Once the day of Arafat is over, many Muslims find themselves unaware of the importance of what comes next. They know that they have days off from work, school or many other activities, but the purpose of it is not known by many people. Therefore we want to discuss one of the important statements that came from the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) left for us explaining this issue. He stated concerning these days,
“They are days of eating, drinking and remembering Allah.”
Reported by Abu Dawood, Ahmed and Malik
The situation of eating and drinking is something that we have all become accustomed to doing. We all know these days where we are used to getting together with family and friends, feasting on all of the different kind of food and drink that are placed in front of us and all of the great conversation. This is something that is normal and practiced by most Muslims during this time of year.
What about the last part of of this noble hadeeth? Why is it that when we think about it, many of people have left this off as though it was not a major part of what these days have been about? This is something that must be rectified. We do not want to fall into those that take what we want and abandon other parts of the religion for what ever the reason may be. If all of these are things that are done during these days, it is important that we do them all, especially the latter.
One question that we need to ask remains. How does this remembrance take place? This is what we want to look at in this article. We want to figure out how we should be spending this time, so that we can gain the most benefit out of these days possible. Therefore, some examples need to be given as to how this dhikr (remembrance) is carried out.
Firstly: Many of the Scholars say that it is done by making the takbiraat after the obligatory prayers until the days of tashreeq are finished. This is carried out by repeating the statement “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La illaha illa Allah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lillahi al hamd.”
Secondly: While taking part in this eating and drinking, one should not forget to say “Bismillah” before they begin to eat. Remembering Allah before you eat is always supposed to be done by the Muslim, but we need to try even harder to develop this habit during these days. We need to not only be aware of mentioning Allah before we eat, but also thanking Him after we eat as well.
Thirdly: When sitting with friends and family members during these days. Many people eat and drink and discuss many various topics. Some find that very rarely discussions about Allah and His greatness, His many blessings and His religion are the topic of discussion. We should take this time to remind one another, especially our loved ones about those things that will cause them success in both this life and the hereafter. Sometimes, as we know, it only takes someone to start the discussion which will lead to hours of talk about Allah and His many blessings that have been bestowed upon us.
Fourthly: We can not forget the remembrance that is done legislatively during the sacrifice that is done for those that take part in this form of worship during these days. Just like any other form of worship, we should be preceding all of them with the remembrance of Allah. But for this particular type of worship it is even more important because of what it signifies.
As you can imagine, there are many different times when we should be remembering Allah during the course of our days, especially these days. Many of us have grown into the habit of just doing what we do as a habit and not really remembering Allah both in statement and in our hearts. This is something that we have to work harder to change. These are great days, due to all of the good that we are experiencing to really feel grateful for what we have been blessed with, and begin to really remember Allah more regularly.
May Allah aide us all and cause us to be of those that remember Him often. Allahuma ameen.
