Virtues of the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah

Praise be to Allah Who has created time and has made some times better than others, some months, days and nights better than others, a time when rewards are multiplied many fold, as a special mercy towards His obedient slaves. This encourages us to do more righteous deeds and makes us more eager to worship Him, so that the Muslim renews his efforts to gain a greater share of reward, prepare himself for death and supply himself in readiness for the Day of Judgement.

This season of worship brings many benefits, such as the opportunity to correct one’s faults and make up for any shortcomings or anything that one might have missed. Every one of these special occasions involves some kind of worship through which the slaves may draw closer to Allah, and some kind of blessing through which Allah bestows His favour and mercy upon whomsoever He will. The happy person is the one who makes the most of these special months, days and hours and draws nearer to his Lord during these times through acts of worship; he will most likely be touched by the blessing of Allah and will feel the joy of knowing that he is safe from the flames of Hell. (Ibn Rajab, al-Lataif, p.8)

The Muslim must understand the value of his life, increase his worship of Allah and persist in doing good deeds until the moment of death. Allah says in the last verse of Surah al Hijr:

وَٱعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَكَ ٱلْيَقِينُ

“And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty.” [al-Hijr 15: 99] The commentators say: “‘The certainty’ means death.”

Virtues of the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah

Among the special seasons of worship are the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah, which Allah has preferred over all the other days of the year.

Ibn ‘Abbas RA narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said:

عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏”‏ مَا مِنْ أَيَّامٍ الْعَمَلُ الصَّالِحُ فِيهِنَّ أَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ مِنْ هَذِهِ الأَيَّامِ الْعَشْرِ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ فَقَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَلاَ الْجِهَادُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏”‏ وَلاَ الْجِهَادُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ إِلاَّ رَجُلٌ خَرَجَ بِنَفْسِهِ وَمَالِهِ فَلَمْ يَرْجِعْ مِنْ ذَلِكَ بِشَيْءٍ ‏”‏

“There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than those ten days.” They said: “O Messenger of Allah! Not even Jihad in Allah`s Cause?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Not even Jihad in Allah’s Cause, unless a man were to out with his self and his wealth and not return from that with anything.” [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 757]

Ibn ‘Abbas RA also reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “There is no deed more precious in the sight of Allah, nor greater in reward, than a good deed done during the ten days of Sacrifice.” He was asked, “Not even jihad for the sake of Allah?” He said, “Not even jihad for the sake of Allah, 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.” (Reported by al-Darimi, 1/357; its isnad is hasan as stated in al-Irwa, 3/398).

These texts and others indicate that these ten days are better than all the other days of the year, with no exceptions, not even the last ten days of Ramadan. But the last ten nights of Ramadan are better, because they include Laylat al-Qadr (“the Night of Decree”), which is better than a thousand months. Thus the various reports may be reconciled. [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 5/412].