Honey, I shrunk my reward.

Dear Noorayans,
Welcome back to our weekly blogs.

Ramadan was a joyous month of mercy and barakah, then we had Eid, and then we had the six days of Shawwal, followed by the sacred months which are four months, three of which are consecutive-Dhul Qu’da, Dhul Hijjah, Muharram.  In this Month of Dhul Hijjah, Allah blessed us with the 10 best days of this worldly life. After the day of Nahr/Eid, the days of Tashreeq, the day of remembering Allah much also has come to an end.

Looking at the crack of dawn this morning, gratitude filled my heart realizing all of this is the Ihsan of Allah. He Subḥānahu Wa Ta'Ala blesses us with different seasons of worship one after the other so that we don’t lose sight of Aakhira.

Glad tidings for those whom Allah granted standing in ‘Arafah, some people raced to Allah with yearning hearts and flowing tears, some were disturbed and worried and were fearful, some others were loving, passionately yearning the contentment of Allah, and majority of them were repentant and hopeful who made their sincere repentance and trusted the promise of Allah and its sincerity.
Most of them deserve Hell, but Allah invited them, made them His guests, then made them witness ‘Arafah, rescued them, saved them, and freed their necks from hell and  from the heaviest burdens of sins because they made Allah as Akbar, by leaving everything behind, hastening to obey Him dusty and disheveled, making Him, only Him Akbar in that moment of time and place.

A moment to ponder, Dhul Hijjah comes at a time when we are generally busy and occupied in our life with chores, family, work, desires, tasks, problems and trials. And Dhul Hijah comes to see how much we love Allah and how much we make Him Akbar in our life in these days at the least, because He is greater than anything we think is great in our life.

While the reward of Ramadan is Forgiveness,
The reward of Dhul HIjjah is the love of Allah…

Did we earn the love of Allah in these best days of the life.
Did we do deeds by which we could earn his love?
Did we seize the day of Arafah and sought forgiveness and Jannah?
Did we come out of Nahr sacrificing our ego and desires?
Did we beautify our hearts with the dhikr in the days of Tashreeq?

Ibn 'Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah sallā-llāhu 'alayhi wa-sallam said, "There are no days during which the righteous action is more beloved to Allah than these days (i.e., the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah)." - Al- Bukhari - Book 9, Hadith 1249

If we evaluate our situation, we will find ourselves far from Allah, very far from the goodness of these blessed days, we will find ourselves deficient in all the good we did, we will find ourselves for not making Allah Greatest… 

Though we did not capitalize in the best days of the world, Allah, al-Kareem has given us Hope, the elixir of life. The Best days of the world are gone, but the blessed months still remain, in which good deeds are multiplied many fold.

So why stay far, why despair, it's time to make up and make amends, and flee to Allah seizing the rest of the month of Dhul Hijjah and an entire month of Muharram and you will definitely find goodness, beneficence, and bounty in its entirety, Because Allah is al-Kareem, Allah is ar-Raheem.

Allah Subḥānahu Wa Ta'Ala did not limit His worship only for the day, or for the night, or for a particular day of the week, or for a particular month, or for a particular season.
Allah Subḥānahu Wa Ta'Ala says at the end of Surah al-Hajj:

This is enough as a proof to continue to strive, and persevere no matter which season of Ibadah it is. Remember the statement of Hasan al-Basri(ra) 
“The life of this world is made up of three days: yesterday has gone with all that was done; tomorrow, you may never reach; but today is for you so do what you should do today.” Hasan Al Basri

 At the end of Surah al-Hijr, Allah Subḥānahu Wa Ta'Ala says,