Ismail Kamdar – Virtues of Dhul Hijjah
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10 of the most blessed days of the
year.
And I think the blessings of these 10
days are often overlooked.
You know? We
we tend to give a lot of importance
to other blessed days like the last 10
nights of Ramadan,
Eid ul Fitr,
Ashura,
and the days of Mi'raj, and many others.
But
often, we overlook the importance of the first
10 days of Suhitja,
and we don't really realize that these days
are amongst the most blessed days of the
year.
This it is narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas,
that
the prophet Muhammad
said,
no good deeds are better.
No good deeds are better
than the deeds done in these 10 days.
No good deeds are better than the deeds
done in these 10 days.
To which some of the Sahaba asked,
not even jihad
To which Rasulullah
replied,
not even
unless a man went out with his life
and his wealth and sacrificed everything and came
back with nothing.
This hadith is in qqqani.
And this hadith
makes it very clear
that the 10 days we are about to
enter
are the most blessed days of the year.
They are the time of the year where
good deeds have the highest reward.
They are the time of the year where
Dua answered.
In a time of the year where there's
barakah and blessings in the end.
And when you
compare these 10 days to the last 10
nights of Ramadan,
you can see a few parallels. Right?
So we know that the last 10 nights
of Ramadan are the most blessed nights of
the year.
But the first 10 days of are
the most blessed days of the year.
And there are parallels between the 2.
The first parallel between the last 10 nights
of Ramadan and the first 10 days of
is that they are linked to one of
the pillars of Islam,
That the Ramadan is the month of the
4th pillar of Islam,
fasting.
And
is the month of the 4th pillar of
Islam, the Hajj.
The second link between the 2 is that
there are days of fasting.
That it is obligatory to fast the month
of Ramadan,
but it is mustahab, it is sunnah, to
fast the first 9 days of.
Both of these are days of fasting.
The third parallel between the 2
is that they lead up to 8.
We have 2 eights,
and they will come at the end of
the 10 most blessed of the year. The
10 most blessed nights of the year lead
up to Eid ul Fitr. The 10 most
blessed days of the year, the 10th of
them is.
So there are parallels between the 2, but
there's also some differences.
And perhaps the biggest difference is a psychological
difference within us,
and that is that we tend to take
the 10 nights of Ramadan
more seriously.
We tend to excel in Ibadan in Ramadan.
But many of us struggle to do the
same in Dhul Hijjah.
Many of us struggle to have that same
feeling in Dhul Hijjah that we do in
Ramadan.
And, again, there's some psychological reasons behind this.
The most obvious one being
that
the that is linked to Ramadan, the main
one, the pillar of Islam, it takes place
everywhere.
So Ramadan is the month of fasting, the
month of the rabbi. Wherever you are in
the world, you are fasting. You are engaged
in the. You engage
in. So that the spirit is there.
But the spirit of,
specifically to do with the pull of Islam,
is linked to one specific land.
Right?
The Hajj
in Mecca and the surrounding areas.
And so people outside of that land won't
feel the spirit the same way the people
in that land do. People who are not
on Hajj are not going to feel the
spirit the same way as those who are
gone for Hajj. The other
The other reason why we may not feel
the same level of excitement for as we
move on Ramadan
is that the Ibadat of Ramadan
are primarily
communal.
Meaning, in Ramadan, we are fasting together.
We are faith that are we together. We
are engaging in Ithacaaf
together. We are having Ithacaaf together. It is
a community time. So there's more motivation to
do good deeds. There's more motivation to be
your best because everybody's doing it.
But the Ibadat of Zul Hijjah
are private unless you are gone for Hajj.
If you're born for Hajj, it's public, it's
communal.
But if you are at home in the
month of and
you wish to engage in extra,
you are fasting
alone.
You are making
alone.
You are engaging in dua
alone. It's much harder. It's much harder for
us as
creatures that engage in society and and and
community, that love to be part of the
people, it's much harder to do things alone.
And perhaps this is why the reward for
Israel is greater,
because it's a time to really separate
those who worship Allah alone from those who
only worship Allah in community.
It's a time to see who's really going
to push themselves
to do good deeds when nobody else
is doing it. Who's going to take advantage
of the virtues
of these 10 blessed days?
And when you look at the practice of
the early Muslims,
what's
clear with the practice of the sahaba is
that they took these 10 days very seriously.
And linked to what I just mentioned about
it being a time of private,
it is narrated from many of the Sahaba,
like Sa'id ibn Jubail and even the narrator
of this hadith Abdullah ibn Abbas, that you
couldn't find them in the first 10 days
of.
If you wanted to have an appointment with
them, a meeting with them, talk to them,
you wouldn't find them in the first 10
days of. Just like how they're going to
Ithaca for the last 10 nights of Ramadan,
they are at home doing Ibadah for the
first 10 days of Suhijab.
So they took these 10 days very seriously.
They would spend this time worshiping Allah. They
would spend this time engaging Ibadah. And so
what I want to mention now for the
rest of the food is about 5 or
6
that we should be increasing in in the
month of Sujijah, but specifically in the first
10 days of Sujijah so that we can
get the reward of this month.
Right? There are 5 or 6 that
should be increased during this time to get
the reward of the virtue of the hijab.
The first one, we can't do, but we
need to remind ourselves of it. We can't
do it because Allah didn't choose us for.
If we did, we wouldn't be here right
now. What's the most important
to do in the in the first ten
days of?
The most important one. The one that we
can't do because we have
the Hajj.
The most important
linked to these 10 days is the Hajj.
Allah chooses who goes for Hajj. And perhaps
you have a simple khutba on why the
Hajj is the pull of Islam and what
is the blessings of the Hajj and how
the Hajj transforms you. You can do that
another
day. But it's simply a reminder.
Those of us who have never been for
Hajj,
it is for the pillars of Islam.
You should have a Hajj savings account. You
should be building up savings so that, Insha'Allah,
one day perhaps you can go for Hajj.
Yeah. Allah is the one who decides to
go. Allah is the one who opens the
doors.
So Hajj is the most important act of
worship
related to these 10 days.
But those of us who were not chosen
for Hajj this year, there is still a
lot that we can do in these 10
days to earn Allah's pleasure
and to be linked to the people of
Hajj.
The first thing we can do in these
10 days to
kind of have a similar experience to the
people of Hajj is to abstain from clipping
our nails and shaving our heads.
Right? So it is sunnah during the first
10 days of of
leading up to the slaughter of your qurbani
animal that you do not clip your nails
or shave your hairs. Why? This kind of
gives you solidarity with the good judge because
people in the state of Iran, they can't
do this. Right?
So solidarity with them that, yes, you're not
doing them physically, but you're doing some of
what they are doing.
Right? So you have some kind of a
spiritual
judge.
No. It's not compulsory.
There is difference of opinion between the madhabs.
But in the Hanafi madhab, it's not compulsory,
but it is a good deal. It is
something that is encouraged in this time because
it connects you with the people of Hajj.
The second good deal that we should increase
in in the month of is.
So another hadith found in the of Imam
Ahmad is narrated
that there are no days that are greater
in the sight of Allah for good deeds
and more beloved to him than these 10
days.
So during these days, say a lot of
tahweel,
that is.
And say a lot of tahbeel, that in
Allah, and
say a lot of tahweel that is alhamdulillah.
And we know the Sahaba, they put all
of this together into one statement that we
increase
in this time. And that is
The statement actually includes all 3. It is
a inclusion of
Right?
So the second good deal that we should
increase in over the next 10 days is
the zikr of Allah.
And you can do this anywhere at any
time. You are at work increasing your zikr
of Allah. You are stuck in traffic increasing
your zikr of Allah.
Let the zikr of Allah flow on our
times during these days. Let this be a
time of praising Allah, of saying Allah, of
saying
saying that we should increase in zikr
in the 10 days of hija.
So number 1
is that
we stay away from clipping our nails or
shaving. Number 2 is that we engage in
zikr in this time. The 3rd good deed
linked to the first 9 days of the
hijab is to increase in du'a,
specifically on the day of Aramaic. Now, again,
some of us, we think that, oh, the
people in Aramaic, they're Dua's answer.
But in reality, Allah's mercy is all encompassing.
Even if you're far away from Arafa on
the day of Arafa and you still make
dua to Allah, there is still an increased
And we should not limit the mercy of
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The 4th good deed that
is specifically linked to the 1st 10 days
of Zul hija
is fasting.
And this is something that's
kind of like a forgotten sunnah in our
times.
Right? To fast the 9 days leading up
to evil, alha is a sunnah.
It is mustahab to fast these 9 days
and especially
emphasized
to fast on the 9th day, which is
the day of Arafa.
Because the prophet
said,
whoever fast the day of Arafa,
his previous year's sins and his next year's
sins are forgiven.
Note, number 1, this is referring to minor
sins, not major sins. Note, number 2, this
is not a free pass to spend the
next year sitting.
Right? It's just a bonus reward that your
sins are forgiven in advance.
So we should be
engaging
in fasting in these 9 days. And if
we can't do all 9 days, at least
on the 9th day or at least as
many days as we can.
As soon as also helps to build up
that excitement for Eid. Just like
Eid ul Fitr comes at the end of
29 days of fasting,
comes at the end of 9 days of
fasting. So you are building up towards that
with this fast.
And the final good deed that we need
to increase in during the days of,
the first 10 days of is
the.
Right? The slaughtering of the animal.
This is a very important act of,
and it's something that
in some bad habits, like, Harafi madam is
wajid. Other bad habits, it is Muslim. Either
way, it is very rewarding and it is
very important.
And this is the main sign of these
10 days.
And this is what these 10 days are
known for, the days of Qurbani.
So days when you see when you see
the sheep and you take the children to
see the sheep, and that's building the excitement
up and then you have the slaughtering on
the day. Unfortunately, in our times, many people
are starting to lose that feeling. You know,
people say, oh, evil other doesn't feel special
anymore.
The reason why evil other doesn't feel special
anymore for many people is that we no
longer physically engaging in
slaughtering the animals.
You know, many of us now, we simply
go on the Internet, say, okay, which country
has the cheapest sheep?
Okay. There's some really cheap sheep in Bangladesh.
If there's one button, right, sorted out. Somewhere
in Bangladesh for 500 yen. Do you have
to see? Do you have to think about
it? You just press one button.
The whole spirit is lost. The whole spirit
of actually paying a lot of money to
an animal, seeing that animal, bonding with that
animal, killing that animal, eating that animal is
gone.
Right? Why? Because
we try to make things too easy on
ourselves.
Certain things are not meant to be easy.
So we should try and revive the spirit
of Quran.
Right? Try to spend as much as you
can on your animal. Don't look for the
cheapest animal. Look for the one that's gonna
bring the most barakah, and try to do
it locally.
If you have the money, do some locally
and some over overseas.
But if you're only going to do one,
do it locally. So if your family can
eat from the meat, so you can distribute
amongst the poor in our community and there's
enough people in our community that need it.
Right? But let it be a something that
is communal and that is done in the
community and go there physically.
Even if you don't slaughter it yourself because
you're too physically weak or sick or whatever
it is, at least witness it yourself. Be
there when it's being slaughtered.
Take the children to see it. Let them
experience the atmosphere of the Qurbani. Let them
see what it's like to be there. This
is a very important act of worship.
This is
something that is one of the signs of
Islam.
Right? The of
is a sign of Islam. It's something that
this is what people know. That this is
what Muslims do. And we are losing it
when we try to automate everything and we
try to put everything as cheap as possible
and as far away as possible. So let
us try and revive this.
So to conclude,
the days of Dhul Hijjah
are 10 of the most important days of
the year.
These are holy days.
These are days when the rewards of good
deeds are multiplied.
These are days when we are supposed to
be engaging in extra acts of worship.
These are days in which the Sahaba would
disappear and stay at home and just worship
Allah all day if they couldn't go for
Hajj. So we too need to revive the
spirit.
We cannot go for Hajj. There are other
things we can do.
We can end up staying from clipping our
nails and shaving. And it's inconvenient,
but that's the point. It's meant to resemble
the and the inconveniences they have to go
to in enra. Right?
We need to increase in du'a. We need
to increase in zikr. We should try to
fasten many of these days as possible. And
most importantly,
we all should have Quranis lined up. We
should have paid for it by now. We
should have intention to slaughter, and we should
should be building up towards the Qurbani so
that we have that spirit of Eid coming
up and that we get the full reward
of engaging in this important act of worship,
which is the slaughtering of an animal for
the sake of
Allah on the day of Eid. And if
we do these things, then inshallah, we will
experience the reward of these 10 days, which
are as Rasoolullah
said, the 10 days
which are most rewarding out of the entire
year. The last 10 nights of Ramadan are
the most blessed nights. The first 10 days
of Dhul Hijjah are the most blessed days.
Just as we increase in the Imadah in
the last 10 nights of Ramadan, let us
increase in Imadah in the first 10 days
of
One of the beautiful things about
is it connects us and reminds us
of
the story of Ibrahim alaihi salaam and his
blessed family.
Ibrahim alaihi salaam is one of the 5
greatest prophets in Islam,
and his story
is a story of sacrifice.
It's a story of commitment. It's a story
of someone
who gave up everything for the sake of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And these days are meant to
follow in his footsteps and the footsteps of
his family.
And almost everything we do during this time,
it reminds us
of the story of Ibrahim alaihi salaam.
And even the Qurbani itself, it reminds us
of the story of Ibrahim alaihi salaam
where it is narrated
that Ibrahim alaihi salaam, he had a dream.
Right? He had a dream that about that
he was sacrificing his son.
So he wakes up and he interprets the
dream to mean that he needs to go
and sacrifice his son. So he goes to
his son, Islam
according to the Muslim sources and Isaac according
to the Jewish and Christian sources, but we
believe he was Ismail, alayhis salaam. He goes
to Ismail, alayhis salaam, his eldest son, and
he tells him the dream. And Ismail is
a young man at that time, and he
tells his father, you know, follow what we
need to be true. Do what you need
to do. And so they go up into
the mountains,
and he takes a knife and before he
can do anything, Allah tells them, you have
passed the test.
You have passed the test. Right? And he
sends down a sheep for them to slaughter
instead.
Note,
there are a couple things about the story
that people mix up. Right? People think that
he was commanded to slaughter his son.
Instead, he was given a dream that he
interpreted
as I need to slaughter my son. At
no point is there a specific command given.
Something
better
instead. Number 3, the story actually becomes a
point of contention between Muslims and Jews or
Christians because
the idea of whether it was Isaac or
Ishmael
really
boils down to which
of those 2 sons from
prophets were from the descendants of Islam,
but the greatest prophet,
Rasulullah,
salallahu alaihi salam, comes from the descendants of
Ishmael.
Right? But they tried to make sure this
is one of the things they're trying to
do is that there's no blessings to Isma'il
alaihi salaam, so everything's with the Jewish prophets
only. And so that's why there's some changes
to the story on their side. But the
main thing we need to take from the
story is the spirit of sacrifice.
That
sacrificing an animal on the day of Eid
is following in the footsteps of Ibrahim alaihi
salaam. It is a
practice of our religion that doesn't just go
back 1000 years. It goes back 1000 of
years,
all the way back to the time of
Ibrahim, alayhis salaam. That's why it's one of
the signs of Islam. It's something that is
linked to all of the prophets going all
the way back to that time.
And it is something to which there is
great reward. So, again,
I remind you and I remind myself that
if you have not made intention for Qurbani
this year, let us do so. If you
have not purchased the sheep yet, please do
so. Let us make sure that we revive
this tradition and that we are doing it
properly. I want to end with one last
hadith about the virtue of this 10 days,
specifically about the 9th day when the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, there is no
day in which Allah sets free more souls
from the hellfire
than the day of Arafah.
There is no day in which Allah sets
free
more souls from the hellfire than the day
of Arafah. Meaning, within these 10 days, there
is a day.
Right? Next week, Saturday, or Sunday, depending which
calendar you're following, right, where
Allah sets free
more souls than any other day of the
year. What does this mean? This means it's
a day when Allah forgives more people than
any other time of the year. It means
it's a day in which more
people are guided to Islam than any other
time of the year. The more people who
were going astray end up going on to
the straight part part any other time of
the year. It is a day when to
answer. It's a day when forgiveness is accepted.
It's a day when Hidayah is granted.
We should not ignore it. Sometimes we make
the mistake of thinking, oh, I'm not gone
for Hajj. You know, there's nothing to do
with me. No. Wherever you are in the
world, during the days of Hajj, be engaged
in Imadid, be engaged in dua. When people
are making dua, wherever you are in the
world, you also should be making dua. Be
with
them. You cannot be with them physically, be
with them spiritually.
They are standing on a mountain making dua,
you stay at home making dua. The duas
of Allah the duas to Allah answered on
that day. So let us engage in more
dua on the day of Arafa, and let
us engage in more du'a during these 9
days so that we gain the full reward
of spending these days in worshiping Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
during these blessed days to relieve the calamities
of the Muslim Ummah, to grant victory to
the Muslims all over the world, to bring
justice and peace to the Muslim world. We
ask Allah
to bring peace and justice to the land
of Gaza and Palestine
and to flee from the hands of the
tyrants and to return political power to the
Muslim Muslim world and to make Muslims mighty
and strong again.