Eid-ul-Fitr is a festival celebrated by millions of Muslims around the world at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Fasting is obligatory upon all healthy Muslims who are not travelling or subject to certain other conditions. The word Eid-ul-Fitr is comprised of two separate words: Eid and Fitr. The word Eid means something which returns over and over. Hence, Eid refers to the kind of happiness which comes again and again. The word Fitr means to break or open the fast. Hence, Eid-ul-Fitr is the oft-returning festival of the breaking of the fast. We are grateful to reach once again the month of Ramadan whose beginning is mercy, middle is forgiveness, and end is salvation from the hell. We endeavored to seek the consent of Almighty Allah day and night, with fasting, Tarawih and so on throughout the month of Ramadan. We tried to worship more, increase our acts of benevolence, increase our patience and repentance, and nourish ourselves with the Quran, and be embellished with Taqwah (piety). While practicing the Sunnah of our Prophet (SAW), we shared our food with our loved ones and the people in need at Iftar tables. We prayed that our Zakat and Sadaqah save us from the hunger for wealth and property, and from the greed of the world. While we felt the joy of being Ummah in our mosques where Takbirs and Salawats were heard, we also refreshed our awareness of servitude to Almighty Allah with Itikaf. We reviewed the past years, repented for our mistakes and sins, and sought refuge in the forgiveness of Almighty Allah. Eid is a bestowal of Almighty Allah the Exalted (SWT) to His servants who fasted in the month of Ramadan. Today is the time to come close to each other, to open the doors of our hearts and homes, and to share our happiness. Today is the time to bring the hope, gratitude, and joy of being a believer who rejoined with the Eid to all the places we go. Then, let us experience this joy with our parents, who deserve respect and kindness most, with our wives who are our faithful companions and the witnesses of our bad and good days, and with our children who are the little sources of joy and hope in our houses.
The month of Ramadan has come to an end, may the Barakah and sincerity of the month of Ramadan always be in our lives. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said “O people! Spread salaam amongst you, share foods with each other, observe your kinship relations and establish prayer while people sleep so that you can enter heaven safely.”
Let us visit family elders, relatives, neighbors, and friends. Let us ask each patient around us of their condition, and make each old person around us happy. Let us add meaning to our Eid with the smile of the orphans, and people in need and lonely. In the morning of this Eid, let us end the resentments and offenses between us as brothers and sisters with whom we turn to the same Qiblah shoulder to shoulder. Let us strengthen the bonds of affection and trust between us by obeying the divine command of “The believers are but brothers.” Let us remember our relatives who passed away and our glorious martyrs. Let us raise our hands and beg to Almighty Allah for our Muslim brothers and sisters in trouble, and pray that Almighty Allah let them experience the Eid to which they will also reach in peace, tranquility, and security. The mosques must be filled with people not only at Tarawih but also five times a day; the tables of the people in need must be filled with food not only at Iftar but also all the time; and the vitality of fasting and the generosity of Sadaqah should be spread over the year. Indeed, the Almighty Allah invites us to spend every moment of our lives with the consciousness of servitude by stating in the Holy Quran, “And serve thy Lord until there come unto thee the hour that is certain.” The month of Ramadan has come to an end, may the Barakah and sincerity of the month of Ramadan always be in our lives. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said “O people! Spread salaam amongst you, share foods with each other, observe your kinship relations and establish prayer while people sleep so that you can enter heaven safely.”
[email protected]