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Bismillāh ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm. Alhamdulillāhi Rabbil ‘Alameen. Wa salātu wa salāmum ‘alā ash-sharafi al-anbiyā’ wal-mursalīn, Muḥammadir Rasūlullāh ﷺ, wa ‘alā ālihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasleeman kathīran kathīran.
Fammabadu, my brothers and sisters.
Alhamdulillah, we are in the ten best days of the year, which are the first ten days of Dhul-Khaidah, Dhul-Hijjah.
And we know from the Ḥadith of Abū Hurayrah radiyaAllāhu anhu,
and we also know from Ibn ‘Abbās radiyaAllāhu anhu, that Rasūlullāh ﷺ said that these are the best days of the year. And any action which is done, any good deed that is done in these days, has more reward than any good deed done in any other part of the year.
So the Sahaba asked Rasūlullāh ﷺ, “What about Jihād fi Sabilillāh?” He said, even Jihād fi Sabilillāh, except if the Mujāhid goes out in the path of Allāh and does not return.
He goes out in the path of Allāh with his life and with his wealth, and he does not return, either with his life or with his wealth, meaning he is shahīd. But other than that, every other deed that is done in these days,
has the highest possible reward.
The first nine days, because the tenth day is the day of Eid,
the first nine days, are days in which Rasūlullāh ﷺ used to do a lot of good deeds and used to fast. And we know the Ḥadith from, again, Ibn ‘Abbās radiyaAllāhu anhu, that one of the mothers of the Banu Makhzum, one of our mothers, she said that Rasūlullāh ﷺ used to fast in the month of Ramaḍān, in the nine days of Dhul-Hijjah, and the three days of each month, which are the days of Yawm al-Bayda, the White Nights. So we know that Rasūlullāh ﷺ used to fast all these days. Now in these days, the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah is called Yawm al-Arafah, and this day, the fast of Yawm al-Arafah, is expiation of sins of the previous year and the following year. And expiation of sins means all minor sins; it does not refer to major sins. Major sins, first of all, a Muslim is not expected to be forgiven for them without specific tawbah. If something happens, then you are supposed to make istighfār and tawbah specifically for that. But minor sins, Insha’Allāh, will be forgiven.
The important thing to understand in all of this is the importance of obedience. The whole point of all this is important obedience. And in that, the ultimate of it is the sacrifice that Ibrāhīm alayhi s-salām was commanded: to sacrifice his only son, whom he had, Allāh had given him after decades of making du’a. And Allāh subḥānahu wa ta’ālā ordered him to sacrifice his son in His path. And neither Ibrāhīm alayhi s-salām nor Ismā’īl alayhi s-salām hesitated even for an instant. And Allāh subḥānahu wa ta’ālā substituted the child with a ram. And Ibrāhīm alayhi s-salām sacrificed the ram. And therefore, this sacrifice, which in Urdu we call Qurbāni. But in Arabic, it is called Udhiyyah. The sacrifice that is done by the Ḥajjī is called Ḥadīyah. So, the Udhiyyah is the sacrifice which is done anywhere in the world except in Makkah. In Makkah, on the tenth, when the sacrifice is done, this is called Ḥadīyah. So, this sacrifice is so important that we have the Ḥadith in Bina Majah, where Abū Hurayrah related that Rasūlullāh said: whoever can afford it but does not offer the Udhiyyah, does not offer the Qurbāni, does not offer a sacrifice, let him not come near our place of prayer. Let him not come to the Eid prayer, let him not pray with us. So, it is so important. There is that, Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, whoever can afford it and does not do it, let him not come near our place of prayer. An important thing to understand is the sacrifice is compulsory (Fard) on anyone who is paying Zakāt. So, the condition of it is the same as Zakāt. If you have wealth up to the Nisab of Zakāt, then you are supposed to offer the sacrifice. The difference is in the rules of Zakāt; this Nisab you should have had for twelve months. In the case of sacrifice, even if you got that wealth the previous night, the sacrifice becomes Fard. So, it is Fard, anyone who has the Nisab to pay Zakāt.
The person who is paying
Zakāt or who has the Nisab to pay Zakāt, the sacrifice is Fard only on that person, and he can do and he should do the sacrifice. It is not Fard on other people, other members of the family. So, you don’t have to do a sacrifice for yourself and your wife and your son and your daughter and so on. That is not required. Nafil, you can do as much as you want. But Fard is only on you because you are the person who has the Nisab of Zakāt. Including that, for example, if your wife has jewellery, so she also becomes liable for Zakāt and her sacrifice is Fard on her also. If you have children and the children have settled some amounts on them or some trust on them or something which makes them liable to pay Zakāt, then the sacrifice is Fard on those children also, which you must do. But where that is not the case, where you are the only person who has the Nisab of Zakāt, then the sacrifice is Fard only on you, not on anybody else. Sacrifice can also be given and done for people who have passed away. So your parents or whoever you want to make a sacrifice for and make the Qurbāni and say, Allāh give the reward to my father, mother, whoever passed away. This is possible. You can do that. This is a permissible way of Issa-e-Sawa’. You can also do sacrifice for Rasūlullāh himself and give a sacrifice and say, the reward of this is for Rasūlullāh ﷺ, which is a wonderful thing to do, Insha’Allāh, whoever can do that, let him do that. The sacrifice is the best action and the most important action for the day of Eid-ul-Adha.
So this is very, very important. To do this sacrifice and therefore, I remind myself and you, let us not neglect that. As I mentioned, the whole point of this is the importance of obedience to Allāh. Allāh commanded Ibrāhīm: وَإِذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ أَسْلِمْ، قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِلرَّبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un). When his Rabb said to him, “Submit,” he said, “I have submitted to the Lord of the Universe, Rabbul ‘Alameen, Lord of the worlds.” And that is, we therefore are commanded to follow Ibrāhīm in this way. Rasūlullāh ﷺ himself used to do the sacrifice and all the Sahaba and so on. So this is a, it’s not something which is disputed. It is well established as far as the ritual of the Muslims is concerned. And now people sometimes ask, they say, why should we sacrifice the sheep? You know, we want to be kind and the poor sheep, and the whole thing is the whole year you eat meat. You think that grows on trees or the sheep comes and donates. Here is some from my pocket, some meat, please eat it. So you have no problem sacrificing sheep all your whole year. And on the day of it, suddenly you become very kind-hearted. Why should I sacrifice? So all of this is nonsense. Also, people say, instead of the sheep, can I give the money in charity? No, you cannot. It’s like saying instead of praying, can I give the money? Can I give somebody’s money to pray for on my behalf? No. Sacrifice is sacrifice. You have to sacrifice an animal.
The amount is one sheep or goat per person, meaning the person who is liable for the sacrifice. Or one share in a larger animal. In all other large animals, the share is seven shares per animal. There is no difference in Sawāb between sacrificing a sheep or having one share in a larger animal. The reward is the same. So you can choose whatever you like to do, Insha’Allāh.
The important thing is don’t try to look for the cheaper option. Because remember, this is Sadaqah in the name of Allāh. And Allāh is going to reward you for this in keeping with His Majesty and Grace. So obviously, the more you give, the more you have. At the same time…
It is not permissible to engage in a competition claiming, “I want to buy the most expensive sheep.” This is another instance where we say, “May Allah have mercy on us,” yet we always find a way to do things in the worst possible manner. Sacrificing is inherently a good thing; however, whether my goat costs more than yours or your sheep is pricier is irrelevant. Is it thousands of rupees? Lakhs of rupees? I mean, this is a matter of losing one’s mind. So please, do not indulge in all this. This is absolute nonsense. You should simply purchase a regular sheep and sacrifice it. There is no room for competition in that. And such behavior takes a good deed and converts it into something which is potentially punishable. Why would you want to do that?
There is no extra benefit in sacrificing a sheep with an astronomical price. You might think that by doing so, you are performing a good deed, but actually, you are not. Whatever is normal, stick to the norm. We ask Allah to enable us and help us perform the maximum number of good deeds during these days, In Sha Allah. Good deeds encompass anything beneficial: Nawafil (voluntary prayers), Tilawatul Quran (recitation of the Quran), Dhikr (remembrance of Allah), Khairat (charity given before death), Sadaqat (voluntary charity). These are beautiful times to engage in them. Even your Zakat (obligatory alms); for example, we pay Zakat in Ramadan for the extra rewards. These are days in which the reward is tremendous, Alhamdulillah, perhaps even more than usual. So let us strive to do as many good deeds of every kind as possible, Inshallah. We ask Allah to grant us the opportunity and tawfiq (divine assistance) to do the maximum good we can and to help us benefit from that. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma’in. Bi rahmatika Ya Rahman Rahim.