In the Shade of the Takbīr

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira delivered on ʿĪd al-Fiṭr 1442 AH, May 13, 2021 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — [Watch the original video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5DIE2DYqMI)

Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. There is no god but Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, and to Allah belongs all praise. I ask Allah the Almighty to make our takbīr reach His heavens and His earth, to raise our mention in His presence, glory be to Him, and to place this witnessed day in the scales of our good deeds, complete and undiminished, through His mercy and kindness, glory be to Him.

What Do the Shades of the Takbīr Mean?

It occurred to me: what do "the shades of the takbīr" mean? It is the takbīr that we proclaim now, rejoicing in the favor of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, seeking victory through Allah, seeking help from Him, the Mighty and Majestic, confronting an enemy with it, building up the earth with it, bringing good, pure souls to fruit with it. It is the emblem of the mosques, beneath whose banner the throngs of Muslims from every part of the earth gather.

To Live in Its Shade

In the shade of the takbīr we see ourselves magnifying the Owner of the heavens and the earth. In the shade of the takbīr we see ourselves magnifying the One in whose hand is the ordering of the affairs of the heavens and the earth. In the shade of the takbīr we see ourselves magnifying the Creator, the Provider, the Disposer, the Giver of life and death, the Great, the Subduer, Who prevails over His affair, Who does whatever He wills, Whom nothing in the earth or in the heaven can render powerless.

In the shade of the takbīr we live a life of honor, a life abounding in dignity, which psychological pain does not encompass and does not taint, even if bodies suffer; a life whose people feel that they are mighty before whoever has not yet believed in Allah, and humble before everyone who has believed in the Lord of the earth and the heavens. In the shade of the takbīr we feel a psychological strength with which we face the problems of life. And in the shade of the takbīr we raise our children never to magnify anything or anyone in the universe except the Creator of the heavens and the earth, so that their heads are lifted, their souls rise high, their will grows great and their resolve grows strong, and we see them carrying the true tomorrow of the people, and carrying themselves as an instrument for the building up of this earth.

An Emblem That Runs Like Blood

The Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Almighty, willed not to make it an emblem for Muslims in the ʿĪd prayer alone. Rather, He made it an emblem in the call to prayer, repeated in people's hearing five times a day, an emblem for opening the prayer, and an emblem for moving between the parts of the prayer. And He made it the emblem of the Muslim when he ascends,^[1] through which he sees the traces of the favor of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him. The emblem of the takbīr runs in our blood; indeed, it runs through our bodies as blood runs. So we ask Allah the Almighty to make us worthy of this takbīr and to make its fruit manifest in our lives.

So seek help from Allah, Blessed and Exalted, magnifying Him, the Mighty and Majestic, and nothing else and no one besides Him; magnifying Him above every material thing that tyrannizes the souls of others, magnifying Him above every abasement that dominates the souls of the lowly on earth; seeking help from Him, glory be to Him, that He make the circle of Islam higher, greater and stronger than everything on earth. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the worlds. I ask Allah the Almighty to bless this day of yours, to protect us and you, and to make us and you content. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (2993), from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh (may Allah be pleased with them both): «كنا إذا صعدنا كبّرنا، وإذا نزلنا سبّحنا» ("When we went up we would say the takbīr, and when we went down we would say the tasbīḥ"); so the takbīr is for ascending, and the tasbīḥ for descending.