Of all the days of this world, the most excellent are the Blessed Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah. Allah has preferred the Ten Days Dhul-Hijjah over All the other Days of the year.

"By the dawn, By the ten nights And by the even and the odd" surah al-Fajr 89:1-2 

The virtue of these ten days is confirmed in the Qu'ran that Allah swears an oath by them, and swearing an oath by something is suggestive of its importance and great benefit. Allah says: "By the dawn; by the Ten nights…" Surah Fajr 89:1-2 in the opening above verse of Qu'ran. 

Ibn 'Abbas says about the Ayah, "Remember Allah during the well known days," that it refers to the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah.

Dhul-Hijjah (the Month of Hajj) is the 12th month of the Islamic lunar year. It is during this month that the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, known as Hajj, takes place. The actual pilgrimage rites take place on the 8th to 12th days of the month.

According to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the first ten days of this month are a special time for devotion. During these days, preparations are underway for those who are undertaking the pilgrimage, and most of the actual pilgrimage rites occur. In particular, the 9th day of the month marks the Day of Arafat, and the 10th day of the month marks the Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). Even for those who are not travelling for the pilgrimage, this is a special time to remember Allah and spend extra time in devotion and good deeds.

There is no day on which Allah frees more people from the hellfire than on the day of Arafah; on this day sins are forgiven, Allah becomes closer to his slaves, His Angels boast of the people standing on the plain of Arafah, as they stand, humbly, sacrificing, remembering Allah and seeking His forgiveness. This is the day of the Great Pilgrimage; a day of praise for Allah, a day of remembrance and repentance.

So fast this day of Arafah and make for yourselves a portion of Qu'ran to read or remembrance to make and seek His forgiveness, in the hope that He will accept it from you and shower you in His mercy, in both this life and the next. And who from us is not in need of this great bounty?

It was during the Ten Days of Dhul-Hijja that Allah accepted the repentance of Adam, when He relented toward him and restored him to His grace at Arafa.

It was during those Ten Days that Abraham the Bosom Friend-Ibrahim al-Khalil (peace be upon him) obtained the bosom friendship bestowed upon him by Allah, having sacrificed his wealth for the sake of the guests, himself for the sake of the fires, his son for the sake of the Criterion-Furqan, and his heart for the sake of the All-Merciful.

It was during those Ten Days that Abraham Ibrahim (peace be upon him) constructed the noble Ka'ba.

It was during those Ten Days that Allah honoured Moses peace be upon him) with intimate conversation.

It was during those Ten Days that forgiveness descended upon David-Dawud (peace be upon him).

It is recommended that we make takbir i.e. to say Allah Akbar (Allah is the Greatest), tahlil, la ilah illa Allah (there is no deity except Allah) and tahmid to praise Allah by saying al-hamdullilah hamdan kathiran.

Therefore, we find in the hadith of ibn Umar, “Make tahlil, takbir and tahmid much on these days.” Al-Imam al-Bukhari said that Ibn Umar and Abu Hurayrah would go into the market in the first ten days [of Dhul Hijjah] and make takbir and the people would follow them.

He also said that Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, would be in his tent in Mina and make takbir until the people in the mosque heard him and would follow him making takbir. Indeed the people in the markets of Mina also followed them until the whole of Mina would shake with takbir. They would also make takbir after their prayers, whilst riding, whilst walking and whilst in their gatherings and it is appropriate that we also revive this practice.

Included among the Ten Days;
 

8 th of Dhul-Hijjah Day of Tarwiyya ;
9 th of Dhul-Hijjah Day of ‘Arafa Yawm -‘Arafa – day on which Allah perfected His Religion
10 th of Dhul-Hijjah Day of sacrifice- Qurbani [Yawm an-Nahr ] day of 'Eid al-Adha. the greatest day of the entire year and the greatest day of Hajj, which combines acts of worship in a way unlike any other day.

‘The chieftain-sayyid of the months is the month of Ramadan, and the mightiest of them in sanctity -hurma is Dhul-Hijjah'. Tradition ......‘Of all the days of this world, the most excellent are the Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah.' Tradition

When someone asked: "Is there nothing to match them, not event in fighting for the cause of Allah he replied: There is nothing to match them, not even in fighting for the cause of Allah, unless it be a man who rubs his face in the dust.

Of all the days, there are none in which Allah (Exalted is He) more dearly loves to have worshipful service performed for His sake, other than the Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah.

If someone devotes the Ten Days to fasting, Allah will record a whole year of fasting in his credit column, for each and every one of those days.

For each and every day you devote to fasting , you will be credited with the freeing of a hundred slaves , with a hundred she-camels for you to guide in caravan, and with a hundred mares for you to ride in fighting for the cause of Allah.

Then, when it comes to the Day of Tarwiyya -8 th of Dhul-Hijjah , you will be credited with the freeing of a thousand slaves , with a thousand she-camels for you to guide in caravan, and with a thousand mares for you to ride in fighting for the cause of Allah.

Then, when it comes to the Day of ‘Arafa - 9 th of Dhul-Hijjah , you will be credited with the freeing of two thousand slaves , with two thousand she-camels for you to guide in caravan, and with two thousand mares for you to ride in fighting for the cause of Allah. Fasting on this day will forgive for the sins of two years, that is, You will also be credited with keeping the fast in the year before this one, and in the year to come after it .'

10th of Dhul-Hijjah is known by most as 'Eid al-Adha . It is incumbent for the Muslim ( who is not making Hajj) to make every effort to perform the `Eid Prayer wherever it is performed, and to be present for the Khutbah and benefit from it. He must know the wisdom behind the legislation of this `Eid. It is a day of thankfulness and performing deeds of righteousness. So, he must not make it a day of wildness, pride and vanity. He should not make it a season of disobedience and increase in the forbidden things like, uncontrolled amusement, intoxicants and the like - those things which could cause the cancellation of the good deeds done in these ten days of Dhul-Hijjah.

‘Of all the days on which righteous work is performed, nothing is dearer to Allah than a man who does righteous work during these days'. meaning Ten Days Dhul-Hijjah.

No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on these Days , the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah. The Companions submitted: ‘O' Messenger of Allah, not even fighting (carrying on Jihad) in the cause of Allah? He (S.A.W) answered: yes not even Jihad in the cause of Allah except in the case of a person who goes on Jihad along with his life and his property and does not come back with either (i.e he is martyred in the Jihad) Tradition.

Allah has preferred the Ten Days Dhul-Hijjah over All the other Days of the year.

The scholars of Islam, in discussing the virtue and excellence of the these Days say it is because they combine the essential acts of worships in Islam including prayer, fasting, supererogatory acts, charity and pilgrimage, as these are not present in any other days.

For this reason they said that the first Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah are the best days of the year, in the same way that the Last ten Nights of Ramadhan are the best Ten Nights of the year. With no exceptions, not even the last Ten Days of Ramadhan. But the Last Ten Nights of Ramadhan are better, because they include Laylat al-Qadr ("the Night of Power"), which is better than a thousand months. The key word here is Day not Night being mentioned to clear any confusion.!

Also, Fasting any of the 1st Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah is equivalent to fasting one year and to offer salatul tahajjud (late-night prayer) during one of its nights is like performing the late night prayer on the night of power-Laylatul Qadr.

The question here then is, after knowing the virtue and excellence of these days, “What is preferred for us to do in these days and how can we benefit from them?” In fact the ways to do good are many and the gates to righteous action are wide and spacious and indeed, the bounty of Allah is even greater. As Allah reminds us in the Quran, “What ever you perform from good then you will find it with Allah and this is better for you and greater in reward.” (73:20)

There were four practices that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) never failed to observe, namely: 

1. Fasting during the Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah;
2. Fasting on the Day of 'Ashura';
3. Fasting on at least three days in every month;
4. Two cycles of voluntary ritual prayer (2 Nafil rak'ats) before the prescribed prayer of early morning.

Praise be to Allah who has made some months and days/nights better than others, were rewards are multiplied many times over, as a mercy towards His slaves. Encouraging them to do more righteous deeds and makes them more eager to worship Him and renew his efforts to gain a greater share of reward.

Such an opportunity to correct ones faults and make up for any shortcomings or anything that one might have missed cannot be ignored. NO for this is the occasion for EXTRA worship through which the slaves may draws closer to Allah and gains blessing of His favours and mercy.

Remmber 'There is no day in which Allah liberates more servants from the hellfire than the Day of Arafa' the question will you be one of those slaves? who will be doing Ibaadah at that time for that Mercy.

“Those who would hasten to do good and supplicated to Us out of hope and fear and were humble.” (21:90)