Lailatul Jaaizah And How To Ensure Your Qurbani Is Accepted

_Below is an extract taken from Hazrat’s talk. To listen to the full talk, visit /audio/4-things-to-be-wary-of-during-qurbani
The night preceeding Eid is known as lailatul Jaaizah (the night of Reward). For those celebrating Eid tomorrow (22/08/18), tonight is lailatul Jaaizah. Nabi ﷺ said, “Whoever spends the night of (Eid) al-Fitr and the night of (Eid) al-Adha in prayer, his heart will not die on the Day when hearts will die.” Meaning, owing to his worship on lailatul Jaaizah he will not be gripped with fear and anxiety on the Day of Judgement.

Any efforts made during this day and our ability to slaughter and sacrifice on Eid Al-Adha, is Allah’s grace upon us and His overriding will. When we do Qurbani, we are absolved of the waajib duty. The extent to which we are rewarded depends on the extent of our sincerity. Ibrahim عليه السلام was the sincerest and just like we copy his actions in slaughtering, our goal is to copy the sincerity of his heart in intentions too. When we do not do that and shamefully reduce this noble deed into bragging on social media, we water down our own rewards and efforts. This can be likened to a person who works hard all month but does not receive a paycheque at the end of the month. What was the point of all that hard work?

A group of Islamic Scholars will be amongst the first to be thrown into the fire. When they enquire why, Allah will respond, “You acquired knowledge so that people might call you a learned (man), and you read the Qur’an so that they might call you a reciter, and they have done so.” Know that a mere few likes, comments and fleeting attention is not worth your good deeds going unrewarded on the day of Judgement.

When cleaning up the blood and mess caused by Qurbani, it is easy to get ratty and irritable. Be careful to avoid this by guarding your tongue against swearing and vulgarity. Do not have fun at the expense of the animal and abstain from causing it excessive pain, otherwise, they will also reduce our hard-earnt rewards.

Lastly, be as modest as possible for “modesty is a branch of Faith”. (Bukhari)

The hadith that Nabi ﷺ called Faatima رضي الله عنها to see her Qurbani animal being slaughtered, cannot be quoted out of context to justify free-mixing. Yes, the incident occurred but in accordance to the laws of modesty. Thus, on Eid Al-Adha guard your eyes from roaming around and gazing at strange women. Have segregated seating at home because your extended family, cousins, and sister in laws/brother in laws, are not your mehrams.

Considering the importance of being modest, sincere and proper, some people question that where is all the fun then? But understand that Qurbani is not about fun. It is about fulfilling an obligation upon us in a manner pleasing to Allah.

— Hazrat Ml. Dawood Seedat حفظه الله