# Episode 2: The Best Good Deeds **Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman **Series:** Virtues of Dhul Hijjah **Published:** 2019-08-02 **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6hwLpI4NC0 **URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-2-the-best-good-deeds-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah **Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia ## Description How blessed are the good deeds of Dhul Hijjah and how should we engage them? In this episode, Dr. Omar Suleiman explores the famous Hadith on virtues of good deeds in this month and how the pious predecessors responded to it. Episode Transcript (Note: the transcript has been edited for clarity)... ## Transcript **[0:01]** The Best Good Deeds of the Prophet Muhammad Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome back to the virtues of the hijjah. So the famous hadith in which the Prophet peace be upon him mentions the best good deeds **[0:16]** is one that really gives us a time to reflect and why the best good deeds are the ones that are performed in these ten days. The Prophet peace be upon him said that there is no deed better in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or more greatly rewarded than a good deed that **[0:32]** is done in the first ten days of the hijjah. And they asked the Prophet peace be upon him wa la al jihadu fee sabili Allah, not even striving in the path of God. He said wa la al jihadu fee sabili Allah, not even striving in the path of Allah unless someone goes out with themselves and with their wealth and they don't come back with anything of it. Now let's give some context **[0:52]** to this. First of all for those that are tuning in jihad does not mean terrorism. This does not mean killing innocent people. This is referring to a noble struggle and the Prophet peace be upon him is mentioning here a person that went out and lost everything. Meaning they sacrificed their lives, **[1:08]** they sacrificed their wealth, they sacrificed everything in this noble cause. Some of the scholars say that this hadith is referring to Musab ibn Umair may Allah be pleased with him who became Muslim and as he became Muslim was persecuted in Mecca and this was the richest **[1:23]** and most wealthiest man, the trendsetter of Mecca. A young man that everyone looked to who had the most expensive smelling scents, who had the most expensive clothes and he was persecuted, run out of Mecca, migrated to Medina with the Prophet peace be upon him. In fact was the one that **[1:40]** introduced Islam to the people of Medina and then Musab may Allah be pleased with him was killed in the battle of Uhud and they could not even find enough cloth to cover Musab's entire body. So this man who literally sacrificed everything radi allahu ta'ala anhu and he is the manifestation of this. **[1:58]** In another hadith the Prophet peace be upon him was asked about what the best form of struggle is, what the best form of jihad of his sabihillah is and he mentioned a person who goes out and in the process of this battle loses absolutely everything. So what does this mean for us when **[2:15]** we're talking about the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah? Well the Prophet peace be upon him is saying that the good deeds that are done in these 10 days are better than not just al jihad of his sabihillah but what he said in another narration was the best form of al jihad of his sabihillah. And in this **[2:32]** situation the Prophet peace be upon him is saying that the good deeds of these 10 days surpass the good deeds done in any other 10 days of the year. So this is another interpretation of the hadith or another benefit that the scholars extracted from it. They said that the Prophet peace be upon him **[2:49]** is saying any good deed done in these 10 days is better than a good deed done in any other 10 days of the year. And this is similar to the Prophet peace be upon him mentioning the superiority of dhikr, the superiority of remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to al jihad of his sabihillah **[3:05]** in certain contexts and narrations. And in another hadith the Prophet peace be upon him was asked what the best deeds are. He mentioned al imanubillah, to have faith in Allah and then he was asked then what he mentioned al jihad of his sabihillah and then he was asked then what he said **[3:20]** al hajj. So here the Prophet peace be upon him is saying that there is a superiority of these of these good deeds. Any good deed that you do in these 10 days would surpass even the best of good deeds even at the best of times. And that's really what you start to see with the companions of the **[3:39]** Messenger peace be upon him and the pious predecessors is that they took these 10 days very very very seriously. That they pushed themselves in ways that we would not typically push ourselves today. Ramadan kind of creates this feel where everyone is together, everyone is performing all types of **[3:56]** things together. But in these 10 days you typically don't see people exerting themselves the way that they would in Ramadan because there isn't a community exertion. However you find from the companions, Sa'eed bin Jubair he says that Ibn Abbas who narrates the hadith and typically you look to **[4:15]** those that narrated the hadith and you see how they implemented the hadith. That Ibn Abbas may Allah be pleased with him and his father who narrated this hadith used to disappear in these 10 days. He was so busy with his good deeds in these 10 days that no one could reach him in these 10 days. Right which is really beautiful that he's the one who narrates the narration the hadith from **[4:34]** the Prophet peace be upon him about the virtues of these 10 days and that he was the person that you could not reach in these 10 days because of how much he would busy himself. So the question is why? What makes these 10 days so special? What makes good deeds in these 10 days so special? **[4:51]** Scholars mention a few reasons. One of them is that they say that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala completed the religion in these 10 days. Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that today I have completed your religion for you, perfected your religion for you. And I have completed my favor upon you and chosen Islam for you as your **[5:12]** religion. That because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala perfected the religion within these 10 days that that in and of itself signifies its virtue. Ibn Hajar may Allah be pleased with him he also said that all of the good deeds are combined in these 10 days in a way that they are not in any other **[5:30]** time. And so there are you know in all of the five pillars of Islam you have an element within these 10 days. You have Hajj, you have the prayer obviously, you have fasting, you have Sadaqah. So you get the Shahada obviously which is the testimony of the oneness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and following **[5:47]** the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And then you've got the Hajj which can't be done any other time. You've got the charity which is constantly done in these 10 days. You've got the fasting which is constantly done in these 10 days as well. And so all of the good deeds all of the pillars of **[6:03]** Islam have a manifestation within these 10 days and you can't find that in any other 10 days of the year. So what do we take from this in these 10 days? Imam Hassan al-Basri rahimahullah was asked what are the best things that we can do in these 10 days? He said the first thing is don't lose **[6:19]** your obligations. Don't lose your obligations because these 10 days celebrate the obligations the pillars of Islam. So don't lose your obligations. And then the second thing is increasing your good deeds, increasing your amal as-salih because in these 10 days the good deeds that are **[6:35]** done are unlike good deeds done at any other time. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to fulfill our obligations, avoid those forms of disobedience and to increase those good deeds in a way in these 10 days that we would not in any other time of the year without neglecting those good deeds in the other times of the year. Allahuma ameen. Jazakumullah khairan wa salamualikum **[6:53]** wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. ## Other Episodes in "Virtues of Dhul Hijjah" - [Episode 10: "And in That Let Them Rejoice"](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-10-and-in-that-let-them-rejoice-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md) - [Episode 9: The Wonders of 'Arafah](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-9-the-wonders-of-arafah-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md) - [Episode 8: 3 Years of Fasting](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-8-3-years-of-fasting-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md) - [Episode 7: The Sacrifice](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-7-the-sacrifice-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md) - [Episode 6: The Preferred Forms of Remembrance](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-6-the-preferred-forms-of-remembrance-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md) - [Episode 5: Fasting the First 9 Days](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-5-fasting-the-first-9-days-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md) - [Episode 4: The 10 Days of Moses](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-4-the-10-days-of-moses-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md) - [Episode 3: The Days Allah Swears By](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-3-the-days-allah-swears-by-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md) - [Episode 1: The Sacred Months](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/episode-1-the-sacred-months-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah.md)