Islamic Society of Britain - Eid Message
Eid ul Adha December 2006

This year’s Eid message comes from Mecca where Julie Siddiqi,
Vice-President of the Islamic Society of Britain, is performing the grand pilgrimage, the Hajj. 

LETTER FROM MECCA

From Julie Siddiqi

Praise is proper for God, Lord of the earth and skies and all they contain. May God’s peace be upon Abraham and Muhammad, who walked upon this land I am in, and upon all God’s prophets. 

Assalamu alaikum.

It has been my immense blessing and honour this year to perform the hajj, a grand collective act of worship, one of  great symbolism and importance, but one that most people are not familiar with, mainly because it takes place in a ‘far and distant’ land and so there is no direct contact with it. I have walked the places the blessed prophets Abraham and Muhammad walked, and where they suffered too. Earlier this week I was moved when I visited the valley of Mount Uhud. I saw the famous hill where men lost sight of more noble goals and, going against the Prophet Muhammad’s direct orders, abandoned their position distracted by the instant gains of this world, all at great cost. There was silence in the valley but the graves nearby were a sharp reminder that individuals have made great sacrifices in the past. I remember watching the scene of Mount Uhud in the film ‘The Message’ but felt nothing like I did at the place itself.

Yesterday, I spent the day on the golden plains of Mount Arafat, with an endless sea of pilgrims all around me. How many of us were there? One million, two million, three? It was just an ocean of servants. We prayed to our Lord and we cried much. It’s quite difficult to put it into words.

I thought about our lives and the challenges we face and hoped as we in Mecca re-enacted moments from the life of the Prophet Abraham and his family in carrying out the rituals of hajj, united with others around the world in remembering these most powerful moments, that we take from these events lessons in personal renewal, and seek to effect real change for the better in our lives.

This is why the occasion of Eid is so special. It is a focal point, a moment when we can pause to think about ourselves, where we are heading and about our relationships with others. Let us then take the opportunity to make this Eid a turning point in our lives. Let us live them with real enthusiasm and optimism, because we are so blessed and there is so much to live for.

This Eid coincides with New Year’s Eve. Another reminder, and we all need these reminders, of how closely linked our faith is with the lives and faith of others. Both are times of personal renewal and introspection, when we assess ourselves and look back at the year gone by and resolve to do better in the months ahead.

At these times of happiness and celebration, it is more important than ever to remember those who are not as fortunate as ourselves. It has been exhilarating for me to meet and mix with such a wonderful variety people from all corners of the globe here in Mecca. I have been amazed at just how much in common we have, and inspired by all the remarkable new and different things that I have seen and learned. But I have also been struck by some of the more unfortunate contrasts: between wealth and poverty, health and infirmity, power and weakness. These are inequalities that we should seek to change as much as possible.

Walking in these surroundings, it seems like time hasn’t moved on - that Muhammad was here only yesterday and Abraham just before. But of course it has moved on. So much has happened over the last fourteen centuries, over the last century and the last decade. So much has happened over the last year alone, which has not been easy by any stretch, and every British Muslim woman knows that is particularly the case.         

But it was also here, on these very plains of Arafat, that Muhammad, God’s Last Messenger, made one of his most important statements. It was actually a prophetic prediction, for it was a prayer from a prophet confirmed by God. Muhammad prayed those who heard his message would pass it on to others, and they in turn to others again, and that the later ones would understand the message better than those who heard it in person. The last chapter of the last prophet ends with none other than you and I, if we only understand. His vision was of taking Islam; progressing with Islam; living Islam. That means making God central to all in life, that means selflessness and sacrifice.      

As we remember the immense patience and sacrifice of Abraham, we should not limit his legacy by restricting it only to remembrance. To be true to his memory, we should aim to live it, and implement these and other important virtues in our lives, and resolve together to make our world a better place in the year ahead - for everyone.

Yours in prayer,

Julie Siddiqi
Vice-President
Islamic Society of Britain

30th December 2006