The first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah are less than one month away. What did the Prophet ﷺ actually say about them?

Jumuah Mubarak. We're one month from the first day of Dhul Hijjah. Most of us know the last ten nights of Ramadan inside out —Laylatul Qadr, tahajjud, I'tikaf. Most of us know almost nothing about the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, even though the Prophet ﷺ said: "No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on these (first ten days of Dhul Hijjah)." The companions asked, "Not even jihad in the cause of Allah?" He ﷺ said: "Not even jihad — except for a man who went out with his life and his wealth and did not return with any of that." — Sahih al-Bukhari That hadith stopped me. I went looking for what else the tradition actually says about these days, and found a few things: Allah swears an oath by these ten days in the Quran. Surah Al-Fajr: "By the dawn, and by the ten nights" (89:2). Classical scholars from Ibn Abbas on consistently identified those ten nights as these. Each night equals Laylatul Qadr in reward. Tirmidhi: "Fasting every day of these ten is like fasting a year, and standing every night is like standing on Laylatul Qadr." The Day of Arafah (the 9th) is a category of its own. The ayah declaring Islam complete — "This day I have perfected for you your religion" (5:3) — was revealed on Arafah, during the Farewell Sermon. Allah frees more people from the Fire on this day than any other. Fasting it expiates two years of sins — the year before AND the year after. The best dua of the year is the dua of Arafah. The Farewell Sermon itself was delivered on Arafah. When the Prophet ﷺ asked the companions three times "Have I conveyed?" and they said yes, and he raised his finger to the sky and said "O Allah, bear witness" — that was Arafah. One month out. Dhul Qa'dah (the month we're in) is what Sha'ban is to Ramadan — the approach. If we use it, we arrive at Dhul Hijjah ready. If we don't, the ten days pass and we don't even notice them. I wrote up the full thing as part of a project I've been working on called Living Noor: https://livingnoor.com/essays/first-ten-days-of-dhul-hijjah — the Quranic oaths, every hadith on Arafah I could find, and a 30-day prep checklist for the month ahead. A question for you all: what do you personally do in these ten days that has stuck with you? Any tradition from your family or local community that you'd recommend? https://preview.redd.it/n4b6iktrv5xg1.png?width=1384&format=png&auto=webp&s=2ff7501f679c7a297d06a0f5905840b4e15c2e1d submitted by /u/Professional_Big206 [link] [comments]

from Islam https://ift.tt/Do03Y6Z