Greeting Address on behalf of the Grand Mufti on the occasion of the beginning of the new 1441 Hijri year

Dear Muslim brothers and sisters,

Another year of our life has gone by. We are at the beginning of the new 1441 year of the migration of Muhammad (pbuh) from Makkah to Medina. New year means a new beginning, new hopes and new prospective. Of course, we have to take stock of the past year – what we have achieved and what we have missed. Let us take stock of ourselves before standing in front of Allah for questioning us about our deeds.

The fact that the new year begins with the migration of Muhammad (pbuh) from Makkah to Medina requires from us to pay attention to the migration which does not necessarily mean a migration from one place to another. The migration can also be from one situation to another.

Let us migrate from the old year to the new; from wrongdoings to tawbah (repentance); from bad habits to good practices and from misleading to guidance. This is the migration bequeathed by Muhammad (pbuh), this is the migration which will save all of us and this is the migration which will make us happy.

There is also another point in this sense – to migrate from passivity to activity in terms of spreading the Islamic values. In our time we see many active immoral people and passive righteous ones. Passivity is not a smaller crime than committing sins, I would even say it is worse, because the immoral commits sins apparently and the passive righteous person helps him, because he does nothing for the spiritual growth of people. That is why it turns out that the passive person agrees with everything happening around him.

That is why we need to rethink our deeds over the past year and to do our best to be better and more active during the upcoming year. It is well known that life is too short and with unknown end, which does not allow us to delay the good deeds.

May the Exalted Allah bestow upon us barakah (blessing) and rahmah (grace) and guide us to be active in good deeds and todeter from the bad habits!

May Allah protect and guide us!

Dr. Mustafa Hadzhi,

Grand Mufti of the Republic of Bulgaria