The First Ten Days: Provision for Seekers of the Lord's Pleasure

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 2025-05-28 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

The Doctor opened the khatira by praising Allah and invoking blessings and peace upon His Messenger ﷺ, then asked Allah for the good of this day, the good of what is in it, and the good of what follows it, and sought refuge in Him from the evil of this day, the evil of what is in it, and the evil of what follows it. He said: O Allah, set right for us our religion, our worldly life, and our Hereafter; prepare for us right guidance in our affair; bless us in what You have provided for us; protect us from the punishment of the two Fires; turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the Hereafter; have mercy on our weakness, mend our brokenness, ease our affairs, fulfill our needs, and arrange what lies before us.

Seasons of Goodness and the Falling Away of Excuses

All the seasons of goodness are, for the people of faith, seasons of worship. And when Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, grants His servants the means and the times, He has left us without excuse, and we have no excuse before Allah afterward if we do not seize what He has granted us.

It came in the ḥadīth from the Prophet ﷺ: «ما من أيامٍ العملُ الصالحُ فيها أحبُّ إلى الله من هذه الأيام العشر» ("There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days").^[1] And who made this decree in His days and His creation? It is Allah, Blessed and Exalted. So if Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, tells us of the greatness of a time, then that time was truly great, and the one who falls short in these times has no excuse before the Lord of Might, glory be to Him.

Appointed, Known Days

We hear the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْلُومَاتٍ﴾ ("and mention the name of Allah on known days")^[2] and the Lord of Might speaks to us of appointed, known days. They are "appointed" because they are few in number; they are not many. And they are "known" among the people of the earth and the people of heaven. It is as though I see the angels awaiting what people will do in these days, knowing the one who works in them from the one who does not, watching the movement of human activity between those who compete to obtain the bounty of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, and those idlers who slept and sat out such acts of worship of the Lord of the worlds.

Return and Repentance

So who will comply with what Allah, Blessed and Exalted, has commanded in such days? Allah, glory be to Him, loves to see from His servants a turning back to Him and a return. And what does that mean? Repentance, that we seek the forgiveness of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. And the people of Ḥajj there now are saying the talbiyah and seeking forgiveness from Allah, Blessed and Exalted, for their past sins, and making of it a dividing period of time between what was and what will be.

Takbīr, the Slogan of the Days

If that is so, then the basic principle in these days is takbīr. And that was the practice of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, who never ceased from takbīr in these ten days: الله أكبر، الله أكبر، لا إله إلا الله، والله أكبر، الله أكبر ولله الحمد (Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, there is no god but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, and to Allah belongs all praise). Our Lord, glory be to Him, informed us of that, and we came to know it from the practice of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ.

And when we want to make a slogan in our lives and grow accustomed to it for a period of time until we root it in our souls and establish it in our hearts, that is the goal. And he spoke of the places of takbīr in the prayer and in the adhān, where it is repeated: الله أكبر، الله أكبر، لا إله إلا الله (Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, there is no god but Allah).

What Takbīr Does in the Heart

Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is exalted above any likeness. And Allah has prescribed takbīr so that the hearts of the believers may sense that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is above everything and above everyone, and hence the believer, through takbīr, dares to confront and challenge all of Allah's creation, Blessed and Exalted. For Allah, whom nothing in the earth or in the heavens can overwhelm, who is able to do all things in the earth and in the heavens and what lies beneath them, glory be to Him, the Exalted, is my God, my Creator, and the Manager of my affair, and He is the One whose help I seek and to whom I cry for aid, glory be to Him, exalted on high.

Closing Supplication

Then he said: Seek help in Allah, Blessed and Exalted, and be patient^[3], and ask Allah, glory be to Him, for steadfastness upon guidance and goodness. I ask Allah, the Exalted, to establish our religion for us, and to establish it in our hearts, and to preserve for us the well-being of our hearts, our eyesight, and our insight. O Allah, keep our bodies sound; O Allah, make them obedient to You, O Lord of the worlds. O Allah, we ask You for well-being in all our affairs, and we ask You, our Lord, for Your pleasure and Paradise. O Allah, amen, O Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The opening of the ḥadīth was not given in the transcription, and the wording recorded is the one narrated by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn Mājah from the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, and its origin is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Ḥajj, verse 28, in which it says: ﴿لِيَشْهَدُوا مَنَافِعَ لَهُمْ وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْلُومَاتٍ﴾ (that they may witness benefits for themselves and mention the name of Allah on known days), and the speaker limited himself in the transcription to the point of citation. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The phrase is Qur'anic in origin (Sūrat al-Aʿrāf, verse 128, on the tongue of Moses, peace be upon him), and the speaker cited it as a phrase of advice without attribution.