✨Embracing the Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

All praise is due to Allah, the All-Knowing, All-Wise. He created His servants and distributed their livelihoods. And set their lifespans. So a person does not die before or after his set lifespan:

Al Munfiqun (63) 11: But never will Allah delay a soul when its time has come. And Allah is Aware of what you do.

We praise Him for what He has given us. And we are grateful to Him for what He has availed us. He the Almighty does not decree upon the believer a matter except that it is better for him. So whoever is pleased will have contentment and whoever is angry will have wrath.

I advise myself and you to be conscious of Allah Almighty, to obey Him and avoid disobeying Him. For we do not know when we will part our worldly life to our graves. And we do not know the situation in which our life will be sealed. And we do not know with what deed we will meet our Lord. Death could come to a person suddenly while he is on the best and most sound condition. At the same time, thinking of death makes the living sad. And people fear for themselves. Because of little preparation and weak readiness. And this necessities people to have constant fear and anticipate death at any moment.

Al Hijr (15) 99: And worship your Lord until there comes to you the certainty [i.e., death].

Allah made fearing death an innate characteristic of the living. And to take precautions against its causes. And avoiding what leads to it. Just as He made their innate nature cling on to life. And to spend the expensive and precious for its sake. The young and old are the same in this regard. Just as are: the believer and disbeliever, the righteous and evil doer, the insane and sane and mankind and animals. And man is not careless regarding life.

Forgetting death is a cause for distraction, heedlessness, and immersion in this world, just as remembering death is a cause for not being attached to this world and a motivation for performing righteous deeds. Therefore, the Prophet ﷺ urged us to remember death and not to forget it so that we do not become heedless. He ﷺ said:
Frequently remember the destroyer of pleasures (death) [Sahih An Nisai 1823]

In the face of this great and enormous truth, it does not benefit a person to overlook or ignore it saying: Between me and death are many long years. And he does not know. Maybe death could come to him soon. So what would be his fate if death came to him suddenly?

We must face this question with courage. And stand before it for a long time. Because it is a big and dangerous question. And it is not rational to ignore or forget it. And how can we forget it and Allah Almighty has alerted us to the seriousness of the issue? And he has warned us against heedlessness and being deceived by this worldly life:
Fatir (35) 5-6: (5) O mankind, indeed the promise of Allah is truth, so let not the worldly life delude you and be not deceived about Allah by the Deceiver [i.e., Satan]. (6) Indeed, Satan is an enemy to you; so take him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be among the companions of the Blaze.

Marvelous wonders are revealed to a person by remembering death. It shows him that this worldly life is not worth anything. And does not deserve all this toiling and deception and treachery. And misery for the sake of collecting its fleeting debris.

And remembering death, opens the door of detachment from this temporary abode. And getting prepared for the permanent home. And it makes him feel that his true future is not from material gains in this worldly life. Or attaining glory or a position. Or by having status among people. Rather, the real future for him will be after death from eternal bliss in the gardens of bliss. Or in misery and hell.

Deep reflection of this bitter truth shakes a person. It wakes him up to prepare him for the horrors ahead.

Al-Hasan ( may Allah have mercy on him) said: Death exposed the worldly life and did not leave a joy in it for the intelligent one. And a person does not oblige his heart to remember death, except that the worldly life is minimized in his eyes. And all that is in it is insignificant to him.

One of the pious predecessors looked at his house one day and was impressed by its beauty. then he wept and said: By Allah, had it not been for death, I would have been pleased with you. And were it not that we will go to the narrowness of the graves, our eyes would have been delighted by this worldly life.

I ask Allah Almighty to grant us a good conclusion. And reflection about those who came before us. And preparation for what is in front of us. And to spare us from humiliation in this world and from the torment in the hereafter. Our Lord, give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.

Oh Muslims:We will not be immortal in this world in which we live. And it will not remain forever. For it has an end just as it had a beginning. And we know that each day many people die and are buried. And it is inevitable that one day will be one of them, whether that is sooner or later. So we should capitalize on every opportunity to better our afterlives.

We will soon have one of these golden opportunities and embrace a noble guest that will stay with us for ten days. That guest is the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah. Ten great and blessed days. Allah Almighty favored them over the other days. He the Almighty took an oath by them in His Great Book:
Al Fajr (89) 1-2: (1) By the dawn (2) And by ten nights

And Allah Almighty designated them for His remembrance:
Hajj 27: That they may witness [i.e., attend] benefits for themselves and mention the name of Allah on known [i.e., specific] days over what He has provided for them of [sacrificial] animals.

These known days are the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah. And Allah Almighty has chosen that performing righteous deeds during them is more virtuous than any other days. As was narrated in Sahih Bukhari that Prophet ﷺ said:
There are no ten days during which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these days (meaning the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah) They said: Not even striving in the cause of Allah? He said: Not even striving in the cause of Allah, unless a man goes out with himself and his wealth and does not bring anything back. [Bukhari 969]

In these blessed ten days make plenty of remembrance of Allah Almighty , for your Prophet Mohammad ﷺ commanded you to do so. As is in the Hadith of Ibn Omar (May Allah be pleased with them) who said that the Prophet ﷺ said:
There are no days greater with Allah in which the righteous deeds performed in them are more beloved to Allah than these 10 days, so make plenty of Tahleel, Takbeer and Tahmeed. [Ahmad 5446]

And Abu Hurairah and Ibn Omar used to go the marketplace in the ten days (of Dhul Hijjah) and make Takbir (saying Allahu Akbar) and the people would follow them in making Takbir.

And sacrifice is a virtuous act and thankful endeavor. And an expenditure for the sake of Allah that will be reimbursed. Also, the person sacrificing benefits from its meat. And Allah Almighty’s appreciation for it. For He Almighty is the one who bestowed it and He is the one Who compensates for it and He does not take from it anything:
Al Hajj (22 ) 37:Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you. Thus have We subjected them to you that you may glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and give good tidings to the doers of good.

And whoever intends to offer a sacrifice should refrain from cutting his hair and nails starting from the first night preceding the ten days for what was related in the Hadith narrated by Um Salamah (May Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet ﷺ said:
Whoever wants to offer a sacrifice when Dhul-Hijjah begins, let him not remove anything from his hair or nails. [Muslim 1977]

We should take advantage of the virtuous and blessed times that Allah Almighty has singled out for His great rituals. Therefore, we magnify them just as our Lord the Exalted magnified them. And we single them out for extra acts of worship. And it is a loss and what a loss if we are neglectful of these ten days and do what Allah Almighty has prohibited. And perhaps these ten days will the last blessed season that we will come across in our lives. Death may strike us at any moment:
Al Imran (3) 30: The Day every soul will find what it has done of good present [before it] and what it has done of evil, it will wish that between itself and that [evil] was a great distance. And Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is Kind to [His] servants.

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