Good Deeds During the First Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

Importance of the First Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

Dr. Mozammel Haque

Sunday 12 August 2018 is the First day of Dhul-Hijjah 1439H. So the Day of Arafah will be on Monday the 20^th of August 2018 the 9^th day of Dhul Hijjah the Arafah day and Eid al-Adhaa will be Insha’Allah on Tuesday 21 August 2018 corresponding to 10 Dhul-Hijjah 1439H after the day of Arafah. I wish everyone a blessed life full of happiness, peace and prosperity.

Eid Mubarak to all of you and your families and everyone. Kullu Aam wa Antum bil Khair.

Now this first ten days of the month of Dhul Hijjah is very important and significant. Those who have gone for Hajj they will be in Makkah, Mina, Arafah and Muzdalifah. But those who are not in Makkah and other holy sites for them these days are very important days too. The earlier Muslims used to take this opportunity to make themselves better.

Dr. Ahmad Al-Dubayan on Dhul

Hijjah and Day of Arafah

Speaking about these days Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan the Director General of the Islamic Cultural Centre, London, said on Sunday, the 12^th of August 2018 at the Library Hall of the Centre, “When we say Aml as saleh as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said it covers everything not only as some people think only fasting, for example or not only giving alms to the poor and needy; no; it covers everything.”

First Aml As Saleh– Takbeer

There are many good deeds which can be done during these first ten days of the month of Dhul Hijjah. Last Sunday was the first day of the month of Dhul Hijjah and there are still ten days till the tenth day when there will be Eid day. One of the Aml as Saleh, according to Dr. al-Dubayan, is saying Takbeer. He said, you can do the Aml as Saleh by saying these days Takbeer: Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar la ilaha illalla Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar wa lillahil hamd.

These ten days any time not only related to after prayer. After prayer Takbeer. will come after the Eid day for three days. But now till the day of Eid you can Takbeer. any time. You can do it when you are sitting, you can do it when you are at home, you can do it in your car or when you are walking whatever. Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar la ilaha illalla Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar wa lillahil hamd. This is one of the good actions or good deeds Allah Subhanahu wa Taala likes it to be done in these days, explained Dr. al-Dubayan.

Dr. Al-Dubayan also mentioned an incident. He said, Hazrat Umar (Allah be pleased with him) during these days used to go to the market where people buy and he used to remind them of the Takbeer during these days by saying loudly Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar la ilaha illalla Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar wa lillahil hamd.

Another good deed – Fasting

Dr. al-Dubayan also said, One of the good things we can do is fasting;  we can fast one day, two days, three days or four days as many as you want. But do not fast on the Eid day; because fasting on the Eid day is harm. Because Eid day is a day of joy, day of eating, day of drinking; it is a day of celebration. So you can fast one day or two or three.

Another good deed – Visiting family relations

Dr. al-Dubayan also said, “One of the good deeds you can do is visiting your families, your uncles, your cousins, your brothers your sisters, doing best for your parents, or anybody who is around from your families visit him or visit her try to show them your kindness with the intention that you are doing your duty for the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa Taala.

Giving charity to needy and poor people

The ICC Chief also said one of the good things which you can do is to give charity to the needy, to give charity to the poor people, whatever it is, small or big. Don’t think big money will be accepted by Allah Subhanahu wa Taala only. Sometimes you give little will be better in the sight of Allah than someone who gives a lot. That’s why the Prophet peace be upon him said one dirham is better than one thousand dirham in sadaqa. Why? That person who gives one dirham he gives with the pure intention for the sake of Allah. Another one who gave one thousand dirham may be gave it for other reason - to be seen by people; to be praised by people whatever. So this one dirham is better, explained Dr. Al-Dubayan.

Taking care of children, orphans

ICC Director General mentioned, one of the good things is in these days really “to take care of your children; taking care of orphans if they are around you; especially if they are within your family. For example if you have nephew or niece, cousins you give them more care; show them love and affection especially in these days. You have to show always but to show them in these ten days are more beneficial. Because Allah Subhanahu wa Taala likes to see all goods deeds in these ten days. Prophet peace be upon him was asked by somebody; he said: what is jihad fi Sabilillah? He said is it better? Prophet peace be upon him said, anything you do in these days better than the jihad except if someone goes for jihad with all his money, his life; never return back everything lost; that person gives his all properties and give his life for the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa Taala. May be this one is better. But nothing else is better than that doing hasanah good deeds during these days, explained Dr. al-Dubayan.

Season of Good Deeds

Dr. al-Dubayan said we have ten days like a season of good deeds, two times a year. One is the last ten days of Ramadan; this is a season why because the Lailatul Qadr is there, may be the first, the second or third till the end of Ramadan. Then we have the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah. Now these ten days are for doing hasanah or good deeds. Anything even talk to people is good. If somebody angry with you for any reason or other try to fix it; if you did wrong to some body, try to fix it; even if he or she does not know about it. Try to clean yourself before the day of Eid.

Arafah Day 9^th of Dhul Hijjah

Dr. Al-Dubayan explained the Day of Arafah. He said, the last day before the Eid, the day number 9^th, we call it the day of Arafah the 9th day. People on Hajj they will stand on Arafah, that day standing on Arafah day; it is a very very holy day in the ten days. On that day it is Sunnah to fast for those who do not perform Hajj. We are here in London or anywhere who is not in Makkah we fast on the 9th Dhul Hijjah^;   the day of Arafah. That’s why, Prophet peace be upon him said, “I am asking Allah for those fast on the day of Arafah to forgive their sins for one year before Arafah and one year after Arafah. It is an important day, explained ICC Chief.

Prophet (peace be upon him) always talked about forgiveness. Dr al-Dubayan said we have to remember forgiveness for all the things between us and Allah Subhanahu wa Taala. But not peoples rights. This is a misunderstanding of the Hadith. Because peoples rights must be taken care of.

Day of Arafah is the Day of Mercy

Asking Forgiveness

Dr. al-Dubayan also explained, Day of Arafah is the Day of Mercy; the Day of Praising Allah Subhanahu wa Taala. Allah Subhanahu wa Taala.forgives so many peoples. That’s why, it is really important on the Day of Arafah to make Takbeer and to make dua supplication always to Allah Subhanahu wa Taala asking forgiveness for us for all Muslims; for the loved ones; for all families; asking guidance for yourself; for our husband; for our wives; for our children; for everybody. It is a day of mercy and also forgiveness and comfortable for all people around the world. Anybody you can ask Allah Subhanahu wa Taala you have relatives or friends or somebody you like or she or he is not Muslims; ask Allah Subhanahu wa Taala to guide him or to guide her to the right path. You can make dua for those who are not Muslims to give them guidance from Allah Subhanahu wa Taala.

Guidance is in the hand of Allah

Another important thing one must try to understand is that showing light or Guidance is from Allah and not from people. Dr. al-Dubayan explained this aspect of Guidance. He said it is very close to Islam. People could not see the light of it. Many people read the Qur’an; speak the Arabic; read Islamic books but they don’t see the light. But some other people see the light just away far away and see this light and they come to Islam. Allah Subhanahu wa Taala directs them. Guidance is in the hand of Allah. He can guide someone in the light even by explaining convincing a person.

That’s why; Dr. Al-Dubayan said you have to ask Allah Subhanahu wa Taala for the guidance for the people you like. He gave an example of Prophet’s uncle Abu Talib. He said Prophet (peace be upon him) he himself wanted his uncle Abu Talib to come into the fold of Islam. But he could not. They loved each other. Abu Talib used to protect Prophet (peace be upon him) all the days in Makkah; because Abu Talib was one of the leaders of the people; he led the Quraish people in Makkah and all of them respected him. They respected him so much that when he said something they followed him. He protected Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) his nephew. Prophet (peace be upon him) received all the protection from Abu Talib; he loved so much. Prophet (peace be upon him) was so keen for his uncle to become Muslim but he could not make it. He could not make it. Allahu Akbar. Then he was so sad for that, he was so sad; then Allah Subhanahu wa Taala revealed to him in the verse of the Qur’an which says you cannot guide those people who love but it is only Allah who guide people.

That’s why, Dr. al-Dubayan said and advised it is good that when we pray we asked Allah to guide those people we like to guide. Dr. Al-Dubayan also mentioned some people come to Islam just in one bleak. Something happened to them my God this is it. Whereas, some people stay with Muslims many years, they do not see those light. Even the Qur’an is in front of them and they do not see the light. And sometimes the Qur’an is very close; Islam is very close and when the moment comes when Allah wants them to be guided then he guided to go there. In this connection Dr. Al-Dubayan narrated the story of conversion of Cat Stevens to Islam as Yusuf Islam.

Dr. Al-Dubayan advised Muslims to remember every people on the Day of Arafah. He said, “When you pray on the day of Arafah please remember all those people; all those people who have difficulty in their life;  remember the refugees; remember the poor people; remember the orphans; remember people who have difficulties;  ask Allah Subhanahu wa Taala to make it easy;  ask Allah Subhanahu wa Taala to give guidance to the people you like; ask Allah Subhanahu wa Taala to keep on the right path because some people some Muslims after sometimes have sometimes misconception in your mind  or misunderstanding or doubts; then the devil started to play with you. That’s why you see some people go out of Islam again. Ask Allah Subhanahu wa Taala to keep you till the last moment of your life on the right path. This is what Prophet (peace be upon him) used to ask Allah Subhanahu wa Taala to let him stay on the right path till the last minute of your life. 

Hajj : The Fifth Pillar of Islam

Hajj: The Fifth Pillar of Islam

Dr. Mozammel Haque

[The First of Dhul-Hijjah 1439H will be on Sunday 12 August 2018. Islamic Cultural Centre & Regents Park Central London Mosque congratulates all Muslims in the world and wants to take this opportunity to ask Allah the Almighty to accept all our deeds. It also announces Eid al-Adhaa will be on Tuesday 21 August 2018 corresponding to 10 Dhul-Hijjah 1439 after the day of Arafah. I wish everyone a blessed life full of happiness, peace and prosperity.]

ISLAM IS A PRACTICAL RELIGION which lays down a complete code of life. Its training starts from childhood. The final pillar of Islam or the Fifth Pillar of Islam comes after the successful completion of the first four pillars of Islam. The training of five times prayer every day started from the local Masjid, meeting with local people, with neighbours five times every day.

But the ultimate objective or the summum bonum of Islam is establishing peace and harmony in the whole universe, and for that reason, it makes various provisions for creating peace and harmony in the lives of mankind as well as in the universe. Peace and harmony can be achieved only when there is solidarity and universal brotherhood among human beings. Islam preaches this concept and puts it into practice through the unique annual assemblage of the pilgrims during Hajj.

The institution of Hajj in Islam is quite extraordinary and unparalleled. It is only Islam that has made the annual assemblage at one place, Makkah, an obligation for the capable Muslims from all corners of the world. In other words, it may be called the World Muslim Congress. This assembly has many distinctive features which no other gathering has and no other religion stipulates. The concept of unity and brotherhood is embedded in Islam in such a way that one is truly amazed to see millions of Muslims dressed in two white sheets of cloth gathered at one particular place, i.e. in Arafat during a fixed time on certain fixed days in the year. All human and man-made barriers and distinctions are demolished during that assembly.

We shall deal here with the aspects of unity and universal brotherhood which, besides others, are quintessential among the concepts of Hajj. First, let us take universal brotherhood. This universal brotherhood emanates from the following basic concepts and is demonstrated in a most authentic and brilliant manner here on this occasion:

Adam is the first man from whom all human beings have sprung up;

Abraham is the father of monotheistic religion;

Acceptance of all prophets as prophets of God;

Belief in all revealed books of Allah.

Thus, this acceptance of Abraham as the patriarch of the concept of Tawheed and recognition of the continuity of Prophethood from Prophet Adam to the Last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him all) and having faith in all revealed books keeps up a chain of faith known as Islam throughout the world. This binds the whole humankind into a bond of brotherhood whose genealogical father is Adam and the spiritual father Abraham. Thus Muslims believe in the continuation of the human race on earth. There are no conflicts and controversies in the monotheistic religion decreed by God. All Muslims (those who consciously and willingly surrender to the Will of the Creator) belong to this Ummah and therefore constitute a fraternity of faith. This is one way the Hajj conveys the message of universal brotherhood.

This aspect of universal brotherhood can also be noticed during Hajj when Muslims come from remote corners of the world and congregate in Makkah in the vicinity of the House of God, i.e. Baitullah. Though they might have come from the east or west, north or south, and all differences in colour, language, race and nationality notwithstanding, they find their oneness on the basis of their faith in One God, One Qiblah, One Book and One Prophet.

The practical training for this universal brotherhood starts from the local or neighbourhood level with the five times daily prayers in the mosque, which gets enlarged with the Friday prayers once a week. The circle is again made substantially larger during the Eid prayer, and it becomes internationalised transforming into a global gathering once in a lifetime. So, as I mentioned at the beginning, the concept and training in universal brotherhood, which reaches its peak, starts from the very childhood at the local level.

  Box

Islam places emphasis on unity and unifies mankind 

on the basis of one God, one Book - the Qur’an, 

one Qibla - the Ka’aba and one leader - 

the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). 

The Noble Prophet’s mission was to establish unity 

and peace throughout the world. The Islamic concept of unity 

transcends all other forms of unity based on territory, 

geographical boundary, linguistic and ethnic affinity. 

He united Muslims on the basis of faith, 

which is the Oneness of God, Islam.

As regards unity, Islam, first of all, removed all man-made bonds and barriers bringing all human beings into one global family tracing their genealogical origin to common parents and biological chemistry to one element, i.e. clay. Almighty God has laid down in the Holy Qur’an, “O Mankind, We have created you from a male and a female.” (49: 13) This establishment of absolute equality on the basis of their ancestral origin and biological composition removes all artificial differences between man and man.

The enforcement of the concept of Muslim brotherhood is the greatest social ideal of Islam. Islam places emphasis on unity and unifies mankind on the basis of one God, one Book - the Qur’an, one Qibla - the Ka’aba and one leader - the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Noble Prophet’s mission was to establish unity and peace throughout the world. The Islamic concept of unity transcends all other forms of unity based on territory, geographical boundary, linguistic and ethnic affinity. He united Muslims on the basis of faith, which is the Oneness of God, Islam.

On this vital concept was based the Prophet’s sermon in his last pilgrimage, which shows that Islam cannot be completely practiced until this ideal is achieved. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) unified and cemented the Muslim Ummah under the banner of La ilaha illallah Muhammadur-Rasoolullah by establishing the first-ever Islamic state in Madina, which later on took the shape of a grand Caliphate. Under the Caliphate the Muslim Ummah was unified and integrated. Thus the first concept of universal and worldwide unity was demonstrated by Prophet Muhammad more than fourteen hundred years ago having been guided and inspired by God for establishing unity and peace in the world.

Islam is essentially a community and group-oriented religion. So, the practical lesson in unity and equality first starts within the family, then in the neighbourhood, especially through the institution of five daily prayers in the mosque and still on a larger scale in the locality, during weekly Friday prayers, and then in much larger gatherings in the two Eid prayers and ultimately in the international or global gathering during Hajj. This very characteristic and feature of Islam demonstrates the universality of this religion and its heavenly origin which transcends all worldly barriers of race, colour, class and nationality.

Pilgrimage is the best occasion to bind again the loose threads, tighten them on the basis of belief and in the presence of God and frustrate the nefarious machinations of the enemies of the Ummah’s unity.

Another aspect of Hajj is making sacrifice in the way of God for the cause of Islam. As Islam itself is a religion of sacrifice, its different pillars also contain the same features and characteristics. It is a known fact that the Islamic or Hijra calendar starts with the month of Muharram and ends with the month of Hajj. The first month of the Islamic calendar, Muharram, is the month of sacrifice – a sacrifice made by the grandson of Muhammad, Hussain ibn Ali, who laid down his life at Kufa in the cause of Islam and its ideals. Similarly, the 12 months of the Hijra calendar, the month of Hajj, marks the remembrance of the sacrifice made by the Prophet Ibrahim for the sake of God and His Pleasure.

The Patriarch, the first Prophet of monotheistic religion, Islam, the Prophet Ibrahim was ready to sacrifice his most loved one for the sake of God. He loved his only son, Ismail, more than anything else. God asked him to sacrifice Ismail. Ibrahim was going to sacrifice Ismail, in the way of God by His Order. The Holy Qur’an explains the story of Ibrahim and his son Ismail thus:

Then when (the son) reached (the age of) (serious) work with him, he said: “O my son; I see in vision that I offer you in sacrifice. Now say what is your view.” (The son) said: “O my father; do as you are commanded; you will find me, if God so wills, one practising patience and constancy.” So when they had both submitted their wills (to God), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (for sacrifice), We called out to him, “O Ibrahim; you have already fulfilled the vision; thus indeed do We reward those who do right.” (37:102-105) The Qur’an says: “And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice.” (37:107)

The sacrifices made by Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail for the love of God left an indelible imprint on the history of mankind. This sacrifice is still remembered and re-enacted during Hajj. Ibrahim left a glorious record of sacrifice to please God.

In modern times, sacrifice is symbolised by an act of slaughtering a camel, cow or lamb for the sake of God during the days of Eid-al Adha, i.e. starting after the Eid prayer till the sunset on the third day of Eid. Sacrifice is a strongly recommended Sunnah of the Prophet and was introduced in the second year after Hijra. The purpose of sacrifice is to remind oneself of the great sacrifice of Ibrahim.

The sacrifice of life and wealth in the way of God is the zenith of a man’s belief. God says: “By no means shall you attain righteousness unless you give (freely) of that which you love; and whatever you give, of a truth God knows it well.” (Al-Qur’an 3:92) This means that when something, which has been held so dear, is sacrificed in the way of God one may hope to secure God’s Pleasure. The verse tells us that to attain righteousness one has to sacrifice things, but to attain it in perfection one has to sacrifice things, dearer to one.

Every sacrifice and every effort is to be aimed at seeking God’s Pleasure. That God be pleased with us is the real capital of our lives and it is to win this pleasure that everything should be sacrificed. In the words of the Qur’an: “Surely my prayers and my sacrifice, my life and my death is for God alone, the Lord of the Universe.”

In the modern age, the pilgrims, when they start their journey to Makkah for performing Hajj with only two white sheets on their bodies leaving behind their wives, children, kith and kin and their wealth and properties, they practically exemplify their act of sacrifice for the love of God.

Hajj is the greatest training and practical demonstration of the spirit of sacrifice and the spirit of Jihad in the way of God. It shows that Islam does not end with giving some utopian ideals for the human life. It is not only a religion; it is the guidance for the whole mankind to shape their lives in this world and hereafter. That’s why God makes provision for the teaching and training of humankind in every quality through practical implementation.