By His Eminence Sheikh Majid Abu Saad in “Al-Amama” magazine, July 2022:
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Eid is called ‘Eid’ because it returns with joy and happiness, and every day in which God Almighty is not disobeyed is an Eid, meaning a day of true joy because it contains the pleasure of the One who is capable of making you and your brothers happy or miserable if He is pleased or displeased, and in His pleasure and being near Him lies the greatest happiness.
The worldly life is the farm for the Hereafter, and the prize promised to the righteous since the dawn of time is the reward of the Hereafter; it is a day absent from their senses, yet they believe in the unseen and are certain of the Day of Recompense.
In this world, there is joy for the obedient in their obedience, like the joy of travelers in the desert of wandering, gathered in a caravan brought together by a journey, carrying provisions for the trip, a light to guide them through the desolate night, and signs to lead them on their path until the morning rises, and the people praise the night journey.
Their provision is their deeds, their light is their Book, and their signs are their scholars; they are insightful regarding their affairs, certain that they are walking the path of salvation. They possess the knowledge of certainty regarding the promised, and the eye of certainty regarding the fulfillment of the promises.
Thus, the happy journey of striving had to be embodied, so it was expressed through blessed days, for which God Almighty swore by their sanctity and the virtue of working in them; these are the first ten days of Dhu al-Hijjah, as the Almighty said: “And by ten nights.” These days represent the progression of advancement in the worldly realm.
The day of crowning, harvesting, and declaring total joy was expressed as the Eid, which recurs in this world every year, where the obedient soul ascends a degree on the ladder of rising until it reaches the peak of its reward in the Resurrection, receiving the abundant goodness from its Generous Lord.
Indeed, We have granted you the Kawthar
The Almighty said to His noble Prophet: “Indeed, We have granted you the Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off.” This is an invitation to the Prophet to pray and sacrifice as gratitude for the gift already bestowed by the Bestower, as a token of trust in the total gift of the Hereafter, which no ear has heard, no eye has seen, and has not crossed the heart of any human. The monotheists return with this initial favor to the manifestation of the Generous Lord in the time of primordial nature: “Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes.”
Commentators, including Al-Baydawi, have said that the prayer and sacrifice refer to the Eid al-Adha prayer, purely for the sake of God, and the sacrifice of the camels, which are the choice of the Arabs' wealth. God Almighty said in a Hadith Qudsi: “O My servant, I am Generous, so be generous; I am Merciful, so be merciful; I am Appreciative, so be appreciative.”
If His favor precedes our acts of worship and sacrifice—meaning He gave us His grace before we thanked Him for it—and He promised reward in His saying: “I am Appreciative, so be appreciative,” because gratitude from Him, the Almighty, is the reward. His saying: “If you are grateful, I will surely increase you,” is nothing but a condition for increase after gratitude for the grace He has already provided, as a token of trust to strengthen the belief in the beautiful grace that is awaited.
The Hadith Qudsi corresponds to Surat Al-Kawthar in the Almighty’s saying: “Whoever shows enmity to a guardian (Wali) of Mine, I have declared war against him. And My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him; and My servant continues to draw near to Me with voluntary deeds until I love him. And when I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he strikes...”
The Hadith Qudsi explains that being His guardian (Wali) is by drawing near to Him through obligatory acts, but one who tastes the sweetness of worship yearns for more through voluntary acts, through which he endears himself to God, worshipping Him with desire, longing, love, and comfort in His company: “I am the companion of whoever remembers Me.”
The prayer of love and the sacrifice of affection have no condition other than a deep feeling of the value of the gift, pleasure, delight, and joy in it—a happy Eid, and every new year gaining more from the One whose gifts never end.
If the noble verse “Indeed, We have granted you the Kawthar” restricted His guardianship to the Eid prayer and the sacrifice of animals, which is the act of sacrifice, then the monotheists’ entire lives are a sacrifice, and the conclusion of their times is renewed Eids, and this is Al-Adha in its highest meanings.
Every prayer of obedience is an Eid, and every sacrifice of obedience is an Eid for those who understand the meaning of drawing near through remembrance and spending in the path of God, for it is a deposit in the treasures of the Kingdom that one sees with the eye of certainty. This is the hallmark of the righteous, of whom the Lord of the Worlds said: “Indeed, the righteous will be among gardens and springs.”
Celestial gardens and spiritual Kawthar springs, receiving what their Lord has brought them, for they were before that doers of good. They used to sleep but little of the night, and in the hours before dawn they would ask for forgiveness, and in their wealth was a right for the needy and the deprived.”
Their night prayer and their ritual prayer are kindness to themselves, and their righteousness toward their brothers is also kindness to them, until the abundant kindness overflows upon them: “And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes as reward for what they used to do.”
The Most Precious Sacrifices
The story of our master Joseph the Truthful, peace be upon him, in the history of humanity was the most beautiful of stories, containing three sacrifices that we need at all times.
The sacrifice of repentance: The repentance of Joseph’s brothers, who were transformed by the grace of their Creator from selfishness and ego to altruism and sacrifice by saying to him when he kept Benjamin: “Take one of us in his place, for we see that you are of the doers of good.” They offered themselves as a ransom after Satan had tempted them to distance him to monopolize their father’s love, and they said, repentant: “Indeed, we were sinners.”
The sacrifice of Jacob: Greater than that, the sacrifice of beautiful patience without objection or complaint despite the magnitude of the affliction. The journey of patience and steadfastness bore the fruit of the honor of meeting in glory and happiness. It is an invitation for us in the difficulty of this period to hold onto our religion like one holding onto burning coals, with patience and certainty, to win the treasure of Paradise.
And the sacrifice of Joseph: The highest of the sacrifices, through pardon and forgiveness: “No reproach upon you today; God will forgive you, and He is the Most Merciful of the merciful,” despite the harm they caused him. It is a lofty divine character that elevates whoever adopts it to the highest honor, just as Joseph was elevated over his brothers, father, and mother, occupying the throne of supreme glory. This matches the noble Hadith: “Connect with those who cut you off, give to those who deny you, and forgive those who wrong you.” In each one of these is an Eid Al-Adha that exceeds every other offering.
And the Lord Christ, peace be upon him, who brought the law of hope, said: “As you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” It is as if he summarized his blessed message in one word: forgiveness. Its light shone in the Holy Book in the blessed Surat An-Nur: “And let them pardon and overlook. Would you not like that God should forgive you? And God is Forgiving and Merciful.”
So let the servants follow their Lord in pardoning and forgiving those who offend them, and excellent is the reward of the doers of good.
