بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem "In the Name of God, the
Compassionate, the Merciful”
السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ
وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
As salaam alaykum ramatullahi wa barakthu "May the peace of
Allah be upon you, and His mercy and blessings"
Dear friends,
Today
I would like to introduce you about Eid ul Fitr and the 6 Fasts of Shawwal.
One of the meritorious aspects of Shawwal is that it has been chosen by Allah
Almighty for the celebration of “Eid-ul-Fitr”, one of the two main annual
festivals recognised by the Islam. This happy day as a sign of gratefulness by
the Muslims on the accomplishment of Ramadhan, and as an immediate reward by
Allah for those who spent the month of Ramadhan in fasting and performing other
forms of prayer. In prescribing the ways to celebrate the happy day, Islam has
adopted another unique approach. The festivals of other religions or nations
normally comprise of some acts of rejoicing and enjoyment. The whole happy day
is normally spent in dancing, drinking singing and playing. Islam has,
conversely, prescribed a very simple, prestigious and more humane way to
observe and celebrate the happy day. First of all, it is mandatory on all the
well-off Muslims to start their day by paying ‘Zakathul -ul-fitr' to the poor
of their society, so that they too may enjoy the day along with others, and may
not be worried for earning their livelihood at least in that day of happiness.
After paying the ‘Zakathul-ul-fitr',
the Muslims (Men) are required to proceed to offer ‘Eid prayer collectively. In
this way, they are supposed to present themselves before their Creator and
offer two rak'ats of this special type of prayer, which makes them receive
blessings from Allah and start their celebration by these divine blessings.
After the Eid prayer also, they are
supposed to rejoice the day in a responsible manner, without violating the
limits prescribed for them and never indulging in the acts prohibited by Allah.
Keeping this point in view, we will
now discuss specific rules prescribed for celebrating the day of ‘Eid-ul-Fitr.
The Night preceding ‘Eid-ul-Fitr'
It had been the practice of the
Holy Prophet (SAW) that he did
not sleep in the night preceding the day of ‘Eid ul –fitr. This night has been
named in a Hadith as, ‘THE NIGHT OF REWARD'. It means that Allah Almighty
bestows his rewards to those who have spent the month of Ramadhan abiding by the
dictates of Shari ‘ah, and all their prayers in this night are accepted.
Therefore, it is desirable to perform nafl ( Sunnath prayer or voluntary
prayer) prayers in this night. The Holy Prophet (SAW) is reported to have said:
“Whoever stands up (in worship) in
the nights preceding the two Eids expecting rewards from his lord, his heart
will not die when the other hearts will die.
To benefit from this opportunity,
one should perform as much worship in this night as he can, and should pray for
all his needs and desires.
Before going to ‘Eid Prayer
The following acts are prescribed
as Sunnah at the beginning of the day of Eid-ul-Fitr before proceeding to the
‘Eid prayer:
1. To
wake up early in the morning.
2. To
clean one's teeth with a Miswaak or a brush.
3. To
have a bath.
4. To
put on one's best available clothes.
5. To apply
perfume.
6. To
eat a sweet food, preferably dates (eat odd numbers like 3, 5, 7 etc), before
the ‘Eid prayer.
7. To
recite the following Takbir in the low voice while going to the ‘Eid prayer:
“Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu
Akbar La ilaha illallahu allahu akbar,
allahu akbar wa lilla hil hamd.”
Zakath-ul-Fithr
(Described in details in another post in this blog -http://alimkmuhammed.blogspot.ae/2013/08/zakat-ul-fitr.html
)
The ‘Eid prayer
The second obligation on ‘Eid day
is to perform the ‘Eid prayer. Some rules in this respect are mentioned
hereunder:
1. The
‘Eid prayer is a special voluntary prayer on every male Muslim.
2. The
‘Eid prayer can be performed any time between the ishraq and zawal.
3. It
is preferable that the ‘Eid prayer is performed in a big mosque and not in open
field. However, if, it is difficult to perform it in a mosque, it can also be
performed in an open field but that place should be clean and good enough to perform
prayer by all means.
4. The
‘Eid prayer has neither Azaan nor iqamah.
5. It
has two rakaath (one prayer unit). The first raka'h is initiated with Takbeer
al-ihram, followed by the opening supplication. Then followed by seven
Takbeers in the first raka'h and five more in the second rak'ah. Between
each Takbeer pray dikr “subhanaallah val hamdulillah valahilaha illallahu
allahu akbar” Then surathul fathiha and other one surath. Rest all like other
normal prayer.
Khutbah: The address of
‘Eid-ul-fitr
In this Prayer, Khutbah
is a Sunnah and is delivered after the Eid prayer. Listening to the Khutbah of ‘Eid
prayer is necessary and must be heard in perfect peace and silence.
Six
Fasts in the Month of Shawwal
It is commendable to keep six fasts in the month of Shawwal. The Holy
Prophet (SAW) has said:
“Whoever completes the fasts of Ramadhan then adds to them the fasts of
six days in the month of Shawwal, it will carry the reward of fasting for the
whole year.” (Sahih Muslim)
This Hadith had described the great reward of six
fasts of this month. The scholars have interpreted this Hadith by
saying that according to the recognised rules of Islam, every good deed is
rewarded ten times more reward of its origin, therefore, the reward of
30 days of Ramadhan amounts to the reward for 300 days. If the fasts
of Ramadhan are followed by six more fasts, they carry the reward of
60 days more, raising the aggregate reward to 360 which is the number
of dais in one year according to the Islamic calendar. Therefore, the Muslims
should take this opportunity of acquiring such an enormous reward from Allah.
It is more preferable to start these fasts from the 2 nd of Shawwal and keep
fasting up to the 7 th of Shawwal. However, if they are kept in other days of
shawwal (like Monday and Thursday which has special sunnath fasting), it is
hoped that the requirement of the above Hadith may also be fulfilled.
Please
include me in your prayer
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