BASIC FACTS ABOUT ISLAM

Alhamdulillaah. …..the blessed days are here one more time! The 
glorious days when rewards are multiplied many times, and sins are 
forgiven much more… the days in which Allaah gives us yet another 
chance to worship Him, to ask for forgiveness and correct our faults 
and make up for our shortcomings. … the blessed days that the 
Sahabah waited for and prayed for…. the beautiful days in which 
they strived long and hard in worship, until they could do no 
more…. What are these magnificent days? These blessed days are the 
first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah. Just like the last ten nights of 
Ramadaan are the best ten nights out of the whole year, the Ulama 
tell us that out of the 365 days of the year, these first ten days of 
Dhul-Hijjah are the best days of the year and the most beloved to 
Allaah as they combine acts of worship in a way unlike any other 
times. The Prophet testified to that. He said: “There are no days in 
which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allaah than these ten 
days.” The people asked, “Not even jihaad for the sake of Allaah?” He 
said, “Not even jihaad for the sake of Allaah, except in the case of 
a man who went out to fight giving himself and his wealth up for the 
cause, and came back with nothing.” (Bukhaari) Subhaan Allaah wal-
Hamdulillaah! What a blessing! The question is…..what do I do on 
these magnificent days and how can I make the most of this perfect, 
golden, golden opportunity to earn rewards and Jannah? Obviously, 
Hajj is one of the best deeds that one can do during these ten days. 
However for those of us who were not invited to His House this year, 
there are still many, many good deeds that one can do and earn the 
Pleasure of Allaah. Some of these are: 
1) Fast all nine days and especially fast the Day of ‘Arafah The 
Prophet said: “Anyone who fasts for one day for Allah’s pleasure, 
Allah will keep his face away from the (Hell) fire for (a distance 
covered by a journey of) seventy years.” (Bukhari, Muslim) Just 
imagine….. if you fast these nine days (fasting on Eid is haraam), 
how far your distance will be from hell! The Prophet used to fast on 
the ninth day of Dhu’l-Hijjah and he said: “Fasting the Day 
of ‘Arafah (ninth Dhul-hijjah) is an expiation for (all the sins of) 
the previous year and an expiation for (all the sins of) the coming 
year.” (Muslim) 
2) Do a LOT of Dhikr and Takbeer The Prophet said: “There are no days 
on which good deeds are greater or more beloved to Allaah than on 
these ten days, so recite much Tahleel (saying Laa ilaaha ill-
Allaah), Takbeer (saying Allaahu akbar) and Tahmeed (saying al-hamdu 
Lillaah).” (Ahmad -Saheeh) Ibn ‘Umar and Abu Hurayrah used to go out 
in the marketplace during the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, 
reciting Takbeer, and the people would recite Takbeer when they heard 
them. (Bukhaari) Takbeer at this time is a Sunnah that has mostly 
been forgotten, especially during the first few days. So say it in 
the masjid, in your home, on the street and every place where it is 
permitted to remember Allaah. Revive the Sunnah that have been 
virtually forgotten and earn great rewards for doing so. The Prophet 
said: “Whoever revives an aspect of my Sunnah that is forgotten after 
my death, he will have a reward equivalent to that of the people who 
follow him, without it detracting in the least from their reward.” 
(Tirmidhi- a hasan hadeeth) Obviously, men should recite these 
phrases out loud, and women should recite them quietly. 
3)Stand in Night Prayers: Remember the virtues of spending the night 
in prayer, and its sweetness in Ramadan?! Why not revive this 
beautiful act of worship during these nights as well?! Remember, how 
in the last third of every night, Allah Almighty calls out to us, His 
servants: Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to his 
invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his 
request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may 
forgive him? (Bukhaari, Muslim) Why do we miss this golden 
opportunity? So, seize the chance NOW and expose yourself to His 
Divine Generosity and Mercy, ask Him to forgive you and guide you and 
set things aright. He will surely listen. 
4)Make Sincere Repentance. One of the best and most important things 
to do during these ten days is to repent sincerely to Allaah and to 
give up all kinds of disobedience and sin right away because we do 
not know when we will die, and also because one evil deed leads to 
another. But what does ‘repentance’ exactly mean? It means that you 
come back to Allaah and give up all the deeds, open and secret, that 
He dislikes…. that you regret whatever you did in the past, giving 
it up immediately and be determined never ever, to return to it, and 
resolve to adhere firmly to the Truth by doing whatever Allaah 
loves. “But as for him who repented, believed and did righteous 
deeds, then he will be among those who are successful.” [al-Qasas 
28:67] 
5) Come back to the Qur’aan It is time now to dust off your copy of 
the Qur’aan and return to its refuge.Make it a daily habit, using 
these 10 days the beginning of a strong and beautiful relationship 
with it. Read it with meaning, understand it, and then implement it 
and change your lives for the better, as much as you can. Remember 
that reading one letter of the Qur’aan earns you 10 rewards. In this 
way, reading Surat Al-Fatihah,which doesn’t take more than two 
minutes will give you more than one thousand rewards! This is on 
ordinary days, so what about these magnificent days! Certainly the 
reward will be far greater, Insha Allaah. 
6) Generally increase in doing ALL good deeds We should strive in 
doing more good deeds in general, because good deeds are beloved by 
Allaah and will bring us closer to Him. So if we are not able to go 
to Hajj this year, we should occupy ourselves during these blessed 
days by worshipping Allaah, praying extra prayers, reading Qur’aan, 
remembering Allaah, sending Salaams on the Prophet , making dua, 
giving charity, honoring our parents, upholding ties of kinship, 
enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, and other good 
deeds and acts of worship. “So whosoever does good equal to the 
weight of an atom, shall see it; And whosoever does evil equal to the 
weight of an atom, shall see it.”[al-Zalzalah 99:7-8] 
7) Get the reward of Hajj wherever you are: You may be unable to do 
Hajj this year, and you may feel sad because you are deprived of the 
great reward of Hajj. But you can achieve a similar reward in 
whatever place you may be. The Prophet said: “Whoever prays Fajr 
Prayer in congregation, and then sits and remembers Allah until the 
sun rises, then (after a while) prays two rak’as, he will gain a 
reward equal to that of making perfect Hajj and Umrah.” [He repeated 
the word "perfect" thrice.] (At-Tirmidhi) Isn’t that easy, 
Alhamdulillah? 
8) Slaughter an animal and distribute the meat Ibn Umar said: The 
Prophet lived in Madeenah for 10 years and every year he slaughtered 
an animal.” (Ahmad-Saheeh by al-Albaani) 
9) Attend Eid prayers But remember that Eid prayer is a form of 
worship and we shouldn’t be doing things that are unIslaamic 
(especially) during these times, such as listening to music, women 
going out for prayer without proper Hijaab, mixing of men and women, 
etc. 
10) Thank Allaah One of the biggest forms of worshipping Allaah 
Subhaanahu wa Ta’ala is to thank Him, deeply, sincerely and 
continuously. After all, it is He who gave you every single thing 
that is in you, on you or around you. In fact, you wouldn’t even be 
here if it wasn’t for the Mercy of your Creator. So thank Him for ALL 
that He gave you, the Islaam that He gave you, the very life He gave 
you. And thank Him for the chance that He gives you in these ten 
days, to ask for forgiveness and guidance. Alhamdulillah, there is 
much to be gained in these coming days. So make the most of this 
perfect opportunity offered by these invaluable and irreplaceable ten 
days. Hasten to do good deeds and appreciate this blessing and make 
the most of it, striving hard in worship . “And worship your Lord 
until there comes unto you the certainty (death).” [al-Hijr 15:99]