Praise be to Allāh, the One Who made certain periods of times more blessed than others and made acts of worship performed in them worth more in measure, as a Mercy to His servants so that they may exert more effort and be more eager in their endeavours to attain His Pleasure. May Peace and Blessings be upon the one who was sent to inform us of such blessed times, Muḥammad, and upon his family and companions, whom we all treasure. O you who have believed! Fear Allāh the way He deserves to be feared, and do not die except in a state of submission to Allāh.
To proceed: O Servants of Allāh! A blessed season has come upon you, a season the days of which some scholars have deemed to be better than the last ten days of Ramaḍān. We are mid-way through the first ten days of the month of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, a month which is already considered sacred with Allāh. Allāh says:
“By the dawn. And [by] the ten nights.” (Qur’ān 89:1-2)
Most scholars hold that the ten nights Allāh is taking oath by in these Verses are the first ten nights and days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah. Now Allāh doesn't just take oath by random things; He takes oath by things of significance to man. And so Allāh's taking oath by these ten days demonstrates the significance of these days and their superiority over other days.
To further explain the significance of these ten days, the Prophet ﷺ was reported by Ibn ʿAbbās (raḍiya -Llāhu ʿanhu) to have said, “There are no deeds as excellent as those done in these ten days." They (the companions listening) said, "Not even jihād?" He, peace be upon him, said, "No, not even jihād except a man who goes forth endangering his life and wealth and does not return with anything.” (al-Bukhārī)
So Dear Muslims! Recognise the significance of this season, a season springing with blessings and opportunities for the believer, and ensure that you eat from its sweet fruits before they run out. Amongst the best ways one can do this is by fasting, as mentioned in a ḥadīth qudsī where Allāh says, “All the deeds of the son of Adam are for him, except fasting, which is for Me and I shall reward for it.” (al-Bukhārī) It was reported by one of the wives of the Prophet (raḍiya -Llāhu ʿanhā) that the Prophet ﷺ would not miss fasting the first nine days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah. If you are not able to, then at least fast three of these days, for then you will have fulfilled the sunnah of fasting three days in a month, a great sunnah which if performed every month counts as if one has fasted continuously, as is narrated by Muslim. And if you are not able to, then at least fast the Day of ʿArafah, the greatest day of the year, the day when Allāh perfected His Religion, a day which if one fasts it, his sins of the previous and the following year are wiped out, as was narrated from the Prophet ﷺ by Muslim and al-Tirmidhī.
O Servants of Allāh! Recite abundantly the tahlīl (lā ilāha illa -Llāh), takbīr (Allāhu akbar) and taḥmīd (al-ḥamdu liLlāh) during this time, for as the Prophet ﷺ said, “There are no days that are greater before Allāh or in which good deeds are more beloved to Him, than these ten days, so recite a great deal of tahlīl, takbīr and taḥmīd during them.” (Aḥmad)
Brothers and Sisters! The example of these ten days is like the traveller in the harsh desert who, to his
delight, sights a blossoming tree after journeying for days on end. Be of those who rest in its cool shade and eats from its sweet fruits, and not like the fool who merely passes by without benefiting from it.
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Praise be to Allāh, the One who has ordered us to His obedience and forbidden for us His disobedience. May Peace and Blessings be upon the best of creations, Muḥammad, and upon his family and companions.
To proceed: O slaves of Allāh! Fear Allāh, obey Him and perform the good. Indeed, Allāh is with those who fear Him and those who do good.
Know that amongst the characteristics of a Muslim is that he hastens to do the good. However, we may at times find ourselves procrastinating in our acts of worship, putting them off. For example, with ṣalāh, when the time of ṣalāh comes, we tell ourselves, “just wait a bit more. Delay the prayer a bit.” Especially with Fajr Ṣalāh: when the alarm goes off, we hit the snooze button and tell ourselves, “Just five more minutes”, and then put our heads back on the pillow. Or for those who don’t pray regularly—may Allāh guide us all to fulfil His commandments—they say to themselves, “I'll start praying when I'm a bit older.” This is not the attitude of the Muslim. Know that procrastination, putting off doing things to a later time, is a tool of Shayṭān by which the slave becomes lazy to worship his Lord, a tool whereby he is caught up in the delusion that he still has plenty of time left. And by the way, it's funny where when it come to sin, we tell ourselves, “Don’t worry, just do it for now, you've still got plenty time to repent to Allāh and seek His Forgiveness.” But remember, O slave of Allāh, that death may overcome you at any time. So instead of putting off good deeds and hastening in bad deeds, let us all hasten to do the good and strive to avoid the evil. Let us make sincere efforts to start this from now, during these blessed ten days, in order that Allāh place barakah in our efforts and allow us to maintain them for good. And I remind you once again, O slaves of Allāh, to make the most out of these ten days and not to delay your efforts in drawing nearer to your Lord, the Almighty. After all, it may be that you may not live to see another such blessed season.
To proceed: O Servants of Allāh! A blessed season has come upon you, a season the days of which some scholars have deemed to be better than the last ten days of Ramaḍān. We are mid-way through the first ten days of the month of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, a month which is already considered sacred with Allāh. Allāh says:
وَالْفَجْرِ وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ
Most scholars hold that the ten nights Allāh is taking oath by in these Verses are the first ten nights and days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah. Now Allāh doesn't just take oath by random things; He takes oath by things of significance to man. And so Allāh's taking oath by these ten days demonstrates the significance of these days and their superiority over other days.
To further explain the significance of these ten days, the Prophet ﷺ was reported by Ibn ʿAbbās (raḍiya -Llāhu ʿanhu) to have said, “There are no deeds as excellent as those done in these ten days." They (the companions listening) said, "Not even jihād?" He, peace be upon him, said, "No, not even jihād except a man who goes forth endangering his life and wealth and does not return with anything.” (al-Bukhārī)
So Dear Muslims! Recognise the significance of this season, a season springing with blessings and opportunities for the believer, and ensure that you eat from its sweet fruits before they run out. Amongst the best ways one can do this is by fasting, as mentioned in a ḥadīth qudsī where Allāh says, “All the deeds of the son of Adam are for him, except fasting, which is for Me and I shall reward for it.” (al-Bukhārī) It was reported by one of the wives of the Prophet (raḍiya -Llāhu ʿanhā) that the Prophet ﷺ would not miss fasting the first nine days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah. If you are not able to, then at least fast three of these days, for then you will have fulfilled the sunnah of fasting three days in a month, a great sunnah which if performed every month counts as if one has fasted continuously, as is narrated by Muslim. And if you are not able to, then at least fast the Day of ʿArafah, the greatest day of the year, the day when Allāh perfected His Religion, a day which if one fasts it, his sins of the previous and the following year are wiped out, as was narrated from the Prophet ﷺ by Muslim and al-Tirmidhī.
O Servants of Allāh! Recite abundantly the tahlīl (lā ilāha illa -Llāh), takbīr (Allāhu akbar) and taḥmīd (al-ḥamdu liLlāh) during this time, for as the Prophet ﷺ said, “There are no days that are greater before Allāh or in which good deeds are more beloved to Him, than these ten days, so recite a great deal of tahlīl, takbīr and taḥmīd during them.” (Aḥmad)
Brothers and Sisters! The example of these ten days is like the traveller in the harsh desert who, to his
delight, sights a blossoming tree after journeying for days on end. Be of those who rest in its cool shade and eats from its sweet fruits, and not like the fool who merely passes by without benefiting from it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Praise be to Allāh, the One who has ordered us to His obedience and forbidden for us His disobedience. May Peace and Blessings be upon the best of creations, Muḥammad, and upon his family and companions.
To proceed: O slaves of Allāh! Fear Allāh, obey Him and perform the good. Indeed, Allāh is with those who fear Him and those who do good.
Know that amongst the characteristics of a Muslim is that he hastens to do the good. However, we may at times find ourselves procrastinating in our acts of worship, putting them off. For example, with ṣalāh, when the time of ṣalāh comes, we tell ourselves, “just wait a bit more. Delay the prayer a bit.” Especially with Fajr Ṣalāh: when the alarm goes off, we hit the snooze button and tell ourselves, “Just five more minutes”, and then put our heads back on the pillow. Or for those who don’t pray regularly—may Allāh guide us all to fulfil His commandments—they say to themselves, “I'll start praying when I'm a bit older.” This is not the attitude of the Muslim. Know that procrastination, putting off doing things to a later time, is a tool of Shayṭān by which the slave becomes lazy to worship his Lord, a tool whereby he is caught up in the delusion that he still has plenty of time left. And by the way, it's funny where when it come to sin, we tell ourselves, “Don’t worry, just do it for now, you've still got plenty time to repent to Allāh and seek His Forgiveness.” But remember, O slave of Allāh, that death may overcome you at any time. So instead of putting off good deeds and hastening in bad deeds, let us all hasten to do the good and strive to avoid the evil. Let us make sincere efforts to start this from now, during these blessed ten days, in order that Allāh place barakah in our efforts and allow us to maintain them for good. And I remind you once again, O slaves of Allāh, to make the most out of these ten days and not to delay your efforts in drawing nearer to your Lord, the Almighty. After all, it may be that you may not live to see another such blessed season.
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