Eid Mubarak

Eid is a day made by Allah to mark a special event and a blessed event. It is a day in which Muslims around the world gather to perform the sacred and religious sacrifice in the blessed land. This is another day from the days of Hajj which denotes the Sacrifice made by Ibrahim عليه اسلام.

Allah states:

لَن يَنَالَ اللَّهَ لُحُومُهَا وَلَا دِمَاؤُهَا وَلَكِن يَنَالُهُ التَّقْوَى مِنكُمْ كَذَلِكَ سَخَّرَهَا لَكُمْ لِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَى مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

"Their flesh and their blood reach not Allah, but the devotion/piety from you reaches Him. Thus have we made them subject to you that you may magnify Allah that He has guided you..."

[Surah al-Hajj - 22:37]

POINT

This is the day where, although we enjoy ourselves, we should remember the sacrifice that Hadhrat Ibrahim عليه اسلام made for the sake and pleasure of Allah Ta'ala. It is a day within which many pilgrims have sacrificed their desires, comfort and families to complete one of the pillars of Islam whilst bearing hardship to seek the pleasure of Allah and acquiring closeness to Him.

May Allah allow us to enjoy this day in its true meaning whilst giving us the understanding to realise that this day is about sacrifice for the sake of Allah and not following one's desires to displease Allah. Aameen.

Eid Mubarak to all the readers.

Interview

My friend had an interview a short while back; an interview which I believe was fairly easy and straightforward in achieving results. He was given a paper with possible questions that would be presented to him which he was to provide answers for.

Obviously, life isn’t always that simple and there would be other questions asked from him which were not mentioned on the paper he received. However, with the interview time being limited, I would have thought that providing good answers would leave him with limited time for questions that were not on the paper.

Well, I met my friend the day before and I was astonished to see that he was relaxing in his room with no concern about his interview. When I asked him regarding this he simply replied “it’s okay, I’ll be fine”.

I found it to be quite funny as well as disturbing that he was hoping to achieve results without having done any work or preparation for that result.

POINT

In life there are many things that we aim to achieve yet we fail to plan and exercise effort in achieving this.

The example of this foolishness is the example of a person who intends to travel south but takes the road that leads to the north.

These are all worldly matters; I pondered over my friend’s attitude and realised that we sometimes have the same attitude in our religious affairs:

الكيس من دان نفسه و عمل لما بعد الموت؛ و العاجز من اتبع نفسه هواها و تمني علي الله

“The intelligent person is he who subdues his desires and works for that which comes after death; and the foolish person is he who follows his desire and has (vain) hopes in Allah”

[Sunan Tirmidhi]

A person who pursues his desires and does what his heart desires then hopes for the mercy and favours of Allah is a foolish person. It is important for an individual to understand what is required from him and then to make an effort in achieving, thereafter leaving it in the hands and of Allah.

May Allah give us all the inclination to control our desires and to become intelligent in the way Allah has shown us and not to be foolish by following our desires readily whilst having false hope in the mercy and forgiveness of Allah. Aameen.