 Alhamdulillah that we have reached the blessed days of Eid al-Adha in the blessed month of Dhul-Hijjah. Alhamdulillah, this is a very, very mubarak time where the heavens and the earth are glorifying Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and we are taught and told to follow them in their glorification. We are taught to repeat throughout these days, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lilla ilham. And this day is known as a day of sacrifice, specifically that Eid al-Adha is known as a time of sacrifice. Many of us have either already done or placed our orders for our sacrifice or are going after this to literally sacrifice the animal or we will be doing so over the course of the next day or two. But what exactly does that sacrifice symbolize? Where exactly did this sacrifice begin? As many of us know, this begins with the story of our father Ibrahim alaihi salam, Sayyidina Ibrahim alaihi salam, and known as the father of religion and many of the world religions stem from Ibrahim alaihi salam, the dominant world religion stem from Ibrahim alaihi salam. And so Ibrahim alaihi salam was told, after art, gone through many tests and many difficulties in his life. He had a son, like most of the scholars say Ismail alaihi salam, and he was told to sacrifice this son. What exactly does that mean? That it came in a dream vision, and the dream vision of the prophets, it's revelation that he was seen sacrificing his son, literally taking a thick knife and putting it up against the neck of his son. And originally he didn't quite understand and then it came again and he realized that this is a command from Allah. It's a very, very difficult command to understand, but it was the station of Ibrahim alaihi salam that he was told this is a sacrifice that you're going to have to do. And so as we all know the story, Ibrahim alaihi salam takes his son, Ismail alaihi salam, up to the top of the mountain, and he begins to prepare him for this situation. Now what is his son? His son doesn't resist. His son doesn't say, whoa, is that right? What are you doing? Of course that would be a very logical thing to say. He asks him, and we understand that this came from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he says, he submits, he enters into a complete state of submission. And so Ibrahim alaihi salam begins then this, imagine this action that a father, a parent has to literally sacrifice their own child because God told him to do so and he's a prophet of Allah. He's one of the foremost of the prophets. And so he begins this action. He begins to place, as he's about to place the knife on the neck of his son, Allah tells him, qad sadaqtaru, you have fulfilled the vision. You have been truthful to the vision that you received in Ibrahim alaihi salam. His son is replaced then, as many of the scholars mentioned, with a ram. And so his son is not actually sacrificed, but the action and the sincerity that Ibrahim alaihi salam had has literally benefited all of creation since then. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala never tested anybody again with such a command to literally sacrifice their own child. But what exactly did he do? First and foremost, Ibrahim alaihi salam he submitted to Allah's will. We're told many times to do certain things with our religion. We're told to pray. We're told to fast. We're told to lower our gaze. We're told to stay away from certain things. And we have a very, very difficult time submitting. Ibrahim alaihi salam was not only had he submitted to all of the other requirements that were put on him, but imagine submitting to such an action. And it was through that sacrifice that his station of submission increased further. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran that Ibrahim alaihi salam was an umma on his own. Imagine the umma of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi salam. The umma or the umma of the Anbiya that came before, millions and millions of people. Ibrahim alaihi salam did not have outwardly thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of followers that were visible at the time. There was a very, very small group including amongst his own children in Qajj. He was an umma, umma on his own. He was a community on his own. Why? Because of these actions that he did. Because of the state of his heart. Allah says in the Quran that Ibrahim alaihi salam had achieved a qalb salim, a sound heart. And so it was through the sacrifices that he made and through submitting to Allah's decree that he was elevated. So we have to ask ourselves, how much elevation do we want to achieve in the next life? And how much do we sacrifice in the next life for this life? We chase after all these different things. We're regularly chasing after dunya. We're caught up in things we know we shouldn't be doing. And this is the day we reflect what am I ready to sacrifice? What am I ready to give up in my life? Because of the people who came before me and because of all that they gave up. Look at what came from the blessed progeny of Ibrahim alaihi salam. That you have all of the prophets. You have first and foremost the prophets all over the salam who comes from the progeny of Ibrahim alaihi salam. Then you have all the prophets of Bani Israel in another line. Sayyidina Musa alaihi salam, Sayyidina Yaqum alaihi salam, Sayyidina Yusuf alaihi salam. All of them stem from the prophet Ibrahim alaihi salam. Umma on his own because of the sacrifices that he made because he submitted to Allah's will. He submitted to what Allah wanted him to do and Allah elevated him. And these practices were not just firm in him. It's not just like you have one person who's kind of on the theme in the family and the rest of the family slipping. No, no, no, no. He made sure that these practices and that these stations and that these meetings were inculcated in the hearts of his family. That we know the story of Bibi Hajar alaihi salam, her haggard, that she's told Ibrahim alaihi salam takes her and he takes his son to a valley completely barren, to complete desert, to the valley of Mecca. And he says he has a little bit of some narration, a little bit of food and a little bit of water that he gives them. And then he's like, I'm out. I gotta go. Now imagine you're taking your family, your wife and your son, and you're just literally dropping them off like, where are we going? We're going to this valley. What are you going to do? I gotta go. That doesn't make any logical sense. Again, you have these commands that are coming that don't really make rational, quote unquote, rational or logical sense sometimes. Your intellect can't grasp it, but that's because this affair of this being is more than just about the intellect. It's not just about the brain. This isn't a affair of the heart. This is an affair of spiritual realities. It's not just about understanding everything. It's sometimes just about Samiyah now, we hear and we obey. And so naturally say the haidah, at least sometimes she's worried what exactly is going on. She doesn't, you know, lose her cool, she doesn't serve out. She asks, she clarifies, so what exactly are you doing? And then she asks Allah command you to do this. And he says, yes. What does she say? No, no, no, plead with Allah. That you take us away from here that this is going to be really, really difficult. We're not going to be able to stay in the desert by ourselves. She doesn't say any of that. She says, he says, I am leaving you in God's care. And she says, I am satisfied with Allah, that she submits to Allah and he leaves. And now she's in this valley and eventually the food that they have, everything that they have runs out. And she has a young child with her. And now her own test begins, her own test begins. And so she's out looking for food, looking for water, but this isn't hot. And if anybody's ever been to Mecca, it's hot. And no AC at this time. You don't have the fancy buildings and everything that they have now. We're talking complete, barren desert. And she's in between these two mountains, Safa and Marwa. And so what does she do? She doesn't just sit there, only sit there and start making go, I know, she actually does both. She starts to first and foremost put in her effort. While ultimately relying on Allah, I mean, conceivably you can't actually see anything. There's no water inside, there's no food inside. You just have these two giant sand mountains. Doesn't make any sense. Why would you waste your time looking for food or looking for water? Again, because logic is not what guided these people. The intellect is not the only thing that guided them. You're talking about spiritual realities. They had a trust in Allah. If God told him to leave me here, God is going to take care of me. God is going to make something come and he's going to take care of you. So what does she start to do? As we know this story, she's running back and forth between Safa and Marwa. She's running back and forth between these two mountains in the heat of Mecca, very, very completely in a disheveled, broken state before our Lord. She wasn't in this, like, yes, there is a trust in Allah, but ultimately she was realizing her state of submission before Allah, that I am a servant to Allah. And Allah will do with me what He wills, because that we come from Allah and to Him we are going to return. And so what then happens? She's running back and forth, running back and forth. And ultimately as she's expressing her brokenness before Allah, boom, an angel comes and strikes a rock and we know as the well of Zamzam that we know from today, if we go to Mecca and you're able to drink from that blessed water, Zamzam starts to pour forth. Again, out of, completely out of nowhere because nowhere would she know that, yeah, angel's going to come, there's going to be a whole thing that's going to happen and then all this water is just going to come. No, she is doing, she's putting in her part. She first informed us, she submitted to Allah and Allah asked for her. When she revealed it through a prophet which was Ibrahim al-Islam and she submitted to it. That's the first thing that happened. The second thing then is she starts to put in effort and she starts to place her trust in Allah. But the effort is still there. So we learn from this that when you are being patient and when you are trusting in Allah, you still have to put in effort. You can't just resign yourself and wait for things to happen. There has to be a moment of effort, but you're not relying on your effort. You're relying on the Lord of your effort. You're relying on your Lord. That is the lesson that we learn from her. Look at these meanings, look at these people and we have to wonder where are we with regards to these meanings? That these were the people who preceded us, our forefathers. Where are we with regards to following their example? She then shows her brokenness and her weakness before Allah and then Allah does what? He gives her a way out because he says, That whoever has Taqwa of Allah, whoever is conscious of Allah, whoever follows Allah's commandment, whoever places their trust in Allah, Allah will give them an exit strategy. That he will provide to you where you never expected because all these means are in Allah's control. You're sick and you think that there's no cure possible. Don't worry if the doctor says that. Don't worry if someone says you're never going to get better. Don't worry if someone says that your life is going to end in a year or two years or the same thing is happening to your family members. Place your trust in Allah, turn to Allah, rely on Allah, Allah will give you a way out. If it's best for you, Allah will give you a way out. If someone is struggling financially to fool us into thinking that these people and their fancy cars and their fancy homes and the fancy jobs and all these sorts of things, nothing wrong with having nice things, but that's not the goal. You see when Allah honored them, he didn't give them the giant mansions and giant cars or they put them on camels and things like that at the time. No. He gave them the men's station such that this is a woman who every single year we replicate her action at Hajj and every single day there are people doing umrah, thousands, thousands, hundreds of thousands, inshallah, Allah open up Mecca again for all the people to visit. Millions of people are replicating her action, but replicating her action outward form is not enough. You have to replicate the inward as well. There has to be an inward reliance on Allah. How many, how much of our life are we going to live? Are we reliant on all these other things and we don't place any of our trust in Allah. So that is the main lesson that we take away from this. And then there's the lesson of sacrifice. They sacrificed everything so you could be here today, so we could be here today. So much. And we have a difficult time sacrificing a little bit of haram. We're going to sacrifice an animal today. Where are we with sacrificing the animal soul inside of us? The nasal amada, the evil commanding soul inside of us. That tells us to look at haram things, it tells us to drink haram things, it tells us to smoke haram things, it tells us to do all sorts of things that we shouldn't be doing. Where are we with sacrificing that inside of us? That is the question we should be asking today. How much are we ready to sacrifice for this being? Because this life is pretty short. It's going to pass. And are people going to sacrifice you as an umma on your own? Is that the station that someone achieved because of their sacrifice? Can we try to at least live the realities or attempt to live those realities? Or do we just want to be remembered as just any old person? We have to keep us caught up. Keeping us caught up. Whether we're fighting with people, whether we're arguing with people, whether we're missing our prayers. We have a desire, shahawat, that keep us caught up. And it's at every level of this being, different desires are there. It doesn't mean that someone has stopped the major sin that they don't have desires. Sacrifice continues. There are people who sacrifice their desires. From there they begin to sacrifice their time for the sake of the being. And then you have the people who literally sacrifice their life for the sake of this being. If the sahabah ikram, the companions of the prophets of Allah, they sacrifice literally everything, so that you and I could be here and worship Allah. Everything so that we can say La ilaha illallah alhamdulillah. We know the stories of them sacrificing their wealth. We know how much money they gave in the cause of Allah. We know how much time they devoted. But how many of us reflect upon the fact that many of them literally sacrificed their very life, so that we could sit here today and worship Allah. And you have the story of Sayyidina Jafir ibn Abi Talib. I've actually known Sayyidina Jafir ibn Fayyah, radi allahu anhu. That there was a battle of the Prophet ﷺ sent them on an expedition, the battle of Mu'tah in the area of Jordan. And the Prophet ﷺ, many of the sahabah are still in Medina. And in the variation it comes, that Sayyidina Jafir he was bearing the standard. He had the standard in his right hand. So he's fighting this battle, he's bearing the standard, and then what happens? His hand gets cut off. His right hand gets cut off, his arm, rather. He moves it over to the left hand. He doesn't stop fighting. He keeps going. He's still fighting the kafat. He keeps going. He has the standard now in his left hand. Next thing what happens? His left hand is cut off. His left arm is cut off. He's still fighting valiantly, sacrificing himself, doing what he can because he has this internal reality that I need to spread this theme. His left hand gets cut off. What does he do? He holds it up in between his arms, whatever he has left in his arm, until he can't do it anymore. And then, he's wounded, severely wounded. The sahabah, they take the standard from him, they pull him to the side. They count 80 wounds, all on the front of his body, from swords, from spears, from arrows. No wound on his backside. Why? Because he never turned around. He kept going. No matter what he said, this is it, I'm going for it. He sacrificed everything. Imagine 80 wounds. This was, and this was like real, real, real battle. This wasn't gunshots and drone strikes. No, these people were fighting with their swords, with their spears, right in their faces. 80 wounds, they count. They offered him water. They said, drink some water. What does he say? I'm fasting. I'm not going to drink water. I'm fasting. He says, I hope to break my fasting paradise. And that's exactly what happens. At the time, the pausasam is sitting in Madinah Manawla. And the sahabah who are there, they see the pausasam say Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. And then he starts to begin speaking to somebody, and they're not understanding what's going on. After the gathering, they ask him, Ya Rasulallah who are you speaking to? He said, that was Jaffa Ibn Abu Talib, who was in front of me with a group of angels. Allah replaced his arms with two wings, with wings that he can fly with wherever he wants to paradise. And he came where he was in paradise. Who did he come to visit? Sayyidina Rasulallah As-salamu alaykum. Because of his love for the pausasam. He came and he visited the pausasalam, and the pausasam saw him, so he became known after that as Jaffa al-Tayyam. Look at what these people did. They sacrificed everything for us, and they did not do this so we could just sit around. That's not the purpose of our life. We have to literally talk about whatever we're caught up in. How much of people have gone before me? The likes of Zidna Ibrahim al-Islam. The likes of the Sahaba. So many Sahaba we could mention. Stories of each and every single one of them, and how much should they sacrifice. Did they sacrifice all this so we could just waste all our time on Netflix watching this show after this show and just sitting around, letting our life pass by? Was that why they sacrificed? Is that what we should be doing when we reflect on their life and how they sacrificed? Did they sacrifice so we could spend our time arguing as a community over small little differences and not actually making any progress? Or so that we could just work, work, work for our dunya, focus only entirely on our career, and ask a lot of money but do nothing for the sake of this need. Why did they sacrifice so much? That's the question that we need to be asking. Is it just so we can hang out all the time and socialize? Is that the purpose? There is deep wisdom into why the Sahaba Ram sacrificed so much. And so that we just a small portion we could take and we could continue the work that they did in some way or another. There's a lot of work to be done and a lot of sacrifices to make. A few years on Eid, Amir Sundiata, and Allah bless and preserve him, that he gave Khutbah and he mentioned how much work has to be done in this community. How many people are struggling? How many people are thirsty for guidance? They're begging for guidance. What responsibility then do we have? Everybody here has some talent or another. Everybody. It doesn't mean everybody has to be involved outwardly in spreading the cause of the theme, but everybody has some talent. We have to ask ourselves what are we doing to use our talents, to use our services, to use what Allah has blessed us in the service of this religion and how are we going to sacrifice some portion of our time, some portion of what we can do so that we can continue the great work that the people who came before us did. So it was through these sacrifices that these people attain the station of complete complete submission we're not always in the state of submission but we kind of wonder when God's rules come down how often are we questioning why do I gotta do this why do I gotta do that why do I do this why do I gotta wear this what happened to this state of the one who created me told me to do it so I'm gonna do it and I'll find out sometimes you just gotta find out later why exactly did I have to do that nothing wrong with asking questions but there's something beautiful about submitting to what God wants from us and God wants something general from all of us and then he wants something specific from each one of us and that is the relationship we have to ask him yeah hello what do you want me to be doing what should I be doing with my life how should I be spending my life whether I'm engaged outwardly in work if I'm working here if I'm constructing something if I'm working at a job if I'm a doctor if I'm a lawyer whatever it is but what else do you want from me because surely I know what you don't want for me is just come home every day sit on a couch let my time pass by for five six hours and then the weekend comes and then all I do is socialize and hang out or hang out online and then the weekday starts and I just keep repeating that I got much we can all say that's not what God wants from us so what does he want from us first and foremost we know he wants us to submit and he wants to submit to the rules of this being that's a hard thing to do in this society that everybody it's an unpopular word to say submission but Muslim is the one who submits Islam is the religion of submission and through submission you would take the state of peace and the state of tranquility Allah says the Quran referring to the Kaaba that we made this house a place of security and then he said and take the Maqamah Ibrahim the standing place of Abraham as a place of prayer Imam al-Qusheri Rahimullah he mentions about this verse that the station of the Rahimah Islam in addition to the physical station that is there in Makkah is the station of attaining a state of complete submission turning your affairs over to Allah you submit outwardly to the rules and then inwardly you resign your affair over to Allah what does that mean we let go of our desires and then from there we began letting Allah run our life we say Allah you are in control ultimately I'm going to turn my affair over over to you that was the station of Rahimullah Islam when he was young many of the commentators mentioned he was very young when this happened and he was trying he was confirming to he demolishing the idols there was a very very very dark and evil ruler there at the time he built this huge fire he said we're going to burn a Rahim in the fire and so they what do they do they build a giant fire and they build a huge catapult and they put it Rahimah Islam in the catapult and then they're all watching this is like this giant ceremony they began catapulting him they release it and he begins flying through the air and going towards the fire at the time that he's going towards that fire what happens to him say Najib real islam the angel of revelation comes to him and he says is there anything that you need he says as as for from you know my lord is aware of the situation has been a low and it would look he I resigned my affair over to Allah and there would have been nothing wrong with you who's sending say that to realize that I'm talking about of course God is the one sending him asking him do you need anything but he said no because he was in a complete state at this point of submission trust in Allah complete submission and you see this theme throughout his life this theme of submission and he resigned affair completely over to Allah and he said husband Allah and Allah says to the fire that become cool and peaceful for Abraham as we know in the verse the Quran and he goes into the fire and becomes completely cool and peaceful and some of the commentaries like a bed of roses and he mentions in his life that some of the best days of my life were the day that woman I was in there because he did what again all logic and the intellect it doesn't doesn't make sense you're getting catapulted into the air there's a ginormous fire you're about to be completely burned this angel comes to you and asking you do you need anything you're like no I'm good because God knows what I'm going through already husband Allah when it will keep and that is when we are struggling when we are going through something and if an angel comes to you know no problem asking them but there's a station that she completely trusted in Allah he had completely resigned his affair over to Allah so we need to see things is coming from Allah that test came from Allah the test of sacrificing his son came from Allah the test of leaving his wife and son in the desert came from Allah all of this is from Allah even if it's coming hourly from people ultimately it's coming from the Lord of people and so we just need to see what exactly is Allah testing us with how are we going to go about submitting and the more we sacrifice the more you sacrifice internally the more this I was sacrificed the more you give up on your life the more your heart in terms of state of submission the heart is it is possible for the heart to submit but the more the spiritual heart and the normal caught up in desires the more we'll pull up in our lust the more we'll cut off and promise the more we're not doing things we shouldn't be doing and say things we shouldn't be saying and dressing in a way we shouldn't be dressing and looking at people that we shouldn't be looking In all sorts of things, the more difficult it's going to be for the heart to be in a state of submission and to be in a state of contentment. And so Allah, the Prophets, has now told us, and Allah commands us in the Qur'an, that when you are struggling with these things, seek help in patience and in prayer. Because you don't know what's good for you. Allah says, And perhaps you hate a thing and in it is much good for you. And perhaps you love a thing and in it is much bad for you, and Allah knows that you don't know. Ultimately, God knows what's good for us, God knows what's going to be best for us, and outwardly something might appear like this is really, really damaging, this is really, really difficult. But that doesn't mean that's the inward reality. And so as we contemplate these stories of the greats who came before us, as we reflect on this day, the day of sacrifice, we have to think how much are we ready to sacrifice. We should all make an intention right now that we want to sacrifice something for the sake of Allah. We want to sacrifice something for the sake of the Messenger of Allah, Salaam. We want to sacrifice something for the sake of all the greats who came before us, everything it is that they did for us. But that's something haram that we're doing, and if we stop a lot of the major things, then some portion of our time to do the work of this Deen, to do the work of trying to help people. Whatever it is, we are living in a community with a lot of help that's needed. Let's make that intention, let's try to form a deeper relationship with Allah. One that's not just that when we need something, we ask. But one that's, you are my Lord, you created me, I'm at your service. We say in these moments, when you are a Hajj, La Baik, Allahumma La Baik. Here I am at your service, my Lord. La Baik. We should turn to Allah and say La Baik. Here I am at your service, my Lord. Whatever it is that I can do, I'm ready to do. But it begins with submitting, it begins with sacrificing, it begins with leaving the haram. It continues with leaving the things that Allah wouldn't like, the Makru. And it continues with leaving things that we just wasted our time. And it continues them with us spending as much time as we can in spreading goodness, in spreading fear, in spreading nul, in spreading this Deen. Doing whatever portion we can to bring good to the society that we're in, that we're in. And that will be the route, inshallah, that allows us to attain a station of nearness to Allah. A station of love of Allah, a station of love of the Messenger of Allah, s.a.w. And a station where Allah is Messenger, inshallah, please with us. That you heart in all of our sins, that you elevate us, that you increase us, that you accept us, that you forgive us inwardly and outwardly. Asalla-Llah wa sallam, bye. In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the Most Merciful.