الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي أحل الطيبات، وحرّم الخبيثات، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير،  ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع 

الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر.

 

Muslims, now is the moussem of the Hajj, the greatest journey and the most important pilgrimage that any Muslim can make. At this very moment millions are winding their way there, coming from every corner of the earth to visit the House of Allah. At this very moment millions are entering into ihram or doing their tawaf, circumambulating the Ka’ba in one of the greatest acts of worship that a human being may do. All of them having travelled for one reason and one reason alone - to please their Lord and place themselves at his service.  

“لبيك اللهم لبيك” (At Your service, O Allah, we are at Your service!)… is their call. And for those who make that journey there is rebirth and a tremendous reward. The Prophet said,

 

"من حج البيت فلم يرفث ولم يفسق خرج من ذنوبه كيوم ولدته أمه"

 

“If anyone performs Hajj and keeps away from sexual intercourse and wrong action during it,  then all his wrong actions will be washed away so he will be like the day his mother gave birth to him.” So we ask Allah to grant all those who have made the journey this year that reward and accept their hajjs from them.

But do not be too downhearted if you have not as yet been able to go yourself, or have not yet found the means, for Allah rewards us according to our intentions, not just our actions. And Allah has given the hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world who have not made the journey a glorious substitute - namely, the first ten days of Dhul Hijja which began on Wednesday.

As we have mentioned many times before - not all times are equal in the sight of Allah. Rather, there are certain times that Allah singles out and makes special, multiplying many times the reward of all those who observe and take advantage of them, and these ten days are among them. 

That is indicated by Allah in the Quran, for He makes an oath by those days, something He only does when He wants to indicate how important something is. Allah says:

 

وَالْفَجْرِ وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ

 

the translation of which is, “By the dawn and ten nights, and the even and the odd,”

According to the majority of the mufassirun, the ten nights mentioned here refer to the first ten days of Dhul Hijja, while the ‘even’ refers to the tenth day - the day of sacrifice, and the ‘odd’ refers to the ninth day - the day of ‘Arafat.

And that is also indicated by the Prophet in many hadiths. For example, in one hadith, he said,

 

إن أحبَّ الزمان اإلى الله الأشهرُ الحرمُ وأحبَّ الأشهر اإلى الله ذى الحجة وفضل الله فى ذى الحجة العَشَرَ الأوائل

 

“The most beloved times to Allah are the sacred months, the most beloved of the sacred months to Allah is Dhul Hijjah, and the part of Dhul Hijjah that he most prefers are the first ten days.”

And in another hadith, narrated by Ibn ‘Abbas,

 

“ما من أيامٍ العملُ الصالحُ أحبُ إلى الله فيهن من هذه الأيام” يعني: عشرِ ذي الحجة، قالوا: ولا الجهادُ في سبيل الله؟ قال: ولا الجهادُ في سبيل الله، إلا رجلاً خرج بنفسه وماله، ثم لم يرجِعْ من ذلك بشيء

 

“There are no days during which right action is more beloved to Allah than these days;” meaning the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah. “Not even Jihad in the way of Allah?” the Companions asked. “Not even Jihad in the way of Allah,” the Prophet replied, “unless someone goes out to Jihad, sacrificing both his life and property, and then does not return with either.” So the thing that is most beloved to Allah during these days - and therefore the best way to please him and benefit from them - is to fill them with ‘amal salih - right action. Now there are many forms of right action with which a person may occupy himself during these days for amal salih is a broad term encompassing all acts of obedience to Allah, but there are certain actions upon which specific emphasis is placed.

The first of those is, of course, the hajj, many of the rites of which may only be performed during these ten days, such as standing at ‘Arafat. The reward for an accepted Hajj cannot be measured, it is so great. The Prophet said,

 

حجةٌ مبرورة خيرٌ من الدنيا وما فيها وحجةٌ مبرورة ليس لها جزاءٌ إلا الجنة

 

“An accepted hajj is better than the entire world and everything in it. An accepted hajj brings no less a reward than the Garden.“

The second is fasting. It is narrated that the Prophet used to fast the first nine days of Dhul Hijjah placing special emphasis on the ninth day - the day of ‘Arafat.

 

رُوي عن أبي الدرداءِ رضي الله عنه أنه قال: عليكم بصوم أيَّامِ العشرِ وإكثارِ الدعاءِ والاستغفارِ والصدقةِ فيها، فَإني سمعتُ نبيَكم يقول: “الويلُ لمن حرّم خير أيامِ العشرِ، عليكم بصوم التاسعِ خاصةً فإن فيه من الخيرات أكثرَ من أن يُحصيَها العادُّون”

 

Abu-d’Darda is narrated as having said, “You must fast the ten days [of Dhul Hijja], fill them with dua and istighfar and give a lot of sadaqa during them, for I heard your Prophet say, ‘Woe to those who forbid the good of those ten days. You must fast the ninth day in particular because there are more good things in that one day than anybody could possibly count.’”

And the Prophet is also narrated as having said about fasting that day, 

 

أحتسب على الله أن يكفر السنة التي قبله والسنة التي بعده

 

“I anticipate that [because of fasting it], Allah will forgive both the wrong actions of the year that has just passed and the wrong actions of the year that is just about to start.”

The fast of the day of Arafat was a fast that the Messenger of Allah was never known to have missed and so, for that reason, it is a sunna mu’akadda, a strongly emphasised sunna to fast it. The day of ‘Arafat is without a doubt one of the greatest days of the year. It is a day that every one of us should commemorate and celebrate for it is the day that the deen was made complete.

It is transmitted in the tafsir of Ibn Kathir that a Jewish man said to ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab, “O Leader of the Believers! There is an ayat in your Book which you all recite.  But if it been revealed to us, we would have taken the day (upon which it was revealed) as a day of celebration.” “Which  ayat is that?” Umar asked him. The Jew replied,

 

الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِى

 

the translation of which is, “Today I have perfected your deen for you and completed My blessing upon you.” so ‘Umar said, “By Allah! I know when and where this verse was revealed to the Messenger of Allah. It was the evening of the Day of `Arafah on Friday, both of which are days that we celebrate.”

There is no greater ni’ma - blessing - than Islam and so what day could there be that is more worthy of being honoured than the day upon which it was perfected? And if that were not enough of an honour on its own then there is also the fact that it is the day upon which the greatest number of slaves are freed from the Fire:

 

عن عَائِشَةَ: أنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: مَا مِنْ يَوْمٍ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَنْ يُعْتِقَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ عَبْدًا مِنْ النَّارِ مِنْ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ وَإِنَّهُ لَيَدْنُو ثُمَّ يُبَاهِي بِهِم الْمَلَائِكَةَ

 

‘Aisha narrated that the Messenger of Allah said, “There is no day in which Allah sets free more slaves from the Fire than the Day of Arafat. He draws near and then praises them to the angels.” May Allah make us amongst those who are kept free of the Fire.

And the third type of action that is specified in these days is dhikr. Allah says:

 

وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْلُومَاتٍ

 

the translation of which is, “and they invoke Allah’s Name on known days.” These ‘ayyamin ma‘lumat’ - these ‘known days’ are interpreted by many of the Mufassirun as referring to these ten days at the start of Dhul Hijjah. Although all forms of dhikr are encouraged during these days, certain dhikrs are particularly emphasised. In a hadith narrated by Ibn Umar, the Prophet said,

 

ما مِن أيامٍ أَعظمَ ولا أحبَ إلى الله العملُ فيهن من هذه الأيام العَشرِ فأكثروا فيهن من التهليل والتكبير والتحميد

 

“There are no days during which right actions are greater or more beloved to Allah than these ten days، so do a lot of tahlil, takbir and tahmid during them.” Tahlil is saying ‘la ilaha illa Allah’, takbir is saying ‘Allahu akbar’ and tahmid is saying ‘alhamdu lillah’. It has been narrated of many of the sahaba - including Ibn Umar and Abu Hurayra - that they used to say the takbir throughout the entire ten days, regardless of where they were. Indeed al-Bukhari mentions that, during these ten days, Ibn Umar used to say the takbir aloud when he went out in the marketplace and that others would then repeat it after him. And Ishaq narrates that many of the ‘ulama of the tabi’in used to combine the three types of dhikr we mentioned above and say, throughout the ten days, 

 

الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله والله أكبر ولله الحمد

 

So we ask Allah to give us the success to fill these days with dhikr, fasting and every other sort of right action. And we ask Him to allow us to derive the maximum possible benefit from them.

أقول قولي هذا و أستغفر الله لي و لكم و لسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيم.الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته.

 

Muslims, next Friday will be the day of Eid al-Adha, the day of sacrifice, so-called because it commemorates the day upon which Allah tested His khalil Ibrahim by commanding him to sacrifice his son and he submitted fully and would have done so were it not for the fact that Allah substituted a ram in the place of his son. Allah relates the story in surat As-saaffaat:

 

فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ قَالَ يَا بُنَيَّ إِنِّي أَرَى فِي الْمَنَامِ أَنِّي أَذْبَحُكَ فَانظُرْ مَاذَا تَرَى قَالَ يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ مَا تُؤْمَرُ سَتَجِدُنِي إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مِنْ الصَّابِرِينَ فَلَمَّا أَسْلَمَا وَتَلَّهُ لِلْجَبِينِ وَنَادَيْنَاهُ أَنْ يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ قَدْ صَدَّقْتَ الرُّؤْيَا إِنَّا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْبَلاَءُ الْمُبِينُ وَفَدَيْنَاهُ بِذِبْحٍ عَظِيمٍ

 

the translation of which is, “He said, ‘I am going towards my Lord; He will be my guide. My Lord, bestow on me a right-acting child!’ And We gave him the good news of a forbearing boy. When he was of an age to work with him, he said, ‘My son, I saw in a dream that I must sacrifice you. What do you think about this?’ He said, ‘Do as you are ordered, father. Allah willing, you will find me resolute.’ Then when they had both submitted and he had lain him face down on the ground, We called out to him, ‘Ibrahim! you have discharged your vision.’ That is how We recompense good-doers. This was indeed a most manifest trial. We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice.”

There are two actions that are strongly emphasised sunnas on that day (in other words, actions that the Prophet always did and never left, even though they were never made obligatory for his community), and they are indicated by Allah’s Words in surat al-Kawthar:

 

فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ 

the translation of which is, “So pray to your Lord and sacrifice.” 

The first of these is the Eid prayer which again will be prayed at 8:30. The prayer takes exactly the same form as the Eid prayer on the Eid al-Fitr, but this time people should refrain from eating before the prayer and should come to it fasting. Please note that, because the Eid prayer falls on a Jumua this year, there will be two khutbas - an Eid khutba which will take place immediately after the Eid prayer, and a Jumua khutba which will take place at its normal time.

The second is the sacrifice, which is a strong sunna for all those who are able to afford it - and by able to afford it, we mean that the money they would use to buy it will not be needed by them or their families during the course of the following year. If one is satisfied that one’s family will be adequately provided for, then one should buy a healthy, unimpaired animal to sacrifice, the best being a ram according to the Maliki madhhab and a camel according to the Shafi’i. This sacrifice must be performed after the prayer after the Imam has performed his sacrifice and before Dhuhr, and the reward for it is immense. Aisha narrated that the Prophet said,

 

 

مَا عَمِلَ ابْنُ آدَمَ يَوْمَ النَّحْرِ عَمَلًا أَحَبَّ إِلَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ مِنْ هِرَاقَةِ دَمٍ وَإِنَّهُ لَيَأْتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ بِقُرُونِهَا وَأَظْلَافِهَا وَأَشْعَارِهَا وَإِنَّ الدَّمَ لَيَقَعُ مِن اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ بِمَكَانٍ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَقَعَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ فَطِيبُوا بِهَا نَفْسًا

 

“The son of Adam does no better deed on the Day of Sacrifice than spilling blood (i.e. sacrifice). The sacrificed animal will come forth on the Day of Rising with its horns, hooves and skin (all bearing witness on his behalf). And the blood that is spilt will find acceptance with Allah before it even touches the ground. So, slaughter readily with good grace.”

And Abu Sa’id al-Khudri narrated that he said,

 

“يا فاطمة، قومي إلى أضحيتك، فاشهديها، فإن لك بكل قطرة من دمها ما سلف من ذنوبك.” قالت: “يا رسول الله، ألنا خاصة أهل البيت، أو لنا وللمسلمين؟” قال: “بل لنا وللمسلمين”

 

“Fatima, go to your sacrifice and slaughter it, for with every drop of blood that spills from it, you will be forgiven past wrong actions.” “Messenger of Allah, is that something that only applies to us, the people of the House, or does it apply to all the Muslims?” “It applies to us and to all the rest of the Muslims,” he replied.

If you have the means, there is no better thing on the face of the earth you can spend your money on. We ask Allah to make this up-coming Eid a time of great rejoicing and togetherness. And we ask Him to accept our prayer and our sacrifice, and accept the hajj of all of those who have made the journey to His House this year. 

 

إنَّ اللهَ ومَلائِكَتَهُ يُصلُّونَ على النَّبِي يَا أَيُها الذينَ آمنوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وسَلِّمُوا تَسْليماً. اللهمَّ صَلِّ وسَلِّم وبارِك عَلَيْهِ وعلى آلِهِ وصَحْبِهِ  أجمعين. 

وارض اللهم عن الخلفاء الراشدين أبي بكرٍ وعمرَ وعثمانَ وعلي ، وعن سائر الصحابة أجمعين، خصوصا الأنصارَ منهم والمهاجرين، وعن التابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

اللهم اهد ولاة أمور المسلمين لما يرضيك ولاتباع سنة نبيك صلى الله عليه وسلم  وثبت أقدامهم على الصراط المستقيم وأصلحهم يا رب العالمين.

اللهم بارك على شيخنا، و على أميرنا، وعلى جميع أمراءِ وزعماء المسلمين.  

اللهم بارك على المسلمين في هذه المدينة ووفقهم لما تحبه وترضاه يا أكرم الأكرمين. 

اللهمّ أَعِزَّ الْلإسلامَ والمُسِلمينَ (3)  واَخْذُلِ الكُفْرَ والكافِرينَ، وانْصُرِ المُجاهِدينَ في سَبِيلِ اللهِ. واجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وكَلِمَةَ الكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلى.

ربنا ءاتنا في الدنيا حسنة وفي الأخرة حسنة وقنا عذاب النار. 

اللهم لا تضعْ في مقامِنا هذا ذنبا إلا غفرْتَه، ولا عيبا إلا سترْتَه، ولا مريضا إلا شفيتَهُ وعافيتَه، ولا مسجونا إلا طلَّقْتَ سراحَه، ولا مسافرا في برِّك وبحرِك إلا سلِمتَهُ وغنِمْتَه.

إن الله يأمر بالعدل والإحسان وإيتاء ذي القربى وينهى عَنِ الفحشاءِ والمُنكَرِ والبغي، يعظكم لعلكم تذكرون، ولَذِكْرُ اللهِ أكبر والله يَعْلَمُ ما تَصْنَعُون. وقُومُوا إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يرحمكم الله