By Ustadh Dr Adekunle Mikail
We thank the oft-knowledgeable , forgiving and powerful Allah, who can do all things as He can make all things from nothing and remake them into nothingness!
Exalted is He, the Lord of all seasonings! He Has made the seconds of time into its minutes and the minutes into hours! The hours in their circumambulation have moved, sometimes like a snail and sometimes like the light, to become days and days to weeks!
When weeks of the years are spreading like fire in the harmattan, they will probably reach their apogee in months and when their days are 365 , another year will be making!
- And we say to Him as He Had said to Himself in His evergreen Book ,the glorious Qur’an as follows:
‘‘ So glory be to Allah,
When you reach eventide
And when you rise
In the morning; - ” Yes,to Him be praise,
In the heavens and on earth;
And in the late afternoon
And when the day
Begins to decline. - ” Among His signs is this,
That He created you
From dust; and then,-
Behold, you are men
Scattered (far and wide)! - ” Among His signs
Is this, that He created
For you mates from among
Yourselves, that you may
Dwell in tranquility with them,
And He has put love
And mercy between your hearts:
Verily in that are signs
For those who reflect. - ” And among His signs
Is the creation of the heavens
And the earth, and the variations
In your languages
And your colours: verily
In that are signs
For those who know.”
Qur’an 30 vs 17- 22
For the movements of the second to minute and the minute to hour and hour to day and the day to week and the week to month and month into year, we celebrate festivals which are as ancient as the time of the life we are living!
In Islam, we are given two festivals to celebrate. The one that resembles their third is weekly! I.e the Friday of every week in which a special prayer and khutbah (godly speech) are rendered to serenade Allah for His bounty of blessing on human beings!
Therefore, the two festivals or Eids in Islam are : Edul- Fitri and Edul- Adha!
The Edul-Fitri is celebrated in commemoration of the termination of the blessed Ramadan month in which Muslims had fasted for that whole month in other to be rejuvenated in faith and so that they may be righteous!
Some two months and some days after the celebration of Edul-Fitri, there will be another celebration entitled Eidul- Adha! in commemoration of the of faith’s readiness to sacrifice his only son Ismail, then to God as a fulfilment of his promise when he was so pressed to have a child!
When Ismail had reached the age of seriousness , Ibrahim, the father told him in the Quranic language as follows:
- ” O my son!
I have seen in a dream
That I offer you in sacrifice:
Now see what is your view!
The son said:
” O my father! Do as you are commanded :
You will find me,
If Allah so wills
As one of the steadfast; - ” So when they had both
Submitted to Allah,
And he had laid him
Prostrate on his forehead
For sacrifice - ” We called out to him,
O Ibrahim!
You has already fulfilled
The dream! Thus indeed do we reward
Those who do right - ” For this was a clear trial-
And we ransomed him
With a momentous sacrifice - ” And we left
For him among generations
To come ,(his remembrance) in later times: - ” Peace and salutation
To Abraham!”
Thus indeed do we reward
Those who do right!”
This vision, according to Islamic tradition, occurred near Makkah in the valley of Mina, six miles north of Makkah , where commemoration sacrifice is annually celebrated as a rite of Hajj on the tenth of Zul-Hijjah, the Eid of sacrifice , in memory of this sacrifice of Ibrahim and Isma’il!
As for those in every region of earth ,who is not in Hajj in Makkah, he will also sacrifice his ram and some rites where he is domiciled!
‘Arafah Day As The Day Of Highest Hajj
The glorious Qur’an has tagged the day of ‘Arafah as the day of the highest Hajj! It is the ninth (9th) day of zul-hijjah and a day prior to the day of sacrifice in commemoration of Ibrahim and Isma’il selfless faith in fulfilling their promise to God!
On this day, it is required for those that are not in Makkah to engage themselves in two meritorious acts according to the prophetic guidance!
The first one is that ,it is advisable that they chant the praise statement as follows : ” La ilaha I’lla
-Allah, wahdahu lasarika-lahu, lahul- mulku, walahu -l- hamdu, wahuwa -‘ala- kulli saehin qadiir”
The basis for this the chanting of this praise statement is the words of the prophet salla-llahu alehi wasalam as follows:
” The best of prayer is the prayer of the day of ‘Arafah. I and the prophets before me used to chant it ” Related by al-Tirmidhi
The second act of worship for those that are not in Hajj, is to fast an optional fasting this day! The prophet salla-llahu alehi wasalam was asked about this fasting and he had replied as follows:
” It erases the sins of the past year and the incoming one”
As for those who are fortunate to be in the Hajj, he would only be chanting the praise statement but will not engage himself in any fasting!
The wisdom behind this is that there are many righteous acts of worship the one in Makkah will engage in. And for him to have strength to be able to perform them well, he is exempted from the fasting !
Praying The Eid’s Prayer
Every Muslim, including women, aged people and ladies that are in their menstrual period are advised to congregate in their praying ground on the day of the sacrifice which is the 10th day of Zul- Hijjah!
They will be chanting : La-ilaha illa-llahu, alhamdulillah, Allahu-Akbar ! He who abandon the Eid prayer, among the men, without a cogent alibi, is a pure sinner and he has to repent !
A Special Sunnah On The Day Of Eidul- Adha
A special sunnah on the day of Edul-Adha is to abandon food when going to the praying ground for those who have animals to be sacrificed! If it is the Edul-Fitri, they are allowed to eat!
They want them to eat from their sacrifice as the first food on that day!
Those Who Have The Means To Sacrifice Animals But Refused Should Not Come To Our Praying Grounds!
As for those that possess the wherewithal to sacrifice animals to commemorate the efforts of the father of faith and his dutiful son, are advised not to be present in the praying grounds with other righteous servants of God!
This is contained in the hadith of the prophet salla-llahu alehi wasalam as follows :
”He who has the means but do not wish to sacrifice animal, must not come near our praying ground!”
It is an affront and a great sin to be spared another year; given means and to have health and to not want to obey the provider, Allah’ s commandment!
Sacrificing animals, it must be noted, during Eidul-Adha, is a semi-obligatory act of worship in Islam! It only becomes obligatory when a Muslim has the means and does not want to sacrifice them!
Sacrificing Animals During Eidul-Adha For The Dead Ones Are Null And Void In Islam
Sacrificing animals during the Eidul-Adha for those that had met their fates are not obligatory nor it is recommended in Islam! The positions of the scholars on it are:
– That animal can be sacrificed in the name of a dead Muslim only when he had made provision for it in his bequest that out of the wealth he left behind, animal should be sacrificed for him during Eidul-Adha!
– That the intention for sacrificing animal in the name of the dead alongside the living may be made by the children of the deceased when offering their animals! This is even the practice of prophet Muhammad salla-llahu alehi wasalam as he would make intention when sacrificing animal for himself, his households, the entire Muslims, the living and the dead among them!
The animals to be sacrificed during the Eidul-Adha are : cattle, camel, ram , sheep and goat! Their ages to be sacrificed are: two years for the cattle, five years for the camel, six month for the sheep and ram, and a whole year for goat!
The animals to be sacrificed must also be freed of defects of the eyes, general illness, defects of the limbs and defects of the wombs!
The Time Of Eidul-Adha Is Not For Boozing And Sinning At All!
May we have the cause and opportunity to celebrate many of it with God’s grace! The time of Eidul-Adha however, should not be chosen for the display of the time of ignorance such as boozing, shouting, drumming and sinning!
Although, it is a time of drinking legal drinks, eating permitted foods, merrymaking ( prescribed ones) and the time of Allah’s remembrance!
Numbers Of Days Of Celebration Of Eidul-Adha
The numbers of days of sacrifice are also four according to the prophey’s statement are four! The day of Eidul-Adha and three days after it!
May we have a fulfilled celebration and many of it mansha-llah!
