Eid-ul-Adha speech: Imaam Muhammed Shoayb Mehtar, Khadeeja Islamic Center; October 5^th 2014

 
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illallahu wa Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lillah hil hamd. Alhamdulillah, we have begun our morning reciting and acknowledging Allah (SWT)’s greatness, His invincibility, His mercy, His supremacy and His Kindness upon us . Very few cultures, religions, people, or individuals prepare themselves for a day of celebration with the supreme words of Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illallahu wa Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lillah hil hamd. Alhamdulillah.

Our holidays are not mere days of merrymaking — they are days to cleanse our hearts and link every pore of ourselves to Allah (SWT) and what Allah (SWT) prefers and likes for us to do. What is the way in which we can continue to remember Allah (SWT) in the way the He requires and desires? This question should always be in the forfront of our thinking.  It Is not an unfair question. Often we think about our enduation, our dinancial resources, etc. because these are things that are important to us. So are Thoughts regarding Allah (SWT). I too forget this from time to time —  however,  this is the time to put a halt to out negligence.

We need Allah (SWT) now more than ever before — on an individual, community, national, and with current conflicts, even on an international level. There is a raging fire in every home and this is not just linked to Salt Lake City, or just Utah. Muslims are going through a lot of difficulty wherever they are in the world. Don’t be fooled with the fancy cars in the parking lots, don’t be fooled with people playing the card of we are of such an such race and we are fine and better than others out there, don’t be fooled by people saying my son has this degree, my daughter works for so and so… it is all just a mirage. The Hadith of our Rasool (SAW) shares a simple yet deep parallel to our current reality —  a person is travelling and is seeking water. In the distance he sees it, he approaches it, only to find out that it was just a mirage — no water at all, just that shiny look that gave it an appearance and an allusion of water. This is what our lives have been reduced to – a mirage.

We live in America, supposedly the happiest country in the world. Let me ask you, did you ever have 3 consecutive days of happiness? 3 days that went by where you could have said: “I enjoyed these three awesome days of my life”? There was a fellow who said he was very confident, when he was asked what makes you so confident he said, ‘every morning I get up and I look in the mirror and say, “BOY… YOU GOOD! BOY… YOU GOOD! VERY BOY… YOU GOOD.” He added: ‘I have a low self-esteem, I so I had to do this’. We have to play mind games – we play it with others, some even play it on themselves – anything to feel good. For how long are we going to live in this massive hole of deception?

The preventing factors:

What are our limiting factors? We lack the ability to do a self-reflection on ourselves. A soul searching is lacking. Yes, we search for that20  dollar bill we lost, or we may even search for errors or discrepancies that would gain us a little worldly gain. But when it comes to a good dosage of self-reflection, we lack the time for it.

Another limiting factor: we just lack spiritual self-discipline. Major organizations have R&D departments. Why do they spend $10 million, $15 million to find out about themselves? Why do Coca-Cola and Pepsi spend millions of dollars for finding out the difference between 2 similar flavors they may have each produced? Why does Microsoft spend millions of dollars finding out who their shortcomings? Don’t they know who they are? Because money is important to them, being in business is important to them, success is important to them, being leaders in their field is critical to them. What is important to you my brother and sister?

My dear brothers and sisters, based on our current trends, let me tell you what I think is important to us as a people:  Dressing in a certain outfit.  Living a certain lifestyle. Saying my son or daughter has X degree, is going to X school. Why do we limit ourselves on valuing just these things as important to us? Because of our lopsided priorities everything that is bad is now viewed as good. Everything that is Haraam is now okay. My child, my sibling is dating, no problem! ‘They need to keep up with the times! They’ll look uncool in school if they don’t dress up for halloween. We make excuses for those that are close to us that are doing wrong! That is the low level that we have stooped to.  And we wonder why there is sorrow and grief in every house – one cannot be a leader and follower at the same time. Choose, and choose wisely what we want.

So how do we go about and create the appropriate change? (Ibraheim AS)

Someone tells you that you have cancer, you don’t care as much as having cancer as much as you are seeking a solution in life. You got a problem with me, the key is not just the problem, it is seeking of a solution that is critical. Everyone has problems affecting them. Our solutions to our problems in life comes in the manner in which Ibrahim (AS) took pride in part of his solution. He went into a self-reflective state. He began asking himself, ‘who am I, what am I, what is my obligation to my environment, to my Allah?’ Understand this one single principle: regardless of education, wealth, spirituality, lack of spirituality, every person who has ever attained great success has always known one thing – their strengths and their weaknesses. Study any country that went into long-lasting battle, not just dropping a few bombs. Look at the China Revolution and they had the British imposition on them. What was their goal? Japan, despite Hiroshima and Nagasaki said, ‘we will come back and become victorious with technology, with intelligence gathering and sharing — not weaponry.’ Any product you pick up today, chances are great that it is either from China or Japan. Your religious outfit was probably made in China. They valued the following 3 things greatly: they understood why they were, who they are, and the contribution they ought to be making (for their own good).

You and I, how do we identify ourselves? Through the phone we have? You go to a college campus today, everyone has their phone in their pocket, except for ‘iPhoners.’ People that have iPhones always have their phone in their hand, they use the littlest excuse to take out their phone and flash it – especially if it’s the i6… as if they are getting a share in Apple for buying an iPhone! (maybe a share from the apple they eat.) We identify ourselves with products, items, and things that we have, and with paper certificates. We do not identify with the contribution that we are making or ought to be making like the way Ibrahim (AS) contributed.

What Ibrahim (AS) did was very, very simple, yet complicated. He understood what he was all about. That which Allah (SWT) has created around him. He understood that every creation of Allah (SWT) has behind it only Allah (SWT) and only Allah (SWT). When you appreciate the Kitabullah (The Holy Qur’an) as the Book of Allah (SWT) then you read it, understand it, study it, and dedicate your life to it. When we don’t understand the value of Allah (SWT) then we get stuck in games, in social politics, in jobs, family issues, and those things my dear brothers and sisters begin to eat us up as an individual. When you are stuck in that game (video or else-wise), it eats you up. When you are stuck in family issues, it eats you up. People pay hundreds of dollars to therapists for one sentence: ‘distance yourself from the problem and look at the problem from an outside point of view.’ Come out of the problem, take yourself out of the environment and look from the outside, that is my family normal, is my business successful or does it have more potential, is my family really that great or are they really screwed up? These are the questions we have to ask ourselves.

Ask of people that not which will make you laugh, but that will make you cry. We don’t have this philosophy that we are working with. Ours is, ‘make it easy for me, man!’ A father came to the masjid and requested the Imam to make my child memorize the Qur’an in 6 months, whatever it takes. Whatever you want, we’ll give you, just make it happen. It’s very easy to superficially make someone a Haafidh, how? Tell them to go learn 3 ayah, they go, they come back and read it from memory. Now continue to do this until the end of the Qur’an, technically he/she has memorized the Qur’an. Why did this 17 year old kid want to memorize the Qur’an? Because my dad has promised me the latest Mercedes. My brothers and sisters, we are missing the point. The Qur’an is not a Book that we just read once from cover to cover or fool ourselves that we have memorized it by learning it without reviewing it at all thereafter. Being a Haafidh has two meanings, one is memorizer and the other is protector. One protects the Qur’an by two ways: the first way is safeguarding it, by making sure they memorize it cover to cover and recite it exactly in the way it was revealed to Rasulullah (SAW) with proper recitation or Tajweed. The other is by being a walking Qur’an, by emulating the Qur’an in their daily lives until the day they die. This 17 year old kid has not understood the value of himself, of the Qur’an, of his obligation to Allah (SWT). That is why he talked this way. This type of behavior is ruining our youth. There are no short tricks or shortcuts to success, worldly or spiritual.

We will end off with the issue of Ibrahim (AS) understanding his values and his relationship with Allah (SWT). In essence, he understood himself, this is Point 1. Point 2 is he understood the value of his family. He understood what a good wife is supposed to be all about. Understand my brothers, if you want to ruin a man or a family give him two things: a beautiful wife without character and a beautiful car with a messed up engine. Once people praise him when he sits and drives that car, make sure that engine is salvaged. People in the old days used to do this if they didn’t like someone or like a certain family. His life is ruined and those around him are ruined as well. Today’s time, you just have to make monthly payments for 5 or 10 years and there will be a big fight in the house regarding that. If you have a nice car, you have to nice clothes, a nice house, nice watches, nice jewelry… do you see the cycle? The Western system has got us sucked into this and it is causing problems in our lives and with our families.

Ibrahim (AS) understood his family, how his wife must be treated, which lady to go away from. We all know the story of Sarah and Hajar (AS). We all know the story of his sons and he treated his children. He understood himself, his community, his society, and he was able to deal with anyone, from the ordinary to the wealthy. From the king to his father to you name, he could deal with it. He had no need to be impressed with them. So know yourself, your family, your community, your nation. If you don’t know these things then you’ll know nothing. An individual who does not know themselves will never, ever know others. Insha’Allah let us these lessons of sacrifice for not just sacrificing of animals, but to gain spiritual cleansing and reduce our sins and make us feel spiritually invigorated. This in turn will make us closer to Allah (SWT) and make us think of Ibrahim (AS)’s sacrifice. Ismail (AS) was a young man like every young boy who wants to live a life, have a good time and enjoy, and have a great future. He said to his father Ibrahim (AS), ‘If Allah said that you must sacrifice me then Allah is right and you must do it.’ This is exactly what has to go through our mind when we buy that animal share. We must take our life and put it under our shoe. Our heads are on top and they get arrogant from time to time. As a scholar said, ‘take the forlocks of your hair, put it under your feet and walk on it.’ Then we will realize that we are not that great, we are weak, we are vulnerable, and we are not invincible as we think we are. Then we’ll gain more priority as to who we are and what we ought to be and what contributions we need to continue making.

May Allah (SWT) help us and guide us at all times, Ameen.