Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, there is no god but Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, and to Allah belongs all praise.
To the noble Islamic Ummah, to the pilgrims of the Sacred House of Allah, to the noble dawah carriers, and to the esteemed visitors of the page...
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh...
May Allah accept your acts of obedience, and may He make this Eid filled with goodness and blessings for you. May Allah, the Most Merciful, accept from the pilgrims their Hajj, making it a Hajj Mabrur (accepted pilgrimage), their efforts appreciated, and their sins forgiven...
Dear brothers: Were it not for the fact that Allah (swt) made Eid a source of joy and a means of bringing delight and happiness into the hearts of Muslims, a time for maintaining good ties of kinship and for the Ummah to spread greetings and peace among itself... and were it not for the promise of Allah (swt) of coming glory and empowerment for this Ummah:
وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَى لَهُمْ
"Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them" (Surah An-Nur [24]: 55)
...and were it not for the glad tidings from the Messenger of Allah (saw) regarding the return of the Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly Guided Caliphate), as he (saw) said:
ثُمَّ تَكُونُ خِلَافَةٌ عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ النُّبُوَّةِ
"Then there will be a Khilafah upon the method of the Prophethood." (Reported by Ahmad)
...and were it not for a party that is sincere to Allah (swt), truthful with the Messenger of Allah (saw), working day and night, beseeching and supplicating to Allah to grant victory at its hands by establishing the Khilafah and restoring the glory of Islam and Muslims...
Were it not for all of that, smiles would have refused to grace our faces. For in the heart there is a wound, and in the throat a bitterness, due to the multitude of tragedies surrounding the Muslims from before and behind, and from the right and the left. The Khilafah has been absent for nearly a century, leaving Muslims torn apart and scattered, ruled by oppressive ruwaybidah (paltry) rulers who have no shame before Allah, His Messenger, or the believers. This is not to mention the aggression of the colonialist kuffar and their allies against the lands and the people, as if the lands of the Muslims have become a battlefield for spilling our blood and violating our sanctities...
If you start from where the sun rises, you pass by the carving out of Timor from Indonesia. On your path, you will see Burma—and what can describe Burma? The condition of Muslims there makes the heart bleed due to the crimes of the Buddhists and their atrocities that even wild beasts of the forest would shun. Then you pass through the tragedies of Bangladesh, and thereafter you reach Kashmir and the crimes of India there. Then to Pakistan and its tragedies, and the American aggression with its drones over Waziristan. Then to Afghanistan and the occupation by America and NATO, where hardly a day passes without brutal massacres. If you ascend to the north, you see Chechnya, the Caucasus, and then Crimea being ravaged by the hands of Russia, which are steeped in crime and blood. If you travel east from there to East Turkestan, you will see China inflicting various forms of aggression upon it. If you descend to the Mediterranean, you find Cyprus controlled by the Greek Cypriots after being severed from its mother, Turkey.
As for traveling south and touching the seashore, you will find the heart of the Muslim lands, the Blessed Land, Palestine—the first of the two qiblas. You will see the Jews occupying it and committing crimes and massacres therein, and you hear the moaning of its Masjid, which groans from a deep wound that has almost brought it to its final gasps. Then Ash-Sham—and what can describe Ash-Sham? Blood flows there not only from the tyrant of Sham but also from Muslims fighting among themselves. This fire of killing and bloodshed is fueled by the aggression of the colonialist kuffar and their treacherous, renegade agents, with missiles from their planes and rocket launchers from the seas and oceans, and even from bases stationed in the land of the Gulf. Then Iraq, the sister of Sham in tragedies and calamities. If you travel south to Yemen, which was once "Happy" (Al-Sa'id), you will find it has become sorrowful, ravaged by the tragedies of internal fighting, fed by the colonialist kuffar states that have made it a field for competition between them over our skulls and our blood.
If you travel to where the sun sets, you will find Libya, where Muslims are fighting among themselves. You find Egypt and the army of Egypt—which once purified the land of the Crusaders and the Tatars—distracted by the rulers with internal issues, so it does not lift a finger toward the Jews occupying Palestine, even though they are but a stone's throw away. Then if you turn toward Central Africa, you will see that Muslims there have been afflicted by harm, damage, the spilling of pure blood, and the violation of sanctities that defy description. Then its neighbor Sudan, whose south has been separated from its north, leaving its wound bleeding. Then Somalia, groaning from terrible pain and hideous internal fighting for years.
All of this is happening in the lands of the Muslims because of the aggression of the colonialist kuffar and their agent, oppressive rulers. As for the tragedies of Muslims in the lands of the kuffar, speak without restraint. Those nations want Muslims to shed their own skin; they even impose restrictions on women’s clothing and exert every effort to silence the sound of the Adhan. They spread hatred against them in their societies and facilities, and even in their streets.
These are tragedies that have followed one after another since the absence of the Khilafah, disasters piled upon one another that leave the wise man bewildered.
O brothers: I repeat what I started with regarding "were it not for..." and I add: Indeed, in contemplating the verses of Allah:
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا * إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
"For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease. Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease." (Surah Ash-Sharh [94]: 5-6)
حَتَّى إِذَا اسْتَيْأَسَ الرُّسُلُ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ قَدْ كُذِبُوا جَاءَهُمْ نَصْرُنَا فَنُجِّيَ مَنْ نَشَاءُ وَلَا يُرَدُّ بَأْسُنَا عنِ الْقَوْمِ الْمُجْرِمِينَ
"Until when the messengers despaired and were certain that they had been denied, there came to them Our victory, and whoever We willed was saved. And Our punishment cannot be repelled from the people who are criminals." (Surah Yusuf [12]: 110)
...and in contemplating the arrival of the people of Madinah, the Supporters (Ansar) of Allah and His Messenger—their arrival to the Messenger of Allah (saw) occurred during difficult circumstances, beginning from that year, the Year of Sorrow (Am al-Huzn), when Khadijah, the Mother of the Believers (ra) passed away, followed by the death of Abu Talib, who used to support the Messenger of Allah (saw), and after that, the violent rejection from the people of Ta'if that left the Messenger of Allah (saw) bleeding. During these painful years for the Messenger of Allah (saw), the Ansar arrived, the first and second pledges of allegiance (Bay'ah) took place, and then the Hijrah of the Prophet (saw) and the establishment of the State occurred.
Indeed, in this contemplation, there is hope after pain, glad tidings of joy after a reality of sorrow, ease after hardship, and a comfort that draws near after prolonged misery. It is the descent of Allah's blessings and mercy after saying "To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return." Then comes goodness and victory... goodness and victory... goodness and victory.
وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ * بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ
"And on that day the believers will rejoice. In the victory of Allah. He gives victory to whom He wills, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful." (Surah Ar-Rum [30]: 4-5)
In conclusion, I send you my greetings and pray for your well-being. May Allah accept your acts of obedience and bestow upon you His favors and blessings.
Wassalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.
The night of the Blessed Eid al-Adha 1435 AH
Your brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah