Title of the Sermon: The Sacrifice, O Allah, From You and For You: Eid al-Adha Sermon.
Elements of the Sermon
1. The Virtue of the Sacrifice.
2. And We Ransomed Him with a Great Sacrifice.
3. Sacrificing for Allah is the Way of Life for Believers.
4. Free Yourself and Win in This World and the Hereafter.
Praise be to Allah, the Most High, the Most Great, the Exalted, the Supreme, for whom honor is a garment and majesty is a robe. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. May Allah exalt and send peace to him, his family, and his companions abundantly.
To proceed:
O servants of Allah, fear Allah with true piety, and observe Him in secret and in private,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
"O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims" (Alu ‘Imran:102).
Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. There is no god but Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, and to Allah belongs all praise.
Allah is the Greatest, truly the Greatest. Allah is the Greatest and the Most Majestic. Allah is the Greatest, and to Allah belongs all praise.
Today is the greatest day in the sight of Allah.
The Prophet ﷺ said: "The greatest day in the sight of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is the Day of Sacrifice, followed by the Day of Rest." Narrated by Abu Dawood.
Today, Muslims all around the world follow the command of the Lord of the worlds:
فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ
"Thus, pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone]" (Al-Kawthar: 2).
Indeed, prayer, the noblest of physical acts of worship, and sacrifice, the noblest of financial acts of worship, are the most exalted means of drawing close to Allah. Today, Muslims perform the Eid prayer and then sacrifice their offerings to Allah as a form of worship and devotion, with their acts of obedience marked by "O Allah, from You and to You."
This is what the Prophet ﷺ said when he sacrificed his offering. Jabir ibn Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "The Prophet ﷺ slaughtered two horned rams, black and white in color, on the Day of Sacrifice. When he faced them towards the qiblah, he said: 'I have turned my face to Him who created the heavens and the earth, inclining toward truth, and I am not of those who associate others with Allah. Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. He has no partner, and of this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims. O Allah, [this is] from You and for You. In the name of Allah, and Allah is the Greatest,' then he sacrificed them." Narrated by Abu Dawood.
The way of Ibrahim, the close servant of Allah, who submitted and surrendered to the command of Allah along with his son Ismail, peace be upon them.
Allah commanded His friend Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail, and he submitted, obeyed, and complied. He went to his son and said:
يَا بُنَيَّ إِنِّي أَرَى فِي الْمَنَامِ أَنِّي أَذْبَحُكَ فَانْظُرْ مَاذَا تَرَى قَالَ يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ مَا تُؤْمَرُ سَتَجِدُنِي إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الصَّابِرِينَ
"O my son, indeed I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice you, so see what you think." He said: "O my father, do as you are commanded. You will find me, if Allah wills, of the steadfast" (Al-Saffat: 102).
How great this trial was! That a father would willingly sacrifice his only son, whom he was granted in old age, out of obedience and submission to Allah. And that the young son would submit to the command of his Lord, willingly offering himself to be sacrificed. Allah said:
فَلمَّا أَسْلَمَا وَتَلَّهُ لِلْجَبِينِ * وَنَادَيْنَاهُ أَنْ يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ * قَدْ صَدَّقْتَ الرُّؤْيَا إِنَّا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ * إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْبَلَاءُ الْمُبِينُ * وَفَدَيْنَاهُ بِذِبْحٍ عَظِيمٍ
"And when they had both submitted and he put him down upon his forehead, We called to him, 'O Ibrahim, You have fulfilled the vision.' Indeed, We thus reward the doers of good. Indeed, this was the clear trial. And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice" (Al-Saffat: 103-107).
And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice! The test and trial demonstrated the immense love for the Lord of the worlds in Ibrahim's heart, showing that he placed no love or command above that of Allah, not even his son Ismail.
The believer whose faith is firmly established in his heart and whose love for Allah is immense, his life and death are for Allah. His own self and everything he owns become insignificant if Allah commands and it pleases Him, because he is certain that his self, wealth, child, and all he possesses are from Allah and His grace.
And this is the truth: "O Allah, from You and to You."
The motto of his life, as Allah says:
قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ * لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
"Say, 'Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. He has no partner. And of this I have been commanded, and I am the first [among you] of the Muslims" (Al-An’am: 162-163).
The believer remembers through the ransom that Allah provided for Ismail that he must ransom himself from Allah's punishment.
Did our Prophet ﷺ not say to his beloved daughter Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her: "O Fatimah, save yourself from the Fire, for I do not possess for you [the power to avert] anything from Allah"? Narrated by Muslim.
And he said to her: "Save yourself from Allah’s punishment. I cannot avail you anything from Allah." Narrated by Bukhari.
Allah has commanded His servants to worship Him alone without associating partners with Him. He has prescribed obligations and forbidden prohibitions. However, a person is often conflicted within himself, pulled by his desires, and whispered to by his devil. Thus, the struggle ensues: will he prioritize what Allah loves and is pleased with, ascending in the ranks of Paradise, or will he prioritize what his soul desires, descending into the depths of Hellfire?
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Every person goes out in the morning and sells his soul, either freeing it or bringing about its ruin." Narrated by Muslim.
Every human being is either striving for the destruction of his soul or for its salvation. Whoever strives in obedience to Allah has sold his soul to Allah and freed it from His punishment. But whoever strives in disobedience to Allah has sold his soul to humiliation and ruined it with sins that incur Allah’s wrath and punishment.
There are only two paths, two transactions, two sales:
Either you sell yourself and what you own to the Lord of the worlds, so you have no choice but to follow Allah’s command and the command of His Messenger ﷺ, and you do not place the love of anyone above the love and pleasure of Allah. In return, the reward is a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth because you favored Allah, so He favored you and chose you for closeness and bliss.
Or a person sells himself to his devil, follows his desires, and is deceived by false hopes. He will lose himself and find it only in the depths of Hell in this world and the Hereafter. Did you not hear Allah's words:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُمْ بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَيَقْتُلُونَ وَيُقْتَلُونَ وَعْدًا عَلَيْهِ حَقًّا فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَالْإِنْجِيلِ وَالْقُرْآنِ وَمَنْ أَوْفَى بِعَهْدِهِ مِنَ اللَّهِ فَاسْتَبْشِرُوا بِبَيْعِكُمُ الَّذِي بَايَعْتُمْ بِهِ وَذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ
"Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed. [It is] a true promise [binding] upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur'an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah? So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment" (Al-Tawbah: 111)?
By Allah, what a great and precious contract this is, the one made by the Lord of the worlds with His believing servants, who sold their lives and properties to please Allah, thus achieving great success and winning the ultimate victory.
Did you not hear about what Suhaib Ar-Rumi, may Allah be pleased with him, did?
When Suhaib Ar-Rumi, may Allah be pleased with him, wanted to emigrate, the disbelievers of Quraysh said to him: "You came to us as a poor, destitute man, then you accumulated wealth among us and reached what you have reached, and now you want to leave with your wealth? By Allah, that will not happen." Suhaib said: "What if I leave my wealth for you, will you let me go?" They said: "Yes." So he gave them his wealth, and when this reached the Prophet ﷺ, he said: "Suhaib has succeeded, Suhaib has succeeded." Narrated by Ibn Hibban.
Yes, by Allah, the sale was successful, and Suhaib triumphed when he gained the pleasure of Allah, Blessed and Exalted.
What has he lost who has gained Allah’s pleasure, and what has he gained who has incurred Allah’s wrath? Allah says:
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ رَءُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ
"And of the people is he who sells himself, seeking means to the approval of Allah. And Allah is kind to [His] servants" (Al-Baqarah: 207).
O servant of Allah, where is what you sold seeking the pleasure of Allah? Where is what you sacrificed and gave for Allah, seeking His pleasure?
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Paradise is surrounded by hardships, and Hellfire is surrounded by desires." Narrated by Muslim.
Indeed, human nature is inclined to greed, and preference for this world, and it is only faith in Allah and the Last Day that can remove it from that.
On the Day of Resurrection, the Day of Regret, people will be divided into two groups: Allah said:
لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَجَابُوا لِرَبِّهِمُ الْحُسْنَى وَالَّذِينَ لَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَهُ لَوْ أَنَّ لَهُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا وَمِثْلَهُ مَعَهُ لَافْتَدَوْا بِهِ أُولَئِكَ لَهُمْ سُوءُ الْحِسَابِ وَمَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ وَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ
"For those who responded to their Lord is the best [reward], but those who did not respond to Him - if they had all that is in the earth entirely and the like of it with it, they would [attempt to] ransom themselves thereby. Those will have the worst account, and their refuge is Hell, and wretched is the resting place" (Al-Ra’d: 18).
Those who responded to Allah will have the bliss of Paradise and the joy of looking at the noble face of Allah. As for those who did not respond to Allah and His law and His command, they will wish to ransom themselves from Allah’s punishment with everything in the earth, but alas!
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Allah will say to the person with the lightest punishment in Hell on the Day of Resurrection: 'If you had all that is on the earth, would you ransom yourself with it?' He will say: 'Yes.' Allah will say: 'I wanted less than that from you while you were in the loins of Adam: that you do not associate anything with Me, but you refused except to associate with Me.'" Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.
May Allah bless me and you with the great Quran, and benefit me and you with its verses and wise remembrance. I seek Allah’s forgiveness for me and for you, so seek His forgiveness. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.
Second Sermon
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and his companions.
Servants of Allah:
Allah commanded Yahya the son of Zakariya, peace be upon them, with five words to act upon and to command the Children of Israel to act upon. Among these five, he said: "I command you to give charity. The example of that is like a man captured by the enemy, who tied his hands to his neck and brought him forward to cut off his head. He said, 'Can I ransom myself from you?' So he began to ransom himself from them with small and large amounts until he freed himself." Narrated by Tirmidhi.
This charitable person sacrificed some of what Allah had given him, thus ransoming himself in this world and freeing himself from destruction on the Day of Resurrection.
Thus, the believer is always willing to sacrifice himself and what he possesses for the sake of Allah, firmly believing and saying: "O Allah, this is from You and for You."
Indeed, placing the love of Allah above the love of oneself, wealth, and family is the essence of jihad, which Allah has chosen for His faithful servants and made them His true allies. It is the essence of the sacrifice (Udhiyah) that Allah has prescribed for His servants, so they may sacrifice these animals as a means of drawing closer to Allah. They understand that every beloved thing sacrificed at the threshold of servitude is a means of getting closer to Allah, the source of all good, to whom all things return. He is the Great, who is greater than everything, and to Him belongs all praise. There is no god but He.
Our Lord, accept from us, indeed You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. Turn to us in mercy, indeed You are the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.
O Allah, grant victory to Your oppressed servants and destroy the criminal Jews.
O Allah, grant us safety in our homelands, and rectify our leaders and those in charge of our affairs. Make our authority in those who fear You, follow Your commands, and seek Your pleasure.
Servants of Allah: Remember Allah much, and glorify Him morning and evening. The last of our supplication is that all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
