Why Are We Celebrating

Why Are We Celebrating? - Eid Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan

Opening and Purpose of Eid

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan.

Every single year, Allah brings us together in this way at the occasion, two occasions, one of them is Eid al-Fitr and this is Eid al-Adha, and in each of them we are supposed to remember the same exact thing and reflect upon the same exact thing. This must be so important that the entire Ummah, this one-fifth of the world's population needs a review of this particular legacy, the legacy of our father Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) every single year, and this is an important consideration.

Universal Nature of Festivals and Our Unique Celebration

Every civilization in the world has some kind of festivals, you know, nations have independence days, or cultural days, or festival days, actually in the United States we have one too many festivals, you know, every other weekend is some kind of holiday, whether it's labor day, or memorial day, or independence day, or some other day or the other, right, but even ancient civilizations have festivals and rituals in which the entire nation comes together and celebrates and commemorates, right, and a lot of these rituals, of course, it's a time across religions and across societies, it's a time for people to come together and have a happy time and celebrate and things, but usually and every single one of them is tied to some kind of historical event, right, that's just been the nature of nations across history, these days that people celebrate, they're tied to some major historical event that is part of the identity of that nation.

And of course that's the case with our Deen, Allah instead of giving us random days, He gave us these two Eids, in which the entire nation of Muhammad (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) This entire ummah celebrates together, across the world, across languages, across cultures. We come together and we celebrate together. And of course it's a time for us to dress well, and eat well, and visit family, and all of those beautiful things.

The True Meaning: Ibrahim's Graduation

But it's equally, I would argue, even more important to remember and remind ourselves, why are we doing this? Why are we celebrating this day? At the end of the day, this day is actually a graduation ceremony for our father, Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) Allah says about him:

"And [mention, O Muhammad], when Abraham was tried by his Lord with commands and he fulfilled them." (Quran 2:124)

That his master tested him with all kind of very difficult instructions. And he fulfilled all of them. Allah is suggesting, and the way he talks about Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) in Quran, he doesn't talk about anybody else in the same way. In other words, Allah tested Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) like nobody else was ever tested. He was given challenges that nobody else was ever given. And he was able to fulfill all of those challenges.

Now a lot of you know that already. Today's khutbah briefly is actually about what those challenges mean for you and me. Because we're supposed to remember those challenges, not just to remind ourselves about how great and how incredible he was (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ). But actually what that means for you and me today. And what that means for our life this year. That's what it's supposed to translate into.

First Test: Challenging Society and Family at a Young Age

We begin with, I just wanna highlight a few of the tests of Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ). And connect them back to our lives today. Allah describes this man as a young man, who basically stood up and challenged everything that his society accepted. And he said something that was so politically incorrect, so socially incorrect, so highly unacceptable, but he was willing to ask questions and challenge things that nobody else was willing to challenge at a very young age. Not his family, not his entire society.

Now the thing about young people, is one of the tendencies for a young man or a young woman growing up is acceptance. You wanna dress like the people around you dress. You don't wanna look weird. You wanna fit in. You wanna talk in a way that everybody thinks that you're acceptable within that group, or you're cool enough to be part of the crowd. And when you're gonna be the one that sticks out, that everybody's gonna make fun of. Everybody's gonna say, What are you crazy? How are you talking like that? You're the only one that way.

There's gonna be every thought in your mind, I shouldn't do this. I should try to wanna fit in. That's part of the fragile self-esteem of young people. That instead of standing on their own feet, they'd rather hide inside of a crowd. Even today in high schools, colleges, more so high schools and even middle schools now, you have young people dressing like their friends dress. They don't decide actually purely how they should dress themselves, or who they should hang out with, or what kind of words or language they should use.

Down to the kind of music they're gonna listen to, or the free time they're gonna spend is dictated by peer pressure. And they have to fit in. They have to fit the mold. You take your kids to back to school shopping, and they're arguing with you about, we have to get this bag, and we have to get this outfit. Because they know this fits better with the kind of friends I hang out with. They're not gonna make fun of me if I wear this brand, or that brand, or the other brand.

Think about what Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) is doing. He's challenging at that young age, he's willing to stand up and challenge the norms of his society, and be the object of ridicule. He's okay with that. Because his loyalty is to Allah and to truth.

Challenging His Beloved Father

And even harder than that is challenging his own father. I mean, we're gonna learn in this incredible story, he's right. And his father, though he's older, and he raised him, and he loves his father. Actually in the Qur'an Allah even suggests, when he uses the word:

"O my father, why do you worship that which does not hear and does not see and will not benefit you at all?" (Quran 19:42)

My beloved father. So it's not like Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) hates his father because he's a mushrik. He really loves his dad. And his dad is the one who raised him. And yet he's gonna challenge his father because the father is wrong. He's building idols.

And you're gonna find today in many of your lives, there are going to be family members, especially sometimes elders that are doing the wrong thing. They're just doing the wrong thing. And a lot of times even though we're Muslim, and our loyalty is to what is right, to what is fair, to what is just, to what is truth. We stick, well, it's my dad, I can't say anything. It's my mom, I can't say anything. It's my elders, I can't say anything. I just go with the flow. Come on. Family first.

How is family first and you and I are the legacy of Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ)? Our loyalty is to what is right. So he was even willing to challenge his own family. Quran says:

"O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves, your parents, and your relatives." (Quran 4:135)

Stand up for justice even if it means standing up against your own self. Or against parents. Or closest relatives. And that's the legacy of Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) even at a young age. Standing up and saying, Dad, I love you but this is wrong. I can't do this. And it got so bad that it's not just a disagreement, father kicked him out of the house. He was even willing to do that.

The Test of Fire: Standing Firm Under Pressure

If you go further in his life, the challenges get even more intense. Now he's willing to go through personal pain, personal difficulty, physical pain. He's about to be thrown into a fire. Because of what he believes. And he won't let go of his beliefs.

Today the Muslims, we're not being thrown in a fire. We're not. But we're being thrown in a social fire. We're constantly under fire. We're constantly being challenged and criticized. And under this pressure, we're like, I don't know if we want to face this kind of heat. Maybe we should apologize for being Muslim. Or maybe we should interpret our religion in a way that's more acceptable to those people who criticize us. Maybe we should just take a step back and not be so confident in our faith.

And a lot of young people, when they're being challenged in this way about their faith, on college campuses, in universities, they're being challenged in school. A lot of you are being challenged at work. You decide to not stand up for your faith. You just decide to take a step back or two.

Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) is willing to throw himself into a fire if need be. But he won't back away from (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ). He won't back away from his loyalty to Allah. That's what we're celebrating. This man's unflinching commitment to Allah. That's it. That's all that matters to him.

The Test of Separation from Family

If you go even a step further, the trials just keep moving. These were trials of a young man. But then he gets married. And when he gets married, Allah gives him one of the strangest tests. Allah tells him to go in the middle of a desert with his wife and his baby and leave them there. And just come back. And there's, you know, we know about Zamzam later on. The water came later on. But he didn't leave them with water there. He just left them in the middle of a desert and came back.

Now the thing is, that trial, (الحمد لله) you and I have not been commanded to take our family in the middle of Phoenix, Arizona and drop them in the desert and come back. That's not the sunnah of Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ). But you know what Allah is teaching us there of the many lessons. Allah is teaching us that sometimes Allah creates a situation where you have to be separated from your family.

Some of you have to have a job here and the family didn't get immigration and they're back home. Or some of you got a job in a different state and you have to travel and you have to work over there. You're separated from your family not because of the command of Allah but because of the decree of Allah. Because of the way the rizq was distributed by Allah. And a lot of you even suffer, the people suffer traumatic experiences.

There are people that are separated from their families against their will. They're even separated from their family against their will and they don't know what happened with their family. A lot of people have lost loved ones. How many families do we have in the city of Dallas alone that are Syrian refugee families? And a lot of them don't know what happened to their brother, their daughter, their sister. They left them behind. There's no report of what happened back then.

Just like Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) not knowing what happened with his wife and child when he left them in the desert. He just relied on Allah and that's it. And now he was commanded to do so, but we are sometimes put in those situations. And yet he still holds on to Allah. In other words, he doesn't complain to Allah and say, Ya Allah, how can you make me do this? How come you made me leave my family to die over there? He didn't do that. He relied on Allah. And we're being told, when we're put in these difficult circumstances, these trials, this is not the time to start complaining to Allah and to lose hope in Allah and lose trust in Allah. To remain reliant on Allah.

The Ultimate Test: The Sacrifice

He comes back and his son is of young age and he's able to run around:

"And when he reached with him [the age of] exertion..." (Quran 37:102)

He's old enough to run around with him. And now Allah gives him an even stranger trial, a tougher one. He keeps seeing in a dream that he's slaughtering his child. Now slaughtering your child, and he's gonna tell his son to do so. On the one hand, he lost the relationship with his father. You know, the father kicked him out of the house. And now he's the father, and the father is being told, why don't you kill your son? And the son also says:

"O my father, do as you are commanded." (Quran 37:102)

Just do what you're told. Just do what you're told.

This trial, of course, alhamdulillah, we're sacrificing the animal on this Eid day because we commemorate that he was willing to do that to his own son. And the son was willing to be sacrificed. But the larger lessons here, including the larger lessons here, is that a lot of times, for the sake of Allah, we're going to have to put our family through pain.

Some of you have a job, or you make money in a way that's not exactly halal. Some of you have run a very successful, not so halal business. And somehow Allah put this in your heart, that I can no longer do this. But now that you decide you can no longer do this, you can't pay the mortgage anymore. You can't get the nice car anymore. You can't pay your son's expensive college tuition anymore.

So now your family is going to go through pain because you submitted to Allah. You're not sacrificing your child, but you're sacrificing sometimes some of their happiness because you're loyal to Allah. Because you decided to stand by Allah. And your family may not like it. In his case, the son was willing to go along. A lot of cases, the children and the family are not willing to go along. But this is the sacrifices you and I are going to have to be willing to make.

What We Are Truly Celebrating

So as you go through all of the trials of Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ)they reflect in my life and in yours in one way or another. But what are we celebrating? What we're celebrating is that Allah gave him these most impossible tests and never let him go. He saw through all of those tests and helped him succeed in all of those tests. Which reminds you and me that Allah will never ever let us go no matter what we're going through. That's something to be happy about. That's something to celebrate.

Allah says:

"[It is] the religion of your father, Abraham. Allah named you 'Muslims'..." (Quran 22:78)

You're the legacy. You're the religion. You're following the same religion of your father, Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ). And so beautiful in that last ayah of surah al-Hajj, he says:

"And He has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty." (Quran 22:78)

As opposed to saying حرج عليكم would have been at the end. But in the Arabic, it's مقدم فهذا يدل على الاختصاص. Exclusivity. What that means in simple English as I conclude, is actually you people, Allah didn't put any difficulty on. The difficulty He put on, Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ). He already passed the hardest of the test. So what are you gonna complain about? What are you gonna complain about now? Allah has already opened that door for you in the most impossible of situations. Allah aided him through every one of those things.

So you should celebrate and you should have hope that Allah will never leave your side. All you and I have to show is loyalty and submission to Allah. A willingness to obey Allah and trust Him even if things look like they're a bad idea. Even if it looks like you're about to be thrown into a fire. Even if it looks like it's not in the best interest of your own family. Even if it looks like, you know, this is not good, I'm going against my elders. It looks like that.

There's a lot of pressure on you to preserve yourself. To preserve the happiness of those under you. And to preserve the happiness of those above you. But above all of those, if you become concerned with the happiness of Allah with you, that Allah is happy with you, He'll see all of those things through. He'll let you survive all of those challenges. And that's something beautiful and profound to celebrate.

The Spirit of Giving on Eid

As I leave you, I remind myself and all of you that the sacrifice that we make, the purpose of it is mentioned in Surah Al-Hajj. Allah says:

"Then eat of them and feed the miserable and poor." (Quran 22:28)

"And feed the contented and the beggar." (Quran 22:36)

Two things Allah says, two groups of people He mentions in Surah Al-Hajj. When you make the sacrifice of the animal, feed the one that is in difficult situation. Feed the one that is bankrupt. Feed the one that doesn't even ask. Feed the one that doesn't even ask.

(القانع له قناعة ولا يسأل) - He's completely satisfied with what he has. He has so much self-respect, even though he's starving, she's starving, they don't actually ask. You take care of them too. And by the way, when somebody doesn't ask, then how are you supposed to know? That's how much you're supposed to know your neighbors, your family, your loved ones, your relatives. You're supposed to know who's in trouble, who's having a hard time. This is (القانع).

And then (المعتر) is actually (إذ طلب من الحاجة عر) - The one who asks out of desperation. So there are those who actually end up asking.

This is a time not only for us to show our loyalty to Allah, but to soften our hearts by making sure we give and we give to those that are close, and those that are in need. Now, it's easy for you and me to tap a couple of buttons on the screen and make a sacrifice online for an animal somewhere in some other country, and that's cool. But the spirit of Eid, back in the day when these ayat were revealed, you didn't get to go online and sacrifice an animal. You didn't get to put in a credit card number and done deal. You literally went and sacrificed. And you literally took the meat yourself, and you delivered it to people.

So if you want to relive the spirit of Eid, one of the projects you and I will have to do is we take our children, we take our family, and we take them to people that are in need and we give them gifts. We actually take care of them physically. This is a reminder for you and for me of what Eid is about. That's what we're supposed to do. And that because their joy, those people that don't have happiness in their life, they have a lot of difficulty in their life. We become a source of their happiness, and their duas will become a source of our happiness.

Conclusion

May Allah make us an ummah whose hearts are truly united and are able