Tammam Alwan – Maximize Dhul Hijjah
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All praise and thanks are due to Allah.
We praise him, and we thank him,
forgiveness, subhanahu wa ta'ala. We take refuge in
Allah from the evils of ourselves and the
sinfulness of our actions. Whomever Allah guides, none
can misguide.
And whomever
Allah misguides,
none can guide.
I bear witness that there is none worth
worshiping
but Allah
alone with no partners. And I bear witness
that Muhammad is
his servant
and his final messenger.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us in Surat
Ali Imran,
he says subhanahu wa ta'ala, oh, you who
believe
have taqwa of Allah
with the taqwa that is due to him.
Die except in a state of Islam, except
in a state of submission to him. Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And he says in Surat An
Nisa, oh, people, have taqwa of your Lord
who created you from one soul
dispersed from both of them many men and
women
and have tawa of Allah,
through whom you ask one another.
And
You know,
when we hear about a deal,
this is dropping online at a certain time,
a certain day, what do we do? We
put a timer, we put an alarm, and
we rush. We're refreshing the page. We're excited
about it. We're excited about taking advantage of
it. We might even call some friends and
say, hey, you pick it up, and I'll
give you a cut of the deal.
If it's something in store, what do we
do? We line up. We grab a ticket.
Sometimes before even the store begins store opens,
we line up at the door waiting for
it to open.
If it deals with sports and entertainment, what
do we do? Oh, you know, the Mavs
are in the finals. Game 2 is coming
up. I'm gonna make sure I don't miss
this. Come on. Let's hang out brother or
sister. No. No. This is this is the
time for it. If it's a cricket match,
if it's the world cup, we'll put a
timer. We'll get up at 3 AM. Why?
My country's playing.
I wanna make sure I don't miss this
match. I'll lose sleep over it. It doesn't
matter.
And, you
know, when something is important to us, what
do we do? We make time.
We make sure that we're there, and we
make sure that we take full advantage of
the opportunity live. I don't wanna see a
recording. I don't want to see highlights. I
want to be there. I want to catch
it in the moment.
And in this hadith that I started with,
Rasulullah, he salallahu alaihi wasallam says, he says,
there are no days
in the whole year
lot
when you do righteous good acts in these
days.
And he meant the 10 days that were
in the 10 days of the If you're
following you know, VRIC, the first day is
today. So it started yesterday at Maghrib. So
we're already in these days.
They asked them not even jihad in the
cause of Allah, like, you know, sacrificing your
body, yourself, your whole life. This is what
can be greater than that? He says, no.
Not even
is
greater than a good act in these 10
days. Accept.
If a man leaves his home
with his self, meaning his life, and all
of his property,
stocks, 401 ks, investments,
wealth,
everything,
and doesn't return with anything, completely loses his
life, his property, everything, then okay, you know,
that extreme
this is greater than one of the but
but Rasoolullah Sais said was telling us, like,
take advantage of this time right now. Nothing
you do is gonna be greater than good
acts
in these
days. You know, subhanAllah,
we have a time
that we're in right now. A great opportunity
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to take advantage
of everything we did in Ramadan 2 months
ago.
It's on full display in front of Allah.
What are the habits that we built? What
are the goals that we had post Ramadan
that I'm gonna keep doing this? I'm gonna
do that? I'm gonna keep this up every
day, once a week, every month?
Well, now is our opportunity
to perform.
Really put forth and prove to ourselves and
to Allah to show him our good acts.
These days are so great that Allah swears
by them in the Quran. He says,
and most of
them say that this refers to these 10
days. And just like Ramadan has
the greatest night of the whole year, these
10 days have
the greatest day in the whole year.
Similarly to the previous one but then it
ends differently. Where the Nabi salallahu alayhi wasallam
says,
Where he adds on and he says salallahu
alaihi wa sallam that fasting one of the
days in these 10 days is equivalent to
fasting a year. And staying up in prayer
or praying at night in one of these
nights is equivalent
to
Again, not literally, but it's like when you
pray fajr and jamaah and you stay till
shruq and you get that equivalent like
of of of Hajj and Umrah. It's similar
to that. It's encouragement.
There is some weakness in it according to
some of the hadith scholars. Others say it's
okay. But I still wanna mention it because
it just emphasizes
how great this time is.
And
all I'm gonna mention kind of sort sort
of rapid fire is let's go through some
of these acts. And what I wanna encourage
myself and you is for every single one
of these acts,
say, what is my? What is my share
of it? What am I gonna do in
these 10 days? At least one action, whether
even if it's an intention where I'm gonna
take advantage of it. So first thing,
the greatest thing, right, we can do in
these 10 days is go to hajj. Now
obviously, we're here and our brothers and sisters,
they've traveled over there. But if you haven't
made hajj and you have the financial ability,
it's now obligatory upon you, then make the
intention. You Allah. I don't know how. I'm
gonna research it. I'm gonna try to get
in. I'm gonna try to get permission so
that I can go and I can make
hajj next year.
If you don't have the financial means, put
it in your heart right now. Say, you're
up. My brothers and sisters, they're there. Millions
of Muslims, such a diverse, unparalleled, large gathering
of Muslims from all over the world are
there right now, then I wanna join them.
You're up. Please increase me in wealth so
that I can go and I can embark
on Hajj. Make the intention
from now. A second act is.
One of the first acts that's mentioned, it's
in Surat Al Maida from the 2 sons
of Adam alayhi salam. The first human being
is what?
It's
They both did a qurban, an act that
brings them from.
Right? Brings them closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
If you have the financial means, take advantage
of it. And sometimes we get this question
like, hold on. I'm stuck here.
Should I do local kurbani
or should I do it abroad? You know,
I have family in another country. They would
really benefit from this meat and, you know,
why do Why does it have to be
this or that? If you have the ability,
do both. Say bismillah. Do it with a
Hassan. Say, I'm gonna do it locally so
that I can practice this sunnah. I can
sacrifice with my own hand. I can teach
myself and my family the importance of the
sacrifice.
And also, I'm gonna do it abroad, and
I'm gonna support our Muslims and brothers
in other countries who are more in need
than me, who could really benefit.
Why why does it have to be this
or that? And there's a discussion I've had
with several local brothers when I bring up
the issue of qurban. Have you done it?
You know what brother? I'm a little hesitant.
You know, looking at the blood, it's it's
It makes me uncomfortable.
It's difficult. I'm nervous. I'm scared. And I
wanna say, subhanAllah, the first time I did
it 13 years ago,
I was afraid and I was nervous. And
I'll say that openly. But I knew that
I had to get over it. And I
knew that Sayna Ibrahim alaihi salam, his difficulty
was way greater. Nothing incomparable to what we're
doing with an animal we, you know, we
just met or maybe we met a few
days before to pick. That kind of helps
us remind remind us of this sacrifice and
how great it is. SubhanAllah. It's not an
easy thing to do. And until this day
when I have, you know, the knife in
my hand and I'm going and I'm saying
the takbirat,
it's hard. It's not easy.
But try to find We have so many
local farms here in DFW. Try to find
1 and try to make the intention. You
can do it the 1st, the second, or
the third day of. Try to make the
intention and go.
Also, when you are with the animals, subhanAllah,
and I experienced this my first time, subhanAllah,
there. I remember I texted my brother
the night before and I said, oh, we
we totally forgot about the ropes and everything.
And he just sent me a video, which
I'm sure many of you have seen the
halal Islamic slaughter with the brother from Katie
in in Houston. He's the one who did
the He's the one who has the the
videos.
Where if you say the words of Allah,
the animal calms down. And I swear to
you, somehow every single year, I've even done
it internationally.
You say
and suddenly the animal sometimes it lays down
for you
before you even put it on its side.
What? This is showing you, again, the greatness
of this act of sacrifice that the animal
is ready. It knows its creator.
3rd,
if you intend to sacrifice,
then avoid cutting your nails or your hair.
Both of them. Now there's, you know, one
opinion that it's haram. It's forbidden. And, you
know, Maghrib yesterday from then, it's like, oh,
I didn't do my pre haircut. I didn't
take care of that. It's okay. Just continue
forward. Oh, I did something this morning in
preparation for Jummah. I completely forget. It's okay.
Continue. Most of the say that it's preferable.
They don't they don't say it's haram not
to do still it's something that's very praiseworthy.
Why? You're showing submission.
What will my coworkers think of me? They're
gonna think I'm unkempt. I'm shabby. Well, you're
showing them I'm doing like the Hajjaj are
doing, and this is part of my submission.
This is a symbolic,
this is a symbolic act that I'm doing
that Allah commanded me and I'm gonna submit
just like Ibrahim alaihis salaam. And there's an
authentic hadith about that. Another thing is fasting.
Of course, we know the greatest fast is
Arafa, but also next week we have a
Monday Thursday in the 10 of the Hijjah.
Narration,
some differ with it, but an authentic never
narration where the Nabi saw Hassan fasted the
full 9 days. So when you're when you're
hearing about these
actions, know that there are levels. Some of
us,
we're gonna fast Arafa,
and that's it, which is great, Marshall. It's
wonderful.
Make sure that Saturday, June 15th, not tomorrow,
but a week from tomorrow, make sure you
fast that day. Invite people over for iftar
if you want and and feed them as
well. Some of us were gonna go a
step further. No. No. I'm also gonna fast
the Monday and the Thursday. I want extra.
Great. And some of us, and I know
some in the in our community here at
VRIC,
are fasting all 9.
So see where you're at for all of
these actions. See where you're gonna go and
make the intention in your heart from now.
And Increasing
it.
Simply,
Keep your tongue moist with the and the
remembrance of Allah during these days. Another is
and.
After isha, you finish praying everything,
you're done. Either here in the masjid or
when you get home, say, I'm gonna pray
2 extra rakatas.
They don't have to be long, but you
know what? I'm going to take advantage of
these.
Or I know these are the longest days
of the year right now, you know, with
the with the with the with the some
more,
so
so it is very early. But like, you
know, just 10 minutes before. 15 minutes before,
I'm gonna wake up a little early. Make
hudu and pray to rakat. Bismillah to take
advantage of tahajjud.
Some of us had a post Ramadan khitma
that maybe we started.
Well, maybe we didn't start.
Restart it from now. Don't let Ramadan be
the only time we're reading Quran. Say, I'm
gonna do a page a day. 2 and
a half pages, 5 pages, a Hizab, 10
pages, a juzah, whatever it may be.
Many organizations,
whether it's our local masjid here, whether it's
national organizations, whether it's international organizations
can really benefit from our sadaqa. So make
sadaqa.
Volunteer. Again, helping the masjid here.
Is coming up. It could be a local
organization. We have Barakah Bites. You see
subhanAllah,
the
people in need locally. And You'll see so
many organizations locally say, I'm gonna volunteer. I'm
gonna do some some with my time. Family
ties.
From
my family? I haven't spoken to this cousin
in a while. I haven't spoken to this
person or that person. Call them. Call them
during these days and even set up your
And how are you going to make it
special for your family?
Now. You know, we don't we don't subhanallah,
we don't have the same decorations, right, that
we do in Ramadan usually. But it's like,
how am I gonna make it special? And
please don't forget the converts, the new Muslims
from our community. You see a new brother,
new sister.
And lastly,
dua a dua a dua.
Dua is such a powerful thing. We don't
have the time to go into in detail,
subhanAllah.
But like, how can I I'm not making
dua after every every prayer, morning and evening,
something?
And just how can I level it up
during these 10 days? Especially for our brothers
and sisters in Palestine
and in in particular.
Make dua for the Hujudge. So many members
of our community have gone already. Our have
gone already That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala accepts
from them. That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala returns
them home safely to their families and good
health. You Rabbil Alamin. I mean, there's so
many opportunities for dua. Also, so many sick
in the community. I just heard as I
was, coming up to the member. May Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala cure
our our sick.
Grant them good health. Some are hospitalized.
Some are bedridden.
Some just can't make it to work. SubhanAllah.
We don't know what it is, but may
Allah cure them. Make dua. And again, just
to kind of review these one hedge.
Or Utqiya, sacrifice. Try to make that. Get
in touch. Bismillah. Do it abroad and don't
just do 2.
I know some brothers they're doing 2, 3,
4, even more. Yes. Benefit other people. Bismillah.
Why not? 3, leaving the hair and nails
if you're intending on sacrificing during these until
your sacrifice is done whether you're doing it
or someone else.
4, fasting,
5,
these words of remembrance.
6, qiam, tahajjud, the night prayer.
7, quran, reciting the Quran,
reflecting upon its meanings. 8, sadaqa, or charity.
9, taking advantage of volunteering. Again, what's of
each one of these? 10
strengthening those family ties.
11, making
special for yourself, for your family. And 12,
Again, something that's different about these days, we
don't emphasize them as a community as much
as Ramadan,
is that we don't have the masjid decorated.
Our houses are probably not decorated. I'm sure
we took them down from Ramadan.
We don't have the lights outside.
We don't have the carnivals like we do
in Ramadan.
So there's an aspect of this worship that's
a little bit more individual, subhanAllah, in nature.
And I found some aqaal of of salaf
salih, pious predecessors
who during the 10 days of the Hijjah,
they kind of were a little bit unplugged
and m I a. They would really focus
on themselves
and they would do a lot of ibadah.
So take the opportunity. It's a different flavor.
It's a different feel of Ramadan,
but these are the greatest days
of the year.
And and it's a good it's a good
way for us to, again, put our finger
on applause and see how am I doing.
Ramadan, I saw how I did. Last 10
nights, I saw how I did. Now it's
2 months later. How am I? May Allah
grant us
to take full advantage of these 10 days.
Discuss it with your families. Discuss it with
your spouses, with your children. Say these are
Okay. The day's already started. If we don't
have a plan, what are we gonna do
in each of these respects as a family
to encourage
one another?
Alhamdulillahi
rabbilalamin.