[Friday Sermon] 1444 AH/2023 Eid al-Adha And The Lessons In Prophet’s Ibrahim’s Sacrifice

By Imam Murtadha Gusau

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Verily, all praise is for Allah. We praise Him, we seek His assistance and we ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Him from the evils of ourselves. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide. Whoever He misguides, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.

My dear brothers and sisters, thousand of years ago, a man called Ibrahim left his wife and newly born son, in a valley that had neither water nor food and fruit. They survived. Years later, that same man came back ready to sacrifice his son.

The story of Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) is a fascinating story of faith (Iman) and sacrifice (Dhahiyyah/Layyah) that has been re-told across generations. Please, can you imagine a loving husband, who just had a new born baby, being asked to travel with his family across the desert and leave his wife and child in a barren valley called Bakkah (modern day Makkah)? And please can you imagine a father, who after years of not seeing his son, comes back wanting to spend quality time with him, only to be told in a dream to sacrifice him (slaughter him)?

What is it that pushes a man to act against his natural instincts as a husband or father? Some might call it heresy, or blind faith, others might say that he’s a Prophet and therefore is expected to act with such faith in Allah’s commands.

Respected brothers and sisters, I feel there’s a deeper meaning in these acts of sacrifices; a meaning we can all adopt in our lives.

When you have a cause or mission that you truly believe in and it’s for the greater good, the key factor that determines whether you’ll be successful in achieving your mission and leaving a legacy, is how much are you willing to sacrifice for that cause.

Dear brothers and sisters, great men and women of history achieved their greatness by sacrificing their lives, their families, their properties, their money, all in the name of a mission that changed the face of humanity. Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) – the father of all Prophets – had a powerful mission and that mission was to show people the Path to Allah away from idolatry. And he was willing and ready to sacrifice himself and his own family for that cause.

Please, today how many of us are willing to sacrifice our comforts for a greater cause? We grow up seeking the good life; get a degree, get a job, have a family, settle down and have children. Yet deep down inside us, every so often we get troubled by what troubled Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) when he looked up in the Sky and said:

“Unless my Lord guides me, I will surely be among the people gone astray.”

We search for a higher meaning and purpose for our lives; whether it’s a visionary company we want to build that produces products and services that people admire or a social cause we want to fight for that delivers equality and justice for all or ensuring that our children become responsible and productive citizens of the world. But finding that meaning or purpose is easier than acting upon it. Because acting upon it, means sacrifice.

My beloved people, sacrifice can take many forms; sometimes we might need to sacrifice our time, or our comfortable careers, or the place we grew up in. The sacrifice might impact us physically, or emotionally, or financially, and sometimes it impacts those closest to us.

The sacrifice might not make sense to those around us; our families and friends will think we’re crazy, but little do they know that this sacrifice is an important test of how truthful we are to our vision and mission of life.

Here’s the good news:

Sacrifice is never futile – and it always brings change and rewards beyond someone’s expectations; when Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) left his wife and newly born child in the barren land, little did he know that his wife and child will discover the famous Zamzam water that would be the cause for Makkah to become a hustling bustling trade center of Arabia. And when he was willing to sacrifice his son, little did he know that his son would be the one to help him build the Ka’abah that became the center for pilgrimage for all of Arabia and the Muslim world. And more importantly, after he passed away, thousands of years later, a child was born in Makkah called Muhammad (Peace be upon him) who became a follower of Ibrahim’s legacy – and who changed the face of human history and introduced the Hajj as we know it today.

Dear servants of Allah, and Eid al-Adha is one of the two blessed Eids that we celebrate as Muslims.

On Eid al-Adha we remember the sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him). In remembrance of his sacrifice and to help the orphans, poor and needy, we give our own sacrifice: Udhhiyyah or Layyah.

The Eid date may vary according to moon sightings in different parts of the world, but Eid-al Adha 1444 AH/2023 is predicted to begin at sunset on Wednesday, 28th June 2023.

As the celebration lasts for 3 days, if Eid-al Adha begins at sunset on Wednesday, 28th June, it will end on Saturday, 1st July 2023.

Following the Eid prayer on the first day of Eid al-Adha, we start to offer a sacrifice – Udhiyyah/Layyah – to remember the sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) to Allah Almighty. A portion of this meat (from a sheep, goat, cow or camel) then goes to help our brothers and sisters in need.

As with any festival and important occasion, we follow the example of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

There are various Sunnah acts of worship you can do on the day of Eid. And Eid prayer is an important part of the day.

My dear brothers and sisters, as you all knew, this message was always brought to you by Nagazi-Uvete Islamic Center, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria.

As usual, we sincerely seek your financial support, your help, your assistance, your donation and your contribution about the buying of cows in this coming blessed Eid-Ul-Adha Celebration for our orphans and the students under our care in our Islamic schools. Your support is highly needed for Allah’s sake, FISABILILLAH!

We sincerely solicit for your kind and sincere contribution towards the Eid-Ul-Adha Udhiyyah/Layyah (sacrifice) for our orphans and our students; and the development of our schools and Islamic Center financially, materially and morally.

Our aim and objective always is to have a standard Islamic center and Arabic/Islamic schools for orphans and less privileged Muslims children.

Also if you want to pay your this year’s Zakah, our great Islamic center is waiting for your kind and merciful gesture. Sincerely, your donation will help distribute sacrifice meat, etc for our orphans.

Remember, Eid-Ul-Adha Celebration will not be the same without our families, but unfortunately this is not a privilege enjoyed by everyone. This is the reason we’re steadfast in planning to provide meat for the orphans and students under our care!

We planned to distribute meat package that worth amount up to 6,000 orphans In Shaa Allah, this year.

And your contribution is highly needed as usual. May Allah rewards all your efforts and your good deeds, ameen.

Allah Almighty says:

“If you support the course of Allah, He will support you.” [Qur’an, 47: 7]

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said:

“Whoever relieves his Muslim brother of a hardship from the hardships of this world, Allah shall relieve him of a hardship from the hardships of the Day of Judgement. And whoever makes things easy for a person in difficulty, Allah will ease for him in this world and the Next. Allah is forever aiding a servant so long as he is in the aid of his Muslim brother.”

And he (Peace be upon him) said:

“Every act of goodness is considered as Sadaqah.” [Bukhari]

Please donate to our meat and food package project. With your support we can provide essential Sallah meat, food Items and help alleviate the difficulties and bring ease to the orphans and needy who have been affected the most by the inflation and world economic crisis.

Keep helping the cause of Allah with Allah’s money. Whoever gives for Allah, Allah will give him more. Donate to the Nagazi-Uvete Islamic Center.

This is our account details as follows:

1. Account no. – 0048647196, GTBank
2. Account no. – 1779691620, Access Bank

For more enquiries contact, Imam Murtadha Muhammad Gusau, the director and Imam Of the Center: 08038289761.

And to donate cows, rams etc, contact the following Numbers: 08038289761, 08056557477.

Lastly, dear brothers and sisters, make sure you send your donations and not miss out of the blessings of this blessed time!

Jazakumullah Khairan as you kindly contribute.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation; may Allah extol the mention of our noble Prophet Muhammad in the highest company of Angels, bless him and give him peace and security―and his family, his Companions and all those who follow him correctly and sincerely until the establishment of the Hour.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumu’ah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okene’s Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumu’ah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Dhul-Qa’dah 27, 1444 AH (June 16, 2023).