The 10 Best Days

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

The 10 Best Days

Abu Ammar Yasir al-Qadhi

Indeed we praise Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala as He deserves to be praised and we ask that Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala send His salutations, blessings and peace upon our Prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and upon his family and companions.


My dear brothers and sisters in Islam know that Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala has not made the days of the year equal, nor has He made all of the timings the same. Rather Allah has preferred certain timings over others.


He blessed certain periods over other periods and in this is the great blessing from Allah.


Because if all the timings had been the same, if all the days had been the same, if all the periods had been the same, then we would not be enthused at the certain times of the year over others.


Rather we would have the same amount of energy throughout the entire year.


So the fact that Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala has chosen certain days over others is a time for us to be extra good on those days. Of course, of the days Allah has chosen, is Friday.


Friday is the most blessed day of the week and of the months that Allah has chosen, its Ramadan.


Ramadan is the most blessed month of the year. But do you know there are some days that are even more blessed than Friday and in fact even more blessed than Ramadan. Yes indeed, there are days that are more blessed than the days of Ramadan.


Do you know what those days are? Those days are the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah. This is the time period, my dear brothers and sisters, that many people of the Muslim Ummah are unaware of the superiority of these ten days.


Our Prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that there are no days of the year that are more beloved to Allah that a person does good in those days than the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah.


A man said, O’ Messenger of Allah, even Jihad? Allah does not like jihad even more than He likes these doing good deeds in these 10 days. Prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that even jihad, except if a man leaves with all of his property, and all of his belonging, money and life and he dies as martyr in a battle, that is the only thing that is more beloved than a person who is practicing and praying and being a good Muslim for these ten days.


So these 10 days are the most blessed days of the year.


In another Hadith Prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that there are not any days of the year that are holier than these 10 days of Dhul Hijjah, therefore increase in doing good deeds to Allah and increase in saying Allahu Akbar, and saying Alhamdulillah and saying la illaha ill llaha. So increase in doing your Dhikar of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala.


My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, these 10 days are the holiest day of the year and Allah swears by these days in Quran when Allah says: Wal Fajri, wala yallin ashr. Allah swears by Fajr and then 10 nights or the 10 days and scholars of Islam have said that 10 nights that Allah swears are these 10 nights or the days of Dhul Hijjah.


Now somebody might ask which is more holy or blessed; the days of Zhul Hijjah or the days of Ramadan. The response is that the day timings of Dhul Hijjah (the first 10) are actually more blessed than the day timings of Ramadan, but the last 10 nights of Ramadan are more blessed than the first 10 nights of Dhul Hijjah.


Hence the 10 days and nights of Ramadan and Dhul Hijjah and when we say Ramadan we mean the last 10 and when we say Dhul Hijjah we mean first 10, they are all blessed, day and night, they are all holy; they are all blessed. But the nights of Ramadan are holier than the nights of Dhul Hijjah and the days of Dhul Hijjah are more blessed than the days of Ramadan. So we should increase our good deeds in these days.


What are some of the good deeds that when can do in these days? Well, the first good deed we can do is Hajj and Umrah.


Hajj can only be done during these 10 days. These are the days of Hajj when the hujjaj all congregate on the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th of Dhul Hijjah in Mina, Muzdilafah, Arafat and before then, people come to do Umrah. So this is the best deed that we can do.


Prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that when you do an Umrah and then you followed with an umrah, the two Umrah cancelled out all the evil done in between. And Prophet Mohammad sallallahi alaihi wa sallam said that those who do Umrah and Hajj continuously, it is as if their sins fall off of them like a furnace destroys the evil in ****l ore. You throw in raw ore and furnace gets rid of all the impurities, similarly Hajj and Umrah gets rid of all your impurities.


The second good deed that we can do is to fast in these 10 days. Fasting is a very blessed thing to do in any time of the year but especially in this time of the year because Prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that fasting on the day of Arafat will be credited with Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala for forgiving sins of the previous year and the following year.


Now this is only for non Hujjaj. If you are doing Hajj, you don’t fast. If you are not doing hajj then you fast on the day of the Arafat and that is the 9th of Dhul Hijjah. You suppose to fast on the 9th of Dhul Hijjah and your sins will be forgiven of the year before and the year after.


The third thing we can do is the extra dhikar. Takbeer saying Allahu Akbar, saying la illaha ill llah and saying Alhamdulillah and infact the sahabaah would be so eager to say these things that they would say it out loud even in the market places, especially after the prayer and especially after the prayers for 3 days after Eid.


After every single prayer, we should raise our voice out loud and we should praise Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala. But many Muslims forget even the 10 days before Eid. We should praise Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala in the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah and this praise is an unconditional praise, meaning that we don’t praise at congregated times, we don’t praise together, we only just praise whenever we want to praise Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala.


Infact some of the scholars as we said would praise Allah in the market places. Praise Allah wherever they are walking out loud during these 10 days.


Another thing that we can do is to repent to Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala from our sins.


Again, repentance is something that we should do all the times, but especially in these 10 days we should repent to Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala. Remember that true repentance means that you feel guilty, you want to give up the sins, you leave the sin you are doing and you want to seek Allah’s forgiveness and you turn over, leave and become better person.


Another thing we can do (the fifth thing) is the extra voluntary deeds of prayer, charity and reading Quran. So these are the things we should do again throughout the year but during this time, even more so, we should do extra prayer and extra Quran and extra dhikr and especially the tahajjud prayer would be very blessed thing to do in these 10 days.


Another blessed act we can do which is encouraged specifically within these 10 ten days is to sacrifice an animal for the sake of Allah, give some of the meat to the poor, we may use some of it, or we may give some of it to family and friends.


We call it Udhiyah’ or the sacrifice. Now the Udhiyah, some of the scholars says it’s obligatory if you can afford and others say it’s recommended.


Either way, why should you deprive yourself with this blessing, rather every single Muslim who is capable of affording an animal should try his or her best to sacrifice animal for the sake of Allah and distribute the meat to the poor.


One animal suffices a family and if you want to sacrifice a larger animal like camel or a cow, you may get together seven families and then do that.
Prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said that whoever makes a sacrifice then Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala will forgive the amount of sins on the hairs of the animal, the amount of sins will be forgiven for you.


Prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam would make a sacrifice every single year at this time.


The sacrifice should be made after 10th of Dhul Hijjah means after Salatul Eid, it may be made on 10th, 11th or 12th or 13th.


Any of these days, the sacrifice may be made. Now, a point of caution; if you do want to sacrifice an animal, then you should avoid trimming your nails and cutting or clipping hairs or shaving your hairs, avoid it to show respect to Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala.


Avoid doing this for the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah before the sacrifice. The ninth thing is that you should pray the Eid prayer.


The Eid prayer is obligatory, it’s not just Sunnah. It is obligatory on every single Muslim, male or female; every single Muslim should and must go to the Eid prayer. Therefore if you are living in a culture that does not allow you to take off, generally speaking, try your best to take off on Eid and if you are living on an Islamic land, then Alhamdulillah Eid day is a public holiday.


So the Eid prayer is a mandatory that is required upon all Muslims on the 10th of Dhul Hijjah.


And the final thing you should do is that you should appreciate the blessings of Allah and compose to Him during these 10 days through each and every deed that you can do: intentions, actions, thoughts, prayers and forgiveness, in other words, appreciate the blessings of Allah upon you and thank Him for what He has given you and seek forgiveness for all you have fallen short.


These are the 10 days of Zhul Hijjah, take advantage of them and try your best to earn Allah’s pleasure through them.