12.20.2006

Dhul-Hijjah is approaching fast!

What will you do during the first ten days of this special month? We all know that there are many Muslims who will make hajj this year. Perhaps someone we know is on their way now. But, how can we show spiritual solidarity with the pilgrims?

Inshallah I'm going to sit together with my eldest kids and make plans for the ten days ahead.
As I am learning and growing in Islam, I pass on my knowledge to them. (How important it is to educate females!) I must admit that before this year, I was not aware of the virtue of the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah. Now that I know, I want my whole family to make a serious effort to maximise this time.

May we fill these days with sacrifice, good deeds and sincere repentance.

Like this ummah, my children are all so different, in terms of their personas, their levels of iman and their expression of love for Allah. Their hearts are in different states yet we always find ourselves agreeing that we truly need Allah. I've got a teenager and two preteens in the house and there are all kinds of crazy things going on lately. I'm thankful for this period of ten days. We can get together and focus on working together to achieve the goals we set for this period. We can come together to concentrate on serving Allah.

With all the devisive behaviour we are seeing from our brothers and sisters worldwide, I pray that during this first third of this month of Dhul-Hijjah we can stand together, not just on Arafat, but in Baghdad, Beirut, Palestine and all the other places where Muslims are killing eachother physically and spiritually. Even in "peaceful" places, Muslims allow themselves to be divided by factors such as "race", culture and nationality. If we could somehow put aside our differences for ten days, what would happen?

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