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Eid – The time to renew your covenant with Allah

Eid - The time to renew your covenant with Allah
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June 16, 2024
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It is the Sunnah to recite Surat al-A’la and Surat al-Ghashiyah during the Eid salah. These surahs are Makki surahs, and as typical of Makki surahs, they dwell on themes of monotheism, belief in the akhirah, and renewing our covenant with Allah. We praise Him and are reminded to consider the outcome of our actions – if our actions are good, the consequence is a reward; if our actions are bad, the outcome will be punishment.

In Surat al-Ghashiyah, Allah mentions two kinds of people: those whose faces are downcast on the Day of Judgement and who will be tortured for what they did in dunya, and those whose faces are filled with delight, who will be immersed in the bliss of Jannah. They will be happy with the choices they made and their actions.

“وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ خَاشِعَةٌ
عَامِلَةٌ نَاصِبَةٌ
تَصْلَىٰ نَارًا حَامِيَةً”
Some faces, that Day, will be humbled, working hard and exhausted. They will [enter to] burn in an intensely hot Fire. (Surat al-Ghashiyah 88:2-4)

“وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاعِمَةٌ
لِسَعْيِهَا رَاضِيَةٌ
فِي جَنَّةٍ عَالِيَةٍ”
Other faces, that Day, will show pleasure. With their effort [they are] satisfied in an elevated garden. (Surat al-Ghashiyah 88:8-10)

It is a reminder from Allah that we are the masters of our fate – we determine our ending with our choices. Allah is telling us that if we want Jannah with all its pleasures, we must choose good actions and follow what the Prophet (peace be upon him) encouraged us to do.

It is so beautiful to feel the lofty reward from Allah for those who decide to follow His call. Their reward is na’ima, eternal happiness. This is because they chose the straight path and strived and struggled to fulfil the commands of Allah. For those who want to take a shortcut and just enjoy the dunya as if there is no akhirah, they can, it’s their choice, but there is no good reward in the akhirah for them.

All our actions will be replayed to us, and we will be repaid accordingly. No wonder the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to recite this surah every Eid. He was reminding us to make the right choices and do the best actions. Making the right choice is not easy. It goes against our own desires, against the current, and at times at loggerheads with the trends of the community, our culture, and the norms of society. As long as we do what pleases Allah, we will be on the right side. We cannot budge on this. We must not give up. If we give up, then we are choosing to be among those on the left, not those on the right.

“فَذَكِّرْ إِنَّمَا أَنتَ مُذَكِّرٌ
لَّسْتَ عَلَيْهِم بِمُصَيْطِرٍ”
So remind, [O Muhammad]; you are only a reminder. You are not over them a controller. (Surat al-Ghashiyah 88:21-22)

As long as we strive and struggle, it will pay off later.

Allah is reminding us, “فَذَكِّرْ,” so we have to remind our families to be on the right side. The beauty of being on the right side is that it can be done by everyone, not just a select few. The Prophet (peace be upon him) started disseminating the divine message to the people of Makkah, and now Islam has spread to two billion people all over the world.

The Sunnah of Eid is to offer a sacrifice, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to after the salah. You can perform a sacrifice on Eid or on any of the three days after it (10th-13th Dhul-Hijjah), if you can afford it. You can eat a third of the meat, share a third with your family, friends, and neighbours, and donate a third to those in need. These are days of sharing happiness.

Sadly, our hearts are filled with pain at the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine, so we should keep them in our duas and support them as much as possible in every legitimate way we can.

Let’s renew our covenant with Allah this Eid and every day after Eid to stay on the right path. Celebrating Eid doesn’t mean you can break Allah’s limits, so stick to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) so we can be in the lofty gardens of Jannah and enjoy the reward.

We ask Allah to keep us on the straight path and on the right side. Ameen. Have a blessed and Mubarak Eid.

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Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.

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