We are on the verge of entering into a very important month in the Muslim calendar, the blessed month of Zul Hijjah. This month is a month especially important for those performing Hajj, but for people like us who are not going for Hajj, the first 10 days are also extremely important. As many of you have heard the Hadith in which these 10 days, the days in which all good deeds are multiplied in their rewards, and they bring great blessings upon those who strive to get the best of these 10 days. We can fast for the first 9 days and the 10th day is Eid-ul-Adha where the Qurban is done, and then day 11, 12 and 13 are the days of Tashriq.
Those 4 days are haram to fast, as they are days of great celebration. So 10, 11, 12, 13, we are not allowed to fast, 14 and 15, you can continue the white days fasting. Each day of fasting is equivalent to 1 year of fasting in these 10 days. And each night of night vigil, waking up for your Tahajjud prayers, Solatul Najat, Tasabih, Solatul Syukur and making dua, reciting Quran, Dala’il al-Khayrat, doing your Adab & Awrad, those ibadah are equivalent to 1 Lailatul Qadr.
So imagine how momentous these 10 days are. Allah swears by them and Allah Almighty making it abundantly open for all of us to get many blessings in these 10 nights. Mawlana was saying in his Sohbah about these 10 nights, take as much as you can. He was saying that if we ask from a human being, they will help maybe once, twice or thrice but by the time you reach the 10th time asking for help, they will actually get irritated with us. But Allah Almighty created all these ranks and gifts and blessings and dressings for His creation. And the more you ask from Him, the more He is happy with you.
Mawlana was saying, when Allah opens the doors of his generosity and his blessings in these 10 days and nights, don’t let them pass like ordinary days. Just imagine, one night is equivalent to one Lailatul Qadr and we were searching the whole of Ramadan to get just one night, right? So we have 10 nights, confirmed 10 nights of Lailatul Qadr ahead of us and so Mawlana said, stay up if you can or at least wake up during morning time and ask as much as you can from Allah Almighty for the safety of yourself and your journey.
You only have a limited number of Zul Hijjahs in your life. You must always be aware of the shortness of time as Allah also swears by time, not just by Fajr and also by these 10 nights. Allah also swears Wal-Asr (by the time). If only mankind knew how short their time was, how limited it was, they would be very careful with how the time passes.
When I was doing the Jenazah course, I followed the people who were washing the bodies of those who were hanged. The man said, “Do you know, every one of these people, of these so-called criminals, or these prison people, before they pass away, in the last few months of their life, once they know their date of execution, they transform so much because ahead of them, they see death.” So having death hanging over their heads, they start to really come close to Allah.
They pray, they fast, they read the Quran, they attend classes in the jail. On the day in which they hang, usually on a Friday morning, they are fasting on that day. They make the intention to fast. So they read, they pray their subuh prayers, they make intention to fast and they pass away in a state of fasting, in a state of ritual purity with wudhu, in such blessedness, because they have begun their preparation once they are aware that their time is coming.
In reality, we are all also on death row, just like them. We are only not aware of the time we are going to pass away and we still assume we have lots and lots of time.
Paraphrasing what Rasulullah SAW said once in the Hadith, there was a person who was building his house with his mother and was planning and adding another storey and things like that. Hence the Holy Prophet SAW said, so many people are busy preparing for their dunya and planning for their worldly life when their kafan cloth in which they will be buried is already being cut and placed in the marketplace.
For inmates who are on death row, they are very lucky in that sense because they are given an exact date to go back. As such, they begin to prepare. But for many of us, we always assume there’s a long time ahead and we may end up not being able to pass away in a good state as we are caught unaware by death.
Insha Allah, those who are asking Allah for signs of death, we will be shown. In fact, one of the Prophets was asking for the signs of death and Allah showed him via the weakening of the body, the whitening of the beard and the hair, the weakening of the eyesight, the tiredness signalling that his time is coming, that you must prepare for that. The young ones must also know that sometimes our time may also be very sudden. So never assume that there’s a lot of time ahead of us. You have a limited number of Ramadans and Zul Hijjahs in your life.
Everything is limited, even your prayers, or the number of tahajjud in your life. So don’t assume that, if I skip tonight’s tahajjud, it’s okay, tomorrow then I will wake up. You try your utmost to fill every day with your preparation for death. Because the Holy Prophet SAW once asked the Sahabah, who is the wisest one amongst you? As is the adab of the Companions, they always say Allah and His Rasul knows better. The Holy Prophet SAW then said, ”He is the one who is making his life as a preparation for death.”
In reality, your entire life in this dunya is a preparation to return to Allah. Your entire life, every moment and every breath is a gift. It is a priceless gift because even the number of breaths are counted. If you are given 10 billion breaths, although it looks like a very big number, but that number also will come to an end and eventually you will have to face your maker when you have reached that number itself. In fact, the first rule of the Naqshbandi way is to be aware of your every breath as once that gift is gone, you cannot get it back again. Hence one of the Saints ever said, “What is man or who is man? Man is just a person with a number of breaths” and every moment, the number of breaths gets less and less.
So may Allah bring us all to meet Zul Hijjah and to live the first 10 beautiful days of Zul Hijjah. Go all out as much as you can and do your Zikrullah, read the Quran, do a lot of “La ilaha illal-lah wahdahu la sharika lahu, lahu-l-mulk wa lahul- hamd yuhyi wa yumeetu wa huwa ‘ala kulli shai’in qadir.” Hadith mentioned that is the best amal that can be done, especially in these days and no one can surpass that, except somebody who did more. Instead of 100, he did 200 or 300 of that Zikrullah. Also do a lot of Istighfar during these months. These 10 days are the days of Forgiveness. So seek from Allah forgiveness, as the day you go back to Allah, there is no more Istighfar or Taubah.
There’s no more realization, there’s no more seeking help from people. On that day, you are on your own except those Allah granted Shafa’a and then they can Shafa’a people. If your name is written in the list of those who will receive Shafa’a, only then you will be given that Shafa’a. So do not let these 10 days pass except that you are making the utmost effort to draw close to Allah. Do the night vigil as much as you can and fast in the daytime. Insha Allah, it’s not as heavy as Ramadan because you don’t have tarawih and you can rest after your Isyak prayers. But don’t let these months pass without taking as much as possible.
Mawlana was saying that you must ask from Allah what is most valuable. And last Sohbah we mentioned that the most valuable gift that’s given to us is Iman, our faith. So you must always put that in perspective. Mawlana was saying, “The rich people will say, oh I own this building, I own this sports car, I own all these businesses and you have nothing but if you have Iman, you are in reality richer than him if that man doesn’t have faith. You are in reality richer than anyone who has this dunya.” As we mentioned repeatedly, this dunya, is but one wing of a mosquito. So you must always have in your perspective and understanding to know what is important.
What’s important is Iman, and with Iman, you will strive to do amal because you want to build your Iman. In these 10 days the amal is multiplied many many fold. So instead of just getting the reward one time or 70 times, maybe Allah will give you 7 million times or 700 million times. When you see that kind of reward and when you’re going back to Allah, you would only wish you had stayed up the whole night doing worshipping and fasted every single 1 of the 9 days.
The most important of these 9 days of fasting is the last day, the day of Arafah on the 9th of Zul Hijjah. On the 8th of Zul Hijjah, the pilgrims begin to move towards Arafah. They move from Makkah, and they will then stop in a place called Mina in the Masjid of Fear (Masjid al-Khaif) overnight. In the olden Prophets’ days, they used to water their horses. That means they brought their horses and their camels to drink water there and rest overnight. Then next morning on the 9th of Zul Hijjah the pilgrims will move slowly towards Arafah and reach there by Zuhur. Whoever steps foot in the plains of Arafah between the time of Zuhur until Maghrib, anytime, they are considered to have fulfilled Hajj.
Hajj, as the Holy Prophet said in the Hadith, Hajj is Arafah and Arafah is Hajj. So anybody who misses or couldn’t make it to Arafah, they are considered not completed Hajj. And whoever has reached Arafah, Alhamdulillah, is considered Hajj and this is an obligation. Allah says in the Holy Quran, mankind owes Allah this obligation to perform the Hajj at least once in his life. So for us, we will be fasting on the 9th of Zul Hijjah, the day of Arafah, as that is a very special day.
Shaykh Nazim used to tell us to read Hizbul Azam. It is quite a long book with 7 chapters. It’s actually meant to be read every day but as many of us are not able to do it you can just start practicing. It’s a beautiful collection by Imam Mulla Ali Qari. It is a collection of every single Rabbana duas extracted from the Quran and other duas as well that didn’t start with Rabbana like “Rabbi habli minas saliheen” or “Rabbi Anni Massaniyad Durru.”
So not every dua starts with Rabbana in the Quran but all these duas have been gathered by this Imam and all from the Sunnah of the Prophet and from all the Hadith and they are compiled into 7 chapters. So by reading this 1 book, you will cover almost every dua that is in the Quran and every dua that the Prophet has made, Insha Allah.
The prophet gave more than 30 million Hadith in his life so they extracted what can be put into this book. So every day, you’re supposed to read 1 chapter of duas. It’s a very beautiful collection and it takes about 15 minutes to read 1 chapter a day. On the day of Arafah, you are supposed to read the entire book if you can. You can sit down together with your family members or even come to Zawiyah and read together as a jemaah. Those who don’t know how to read can just sit down and say Amin. Altogether it will take you maybe about 1 to 2 hours to finish the entire book. So on that day where Allah accepts all the duas, you read all these duas, and may Allah accept and grant you goodness in the year to come.
On the 9th of Zul Hijjah, also do a lot of Sunnah prayers, Zikrullah of the “La ilaha illal-lah wahdahu la sharika…” to the end, and of course a lot of Istighfar, begging Allah for forgiveness, and beg Allah to be spiritually taken to Hajj. Even though you are here right, many people are not able to go because of the situation nowadays and they wish to be there, Allah Almighty grants them to be there spiritually.
Sometimes they follow the guide spiritually and things like that but these are all personal experiences that we cannot confirm or guarantee you will experience. You can ask that Allah Almighty includes you in the duas of the people performing Hajj. So when they are making the dua, “Allahumma Akhfir li-l mu’minina wa-l mu’minat wa-l muslimina wa-l muslimat” Allah writes your name amongst the Mu’minin, Muslimin and Muslimat, to be also in this prayer.
You also make dua for them that Allah accepts because it’s not easy for the Hajj to be accepted. In a book written by local Singapore Uztaz Tengku Fauzi based on the Holy Prophets Hadith and Nasiha, he wrote about how the reality is if the Hajj is accepted from a person. It is mentioned in the Hadith, after you do the lontar jamrah, for the ones whose Hajj is accepted, the stones are lifted up to the Heavens.
In the year that I went, the next morning, when we came back, the stones were all there, huge piles! They had to use a huge bulldozer to scoop up the stones and throw them back into the desert. In the olden days, it was a small pillar. Now they have extended it to the full length of a HDB block because there’s so many millions of people going to perform Hajj and when you have thousands of people per session rushing to go to 1 pillar, it can lead to stampede, bad injuries, and even death.
So if you look at it, it’s really not something that, “Oh! I went to Hajj and it’s accepted” Usually it is by the barakah of 1 or 2 people or the Awliya Allah who are there who make dua and for the sake of these people, Allah accepts the Hajj of all the other people. So always pray that we are included in the duas of these special people.
I remembered 1 story just to share with you. It’s not in Mawlana’s Sohbah but something I remembered hearing, this story. It’s about a very pious man, he saved up all his life to go to Hajj and a few days before going to the Hajj, his neighbor became very very ill. So people started to gather at the house and he also went to see as a sunnah, to visit the sick man. He was told that this man was very ill and he needed money for medicine and the medicines needed were very far away, very costly. So this man took his entire Hajj money, gave it to the family, and then they went to get the medicines and to treat this man. Hence, he didn’t go to Hajj for that year.
He was at home and when the Hujjaj came back, they said to him, “Masha Allah, we saw you at the Hajj!” He said, “I didn’t go this year, I didn’t have the means to” So many people saw him and many people dreamt also, when they looked at him they said, “We dreamt about you that Allah Almighty rejected the Hajj of everybody” In that story, it was mentioned 600,000 people went to Hajj that year.
This is like in the 400 or 500 years ago and even back then, it already was a very big crowd. We must remember, they went to Makkah and Medina without all the modern facilities and without the authorities extending the mosque and all that. And yes, MashaAllah, it was able to fit in everybody. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim was actually very upset when he saw them expanding Masjid al-Haram and Masjid al-Nabawi, as he was saying there’s no need for these things because Allah knows how to look after his guests. When He invites somebody, He will look after the guests.
Look at the woman’s womb, the uterus is the size of my fist, right? Yet have you seen a woman carrying triplets, how huge the womb has become? And in the Hadith it’s mentioned by the Prophet SAW that Mina, Muzdaliifah is like the womb of a woman. It will expand to accommodate the people who are coming. So in reality, it was not necessary for mankind to look after Allah’s guests. Allah knows how to look after His own guests. The more we expanded, the more it became unable to host. Until today, they are still having quotas. Because they say, oh, we cannot host more than 2,000,000 people. This is human beings trying to interfere in the work of Allah.
Anyway, back to our story, these people came back from Hajj and then they had a dream that in that year, the Hajj of the 600,000 people was rejected, all of them. So all the stones are still there. They were then told by somebody in white in the dream, an angel or an Awliya, that for the sake of this man who gave his money away to help his neighbor, Allah Almighty accepted the Hajj of the 600,000 people that year. And, he didn’t even go to Hajj. So it’s not always that you go to Hajj, come back, it’s going to be accepted on your own merit. Sometimes and most of the time what we perform during the Hajj is actually not how it’s supposed to be done.
Today, the Hajj is gone. People go for Hajj in great comfort, air conditioned tents, and all the delicious food. In the olden days, it was a true struggle. They took the ships from Singapore, they traveled by huge ships, 6 months to get to Hajj and there were no telephones and no way to know whether the person died along the way. It was a real struggle. They used to bring their own small cooking pots and all that and cook even in the fields, in the deserts.
Today, we fly in first class or business class and we travel in air-conditioned coaches, we sit in our air conditioned hotels and look down at the Kaaba from the high hotels. Some don’t even go into Masjid al-Haram to pray anymore, they just pray in their rooms or they pray in the lobby because it’s air-conditioned. Whereas Masjid al-Haram was just about 30 meters ahead but they missed out on the 100,000 times reward because they said it’s hot.
See what’s happening to this zaman of people, they don’t know the value. That’s why whenever you come for Sohbah, we always try to transmit to you the value of Iman, the value of Amal, the value of the special days, value of the special months, the value of the special people like Awliya Allah, the value of the special places like Makkah and Madinah, Masjid al-Aqsa and Maqams of Awliya Allah because once you know the value, then you can put it correctly in its Maqam. So anyway, for the sake of this one man, Allah Almighty accepted the Hajj of everybody else. So whenever we are going, when Allah invites us for Hajj, don’t be proud, don’t think that we are doing everything and MashaAllah this is a “fantastic” Hajj that we are doing.
The Hajj is not easy. If you read this book by Uztaz Tengku Fauzi from Singapore, a very respectable man, also a Tariqah teacher, the first few pages were about a student coming back from Hajj, and the teacher was asking him, “Did you take off your normal clothes?” And then the guy said, “Yes, Sayidi, I took off my normal clothes.” “When you took off your normal clothes, did you take off all your bad sifat? Did you take off all your bad characteristics? Do you take off all the badness that you have practiced all your life?” He said, “No, Sayidi” Then you haven’t taken off your clothes.
Did you put on your ihram?” He said, “Yes, I did, I put on my ihram” Then he said, “When you put on your ihram, do you put on all the beautiful characteristics of the Prophet? Do you put on all the sifat Mahmudah of Rasulullah SAW, all the dressings of the heart, all the beauty of his character? And he said, “No, Sayidi, I didn’t make that intention and I didn’t do that” Then you haven’t put on your ihram.
“Have you done your Tawaf? He said, “Yes Sayidi” and then he will explain to him the meaning of Tawaf and he’ll say, “Oh Sayidi, I haven’t done Tawaf” He said, “Did you go to Mina?” He said, “Yes I went to Mina” “Did you enter the mosque of fear?” He said, “Yes Sayidi I went in” “Did you feel the fear, the overwhelming fear of being a servant of Allah with so much to answer to Allah on Judgment Day and to face Him with all that you have done?” He said, “No, I didn’t feel anything” Then you haven’t entered the mosque of Mina, mosque of Khawf.
Like that the teacher went through until he completed the entire Hajj with him. Verbally like, did you do this, did you do that, you go to Arafah and all that and then finally the teacher said to the student, “My dear son, you have to go back and do your Hajj again, you haven’t done anything actually because the whole of what I asked you, you haven’t done even one thing.”
So imagine, many people don’t realize the secrets of Hajj, the dressings of Hajj, the meaning of Hajj. For them, it’s all a physical thing. Even when I went in my year, when I was 25, 30 years ago, people didn’t understand the meaning of throwing the stones at the pillars. They thought that if that is shaitan, we are going to hurt him with our stones. So we have pilgrims picking up their slippers, throwing their slippers full of venom, some even carrying their entire cooking pot.
With the whole pot, they shout, “Allahu Akbar” and they run and throw the pot, which is very dangerous because if you miss the pillar then the pot will hit somebody behind the pillar, right? It was actually extremely chaotic and violent but that is not the purpose of this throwing of the stones. You’re throwing away your bad sifat, you’re throwing away from yourself the Munafiq-ness and all the dirtiness and all the bad behavior from yourself. So these things people no longer understand. So before you go to Hajj, study the meaning of Hajj.
Hajj is the culmination of everything. In Rukun Islam, you do your 5 tenets of faith, you have your Shahadah, you have your fasting, praying, zakat and when you go to Hajj, it is the culmination of everything. That’s why when people ask me, what should I prepare when going to Hajj? Actually, Hajj is the pinnacle. Everything that you have practiced from Zikr, Quran, good behavior, Tawakkal, Zuhud, patience, everything that you have practiced in Islam, comes to test in that 1 testing round.
That’s why Allah says, “Fusuq wa la jidal” don’t quarrel, don’t fight when you go to Hajj and it’s very difficult to maintain your temper when you’re walking around with 3,000,000 people. People doing Tawaf, stepping on your toes, banging their wheelchairs into the back of your heels until it bleeds. It’s not easy. You’ll find that eventually everything goes out the window. You get angry, you show your temper, you shout at people and there are even fistfights, even people bleeding, broken glasses which we saw during Hajj because of anger and people banging each other during Tawaf.
So to go to Hajj, if you ask me that question, how do I prepare? Your whole lifetime you’re preparing for this Hajj because every sifat of badness that you throw will make your Hajj easier. Every goodness that you make into your sifat, part of your attributes, part of your behavior will help you when you are there because it is a journey of much patience.
Insha Allah, prepare for Hajj and Mawlana was saying make a firm intention meaning register. In Singapore we register with Muis, pay the $200 plus and then wait for your turn. Even if say 30 years, nevermind. At least you paid, you’re making an intention, and you start to put some money aside. If by the time at the end of your life, you have not been called for Hajj, Mawlana was saying don’t worry, you have made the intention. Allah will not punish you, Allah will accept as if you have done the Hajj because it was your intention.
So do that, prepare for Hajj from now, even though you say I’m young, MashaAllah, better to go young. I’m thankful to Allah that I went 30 years ago because today I have difficulty even walking up the stairs. I would have great difficulty if I have to do Hajj at this age by myself. It was very difficult. In my younger days I went when I was 33.
I went with a group of young guys like myself and we were “macho muchacho” we walked from Makkah, we walked to Mina, from Mina to Muzalifah, Muzalifah to Arafah, we were young strong men and we could do such things. But today, MashaAllah, I just walked to the bus, I sat on the bus and I’ll take the bus to my destination. So it’s not easy. I would suggest if you are young, you can go young. I thank Allah I went in my young days because Masha Allah today I don’t think I can do it.
So these 10 days, as if you’re at Hajj, those of you who are doing the Qurban, Qurban is the greatest Amal you can do in these 10 days besides Hajj. So if you can afford, don’t stinge on it. Don’t say, “I did last year already what, how come I must do again?” Every year you should do for your family and yourself and the one paying for the Qurban in your family, this person cannot cut the fingernails and hair or shave the body as if you are like a pilgrim in Ihram. The rest of the family are not affected.
I get this question all the time, so I’m trying to be very clear because throughout the past 10 years, everyday people messaged me, my son cut his hair, he got school, my wife cut her hair, etc. Only the person paying, the one who is responsible for the payment, that person cannot cut nails and hair. The rest of the family is not under any restriction. So try to do Qurban as much as you can.
So Insha Allah these 10 days coming, be happy. The sign of a Muslim is he’s always happy. A Mu’min, a believer is very happy when Allah is sending him these special days, days in which he can draw close to Allah, seek forgiveness and book your place in Jannah, that Allah will grant you eternal forgiveness, Allah will grant you eternal blessings and favors, Allah save your ancestors, Allah protect your descendants in this dunya so that they don’t fall into the hands of iblis and shaitan. Do the Qurban for the sake of Allah and Insha Allah, Allah says in the holy Quran it’s not the blood or the hair or the meat that will reach to me, it is your Intention.
There’s a very beautiful deep lesson for all of us in everything that you do. Mawlana was saying, in everything that you do, check your intention, it must be sincere for Allah, it must be for the sake of the pleasure of Allah, that you must always say to yourself, “I’m seeking that Allah is happy with me in everything that I do.”
May Allah grant us to be people who are always seeking Allah’s pleasure. May Allah grant us to meet and fulfill these 10 days to the best of our ability. May Allah grant us all the worshipping that we can squeeze in into these 10 full days, Insha Allah. So until the 10th day, that means the day of Eid itself also, be in Zikrullah, in all sorts of praising of Allah Almighty, because for this period, we can recite the Takbir all the way to the end of the Tashreeq.
That means in Hari Raya night is so short, we only do the Takbir Raya only from Isyak until the next morning when we go for the prayers. But for this period, you can start from the day of Arafah, you can begin reciting the takbir Raya all the way until Asar on the last day of Tashreeq. Tashreeq is 3 days, when you go to Hajj you will learn you can do 2 days if you like or you can do 3 days. You can choose if you are not feeling well, you’re not able to, you can just take 2 days of Lontar Jamrah, you can do the throwing of the stones for 2 days. Those able-bodied people can do up to 3 days Insha Allah. May Allah grant us to go to Hajj one day, Insha Allah with our loved ones.
Save up, may Allah grant us the means to go to, health, wealth, knowledge to have a Hajj that is Mabrur Insha Allah.
Bi hurmatil Habib, bi hurmatil Fatiha.
Take a moment to reflect and benefit from the full Sohbah below:
For more resources on Hajj (Dhul Hijjah), please click here.
Google Drive to the full devotions can be found here.
Wassalam.
Our beloved Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan reunited with his true love, Allah Almighty, on 11 November 2023.
May Allah forgive his shortcomings, bestow upon him endless blessings, mercy, and light, and elevate his rank for the sincerity of his efforts and contribution during his lifetime.
May he be placed amongst those closest and dearest to Allah Almighty.
Al-Fatiha for Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan.
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