Sikander Hashmi – The Days of Hajj KMA Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
My dear brothers and sisters,
it is great, to be back with you
all. I was away, last week as, you
might know.
And, it is wonderful to be back.
For, all of your,
kind words and your support. May
Allah bless you all. May Allah
keep you all safe. I mean,
we find ourselves in,
very, very,
special and blessed days. And,
you know, sometimes I wonder even when it
comes to days like the month of Ramadan,
you know, I wonder if you look outside
and the world is operating,
functioning,
you know, as usual,
And most of the people,
around us, or in fact, many people around
the world,
don't know about the significance.
Right? They don't know about the significance of
what is happening in the spiritual realm. Right?
So there are the things that we are
able to see, of course, in the physical
world, and then there is the spiritual world.
And the
the movement
and the blessings and the nur, the light,
and
the the special effects in the spiritual world
are not,
not seen by everyone. They cannot be observed
by everyone, but we know we know from
the teachings of Allah and his messenger
that we are, in the midst of some
very special days
at this time. And the reason for that
is that these are days of Hajj.
These are the days of Hajj. This is
when
the preparations
are underway. The spiritual preparations are underway
for the greatest
spiritual gathering on earth.
The greatest
spiritual gathering on earth, meaning
that it is the greatest gathering,
the grading, the greatest ish demand, the greatest
gathering, the coming together
of believers
in the sight of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala in this worldly life. And as
we know, this is one of the pillars,
of Islam and, as an obligation to perform
the Hajj for for those who are capable
of doing it, and this is something that
happens on an annual basis at a specific
time. So the time that it happens in
is also very special. Now, of course, the
reality is is that we are not,
you know, not all of us, not all
believers are able to go for Hajj every
single year. And in fact, once again, this
year,
the Hajj is, curtailed once again.
Last year, it was more so. Last year,
it was more so,
with only, you know, about a 1,000 or
so people,
able to attend. But now this year, the
numbers have increased to 60,000.
However,
the,
the people from around the world, the Muslims,
the believers from around the world who would
normally go to observe the Hajj are still
not able to go due to the pandemic,
due to the restrictions. And we ask Allah
to open this up very, very soon,
so that next year, insha'Allah,
all of the brothers and sisters who have
been meaning to go for Hajj, who have
had the intention of going for Hajj, are
able to go for Hajj, insha'Allah.
Now my brothers and sisters,
because we are not able to go for
the Hajj now by the way, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
tells us in the Quran. Right? We learn
in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
told us
with regards to has talked to us with
regards to the obligation
regarding
the Hajj. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has told us regarding the obligation about the
Hajj and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has talked
about,
rather the command that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
gave to Sayyidna Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam when he
said,
call all people to the pilgrimage.
They will come to you on foot and
on every lean camel from every distant path.
So Allah
gave that command to Sayna Ibrahim alayhis salam
and Sayna Ibrahim alayhis salam
made that call. And we see, right, in
today's times,
100 1000 of years later, we find that
people under normal circumstances travel
to Masjid Al Haram. They travel to Makkatul
Mukher Rama
from all over the world. Right? Normally, we
see hundreds of flights daily in buses and
trucks and bikes and people on foot even,
And in the past on ships and camels
who are coming to perform the Hajj. So
this is a manifestation
of the promise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to say Ibrahim alayhis salam that people are
going to come from all over,
from every distant half and, subhanallah, this is
one of the, again, one of the miracles,
one of one of the prophecies
that we find. Right? One of the miracles
of the Quran of Allah
that we have this prophecy
from 1000 of years ago and we find
that it is continuing
even today, Allahu Akbar.
Now because we are not able to go
to perform the hajj, does not mean that
these days are not special. In fact, these
days are very special for all believers, not
just for those who are performing Hajj. Because,
of course, those who are performing Hajj, there's
a lot of preparation. There's,
you know, people who who pack, who who
wanna make sure they're packed physically, properly. But
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also tells us that
the best provision
when he talks about the verses of Hajj
when he talks about the verses of Hajj
in Surat Al Baqarah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells
us that the best provision is taqwa. Right?
So even for the people who go for
Hajj,
although there's a lot of focus on, you
know, what clothes to take and, you know,
which medicines to keep and so on and
so forth and all the arrangements. Right? Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us
that. Right?
That the best provision,
the best thing to pack is taqwa.
So we learn here now that,
the the taqwa is most important for the
people who are going for Hajj but also
but also for those who are not going
for Hajj are not to be left out
from the blessings of this time. And the
prophet
has told us that,
So it is a great time to perform
actions which are pleasing to Allah
in another narration.
And, you know, the first one related by
Sahih Bukhari and, Sunan Abu Dawood and, and
Tirmidhi.
So,
a hadith. The other one also a hasan
narration and a sound narration.
That there's no deed more precious in the
sight of Allah
nor greater in reward. So more precious
nor
greater in reward than a good done during
these 10 days
sacrifice. So these
are, very, very valuable days that we are
living through. And ibn Hajar says
that the most apparent reason
for the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah being
distinguished, Dhul Hijjah meaning the month of Hajj.
Right? So the the 10 days of Dhul
Hijjah being distinguished in excellence
is due to the assembly, meaning the coming
together
of the greatest acts of worship in this
period. Okay. And what are the greatest acts
of worship? We have, of course, the prayers,
and we have especially the Eid prayer. And
then we also have the fasting, which is
sunnah or which is recommended
in these final these first,
9 days of the Hijjah. The 10th is
the day of Eid, which is and it's
haram for fast on the day of Eid,
but in the 1st 9 days of Hijjah.
And then the sadaqa, the charity
and,
the, the charity, especially that comes with giving
away from the meat of the sacrificial animal
and the Hajj pilgrimage as well. So all
of these good deeds come together in these
first 10 days of the month of Hajj
of Dhul Hijjah, and in no other periods
do these great deeds combine.
So especially the Hajj but also the sacrifice,
the
and along with that, the siyam, the fasting,
you know, all of those things come together,
and therefore,
it creates a special special time, a special
period for,
good deeds.
Now it is important to know that this
is not something which is forced upon us.
You see, in Ramadan, it is forced upon
us, meaning that we are given,
an obligation with regards to fasting in the
month of Ramadan.
But when it comes to the 1st 10
days of the hija, the obligation is with
regards to the hajj. The obligation is regards
to perhaps the,
right, according to to, some scholarly opinions.
However, the other things are are more optional
in nature, and they are and, of course,
the obligation the difference between regards to obligation
of of Salatul 'Aid as well. But generally,
you know, there there is more
encouragement for the Hijjah
in doing good deeds as opposed to obligation.
Perhaps we can see it as a testament
Allah
to see how much of a desire we
have to follow in the footsteps of footsteps
of sayin Ibrahim alayhi salam in becoming close
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in becoming a
close friend to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So think of it as a
scheduled test and opportunity
60
days into,
60 days after the month of Ramadan.
60 days after the month of Ramadan.
So let's think of it as a scheduled
opportunity.
60 days after the month of Ramadan, Allah
gives us another opportunity. Now what are we
supposed to do? Because it's somewhat left open.
Right? So first of all, Allah
says
mention the name of Allah on appointed days.
Now there's a difference of opinion with regards
to what exactly this is referring to,
but the majority, of scholars say that this
is referring to the 1st 10 days of
Dhul Hijjah and the prophet
has recommended
abundant recitation of the praises of Allah
on these days. So that means that we
try to increase the remembrance of Allah
and we try to do it with our
heart as much as possible, feeling the greatness
of Allah
recognizing that this is a very special time,
recognizing that this is a time of
spiritual upliftment and spiritual blessings from Allah
that we may not be able to see
or the only form of it that we're
able to see perhaps
is the Hajj. Right? And the people who
are going to to to Maktat al Makarama
performing the Hajj rights. Right? Doing the tawaf
around on
around the Kaaba,
but nonetheless to recognize that this is a
blessed time. So do it do the zikr
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and particularly the
the reciting the greatness of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
or with that feeling,
and with a feeling of thankfulness to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and passion towards Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And the prophet
said
that
that during this time,
recite a great deal of tahleel
and takbir and tahmid.
That is to say and the way we
are to say it and as we have
been taught by the prophet
is to say
It is related,
by Imam Bukhari that
were that the 2 of them would would
go they would used to go out in
the market
during these last 10 days. Oh, sorry. Last
10 we think of Ramadan and last time.
The first time rather, my apologies, that they
would go out in these first 10 days
of Dhul Hijjah saying the taggir causing the
people to also say it. Right? So what
do we learn? We learned that, number 1,
this was a practice that they were doing
regularly during the first 10 days of Dhul
Hijjah to go out even when they were
going out their business, doing their work or
shopping or whatever they were doing.
This was something which was on their tongue
regularly. And the second thing we also learned
that the scholars mentioned is that they were
actually doing it audibly.
It is preferred to do it out of
and that doesn't mean you go in the
mall and you shout it out or you
go, oh, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's not
what we're saying. But you do it a
little bit loudly.
Right? You don't whisper it, but you do
it a little bit slight sound so it's
audible
so that others, especially other believers, other Muslims,
also get encouraged and reminded to do the
same, especially in the marketplace. Why? Because the
marketplace generally is a place of guffah. Right?
In the malls, when people go shopping, when
they go to the mall, even if it's
for their own needs, generally, they're not really
thinking of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Generally, they
are not, you know, thinking, of the remembrance
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So even in
the marketplaces,
reciting the takbir
and and doing it with a little bit
of,
of sound
so that it when a person read out
loud, or says something out loud, they hear
themselves as well, number 1. And number 2,
they perhaps encourage others,
as well. So this is something that is
recommended.
Now when it comes to the, the the
highly emphasized or even the obligatory,
those
are the ones which start from the fajr
time of 9th of Dhul Hijjah. So 9th
of Dhul Hijjah is the day before.
So on Tuesday, inshallah. So the day before
is the day of the Arafah, the 9th
of which is Monday. So Monday starting at
Fajr, after Eid salah, we are to recite
And this is something which is either considered
or
so something which is highly emphasized or even
considered obligatory by some. So we do this
starting on 9th of the Hijjah at Fajr
time. Okay? So the day of Arafat, Monday
morning at Fajr time after each first salah.
Not after the sunnah appears, but after the
the 4th when we make salah, then we
say it and we say it out loud.
Especially for the brothers, the sisters may may
whisper it. So the starting from 9th after
each first salah
until the Asar time of 13th of the.
Okay? So 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Okay? 9 is Monday, 10 is Tuesday,
11 is Wednesday,
and 12
is, Thursday,
and
13th is Friday. So Friday until after time,
inshallah, until our after. We say
And then after at Maghrib on Friday, then
we don't need to start saying it as,
we don't need to say it anymore because
the days of, Tashriq and, you know, the
days of, Eid Al Agha and Hajj are
coming to an end at that point.
So that is, that is with regards to
the takbiraat.
So to be clear, it is recommended to
say generally during the first 10 days as
Abdul Hijjah at any time.
But starting on 9th at Fajr
and after each far salah until asr on
13th,
then we say it,
specifically and regularly after each far salah.
Okay. So that's the first thing. The second
thing now is, with regards to fasting. So
something which is highly
recommended until the 9th day of Dhul Hijjah,
likely the practice or sunnah of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam. But but, Yani, not, you
know, not a super emphasized sunnah. So, you
know, the the the the scholars have categorized
it as either as being mustahab.
Imam Nawi,
you know, he says,
So he he expresses
great encouragement,
a great virtue
for for fasting in the 1st 9 days
of Dhul Hijjah,
but but doesn't go as far as to
declaring it a an established or emphasized sunnah.
But, nonetheless, it is something which the scholars
and the great pious predecessors of our ummah
have done. So it is something that we
should also try to do if possible. Then
comes the fast of the actual 9th day
of the Hijjah. Right? So we're talking about
the 1st 9 days of the Hijjah.
So fasting the first 8 is something which
is highly recommended, highly virtuous.
And then the fast of 9th day of
the Hijjah, which again is Monday, which is
the day of Arafa, which is the climax
of the Hajj when all the pilgrims are
gathering and the plains of Arafa and they're
making dua for Allah
for deliverance from the fire and for forgiveness,
and all of the other duas that they
wanna make. So to make a day of
dua, but also a day of fasting as
well. Now not day of fasting for the
people who are in Hajj. So it's not
fasting for them, but for the people who
are not in Hajj, it is a day
of fasting for them, and this is something
which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
was asked about, the fast of 9th day
of Dhul Hijjah. And the prophet
said
that
that it expiates for the sins of the
previous year and of the coming year. So
the sins that we have committed in the
past year and the ones that we will
commit, although we don't want to commit them,
but we make mistakes. We are human beings.
So Allah will
forgive the ones of the past year and
of the coming year
You know, things like this are not to
be taken for granted.
So it's not like, oh, yeah. Okay. I'm
gonna pass the day of Arafat, so now
I'm good for the last year and the
coming year as well. So I'm gonna go
and party and do whatever we wanna do,
and I'm not gonna care anymore. Right? That's
not the way the believer thinks. We don't
take things for granted. We want to seek
the forgiveness of Allah, and
we wanna use every opportunity.
Okay? We don't think, oh, we don't care
about the previous year because we already did
Ramadan. This is already forgiven. And this is
not the attitude of the believer.
Okay? The believer's attitude is all is always
that of of humility
and yearning for Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala, Always trying our best while having
a balance of hope and fear. The hope
is that, yes,
I I really hope that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has forgiven me. I wish that he
has forgiven me for, you know, in Ramadan
for the previous year and everything I did
in the past. But still, I will try
to pass on 9th because I what if
he did it? What if I did something
else? You know, so there's a balance of
hope and fear. So you have the hope
in the mercy of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
but you don't take it for granted. Because
once people start taking hope for granted or
they start taking something for granted, then there's
no there's there's no humility involved anymore. Right?
Because then you're taking it for granted and
you're becoming arrogant. Oh, yeah. I've done it
already. Right? Oh, yeah. Allah has to forgive
me.
Okay? So Allah
doesn't have to do anything. Allah does live
by his promises as he has told us.
However, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the greatest
and we should always show humility towards Allah
subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So the fasting of the 9th
of Dhul Hijjah, the day of Arafah, something
which is highly,
recommended,
especially emphasized.
Now apart from this, you know, any other
acts of worship,
repentance,
making tawba, istafa,
good deeds, charity, virtuous deeds could be done
on these good on these days and, inshallah,
they will be greatly rewarded.
Most importantly, they will be greatly loved by
Allah.
K? They will be greatly loved by Allah
as we have already learned. Because the hadith
general that there are no days in which
righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah
than these 10
days. Right? So the actions are going to
be beloved by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So
what can you do? So just some suggestions.
You know, you can increase your level of
worship
during the day and during the night.
And, you know, it could just be a
matter of doing tawba and istighfar in abundance.
You can, try to increase your recitation of
Quran, try to complete a khatma, a complete
recitation of Quran if it's possible, or try
to increase it as much as possible. Try
to keep your tongue
moist with the remembrance of Allah
with fiqh and the praise of Allah wherever
you are. And honestly, this is the easiest
thing. Right? So, like, if you're like, oh
my goodness, we are already,
you know, 7 days in or 6 days
in. I haven't really done much. I don't
really know if I can continue you know,
if if I can if I have the
strength or the time to do much,
or, you know, maybe
whatever your circumstances are, then at the very
least, we can we can engage in the
zikr of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. At the
very least, we can engage in the glorification
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, which is the
easiest thing to do. It doesn't take any
energy. It doesn't take any time. And whatever
during the course of our lives, whatever we're
doing, whether we're working or we're walking or,
you know, cleaning or whatever you're doing, you
can engage in the zikr,
of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Making arrangements for your sacrifice.
So thinking about your, you know, and making
plans for for how you're going to do
the sacrifice, that is also something to do
at this time,
praying your, prayers, your part of prayers on
time, trying to increase
the the sunnah prayers or, you know, trying
to offer them more or better,
try to offer nawafil,
the nafil prayers. Now all of those things,
are are things that, you know, we we
can try to do, insha'Allah.
Giving charity, of course. Today, insha'Allah, we'll be
raising funds, for the United can Canada
Humanitarian
Campaign for Palestine for Palestine.
So we have, our brothers here from Islamic
Relief from HCI. So, inshallah, this is a,
this is a great opportunity today on this
Friday to contribute for that cause, inshallah, for
brothers and sisters in Palestine. And this is
a united effort from all the masajid
in in Ottawa Gatineau, United Muslim Organizations of
Ottawa Gatineau coming together,
for a united campaign
to raise funds to offer support,
to help our brothers and sisters in Palestine.
So there's an opportunity for that and any
other charitable cause, as well.
The day of Arafah,
is the day in which the religion was
perfected.
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, perfected the dahi zeen
on that day.
And,
as I mentioned, the fasting on this day
is an expiation for,
2 years. It is also the day of
forgiveness of sins and freedom from the fire
and, and the, and
and pride for the for Allah and the
people who are there. It was narrated from
Aisha
that the prophet
said
that, That there is no day on which
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, frees more people from
the fire than the day of Arafa.
He comes close and expresses his pride to
the angels saying, what do these people want?
Allah takes pride in the fact that people
have gathered on the day of Arafa in
such a disheveled state and that they are
seeking,
you know, the forgiveness of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah
decrees and decides that people will be freed,
delivered from the fire of * on the
day of Arafa. It is also a day
of making dua. The prophet
said
that the best Dua is the Dua on
the day
of Arafa. So we should try to pass
if possible, and we should also try to
make as much Dua as possible.
For I mean, the Dua is for the
people in Arafa but also for others as
well. We should try to make Dua on
that day as well.
May Allah grant us to honor these blessed
days. May Allah grant us acceptance
of our dua
and acceptance of our sacrifice. May Allah also
would emancipate us from the fire of *.
We'll be offering our Eid salah on Tuesday
morning. We'll have 3 prayers, 8 AM, 9
AM, 10 AM.
Not here, though. It will be taking place,
at, Walter Baker Park.
Registration
is still required. We really wanna get rid
of this registration thing,
but we still have capacity limits,
of 400 each. So therefore, registration is required.
Registration will open on Sunday at 8 PM.
Okay? And the reason we do that is
so that we tell you beforehand when it's
gonna open so everyone has a fair chance
of registering.
But, I mean, there's 400 spots for Eid.
So, I think you should be fine.
So once again,
register for Eid salah on Sunday at 8
PM on our website at pananimusims.ca.
And you could choose between the 8 AM,
9 AM, or 10 AM prayer.
When you come for the salah, make sure
you bring your prayer mat because you'll be
praying on the on the grass.
So if you need a chair,
on you know, bring the chair.
If you need a prayer mat, obviously if
you're okay with praying on the grass, that's
fine. But if you wanna put something, you
know, to pray on, then make sure that
you bring your prayer mat
with you as well. We have a request
for dua for a young boy that was
diagnosed with advanced brain cancer
here in our community.
Just 5 years old.
There's no known treatment. So let us make
the offer.
Oh, Allah. Please cure this
young boy.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah. Please make this time
easy for his family and his parents.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah. Just as you have
control over the the the cancer that has
appeared,
in his brain and in the bodies of
everyone else who is suffering from cancer,
you also control the cancer and you are
able to stop it and and and and
take it away.
Oh, Allah, please purify
his mind, his body, his brain and all
of and the bodies of those of all
of those who are ill from all types
of illnesses.
Oh, Allah, please cure all of our brothers
and sisters who are ill physically or mentally
or spiritually.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah. Please bear a swift
recovery a complete recovery to all of them.