11/04/2005
IWDM Study Library
Eid Al-Fitr

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed

Brothers and sisters, Peace unto you. As Salaam Alaikum. This is the blessed day twice for us. This is the day of Jumu'ah, of which the Prophet Muhammad said "The Friday of Jumu'ah day is the best day of the year." And he included the two Eids, both the Eidul Fitr, which we are observing today with prayers to our Lord first, and then with preaching. Prayers to our Lord first and then with preaching. And also, the brightest Eid called the Eidul Adha, means the brighter Eid, the brighter of the two. And it's the Eid you know that celebrates or commemorates Abraham's, our father Abraham's sacrifice. And we observe it on the 10th day of the of the month of Hajj, the month of Hajj. And we observe it with sharing of food with those who have less than we do, or those of small means, and the poor and the suffering, we share with them. So, we have two Eids. And these Eids are alike in that respect. Both Eids are to awaken in us our consciousness for G-d, first of all, and then our consciousness for others, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, our friends, our community, and also the community of all people. All people on this planet Earth.

The Eidul Fitr. Allahu Akbar. The Eidul Fitr is also to be understood as the celebration of a victory. The victory of something that Allah created every human being with, his original nature called Fitra. That original nature upon which Allah patterned or fashioned, caused all the people to be raised up, evolved upon that nature. Fatara Al Nasa Alayha. He created or originated the human beings upon that Fitra. How are we to see our fasting? We are to see it as increase, more progress, increase and more progress for personal decency, for truthful thinking. Truthful thinking and actions. Truthful actions for fairness, feelings for self, for family, and for others.

Feelings for the orphans, also for the widows, for the poor, for the sick, for the victims of storms and earthquakes. For those who suffer misfortune. Sad, mournful misfortunes. What if the orphan child is a whole community? Allah says, "And spend on the orphans." What if the orphan child, I repeat. What if the orphan child is a whole community where moral life is buried, walked upon, stepped upon, spit upon. Where business life is absent, where business and moral life cry. Cry out like a baby, cry like an infant crawling around on his hands and knees crying out for mother. But where is the mother? It's an orphan, a community, a whole community, an orphan. And no help is reaching that orphan.

Allah says He will test us. He will test us by trials. Trials that separate men from the boys. Allah permitted Muhammad to lead his community in prayer facing Jerusalem. But Allah said, turn away from your first qiblah, turn away from your first qiblah. And Allah says, I will turn you to a qiblah now that will please you. So, Muhammad, as he grew day after day, year after year, he became dissatisfied in his heart with the qiblah that he was leading his following in prayer. He turned away, he was not feeling good in his heart. And Allah revealed to him that now turn away from the first qiblah and turn yourselves now to a qiblah that will please you.

And Allah says, "Do you think you'll be accepted upon saying you believe while you have not been tested?" And Allah says that He gave that qiblah, first qiblah that was turned to, and the change came so that Allah will make known who among you is truthful and faithful, and who among you will turn back on his heels, turn back on his heels to former idol worship, to Shirk. Turn back on your heels to former indecencies and social and moral and community corruption. Turn back on your heels to self-idolization, turn back on your heels to self-worship, to following your own passions and your own thinking. Who will be steadfast and who will be turned around on his heels? On his heels mean his spiritual balance. Who will lose his spiritual balance and be turned back to the corruption that you were guided out of. That test comes over and over again.

It's not just for the time of Muhammad the Prophet. That test comes over and over again for the people of earth. Yes, Jews are tested by their scripture and by their guidance. And Christians are tested by their scripture and their guidance, and they lose the way to whims, to self-interest, to greed, to rivalry, jealous rivalries, rivalries upon greed and rivalries upon jealousy. So, you'll be tested, tested by floods of spiritualism, by floods of America's partying, street hype, and nasty partying. You're going to be tested. You're going to be tested by riches and by poverty. You're going to be tested to see if you will envy the rich man and go astray. You're going to be tested to see if you can stand poverty, to be poor and hungry and without, and not go astray. So, you're going to be tested by all of these things.

And in this terrible time of sexual perversion, you're going to be tested by sexual lust to see who will stay home with his wife and who will not. To see who will stay home with his wife and children and who will not. To see who will stay with the community and who will not. Sexual lust can take you off the path and turn you to the path of destruction. Yes, Islam is a religion of truth. It is a religion of truth. It is a religion of reality. It is a religion of truth. And Allah says, "Now the truth has come and falsehood perishes. And falsehood was ever doomed to perish by its own nature." This is Allah in the Qur'an revealing to us, giving us light and insight. Light and insight. Praise be to Allah. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. La Ilaha Il Allah.

Dear beloved believers, we ask Allah to not let our hearts deviate and go back to the bad life that He has called us away from. Whether we were victims of that bad life or not, we were here in the environment of trouble for our souls, trouble for our moral nature and trouble for our intelligence. We were here in this environment and we were not having the clear light on the path of G-d, which is the path to your own human fulfillment. Whoever has gone out on a path of knowledge has certainly taken a path to G-d, said Muhammad the Prophet, Sa Ala Alahi Wa Salaam. And if you understand the Qur'an, Allah says that you shall be tried and you shall suffer setback after setback. You shall advance yourself forward, suffering setback after setback. Not one setback. Setback followed by setback. But G-d says, struggle to see the light, struggled to find the whole truth. Struggling to find the whole truth and struggling to see the light clearly it shall take you to your destination. And He also said, "Whoever has found himself has also found his Lord". Meaning the path to human excellence is the path to G-d. The path to human excellence is the path to G-d. Why do we think G-d want us to come to Him? Does He need us for anything? He want us to come to ourselves, to come to the excellence that He created for ourselves. And when we arrive there, we have come to where He wanted us. And He said, now you have come to meet with Me. There you'll meet with Me. There, you'll meet with Me there, you'll meet with G-d. There you'll meet with G-d. Okay, there you'll meet with G-d. In our human excellence, we come to know G-d as He is. In our human excellence we come to know His word as it is. In our human excellence, we come to see how we are to live on this earth as a community under G-d, evolved for the good of all mankind.



