Salamualikoum wa rahmatollahi wa barakato. Welcome back to the Virtues of
Dhul-Hijjah. Allah swears by these days and this is something that you hear
often in the tafseer but the virtues of that are the benefits of that or how
Allah swears by these days is often not spoken about so we know that in the
Quran, Allah (swt) "wal fajr, walayalen 'ashr" Allah swears by the
dawn and then Allah (swt) swears by the ten nights "walayalen 'ashr"
and then Allah swears by "ashaf'i wal watr" Allah swears by the the
even and the odd "walayli etha yasr" and Allah swears by the last part of the
nights so what is the benefit of that and what does this refer to well
according to the majority of the scholars in fact Imam Al Tabari
may Allah have mercy on him said that this is the consensus of the scholars
these ten nights that Allah swears by are the first ten of the Dhul-Hijjah and that
is a sign of its virtue that Allah (swt)would honor it with an oath
some of the scholars a minor opinion is that they're the last 10 nights of
ramadan and some of the scholars actually mentioned also a minor opinion
that Allah does not use "walayalen 'ashr" or "wal layaal el 'ashr" the 10 days so because
Allah does not use any definite article to refer to "al" that these are the only
tonight's they say that it can refer to two sets of ten nights so it could refer
to both the first 10 days of the Dhul-Hijjah as well as the last 10 nights of Ramadan
because it simply swears by ten nights as opposed to the 10 nights the point
being though they definitely or according to the vast majority of the
scholars refer to those 10 days and that come in the beginning of
Dhul-Hijjah. Now some of the scholars talked about well how come Allah uses "wa layaal"
the nights instead of the days when we know the most virtuous nights of
the year are the last 10 nights of rRmadan and the most virtuous days of
the year are the first 10 days of Dhul-Hijjah and the scholars of the Arabic
language and the scholars of theQ will point to the fact that 'layal' and 'ayaam'
in Arabic are often interchangeable days and nights are often interchangeable in
there usage and there might be something with the
eloquence of it or the flow of it that would determine the usage of night or
day and this is the case for example with Zakariyah (pbuh) where
there's a theme when Allah talks about the Prophet Zakariyah (pbuh) and
Allah talks about the three days that he was given an oath of silence and in one
place Allah refers to it as 'ayaam' and in another place of Allah refers to
it as 'layaal' as days or as nights so it's often done in the Quran or it's often
done at least in the Arabic language that these two will be used
interchangeable and even though Allah says "walayaalen 'ashr" Allah swears by
ten nights it is referring to the first ten of Dhul-Hijjah. some of the scholars
also said that when Allah says "wal fajr" when Allah refers to when he
swears by the fajr Allah is swearing by the fajr of the day of our Eid which is
right after Arafah and the day of the sacrifice so Allah is swearing by a very
particular fajr a very particular dawn now what is the benefit of this
flow though if you pay attention to this Allah is swearing by the best part of
the day then Allah swears by the best days of the year then Allah swears by
the best days of those days then Allah swears by the best part of the night so
fajr is the best part of the day the Prophet peace be upon him said "boorika
li umati fi bookooriha" that Allah has placed blessing in the
early morning hours there are things that can be done between fajr and
sunrise that cannot be done throughout the day so it's the most blessed part of
the day it's the time that you find your greatest energy it's the time that you
find that your needs are amplified that you can start the day off right
so even sitting in the masjid and remembering Allah between fajr and
sunrise the Prophet (pbuh) said is the reward of hajj so it's the most blessed
part of the day and most people miss the opportunity of it then Allah swears by
the most blessed days of the year in the first ten days of the Dhul-Hijjah and then
according to narrations "wa shaf'i wal watr" the even and the odd would
refer to the day of the sacrifice Youm al Nahr, the day of Eid, being the
even the tenth of them Dhul-Hijjah and Arafah which is the most blessed day the ninth
of Dhul-Hijjah so Allah takes the most blessed
days of the ten days and swears by them in particular and then Allah (swt)
swears specifically by the night as it starts to leave you meaning the last
part of the night which is the time of qiyyam the most blessed time of prayer the
the time of a sahr, the time where we would feed ourselves physically if we
were to fast and feed ourselves spiritually whether we're fasting or not
in those last times of the night those last parts of the night so what is a
Allah (swt) emphasizing here for us and what's the lesson that we can
take from this other than Allah has honored these times of the day these
times of the year these times of the night. What we can take from this is
Allah (swt) has given us blessed seasons throughout the year blessed
months a blessed day of the week blessed times of the day and that a person who
is seeking the blessing of Allah will always seek to get ahead by making use
of those times and that most people will not make use of those times and as a
result of that will fall behind and that is not from a lack of mercy or a lack of
justice on the part of the Lord but it is instead a time where we would prove
neglectful and where we need to remind ourselves that Allah has given us ample
opportunities to do things to please him. so these are times that people typically
don't take advantage of and and you know again most people miss these days they
don't miss Ramadan, most people miss the blessings of these days most people
are not doing anything spectacular in terms of their remembrance in terms of
their good deeds especially in the first eight days of Dhul-Hijjah maybe on the day
of Arafah but the first eight days of Dhul-Hijjah and this is where people
really shine and it's important to mention this here because in Ramadan
everyone is worshipping Allah everyone is fasting everyone is doing certain things
but you really want to shine in the sight of Allah then that time after
fajr where most people go back to sleep if they even woke up in the first
place shine in the morning get a head start on your good deeds get a head
start on your productivity you really want to shine take advantage of these
ten days that are better than the entire year you really want to shine wake up a
little bit before fajr when most people are still sleeping at night and
invoke Allah subhana wa ta'ala at a time where Allah subhana wa ta'ala truly favors his
chosen servants in those moments so this is your time to shine don't lose the
opportunity and that's the blessing of Allah swearing by
these blessed times or one of the wisdoms of it for us and I'll just
mention here that some of the scholars also mentioned "shaaheden wa mashhood"
the witness and the witness are are referring to Arapha and Jummuah because
the day of Arafah and the day of Jummah share many similar traits so just as the
day of Arafah is the best day of the year the day of Jummah is the best day
of the week just as the time between asr and
magrib is a time where we should increase dua'a, on the day of Arafah
it's a time according to an authentic narration that on the day of Jummah we
should increase our dua'a, we should increase our supplication to Allah
subhana wa ta'ala so these are blessed times with blessed opportunities don't
miss out on these blessed opportunities and blessed deeds.
Wasalamualikoum wa rahmatollahi wa barakato
you