السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
It’s Tuesday 26th May 2020. My chosen topic today is ‘My Top 5 ‘Eid Ṣalāhs‘.
Born in 1967, in Blackburn (UK), I have been blessed with 106 ‘Eid Days مَا شَآءَ الله. My first ‘Eid Ṣalāh must have been around 1975, in the Masjid on Daisy Street (Blackburn), when I was 8 years old. Therefore, I must have offered 90 ‘Eid Ṣalāhs.
On the 11th of July 2019, I was blessed to be in the company of Shaykh ul-Islām Mufti Muḥammad Taqī Us̱mānī مدظله العالی, in the beautiful mountains of Cyprus. Mufti Taqī Ṣāḥib was very relaxed and we got the opportunity to ask Mufti Ṣāḥib questions about his remarkable life so far.
I asked Mufti Ṣāḥib ‘Can you enlighten us with the top 5 most memorable moments of your life please?‘ Mufti Ṣāḥib’s 20 minute answer will remain a cherished memory for the rest of my life اِنْ شَاءَ الَّلهُ. More on this to follow soon اِنْ شَاءَ الَّلهُ.
Today, I was thinking of my top 5 ‘Eid Ṣalāhs, out of the 90 I will have prayed. Without a shadow of doubt, number one was ‘Eid ul-Fiṭr Ṣalāh 2017 in Masjid al-Ḥarām مَا شَآءَ الله. After having spent the last 8 days of Ramaḍān in Makkah al-Mukarramah, ‘Eid Ṣalāh was the pinnacle of spirituality.
Number two has to be the ‘Eid ul-Fiṭr Ṣalāh in 1986 in al-Masjid an-Nabawī صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. I had spent the last 10 days in Madīnah al-Munawwarah and ‘Eid Ṣalāh was the icing on the cake. Number three is the ‘Eid ul-Fiṭr Ṣalāh offered in al-Masjid al-‘Aqṣā in 2013 مَا شَآءَ الله. I had an amazing last 2 weeks of Ramaḍān in al-Quds and Eid Ṣalāh was the highlight of the journey مَا شَآءَ الله. Number four goes to the Eid ul-Aḍḥā day spent in Muzdalifah and Minā during the Ḥajj of 2004 مَا شَآءَ الله. Although there was no ‘Eid Ṣalāh as we were in Ḥajj, it was a memorable day.
Without any exaggeration at all, number five has to be ‘Eid ul-Fiṭr Ṣalāh 2020, prayed out in the open, under the blue (or should I say grey) skies of Blackburn on Sunday 24th May at 10:15am مَا شَآءَ الله.
In our neighbourhood, due to various differences (e.g. schools of thought), ‘Eid has, on many occasions, been celebrated on different days. This ‘Eid ul-Fiṭr we were all celebrating together مَا شَآءَ الله. If we were not in lockdown, half of my neighbourhood would have attended Madīna Masjid on Oak Street
(Barēlwī Maktab-e-Fikr) and the other half would have attended Masjid-e-Anīsul Islām on Troy Street (Deobandī Maktab-e-Fikr).
This ‘Eid ul-Fiṭr, we all prayed together مَا شَآءَ الله. Barēlwīs, Deobandīs, Pākistānīs, Gujarātīs سُبْحَانَ الله. Unity and Community Cohesion of the highest level مَا شَآءَ الله. This may have never happened before and although, I do hope and pray it does, it may not be repeated.
When my colleague Mufti Yūsuf Shabbir addressed the congregation with the title ‘O Muslims’, I was so happy. Words will not do justice to my emotions and feelings. We were all together, all united, all celebrating on the same day. Truly an unprecedented day during this unprecedented time.
Almighty Allāh unite the Muslims of the UK, Europe and the US on the issue of moon sighting and take us all from strength to strength, Āmeen.
The video clip of the full Ṣalāh (7 minutes) from that memorable Sunday, recorded very kindly by a brother, who prayed his ‘Eid Ṣalāh in the local Masjid earlier مَا شَآءَ الله.
جزاك الله خيرا
Request for Du’ās
والسلام Hanif Dudhwala