By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

"O people! Indeed this day of yours is the day when the righteous are awarded and the wretched are losers. It is a day which is similar to the one on which you shall be standing (before your Lord). Therefore, when you come out of your homes to go to places of your prayer, remind yourselves about the day when you (your souls) shall come out of your bodies to go to your Lord. When you stand on places of your prayer, remind yourselves of your standing in presence of your Lord (on the Day of Judgment). And when you return to your homes (after prayer), remind yourselves about your returning to your homes in Paradise.”
The above passage is part of a famous sermon on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which the faithful celebrate at the end of the blessed fasting month of Ramadhan as thanksgiving to the Lord Most High for having given yet another opportunity to partake of the spiritual delights of the Divine Banquet.
It was delivered during the Special Eid al-Fitr Prayer by no less a personality than the Barometer of Belief, the Leader of the Pious, the Epitome of Eloquence, the Gateway of Wisdom, the Commander of the Faithful, the Leader of the Pious, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the Divinely-Designated Heir of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).
Eid at-Fitr is the icing to the cake of Ramadhan, and no one understands this better than those who in obedience to God’s commandment in the holy Qur’an and as practically shown by the Prophet and his Infallible Household, had not just fasted in this month, by giving up food, drinks and other lawful pleasures during the daylight hours, but engaged themselves in acts of welfare and charity amongst families and friends, as part of efforts to build morally upright societies.
Perhaps, those who had indulged in the cardinal sin of not fasting during Ramadhan in spite of being able to do so, and never cared to repent and seek forgiveness in the court of the All-Merciful Lord, may turn a deaf ear to these bezels of wisdom and consequently bear the dire consequences of their folly when their tarnished souls leave their wretched bodies.
The faithful, however, whatever the circumstances, including the adversities of harsh weather, never give up fasts during the brief life of the transient world, and as a result, are rewarded with the bliss of paradise.
Imam Ali (AS) whose immortal aphorism that "whenever a person hasn’t committed a sin it is a day of Eid (rejoicing) for him/her,” has further said in his Eid al-Fitr sermon:      
"O Servants of Allah! Indeed the minimum reward for those men and women who fasted (during Ramadhan), is an angel, who calls out to them on the last day of the month of Ramadhan (saying): O Servants of Allah! Rejoice at the glad tiding that all your previous sins have been forgiven.”
In Iran, which unlike the highly flawed systems of monarchy, military rule or liberal democracy, is governed by the dynamic laws of Islam, the Eid al-Fitr Prayer is led in the capital Tehran, by the country’s highest religious-political personality, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. As a humble servant of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and Imam Ali (AS), he is blessed with a deep insight and is fully aware of the domestic, regional and international situations. He delivers his sermons, which are listened with rapt attention by the audiences, to awaken public conscience at home and abroad.
The Eid al-Fitr Prayer Sermons by the Leader and other qualified ulema, are thus a golden opportunity for the masses to strengthen their faith or rectify their behaviour by returning to the path of God, and at the time become aware of the dangers threatening the homeland and the Muslim Ummah, in view of the plots of the Great Satan (the US).      
Unfortunately, this year’s Ramadhan witnessed several bitter and tragic incidents. The oppressed people of American-occupied Afghanistan continued to be subjected to more barbaric acts of terrorism.
In the spurious British-created entity called Saudi Arabia, the US-backed heretical Wahhabi cult continued to make life miserable for the followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt or Shi’a Muslims in Awamiya, Qatif and other eastern parts of the Arabian Peninsula. At the same time, the oppressed people of Yemen were subjected to horrific aerial bombardment in the blessed month of Ramadhan by the Saudi regime.
As the Muslims of Iraq and Syria made gains in liberating their lands, the retreating Takfiri terrorists continued their crimes against humanity by massacring unarmed civilians, including women and children, and blowing up mosques.
In the Persian Gulf island state of Bahrain, the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime continued its crimes against the long suppressed majority to the extent of desecrating mosques and hussainiyes.
In the usurped land of Palestine, the Zionist criminals continued their acts of state terrorism against the defenceless Palestinian men, women, and children –bulldozing their homes, shops and farmlands.
In Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaki, the Leader of the Islamic Movement, along with his wife and scores of innocent members of the country’s Shi’a Muslim community, continued to be held in prison in blessed Ramadhan by the military despite the orders for his release by the Federal Court.
And last but not the least, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a team of terrorists backed by Saudi Arabia and the US, carried out dastardly attacks on the parliament building in Tehran and the mausoleum of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), resulting in the martyrdom of 18 citizens and injury to scores of others.
This is all because of the weakness of faith of Muslims, the deviation from the right path by many of them, and the blatant disobedience of divine commandments by several others – whether by neglecting of the fasts and ritual prayers or the self-deceit in blindly aping the decadent culture of the morally-bankrupt West.       
Let us pray to God Almighty to deliver the Muslims from all these vices, as well as the satanic plots of the US and its devilish agents, who are destabilizing the whole world. Amen.
Here is what Imam Ali (AS) has said in the concluding passage of his famous Eid at-Fitr sermon:
"Remember Allah so that He may re-member you, for indeed He remembers those who re-member Him, and beseech Allah for His mercy and grace, for indeed He does not disappoint those who supplicate Him.”

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Happy Eid al-Fitr to All our Readers