All acts of righteousness and goodness are beloved to Allah. That is because Allah is good and only accepts that which is good. The acts of righteousness are many and plentiful, which we will allude to.
These beloved acts are even more beloved to Allah in the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, because these are great days. What makes them great is the fact that the Messenger of Allah SAW has informed of this.
In a rigorously authenticated hadith; he declared, “There are no days in which the good actions are more beloved to Allah than in these days.”
This is a great and generous statement, from the Prophet of generosity; the most generous of creation; conveying from The Most Generous Being: Allah Al-Kareem.
“No days” means that these days beat all other days. They are at the top. They are the best, excelling the rest.
So, a Muslim who hears such a generous statement can only think: “What a great opportunity!” and quickly plans these days to make the most of them. This Muslim uses this opportunity to make healthy and wealthy deposits in his “ḥasanāt” or good deeds account. Especially, at a time when the world is suffering from the dreaded “credit crunch”: which is restricting certain patterns of living for some people. There are a lot of people going bankrupt and into negative equity. The Muslim tries to make use of this occasion to make large deposits into his ḥasanāt account, by doing all sorts of good deeds.
Some people debate which are better: these ten days or the last ten days of Ramadan. What I say: is forget about which is better; and concentrate on doing the deeds: the good actions.
“Which is better?” is a dispute we leave to the scholars. The one seeking pleasure from Allah isn’t going to engage in ‘which is better’; because he is going to do as many good deeds in both. One being better than the other doesn’t mean one should do worship in one and leave the other.
The very fact that this issue wasn’t addressed at the time of the Prophet ﷺ shows us that community wasn’t engaged in talk, but action.
Another thing is that many emails, articles, etc. talk about what acts should one do in these ten and a list emerges which looks like this:
• Fasting:
• Remembrance
• Quran Recitation
• Takbīr
• Giving charity
• Sacrifice
• Night prayer
What I say: is lists are helpful, but deprived of the real essence. I have already explained, that the Prophet ﷺ said: All actions , therefore one must do as much of all good deeds as possible; and with good intention convert one’s normal daily activities to good deeds, moreso to attain the multiplied reward from Allah, Most High.
Not only that, but the best good deeds are the ones where the benefits extend to others: the more the merrier. So, let us plan these ten days, and think like businessmen who want to trade with Allah to achieve the most profit.