Yassine Hicham
May 22, 2026
All praise is due to God, the First before all beginning, the Last beyond all end, the Manifest above Whom nothing stands, the Hidden beneath Whom nothing lies.
We bear witness that there is no god but God, alone, without partner. And we bear witness that our master Muhammad is the servant of God and His Messenger, whom God sent as a mercy to all the Worlds.
***
Throughout the long journey of their lives, God Most High opens for His servants seasons of mercy, moments in which He breathes of His generosity into souls and polishes the rust from hearts. Among the greatest of those seasons are the ten days of Dhul Hijja[1], the days by which God swore an oath in His own Book, and which He exalted above all other days, until the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, declared: “There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to God than these days.”[2]
And that is only because these are not merely days of time. They are days of divine election, in which mercies descend as rain upon parched earth, bringing its dead to life and drawing from its depths blossoms and fruit.
It is wonderous that the merit of deeds performed within these days reaches a station surpassing even the ranks of jihad[3], though jihad is the very apex of Islam and the seat of supreme sacrifice. So elevated are they that none exceeds the one who exerts effort within them, save only a man who sets out with his very life and his wealth for the sake of God and returns with nothing. It is as though God willed for His servants to understand that the gates of nearness to Him are sealed only against the heedless, and that the road to His pleasure is not reserved for those of outward heroism alone. A servant may yet attain the highest of spiritual stations while dwelling in his own home, if his heart is sincere, his deeds are pure, and he recognizes the value of these divine outpourings of grace.
This is among the manifestations of a mercy that encompasses all things. For when God willed to make Himself known to His servants, He did not open the first door of that knowledge through the attribute of might or subjugation. He opened it through the attribute of mercy: “Bismi’llah ar-Raḥmān ar-Raḥīm.” As though all of existence begins from mercy, returns to mercy, and is sustained by mercy.
Ar-Raḥmān, the Most Gracious: a mercy that catches you each time you are broken, that arrives before you even know you need it, and that envelops you each time every path narrows before you.
Ar-Raḥīm, the Ever Merciful: a mercy that is constant and abiding, whose treasuries never run dry, whose springs never diminish, and which is never touched by perishing.
Subsequently, when a servant sins, God opens for him the door of repentance. When he weakens, He strengthens him. When he falls, He raises him up. And when he draws near to God by so much as a hand’s span, God draws near to him by an arm’s length.[4]
Nor was He content, glory be to Him, with multiplying one good deed tenfold, or reducing a sin to its equal, or pardoning it altogether. He further established within the rotation of days resting stations for the weary and harbors of shelter for the exhausted heart. As a traveler crossing the desert of life, wearied by the journey and parched by thirst, finds way-stations of provision and rest erected along the road by a generous host.
From this, the honoring of these days is part of the fullness of īmān itself, for the believer reveres what God reveres. When God honors a time, he honors it. When God ennobles a place, he ennobles it. When God elevates a rite, he elevates it in his heart before it ever reaches his tongue. Īmān is nothing other than proper conduct with God, by which the servant learns to weigh all things on the scale of heaven rather than the scale of desire.
And God appointed dhikr[5] as the hallmark of these days, for dhikr is not merely words that pass across the lips. It is a complete and living way of life.
“Subḥān Allāh,” Glory be to God: it lifts the heart towards the contemplation of creation’s grandeur and the perfection of the Creator.
“Al-ḥamdu lillāh,” Praise be to God: it awakens the soul to the rivers of blessing that flow ceaselessly around the human being and within him.
“Lā ilāha illā Allāh,” There is no god but God: it severs from the heart every bond of dependence upon creation, until one sees no Provider but God, no Benefactor but God, no Sustainer but God.
“Allāhu Akbar,” God is Greater: it diminishes the world in the eyes of its companion, until he perceives himself as a poor and humble servant who holds for himself neither harm nor benefit, save by the will of his Master.
None has ever perished except by first tasting the sweetness of his own ego-self, seeing in it power and strength, and becoming, in his own estimation, self-sufficient from his Lord. For this reason, the Qur›ān is filled with the stories of those who passed from the light of īmān into the darknesses of arrogance and heedlessness. When the lower self swells with pride, it veils its companion from God. But when it breaks in humility before Him, the very doors of heaven are opened wide.
Righteous deeds in these days are not confined to any one form over another. Every good is beloved within them, and every act of obedience is multiplied: ritual prayer and fasting, charity and dhikr, pious devotion [taqwā] and the tending of family bonds, reconciliation and acts of excellence. Do not restrict what God has made broad. Do not allow jurisprudential debate to become a path that paralyzes hearts and stifles deeds. For the Prophetic word came broad and all-encompassing, and what the Sacred Law has made general, no one has the right to restrict by personal whim or narrowness of understanding.
Then comes the Day of ‹Arafa[6], the sovereign of these days, the day upon which believing humanity stands upon the plain of ‹Arafāt[7], raising palms in supplication and calling out with a single voice:
“Labbaik Allāhumma labbaik,” Here I am, O God, here I am.[8]
That talbiya[9] is nothing less than the great proclamation of servitude, the renewal of the ancient covenant between the servant and his Lord. It is the echo of the day when God said to all assembled souls: “Am I not your Lord?” and they submissively answered: “Indeed, You are.”[10]
And from God’s mercy toward those who have not performed the Hajj, He granted them a share of its grace, making the fast of the Day of ‹Arafa an expiation for two years, the year that has passed and the year yet to come. What generosity is this! What an ocean of mercy, that it erases what is gone and secures the future before it has even arrived!
The Hajj, moreover, is not the veneration of stones or of mere places. It is the veneration of God’s command as expressed through them, and a living bond connecting this umma to its father Ibrahim, peace be upon him, that beloved, intimate friend of God who laid the very foundations of Monotheism upon the earth. And so this umma became the inheritor of his message, the bearer of his banner, a witness over all of humanity as the Prophets themselves were witnesses over it.
We are the umma of Ibrahim and Muhammad and all the Prophets, an umma united by the Oneness of God, not by blood or race, bound together by īmān and not by empty proclamation. Whoever realizes Monotheism and walks the path of the Prophets is the true heir of Ibrahim, though centuries and continents stand between them.
***
O God, You Who opened for Your servants the gates of Your grace in these blessed days: grant us the fullest portion and share within them. Inscribe for us therein sincere repentance, a heart of humility, illumined sight, the sweetness of dhikr, and the joy of nearness to You.
O God, forgive us our sins, conceal our faults, rectify our hearts, and raise us to the stations of the righteous.
O God, heal our sick, have mercy upon our dead, relieve the anguish of all those in distress among the Muslims, settle the debts of those burdened by debt, and lend Your support to the oppressed in every corner of the earth: in Palestine, in Sudan, in Yemen, and across all the lands of the Muslims.
O God, unite the voice of the Muslims upon truth, join their hearts in love, and lift from them every trial, whether it be open or concealed.
O God, seal for us with a blessed and happy ending. Make the last words we utter in this world the testimony that Lā ilāha illa’llāh, Muḥammadun rasūlu’llāh! Gather us beneath the banner of Your Prophet, and give us to drink from his noble hand a drink after which we shall never thirst again.
[1] Dhul-Hijja is the twelfth and final month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during which the annual pilgrimage (Hajj) takes place. God takes an oath by these ten days in Qur›ān 89:1-2: “By the dawn, and by the ten nights.”
[2] This is a hadith (Prophetic narration) recorded in Ṣaḥiḥ Bukhārī
[3] The Arabic term jihad denotes exertion or striving in the path of God and encompasses a wide spectrum of meanings, including spiritual self-discipline, ethical steadfastness, and, in its particular classical legal sense, armed defense of the community. The article employs the term in its highest classical connotation as the supreme act of sacrifice.
[4] An allusion to the well-known Ḥadīth Qudsī (a sacred narration in which God speaks in the first person) recorded in Ṣaḥiḥ Bukhārī and Ṣaḥiḥ Muslim: “Whoever draws near to Me by a span, I draw near to him by a cubit.”
[5] Dhikr: the Arabic term for the act of invoking, calling upon, and keeping present the name and attributes of God. It encompasses both formal ritual utterances and the broader orientation of the heart. Per translation guidelines, the Arabic term is preserved untranslated throughout this text.
[6] The Day of ‹Arafa [Yawm ‹Arafa]: the ninth day of Dhul-Hijja, considered the spiritual climax of the Hajj pilgrimage. The Prophet described it as the Hajj itself, given its centrality.
[7] ‹Arafāt: a wide plain approximately twenty kilometers east of Mecca where pilgrims gather on the Day of ‹Arafa for the central standing (wuqūf) of the Hajj.
[8] The talbiya in its full form: “Labbaik Allāhumma labbaik, labbaik lā sharīka laka labbaik, inna ‘l-ḥamda wa ‘ni‹mata laka wa ‘l-mulk, lā sharīka lak.” (Here I am, O God, here I am; here I am, You have no partner, here I am; verily all praise, blessing, and dominion are Yours, You have no partner.)
[9] Talbiya: the ritual proclamation of arrival and willing response to the divine call, recited by pilgrims from the moment they enter the state of iḥrām (sacred consecration) until the stoning of the pillar on the first day of Eid. Its root, labbā, means to be wholly present and entirely at the service of another.
[10] This passage refers to the Covenant of ›Alast, the primordial covenant described in Qur›ān 7:172, in which God addressed the souls of all humanity before their earthly creation: “Am I not your Lord?” (alastu bi-rabbikum), and all souls answered, “Indeed, we bear witness” (balā shahidnā).
