Sacrifice, Biggest Worship of Eid al-Adha

Khateeb of Sunnis advised Muslims to take advantage of the remaining days of the first 10 days of Dhul-Hijjah and he termed “slaughtering an animal” on Eid day the biggest worship of Eid al-Adha.

Talking to tens of thousands worshipers on Friday 9th Aug. 2019 in Zahedan, southeastern Iran, Shaikh Abdol-Hamid began his speech by the noble verse of the Qur’an: “لَن يَنَالَ اللَّهَ لُحُومُهَا وَلَا دِمَاؤُهَا وَلَٰكِن يَنَالُهُ التَّقْوَىٰ مِنكُمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ سَخَّرَهَا لَكُمْ لِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُحْسِنِينَ; Neither their flesh reaches Allah nor their blood; it is your piety that reaches Him. He has subjected these animals (to you) that you may magnify Allah for the guidance He has bestowed upon you. Give glad tidings, (O Prophet), to those who do good.” and said: “Allah Almighty has extended His mercies and blessings in these days and nights for everyone.”

“We should be vigilant and benefit more and more from this especial opportunity. Some people are as negligent as neither the verses of the Qur’an and Hadith nor the advice of Ulama can awake them. Apart from the grave and judgement day nothing can awake these negligent people,” he added more.

Shaikh Abdol-Hamid said: “These days are for repentance and returning to Allah. Make your time free for worshipping Allah. Remove your moral weaknesses and rectify your all kinds of shortcomings. Observe fast on the day of Arafah.”

He shed light on the importance of slaughtering animal and said: “Qurbani, slaughtering an animal, is the most important worship of Eid al-Adha with most rewards. It is the Sunnah of the prophet Ibrahim and the beloved prophet Mohammad, peace be upon them. Ram is the best sacrifice.”

“Slaughtering one animal as Qurbani on Eid days has more rewards than slaughtering hundreds of livestock on other day. It is obligatory on wealthy people who pay Zakah. It is better to divide meat of the sacrifice into three parts; two parts for the family and guests and one part for donation,” president of Darululoom Zahedan underlined.

He reminded the audience to recite Takbeerat of Tashreeq from the morning of 9 Dhul-Hijjah to Asr of 13 Dhul-Hijjah. It is also obligatory to offer Eid prayers. “Dressing in good cloth, new or clean one and using perfume are the Sunnah and way of the prophet, peace be upon him,” Shaikh said.

Abrogation of Kashmir’s Autonomy by India, Result of Muslims’ Disputes
In the second part of his speech, the most outstanding Iranian Sunni leader denounced revocation of Kashmir’s special status by Indian government and termed it the bad fruit of Muslims’ disputes and differences with each other.

He said: “India has abrogated the special status of Jammu & Kashmir without consideration of the people of Kashmir. India has deployed thousands of more soldiers in Kashmir with a lockdown across the region. We strongly denounce this step of the Indian government.”

“Unfortunately, it has been for decades that people of Jammu & Kashmir suffer from fatal and pernicious calamities. They have been facing restrictions and obstacles to get their due rights and freedoms from the state of India. Despite passage of decades, the international community and India could not resolve the issue properly with discretion,” he added more.

President of Darululoom Zahedan expressed his views about one of the most important reasons behind the controversial decision of the Hindu-nationalist government of India and said: “Muslim countries and masses have been divided and they suffer from differences. Muslim countries cannot have a unanimous stance on the suppression put on Muslims. Muslims’ differences, religious and sectarian clashes and from the other side, extremism which has been spread among some Muslims paved the way for anti-Islam elements to misuse this bad atmosphere and make decisions against Muslims.”

“Before this, in Palestine, Myanmar and China the differences of Muslims have been misused and cruelty against Muslims has been intensified. Now the Indian government has taken benefit of this situation abrogating autonomy of Muslims in Kashmir,” he further said.

Mawlana Abdol-Hamid expressed his surprise on the stance of some Muslim countries about the anti-Uighur steps of the Chinese government and said: “It was really surprising for us that many of Muslim countries supported China over its injustice and discrimination on the Muslim minority. While what we see in China is not ‘war on terror’ as it is called, but it an obvious cruelty.”

“If Muslims were united as one hand and some groups did not misuse the title of Jihad with extremist thoughts, today some powers could not create problems for Muslims under the baseless pretext of ‘counter terrorism’,” he further said.

Khateeb of Sunnis made it clear: “Islam has taught us to be just and avoid from oppressing others. We are against cruelty and injustice. We think all human beings should tolerate each other and avoid from unjust acts.”

At the end of his speech, Shaikh Abdol-Hamid congratulated the national Journalists’ Day to media workers and activists expressing his hope that all journalists could “carry out their duties well” and “convey the facts to masses”.