An Aid for an Excellent Eid

AllahuAkbar.. its coming to Eid already?!
How quick time passes by these days..
Eid...Its suppose to be a time to celebrate.. a glorious victory of having to fast for 1 month and pushing ourselves to the limit in worshipping Him by night..
the question is.. are we truly eligible to celebrate? Can we call ourselves victorious? Have we truly excel this Ramadhan?
InsyaAllah.. may Allah accept our deeds. Amin.
Hope for Allah's mercy and fear Him, if because of some shortcomings, our good deeds not accepted

And those who bring what they have brought while  their hearts are fearful. (Mu'minun: 60)

well, dont want to talk about what have gone  here, but its hard to contain this feeling of sadness and regret  when i came across this one hadeeth from 'Ubaadah bin Saamit RadiAllahu'anhu, reported by Tabaraani.. wherein Rasulullah Sallallahu'alayhiwasallam said:

Ramadhan the month of blessing has come to you, wherein Allah turns towards you and sends down to you His special mercy, forgives faults, accept prayers, looks at your competition for the greatest good and boasts to His malaa'ikah about you. So show to Allah  your righteousness from yourselves. For verily te most pitiable and unfortunate one is the one who is deprived of Allah's mercy in this month.

O Allah.. forgive us all for our unmindfulness.. again and again..
Allah the Most forgiving, Merciful

yesterday is gone  and will never return.. so lets move  on!
Lets try to excel on eid!
the statement sounds a bit weird. Probably because we dont really use the word excel when it comes to religious matter huh?! Excel only comes  with exams/ worldly achievements!
Come to think of it.. this life is a test! one BIG test for all of us..
One in which, if u  fail you'd fail forever and if u succeed.. you'd be successful forever..ever!
So,insyaAllah this coming  eid day is apart of that big test.
This is another  weird statement.. eid a test?!
yep.. we tend to regard something tragic/ saddening/ worrying as a test when in fact
something happy/ makes you proud/ worldy achievements are even bigger a test!
cause when we're happy.. we tend to forget Him..  we tend to forget that its still a test
In  fact, whatever happens to us in this world.. good or bad.. is a test..
Reward is in the HereAfter

So lets plan to excel this eid test! How?
Simply .. by celebrating it the way Rasulullah Sallallahu'alayhiwasallam and His Companions did!
Why?!
Simply because they are the people whom Allah had promised Paradise even during their lifetime
The Companions are normal people- with desires, temptations, etc but they had lived their life in the way that had gained Allah's redho..
What else are we looking for in this life?!

1. Takbeer! As soon as the announcement has been made on the tv for example.. switch it off! Lets do takbeer! It is mustahabb to recite takbeer during the night of Eid from sunset on the last day of Ramadaan until the imam comes to lead the prayer.Men should raise their voices reciting this dhikr in the marketplaces, mosques and homes, but women should not raise their voices.
2. Do  ghusl ( a bath with intention.. in conjunction with eid)
3. put on your best clothes. for men that is. For ladies..as usual, pleasant ones within the law of shariat. And please leave your make-ups and perfumes.. for the sake of Allah. Better.. for single ladies esp..  throw away everything or keep it somewhere out of reach until you're married when u need to use them in front of your husbands! It was narrated from Abu Moosa (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
   

   “If a woman puts on perfume and passes by people so that they can smell her fragrance, then she is such and such,” and he spoke sternly - meaning an adulteress.

   Narrated by Abu Dawood (4173) and al-Tirmidhi (2786); classed as saheeh by Ibn Daqeeq al-Eid in al-Iqtiraah (126) and by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.
4. Eat an odd number of dates before going out for the prayer.
5. Go out everyone! Perform you eid prayer! Everyone ok.. ladies too. I need to emphasize it here because back home.. usually the ladies would stay back at home to prepare food etc, thus leaving this great sunnah. Strange... when we are asked to go out.. we choose to stay at home! Who is the stranger now?!
6. greet one another.. congratulate each other.  some famous greetings would be: Taqabbala Allaah minna wa minkum (May Allaah accept (good deeds) from us and from you” or “Eid mubaarak”
7. dont forget to pay zakat al-fitr before prayers ok.
8. Also i is prescribed for the one who goes out to the Eid prayer to go by one route and return by another.

InsyaAllah may Allah give us the taufeeq to practise what we know and spread it to others.
Have an excellent Eid, everyone.

Specially dedicated to my dear family in Hulu Langat-mak, ayah, muni, taufiq, umair, rafiq and farah in puchong, sidiq in sabah, um-in-law in Kluang, nenek, atok, wan kek rombaw, aunties, uncles and all who knows us... Eid  Mubarak.. maaf  zahir batin..
Taqabbala Allaah minna wa minkum (May Allaah accept (good deeds) from us and from you!
Love and miss you all... and lemang, ketupat, rendang, kuah kacang kak com, tat, almond london... sob, sob.

May Allah bless!