Scholar Section
The Blessed Days of Dhu ‘l-Hijjah: Its Virtues and Various Acts to Perform
With the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Very-Merciful.
All praise belongs to Allah alone and blessings and peace be upon his beloved, Muhammad, his family, his companions, all of them.
In the Qur’an, Allah takes oaths by various entities to highlight their importance. From amongst these entities, one aspect by which He takes an oath is time. Time is one of the greatest bounties of Allah bestowed upon mankind. In the pursuit of living a life in the obedience of Allah, it is essential that every individual continually reflects over this blessing. Time in and of itself is a great bounty. However, from amongst the twelve Islamic months of the year, Allah has made some times superior than others. Some times are golden times in which the reward of simple acts is multiplied abundantly. Examples illustrating this are in the following verses where Allah specifically makes mention of certain important periods in the Muslim calendar.
Allah says: “Among them are four sacred months…”. (al-Tawbah: V26)
And he says: “The hajj is known months”. (al-Baqarah: V197)
And he says: “The month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was revealed”. (al-Baqarah: V185)
These special days are full of virtues and acts of obedience by which one can draw close to Allah. During these virtuous days Allah unveils an extra compassion from his benevolent nature through which one can attain whatever he wishes from Allah’s favour and mercy upon him. The fortunate one is a person who enriches himself in these virtuous days, months and hours, by using them to attain the nearness of Allah and carrying out the acts of His obedience. It will surely be that such a person will acquire a moment from these virtuous times to have gained the fortune of everlasting success. One has the great potential to become from among those who are guaranteed a place in paradise and freedom from the fire of hell. (May Allah make us from amongst such people, Ameen)
A common phrase used by time conscious individuals is ‘Time is of the essence’. A believer is ever more conscious about time as one is unaware of when they will breathe their last. For this reason every Muslim strives to live an obedient life and is constantly striving to increase in righteous deeds. There are certain times, days and months where the rewards of righteous deeds are multiplied and attaining salvation in these days becomes easier. From amongst these days are the first ten days of Dhu ’l-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar.
The month of Dhu ’l-Hijjah is named after the performance of the sacred pilgrimage (hajj) which occurs within it. Although this year every Muslim will not undertake the wonderful journey of hajj, it is still important to be aware of the blessings of this month. With the days of Dhu ’l-Hijjah fast approaching, it is necessary for each of us to understand its sacredness, the incidents which occurred within it and the virtuous acts in which to participate in order to attain the nearness of Allah.
The virtues within this month can be divided into: the virtues of the first 10 days, the virtues of the 9th Dhu ’l-Hijjah (yawm al-‘arafah), the day of ‘Id (yawm al-nahr), the 11th, 12th and 13th Dhu ’l-Hijjah (ayyam al-tashriq). Along with understanding the virtues it is equally important to know which acts should be performed to truly benefit and attain the nearness of Allah in these extra special days. After discussing the virtues of each of the four above, a few acts to carry out will also be stated.
Virues of the First 10 Days
In the Qur’an, Allah takes an oath: “And the 10 nights” (Al-Fajr: V 2).
Many of the Qur’anic exegetes including Ibn ‘Abbas, Mujahid and many from them state that the ten nights mentioned in this verse refer to the first ten days of Dhul al-Hijjah, and this is the correct opinion (Ibn Kathir). The ten nights by which Allah takes an oath are full of merits. The days in and of themselves are virtuous as are the performance of righteous deeds within them. This can be understood from the words of our beloved Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace).
Ibn ‘Abbas narrates: The Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these days” (i.e the first ten days of Dhu ’l-Hijjah) (Bukhari).
Jabir narrates: The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “There are no days more virtuous to Allah than the ten days of Dhu ’l-Hijjah” (Ibn Hibban).
Hafiz Ibn Hajr al-‘Asqalani mentions: "The reason why the first ten days of Dhu ’l-Hijjah are distinguished is due to it being the time in which the foundational worships are collectively carried out i.e. salat, fasting, charity and hajj are carried out in conjunction with one another. These acts are not carried out collectively in any other days" (Fath al-Bari).
Acts One Can Perform On the First 10 Days
After becoming aware of the various virtues the first ten days enjoy, it is essential that one does not let these day pass without performing righteous deeds and striving to attain eternal success. These are golden days where a believer can easily be forgiven and elevated as well as attain the pleasure of Allah, Most High. Some of the acts one can undertake are:
1. Fasting the first nine days or as many as one can keep. Hunaydah ibn Khalid narrated upon the authority of his wife who said, “Some of the wives of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) told me that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to fast the Day of ‘Ashurah, the first nine days of Dhu ’l-Hijjah, and three days out of every month”. (Ahmad, Nasa’i)
2. Dhikr (the remembrance of Allah). This can be done by saying the takbir (Allahu akbar), the tahmid (al-hamdu li-Allah), the tasbih (subhana al-Allah) and the tahlil (la ilaha illa al-Allah). Allah says, “…and recite Allah’s name in specified days” (al-Hajj: V28). The specified days refer to the first ten days of Dhu ’l-Hijjah. By remembering Allah in these days one will be directly following the recommendation in this verse.
3. Performing the ‘Umrah and Hajj. This is only time in the year Muslims can undertake the journey of Hajj. This
physical and spiritual journey
entails one leaving behind many
luxuries and totally submitting
one’s self to Allah to be cleansed
and elevated. One of the reasons
why the ten days are so blessed
is because they coincide with
some of the days of hajj.
By Ustadha Bint Ahmad
Adapted from Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali’s Lata’if al-Ma‘arif
4. Repentance. During these blessed days there is a great opportunity to benefit from the extra benevolence unveiled from Allah, hence; one should set side time to repent for all sins- minor and major. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessing be upon him) said, “The one who repents from sins is like he who has no sin”. (Ibn Majah, Bayhaqi)