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Importance of the First Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

5 November 2010 Burton, Michigan

Jumu`ah Khutbah at As-Siddiq Mosque

Alhamdulillah...man yahdilllah fa la mudilla lahu wa man yudlil fa la haadiya lahu wa ashadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wahdahu la shareek lahu wa ash-hadu anna Sayyidina Muhammad (s) Rasoolullah... Ayyuhal-mu`minoon al-haadiroon ittaqullah wa ati`ooh.

O Muslims, Believers! We are always asking Allah (swt) to forgive us. Why do we pray? Why do we fast? Why do we go for Hajj? Why do we give zakaat? Why do we believe in tawheed? Is it necessary or not? Will Allah (swt) increase us if we pray or decrease us if we don't? Al-`adhamatulillah, Grandeur is for Allah! He is independent of everything! When Allah says, "Pray five prayers," it is for our benefit, not for His. If we fast, it is for our benefit. If we do Hajj, it is for our benefit. If we have imaan, it is for our benefit. If we reach a state of ihsaan, then it is for our benefit. So, if it all is for our benefit, as we agree, then we have to do as much as we can. As you are doing for dunya, you must also do for your akhirah. You must not say, "I will do a little," as in dunya you don't say, "I will work a little;" we work as hard as we can, we work day and night to have better life. No one is saying not to do that, but at least do for akhirah. For our akhirah we do a little, but for dunya we do too much.

What did Sayyidina `Ali say? One day he said to Sahaabat al-kiraam(r), "The whole Qur'an and the whole ahadeeth focus on one point." The whole message, all prophets with their religions that Allah Almighty sent them with, and what Allah sent Sayyidina Muhammad (s) with all depend on one point, after which there is no honey. If there are millions of bees with no queen, there is no honey. So that is the queen of the bees. With that point you get the point of worship. So they told him, "Yaa Sayyidina `Ali, say it!" And he said, راس الحكمة مخاة الله raas al-hikmata makhaafatullah, "The head of all wisdom from the message is to know that Allah is seeing you and is going to judge you."

Makhaafatullah is fear of Allah, and it takes two meanings: one is fear of His punishment, and the other is fear of losing His love. If you have no fear then do as you like, but if we are Muslims we know we are going to be judged, then we must know what we are doing daily, and we must say, "Astaghfirullah," as we are doing sins daily. So this is the main point: to fear Allah. We fear the police will pull us over on the street and give us a ticket, but we don't fear that Allah will pull us over! I am not speaking to you and not including myself, and we are not speaking to non-Muslims, I am speaking to Muslims. Allah (swt) said:

اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ

Iqtarabati's-sa`at wanshaq al-qamar.

The Hour approached and the moon split. (54:1)

And we as Muslims believe that, and we believe what the Holy Qur'an came with, but why are we not trying to do better? Okay, we are praying, fasting, and coming to Jumu`ah, but we should do better!

اعمل لدنياك كانك تغيش ابدا وعمل لاخرتك كانك تموت غدا

Sayyidina `Ali said, `Amal li-dunyaaka ka-annaka ta`aeeshoo abadan wa `amal li- akhiratika ka-annaka tamootu ghadan.

Work for dunya as if you are going to live forever, and work for akhirah as if you are dying tomorrow.

He said, from one side do for dunya as if you will live forever, but don't forget to do for akhirah as if you are dying tomorrow. If someone has cancer and knows he is dying in two or three months, then he works to die in a way in which Allah (swt) is happy with him. If in one moment Allah is happy with you, it is enough to forgive all your sins! He is the Lord of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! So you don't know, keep doing (goodness and worship).

Allah (swt) said:

وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُ رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَة ً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَة ً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّار

wa minhum man yaqoolu rabbanaa aatina fee ad-dunyaa hasanatan wa fee al-aakhirati hasanatan wa qinaa `adhaaba an-naar.

And of them there are some who say, "Our Lord! Give us in this world what is good and in the Hereafter what is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire! (Al-Baqarah 2:201)

Say it! "O our Lord! Give us in this life a reward, something, and in the Next Life give us hasanat." Allah balanced between dunya and akhirah, since we are going to see that day that we cannot run from; wherever we are, the Angel of Death is coming to take our souls, so let us prepare ourselves! Those who did not go to Hajj, prepare to go, and those who did already, they may do it again.

ما من أيام العمل الصالح فيها أحب إلى الله من هذه الأيام -يعني الأيام العشر- قالوا يا رسول الله ولا الجهاد في سبيل الله قال ولا الجهاد في سبيل الله إلا رجل خرج بنفسه وماله ثم لم يرجع من ذلك بشيء

As the Prophet (s) said, related from Ibn Abbas (r), maa min ayaamin al-`amal as-salihu feeha ahab ila-allahi min hadhihi 'l-ayaam, "And to prepare is easy. ... "

O Muslims! Dhul-Hijjah, the month of Hajj, is coming in two days. We are under one obligation of the five pillars of Islam. Those who did not go for Hajj must prepare to go, today, tomorrow, or next year, but make your intention and prepare to go. (Prophet [s]said to the Sahaabah [r]) there are no other days during the year that if you do a goodness, Allah is more happy with it. And they asked, "Even the jihad in the way of Allah?" And Prophet (s) said, wa laa al-jihaadu fee sabeelillah. "And not even the jihaad in the way of Allah." It means these ten days are more important than that, so try to do dhikr as much as possible, of hasbunallah rabbunallah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, and others, what comes to the heart.

These ten days are coming and I call the attention to the day of Arafat. for of those who are not going to Hajj. On that day, the ninth Dhul-Hijjah, the hujjaaj go out from Mecca to Arafat and stand and make du`a the whole day, and then go to Muzdalifah. Those staying home asked the Prophet (s) about fasting that day. He said it is kafaaratan li sanatayn, forgiveness for two years. For example, if `Eid is Tuesday, who fasts on Monday is going to have his sins waived for the past year and for the coming year. Let us make the intention now to fast that day, then Allah (swt) will forgive you for what came before and what will come in the next year. As Sayyidina `Ali said, work as much as you can for dunya but don't forget you are going to die. So we fast that day, and look, taharar, to find the days that are most valuable to fast, pray or worship, as you don't know when the Angel of Death will come.

Abu Hurayrah (r) related that the Prophet (s) said, al-`umratu li 'l-`umratu kaffaaratan maa baynahuma "From one Umrah to another is expiation for what is in between them." So it is good to keep that in mind, as you don't know when a chance will come to go for Umrah.

Abu Hurayrah (r) also related that the Prophet (s) said, "The accepted reward for Hajj is Paradise, al-hajj al-mabrour.So anyone who does Hajj without doing anything that is not accepted, the reward of that is Paradise. May Allah take us to Paradise, for if there are questions they will never end. May Allah send us to Paradise with no account! And don't think we are far from that day when He will call everyone to Judgment! Allah said:

إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا وَأَخْرَجَتِ الْأَرْضُ أَثْقَالَهَا وَقَالَ الْإِنسَانُ مَا لَهَا

idha zulzilat al-ardu zilzaalah, wa qaalat al-insaanu maa laha..."

When the earth quakes with her [last] mighty quaking and [when] the earth yields up her burdens,and man cries out, "What has happened to her?" (Zalzala, 99:1-3)

There is coming a day when Allah will shake this whole Earth once, and everyone will be upside down, and Allah will bring everyone who died to question them. If they do one atom's-weight of goodness they will see it, and if they did one atom's-weight of bad they will find it."

We ask Allah to forgive us with His Mercy!

wa ya fawzan lil-mustaghfireen istaghfirullah.

(Mawlana sits) Du`a.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا

Inn-Allaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala an-nabi. yaa ayyuhalladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi wa sallimoo tasleemah.

Verily, God and His angels bless the Prophet; hence,O you who have attained to faith, bless him and give yourselves up (to his guidance) in utter self-surrender! (33:56)

Du`a

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