Salamun alaykum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu, ya ‘Ibadillah.

‘Id Mubarak.

Amongst a billion and a half muslims, and millions of muslims today at the Kaaba, and even amongst us, there must be at least one who is able to stretch the hand of his heart to Allah hu ta’ala and say “Labbayk!” and He will answer back, “Labbayk!” For the sake of those muslims; for the sake of the one whom Allah hu ta’ala loved; and for the sake of those amongst us who love him; and for the sake of His most beloved, Hadhrati Muhammad Mustafa (SAWS); and for the sake of His Blessed Words in the Qur’an al-Azim—Oh, the Creator of All! Oh, the Keeper of All! Oh, the Sustainer of All! Oh, the Most Compassionate! Oh, the Loving One without any return! Ya, Rabbi, have mercy upon Ummati Muhammad! Ya, Rabbi, have mercy upon Ummati Muhammad! Have mercy upon Ummati Muhammad! For we have tyrannized ourselves. All these gifts which You have bestowed upon us which we cannot even count: all the victories, and the wisdom, and all the treasures which You have poured upon us, we have squandered. Ya, Rabb, forgive the sins of Ummati Muhammad. Give us the strength of this blessed day to return back to what we used to be.

A thousand four hundred years ago yesterday, on the plain of Arafat, at the foot of the Jabal-i Rahma, the beloved of Allah, whom He has sent as mercy upon all humankind, gave his last khutba to muslims, more than a hundred thousand. At the end of that khutba, he said, “Oh, my ummah! Hearken well to my words! Know that every muslim is a brother to every muslim, and that all of you are one, single nation.” And at the end of that khutba, he divulged the last revelation which had come to him:
“Al-Yawma Ya'isa Al-Ladhīna Kafarū Min Dīnikum Falā Takhshawhum Wa Akhshawnī ۚ Al-Yawma 'Akmaltu Lakum Dīnakum Wa 'Atmamtu `Alaykum Ni`matī Wa Rađītu Lakumu Al-'Islāma Dīnāan” [Al Ma’idah 5:3]
“This day, the kuffār despair of prevailing against your religion, so fear them not, but fear Me. This day, I have perfected your religion, and fulfilled My blessings unto you. It has been My good pleasure to choose Islam as your religion.”

As it was one thousand four hundred years ago, so it is today. Today, we celebrate the perfection of our Islam, the perfection of our religion, the perfection of our iman. The five columns of Islam—Sawm, Salat, Hajj, Zakat, and Shahada—are not as we understand. Even the sequence is very important to understand.

About two and a half months ago, we fasted for a whole month. What was the purpose of it? Allah hu ta’ala says, “the smell of the breath of the one who fasts is sweeter to Me than musk.” It is not the awful smell of the hungry stomach, for if we fast truly, Ramadhan is the month when we are supposed to recognize the Asma al Husna, which Allah hu ta’ala taught to our father, Hadhrati Adam (AS), within ourselves.

And ‘Id means to return, and when we return to life, we are supposed to live according to the Divine Attributes which Allah hu ta’ala bestowed on us—with gentleness and kindness and love and generosity and strength. And then, we did our prayers five times a day. Five times a day we presented ourselves in front of our Lord and we spoke to Him and He spoke to us. And when we say, “'Īyāka Na`budu Wa 'Īyāka Nasta`īn”—“o Lord, we only serve You and belong to You, and we only ask, count on You, but nobody else”—that is the declaration of the true servanthood to Allah hu ta’ala. Five times a day.

Rasulullah (SAWS) says that the best remembering of Allah, or Dhikrullah, is salat. Rasulullah (SAWS) says “salat is the light of my eye.” So if, then, we conversed with our Lord five times a day all this time, then perhaps some of us were invited to go and visit Baytullah. And those Hajjis who are today making their tawaf by the millions, they haven’t got a drop of dirt either on their outside or their inside. So then, we have assumed the Asma al-Husna; we have lived the Asma al-Husna. We have conversed with Allah hu ta’ala five times a day, and we have gone and cleansed ourselves, and we paid our Zakat (Zakat is not only the cleansing of our properties, but it is the cleansing of all that is material in us, all our body, all our lives.) And then, comes this day, now.

This day now, we hear a voice, “Oh My beloved servant! You have come close to Me! You have cleansed yourself. Your religion is complete. Now it is time for you to come to my Jannah, to see Me like the full moon. But your time has not come yet, so send Me the blood of a sacrificial lamb in your place.”

So, we make a qurban. We divide it into three pieces. The larger part of it should be sadaqah to be given to the poor, and a small part could be hadiya to our family and friends. And a smaller part is nafaqa.

Resulallah (SAWS) says—listen, especially young people—“Do partake from the qurban which you have made. If you and your wife, who are clean and truly muslims, partake of that meat of the qurban which you have sent for Allah’s sake, it is possible that a seed will be created in both of you; that Allah hu ta’ala will bestow to you a child who has got the character of Hadhrati Ibrahim (AS).

Ya, Rabbi, You have created us from a tiny drop of water. We were small, You made us grow. We were hungry, You fed us. We could neither walk nor talk, You made us walk and talk. We knew nothing, You taught us all, including Your Beautiful Names. You fed us, gave us air to breathe and lungs to breathe it with, water to drink and lips to taste it. You make us talk and communicate with each other. You have given us a heart to love, and hands to give, and a head to seek You. But, ya, Rabbi, we were thankless for all these gifts which You have given. That heart which You have given us to love we use for hatred. The hands which You have given us to give, and to caress the head of the orphan, and to wipe the tears of the ones who are sad, we have used to hit and to steal. That tongue which You have given us to spread Your word we have used for lying and cheating and blaspheming. That mind which You have given to seek You, the Truth, we have used in waswasa. Ya, Rabb, have mercy upon us. Ya, Rabb, have mercy upon us. Ya, Rabb, have mercy upon us. We beg You for Your forgiveness for this blessed day. Ya, Rabbi, teach us thankfulness and count us among Your thankful servants.

You test us sometimes to see if we love You, if we obey You, if our religion is really true. And You test us with a little pain, a little hunger, a little poverty, taking away from us things which You have given us but were really not ours anyhow. And we always complain. Ya, Rabb, we are shameless. We complain about You to doctors and lawyers and to each other. Ya, Rabb, have mercy upon us. Ya, Rabb, teach us patience, and count us among Your patient servants.

For the sake of this blessed day, have mercy upon Ummati Muhammad. O, the one who loves His creation without any condition, ya, Rabbi, create Your love in our hearts. Increase Your love in our hearts. Increase the love which we feel for Your beloved, Hadhrati Muhammad, in our hearts. Create love for each other for Your sake in our hearts. Ya, Wahid, ya, Ahad, create unity amongst Ummati Muhammad. Ya, Wahid, ya, Ahad, create unity amongst Ummati Muhammad. Ya, Wahid, ya, Ahad, create unity amongst Ummati Muhammad, and return to us the strength, the wisdom, the beauty, the knowledge which was once ours.

Amin.