Islamabad, Tilford, 22 April 2023: At approximately 11:00 BST, on Saturday, 22 April 2023, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih Vaa arrived in the Mubarak Mosque to lead the congregation in Eid-ul-Fitr prayer and then deliver the Eid sermon.
The jubilant atmosphere in Islamabad saw scores of Ahmadis – men, women and children – gathered to offer their Eid prayers behind Hazrat Amirul Momineenaa and listen to his sermon.
After the Eid prayer, Huzooraa recited the tashahhud, ta‘awwuz, Surah al-Fatihah and verse 37 of Surah an-Nisa:
وَاعۡبُدُوا اللّٰہَ وَلَا تُشۡرِکُوۡا بِہٖ شَیۡئًا وَّبِالۡوَالِدَیۡنِ اِحۡسَانًا وَّبِذِی الۡقُرۡبٰی وَالۡیَتٰمٰی وَالۡمَسٰکِیۡنِ وَالۡجَارِ ذِی الۡقُرۡبٰی وَالۡجَارِ الۡجُنُبِ وَالصَّاحِبِ بِالۡجَنۡۢبِ وَابۡنِ السَّبِیۡلِ ۙ وَمَا مَلَکَتۡ اَیۡمَانُکُمۡ ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ لَا یُحِبُّ مَنۡ کَانَ مُخۡتَالًا فَخُوۡرَا
“And worship Allah and associate naught with Him, and show kindness to parents, and to kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and to the neighbour that is a kinsman and the neighbour that is a stranger, and the companion by your side, and the wayfarer, and those whom your right hands possess. Surely, Allah loves not the proud and the boastful.” (Surah an-Nisa, Ch.4: V.37)
Huzooraa said that it is Allah’s grace that He enabled us to pass through another Ramadan. There would be plenty of people whom Allah granted the opportunity to worship Him and who saw the graces of Allah. “Therefore, it is a great mercy of Allah that he enabled lots of us to fulfil the rights of Allah and His creation in a better manner in these 30 days.”
While celebrating Eid, we should vow to continue the goodness of Ramadan for the rest of the year as well. We should try to establish our standards of worship as Allah wants us to and as the Promised Messiahas described – something Huzooraa referred to in his Friday Sermon yesterday.
While fulfilling Allah’s rights, we should also fulfil the rights of humanity, as Allah has instructed us. A society that fulfils the rights of Allah’s creation along with His rights is a society that is heavenly and that brings true happiness. Thus, everyone should try to establish this so that Eid’s true happiness reaches us throughout the year.
Huzooraa said he would focus his Eid sermon on fulfilling the rights of Allah’s creation. However, one thing Huzooraa needed to mention was that the Holy Prophetsa said that the one who worships on the nights of both the Eids for the sake of Allah will have his heart live on forever and his heart will not die until all others’ hearts die. Huzooraa said the happiness of Eid and its celebration should not make us forget the rights we owe to Allah – we must keep our Hereafter in mind. This worldly life is not our ultimate purpose. When we act upon this, we will be granted the life that is the true life and from which we will gain Allah’s pleasure.
Huzooraa said: “May Allah enable us to fulfil the rights of worship and enable us to keep our hearts illumined, tonight and in all other nights to come.”
Concerning the rights we owe to Allah’s creation, the Quran says that if one does not fulfil these rights, they are arrogant.
Surah an-Nisa, verse 37 of the Quran, mentions those people of whom we are to fulfil our rights from among Allah’s creation. Allah says that after abstaining from shirk and fulfilling the rights of Allah’s worship, the most important right we must fulfil is that towards our parents. We should not think that our service to our parents is some kind of repayment to them. No matter what, we must not even express our annoyance towards our parents. We are in debt to our parents. We must treat them with kindness and obey them, however, with regard to religion, if they differ, then we can part ways in terms of religion.
Allah tells us to pray the following supplication for our parents:
رَّبِّ ارۡحَمۡہُمَا کَمَا رَبَّیٰنِیۡ صَغِیۡرًا
“‘My Lord, have mercy on them even as they nourished me in my childhood.’” (Surah Bani Isra’il, Ch.17: V.25)
When one keeps this prayer in mind, one will be able to recall all the services our parents gave us.
Huzooraa said some men may stop their wives from serving their parents and some women may believe that after marriage their responsibilities towards their parents have diminished. However, it is incumbent upon women to serve their parents even after marriage. Where they help their in-laws, they should also continue helping their parents and serving them. Huzooraa said we should help and serve all our familial relations.
Huzooraa said:
“I would like to make it clear to those husbands who stop their wives from serving their parents – lots of complaints come in this regard – and those wives who stop their husbands serving their parents, that both should rectify their ways.”
Allah instructs us in the Quran to be kind and considerate towards our family relations. The Holy Prophetsa said that the one who desires worldly wealth and sustenance, or wants to have a long life, or desires others to remember him in a positive manner, should take care of family relations. Thus, this secret to worldly blessings is given to us by the Holy Prophetsa.
The Prophetsa said that even if our family does not respond in a good manner to our good dealing with them, we will still have the upper hand if we continue our good manners and morals towards them despite their reaction.
The Holy Prophetsa said we should take great care of orphans and include them within our society. The Prophetsa said the one who takes care of an orphan “will be as close to me as these two fingers” and the prophet displayed his fingers together. By Allah’s grace, we have a special fund for orphans called the Yatama Fund. Huzooraa said people give to orphans during Ramadan, but we should also spend for orphans on Eid as well. Huzooraa said there were some who gave to this orphan fund very consistently, but the needs are much higher. Despite this, the Jamaat does fulfil these needs.
The Prophetsa said, “If you desire for your heart to be softened, then give food to the needy and put your hand upon the heads of the orphans.” Huzooraa said that for our spiritual progress, we must take care of the orphans and the needy – this certainly did require hard work and spending, even out of the little we have. Huzooraa said by reducing our spending and using that money to spend on the needy and the orphans, we will certainly gain Allah’s grace. Those who are financially able and affluent should give more.
Allah says true believers are those who spend on the needy and the orphans by sacrificing their own wealth and with a great desire to serve them.
Huzooraa said there were many other funds in the Jamaat to help those in need, for example, the fund for helping the poor get married (i.e., Maryam Shadi Fund). Huzooraa said all Jamaat members should contribute to this fund and wealthy Ahmadis should contribute more.
The Promised Messiahas said that Ahmadis should show compassion to everyone, no matter their religion. This service to humanity should be without any blemish of arrogance. It should be solely for Allah’s pleasure and for His sake. The Quran says true believers ask for no reward from the poor (after giving to them) and neither do they ask for their names to be promoted.
Allah states, we should be kind to our neighbours, whether we know them or not. Huzooraa said:
“Thus, on the day of Eid, giving gifts to neighbours – or even meeting them in a cordial manner – creates such a society that is full of peace. And in a non-Muslim society, if we have such good relationships with our neighbours, then the propagation of Islam will be carried out as well” and people will see the true picture of Islam. This deed will be a goodness that affects the wider society and is of great merit.
Huzooraa said that “the extent of the teachings of serving humanity that are found in Islam cannot be found in any other religion” and when people find this out, they start seeing Islam in a better light.
Huzooraa said we must create a beautiful society amongst ourselves too – in business, in family and in all other aspects of our lives. For Allah’s sake, we must continue our family relationships and be good neighbours to all.
Allah says we must also take care of those who work under us. No injustice or display of arrogance should be shown towards them.
Huzooraa said: “True worshippers are those who fulfil the rights of humanity along with the rights of Allah. They should not only fight for their own rights but have a passion to fight for the rights of others too.”
If we understand this teaching of Allah the Almighty, then we will give true happiness to our existence. Our Eids will not be fleeting – rather, every day will be an Eid for us. If we do not fulfil the rights of humanity, then we should keep in mind that Allah calls such people arrogant and boastful and Allah despises such people.
Huzooraa prayed that may Allah always enable us to always rectify ourselves, may we always fulfil the rights of each other according to the teaching of Allah, may we overlook all our internal disputes and move towards peace, and while doing justice to the Bai‘at we have given to the Promised Messiahas, may we make every second of our life according to the true Eid. May Allah make this Eid a great blessing for everyone.
Huzooraa led a silent prayer at the end.
Huzooraa said to pray for all of humanity, especially those hungry and thirsty people who are suffering in Sudan these days. Despite them being Muslims, they are not only bereft of the happiness of Eid but are also seeing cruelty by other Muslims towards them. Huzooraa said that may Allah give guidance to their leaders and protect such people. We do not have the physical strength to help these people, but we can help them with our prayers.
Huzooraa said to pray for all those Ahmadis who were suffering great atrocities because of their faith. To pray for those imprisoned in the way of Allah, for the families of the martyred, for those who are ill and in need, to pray for all kinds of immorality and shirk to be removed from the world, to pray for the whole of the Muslims Ummah to get rid of the internal conflicts that are weakening them and for them to accept the Imam of the Age.
Huzooraa said, “The salvation and solution to the internal conflicts of the Muslim Ummah lies in accepting the Imam of the Age. When the Muslim world unites that will be our true Eid – the true Eid for the Muslim world. May Allah enable us to see this sight.”
Huzooraa ended with reading out a prayer of the Promised Messiahas.