Saturday, April 01, 2006

The Virtuous Days of Dhul Hijjah

Alhamdulillah, we completed كتاب العيدين (Book of the Two Eids). Unfortunately, there won't be dars for a few weeks we were told. Friday evenings won't be the same till we resume insha'Allah. However, it gives us time to catch up on over 100 of the previous lessons insha'Allah! I'm posting half of my notes now and the rest over the weekend insha'Allah. Please feel free to comment and mention any points I have missed and point out any errors. Jazakumullahu khairan.

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[Lesson 124, (Book of the Two Eids - كتاب العيدين), al Tajrid al Sarih]

Chapter 5: Walking and riding for the Eid prayer and as-Salat should be offered before delivering the khutbah and there is no Adhaan or Iqaamah for it

Imam Bukhari (رحمة الله عليه) wishes to establish three things from this chapter heading:
1. It is permissible to walk or ride to Eid salah, although the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) never rode to a Jinazah or Eid salah. However, the ulema agree that it is permissible to walk or ride/use other transport. There is a hadeeth in Tirmidhi that Ali (رضى الله عنه) said that it is part of sunnah to walk to Eid salah. Ibn Majah (رحمة الله عليه) narrates that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) would walk to Eid salah.
2. Eid salah is performed first before the khutbah (as covered in Lesson 123 – see my posts “Marwan Parts 1 and 2”).
3. For Eid salah there is no Adhaan or Iqaamah.

With regard to the third point, Shaykh mentioned that some Ummayid princes would have the Adhaan given for Eid salah. Abdullah ibn Zubair (رضى الله عنه) also adopted this practice when he was the governor of Makkah. However, after this no-one in the ummah has continued this practice.


Narrated Ata that Ibn Abbas (رضى الله عنه) and Jabir ibn Abdullah (رضى الله عنه) said:
“There was no Adhaan for the salat of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha”.
[Hadeeth 532, al Tajrid al Sarih]


It is interesting to note that the chapter heading mentions ‘no Adhaan or Iqaamah’ but Hadeeth 532 only mentions the absence of Adhaan. This leaves the possibility that there could have been an Iqaamah on Eid at the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). This point tells us about Imam Bukhari’s methodology as he only had a pool of hadeeth which fitted his stringent conditions for this book. He may have considered other hadeeth as authentic but rather than use them in the book itself he eludes to them in his chapter headings. There are narrations by Imam Muslim (رحمة الله عليه) that there was no Iqaamah before Eid salah. These narrations are authentic according to other ulema (any maybe even Imam Bukhari but they do not fit the specific conditions he stipulated for selection in this book, hence he refers to them only in the chapter headings).

Narrated Ibn Abbas (رضى الله عنه):
I offered the Eid prayer with Allah's Apostle (صلى الله عليه وسلم), Abu Bakr (رضى الله عنه), Umar (رضى الله عنه) and Uthman (رضى الله عنه) and all of them offered the prayer before delivering the Khutbah.
[Hadeeth 533, al Tajrid al Sarih]


Hadeeth 533 is about the khutbah being after Eid salah – this topic was covered in detail in lesson 123.

Chapter 7 – Chapter of the virtues of deeds in the days of Tashriq


Narrated Ibn Abbas (رضى الله عنه):

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, "No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on these (first ten days of Dhul Hijjah)." Then some companions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, "Not even Jihad?" He replied, "Not even Jihad, except that of a man who does it by putting himself and his property in danger (for Allah's sake) and does not return with any of those things." [Hadeeth 534, al Tajrid al Sarih]

Shaykh began by explaining that Dhul Hijjah is the final month of the Islamic calendar and is the important month when Hajj takes place. The first 10 days of this month are blessed.

Tashriq refers to 4 days beginning on the 10th of Dhul Hijjah. More about Tashriq will be explained later.

9th Dhul Hijjah is important because it is the Day of Arafah (not the Day of Arafat as Arafat is the plain and the day is known as Yaum –al-Arafah), when the Hujjaj stand on the plain of Arafat. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that all sins of the past and coming year are forgiven if someone fasts on this day. Apart from the penultimate year of his life the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) would fast on this day. In that year he drank milk in front of people so they knew he wasn’t fasting.

The 10th of Dhul Hijjah is the day of Eid and is the first day of Tashriq. The blessed nature of the 10th leads to the following three days being blessed. In total there are 4 days of Tashriq – 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th.

The word Tashriq is also related to the word for dried meat, which would be taken as provisions for Hajj. There is a narration that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) once said to a man who was trembling out of fear in front of him that I am but the son of a woman who would eat dried meat i.e. he (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was saying that he had humble beginnings and there was nothing to be afraid of.

Hadeeth 534 tells us that there are no good deeds done at any other time in the year are superior to the first 10 days of Dhul hijjah, not even jihad expect a person who is martyred.

Imam Tirmidhi (رحمة الله عليه) narrates that there are no deeds which are more beloved to Allah than those done during these 10 days. These are the most virtuous of deeds. Some ulema say that these 10 days are more virtuous than Ramadhan expect the last 10 days of Ramadhan due to the presence of Laylatul Qadr. Other ulema say that these 10 days of Dhul Hijjah are the most virtuous in the year other than Ramadhan. This is a valid difference of opinion. There are narrations that one should excessively recite taqbir in these 10 days.

There are other narrations related to this hadeeth with more explanatory wordings about how no deed can match a deed done in these 10 days not even Jihad. An important point is why did the sahabah ask about jihad? This is because the virtues of Jihad were set in their minds. There are many hadeeth that mention that Jihad is superior to all other deeds. Hadeeth 1204 in the Book of Jihad shows the superiority of Jihad.

Narrated Abu Huraira (رضى الله عنه):

A man came to Allah's Apostle (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and said, "Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward)." He replied, "I do not find such a deed." Then he added, "Can you, while the Muslim fighter is in the battle-field, enter your mosque to perform prayers without cease and fast and never break your fast?" The man said, "But who can do that?" [Hadeeth 1204, al Tajrid al Sarih]


Hence, the superior nature of jihad was set in the minds of the sahabah and thus they specifically asked whether the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah were more virtuous than jihad at other times in the year.

Shaykh then mentioned that although the chapter heading is about Tashriq, the hadeeth is about deeds done in the first 10 days – this shows the genius of Imam Bukhari (رحمة الله عليه). There are 2 explanations for this:
1. Close proximity – when something is close to something blessed it also becomes blessed. For example, Jerusalem is blessed due to the presence of Masjid al-Aqsa. Allah says in the Holy Qur’an:


سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُ

Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things) [17:01]


Hence, this verse shows how the precincts of Masjid al-Aqsa are blessed due to the close proximity of the Masjid. Similarly, the days of Tashriq are blessed due to being in close proximity to the first then days.


2. A second clearer reason for including this chapter heading with the hadeeth is that the first 10 days can be considered to be blessed due to the day of Eid which is the climax of Hajj. Eid is also a day of Tashriq, although it is more commonly known as Eid-ul-Adha. The 10th day is the pivot to which the other days are connected and are blessed as a result.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Masha'Allah another great lesson by shaykh keep up the good work on the blog akhi.