A Prayer on Eid Day
by Shahid Athar M.D.

In the Name of Allah Most Kind, Most Merciful

O Allah, our Creator and Sustainer

        All praise belongs to You:

        You alone we worship,

        You alone we fear,

        You alone we seek help from.

We thank You

        For giving us another blessed Ramadan in our life to purify us and another Day of Eid to enjoy with our families and friends, for we don’t know if we will get another chance next year.  We thank You for choosing Islam as the religion for us for if we were left astray, we could not have enjoyed Ramadan or Eid.  We thank You for giving us this the noble Quran, the Criterion and the Guide.  We thank You for increasing awareness of Yourself in this month, and we pray we always continue it.

        We pray You forgive our shortcomings in our fasting, our Prayer, our charity and our recitation of Quran and accept them and multiply the rewards 70 times or more as You promised.  Accept the efforts of our spouse who prepared food for the family and the community.  Accept the fasting of our youth and children who did it while attending schools, just for your pleasure.  You have told us “our prayer, our sacrifice, our life and our death is for the sake of Allah only.”   As ordained in Surah Nasr, our joys in our success are always expressed with our praise for You, and asking Your forgiveness.  We ask Your forgiveness, as “You love to forgive and if You don’t forgive, we will be in great loss.”  But how can we enjoy this Eid fully when our hearts are grieved to see the sufferings of fellow Muslims all over the world.

        O Allah, You ordained us to be united and gave us a rope (Quran) to hold onto, but sometimes we are united only in fighting each other.  Give us in our hearts love of each other and respect for others’ lives, property and views (Amin).

        O Allah, you ordained Zakat (charity) to purify our wealth but so many wealthy Muslims and countries love to invest billions of dollars for the wrong causes, while thousands of Muslims in many parts of the world die of hunger.  Make us share what we have with those who do not have.  As we rush before Eid to buy new shoes, new clothes and gifts for our own children, help us remember those Muslim children who lost their parents in Afghanistan or millions of those children who have parents but cannot afford food, let alone gifts.  This is a test from You.  Don’t fail us in this test.

        O Allah, You gave us freedom, but many Muslims are living under oppression or as refugees.  O Allah, give victory to all those who are striving for Your cause.  O Allah, give us leaders who are wise and pious.  O Allah, You who put love in the heart of believers, unite us now so that we can recognize our enemy, the Satan, and walk away from him and walk together toward You.  O Allah, You have asked us “to save yourself and your families from hell fire.”  Help us achieve this by establishing Islam in ourselves, our families, our community and our countries including the USA.

        Our Lord, accept our prayer, for “You are the Hearer, the Knower and forgive us for You are the most forgiving.” (Amin)

EID MUBARAK--Shahid Athar M.D., F.A.C.E., F.A.C.P

Shahid Athar M.D. is Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, Indiana, and a writer on Islam.

Read other articles by Dr Shahid Athar here.