Know that Allah SWT has not made the days of the year equal nor he has made all of the timing the same. Rather Allah has preferred certain timing over others. And He has blessed certain period over other period. Hence, it is a time for us to do extra good on those days. And of course, of the days that Allah has chosen is Friday, as Friday is the most blessed day of the week, and the month that Allah has chosen is Ramadhan, as it is the most blessed month of the year. But do you know there are some days that are more blessed than Friday and in fact even more blessed than Ramadhan? Yes indeed. Those days are the first 10 days of Dzulhijjah. And this is the time period that many people of the Muslim Ummah are unaware of the superiority of these 10 days.
Our Prophet Muhammad SAW said that there are no days of the year that are more beloved to Allah that a person do good in those days is on the first 10 days of Dzulhijjah. A man said, "O Messenger of Allah, even Jihad (i.e Allah prefers Muslims to do good deeds to Jihad on this first 10 Days)?" And the Prophet SAW replied, "even Jihad except if a man leaves all his property and wealth and died as a martyr in a battle that is the only thing that is more beloved than a person who is praying and being a good Muslim at these 10 days" (Abu Dawood, Tirmizi, Ibn Majah).
So these 10 days are the most blessed days of the year. In another Hadith, the Prophet SAW said, "There are not any days of the year, that are holier than these 10 days of Dzulhijjah therefore increase in doing good deeds to Allah and increase in saying Allahu Akhbar, Alhamdulillah and Lailahaillallah" (Musnad Ahmad). So increase in doing your Dzikir of Allah. These 10 days are the holiest day of the year. Allah swears by these days in the Quran. Allah says,” Allah swears by Fajr and then the 10 nights or the 10 days" (89:1-2). And the Scholars of Islam have said the 10 nights that Allah swears on are the nights or the days of Dzulhijjah.
Somebody might ask which is the holiest, the days of Dzulhijjah or the Days of Ramadhan? And the response is that the day timing of Dzulhijjah (the first 10) are actually more blessed than the day timing of Ramadhan. But the last 10 nights of Ramadhan are more blessed than the first 10 nights of Dzulhijjah. Hence, the 10 days and nights of Dzulhijjah and Ramadhan, they are all blessed. But the nights of Ramadhan are holier than the nights of Dzulhijjah and the days of Dzulhijjah are more blessed than the days of Ramadhan. So we should increase our good deeds in these day.
What are some of the good deeds that we can do in these days?
1. Hajj and Umrah
Hajj can only be done on these days as these are the days of Hajj. When the Hujjaj all congregate on the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th in the Mina, Muzdalifah, Arafat, these are the days of Hajj and before them, people came to do Umrah. Hence, these are the best deed that we can do. The Prophet SAW said, "When you do an Umrah and then you followed up with another Umrah, the two Umrah cancelled out all the evil done in between.” (Bukhari).
And he said," those who do Umrah and Hajj continuously, it is as if their sins fall off from them like a furnace destroys the evil in a metal ore." (Al-Tirmizi) You throw in raw ore and the furnace get rids of all the impurities, similaryly Hajj and Umrah get rid of all your impurities.
2. Fast
Fasting is a very blessed thing to do in any time of the year but especially in this time of the year. The Prophet SAW said, “Fasting on the day of Arafat will be credited with Allah SWT for forgiving one sins of the previous year and the following year." (Muslim) Now this is only for the Non Hujjaj. If you are doing Hajj, you don't fast. If you are Non Hujjaj, then you fast on the Day of Arafat that is on the 9th Dzulhijjah.
3. Extra Dzikir
That is to do Takbir (Allahu Akhbar), Tahmeed, (Alhamdulillah), Tahleel ( Lailahaillallah). In fact, the Sahaba was so eager to say these things that they would say it out loud even in the market places (al-Bukhari), especially after the prayers during these 10 days. These praises are unconditional praise, meaning that we don't praise at congregated time, we don't praise together, we just praise whenever we want to praise Allah SWT.
4. To repent to Allah SWT from our sins
Again, repentance is something that we should do all the time, but especially on these 10 days. We should repent to Allah and remember that the true repentance is to feel guilty and give up the sins, seek Allah's forgiveness, you turn over a new leaf and you become a better Muslim.
5. To do extra voluntaraly deeds of prayer and charity and read the Quran.
These are the things that we should do throughout the year, and even more during this time. And especially the Tahajjud prayer will be a very blessed thing to do on these 10 days of Dzulhijjah.
6. To sacrifice an animal for the sake of Allah
Give some of the meat to the poor, we may use some of it and we may give some of it to family and friends. This is called the “Udhiyah” or the sacrifice. Some of the Scholars said that Udhiyah is obligatory if you can afford it, and some other says it's recommended. Either way, why should you deprive yourself from the blessings rather every single Muslims who is capable of affording an animal should try his or her best to sacrifice an animal for the sake of Allah and distribute the meat to the poor. One animal suffices a family and if you want to sacrifice a larger animal like camel or a cow, you may get together seven families and then do that. The Prophet SAW said, "Whoever made a sacrifice then Allah SWT will forgive the amount of sins on the hairs of the animal.” (Tirmizi, Ibn Majah)
And the Prophet SAW would make a sacrifice every single year at this time. The sacrifice should be made after the 10th day of Dzulhijjah, i.e after Solat Eid. It can be made on the 10th, or 11th or 12th or 13th. Any of these days, the sacrifice may be made. A point of caution, if you do want to sacrifice an animal, then you should avoid trimming your nails, cutting or clipping your hair to show respect to Allah SWT for the first 10 days of Dzulhijjah before the sacrifice.
7. Pray the Eid prayer.
It is obligatory on every single Muslim to pray the Eid prayer on the 10th of Dzulhijjah .
8. Appreciate the blessings of Allah
Come close to Him during these 10 days through each and every good deed that you can do through intentions, actions, thoughts, prayer and forgiveness. Appreciate the blessings of Allah upon you and be thankful of what He has given you and seek forgiveness for all that you have fallen short.
We should take advantage of the first 10 days of Dzulhijjah and to earn Allah's pleasure through them.
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