What next after Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha 2024?

All too soon, the two most significant occasions and events in Islam, Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha 2024, have come and passed. What’s next?

It sounded and appeared like the blink of an eye, but it is real.

When the holy month of Ramadan approached back in March, Muslims around the world, especially in Ghana, embraced it with an extraordinary attitude of devotion to Allah, commitment to duty, and obedience to parents, the poor, and the elderly in society. This rekindled our sense of togetherness in the spirit of our humanity and generousity.

Then came the month of Hajj, where the first ten days were considered the most pious and holiest in Islam.

Today marks the 22nd day (June 27, 2024) in the sacred month of the Hajj, the 12th month in the Islamic calendar, and we are only about seven days away from welcoming a new Islamic calendar year, 1,446 years since Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) migrated to the holy city of Madina, where he was buried.

It is worth noting that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) migrated to the city of Madina, about 320 kilometres away from the holy city of Mecca, due to the highest forms of extreme torture, rejection, sanctions (food, water, trade, and relationships), and execution by his people and paternal uncles, the people of Quraish in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The Arabians confessed that they knew, acknowledged, and crowned Muhammad (SAW) as the noblest, most honorable, credible, and honest person before revelations started to come to him from Angel Jibril (AS). Yet, they rejected him, tortured him, and persecuted him and the few people who embraced Islam in Mecca after he announced the Prophethood.

The Arabians even followed the few Muslims who went to Abyssinia, present-day Ethiopia, to seek refuge. They (Arabians) requested from King Najashi, who was a Christian in Ethiopia, to return the followers of Muhammad (SAW) to them so they (Arabians) could kill them. But the noble king refused and announced that “the difference between my religion and theirs is not more than a thin-line.”

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) left Mecca when he learned of the plot by the people of Mecca to kill him and share the blame among the four important tribes of Mecca. This way, the Hashimites would not be able to seek any vengeance or fight the four other tribes alone and would therefore seek ransom on the death of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) if they (Arabians) succeeded in killing him.

The Islamic calendar started on the arrival of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Madina, in the year 622 AD.

On the first day of the Islamic calendar year in Madina, only about 3,000 people could be counted as Muslims around the world. Alhamdulillah, after 1,445 years, Islam has taken an unprecedented position as the world’s fastest-growing religion since 2002, with over 1.9 billion people around the world.

It Is quite fascinating and incredible that a religion that started in the Arabian Peninsula, particularly Saudi Arabia, by a humble shepherd and later a trader who neither read nor wrote, is gaining momentum as the most loved system of life and religion. It is stronger in the hearts of its followers over the love of material things in the world.

Islam has succeeded in implanting the longing and love for what is in the heavens, the unseen, over worldly things in the hearts of its followers, and there is no doubt about this.

There is, however, a constant challenge in the hearts of all faithful men and women, whether Muslims, Christians, or Jews, over the choices we make in our daily lives. This is a reminder of the persistent plots by Shaitan, the devil.

The devil has promised to come between mankind and the Lord all the time, but God, the Almighty and Most Merciful, has equally granted a shield and protection to those who are pious and steadfast.

The Holy Quran says, "He (Shaitan) said, ‘For leaving me to stray, I will lie in ambush for them on Your Straight Path. I will approach them from their front, their back, their right, and their left, and then You will find most of them ungrateful.’” (Chapter 7: 16-17).

The Holy Prophet said, “Shaitan (the devil) follows and puts suspicions in the hearts of men and women over and above the rate at which blood flows in our hearts.”

This brings me to the point of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha: what next after the religious exercises and celebrations?

My paper today seeks to highlight a fundamental cause of the destruction of societies through greed for money and fame and disregard for values and honours.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Two hungry wolves sent in the midst of a flock of sheep are no more destructive to them than a man’s greed for wealth and fame is to his Deen.”

Academics in science and humanities have joined Islamic scholars in the following words: “This is a great example set by Prophet Muhammad, may God’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, for the corruption of the Islamic religion through greed for money and honour in this world. The corruption of religion through this is no less than the corruption of sheep by two hungry, ferocious wolves that come upon the sheep when their shepherds are absent at night. They eat from the sheep and prey on them, and it is known that no sheep is spared from being spoiled by the two mentioned wolves.”

The destruction of societies by greed for money knows no boundary, I must confess that I have not been able to live up to expectations yet because we are all to blame when it comes to this enterprise.

The author is the Executive Secretary of the Tijjaniya Muslims of Ghana.