Dhul Hijjah: The Best Ten Days
Indeed, all praise is for Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil within ourselves and from the consequences of our wrong actions. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide; whomsoever He leaves astray, none can guide. I bear witness there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah alone without partner, and Muhammad ﷺ is His servant and Messenger.
Part One: Why These Days Outrank Almost Everything
Brothers,
We are about to enter one of the most valuable stretches of time given to this ummah, and most Muslims let it pass by unnoticed. In the coming days the new lunar month of Dhul Hijjah begins, and with it come ten days the Prophet ﷺ singled out above almost everything else in the religion.
On the authority of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet ﷺ said: 'There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days.' They said, 'Not even jihad in the way of Allah?' He said, 'Not even jihad in the way of Allah, except a man who went out with his life and his wealth and came back with neither.' (Bukhari)
Read what he ﷺ just said. Jihad, the deed the Companions considered the peak of sacrifice, does not outrank an ordinary good deed done in these ten days, unless that jihad costs a man everything he has. That tells you how much weight these ten days carry.
Part 1: Why These Days, Not Even Ramadan’s Days
Some of you are thinking: nothing outranks Ramadan. You are almost right, but the scholars draw a precise distinction here.
Ramadan’s last ten nights contain Laylatul Qadr, a single night better than a thousand months. Night for night, nothing beats those ten nights of Ramadan. But when scholars such as Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali and Ibn Hajar compared these ten days of Dhul Hijjah to the days, not nights, of Ramadan, they concluded these ten days are more beloved to Allah, because they combine every major form of worship in one stretch: fasting, prayer, dhikr, sadaqah, and for those present, Hajj itself, a pillar found nowhere else in the calendar.
The best days of the year are the ten days of Dhul Hijjah, and the best nights of the year are the last ten nights of Ramadan. (Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Lataif al-Ma'arif)
That is the resolution. Days: these ten win. Nights: Ramadan’s last ten win. No contradiction, just two different measures of time.
Allah Himself swears by these days at the opening of Surat al-Fajr:
By the dawn. And by the ten nights. (Al-Fajr, 89:1-2)
Many of the earliest commentators, including Ibn Abbas himself, understood “the ten nights” here to mean the first ten nights of Dhul Hijjah. When Allah swears by something in the Quran, He is drawing our attention to its importance. He swore by these very days you are about to enter.
Part 2: The Deeds That Fill Them
So what do you actually do with ten days like this? Five things.
Fasting the first nine days, especially the ninth, the Day of Arafah. The Prophet ﷺ told us what that single day of fasting is worth for those who are not performing Hajj:
As for the fast on the day of Arafah, I hope that Allah will expiate the sins of the year before it and the year after it. (Muslim)
Two years of sins, wiped by one day of fasting, for the man who is not standing on the plain of Arafah himself. If you fast only one day of these nine, make it that one.
Notice I said “for those who are not performing Hajj.” The pilgrim standing at Arafah does not fast that day. Umm al-Fadl bint al-Harith (may Allah be pleased with her) sent the Prophet ﷺ a bowl of milk while he stood at Arafah, and he drank it in front of the people so no one would be confused about whether he was fasting.
On the authority of Umm al-Fadl bint al-Harith: the people differed as to whether the Prophet ﷺ was fasting on the Day of Arafah. So she sent him a bowl of milk while he was standing on his mount at Arafah, and he drank it while the people were looking. (Bukhari & Muslim)
The pilgrim needs his strength that day for standing, for du’a, for the greatest gathering of the year. You and I are not standing on that plain, so fasting is exactly how we take part.
Takbeer, said out loud. There are two kinds, and both are Sunnah in these days. Unrestricted takbeer (mutlaq) can be said at any time, anywhere, from the start of Dhul Hijjah through the end of the days of tashreeq: in your cell, on the yard, walking to chow. Restricted takbeer (muqayyad) is said specifically after each of the five daily prayers, beginning from Fajr on the Day of Arafah and continuing through Asr on the thirteenth of Dhul Hijjah. The simple wording is: “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illallah, wallahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lillahil hamd,” Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, there is no god but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, and all praise belongs to Allah. Say it loud enough for the brother next to you to hear it and be reminded. This is exactly how the Companions practiced it: Ibn Umar and Abu Hurayrah would go out to the marketplace during these days saying takbeer aloud, and the people around them would say it along with them.
Dhikr in general. Allah tells us directly what these days are for:
So that they may obtain the benefits ˹in store˺ for them, and pronounce the name of Allah on appointed days over the sacrificial animals He has provided for them. So eat from their meat and feed the desperately poor. (Al-Hajj, 22:28)
The “appointed days” here are these same ten days, according to Ibn Abbas’s tafsir. Fill them with tasbih, tahmid, tahlil, and takbeer.
Sadaqah, whatever amount you have access to, through family, through whatever channel is open to you here. Do not underestimate a small amount given in these days.
Sadaqah does not decrease wealth, and Allah increases in honor a servant who forgives, and no one humbles himself for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises his status. (Muslim)
The value of the sadaqah is not measured by its size. It is measured by the sincerity behind it and the days in which it was given, and these are the best days of the year to give it.
Extra Quran. These are not days to coast through with your normal minimum. Push a little further than usual.
Part Two: The Sacrifice and Your Share in the Season
Brothers,
Part 3: If You Intend to Sacrifice
Many of you have family arranging an udhiyah, a sacrifice, on your behalf this year, whether here or back home. If you or your family intends to offer one, there is a specific instruction the Prophet ﷺ gave that applies from the first day of Dhul Hijjah:
On the authority of Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), that the Prophet ﷺ said: whoever sees the crescent of Dhul Hijjah and intends to sacrifice, let him not cut anything of his hair or nails until he has sacrificed. (Muslim)
From the moment the new moon of Dhul Hijjah is sighted until the sacrifice is made, the one who intends to offer it holds off on cutting hair and nails. The wisdom scholars mention is that this mirrors, in a small way, the state of the pilgrim in ihram, who also refrains from these things until his rites are complete. There is a minority position, held within the Hanafi school, that this is simply recommended rather than obligatory, while the position most scholars hold, and the safer one to act on, is that it is at least a strongly emphasized Sunnah for the one who intends to sacrifice.
If your family is arranging your udhiyah this year, this is a small, easy way to participate from where you are. Tell them your intention, and hold off on the haircut until they tell you it is done.
Plan the sacrifice now, not the night before Eid. Reach out to family, or to a reliable Islamic relief organization, this week, not on the tenth. Udhiyah animals sell out, prices spike, and last-minute arrangements often mean an animal that does not meet the requirements. Handle it early.
Part 4: Your Hajj Season, Without Leaving This Place
Some of you will spend the rest of your life without ever standing on the plain of Arafah. I understand what that loss feels like, and I am not going to minimize it. But listen carefully to what Allah has arranged for exactly this situation.
These ten days are not only for the pilgrims. They were placed in the calendar for the entire ummah, pilgrim and non-pilgrim alike. The man who cannot travel to Mecca still fasts the day of Arafah while the pilgrims stand there. He still says takbeer while they circle the Kaaba. He still gives charity while they sacrifice. Every deed available to the pilgrim in spirit is available to you in this room.
The two Eids and the days surrounding them are gifts Allah gives every believer, present or absent from the sacred sites, so that no one is shut out of the season entirely. Whatever wall stands between you and the Kaaba, it does not stand between you and these ten days. This is your Hajj season. You do not need a visa, a plane ticket, or release papers to take part in it. You need intention and action, both of which are fully within your reach right now.
Think of it piece by piece. The pilgrim stands at Arafah pouring out his heart in du’a; you can pour out yours in a locked cell at the exact same hour, and Allah hears both. The pilgrim circles the Kaaba in remembrance of Allah; you circle your own day with tasbih and takbeer instead. The pilgrim slaughters an animal in submission to Allah’s command; you submit in the smaller sacrifices this place demands of you daily, and your family’s sacrifice stands in for the one you cannot offer with your own hands. None of these substitutes are lesser in Allah’s sight when the heart behind them is sincere. He does not weigh your worship against a man’s passport. He weighs it against your intention.
O Allah, let us reach these ten days and make the most of every one of them.
O Allah, accept our fasting on the day of Arafah and forgive the sins of the years before and after it.
O Allah, let our takbeer be heard and let it soften the hearts around us.
O Allah, accept the sacrifice offered on our behalf, wherever it is made.
O Allah, give us a share in the reward of Hajj even though our bodies remain here.
O Allah, do not let these walls become an excuse for us to fall short in these blessed days.
O Allah, purify our intentions in every deed we manage to do in this season.
O Allah, grant us the honor of standing before You one day at Your sacred House, and if not in this life, admit us to Your mercy regardless.
We ask Allah to make us firm upon His straight path, to guide us and not let us go astray, to have mercy on us and forgive us.
Whatever good was said in this khutbah is from Allah alone, and whatever mistakes or errors are from myself and from Shaytan. I ask Allah to forgive me and you for any shortcomings.
I say these words of mine, and I seek forgiveness from Allah for myself and you all. Seek His forgiveness, indeed, He is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.