The Sincere Faith
Khutbah of Eidul Fitr 1421
December 27, 2000

Allah is Great, Allah is Great, Allah is Great. Allah is Great and the Grateful Praise is for Allah.

All praise is for Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help and we ask for His mercy and forgiveness. We seek His protection from evils of our own selves and from the evils of our actions. Whomsoever Allah guides there is none to lead him astray, but whomsoever He leaves in errors there is none to guide him to the right path. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the One without any partner or associate in His Divinity. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. May Allah be pleased with his family and all his companions. Those were the people who believed in him, honored him and helped him and followed the light that was revealed with him. Those were the successful people. Surely the most true word is the Word of Allah and indeed the best guidance is the guidance of Prophet Muhammad - peace be upon him.

Dear Believers, I remind you and myself to be conscious of Allah and to obey Him. I warn you and myself of the consequences of being disobedient to Him and from going against His command. The strong and wise person is he/she who submits to Allah and works for the Hereafter. The weak and ignorant person is he/she who follows his/her own desires and then makes wishes, but without any concern for Allah’s rules. And remember Dear Believers, that the heaven is real and the hell is real and that Allah will surely resurrect the dead. “Thanks are for Allah Who has guided us to this. We could not truly have been led aright, if Allah had not guided us.” (Al-A’raf 7:43)

1. Greetings and Happiness of Eid

   I wish you a very happy and blessed Eid. We thank Allah that He gave us this day of celebration after the month of fasting and devotion. Eid is the day of happiness. Happiness is in the obedience of Allah. We observed fasts during the month of Ramadan. We prayed more prayers, we recited the Qur’an, we did many good deeds during this month. It is time now to celebrate, to enjoy this day and to thank Allah:

   “ …(He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance you shall be grateful.” (Al-Baqarah 2:185)

   In a Hadith Qudsi, the Prophet - peace be upon him - said reporting from Allah: “For the person who fasts there are two joys: when the fast ends, he/she feels happy; and when he/she will meet the Lord, will feel happy because of his/her fast.” (al-Bukhari, Hadith no. 1771)

   We pray to Allah to give us real happiness in this life and in the eternal life. We are humble people. We do not go beyond limits in our festivals. We begin our festivals with prayers and with thanksgiving and we follow a moderate path always.

2. We do not worship only in Ramadan

   We do not worship Allah only in Ramadan. We have to worship and serve Him throughout our life. We must live righteous life always, every day and every moment of our life. Some pious people used to say: “Kun Rabbaniyan wa la takun Ramadaniyan.” (Try to be a Rabbani (belonging to Allah always), do not be a Ramadani (only worship Allah during Ramadan).

   Muslims have to do good deeds always. Observe your daily prayers, fast during Ramadan, give Zakat, make Hajj if you can afford it. Speak the truth, be honest, and treat each other and all human beings with courtesy and kindness. Remember that the good deeds lead to more good deeds and the bad deeds lead to more bad deeds. It is said: “One of the rewards of good deeds is more good deeds after that, and one the chastisement of evil is more evil deeds after that.”

   When people do something good and then do more good things, it means that they really benefited from their good actions and Allah accepted their good deeds. But when someone prays, fasts, does some acts of charity, and then he/she stops doing these things, this means that from the beginning his/her intention was not good. He was not sincere in his/her good deeds.

3. Sincere Actions

   Allah accepts only those actions that are sincere: Verily it is We Who have revealed the Book to you in Truth: so serve Allah, offering Him sincere devotion. 3- Behold, the sincere devotion belongs to Allah …(al-Zumar 39:2-3)

   And they have been commanded no more than this: to worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being True (in faith); to establish regular Prayer; And to practice regular Charity; and that is the Religion right and Straight. (Al-Bayyinah 98:5)

   Islam is the religion of purity and sincerity. On the Day of Judgment Allah will not count our deeds, but He will weigh them. The real weighty deeds are those that are done with sincere faith and devotion to Allah. Then, he whose balance (of good deeds) will be (found) heavy, 7- Will be in A Life of good pleasure and satisfaction 8- But he whose balance (of good deeds) will be (found) light, 9- Will have his home in a (bottomless) Pit. 10- And what will explain to you what this is? 11- (It is) a Fire blazing fiercely! (al-Qari’ah 101:6-11)

4. Muslims must rise

   Dear Muslims, O the People of Faith, O the followers of Muhammad - peace be upon him! Be strong, be steadfast, be sincere, be righteous and be together. We must lead the humanity by upholding the principles of truth, justice and compassion. We are the followers of Rahmatullilalamin (the Mercy to the Worlds), we must be kind and good to each other and we must show care and concern for the whole humanity.

   Insha’Allah, the Muslim Ummah will rise. Insha’Allah, this Ummah will take its rightful place among the nations of the world. Today there are signs of awakening. More and more people are turning to their faith. Muslim youth in many parts of the world are taking lead. I have a message for the Muslim youth here, be conscious of Allah. Be strong in your faith, in your moral values. Do not allow yourselves to be corrupted by immorality, by sexual perversions, by drugs and by laziness. You are the future of Islam in this land and in every land. Know your faith and your values and put your principles to practice. Remember your brothers and sisters are struggling against injustice and oppression in Palestine, in Kashmir, in Chechnya. See what sacrifices they are making to remove corruption and exploitation. Feel their pain in your hearts and try to do every thing that you can to help them and support them.

5. Suffering of the People of Palestine

   The communities of three religions are having their holidays in the same week this year. But it is so sad to see that the land that is sacred to all the three faiths is bleeding. It is crying for justice. The people of Palestine are being killed in their own land. In the name of peace they are butchered, expelled from their homes and their basic rights are denied and ignored.

   We have a major responsibility here. Most of the people in America are fair minded. They do not want to be associated with any acts of injustice and oppression. But they are not receiving the right information. Actually they are being fed day and night by wrong information. The victims are presented to them as violent people and their oppressors are called peacemakers. We have to work with the media. We have to participate in political action. We have to have interfaith relations to remove misunderstandings and to bring better relations. We appreciate our friends in media, in politics, in the interfaith communities. We have to increase our friends. We must support good causes and must seek the support of others for the cause of truth and justice here and everywhere.

6. Help the Institutions

   Brothers and sisters, we cannot succeed unless we work together. We have to be united for our own sake and for the sake of peace and justice in the world. We have to pay attention to our institutions, our Islamic centers, our schools, our community needs.

   We need good individuals but we also need good institutions. Without good institutions the goodness of the individuals cannot be very effective and cannot continue for too long.

7. Support ISOC

   You listened to some appeals this morning. I want to remind you again to support your Islamic Society of Orange County. What is ISOC?

   It is a Masjid, a school, and a community center. It is a place of worship, an institution of learning for children, youth and adults. It is a community center for families to get married, to enjoy their celebrations, to share their grief and to support each other, to take care of the poor and needy, to provide help to those who are in need. It is a place for pure and clean socialization under Islamic principles.

   ISOC is a place for all Muslims of any race, color, ethnicity or language. We have people from more than 50 different countries who come regularly to our center.

   ISOC brings people of different faiths also for mutual understanding, for dialogue and for better relations. It has developed good relations with the city, county, with local interfaith groups, universities, colleges, libraries, media groups and organizations.

   ISOC has one of the largest and best Islamic schools in this country. It has:

   • 400 children and 50 teachers and staff members
   • 375 children in weekend school
   • 60 children who come every evening for Hifz classes
   • 1500 to 2000 people come for prayers every Friday.

   Many people come for daily prayers. Many people come for lectures, seminars and conferences.

   Many people come for consultations, counseling.

   Altogether about 10,000 people come to its premises every week.

   It is one of the most busy and active Islamic centers in this land.

   This institution is now recognized all over the country and in many other parts of the world. We are thankful to Allah. We thank the services of all those who have worked and who are continuously working sincerely for this institution.

8. We have a Vision

   We have not stopped growing. We have outgrown our facilities. We want to grow more and more. We are not satisfied with our facilities. We want to make them better. We want larger and better facilities to serve our community better.

   • . Large Masjid
   • . A mortuary
   • . Good Library and Book Store
   • . More classrooms
   • . Lecture Hall and Gym
   • . Cafeteria
   • . Offices

9. Your Support

   We depend on Allah and then on you, our Muslim brothers and sisters. We need each and every one of you. We do not have any pledges or promises from any government or outside agencies. We do trust that together we can do it.

   Allah has blessed many of you and you have been supporting many institutions here and in other places. We do hope that you will be generous and this dream will be realized.

   Brothers and sisters, this is a great and large gathering here. Masha’Allah, all the three halls in this Fairground are filled to capacity. You are not here to glorify any person or party. You are all here to glorify Allah. Let us turn to Allah, purify our intentions, make a sincere repentance and ask Allah’s forgiveness. Let us make a pledge to Allah that our devotion and our good deeds will continue after Ramadan. Let us make a pledge to Allah that we shall be good to our families, to our neighbors, to our co-workers. Let us pledge to Allah that we shall work together as one body, one solid group. We shall support our institutions and we shall mind our responsibilities here and every where.

   Let us pray to Allah to bless us, keep us on the right path, help us and assist us.