The Prince's Eid and Other Tales

By
Ameer-e-Ahle Sunnat Hazrat Allama
Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qadri
(Damat-barakatuhum Aaliya)

Once Hazrat Umar Farooq (Allah is well pleased with Him), on seeing his Prince wearing an old shirt on Eid Day, started crying. The Prince requested, “Dear father! why are you crying? “He replied, “My son I am afraid that when other boys will see you in this old torn shirt today, Eid Day, then your heart will break,”. The Prince replied, “The heart should break of that person who could not gain the approval of Allah or the one who disobeyed his mother or father, and I am hopeful that because of gaining your happiness, Allah will be happy with me.” After listening to this Hazrat Umar started crying. He embraced his Prince and gave him blessings.

THE EID OF THE PRINCESSES :
The princesses, of the leader of the Muslims, Hazrat Sayyed-e-na Umar bin Abdul Aziz, went to him on the day before Eid and said, “Father! tomorrow on Eid Day which clothes will we be going to wear? “He replied, “The ones you are wearing, wash them today and wear them tomorrow.”

“No! father! make new clothes for us the little princesses insisted, stubbornly. He replied, “My wonderful daughters! Eid Day is a day on which prayers to Allah should be performed and it is a day to thank Allah. It is not necessary to wear new cloths.”

“Father! No doubt you are right but our friends and other girls will tease us and say that you are the daughters of the leader of the Muslims and you are still wearing these old clothes.” As they said this their eyes got filled with tears. On seeing this the heart of the leader of the muslims also got hurt. He called the treasurer and said. “Give me my one month’s salary in advance” The treasurer requested, Sir! Are you sure that you will stay alive for one month?”

He replied (“May Allah give you reward!) No doubt you said something wonderful and correct.”

The treasurer went away. He told the princesses, “Dear daughters! Sacrifice your wishes for the happiness of Allah and the Holy Prophet(peace be upon Him). No one shall be permitted into the Heaven till he gives some sacrifice. (MA ADNE-E-AKHLAQ)

EID IS NOT ONLY THE NAME OF WEARING TRENDY CLOTHES :
Dear Islamic Brethren! Did you see! The lesson that we got from the above two narrations, that wearing trendy clothes is not
the only thing attributed to Eid. Eid can be celebrated without wearing colourful clothes. Allah-o-Akbar(Allah is Great)! Hazrat-e—Sayyed-e-na Umar bin Abdul Aziz was such a poor and simple leader. Eventhough being the ruler of such a big nation, he still did not collect any money. His treasurer was also so honest. In what a beautiful way he refused to give the salary in advance. We all should learn a lesson of repentance from this incident, and before taking advance salary or money we should very carefully think that what if we die before paying back, and leave with this worldly debt and, Allah forbid, get into trouble in the hereafter because of this.

THE EID OF GHOUS- E-AZAM :
Each and every action of those choosen by Allah is full of hundreds of lessons of repentance for us. Look our leader Sayyed-e-na Ghous-e-Azam is so grand and auspicious. But, even-though being so grand, look at what example he sets for us?  Read it and learn a lesson of repentance from it. Hence he has written in one of his quatrain:

Which means that “People are saying that “Tomorrow is Eid! Tomorrow is Eid!, and everyone is happy but the day on which I leave this world with my faith alive will be the day of Eid for me. {Allah is great! Allah is great!) What grand abstinence. Being so great, that he is the leader of all the saints and still so much politeness and modesty!! Actually all this is a lesson for us and to tell us that be careful! Do not be ignorant when it comes to the matter of faith. Always be in the worry of guarding your faith. Be careful that you do not loose the wealth of your faith due to ignorance and sins.

 FOR WHOM IS EID :
Those individuals who are filled with the love of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon Him)! The truth is that Eid is for those lucky muslims who spent the blessed month of Ramazan-ul-Moazzam keeping fast, performing, hence Eid is the day on which they are recompensed by Allah We should be scared of Allah that Ah! We could not pay the proper respect that this month deserved.

THE EID OF SAYYED-E-NA UMAR FAROOQ( RadhiAllahoanho) :
On the Eid day people went to the residence of the Caliph, what they saw was that he had closed the doors and was weeping bitterly. People got surprised and inquired with curiosity: “O leader of the muslims today is Eid day. Today is a day of happiness and joy and celebrations, why are you weeping instead of celebrating? “He wiped the tears and replied, “O, people! This is the day of Eid as well as the day of being scared. No doubt that today is Eid day for the one whose fast and prayers are accepted by Allah but it is the day of feeling grieved for those whose fast and prayers are not accepted. And I am weeping because of this fear that Ah! I don't know whether my worship has been accepted or disqualified.

 OUR VAIN HOPES :
(Allah is Great)! The ones whose hearts are filled with the love of the Holy Prophet just think! think deeply! That Farooq-e-Azam who was given glad tidings by the Owner of the Heaven, the King of the Prophethood, during His visible presence, that he would go to Heaven. His fast and unacceptable? How can this be possible? It is a fact, that his fast was accepted. Without any doubt it was accepted. No doubt it was accepted. But he was so much scared of Allah that he was shivering due to the fear of Allah just because he wondered whether his prayers during the blessed month of Ramazan-ul-Mubarak were accepted or not. (Allah is Great)! The one who really deserves to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, bursts into tears just because of the fear of Allah and foolish and talkative people like us who cannot even reach the first dot of the first alphabet of the word ‘Naikey” (good deed) but the sense of our optimism is that at the moment there cannot be anyone more pious and noble than us left in this world.

Those foolish individuals who feel proud of their worship should learn a lesson of repentance from this heart shattering incident. And the ones who like telling everyone, spreading the word around, about their good deeds, for e.g. their prayers, fasts, Haj, Zakat, having done some work for the mosque, having done social work, helping people etc.(Allah forbid), even those who go around and do not hesitate in having their picture being published in magazine and newspapers. Ah! How can they be made to understand, how can their minds be transformed into being well mannered and constructive! How can they be convinced to accept that, my simple brothers! This way openly announcing your good deeds without any need according to Shariah is known as “Riya-kari” (hypocrisy). And hypocrisy is total destruction. By doing this not only the good deeds are wasted but even the sin of committing hypocrisy is written in our account of deeds, and publishing photo! Allah forgive! is like being oppressive after being hypocritical! So much interest in exhibiting ones deeds that even the forbidden sin of getting your picture being taken out is not avoided. May Allah save all of the muslims from destruction of ‘I…I’ formula of hypocrisy and from the destructiveness of self-ego.

SATAN'S LAMENTATION :
Hazrat Sayyed-e-na Wahab bin Munabbeh has said that when Eid comes satan starts weeping loudly. Looking at his nervousness all devils gather together and ask, “O master! Why are you mad and sad! “He replies, “It is sad! Allah has forgiven the followers of Muhammad(Sallallahoalaihiwasallam) on this day. Now do this that distract them by keeping them busy with their worldly desires.

IS SATAN SUCCESSFUL?
Those Islamic Brethren who wish for Madeenah! Did you see? How unbearable the day of Eid is for satan. Therefore he orders his pupils that, you distract the muslims by keeping them after their selfish worldly desires. Ah! Nowadays satan looks very successful in this attack of his. Ah! A hundred times Ah! The thing that should have happened on Eid day is worshipping and thanking Allah as much as possible. But it is sad! A hundred times sad! Now the muslim has forgotten the real purpose of Eid . Oh it is sad! That now the way in which Eid is celebrated is that, people wear all sorts of clothes which are obscene, they have different designs made on them, and they even (Allah forbid) wear clothes with pictures of living things. A lot of colourful celebrations are made. Dance and musical programmes are organized. Uncivilized fairs are held, dance, songs, films and dramas are arranged. And open heartedly, time and money is spent in ways against the sunnan and the Islamic Shariah. It is sad! A hundred thousand times sad! We have started thinking of this blessed day in a wrong manner. My brothers! It is possible that because of doing things against the Islamic way, this day of Eid could be a day of destruction for us. Brothers! feel sorry for yourself and be aware of adopting fashion and spending unnecessarily! Just see! Allah has, in the Holy Quran, addressed those who spend a lot unnecessarily as satan's brothers. Therefore it is stated:

 SADAQA-E-FITR'S (CHARITY) QUANTITY IN EASY WORDS :
About 1 lb 6 ounces ½ tola or 2 kilo and approximately 50 grammes, worth wheat or its flour or else that much wheat, whose price is in accordance to the price of one Sadaqa-e-fitr.

AN EID GIFT :
The Madani Lord(peace be upon Him) has stated that the one who on Eid's day recites SUBHANALLAHI WABIHAMDIHI “300” times and gives its blessings as a gift to the muslims who have died, then 1,000 enlightened blessings will enter the grave of every Muslim. And when he dies Allah will send 1000 enlightened blessings in his grave.(mukaashifa-tul-quloob)

(This repeated recitation can be done on both Eids)

Dear Islamic Brethren! Now those things will be mentioned which are sunnah for both the eids (Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha), Therefore:

21 SUNNAHS AND WAYS OF (CELEBRATING) EID :
On Eid day these things are sunnah (desirable):
(1) Cutting hair (cut your hair according to sunnah (locks) and not according to the english fashion). (2) Cutting Nails.
(3) Taking a bath.
(4) Doing Miswak (cleaning of teeth with a Miswak, this is apart from miswak done during ablution, since it is Sunnat-e-Mo'ak'kadah (essentially stressed).
(5) Wear nice clothes, if new wear them, otherwise wear washed ones.
(6) To put fragrance oil (whenever you put fragrance oil make sure it is pure oil.
(7) Wearing ring (whenever you wear a ring keep in mind that it should be not more than 4 grammes, in weight of silver and wear only one ring. There should be only one stone in this ring. Not more than one stone, and don't wear without a stone. There is no limit for the weight of the stone. Apart from a ring of silver  or the amount of weight of silver allowed, a ring made of any other metal another ring cannot be worn.
(8) Offer the Fajr (morning) prayer in the mosque in your locality.
(9) Before going to Eid-ul-Fitr prayer, eating some dates – iii, v, vii or more or less. But they should be in odd numbers. If dates are not available then eat something sweet. Even if nothing is eaten before the prayers, then it is not a sin, but if nothing is eaten till Isha (night) prayer then he will be reprimanded.
(10) To offer Eid prayer in Eid-Gah (especial ground for Eid prayer only).
(11) To go walking to the Eid-Gah.
(12) There is no harm in going on any sort of transport, but for the one who can walk it is most prominent for him to do so, and there is no harm in coming back on any sort of transport.
(13) When going for Eid prayers choose one path, and when coming back come on from another path.
(14) Before Eid prayers giving Sadqa-e-Fitr (charity) (it is most prominent to give before Eid prayer but if cannot then give after the prayer).
(15) Showing happiness.
(16) Give a lot of charities.
(17) To go to Eid-Gah relaxed and dignified, with eyes kept down.
(18) Give greetings to one another.
(19) After Eid prayer shaking hands, and embracing one another, like the usual custom of the muslims, is even better, since it shows affection.(BAHAR-E-SHARIAT)
(20) Eid–ul-Adha is like Eid-ul-Fitr in every sense except for that in Eid-ul-Adha it is desirable not to eat anything before prayer, whether he wants to give sacrifice or not, and if he ate before then there is no harm.
(21) While going for Eid-ul-Fitr prayer on the way one should slowly say “Takbeer”. And while going for Eid-ul-Adha one should say the “Takbeer” loudly on the way. The following is called “Takbeer”:
 

"Allah is most great. Allah is most great. There is no one else worth Worshipping except for Allah and Allah is most great. Allah is most Great and all the praise is for Allah."

O, Dear Allah! grant us the real Eid of gaining the divine help, in celebrating the two Eids according to Sunnan. And bless us with the accepted Haj, and show us Madeenah, and show us the King of Madeenah again and again.