Dhul Hijjah: Don't Miss The Point | Khutbah by Dr. Omar Suleiman

Why are the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah considered the best days of the entire year? 

In this Khutbah, Dr. Omar Suleiman discusses the spiritual rewards of this sacred month and shares the essential deeds we should all strive to perform.

Whether you are seeking to renew your faith, increase your rewards, or make the most of these blessed days, this reminder provides a practical roadmap for your worship.

Transcript

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We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for him, and we bear witness that Muhammad is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in his blessed path until the day of judgment, we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allah Ma'am Amin. Dear brothers and sisters, as we come upon the most blessed days of the year, the days in which the Prophet said in the authentic hadith of Ibn Abbas, that there are no days of the entire year in which good deeds are more beloved to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala than these days being the first ten of Dul Hijjah, I wanted us to reflect on a few things. And the very first of those things is the idea that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings everything together so perfectly throughout human history to where the timings and the practices that we are engaging were engaged by people that came before us. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who coordinates the timings and coordinates the places and decrees with precision and perfection, has made it so that we walk the footsteps of people that came before us so that we can understand the depth of these days. So when Allah Azwaj tells us about Asliyam, fasting, kutiba alaikum usliyam, tama kutiba al ladina min qablikum, la alakum tattakun. Fasting was prescribed upon you, the way it was prescribed on those who came before you, so that you could gain God consciousness. Every ummah fasted, every single ummah, despite the differences in legislations, they fasted in some way. And every single ummah received its book in Ramadan, as the Prophet says, in the authentic hadith, the Torah was revealed in Ramadan, the Injil was revealed in Ramadan, the Zabur was revealed, the Psalms of David, they were revealed in Ramadan. The sukhaf of Ibrahim alayhi salam, they were revealed in Ramadan. And this Quran was revealed in Ramadan on Laylatul Qadr. And so it's the same practice that people came before engaged in, so that they could gain the same outcome, which was taqwa. It's the month in which you engage the greatest of Allah Azzawajah's revelations, being the Quran, throughout the month, and you fill your soul with it. And it's the month in which every single revelation came before. When we talk about Ashura, we fast the day of Ashura, and we know that this is the day that Musa alayhi salam, prior to us, prior to us, was given victory over the Fira'aun. And prior to Musa a. And of course, afterwards, certainly Al-Husayn radiallahu ta'ala an who had in his mind as he went forward that this was the day before him, that something of this sort had happened, a day that represents and culminates in victory. Now we come to the ten of the hijah, the best ten days of the entire year. What happened in these 10 days and what does that mean for us? Before us, these are the days that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has sanctified. So much so that when Allah Azza speaks of that moment when he called Musa, when he called Moses to him, and he says, Atmamnaha, that we gave him 30 days, an appointed term of 30 days, and we completed it with 10. That those are the first ten days of Dul Hijja that Allah gave him tawfiq, gave him success, and allowed for his period with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to match the greatest period of the year of these 10 days of Dul Hijjah. It is in these 10 days that we as an ummah of Muhammad look back. And it is in this time that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Today I completed for you your religion. And I completed my favor upon you. And I was pleased with Islam as your religion. When was that revealed? It was in these ten days that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala completed the revelation to the Prophet in regards to the rituals and the commands, that all the major revelations and all of the awamir, all of the commands from Allah and the obligations from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala were complete in the Hajj of the Prophet, in this revelation in Surah Al-Ma'ida. And so the religion was completed for us in these ten days. It is in these ten days, and this is one of the wisdoms that Al-Hafa ibn Rajah Brahimallah mentions that makes these ten days greater than any ten days, that you have the combination of all five of the pillars of Islam, and that doesn't exist throughout the entire year. There is no time outside of the year, outside of this period of the year, that you have obviously the testimony of faith, as shahadah, you have the salah, you have the Siam, you have the zakat in the in the general sense, the sadaqah, and of course the charity, and you have the fasting that is implemented, not just Siyam Ramadan, but some element of fasting in these ten days of virtue, and you have the hajj as well. And the hajj only exists at this time of the year, even if George Bush had suggested long ago that we should have two hajges in a year so that we could split the crowd. There's only hajj at one time of the year. So you get five pillars implemented, manifested at this time of the year, and that doesn't happen anywhere else where the practices of the five pillars are manifested. There's something so beautiful, it's completeness, it all comes together. People walk this path before you. That is to show a greater sacrifice. You're not just sacrificing the ram, you're sacrificing your ego, you're sacrificing your desires, you're sacrificing your attachments, you're sacrificing anything that gets in between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah takes us back to the first moment where two brothers are offering a sacrifice. And Allah accepted from one, and he did not accept, did not yata qabbal, did not accept from the other. And Allah said, Innamayata Kabbalullahu Minal Mutzaqeen, Allah only accepts these sacrifices from people of God consciousness, from people of piety. One of the two brothers missed the point. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, while you're watching it and it looks so identical, they're both holding the same blade, they're both sacrificing the same animal. They look the same, they're blood brothers. Humanity is a very small sample size at this point. If you're watching it from the outside, similar to when you're in tawaf, everyone looks like they're doing the same thing. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying he accepted one and he rejected the other. Because one of them missed the point. Allah accepts only from people of piety, people of God consciousness. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says specifically about the sacrifice. He says, It is not the blood or the meat that reaches Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from your sacrifice. What reaches Him, what ascends to Him is the taqwa, is the piety, the God consciousness inside of you. The same word that we were taught about in Ramadan, taqwa, taqwa, taqwa, God consciousness, God consciousness, God consciousness, piety is being used over and over and over again that the point is taqwa. The point is that you connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at a deeper level. So when you put the blade down and you finish, the meat is there. And especially to Quraish, this was an important message because sacrifices was a were a spectacle to them when they sacrificed for their idol worship, for their idols, and they brought forth 10 or 20 or 30. It was a spectacle, right? Like it's all quantity-based. How many sacrifices did I make, did I put forward? And Allah is saying that's not the point. You're missing the point. The point is a taqwa minkum, the piety, the connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that you're supposed to achieve. Where even when you can have millions of people doing the exact same thing that millions of people before did, and they look physically identical, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not accept from them all. And that's why Ibrahim alayhi salam, when he finished building that Kaaba with his son Ismail alayhi salam, he understood it. That Kaaba which will become the visual focal point of us all in these next few weeks, he understood it. And that's the first thing that he said. Rabbana attaqabal minna. Our Lord accept this from us. Because if Allah doesn't accept it, it doesn't matter how tired you got, it doesn't matter how exhausted you were, it doesn't matter how much money you spent, it doesn't matter what the spectacle looked like at the surface level. Rabbana taqab al-milla. Oh Allah accept our fasting. Oh Allah accept our charity. Oh Allah accept our hajj. Oh Allah accept our umrah. Oh Allah accept. Oh Allah accept. Oh Allah accept. Because there is no way to physically capture that. It's deeper. It's something that's spiritual. But I want to go a step deeper, Bibbilla. Why are these ten days even greater than the days of Ramadan? And you know, so many people will miss out on these days because they don't have the same ceremonious aspect as Ramadan has. Ramadan, the masjid's full for tarawih. You've got iftar, you've got all these spectacles, some of them praiseworthy, some of them not. Actually, let me take that back. Not a praiseworthy spectacle. Gatherings, congregation. But the point is that you have many praiseworthy communal aspects of Ramadan. It's easy to get into Ramadan with your community. It's easy to join the tawaf of the masajid in Ramadan. But if you're not in Hajj in the first ten days of the hijah, it's easy to treat it just like another day. It's easy to just go through these days and yeah, whatever. Do a little bit of dhikr, maybe fast a Monday or a Thursday along the way, not the first nine days. Arufah is here, okay, let's fast the day of Arafah. It's so much deeper than that. What is the depth of it, dear brothers and sisters? When the ulama look at the virtues of the practices surrounding these two seasons and the things that happened to people before us in these two seasons, because that's what we're supposed to be tying into. Why do we fast Ashura? The victory of Musa a-islam. There's something about tapping into the true meaning of nasr, the true meaning of what victory is. So whether you're martyred like Al-Hussain or whether you have victory like Musa Islam in the physical and material sense, it's victory, it's nasr. We're tapping into the deeper meaning of sacrifice and struggle, and that victory is found with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Nasr aw-shahada. It's all victory. Victory in the physical sense or victory in the spiritual sense. It's all victory with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You're tapping into the deeper meanings of what that season represents. Ramadan, you're doing the same thing. So what about the al-Hijjah? What are we tapping into? We're tapping into the meaning of sacrifice, deep sacrifice. If Ramadan is about disciplining your attachments, or if Ramadan is about disciplining your appetite, the al-hijja is about disciplining your attachments. Imagine Ibrahim alaim in those moments where he's commanded to sacrifice the most beloved thing in the world to him. It's one thing when it comes to your daily consumption and your appetite and your shahawat. It's another thing when you move beyond appetite into attachment. Ramadan is about appetite. The hijjah is about attachment. How did he feel having to make that sacrifice before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brought about what he brought out? And you go back to the hadith of the Prophet when he mentioned that there are no ten days that are more beloved than these ten days of the hijjah. They said, Walla jihadu fisabililla. I mean, these are people that went through badr and uhud and kandak. Not even that, not even going out in battle for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the Prophet said, Walla jihadu fi sabirlah, not even that. Unless you go out, you go out with yourself and your wealth and you come back with none of those things. Meaning complete sacrifice, meaning what it fits the theme of Dul Hijja, complete sacrifice. Plug Ibrahim alayhi salam into that hadith of Dil Hijjah. Ibrahim alay sacrificed his family in Al-Iraq, sacrificed his reputation. He was stripped down and thrown into a fire, sacrificed his safety, sacrificed his homeland in the process of hijrah, in the process of migration, and now had to sacrifice his son, his one son at the time, who he waited for for all of this time, the most beloved thing in the world to him in his heart. As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was making his heart for him, only for him, subhanahu wa ta'ala. If there's anyone that went out, it's subrahim alaisam with his self and his wealth. But he's tapping into the deeper meanings of what it means to sacrifice for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You see, dear brothers and sisters, so much as the illama'a mention of our deen comes down to sabr, to patience. That when the Prophet said that a person is not given something better or more expansive than patience, as a gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, of patience. Ramadan represented to us patience with shahawat, with desires, the things that you do on a daily basis and you think about it regularly. Are you making these daily transactions for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and restraining yourself for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the temptations of the day? But the other side of patience is a sabr al-balah, patience with test and trial. And it's less about what you do and more about how you react to what happens to you. And that's where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala really brings out your true character. When you get put in a situation where something that you deeply love, something that you are deeply attached to, and you have to make a judgment. Am I going to sacrifice this for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or not? How am I going to react when Allah takes of me what He took from Ibrahim? Will I hold firm or not? So when you're tapping into these ten days, and perhaps just as some people, when they go to Hajj, may Allah Azza accept the Hajj of all of the Hajj, Allah Ma'amen, and the intention of all of those who wish they could go to Hajj with a full hajj, Allah Ma'amen. Just as when someone goes to Hajj, they're usually willing at that point to say, I'm going to make sacrifices that I don't even make in Ramadan. Like Ramadan, you make promises to Allah. But when a person goes to Hajj, I've seen it, I take people for Hajj. People will put these life goals. People will set goals 10, 15 years in advance of their hajj. Alright, I'm coming to Hajj. This is the time that I'm going to quit my haram jab. This is the time I'm going to wear my hijab. This is the time I'm going to start doing this. This is the time. Now is the time. Hajj is the time where it's like the ultimate now turn. I'm making that full-on sacrifice. Because the struggle is higher, therefore the stakes are higher. I do Ramadan every year. Hajj is a once-in-a-lifetime, if it even happens. There's a mindset that people have when they go to Hajj. You're supposed to have that same mindset when you're here. There's a reason, dear brothers, when you offer your sacrifice, that the sunnah or even it's to a point of prohibition, according to the hadith of Um Salam a radiallahu anha, from the first of the hijjah to the point that your sacrifice is offered for you to take the hair and the nails from your body because you're connecting to a person that's in ihram, as Imam al-Shaqani Rahimallah Ta'ala beautifully illustrates. You are connecting. It's like you're there even though you're not there. You're on your own hajj. You have your own sacrifice. There's a reason why you're fasting the day of arafah, even though you're not on the place of a rafah. You're there. And so here's my challenge to you. Those of you that are going to hajj and those of you that are not going to hajj, which I presume is the majority. My challenge to you is to actually put yourself in the mindset of someone that's going to hajj. And you're looking at your life and you're saying, these are some major changes that I have to make, some major sacrifices I have to make right now in my life, that usually comes with the physical and financial toil of going to hajj and recognizing this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When you go in these ten days of Dr Hijjah, what's that stubborn quality that you fail to get rid of in terms of your behavior and your character, or that stubborn relationship, or that stubborn sin, or that stubborn sacrifice you really need to make right now? What is it? Put yourself in that mindset. And if you can't think of some major change that you need to make in your life in terms of giving up a sin, then think of a foundational and fundamental change in regards to your practice of good deeds that you're going to make now. Because some people go to hajj with that. I'll never miss my sunnah again. If that's your level, Alhamdulillah, that's your level, alhamdulillah, that's where you're at right now. You're not missing far and you never want to miss Sunnah again. And I'm going to Hajj and like from now on, when I go to Hajj, I'm never going to miss my Sunnah again. Or I've been saying I'm going to memorize the Quran my whole life. Now is the time I'm starting. This year I'm starting and I'm giving myself a plan for the next eight years, even that I'm going to finish the memorization of the Quran, or I'm going to learn this or do that. But think like someone who's physically going on the journey of Hajj and making a major sacrifice now. Because there is no way I'm stepping on a plane and going through that entire process and then coming back to the same life that I had before. We're all in that state when we go into these ten days of the hijab, dear brothers and sisters. That's the deeper point. Ramadan taught you to discipline appetite. Now you need to discipline attachment. You will not achieve true righteousness until you spend of what you love most. Ibrahim alayhi salam lived every one of those ayat. And that's why innahuqana suddi kannabiyah. What a man of truth, true to his word, true to his promises to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Every ayah that you take in the Quran that demonstrates a good quality, you can find an equivalent in the story of Ibrahim alayhi salam, just as you can find an equivalent in the one sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his descendant, Muhammad, his character was the Quran. You can find an equivalent in the seerah of the Prophet. May Allah allow us to fully engross ourselves in the power of these ten days to make the lifetime changes that are necessary, the lifetime sacrifices that are necessary to truly enjoy his kurb, to truly enjoy his closeness. Allah Ma'min Akuru Quihada was taqallah yurakamisa musimen fasthiru inu wa furhein. If I can ask the brothers to please come forward as much as possible, inshaAllah. In Nakasamir un Kareebun Mujibu Jawat, Allah Makhirlana or Hamna, Wahfuana, Walla to Adibna, Rabana Walamna and Fusana, Wa Ilam Tahfurana Waterhamna, Lenaku and Namin al Hasirin, Allahfu and Karim to Hebu Afwa Fuana, Allah Makhriwalidina, Rabihamakem Rabunashara, Rabbena Hablanam in Azwajina with Ryatina, Kurata Ayun, Wajanna Lil Mutakina Imama, Allah Monsur Ihwan Musalafina Fima Sarkirma Ribia, Allah Mansurham Fifilastin with his Sudan, with Makan, Allah Ma'ika bi adaika adin, Allahma Arina Fibwali mina aja iba kudratik, Allahma Aliki Balimina Bibblalimin, Khrijna Mambayim Sadim, Ibadulla and Allah Amrubu Adivan wa eta kurba, Wyanha Anil Fasha I will munkary will baghi, yvokum alakum to the Karun, Fatkurullah Kurkum washkuru what a thick rulah akbarullah Yaramu Matasna Wahimasala.