Imam Zaid Shakir on successful days of Dzul Hijjah and beyond

Bismillah.

Al-Hamdu lillah, we are still lingering in the first ten blessed days of Dzul Hijjah. On a personal level, the days have been very challenging. But that is the nature of our world says Imam Zaid Shakir in his Dzul Hijjah address. He said, "Imam Ali said, 'whoever knows the nature of this world, trials become easy to deal with.' So we should not be surprised by it. Nor should we be waylaid by it. We should just "take it on with patience and dignity because there is a tremendous reward in it."

Earlier today,  we learned from the booklet gifted at the recent Haul of Imam al-Haddad that there are four weapons for a mukmin to face the Iblis (shayatin): seek solace in a masjid, read the Qur'an, perform solah and gaze the countenance of the 'aleem and zahid.

And yes, al-Hamdu lillah, we felt a little better after watching Imam Zaid Shakir spoke very succinctly, reminding us of the fundamentals of our existence and doing the basics to make the Dzul Hijjah days as successful days, InshAllah.

He said, "We should continue to do the work we are here for that is striving to attain Jannah and to behold our Lord and to serve others. We should be asking ourselves, am I serving Allah? Am I depositing my trust in Allah? Am I serving humanity? Am I doing anything to push people to become better?" He encouraged us to take advantage of the first ten days of  Dzul Hijjah because scholars have agreed that the days of Dzul Hijjah are better, while the nights of the last ten days of Ramadhan are better.

"We should be reading the Qur'an with the same himmah (enthusiasm) we may have in Ramadhan. A day where the Qur'an is left untouched on the shelf is not a successful day. Make the days successful by saying a kind word to people, by removing a harmful thing from the path, by smiling and meeting people with a cheerful countenance. If we could do all that, then that's a good day."

Imam Zaid Shakir further said that "a successful life is merely a succession of successful days. So worry not about having a successful life. Instead, let's worry about our days and let it be successful because we take the time to remember Allah, to read the Book of Allah, to counsel our brothers and sisters and to extend a helping hand to someone in need of assistance. If we could do all that day after day, we'll have a successful life. May our lives, may our days, may our hours, our moments be successful. And may they be filled with the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala..."

Wallahu a'lam. The above is not a verbatim/complete transcript. Please watch the full video here.