Mufti Menk – What To Do In The 10 Days of Dhul Hijjah
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Allah Almighty
has indeed
kept different places with different values. The masjid
is not equal
to that which is outside the masjid. If
you are in here, you are in a
more blessed place. The minute you walk out,
you are in a less blessed place, if
any blessings at all.
Similarly the Haram in Makkah
is not equivalent
to any other place that you may find.
Similarly, the resting place of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi
wasalam is not similar to any other place
that you can find. Each has its own
value.
In the same way that places have their
own value,
different times also have their own value. The
time of tahajjud,
when the 3rd of the night is remaining
is much more valuable than other times of
the night.
The time of Jum'ah and there is a
certain
portion of the day of Jumu'ah
in which the prophet Muhammad says
dua is accepted. It will not be turned
away.
I may not know that exact moment but
I do know a friday is the best
day of the week.
The same applies the month of ramadan, the
nights in ramadan.
Towards the last 10, they are more valuable.
The odd ones are even more valuable. And
from among them, there is 1 night that
is the most valuable
from all the nights of the entire year.
In a similar fashion,
the first 10 days
of Dhul Hijjah,
Allah says, He loves
in those days
acts of worship that are done for him
more than any other days. So increase the
acts of worship in the 1st 10 days
of Dhul Hijjah. One might argue, what about
Ramadan?
Ramadan, the nights are more valuable. Dhul hija,
the day is more valuable. May Allah Almighty
grant us ease. Maamin ayaamin
There are no days within which
good deeds are more loved by Allah than
these 10 days of Dhul Hijjah. So what
should I do?
The moment the moon is sighted
and it is declared that the month of
Dhul Hijjah has commenced,
you will find that the blessings have commenced
too of Dhul Hijjah.
Dhul Hijjah is among the months known as
the months that are haram.
Haram means when Ummah created
creation and he created time, he kept time
within 12 months. That was his decision.
The months worked in a certain way. From
among them he says, 4 of them,
I want you to be more at peace
in these 4
than any other month. So there are rules
and regulations
governing
how you should conduct yourself
during these months. Be more peaceful. Be leaning
towards peace. Don't commence and start a war
in these months. And so many other rules.
If someone fights you, you can fight back.
No problem. But you are not allowed to
commence the war. I'm not going to start
a war, but it doesn't mean that I
can't fight back. Otherwise, they would have known
that the Muslims don't fight in these 4
months. They will wipe us out. But that's
not going to happen. May Allah grant us
victory and may Allah grant our brothers and
sisters struggling across the globe
victory in whatever they are struggling in, especially
our brothers and sisters in philasteen
and in Gaza and in Rafah and all
the areas where in which they are being
attacked,
massacred and pillaged.
May Allah protect them and protect all of
us.
It pains the heart. But getting back to
the month of Dhul Hijjah,
when the moon is sighted, the blessings begin.
When the blessings begin, you need to realize
that something is required of you.
You need to become conscious of the fact
that this month is one of the haram
months.
What are the other haram months? There are
3 all in order
and the one that is slightly separate. So
you have Dhul Hijjah,
Dhul Qaida. Dhul Qaida, Dhul Hijjah, Muharram and
Rajab. Those are the months of?
Those are the months known as the haram
months. May Allah Almighty grant us an understanding.
Nonetheless,
as much as I'm conscious of this, I
need to increase my acts of worship.
And before I think about increasing
my acts of worship, I need to stop
all the sins that I'm engaged in.
If you go to Makkah,
will you continue with the zina that you've
been committing? May Allah protect us. You should
have stopped anyway as a believer and engaged
in istighfar and tawbah. But if you go
there and you commit a sin, it is
indeed multiplied because that is no place that
is similar
to another in value. It is very high.
So I cannot go to Makkah and decide
that I am going to forget that I'm
in a sacred place. The same applies if
I am in
the days of Dhul Hijjah or the days
of Ramadan or the nights of Ramadan.
I need to cut off sin. What's the
point of fasting through ramadan when I'm sinning
and I'm not even worried about Allah
command? The whole idea of fasting is to
hold back.
If I'm going to hold back from halal
for the pleasure of Allah, surely haram is
nowhere in that equation. I'm supposed to be
holding back
even whether it is Ramadan or not. The
same applies
here. The 10 days of Dhul Hijjah, the
first thing you do before you think of
doing good deeds
is to cut off the bad. What is
the bad? Swearing, deceiving, major sins such as
adultery,
someone intoxicating
people on drugs. These are major sins. When
you intoxicate yourself, it's a major sin. Why?
Because you are closing off your mind, even
if it is
and the mind is what distinguishes you from
animal. May Allah Almighty grant us sound mind.
So it's a season to work on your
bad habits. Cut them off, come on. We
need you in the Ummah. Look at the
Ummah bleeding. Take a look at what's going
on. Do you really think that your bad
habits will help the ummah or yourself?
You need to eradicate them. Work on them.
Work hard on these bad habits.
And some might say, well you know I'm
only smoking anyway. Wallahi my brothers and sisters,
I say this all the time. You can
cut that out too. Make an intention. Allah
will help you. Allah will strengthen you. Be
a disciplined mumil womb. When you meet
Allah the day you return back to Allah
you're in a good condition.
I want to meet Allah. If I meet
Allah like this, I'm happy. At least I'm
someone who has worked on my habits and
I can meet Allah in a condition where
at least I tried. Allah's mercy will descend
on us. So work on your bad habits.
Chop off
something you might be committing, that might be
a secret between you and Allah. People sometimes
are hooked onto *
on their phones. Every little while they go
back. They want to check again. They, after
some time they have strengthened themselves, then
they become weak and they go back again.
Don't make yourself strong inshaAllah.
Meaning don't do that but rather make yourself
strong for the sake of Allah
This is a season, It's a season of
working on your bad habits.
Once you have decided, look, you know what,
I'm cutting out my bad habits. The next
thing, you need to force yourself and push
yourself
to do the right thing. Getting up for
Salatul Fajr on a winter morning like the
ones we have right now is not a
joke. Allah will multiply your reward. The more
difficult it is for you to get up
when you've gotten up.
SubhanAllah.
It's not easy. Cold. Sometimes water is freezing
and so on. Get up for the sake
of Allah. Build your Jannah. Those are the
golden bricks of your house in Jannah. Put
them up. Come and say, oh Allah, if
it was not for your instruction, I would
be sleeping. But because of your instruction,
I'm going to consider it an honor to
get up, push yourself. Brothers and sisters, without
pushing yourself, you're going to go
nowhere. You have to push to achieve.
If you want to achieve something in this
world like a job, or you want to
sell your goods or you want to do
something so you earn money, you need to
work hard. Well, Allah says Allah Inna silaatalahi
zaliyah
the product, the commodity that Allah has, which
is Jannah, is even more expensive. It is
very valuable, much more valuable than anything. You're
going to have to work towards it. You
have to work hard for it. Push yourself.
Get up. I'm going to go. The irony
is people get up for school and work.
Just after the time of Salatul Fajr. Had
they gotten up 5 minutes earlier, wallahi, they
would have caught that salah, which the Prophet
says, rakaataal fajri kayum min dunya wamafiha.
The 2 units of fajr better than the
whole world and whatever it holds. And you
just got up 5 minutes too late. Can't
do that. May Allah Almighty strengthen all of
us. So
after that, in these 10 days, because the
hadith says Allah loves good deeds the most.
In these 10 days, set aside a portion
of the morning where you start off with
the remembrance of Allah. And the best remembrance
of Allah is the recitation of the Quran.
Afdalu Thikri. What is the Afdalu Thikr?
The best form of remembrance of Allah is
stillawah of the Quran. Start off with a
portion of the Quran. Read something from the
Quran in the morning.
Open your mushaf. It is more rewarding
to open the mushaf
that you have printed and read from it
than to read from your phone. Although it
is permissible to read from your phone. Why
do we say this? Only for one reason.
Because for one you have to have wudu.
For the other one you do not necessarily
have to have wudu. And if that is
the difference then surely there is a greater
virtue for one over the other.
But sometimes you are weak. You might want
to still use your phone. No problem. It's
permissible. InshaAllah, you get a reward. Your reward
is not decreased here, but it will be
increased there.
SubhanAllah.
May Allah grant us goodness. So come what
may you read yourself
one verse for the sake of Allah. How
many?
1. How many?
Is it too much? It will take you
1 minute. 1 minute.
My brothers and sisters, the Quran has a
magnetizing
effect. If you read it for the sake
of Allah, one verse, it will pull you
to read the next one and it will
pull you to read the 3rd one. By
the time the week is over, you are
reading a page a day. How did it
start? It started with 1 verse. That's the
Quran. It's the word of Allah. It has
a magnetizing effect. It will protect you from
Shaytan. The Quran itself will protect you. May
Allah Almighty
grant us protection. Amen.
That is the word of Allah. That's why
there is protection and cure in it from
the diseases of the heart and from all
other sickness and ailment.
If you are going to read the Quran,
Allah will give you blessings through your day
such that even if you didn't have time,
time
will be blessed and you won't realize
that you've done so much through the day
unless you think about it. And you'll tell
yourself, today
I got so much done. How did you
start your day? So if you started with
salatul fajr and the portion of the Quran,
then you can expect even more blessings throughout
the rest of your day. There's a lot
that will happen. But if you slept through
that time,
there's no blessings. Before you know it, it's
10 o'clock. You still did nothing. You're not
yet out of bed. And guess what? The
day is half over. You are already lazy.
May Allah protect us.
Similarly, what we need to do, be charitable.
Allah loves sadaqah and people think that I
don't have wealth. How am I going to
be charitable? Allah tells you charity is not
only connected to money. Yes, wealth is very
important. You need to earn it in a
halal way and you need to spend from
what Allah gave you. Because when Allah gives
you, He wants to see whether you are
going to give others who don't have.
And that's why there is a portion of
it, fardub compulsory
you have to give others. It's called zakat.
But more than that, there is another portion
known as your own sadaqat, That which you're
giving for the sake of Allah from your
own pocket. That is another portion. Please give
and Allah will give you more.
So charity is not only monetary, but money
is a very important part
of charity.
So if I don't have that, what am
I going to do?
To speak properly to someone is a charity,
To address someone with respect is charity.
Many of us people work for us. We
start off the morning with colorful words. You
know what are colorful words?
Very colorful. We start off screaming and yelling
because at home we had a bit of
a problem. So now we come to work
and we release on who? Poor people working
for us and we know they rely on
us for a salary. We pay them peanuts
sometimes.
It's a fact.
To pay someone correctly is a charity. Allah
will give you a blessing
beyond the blessing because you paid them correctly.
This person,
I have 5 workers, for example,
I am earning R500,000
and I'm only paying them R5,000.
Are you following what I'm saying? How did
the money come to you? Through these guys.
At least give them something they can be
happy and work more. Wallahi, you will make
a million by the will of Allah.
When everyone working for you is happy and
excited, they will make dua for you even
when you are not around
because they know I'm so happy. I'm working
at a place where I'm paid well. My
time that I have spent is acknowledged. I'm
working for 15 years. Alhamdulillah,
now I'm very happy. I can sit at
home and relax.
But sometimes we the muslims are guilty of
underpaying people. We are guilty of not even
affording them basic
medical expense. Someone passes away, you know, they
only work for you and you know you
have the means, but you're not interested. This
is the month of Dhul Hijjah that's coming
up just now. You need to make sure
that you revise the way you look at
these things. You need to make sure you
go back and revisit
how you operate.
Because you're not going to be able to
take that money with you into the akhira.
You won't. The only way that you can
take it is when you spend it in
the right way. And it's written on the
right side of the scale, this man spent
this money. That's yours. What you did not
spend is not yours.
What you did not spend is not yours,
even if it's in your own bank account.
The reason is, as soon as you die,
people are fighting for that. Someone else is
fighting for it. You didn't spend it. What
is yours is where the circle is complete.
You earned it, you got it, you had
it, you spent it and it's gone. That's
now yours.
But if the circle is only half there,
it's someone else's. May Allah grant us ease.
Similarly,
to be able to smile is an act
of charity. So important that the prophet
mentioned it to us. What's a smile? A
smile is just
a crescent like curve of the lips. That's
it.
There you
go. Show your teeth, you get a bonus.
Masha'Allah.
Why? Why? Have you ever sat to think
how come the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
says
to smile at the face of your brother?
You don't even know whom they are. Smile,
It's a sadaqa. Why? Why?
Because idkhaalu
Suru rifital Bil mumin is another sadaqa
to to
instill or to bring about happiness and joy
in the heart of a fellow believer is
a charity.
When people see you, is there joy that
comes in their hearts? Or they want to
run away from the crook. Slavrullah may Allah
protect us. Right? They want to run away.
When they see you, are they happy? Masha
Allah. Look brother, they'll come to you, greet
you. Subhanallah, they are happy, you are happy.
Wallahi, we are an ummah. We are 1
ummah.
I've always said the problems of this ummah
will only be resolved when we understand
that we are 1.
A lot of people make a big effort
to try and prove why we are not
1. We are separate. This guy thinks like
this. That guy is like this. This guy
is like this. This guy thinks like that.
This guy follows that Sheikh. This one follows
this school of thought that wallahi,
try your best to understand why we are
1,
how we are together
and why we are an ummah and what
makes about the ummah.
Minor differences do not make us from people
who are not from the ummah. We are
part of the ummah. We care for each
other. And I will reiterate this all the
time because it's one of the solutions to
the problems we are facing today in Gaza.
I heard someone say, no, they deserve what
they're getting. I said, what? Are you crazy?
No, but they don't belong to a proper
school of thought. I said, What are you
talking about? That is the attitude, that's the
reason why we are struggling.
May Allah Almighty forgive us.
My brothers and sisters,
this is the blessed
days that Allah has blessed us with, coming
up right now. Imagine if you are fasting
during these 10 days, Alhamdulillah,
what a great blessing. The fast of the
day of Arafah for those who are not
in Hajj is considered
so so powerful that the sins of the
current year and according to another narration, the
previous year or the coming year, there are
various narrations,
but minimum is at least 1 full year
of your sins wiped out for that fast.
Fasting. Why? Because you need to humble yourself
for Allah. Food is there. It is generally
halal. It is earned with halal income. It's
beautiful.
Why can't I eat it? I'm going to
hold back because I want to please Allah.
It's all about discipline. A few days ago
someone entered the fold of islam
here in our community.
And I told him, islam
is about discipline for the sake of Allah.
Discipline. There'll be rules. There'll be there'll be
regulations.
But every single one of those rules has
a gym of benefit. Whether you know it
or you don't know it.
When Allah tells you this is haram, this
is haram, this is halal, this is halal,
you need to know it's for a reason.
I believe it even if I don't understand
it. I believe it. My maker tells me
don't do this. I will not do it.
If I do it, something else
that I need to become conscious of is
istirfar.
My brothers and sisters, do you know one
of
the easiest ways of entering paradise
is through lots and lots of Istirfar. Did
you know that? You want to go to
Jannah? Well then make lots of Istirfar, seek
the forgiveness of Allah. Good news to the
one in whose books a lot of Istirfar
is scattered all over.
So I say, Astaghfirullah,
Astaghfirullah,
Astaghfirullah,
Astaghfirullah,
Wa Taoboo ilayhi, O Allah, forgive me. O
Allah, I seek your forgiveness.
O Allah, forgive me. The Prophet
used to repeat this up to 100 times
a day. A day.
He want to enter jannah. Astaghfir. Oh Allah,
forgive me. Strengthen me. When I plan to
do something haram, put a block.
When I when I want to do something
correct, energize me to fulfill it in the
best way possible. Make a dua.
Why do we keep on saying
when we are already Muslim mean? Have you
thought of that?
Are you not a Muslim?
Would you not arguably say that I'm on
Hidayah, I'm on guidance. Why do I have
to keep on saying guide me to the
straight path, guide us to the straight path
every day? Because
Allah Almighty
needs to keep you on the guidance without
arrogance, without pride to help others to be
on the guidance. You get a reward for
it to ensure
that you don't lose it. You continue making
dua. And in order for you to realize
it's only because of the favor of Allah
that you are guided. You keep on saying
it.
I'm guided not because I want to be
guided. Wallahi, I'm guided because Allah chooses us
to be guided. And therefore,
when I make a mistake, I should not
be upset. If someone comes and corrects me,
And if someone comes in a respectable manner
to say, listen you know what, I think
you're going wrong here. Alhamdulillah, think about it.
If they are right, alhamdulillah change no matter
who they were.
And if they are wrong, be respectful with
them. And if there is difference of opinion
in that particular matter, be respectful with them.
You don't have to swear someone just because
they corrected you for something.
May Allah Almighty grant us humility.
So what did we say? Istirfar
and seek the guidance of Allah. O Allah
guide me. There is a dua, Allahummaadini
wahdibi.
Oh Allah, guide me and guide through me.
Make me a means of guidance for other
people.
When a mu'min leads his life, when a
believer leads his or her life in a
proper manner
by looking at him or her, others are
already attracted to that calmness, goodness and that
beauty of the faith that they want to
be a part of it. If they have
even a droplet
of searching for the truth
within them.
Some,
they don't want the truth, they're arrogant.
You see, if you look at Rasulullah
greatest of creation, most noble of all prophets
of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
To look at him, he already became known
as a Sahabi.
Just by having met him, looked at him
and so on,
People have to then say, radiallahu anhu, next
to your name.
That's how powerful the presence was,
just by looking at
him. But there were people who were the
biggest enemies of Allah who also looked at
him but they didn't get guidance.
Abu Jahal,
did he not stay at the prophet
Was he not
fortunate enough from a certain angle to be
in the company of
the prophet But did he accept? No, he
didn't.
Why? Because there was no guidance from Allah.
It was enough for him
to have met the prophet
or even without meeting him, having heard the
message and said, you know what, this is
the truth. It was enough for him. He
was an intelligent man. But because of arrogance,
he didn't want to let go of his
position.
They were worried that the seat of government
would be snatched from them by a man
who was not
them. That's what they were worried about. Otherwise
he was from their own tribe,
He was related to them.
So the blessing is from Allah. Allah chooses
who he wants.
Today we are in this masjid. Yes, you
might have made an effort and you will
be rewarded for the effort. Allah alone
put it in your system
and energized you so that you are here
today. It's not by my doing, it's by
Allah.
Allah blessed you to make you think, let
me go. Then to give you the energy,
let me get up, let me wash,
let me set off early, let me come,
let me sit whether it's here or there
or the back. Wallahi, it's your Lord. So
thank Him. Thank Allah. Oh Allah, continue to
use me to do these good things. Continue
to let me come to the masjid.
Continue to energize me to do the right
things. And whenever I am thinking of doing
the wrong thing, put a block, O Allah,
and weaken me so that I don't do
that. Allahu Akbar.
Trust me, when you ask Allah that, Allah
will give it to you.
How many times people are planning
to do something wrong
and then something happens and some they can't
do it.
Why, did you ever ask Allah or Allah
block it? Well, He blocked it and sometimes
even without asking him, He loves you. He
doesn't want your deeds to be wasted. He
puts a block. Remember this is from Allah.
Don't continue, come back. It was wrong.
Allah blocked you, Allah reminded you,
may Allah Almighty grant us ease. My brothers
and sisters, the last few moments
I'd like to dedicate
to the suffering of our brothers and sisters
in Palestine.
Wallahi, what we have seen in the last
few days is even worse than what we
saw at the beginning of this crisis.
And what is going on?
Yes,
martyrs will enter Jannah.
Yes, martyrs have a very very high rank
and yes, Allah has a quota
of martyrs that he has to and will
take every single year.
But that does not mean we do not
feel it.
There are 3 levels
that the prophet
speaks about. No 4th level.
The first is, you feel in your heart
that what they are doing is wrong to
our brothers and sisters. And you pray for
them. And you care in the way that
you, your sleep is affected because
that
which they are doing to them, they could
do it to you and I. And you
know what? Given the opportunity they would. They
would.
Those are criminals man.
They would.
And at the same time, secondly,
if Allah has given you the ability to
talk about it, to conscientize about it, like
what we are doing right now. You talk
about it.
Tell the others and tell those who are
perpetrating
the crime that you are wrong. What you
are doing is wrong, unacceptable.
You will be punished for it in this
world and the next.
And they might get away a little bit
here. They will not get away in the
court of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the
third, those in authority who have the ability
and capacity, they should stop them with their
hands.
The unfortunate reality on the ground is that
it seems like no one can do anything
about it. We are helpless and frustrated.
May Allah Almighty protect us.
They are doing that to people
who just want their land back, nothing else.
Please give us back our land. You came
and you took this land in the early
19 forties.
We just want it back. That's all. That's
all. That's the truth of the story as
simple as one sentence. The palestinians,
the only thing they want back is their
land. They've never asked for anything else.
Please give us our land back. Whatever you
took, 1948,
please
give it back to us. That's all they
are saying. For that, the whole war has
actually
twisted the hearts and minds of so many
on earth
because the wrong propaganda came in to make
them feel it's your ancestral land. I've always
said there is a difference between ethnicity
and religion.
People could be from Africa but they are
muslims. It doesn't mean that Muhammad
was an Arab. That is only Arabs who
are muslims.
Your ethnicity is one thing, your religion is
something else.
So it doesn't mean that because you're Jewish,
you're entitled to land where Musa alaihis salam
was or Moses
or biblical land just because you're a christian.
We have so many christians all over.
None of them have come out and claimed
that that land is ours. They know we
have a connection to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. And
the muslims who ruled have always allowed the
Jews and the Christians access to that land.
They've allowed them access to their churches and
synagogues.
But can I tell you what? Now,
some of these Jews known as Zionists, the
ones who want to claim
this
saying that it's our ancestral
land when it's not their ancestral land. In
actual fact, they are not from the Middle
East and their DNA proves it. They are
not from the Middle East.
So what happened to those who were Jewish
at the time?
Obviously and naturally and it is proven that
over time they became Muslim.
Many of them became christian
when
Jesus, Isa
came.
Isa was sent to Banu Israel.
They became christian and from there they became
muslim. And some who did not become christian
jumped straight from Judaism
into islam.
So if you look at the palestinians
who are Muslim, they are the original owners
of that land. Ancestraly,
they changed their religion. That's what happened.
They changed their religion.
Changing your religion does not disqualify you from
owning what was yours. My ownership is my
ownership no matter what faith I belong to.
So this is the crisis. That's why when
you hear, well you know what, biblically it's
theirs, it's whose.
If biblically
it is theirs, then I can tell you
biblically this the same rule would apply that
the a 1000000000 Christians on earth would be
able to claim it too. But they didn't
and they haven't and they know it's not
theirs.
So that's why I say,
please give the land back and solve the
problem. If you don't want, well there you
go. May Allah Almighty
protect us.
We feel and that's why we we speak
and when we speak they don't like but
what can we do? We will.
And we call on our leaders,
the political leaders always,
to do more than what they're doing.
To ensure the safety
and security
of our people. And not only that,
to ensure that insha Allah, by the will
of Allah, whatever was stolen from them is
given back and that would resolve the matter.
It doesn't mean that the people who are
there would be killed. No, they wouldn't.
When independence came to South Africa, what happened
to those who perpetrated the crimes of apartheid?
Are some of them not living around us
here now?
They're still there but they now live under
a different rule. So it doesn't mean you
want to exterminate people. It means you want
to correct a historic wrong. And you can
still live here amongst us. But who will
be in charge? The people whose land it
is. May Allah Almighty protect all of us.