Weekly Sermons


<div class="elementor-widget-container">
<p>The Eid of Sacrifice has always been a symbol of heroism, self-sacrifice, not waiting any worldly gain, and surrendering oneself to God since the time of the Prophets Abraham and his son Ishmael. Eid of Sacrifice comes booming with proclamations of greatness of God, and the sound rings out everywhere. The melody of these proclamations sounds out like a great epic. During the Eid of Sacrifice homes, streets, places of worship, mountains, and rocks resonate with glorification of God. As the calls to prayer with the exaltation of God rising from minarets permeate in enrapturing notes and reach into our homes, everybody—in urban or rural areas alike—joins this heavenly state, and even pastures ring out with sound of lambs joining in. In that blessed section of time, almost everybody, everything and every place begin to talk. The teeming Plain of Arafat resembles a ground for the Judgment Day, it breathes with anxiety and hope, like a ground of reckoning. Muzdalifa and Mina fill with the hubbub of those on the way. All of these sounds rise to heavens, like cries of most blessed persons supplicating to God. With these sounds with a hint of eternity, we feel the treasures of our feelings open up, as if declaring the boundlessness of our feelings and infinity of our dreams. And our most special feelings pour out to all sides, like beads whose string is broken. As we hear these magical sounds frothing everywhere and rising to heavens, we experience a heavenly joy and feel as if we were drinking a resurrecting potion distilled from love, zeal, and charm of the Eid. We view the path we walk and read our book of destiny from the peaks our hearts are elevated to by faith, servanthood to God, and consciousness in this servanthood. We say, “This is our book!” and smile sweetly at our fortune. The delight of these blessings enfold our souls so softly that our eyes reflect gratitude and our feelings become verdant as if spring has come. And then the inspiration flowing into our souls and the prayers rising to the realms beyond on the wings of Divine providence amount to a heavenly meaning, a state, and an effect transcending our nature. In such a way that every new hour, minute, task, and opportunity gains a quality that is worth experiencing more profoundly and utilizing more consciously. Then the consciences enraptured with spiritual pleasures pray for more Divine blessings and seek further rapture. As worship and spiritual delights permeate the days of Eid in the serene atmosphere of faith and decent traditions, we more clearly feel attaining a new form of existence, being eternalized, our hearts’ expanding like the space, and our minds’ illumination with Divine inspirations. And then we think we transcend our physicality and become completely spiritual beings… We flow towards eternal promises heralded to our hearts by faith. With the intense feelings we experience during the days of Eid we mostly feel as if we were flying in the air or sliding towards the climate of spirituality through a joyful, harmonious, and smooth way. And sometimes we acquire an elegant and poetic state like birds soaring in the sky without flapping their wings, like branches swaying on treetops, or like flowers emitting fragrances as they bow with the blowing breeze. Sometimes we become completely immersed in sentimentality that we start weeping with every glorification and otherworldly sound we hear and end up drenched in tears. And sometimes we feel overjoyed and think ourselves to be riding fireworks and zooming in lights through the sky. And sometimes we feel to be journeying between stars on a magic prayer rug. Sometimes we feel moved with bleating of sheep and lambs and start to melt inside like candles, under the influence of some strange feelings. And sometimes we see these in such a natural, well placed, and dizzying harmony that we feel fascinated before the mysterious weaving of destiny and say “there cannot be anything more perfect than this.” Sometimes the prayers, glorifications, and recitations rising from minarets and the resonances they make in consciences become so poetic, flow into people, and charm them in such a way that I think no other delight in our heart can reach such profundity nor can they ever become so influential. And when the breezes of daybreak join these sounds and words like background music, our excitement rises to an indescribable level, and our emotions become a deluge. Particularly during major pilgrimage, the words expressing the greatness of God and surrender to Him ringing out everywhere let us proclaim our most venerated feelings in the highest pitch and our most special feelings in the most touching tunes; we virtually make a rehearsal of the Judgment Day. Before these scenes, which are both heartwarming and awe-inspiring, and with these words as deep and natural as can be we journey through different places and carry out different duties, but we always turn our back to ways to Hell, our eyes are enraptured with the Paradise beckoning on the horizon, and our hearts set to seeking good pleasure of God.</p>
<p>With all of these feelings, we transcend our limits, leave behind endless self-concerns, set our thrones on the horizons on the heart and spirit, and we scatter the ashes of the body and physicality with their worldly sides… and then re-ignite the sparkles brought from heaven we keep in a corner of our consciences… under that flame, heat and light we heartily salute this new existence of ours, and smile at our fortune.</p>
<p><em>This text is the translation of “<a href="https://herkul.org/kirik-testi/bayram-dusunceleri/">Bayram Düşünceleri</a>“</em></p>
</div>


Thoughts of Eid