Tahir Anwar – Dhul Hijjah Spend These Honored Days Allah & His Messenger
AI: Summary ©
The importance of the month of Dhulqueen is discussed, with the season being the first of the year and the cycle of the message of Jesus and the Hujah being the first of the cycle. The importance of learning the names of the Islamic month and the importance of praying at the same time during the recitation of the Quran is emphasized. The importance of praying at the same time during the recitation of the Quran is emphasized, and the importance of fasting during the day of Bookbelly is emphasized. The importance of praying at the same time during the recitation of the holy month is emphasized, and the importance of fasting during the day of Bookbelly is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
I begin in the name of Allah most
gracious most merciful, I bear witness that there's
none worthy of worship except Allah
and that his beloved Nabi and Prophet Muhammad
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him
is his last and final,
Messenger.
I'd like to begin today by
mentioning or reciting 2 verses or 2 portion,
2 portions of the Quran.
Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says,
And in another place, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says,
in
As we approach, Insha'Allah,
in the United States of America,
the beginning
of Dhul Hijjah, most likely tonight, Insha'Allah.
Today is Saturday. Today evening, we will be,
seeking and searching for the crescent of the
month of Dhul Hijjah.
And if we cite it,
then the month of Dhul Hijjah will begin
tonight,
in essence making the first of Dhul Hijjah,
tomorrow insha'Allah.
Dhul Hijjah happens to be an auspicious month.
Dhul Hijjah happens to be a blessed month,
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala mentions in the Quran and I recited
a verse where Allah says,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala takes an oath and
He says by dawn
and by the 10 nights. Imam Ibn Kathir
is
narrated to have said
that what is the the meaning of these
10 nights is the 10 nights of the
month of Dhul Hijjah.
Abdullah ibn Zubay I'm sorry. Abdullah ibn Abbas,
Abdullah ibn Zubayr Mujahid, and many of the
earlier generations
say that this ayah refers to the first
10 days of Dhul
In fact,
before we go into the specific merits
of, many of the scholars are of the
opinion
that these days
are better than the last 10 days of
Ramadan.
However,
what holds the last 10 days of Ramadan
at at a higher status
is the night
of Adar.
In fact, many
are of the opinion
that
the 10 the best 10 days of the
year are the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah,
the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah.
And the best 10 nights of the year
happen to be the last 10 nights
of the month of Ramadan.
In other words,
all the acts of Ibadah
and worship
for which we prepare ourselves
for
in the last 10 nights of Ramadan, in
the last 10 days of Ramadan,
in this very moment as we are approaching
Dhul Hijjah, we should have that same enthusiasm.
We should have that same fervor.
We should have that extreme same excitement
about
the Hijjah beginning. The Hijjah is not simply
about Eid,
is not simply about Korbani,
is not simply about Hajj.
Rather,
the first 10 days specifically
are also about the ibadah and worship of
Allah
There's a narration that says,
that your rewards increase
during the course of these days nights.
The rewards for your good deeds are are
multiplied by 700
times.
Right? By 700
times.
And so we are now approaching those days
and approaching,
those nights,
days of Ibadah and
days of worship.
I want to turn to a few hadith
of the Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is narrated to
have said,
This is a Sahih hadith. Imam Bukhari narrates
this.
He says,
the prophet
told the Sahaba,
there are no days in which good deeds
are more beloved to Allah than during these
days.
So the Sahaba were you know, these were
people who were concerned about where can we
maximize
our time,
maximize our reward, and so they asked the
Nabi alaihis salatu wasalam, not even jihad in
the path of Allah, and the prophet responded
and said, not even jihad in the path
of Allah except for the individual who goes
out in the path of Allah with his
life and wealth and returns with neither one
of them. In other words, unless a person
and and an individual ends up becoming a
shahid during the course of these days and
nights. Otherwise,
these are the best days of ibadah and
best days
of worship.
There's another narration
of
Nabi
says, the best days of this world are
10. There's another hadith
narrates
No deeds are purer
to almighty Allah nor greater in reward
than good deeds performed in the 10 days
of the month of sacrificing.
Right? It's narrated Qasim ibn Ayyub,
and he narrates this about the famous companion,
Saeed Abdul Jubayr
He says,
when the first 10 days of,
the month of Dhul Hijjah would come in,
he would exert himself in
so greatly that he would nearly overwhelm himself.
Right? So with you know, these hadith definitely
remind us of the merits
of the month of Dhul Hijjah, that these
are days and nights unlike others.
These are days and nights which are very
similar
to the last 10 days nights of the
month of Ramadan. There's another lengthy hadith, and
since we are,
going through the merits of Dhul Hijjah, I'll
go ahead and mention it.
I'll just go through the English.
Similar beginning. No days are better to Allah
than the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah.
A man asked, oh messenger of Allah, are
they better
than are they better?
Are they the first 10 days better or
time
spent waging jihad in the path of Allah?
The Nabi alayhi salatu wa salam said, they
are better than time spent, spent waging jihad
in the way of Allah
Then he says,
no day is better to Allah than the
day of Arafat.
The day of Arafat refers to the 9th
of Dhul Hijjah, the day before Eid. Now,
this is not the Nabi
is not specifically
mentioning this
for the Hujaj
in Arafah. Right? For the Hujaj in Arafah.
This is for everyone.
He says, no day is better.
No day is better to Allah than the
day of Arafat, and then he continues.
He says,
Allah descends to the lowest heaven and he
boasts to the inhabitants of the heavens
about the inhabitants of the earth saying,
look at my servants,
appearing disheveled and dusty.
They came from every mountain past hoping for
my mercy.
They do not see my punishment,
yet they do not see that on no
day sorry. Yet they do not see that
on no day are more saved from hellfire
than the day of Arafat than the day
of Arafat.
Now, again, this is this specific portion is
for the hujjud.
But if Allah
is so immense
in his mercy, brothers and sisters,
for those
who are performing Hajj, then why wouldn't our
merciful Allah
extend
this mercy
for all of humanity. Right? For all of
humanity.
There's 1 or 2 things I wanna mention.
Just something.
We we are now ending the month of
Dhulqara.
For those of you that may or may
not know, the month of is the 11th
month of the Islamic calendar. Right?
Happens to be the 12th month of the
Islamic calendar, and so we are now literally
ending our year. We are, if we may
think of this in December, right, not in
literally in December, but in December
of the year. The year is closing.
There's a celebration at the end of the
year, and then, insha'Allah, we will be we
will begin the month of Muharram.
Right? The month of Muharram in which we
have Ashura,
but we will come to that. I'll I'll
mention one specific thing about that in a
little while. But with that said, we're ending
the year, and I wanna take a moment
to remind all the young parents or parents
here,
especially if you have young children.
Teach our children
the,
you know, the months the Islamic months, the
name of the Islamic months. Remind them of
the names of the Islamic months. Remind them
which year, or which month we happen to
be in. Also, this is something I did
in a youth session yesterday.
You know, I was explaining I I asked
someone and I said, why is Dhul Hijjah?
I asked the youth. I asked the young
men and women. I said, why is dul
hija so important? One of them so beautifully
said that it's it's because we have the
second Eid in there. And so I was
prompted to ask
and said that, you know, what what do
you mean by second Eid? And what is
what refers
what is referred to as the first Eid.
Right? And so interesting explanations. And then one
of them said that, oh,
because I said, when is Eid? That was
one of my questions, and someone said somewhere
around July.
Right? The the the the the,
happens around July, and and I took a
moment to explain to them the lunar calendar
and how the Gregorian calendar is 365 days,
and the lunar calendar is about 10 to
11 days less than that. So in the
course of 33 years, all you know, we
will have gone through the entire calendar. And
and I I kind of took my time
explaining to them how if Eid this year
is around 20th July, it'll be in 10th
July, the year after. I kinda used Ramadan
as an example more than anything else because
many of these young men and women were
people who were fasting
during the months of April May when Ramadan
was. And I said, soon it's gonna happen
in March and then February and then January
and so on and so forth. So I
would I would urge you to take a
moment to,
explain,
your children,
you know, how the Islamic calendar works. But,
yes, this also happens to be the the
last month of the Islamic calendar, and it's
also the month in which,
Hajj,
happens, right, in in which we perform,
Hajj. But I'm gonna speak to Hajj in
in in a little while. I'm I'm reminded
of of of a verse in the Quran.
You know, we talk about Ibadah. We talk
about worship.
And, you know, what what makes our ibadah
so special or what makes our our worship
so special? There's a verse in the Quran,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
Know that there is no God but Allah.
Right? The beginning
of our journey is knowledge.
The beginning of and and I'm gonna mention
a hadith in regards to knowledge in a
little while as well. But the beginning of
our journey is knowledge.
And
our, you know, our
right? If our that's why we ask Allah
grant me beneficial knowledge.
Beneficial knowledge is that which transforms
into action because after there has to be.
Right? After there has to be.
If after
there is no
then that
is of no benefit to us.
People are all about knowing things, knowledge. I
gotta know this. I gotta know this. I
wanna study this. I wanna know about this.
But if none of that transforms into action,
then our tradition
doesn't refer to that as
beneficial
knowledge,
specifically sacred knowledge.
And after that, the the fruit
of both
and happens to be lama,
illumination.
This is what the mentioned.
Right? That after
and it's interesting how all three letters are
the same, though the root letters are not
the same, but the three letters are the
same. We have
which is
which transforms into which
should then transform into illumination.
Right?
So that's what that's what that's what it's
all about.
And the the mercy
of our Lord, the mercy of Allah,
we're reminded of in a hadith of the
prophet
where the prophet
says,
It's a hadith fudsi. If my servant draws
near to me a hand span,
I draw near to him an arm's length.
This is the mercy of Allah. Allah says
just turn a little to me. I will
turn I will turn to you more
than your turning to me.
And if this servant of mine draws near
to me an arms length,
I draw near to him a fathom's length.
And whoever comes to me walking, I go
to that individual
running.
And so that's all that's just the these
I I I share these
traditions and a hadith of the Nabi as
an encouragement.
Right? An encouragement that do not underestimate
the power of your fajr prayer in congregation.
Do not estimate
the power of making sure that you pray
on time. And, you know, these are these
are these are just the bare minimum. If
if anyone
simply fulfills,
the bare minimum, the fara'il,
it's nothing to be proud of, really. Our
tradition clearly reminds us. There's nothing to be
proud of. Like, oh my god. You know?
If you go beyond that and if you
do more than that, then that's what we
should be grateful for. Not any pride is
never right to begin with, but we should
be grateful for. But
the
voluntary, the
extra actions that we do in addition to
our obligations
should not be taken lightly because Allah
out of his immense mercy
blesses us with so much greatness,
right, during,
all the time, but specifically during auspicious periods.
And the month of Dhul Hijjah, the first
10 days and nights of the month of
Dhul Hijjah, are definitely
auspicious times. Our journey
Dhul Hijjah, we perform Hajj.
We perform Korbani, sacrifice.
A lot a lot of these actions of
ours
come from a very
specific individual.
Right? Ibrahim, alayhis salatu wa sallam.
The the the bulk of the entire journey
of Hajj
is,
you know, simply
doing the actions that Ibrahim
did.
That Allah loved.
Ibrahim
was known as the friend of Allah, the
Khalilullah.
Ibrahim, alayhis salatu was salam, had a very
special place
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah refers to
him in the Quran,
Ibrahim alayhis salatu was salam was like that
of an entire community
because he single handedly
was able to establish
that
which entire it took it would take an
entire community to establish.
This was by the wisdom
of Allah
We read, and I don't want to go
into the stories,
but we read the story of Ibrahim alayhis
salatu wa salam. May Allah's peace and blessings
be with him in the Quran. We read
his stories in the ahadith.
We read his stories in the history. And
for so long, we've been reading these stories
that all of a sudden it's almost like,
yeah, I already know that.
It's not about simply knowing,
but in it's about reflecting.
Right? Reflecting
the story of Ibrahim and what Allah
would, you know,
allowed to establish
through him.
Right? Through him. What was it that Allah
Allah was allowed to establish through him?
Allah chose him. Right? Allah chose him, and
Allah can choose anyone at any time for
anything.
It was his immense
desire
to find
Allah,
that Allah knew that this person was a
special person. This person had concern.
This person had strength.
This person had courage.
This person was not worried about what others
had to say.
Right? He was one who spoke the truth.
He was one who did it with love,
respect, and wisdom.
Right? Love, respect, and wisdom. He turns to
his father and he he was a young
man. He was a teenager.
Okay? He was a teenager. Ibrahim was a
teenager when this incident occurred. He goes to
his father
and he addresses his father in the most
beautiful way possible. He tells his father, why
do you worship this?
In other words, if we see an elder
doing something blatantly wrong,
then we have the permission as those that
are young
to remind them, request them, question them,
but to do it with adab.
Right? Not put them on blast. Right? This
in this day and age, it's all about
putting people on blast. We're living in in
cancel culture.
Those this though the same people that are
so big on cancel culture don't like it
when their thoughts and their ideologies
happen to come under question. Topic for another
day. But,
right, but
not putting he didn't put his father on
blast. Right? He didn't put his he he
very respectfully
questioned his father.
Right? And then, subhanallah, Allah
facilitated
for him a moment
in which he was able to address the
entire community.
Right? He was able to address and this
wasn't from a place
of arrogance.
This wasn't from a place
where he wanted to be condescending.
This was from a place of concern.
This was from a place of worry. This
was from a place where he just couldn't
fathom
that people would be worshiping other than Allah
Right? Worshipping other than Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And the verses in the Quran are just
so beautiful.
When he saw the stars, he said, this
is my Lord. When he saw the moon,
he said, this is my Lord. When he
saw the sun, he said, this is my
Lord. And in the end, he realized that
all of these things went away and none
of these things could be worshiped. None of
these things
could be something that happened to be the
Lord,
and that was his question to his community,
right, when he had the issue with the
idols. Right? He said, how can you worship
something
that is unable to protect themself?
Right? This was this was all about tawhid.
In fact, the historians mentioned
that there was no one other than Ibrahim,
alayhis salatu waslam, who would worship Allah on
the entire face of the earth at that
given in that given moment, at that given
time.
Right? In that given moment at that given
time. And so it's just something to to
think about that he had this concern for
his community, and then
and then the community
decides to throw him into the fire. And
I again, I I did promise I'm not
gonna go into the story, but I just
feel like I wanna share just one one
thing here.
You know, they say they collected the wood
for the fire for months.
They collected
in fact,
it's been it's been narrated
that
people who would be sick
people who would be sick,
they would make an oath with Allah,
and they would say, oh, Allah
or not Allah. Sorry. With their idols.
And they would say, if you were to
cure me,
I will collect wood for the fire. You
know how sometimes when we go through difficulty,
we we, you know, we turn to Allah
and say, you Allah, if if this works
out, I'll I'll fast for 3 days, or
I will give so much money in charity,
or I will change some of my actions.
I will not do some of the evil
that I'm doing if you help me out
in this situation. They say that people would
actually take an oath and say that,
you know, we will collect the wood for
the fire. The fire burned for 40 days.
But he had so much conviction in Allah
that when he was being catapulted into the
fire. Can you imagine? Right? This Ibrahim was
a human being.
Ibrahim
had feelings, flesh,
the ability to see, feel, just like you
and I. Can you imagine being in a
place where you're in a catapult?
Right?
And while if you know, at at that
point, if someone
says, say that so and so is god,
otherwise, we will kill you, Islamically, it's permissible
in that moment to say it while not
believing in it with your heart.
But he wasn't worried about that.
Jibrael comes to him and says
that,
what can I do for you? And he
says, I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm
gonna I'm turning to Allah for assistance.
And what was Allah's response?
Oh, fire. Allah addressed the fire and said,
become cool.
Interestingly enough, the word after that is peace.
Right? Not so cold that he would freeze
to death because not you know, cold can
be very, very cold.
Become
a good,
right, a good cold,
a comfortable
cold
for Ibrahim. Khair and then the story,
continues. Allah refers to Ibrahim in this ayah
as
Right? He was fully devoted to Allah
and then Allah says, Hanifa.
Right? Hanif means to incline, to be inclined,
right, to be inclined towards something.
Allah refers to him as Hanif, one who
was inclined towards tawheed.
Right?
Again, just that word
makes us question, what are we inclined towards?
What is it that we were in what
is it that we're always worried about? What
is it that we're always thinking about? What
is it that we are always,
working to achieve?
Right? What what are our goals?
Right? What are our goals? What keeps us
awake at night? When we wake up in
the morning,
right, what is it that, you know, keeps
us going?
Right? Keeps us going, Hanif.
His inclination was towards Allah.
Right? Allah first. Right? Allah first before anything
else. Now this doesn't mean that we can't,
take the means. It simply means that always
putting our trust in Allah
And
part of this entire journey in fact, I'll
I'll
He leaves her in the desert.
She turns to him and she says, oh
Ibrahim, where are you going?
Right? Oh, my husband, where are you going?
He doesn't respond.
And in that moment, some of the Unama
mentioned that
ultimately he was a husband, he was a
father,
and, you know, maybe if he turned,
he would have seen the tears and the
worry,
right, and that
wouldn't have allowed him to obey the command
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala so he kept
going.
She understood,
Hajar understood and asked, oh Ibrahim,
is this the command of your Lord?
And he responds and says, yes,
look at the trust of this woman. She
says,
right? If that happens to be the case,
Allah would not destroy us.
She makes an there's not a thing in
the valley,
not a thing,
right? And this is not a sandy desert.
This is a rocky desert,
Right? Many of us have been to Mecca
and Medina, Saudi Arabia. What do we see?
We see a rocky desert.
Right? Extremely hot,
scorching heat in the afternoon.
He's walking away.
Right? But she doesn't complain.
Right? She goes she now she attains means.
She goes from one hill to the other
hill, from one hill to the other hill.
Right? She made an effort.
The word effort in Arabic is translated
as
sa'ih. Right? That's the literal translation of the
word sa'ih. She made an effort.
She put her trust in Allah
Right?
She
both in in the story of Ibrahim alayhi
salatu was salam,
right, and in the story of Hajar,
one of the greatest lessons we can take
away is what?
Fakkar.
Right? Fakkar. Not fakkar with a I don't
want people to get confused. Fakkar with a
off.
Right? Extreme poverty.
Extreme
need.
Right,
depend
complete dependence
on Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
not being independent
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
They didn't pull out a resume and say,
well, I got you know, I'm I'm gonna
put my trust in Allah, but I got
this, this, and this. It's like in that
moment, you Allah, I have nothing.
I own absolutely nothing. I have zero means.
This is that's why the ulema remind us
that when we happen to be in in
in a moment of extreme
difficulty,
in that moment, despite
all your means
and despite the sunnah and in fact requirement
of attaining the means,
When we turn to Allah, our turning to
Allah should be filled with extreme humility
and the statement that, oh, Allah, without you,
I have absolutely
nothing.
I don't have any means.
In fact, the means that I have are
also given to me by you because if
you take those away, I I don't even
have those means.
Right? That's why there was divine openings. That's
why when we read the stories of the
prophets and we read the stories of the
companions,
we find the extreme
humility. When we read the story of the
pious predecessors,
extreme humility,
extreme in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enlightened them.
Now enlightenment
did not mean wealth.
K, because
because many of us, especially in this day
and age, we attribute
success, enlightenment to wealth. Like, if you have
money, you're successful. If you don't have it,
you're not successful, but that's not the case.
Right? And divine enlightenment, divine openings, and this
is something that we I explained a few
days ago.
Right? Allah
when we when we go to Allah
with fakr,
Allah will receive us with gina, with enrichment.
And that's one of the things we take
away from this entire
story in the month of Dhul Hijjah. So
Dhul Hijjah is about what?
Submission.
Ibrahim submitted.
Hajarah submitted.
And no matter how difficult it was, there
was complete submission.
Right? Complete submission to Allah
Now,
as I mentioned earlier, and I do wanna
mention this, Dhul Hijjah happens to be a
month in which people do Hajj. The reality
is the vast majority of the people on
the face of this earth do not perform
Hajj
even every year.
So it's not just about Dhul Hijjah is
not just about Hajj.
There's still so much for people who are
not going for Hajj to do. I do
wanna mention one thing, and I've mentioned this
three times yesterday and once the day before
that, and I'll mention it again. There's a
lot of people under the impression that Hajj
oh, Hajj didn't happen this year, and it's
happening for a limited number of people this
year. Hajj actually happened last year. It was
for a far more limited number of people.
Hajj is happening this year as well. It
just so happens that a lot of people
who would like to, who have intended to
go for Hajj are not going to be
able to make it.
Part of our is
content with the decree of Allah
content with the decree of Allah
Whenever
Allah invites us to the sacred lands,
right, that is through his invitation
and we are, right, we are content with
the decree of Allah and we submit to
him.
And if Allah has not destined for us
to be there, we are we still submit
to him
Right? The lesson is about submission.
You could go for all the Hajj in
the world and not learn submission at all.
What's the point of Hajj then?
Right? I hope I'm making sense to you.
Yet at the same time,
right, you may not be able to go
for Hajj and at the same time,
right, you are content with the decree of
Allah.
Say, yeah, Allah, if you haven't facilitated for
me to perform Hajj this year,
I'm content with your decree. That, brothers and
sisters, is submission.
Our entire life, our entire journey is about
submitting to the will of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. But with that said,
there are so many. In fact, there are
so many who had intended to go for
Hajj this year, interestingly enough. In fact, I
think far more people wanted to go for
Hajj this year than in previous years,
because, you know, people just kind of felt
like it's an obligation on me and I
need to fulfill that obligation sooner than later
because life has no guarantees. It's one of
the greatest lessons we have learned in the
course of the last,
you know, 12 to 14 months.
But there are
a number of actions, and I'm gonna go
through all of them from the hadith. There
are a number of actions that we can
do
that would attain us the reward of performing
a Hajj, which is accepted with Allah
Okay, which is accepted with Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
And then I'm gonna go into the specific
acts of Ibadah during the course of the
month of Dhul Hijjah and then we will
end in about 10 minutes insha'ala and then
we'll open it up for
questions insha'ala.
And the Nabi this is a very famous
hadith.
The Nabi
says,
whosoever prays salatul fajr in congregation,
Then that individual
remains seated in the remembrance of Allah,
whatever it may be, until the sun has
risen.
And then this individual
performs 2 rakas,
That's just so awesome.
Like, literally, imagine going for fajr
and remaining there until after sunrise, praying 2
rakas, and coming home.
Right?
You get the reward of 1 Hajj and
1 Umrah.
Interestingly enough,
you know,
the preference,
and this is, you know, a difference of
opinion and a lot of people argue,
in the Shafi'i
school, the preference
to pray salatul fajr is closer to the
beginning of the time of fajr when it's
still dark.
In the Hanafi school, the preference for the
time of fajr is towards the end of
the time of fajr.
Okay? Now end doesn't mean last 5 minutes,
by the way. Okay? The end doesn't even
mean the last 10 minutes. The vast majority
of the ulema are of the opinion that
Fajr should begin about a half an hour
prior,
to sunrise.
This is because the Fajr prayer is generally
slightly longer. If one were to, for for
whatever reason, come to the realization that their
Fajr they didn't have wudu, they broke their
wudu, for some reason, they need to repeat
their Fajr prayer, they have enough time to
attain the hara, to make wudu, come back,
and perform their fajr prayer with enough time
that they're not risking,
it getting into after sunrise. So don't misunderstand
this hadith. But one of the benefits and
so in the Indian subcontinent, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
we generally pray Fajr,
towards the latter time, towards the, you know,
the end of the time of Fajr. And
in fact, in many cases, when we, would
pray Fajr at the masjid in the latter
time, you know, there's people who I've heard
some people say that, oh my god. It's
bright outside already. In other words, they're so
used to praying when it's extremely dark that
they can't fathom
that fajr can be prayed when it's slightly
brighter, of course, pre sunrise,
but people cannot fathom that. So one thing
to keep in mind and now one of
the benefits of that, and this is something
that I saw with my elders and my
teachers,
you know, growing up, is that when they
would go for Fajr prayer, they wouldn't leave
after the Fajr prayer. Right? Because once Fajr
prayer ended, there was about 20 minutes till
sunrise.
K? 20 minutes till sunrise, and then waiting
for another 10 minutes after sunrise as we're
required to do. So they would remain seated
after the fajr prayer for about a half
an hour and use the half an hour
to get in their, their and
their, you know, recitation of the Quran, and
then pray 2 rakas and then come home
and have tea. Now that, brothers and sisters,
is a life goal. You know, people talk
about goals in life. Right? I wanna be
able to do this, accomplish this,
you know, buy a home here, buy a
certain car, be at this certain specific place
in my career and so on and so
forth. But there needs to come a point
in our life
when we are when we start becoming Hanif,
inclined towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And part
of that inclination
and part of that,
getting closer to Allah
is getting into the habit of praying at
the masjid, which means that, yes, you may
not be able to live in a larger
home away from the masjid if you depending
on where you live, you may need to
choose to move closer to the masjid. The
size of the home may not be as
large. The neighborhood may not be as,
you know, whatever it is,
but being able to make it to the
masjid,
you know, regularly.
Easy to come for salat al fajr and
not have to drive for so long just
to make it for the fajr prayer. Right?
Being getting into the habit at some point
in our lives and saying, listen. You know?
Okay. Enough is enough, but, you know, my
work is very important to me, and I
will continue doing the work that I do.
But
but I would I would want to make
it to the masjid for Salatul
Fajr so that I can pray in congregation
and be there.
There's certain,
questions, and I I'll get to the questions
in a little while, and I'm seeing them
coming in as well. So with that said,
yes. Life goals. Life goals. And I've seen
my elders,
seen my elders do this and I've seen
no. I'm not just talking about my teachers.
I'm also talking about just elders in the
community and within my own family where I'm
from that, you know, these were people who
might not even have been extremely diligent about
praying at some point in their lives. But
as they got older, they had certain life
goals and part of part of their life
goals was was to pray their salat at
the masjid as frequently as they could and
being there for fajr prayer every day and
sitting until after sunrise. So,
I need to continue. Another hadith.
The Nabi alayhi salatu wasalam says,
whosoever,
exits their home
after making wudu. In other words, you make
wudu at home and then you go to
the masjid.
To attend the father prayer
that individual's
reward
is as if the reward of a *
in the state of ihram.
Just any regular prayer. You go to the
masjid, you pray, you come back, you just
got the reward of a * and ihram.
Abu Umama
narrates that the prophet
says, whoever goes to the masjid for the
purpose of learning or teaching knowledge
receives the reward of a *.
It's as if the reward
you get the reward of a Hajji, one
who has a perfect one whose Hajj was
perfect.
So we don't, while Hajj is an obligation,
let's not forget that the reward of Hajj
can be attained in so many different ways.
2 more 2 more ahadith and then I'll
move on. The Nabi alayhi salatu wa salam
says,
Who he the individual who recites a
100 times in the morning and
a 100 times in the evening
is like the one who has performed Hajj
100 times.
In another hadith, a Sahabi
says a man came to the prophet
and says, I
would like to go for jihad,
but I don't have the money. I can't
afford to go.
Nabi
says, are any of your any of your
parents alive? The man responded and said, yes,
oh messenger of Allah. My mother is alive.
The Nabi
says, show Allah
how you serve her.
In other words, be sincere, be complete,
be perfect. Don't scold them. Don't get angry
at them. Right? Do it with love. Don't
do it because it's a burden. Don't do
it simply because of the reward. Do it
with
love, sincerity,
immense desire.
If you do so duly, you will be
like a Hajji.
You will be like a Martamir, one who
has performed umrah, and you will be like
a Mujahid, one who fought in the path
of Allah
So all these actions, our
our looking after our parents, our prayer and
congregation,
our going to the masjid to attain sacred
knowledge, all of these attain us the reward
of Hajj.
Now let's move on to Dhul Hijjah.
There are 3 specific things that I'm going
to be talking about. Number 1,
fasting.
Some of the ulama have mentioned
that fast as much as you can in
during the first 9 days of.
Some would say fast all 9 days if
you can. Others would say fast as much
as you can during the 9 days. But
as far as 9th of Dhul Hijjah, which
is referred to as the day of Arafa,
Abu Kata
that the prophet
said fasting on the day of Arafa is
an expiation for 2 years,
the year preceding it and the year following
it. Brothers and sisters, if I may ask
all of us to make an intention
that the day before Eid and, again, whenever
Eid will be based on the sighting of
the crescent tonight in the next half an
hour or so, 40 minutes or so,
based on the sighting of the crescent tonight
insha'Allah,
let us make all make the intention
that,
we are going to fast the day before
Eid, the day of Arafah. And fast on
that day because
2 years of sins are forgiven.
And if for whatever reason we are unable
to fast, women on menstruation,
people who are elderly,
people who are ill, if you're not able
to fast, then know that as long as
you had you you your intention was there
to fast, then your reward is with Allah
Then we talked about Ashura earlier, 10th of
Muharram, which is going to happen in a
month 10 days from now, 40 days from
now.
The Nabi continues and says, fasting the day
of Ashura is an expiation for the year
before it, for the year preceding it.
Right? The prophet
says, there is no day that Allah will
free more people than the day of Arafah.
Used to advise people to say, oh, Allah,
free my neck from the fire on the
day of Arafah.
Make the day of Arafah
a day of goodness, a day of happiness,
a day of blessings, a day of sharing,
a day of caring, a day of dhikr,
a day of feeding, a day of being,
you know, just being overall
gracious.
People around you should be on the day
of Arafa, people should say, oh my god.
What happened to you today?
Why can't you be like this every single
day? That is what alafaa should be like.
Right? Be a fati.
Be a fati.
Okay. Be a fati.
And Allah
sorry, and then we're we're reminded, right, that,
Allah loves the
fuqara.
Allah loves the fuqara.
Fasting is 1.
Number 2, the Takbirat.
In the Hanafi school, it is wajib to
recite the Takbir,
for 5 days
beginning on the day of Arafah. The 9th
of Dhul Hijjah, the day before 'id from
Salatul Fajr. So all 5
prayers on the day of 'arfah. All 5
prayers on the day of 'id. All 5
prayers on the day of 11th of Dhul
Hijjah. All 5 prayers on 12th of Dhul
Hijjah,
and 3 prayers, Fajr, Asar Fajr, Duhar, and
Asar until after Asar
on
the, 13th of Dhul Hijjah. Right? So for
essentially almost 5 days.
In the Hanafi school, it's wajib
for both men and women
to recite this takbir
once
after every followed prayer,
be it a prayer you're doing alone or
in congregation. And the reason I I wanna
mention this is because so many of us
are under the impression there's 2 mistakes that
people make. 1, people think well, there's a
few. People think that it's only for men
and not for women.
People think that it has to be done
3 times,
and not just once. And some people think
that it only needs to be done when
you are at the masjid praying in congregation
and not when you are praying alone.
So let me clarify that again. Right? Begins
on 9th of Dhul Hijjah, the day before
Eid, the day of Arafah from Fajr prayer,
9, 10, 11, 12, 13th until, the Asl
of 13th.
Once
after every false prayer,
men and women,
whether you are praying alone
or in
congregation.
And then that leads us to Korbani
sacrifice.
Why sacrifice?
Why sacrifice?
Ibrahim
was asked to sacrifice
that which was most beloved to him. It's
a story, like I mentioned earlier, we've read
time and again, and we've become desensitized,
it's just a story.
Imagine
if
one of us
was commanded by Allah to sacrifice one of
our children.
Like really think about it.
You know, we'd be like,
this religion is not for me. I can't
do this. You can ask me to do
everything else,
but I ain't doing this.
It's time for me to walk away.
Now
Ibrahim was a believer in Allah, he received
the revelation, he put his trust in Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala He saw advice from his
son when they went for the sacrifice to
Mina,
his son laid down on his stomach and
said, oh, my beloved father, if you see
my face,
maybe,
right, out of your love for me, you
may not be able to fulfill the command
of Allah Subhanahu Wa I don't want that
to happen. I don't want you to be
I don't want you to be amongst those
who disobey Allah. So I want you to
make my sacrifice.
And in that moment, Allah commanded the knife
to not do its job and Allah sent
down a ram from heaven. Allah loved Ibrahim's
sacrifice.
The the willing to sacrifice his son so
much for the sake of Allah that Allah
instituted
that sacrifice as an act of for the
entire Ummah until the day of judgment.
That's what sacrifice is about. It's not just
about going online, putting your credit card number,
hitting click, and say, I'm done. I sacrificed,
like, I've taken care of it. That's not
what it was.
It was a lot more than that.
That it was a lot more than that.
That's what sacrifice is about.
Now I'll also mention one thing before I
go into some of the rules. Some people
say, oh my god, look at these Muslims,
you know, animal rights activists, vegans.
Someone asked me yesterday, young man asked me,
is veganism allowed in Islam? Yeah. Veganism is
allowed in Islam, but that doesn't mean you
don't have to do korbani. If korbani is
wajib on you, you still have to do
it. You can choose not to consume the
meat,
but, you know, the meat eating the meat
of your own qurbani or eating the meat
of qurbani,
an animal sacrifice in the path of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is an act of Ibadah
in and of itself.
Right?
Someone so people, you know, some people argue
and say, look at you Muslims. You know,
you kill,
you know, tens of thousands or hundreds of
thousands of animals every year.
And, you know, I would say I would
have to say to that and say, well,
I do it because my god commanded me
to do so, but I I want you
well, that question of yours warrants another question
for you.
How come you don't bat an eye when
corporations,
right, fast food corporations
do that and then some in an extremely
inhumane way
for nothing but money, but you don't bat
an eye there.
Right? Far more animals are killed and sack
or I wouldn't say sacrificed, but killed,
right, on a daily basis.
Yeah, the corporations, you don't bat an eye
there, yet you have you wanna bat an
eye to the Muslims?
So
if you have
if you have,
the nisab,
right, now in this case, it's not about
having having it for a year or not
as long as you have the nisab on
the morning of Eid or even after that
as long as it's the days of Eid,
the days of sacrifice, you're required to sacrifice.
In the in the Hanafi school, it's one
animal, one small animal per person. Small animal,
of course, means goat, not chicken,
or one share in a larger animal, a
cow, camel, or so on and so forth.
As I mentioned, it's not a ritual. It's
an act of Ibadah.
It's sacred. It's from amongst the of
our deen, the signs of our deen.
And it it's this it it requires for
us to pull away from the mundane and
to think about what this is all about.
The Nabi says,
whoever has the ability to perform a sacrifice
yet does not do it,
That individual should not even come near to
our place of a prayer. We have no
need for you. Go. Do whatever you have
to, but don't come here. This is a
requirement.
Zaydib Nur Akham
narrates the Sahaba asked the Nabi
said,
what is Purbani? The Nabi
said, it's the way of sunnah to Abiikum
Ibrahim. It's the sunnah of your father Ibrahim.
They asked and said, you Rasulullah, if we
do it, like, okay. We gotta do it.
What do we get back in return? The
Nabi
says, one reward for each hair. They asked
and said, you Rasulullah, what if it doesn't
have hair? What if it has wool?
Then the Nabi
says,
one for each strand.
Narrates.
The
Nabi
said to Fatima, his daughter, Ali's wife, and
says, oh Fatima, stand by your sacrifice.
When
when the first drop of blood falls, you've
been forgiven.
And on the day of judgment, all of
this will be brought and put into a
scale and multiplied by 70 times. Abu Saeed
hears this and he says, is this only
he he he heard this. He says,
is this only for the family, for the
Al Muhammed,
or is it for the entire Ummah? Then
says, this is for the entire Ummah.
That's why while
it is just as important for us to
make sure that we,
you know, we look after the poor and
needy when we do our sacrifices, it's there's
no harm in sending it overseas,
but one should also endeavor to make a
sacrifice where they live as well.
Right? If not possible every year, then definitely,
you know, once every few years. Right? If
if you haven't done
your own
sacrifice
physically or been present while a a friend
of yours, a brother of yours, the imam
of the masjid, was doing it for you,
okay,
then
I would say there's something wrong with that.
Right? There's something inherently wrong with that. We
should be able to do our sacrifice as
well.
We are allowed
I wanna close in the next 5 to
7 minutes. We are allowed,
to do it on behalf of our deceased
relatives,
our relatives who are alive. In other words,
if
one member of the family chose to do
it on behalf of everyone else,
Permissible
and it's allowed.
Okay?
And this one person paid for everyone. That
would be allowed. I know I know relatives,
family members, teachers who do it on behalf
of themselves, who do it on behalf of
their
parents, who do it on behalf of their
late parents, late grandparents,
and so on and so forth.
Ali
came with with 2 camels, and he said,
this this is one for me and one
for the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He says
the Nabi alaihi wasallam
told me to do one on his behalf
as a result of which I will never
leave it out even after the passing of
the Nabi, alayhis salatu, salam, which is why
we find the pious predecessors, the ulama. They
would do one for the Nabi Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam as well. They wouldn't just do
they would do one for themselves.
They would do one for the Nabi, alayhi
wasallam.
The prophet did
a did 2 Qurbanis. He did one for
himself and he did one for the entire
ummah. In other words, if you were to
choose to do one for the entire ummah,
that would be permissible
as well.
So be generous
in your The
nabi ali and and the preferred you can
by the way, if you do your sacrifice,
you can eat the meat from the entire
goat. You don't have to share it with
anyone. Though the preferred method it's not from
the sunnah per se, but the preferred method
is 1 third for yourself,
1 third for your relatives and family,
and 1 third for the poor and needy.
That's also another thing we do. When we
make a sacrifice, we share it with,
the poor and needy around us. So always
keep that in mind. Right?
The more we
spend in the path of Allah, the greater
our reward is with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
The Nabi again, this is not a requirement,
but a recommendation.
The Nabi
says, if the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah
began and one of you intends to do
a sacrifice, not like you physically doing your
sacrifice, but you are actually,
you know, doing qurbani this year, whether you're
physically doing it in your presence or it's
being done for you, let that individual not
remove anything
from his hair or skin. In other words,
you know, not cut your hair and not
trim your nails to be similar
to those who are performing Hajj, to be
in a state of disheveledness.
That's all that come but it's not a
requirement.
It's just a preference. So these are just
a few things I wanted to remind everyone
of in regards to the Hijjah. I know
many of you had questions,
and so what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna,
try to go through
some of the questions that are being so
if you have any questions, please,
share them,
and we will,
go from there, Inshallah. Please, you know,
there's a the admin at the MCC East
Bay is monitoring your questions, so please share
them there and then we will move on.
Someone asked and said, what is the best
time to make du'a
on the day of Arafat?
The du'a made during the last hour on
Arafat is most likely to be accepted.
Does this apply to those making Hajj or
everybody?
That is
so first of all, let me, let me
clarify something.
The tayam of Arafa, the wokbu of Arafa.
Okay? The wokbu of Arafa is between Zawal
and Gurub, between Zohar between the time of
Zohar and Maghrib.
Now to specifically say that the last hour
within that time frame is the most auspicious
time or time of acceptance is actually incorrect.
It just so happens
that
as the day is coming to an end
when you are in Arafa Hajj,
you know, people's feelings are intensified. They're the
time is running out and people wanna get
in their requests or make that request again.
And it's that moment of, you know, sort
of time crunch,
and we see everyone making du'a. But the
same du'a
that the same the power of that du'a,
whether it's done in the last hour of
the day or whether it's done in the
first hour of the day, in other words,
after Zawal in Arafa,
absolutely and exactly
the same.
As far as those who are not at
Hajj,
the day of Arafa for us
extends
from Maghrib
the night before until Maghrib of 9th.
So there's no time specifically. Of course, the
most preferred time is the last hour of
the night, and the last hour of the
night for us would be the morning of
9th of Dhul Hijjah because the last hour
of the night, if you were to say
the night of 9th, that would become the
day of Eid, which, by the way, is
also a night of worship in Ibana. But
I hope I've,
answered your your question.
Is it permitted to make multiple intentions for
one act of 'ibadah according to the Hanafi
school of thought, making up a day of
fasting for Ramadan and fasting the day of
Arafat? No. It is not.
A makeup fast is an obligatory
fast and
intentions cannot be combined,
whether it's the fast of Shawwal, whether it's
the fast of Arafah, or anything else
for that matter. Now
could you fast
on on the day of Arafah
for the makeup of your Ramadan?
Yes. Of course, you can. There's nothing stopping
you from doing that, but that would not
be considered to be the fasting of.
A sister asked this question, and I actually
saw that question coming in.
Can the reward you mentioned about the fajr
prayer apply to females?
Because
women are not required
to go to the masjid. I want people
to understand this. I'm not saying women should
not go to the masjid.
Right? Women can, should go to the masjid.
But because women are not required
to go to the masjid,
if they prayed fajr at home, not even
in congregation,
and remain seated in their place of prayer
until after sunrise and prayed 2 rakas, yes,
they would also get the reward of a
complete, complete, complete
umrah and Hajj.
Someone asked and said,
Is there any virtues in doing good deeds
during Fajr on the day of?
The Quran swears by the day of.
Is the Fajr prayer during
a sacred time?
The time of Fajr prayer on any day
is a sacred time. To say specifically
that is the time of Fajr on the
day of Eid, an auspicious time, not necessarily.
Okay. So, I mean, it's auspicious like any
other day. One other thing I want people
to remember.
On the days of Eid, be they Eid
ul Fitr or Eid ul Abaha
in the Hanafi school specifically,
the prayer to be prayed after sunrise
is salatul 'id.
So to pray ishirah, we call it ishirah
in the Indian subcontinent.
We call it salatulduha
in the Arab world.
To pray salatulduha or ishraq
after sunrise on the day of Eid is
incorrect.
The prayer to be prayed after sunrise,
be it immediately after sunrise or an hour
or 2 or 3 hours later is Eid.
No isharaq,
no salatulduha
on Eid.
Also,
when we go to the Musalla of Eid,
be it the Masjid, fairgrounds,
park, whatever it is, when we go to
the Musalla of Eid,
there is no raka'at. There's no praying there.
There's no praying other namaz, other salah there
other than salatul Eid.
I hope people understand that. You find people
coming to the mussala of Eid. It's a
blessed day. It's a Mubarak day. The the
the program still hasn't begun and people end
up, you know, starting and praying 2 rakas.
That is actually considered to be incorrect.
Historically, in Muslim lands, Eid ul Adha was
would be prayed immediately after sunrise because people
would run for sacrifice.
Just as on the day of Eid al
Fitr, it is preferred to eat something before
we go for Eid salah.
Right? Allah says for 29 or 30 days,
I commanded you to not eat. You didn't
eat. Today, I command you to eat.
And we fulfill that command of Allah
by eating.
Similarly, on the day of Eid ul Adha,
the preference is that a person does not
eat anything until the meat they eat the
meat of their Korbani.
I would see the elders in my family,
my grandfather specifically, and some of my teachers
who would go for the the Eid prayer
and in in in in our ancestral village,
would happen immediately or soon after sunrise, and
we'd actually had to go out of town
to pray. Everyone went out of town. There's
a specific for
Eid. We'd only use it twice a year.
We called it we called it Eid. Some
of you may understand that term.
We would go there for Eid, and then
my my grandfather would go to the graveyard
while some of my cousins would then go
home and immediately sacrifice
and immediately cook something. By the time he
came back from Eid, that would be his
first meal of the day, the meat of
horbani.
Probably not possible. In fact, I was reading
somewhere that in the Maliki school,
the sunnah and the the preferred thing to
do is for the people to perform their
Korbani after the imam.
Okay? After the imam. So in other words,
the imam better do his qurbani really, really
quickly,
and then so that people can begin their
qurbani.
Now we, of course, pray Eid here in
America in many places like, you know, 9:30,
10 o'clock. Not that there's any harm in
doing so, but, you know, these are probably
people who are not doing their own forbany
or may be doing it the next day.
You have 3 days to do forbany, by
the way, 10th, 11th, and 12th
of Dhul Hijjah.
There's another question.
I will be in the plane on the
day before Eid. It is per is it
permissible for me to fast? It's an 11
hour flight. Yeah. It's permissible for you to
fast, and you can fast while you're traveling.
You know, I recall once, and I've shared
this story many times.
Many a times when I travel to the
East Coast from here, I fast in Ramadan.
I don't I mean, you know, I I
I prefer to fast in Ramadan over not
fast. So when I'm traveling to the East
Coast, I'm fasting. My fast is 2 or
3 hours shorter that day. And then the
next day when I'm flying back, I still
fast.
And California time, I may I may be
making my sojourd as early as 1:30 in
the morning or 2 o'clock in the well,
not even 2, maybe around 1:30 in the
morning.
And by the time I break my fast
at 8:30 at night in the summer months,
you know, I have fasted
for, you know, almost
19 hours.
You know, is it the end of the
day? No. It's not. You know, do I
survive? I've survived until now.
I recall once when I boarded a flight
from New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey to Bombay
in Ramadan, and I chose to fast.
I broke my fast after boarding the flight.
Within an hour or 2, I made my
sufhur,
and you'd the the time you calculate is
the actual place that you happen to be
in in the flight at that given time.
So naturally, if you're traveling east, your night
is not going to be
5, 6 hours. Your your night is probably
gonna be 3, 4 hours because the plane
is traveling east. So I you know, about
an hour or so later, I had another
sandwich and drink of water.
And then when I landed in Bombay,
the flight was maybe 15, 16 hours long.
When I landed before I landed in Bombay,
the sun had already set and I made
my iftar again. So I actually made iftar,
sukhod, and iftar on one
flight. Of course, I flew back in the
month of Ramadan as well. I chose I
did not fast because, you know, I was
coming the other way.
Had I chosen to fast, I would have
probably fasted for maybe, I don't know, 40
hours by the time I got to California.
So, of course, a lot, you know, a
lot, a lot does not a lot does
not impose that kind of a difficulty
on anyone.
I've been I've been told that there's no
more questions.
So may Allah bless you all and,
reward you all. I did read a comment
every year.
Sorry. I I not every year. I did
read a comment earlier for someone that said
that you had you know, someone had emailed
me,
whoever that individual was, brother, I also have
a life. I just might not have gotten
to my email yet, and I will get
to you at my convenience. Inshallah, I understand
that it may be urgent for you, but,
you know, whenever I get a chance, I
will attempt to get back to you. May
Allah bless us all and reward us all.
May all of
your, all of our, Dhul Hijjah
and
and be easy,
blessed,
and accepted
by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And may Allah
allow
all of us
who desire to go for Hajj and Umrah
to the sacred lands,
may Allah
take us,
again and again and again and again
as many times, in fact, more times than
our heart desires and more times than we
can ever imagine.
And may Allah allow
us to
be present
soon inshallah in Mecca,
in Madinah,
in Mina, in Arafat, in Muslalifa,
to fulfill the actions of Hajj, insha'Allah.