The situation and the importance of the Month of Dhul Hijjah is one that should not be foreign to any Muslim anywhere on the face of the earth. This month is very important to each and every one of us, thus we wanted to remind everyone one of the enormous amount of blessing that are at our doors. Just as you should not find any Muslim that is happy to be unaware of the benefits of the obligation of the fast of Ramadan, we should not allow ourselves to find ourselves negligent, in terms of what we do not know about the excellence of this blessed time of the year.
One of the benefits of this time of the year is that Allah has preferred the worship that we do in it, to the worship that we do all year around. This is something that is hard for anyone to deny, due to all of the authentic proofs about this fact. Rarely, do we find someone that has not heard the Scholars talking about this next hadeeth, in which the excellence of this time of year is mentioned.
Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days.” The people asked, “Not even jihaad for the sake of Allah?” He said, “Not even jihaad for the sake of Allah, except in the case of a man who went out to fight giving himself and his wealth up for the cause, and came back with nothing.” – (Reported by al-Bukhaari)
So as we see, there is no way that we, as Muslims, that are trying our hardest to please Allah, should let this time go by as we do every other day. These days are very important to Allah, they were important to the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) as they are to the rest of the Ummah. It would be a real loss to whomever had the type of heart that comes across this information, and still does not take advantage of the blessings of these days.
Not only this, but also the actual worship that is done in these ten days is actually preferred to that which is done in any other day during the course of the year. You find that the Salaf of this Ummah used to strive hard during this time, to please Allah. There are numerous narrations as well about how the best of mankind used to advise his companions, about different types of worship they should be doing during this time. This next hadeeth clarifies this issue;
Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“There are no days greater in the sight of Allah and in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Him than these ten days, so during this time recite a great deal of Tahleel (“La ilaaha ill-Allah”), Takbeer (“Allahu Akbar”)and Tahmeed (“Al Hamdulillah”).” – (Reported by Ahmad).
As mentioned, the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) recommended certain specific types of worship that the Umman should be busying themselves with during these ten days. This definitely does not restrict the types of worship that should be done during these days to only those mentioned, but it does show the excellence of doing these deeds during this time. This is due to the fact that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned them specifically. Therefore, it is not for any of us to be negligent about performing these types of worship and other than them during this time. If we do, then we will only be preventing ourselves from the enormous reward for practicing this Sunnah.
Another type of worship that we know from the Sunnah is to fast during these days, for the one that is able. We know that this was the Sunnah of our Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him). This was reported in some of the authentic Sunnan, like in the Sunnah of Abi Dawood, one of the wives of the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) reported that;
“The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to fast on the first nine days of Dhu’l-Hijjah and the day of ‘Ashoora’, and three days each month, the first Monday of the month and two Thursdays.”
Yet, another type of worship that has been legislated during this time is the religious sacrifice. This is something that is practiced by Muslims worldwide during this blessed time of the year. There has already been an article written about this type of worship in detail on the website previously. Therefore, for the purpose of not revisiting the same topic twice, it is advised that you read that particular article for more information. This way you will be able to know all of the rulings surrounding the sacrifice itself.
In conclusion – Make sure that you do not let these days pass you by, except that you have done all that you can to take full advantage of them. Engross yourself in the worship of Allah, so that you may obtain all there is to obtain in terms of reward and forgiveness. Verily the one that does not exert themselves during this time, has without a doubt prevented themselves from being the beneficiary of an enormous amount of benefit.
May Allah guide us all to being among those that meet these days running toward Allah’s pardon and pleasure. Allahuma ameen.
