The Joys of Eid
Eid Mubarak! We have once again completed a month of intensive fasting, prayer, and recitation for the sake of God alone. Whether this was your first or fiftieth fast, may Allah accept your Ramadan and reward you all from the immense reward that only He knows.
Mother Theresa reportedly once said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Yet the generosity of our Lord, and blessings of this religion, as always, are greater than what we imagine we deserve. Ramadan is our yearly opportunity to do a great thing. It is an act of worship that stands alone as something done for God and God alone. For an entire month, we become preoccupied with God rather than ourselves. We give up our food, drink, sensuality, and wealth. We stand in prayer during the night. And we persist in this despite our fatigue. Ramadan is a heroic act; Eid is a celebration worthy of that heroism.
God says in the Quran: "And you see the earth lifeless, but as soon as We send down rain upon it, it begins to stir to life and swell, producing every type of pleasant plant. That is because Allah alone is the Truth, He alone gives life to the dead, and He alone is Most Capable of everything." This is an image many of us can relate to on this day. The hunger and fatigue of Ramadan have done their work on us. They have left us parched and barren. Especially in the last few days of the month, I have had the sensation of dragging myself across the finish line. Yet Eid is the day God sends down rain upon the believers. We return to life as we used to know it—with its vital energy, fulfilled appetites, and "every type of pleasant plant."
My brothers and sisters, I want you to be conscious of the joy you experience on this day. Take note of it and remember it. The same pleasures we enjoy throughout the rest of the year are especially sweet on this day. Eid contains special joys because it comes on the heels of a month of total submission to God. Dry, barren, lifeless earth is most capable of absorbing the rain. So too do we find greater blessings in God's gifts after emptying ourselves of ourselves and turning to God in expectation of fulfillment that can only come from Him. The joy of Eid is the joy of this religion lived to its fullest. And it is the subtlest reminder of the joy we will experience, by God's permission, when we are reunited with our Lord and His Messenger ﷺ in the garden—a day when lasting joy comes after a lifetime of turning back to God.
On behalf of the entire team at the Taleef Collective, I would like to wish you all a blessed and joyous Eid al-Fitr. May the joy of every taste, embrace, and reunion on the day extend into the rest of the year as well as the life to come.