Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Delivers Eid Sermon from Islamabad
“Eid is not only a day to come together in a celebratory spirit, rather, during the day of Eid it is incumbent upon us to fulfil the obligations laid upon us by God Almighty even more than we do within other days” – Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad
The World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Fifth Khalifa (Caliph), His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, delivered the Eid-ul-Fitr sermon on 2 May 2022 from the Mubarak Mosque in Islamabad, Tilford.
Across the world, millions of Ahmadi Muslims were able to listen live to the Eid Sermon of their Caliph and to join in with the silent prayer led by their spiritual leader through the global television channel MTA International.
His Holiness began the sermon with the recitation of chapter 4 verse 37 of the Holy Quran which states:
“And worship Allah and associate naught with Him, and show kindness to parents, and to kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and to the neighbour that is a kinsman and the neighbour that is a stranger, and the companion by your side, and the wayfarer, and those whom your right hands possess. Surely, Allah loves not the proud and the boastful.”
Thereafter throughout the sermon, His Holiness gave a detailed commentary of the verse and explained the importance of the various responsibilities outlined within it.
Regarding the true purpose and meaning of Eid, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:
“Eid is not merely a day to come together in a celebratory spirit, rather, during the day of Eid it is incumbent upon us to fulfil the obligations laid upon us by God Almighty even more than we do on other days. It is essential to fulfil both the rights of worship of God Almighty and the rights of humanity that have been made compulsory upon the believers. Thus, one should make a pledge on this day to consistently fulfil the obligations of Allah the Almighty and of the people. Only then will we truly be celebrating Eid.”
Speaking of the importance of worship, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:
“The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has stated, ‘Whoever worships during the nights of Eid, purely for gaining the pleasure of Allah, their heart will forever be given the true life.’ How magnificent is this glad tiding! We are gaining a lasting reward because of worshiping for the sake of Allah the Almighty. Therefore, Eid is not only a means of celebration, rather, it is an occasion to brighten the nights with worship which leads to a person attaining eternal spiritual life.”
His Holiness mentioned that the verse goes onto explain the rights of the creation of God after it speaks of the importance of worship.
Explaining the rights of parents, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:
“The verse commands the showing of kindness to parents. After the nurturing of Allah the Almighty, the greatest favours bestowed upon a person are those of their parents who raise their children with devotion and care. Their favours upon us are such that we can never repay them. Therefore, this verse mentions the importance of treating parents with kindness and to always speak to them lovingly with tenderness and to deal with them with respect and honour.”
Speaking of another responsibility mentioned in the verse cited at the beginning of his Sermon, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:
“The verse goes onto mention the importance of showing kindness to one’s relatives. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘Whoever wishes to have an abundance of provision or to have a blessed long life and have much good in it, they should adopt the moral quality of keeping and mending ties with their family.’ We should look after our relatives, be they our own families or our in-laws. Those who are living well and have come to live in richer countries, and whose financial situations have been made better by Allah the Almighty, they should share and care for their less fortunate relatives in the joys of Eid too. For this, it is not a condition that their relatives should also be kind in response and so only then you will be generous towards them. Rather, even if they do not show a positive attitude, one should be kind towards them regardless.”
His Holiness also strongly condemned the behaviour of those men who stopped their wives from visiting their own families and parents. His Holiness said that such behaviour was “the height of ignorance” and violated the commandments of the Holy Quran. His Holiness said that if a person wishes to attain the pleasure of Allah the Almighty then such ‘vain and futile’ ways must be forsaken.
His Holiness went on to cover certain other aspects of the rights of people as mentioned in the verse, including the rights of the orphans and the needy. His Holiness said that on the occasion of Eid, the rights of the needy and orphans should be taken care of and that if someone cannot directly find a needy person or an orphan then they can donate to the charitable projects being run by the Ahmadiyya Muslims such as the ‘Orphan Fund’ which looks after orphans.
Speaking of the importance of showing kindness towards one’s neighbours, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:
“If a person understands the true meaning of what constitutes as a ‘neighbour’ and then they try to fulfil the rights of their neighbours, you will see that disorder will disappear from society and for a believer, a true occasion of Eid is that in which all disorder is lifted away from the world. Who is one’s ‘neighbour’? The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) has said that people living within a radius of a hundred ‘kos’ are your neighbours. So even those living within a hundred miles are in fact one’s neighbours! Under this definition, no one is outside the scope of being one’s neighbour.’”
Explaining the philosophy of fulfilling the rights of others, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:
“The true goodness that Islam commands is to take care of the rights of others, rather than to create disorder on earth in pursuit of seeking one’s own rights. This should be the hallmark of a true believer that he should strive to ensure that none of his obligations that he has towards the people is left unfulfilled. A believer should self-analyse to see if there is any obligation that he is yet to fulfil towards someone. One should search out what one’s obligations and duties to others are. One’s obligations are not simply to, for instance, repay a debt. Rather, one’s obligations consist of utilising all capabilities, capacities and moral abilities to treat others well. One should feel the pain of others and such are the efforts that can bring about a true celebration of Eid for us; an Eid that will not then remain restricted to a day, rather it will become a source of attaining the pleasure of Allah and thus become a lasting Eid.”
His Holiness went onto emphasise the importance of establishing justice, another moral quality emphasised by Islam. His Holiness spoke about how governments also must play their part in fulfilling the rights of others with justice and that not doing so has led to much destruction of innocent lives.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:
“If people fulfilled their promises and there was justice at every level, and the rights of others were fulfilled then we would never have seen the destruction that we saw during the wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan in recent times. We will not have witnessed what has come about in these countries. Nor would the current Ukraine conflict have come to pass.”
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad further said:
“The world seems bent upon seeing to its own destruction. It does not seem to have any care towards this. It is the belief of the worldly powers that the possession of material strength and exhibiting their power and force, and proving one’s own superiority is the guarantor of survival and livelihood. They do not realise that rather than survival, it is in fact becoming the guarantor of their destruction. It seems that many continue to be consumed by their wishful thinking and believe that nuclear weapons will never be used. Allah the Almighty knows better if such weapons will be used or not, however regardless it seems certain that the world is rapidly moving towards destruction and eventual outcome will be much devastation.”
His Holiness said that the only solution is to recognise one’s Creator and that only Ahmadi Muslims truly recognise this and so they must inform people of this within their circles. His Holiness also said that social media should be utilised for this purpose rather than using it for vain pursuits and entertainment.
As the Sermon concluded, His Holiness said that Ahmadi Muslims should pray for people who are in difficult circumstances such as those who are imprisoned for having faith in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
His Holiness also said to pray for those life devotees and missionaries who are serving the cause of Islam.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:
“Pray for those who have dedicated their lives for the service of Islam that they are able to maintain their spirit of life dedication and they serve with passion and zeal and that they only have one passion, that we must raise high the noble and peaceful flag of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in the world so that people may flock under the flag of the Unity of God. May Allah place immense blessings in our humble efforts and may we soon see the victory of Islam and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).”
Following the conclusion of the sermon, His Holiness shared the greetings of ‘Eid Mubarak’ to all and concluded with a silent prayer.