting them and Muhammad the prophet and his followers were given the victory, but we say [Arabic language], God defeated the campaigns of the enemy, of his foes by Himself, God did it. We should not think of that victory as a victory for brave men, yes, brave men had a part, God honored brave men to give them a part in the victory.
All those brave men that fought, they were honored by God to have a part, a role in the victory but the victory was God. God made the victory, Allah made the victory. Had it not been for Allah revealing the religion, and sending Muhammad the prophet as a mercy to all the worlds, and protecting the way and the religion for all times, even against physical forces, military powers, we would not have had any victory. Victory came only because of Allah's protection, His will in it for us. Allahu Akbar.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: La ilaha illallah.
Congregation: La ilaha illallah.
Mohammed: Walillah Ilham.
Congregation: Walillah Ilham.
Mohammed: This is the din of Fitra. [Arabic language] It is the religion of origin. It's the religion of our origin in heaven. When Allah first created the human soul unspoiled, unchanged, it was in heaven. God created us in heaven and in creating us, our souls, he put into our souls what we needed for our life always, and what he gave us as revelation was answering the plea in our nation for help. Our nature was begging for help, man could not do it alone. Even though God gave him what he needed in his nature, he could not do it alone against this world, the world is too big for him. God had to come to his aid and answer his knee that God put in his original nature.
Islam is not something foreign added to you, it is what your original nature calls for. This day I have perfected for you your religion. Your religion, God didn't say His religion, your religion, it's your property, it belongs to your nature. This day I have perfected for you your religion and have completed my favor upon me, and perfected for you your religion, and completed my favor upon you. Meaning that God had created you for this, that's his favor to you to create you so beautifully, and so in your original nature and completed my favor on you and have chosen for you or preferred for you Islam your own religion. Your religion by nature have preferred for you Islam Dena as religion. Praise be to. Allahu Akbar.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: La ilaha illallah.
Congregation: La ilaha illallah.
Mohammed: Walillah Ilham.
Congregation: Walillah Ilham.
Mohammed: When we say [Arabic language], surely I have wronged my own self. Deviations away from Islam or the nature that God created for us is wronging our own selves. When we lie, when we give into the habit of lying, we are ruining our own self because God didn't create us to lie, He created us to be like Muhammad, never told a lie even before God made him no religion. He created us like he made Muhammad, never to lie, to not to ever want to lie.
When we lie, we are going against our own good nature, we are wronging our own good selves, we are oppressing our own good self, we are holding down ourselves, we are holding back ourselves from progress when we lie, when we steal, when we cheat, when we fornicate, when we commit adultery, when we do all these things that God said don't do. He said don't do them because you're going against your nature when you do it and you're going to suffer consequences, bad consequences. If you go against your original nature, you're going to feel it in your soul, you're going to feel it in your conscience, you're going to feel it on your spirit.
If you shut it out of your conscience, it's going to weigh on your spirit, it's going to hurt your performance when you want to do good and succeed in the world. Sin brings down the best of men, sin brings down Ph.D.s, bring down men with 10 Ph.D. Sin bring them down. They go up to the pendency of the United States of America or to the kingship of Saudi Arabia or to some other high place, and they fall down and they're disgraced before the public, the public dismiss them, the public get rid of them, they're not fit to be leaders anymore for the people.
What brought them down? Not that he couldn't figure math, that didn't bring him down. Not that he didn't know law, he knew how to argue law in the court, that didn't bring him down. What brought him down was the same thing that brings the most deprived man down. Giving into temptations and spoiling his own good nature that God created for him, not listening to the best urges of his own creation, and going following weaknesses in the world bring down the biggest of all men and women. Bring down the biggest. We must understand this as it is given. Understand the religion as it is given and we will have fulfillment and happiness, and peace everlasting. Allahu Akbar.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: La ilaha illallah.
Congregation: La ilaha illallah.
Mohammed: Allahu Akbar.
Congregation: Allahu Akbar.
Mohammed: Walillah Ilham.
Congregation: Walillah Ilham.
Mohammed: El Islam is the religion of human nature, the religion of the original human nature. The human nature before the world takes it out of its excellence. Islam is the inheritance of every human being. It's their rightful inheritance, the inheritance of every human being, El Islam. In the month of Ramadan, we've been fasting from the first sign of dawn where the blackness or the black thread of night and the white thread of the coming of dawn, the early dawn are on the level with each other running parallel, a straight lines across the sky on the level.
We start fasting and we fast, not only from taking food into our mouths or a drink, but also from temptation to engage in sex or to engage in romance that will lead to sex. We stayed away from all those things. That the urge for sex is in nature, it's that the urge to keep us existing, it is our survivor urge for us to produce ourselves over again, it's the urge to keep us on this planet, it's a very strong urge, we resist that too to please our God. We don't satisfy anything that Allah hasn't approved in the time
[00:23:33] [END OF AUDIO]

