The Overlooked Blessings of Dhul Hijjah's First Ten Days

Opening — Khutbah al-Iftitah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين

Opening Verse — Surah al-Fajr

Opening Hadith — The Best Days of the Year

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 969)

Allah's Continuous Opportunities for Us

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah time after time He's given us opportunities to reflect, opportunities to come back to Him, opportunities to gain His rewards and opportunities to obey Him. Every single day we get these opportunities — we pray Salah in Jama'ah, we're here right now in the Masjid gaining rewards from Allah, all the rewards promised for those who attend the prayer, the Friday prayer in the Masjid.

Now we just recently passed a time in which there was a very blessed time, a time of extreme reward — which is the time of Ramadan, the month of Ramadan, and the Eid that followed it. Many times before Ramadan, in Sha'ban and before these months, we hear talks and lectures on these topics — on the topics of how to benefit from the month of Ramadan. These things happen all the time; they're so common before the month of Ramadan. And not just that, all these specific days throughout the year that are blessed, we receive talks, we receive lectures beforehand on how to take advantage of these times accurately and properly.

The Overlooked Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

Right now, one time that is not neglected but not given as much thought to is the time that's coming up now — the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah. We know that people go for Hajj in these days, and usually those are the only people properly benefiting from these 10 days, because we see it as: okay, this is the time for Hajj, we're home, so we don't have to do anything else. People for Hajj they do their thing, we're at home, right? But that's not what it is.

In fact, this time — specifically these 10 days — we should be even more vigilant than the other times throughout the year. Because we have the entire month of Ramadan where we're given commands from Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to exert ourselves in ibadah, right? Do everything properly, and we do — many of us do. We take that time and we change everything. We're fasting all day, reading Quran, praying Taraweeh at night, all this kind of stuff. Our lives are changed throughout that month, and more so in the last 10 days of Ramadan. Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — we've heard from him that he himself would exert himself throughout Ramadan, and in the last 10 days he would exert himself to levels that he never did before. This was the time where he would take the most advantage, and we do the same thing because there's a chance the Night of Al-Qadr is in those nights; there's a chance that we could gain that reward of 80,000 years. So we exert ourselves in these times, in the month of Ramadan specifically, and more so in the last 10 days of Ramadan.

But these 10 days that are coming up — the ones that are many times overlooked — according to a majority of the scholars, these 10 days are greater than the last 10 days of Ramadan. These 10 days hold more virtue in the sight of Allah than the last 10 days of Ramadan.

The Oath of Allah in Surah al-Fajr

Now, in the ayah that I mentioned in the beginning — the beginning of Surah al-Fajr — we have:

Allah in the beginning of this surah is swearing by certain things, and this tells us what Allah is giving importance to in our deen. So He starts off by saying وَالْفَجْرِ — Fajr. This we all know — Fajr is one of the most important times of the day. It is probably the most important time of the day for a believer. That morning prayer, that prayer where everyone else is sleeping, where we are up, we are awake, we are obeying Allah — that is beloved to Allah so much so that He swears by it in the Quran. He says وَالْفَجْرِ, right? He's telling us that this is something that's important to me, this is something that I give importance to, so you give importance to it.

The Barakah of Fajr

So we wake up for Fajr, we spend our day — the person who prays his Fajr in jama'ah in the masjid, that person the rest of his day is blessed. We know this through the hadith. For a believer, this is the most important time. Allah has put the barakah of a believer's day in the morning. We see this from hadith as well — the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says that for a believer the most important time is that morning time; that is the time that has the most barakah. Whether you're doing work, whether you're doing anything else, that is the time that has the most barakah. You will receive the most barakah, you will see it, you will realize it when you wake up at this time, when you obey Allah at this time. Anything you do at this time has barakah in it — you start your work at this time, it has barakah in it.

Many of us sleep throughout that time. We wake up for Fajr 5–10 minutes, we come, we pray Fajr, afterwards we go back to sleep. Now, nothing wrong with going to sleep — obviously there's no sin for us to go to sleep. But when Allah has put barakah in this time, when Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has told us that this is the time we receive the most barakah, then why not delay our sleep a little bit — 15–20 minutes at least, maybe until sunrise? Many times Fajr in the masjid is a little bit later, and even if we pray at home we wake up a little bit later. So we pray our Fajr, we stay awake till sunrise, 10 minutes after that we pray our Ishraq, and then we go to sleep. We read our adhkar in the morning, we go to sleep afterwards. That little change in our life — that giving 20 minutes, 30 minutes after Fajr — that can benefit, that can impact the rest of your day, and with that the rest of your life. You make this a routine, you make this a habit, the rest of your life you will receive the benefits of this. All that impact will come throughout the rest of your life, every single day. It started off with the remembrance of Allah, with the adhkar that are allowed to protect you from harm throughout the entire day. Then what is it? Our lives are complete, our lives are good, everything will go according to the way it should.

The Ten Nights of Dhul Hijjah

Now, this is what Allah swears by in the beginning of this surah — وَالْفَجْرِ. Second, He says وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ — the 10 nights is what He is swearing by. Now, according to the majority of scholars, these 10 nights are the coming 10 nights, not the last 10 nights of Ramadan. The coming 10 days of Dhul Hijjah — that's what this verse is referring to: وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ. Allah is swearing by it, He is giving us the importance that He places on these 10 days.

وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ — al-Shaf' over here referring to the even day, so in this case in this verse it is referring to the Day of Eid, Yawm al-Nahr, the day when the people who are doing Hajj slaughter, the day when we slaughter — Eid al-Adha. وَالْوَتْرِ referring to Arafah — perhaps one of the greatest days throughout the year, the Day of Arafah.

The Hadith: No Days More Beloved to Allah

Now, how do we take benefit of these days? Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the hadith that I read in the beginning says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 969)

A clear-cut hadith telling us exactly what it is. He's saying that there are no days throughout the year in which Allah loves good actions more than these days — مَا مِنْ أَيَّامٍ الْعَمَلُ الصَّالِحُ فِيهِنَّ أَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ مِنْ هَذِهِ الْأَيَّامِ — no other days throughout the year in which Allah loves good actions except for these days. These are the days he's mentioning — يَعْنِي أَيَّامَ الْعَشْرِ — these first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah.

The Sahabah, radhiallahu anhum — these are all Sahabah who have fought in wars, who have done everything, who have given their lives for Islam. Their question is obvious: قَالُوا: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، وَلَا الْجِهَادُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ؟ — not even jihad? Not even jihad is more important than good actions in these 10 days? Obviously they're wondering — we sacrifice our lives for the religion. So Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says: وَلَا الْجِهَادُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ, and then he gives the caveat: إِلَّا رَجُلٌ خَرَجَ بِنَفْسِهِ وَمَالِهِ فَلَمْ يَرْجِعْ مِنْ ذَلِكَ بِشَيْءٍ — except for that specific person who goes in jihad with his life and his wealth and he comes back with neither of them, meaning the person who is shaheed. So this gives us the importance of these 10 days — this tells us that these 10 days are perhaps the most important 10 days of the year.

Reconciling the Last Ten Nights of Ramadan with the Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

Now some ulama make a tawfiq — a reconciliation — between the last 10 days of Ramadan and these 10 days, because we have virtues for both of them. We have a hadith saying on both sides. So how do you reconcile? Some ulama say that the last 10 referring to the nights would be the last 10 nights of Ramadan — the best nights throughout the year — and the days would be these 10 days of Dhul Hijjah — the best 10 days of the year. This is what ulama say.

The Significance of These Days in Islamic History

Now we know so many things have happened in the history of Islam in these 10 days. Obviously the main thing is Hajj — this is the only time that we go for Hajj, this is the only time this ibadah can take place. May Allah grant us all an accepted Hajj — if we haven't gone already, then we go for our first time, and if we have gone, then we go again. But that's one specific act that occurs only in these 10 days.

Also, throughout these 10 days, fasting in general has a lot more benefit. Now, with this comes the opposite as well — these 10 days, and any days of virtue, any blessed days throughout the year that Allah has given a specific virtue to, the opposite is also true: committing haram in these blessed days has a much greater impact than any other time. Now, this is true throughout all cases — in terms of spiritually and physically as well.

Let's say a person is going for Hajj or going for Umrah — he's going into a place that is blessed, and there are certain things that are permissible for us to do. But now if you see someone doing these certain things in the masjid, or during his Umrah while in Ihram, in front of the Ka'bah — these things, obviously you'll consider them something that's bad, something that's not worthy of the place you're in. Someone is doing Hajj, someone is doing Umrah, he's in Ihram, and now he's on the phone talking to somebody else, doing things that are normally permissible but he's doing them not in the context they're supposed to be done. Obviously anyone will see that and say: what are you doing? Why are you wasting your time? You have something good here — use it, take benefit of the place you're in. All these things can be done any other time, but you're in a specific place where you need to take benefit of that place instead of doing useless things.

This applies physically as we just saw, and now this applies spiritually as well. In general, just blessed timings, blessed days throughout the year — it could be anything, it could be on the day of Friday, on the day of Eid, in Ramadan — we see people doing normally permissible things and we say that this is not what's supposed to be done during these times. These times are supposed to be taken advantage of. You might be doing something that's fine, that's permissible in theory, but when you're doing it and where you're doing it — the context matters. So this is what Allah is trying to tell us: that these days are blessed, use them in the right way. Obviously doing haram in these days is out of the question, but even just doing permissible things should be limited as much as we can. These days have a great importance in the sight of Allah.

The Final Sermon and the Completion of the Deen

Also, one more important aspect is that many ulama say that we know that Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did Hajj — his final Hajj, his first and only Hajj — in this month. This was the last time that many of the Sahabah got to see Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And Allah tells us in the Quran that in these last 10 days the following ayah was revealed:

Allah has now completed your deen. And Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's final sermon also took place in this Hajj, where Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave his final advices to many of the Sahabah. Now there are certain things that he said that we keep close, because these are the final advices of our messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1218; reported in multiple collections of the Farewell Sermon)

Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is telling us: I'm going to give you some advices, I'm going to explain some things to you — because I don't know if I'm ever going to meet you again after this. He's forewarning the Sahabah of his demise. He's saying: listen to what I'm saying now, because this might be the last time you'll ever get to hear it. And there are certain advices he gave that we take and keep close. He gave advices regarding Salah, he gave advices regarding protecting the honor of one's brother and his wealth and all this kind of stuff.

Conclusion — Take Advantage of These Blessed Days

In general, the importance of these days cannot be overstated. Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has told us this, and although it's overlooked many times, we should understand that these days are blessed in the sight of Allah. We take advantage of them as best as we can. We do everything we can to take advantage of these days — we fast, we read Quran, we give charity, we pray more Salah. All these things are multiplied many fold in these days.

I pray that Allah gives us tawfiq to act upon what has been said and to take advantage of the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah, and we take our supplications from Allah.

Du'as Recited

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