Dhul-Hijjah Benefit #7

Fasting The Day of 'Arafah Scholars explain the expiation of “the coming year’s sins” in one of three ways: 1⃣. Protection and preservation: Allah protects and guards you from falling into sins and mistakes during that year. 2⃣. Forgiveness of future minor sins: Allah forgives the minor sins that you may fall into during that year before they even occur, so that your record remains clean and pure. 3⃣. An increase in rewards and ranks: If there are no sins to forgive, then the reward of this great deed is not lost. Rather, it becomes a means of increasing your good deeds and raising your status in Paradise. Someone might ask: If wudu wipes away sins, then what does the prayer wipe away? And if the prayers wipe away sins, then what do Jumuʿah prayers and Ramadan wipe away? Likewise, fasting the Day of ʿArafah expiates two years of sins, and fasting ʿAshura expiates one year. And if a person’s ‘Ameen’ matches the ‘Ameen’ of the angels, his previous sins are forgiven. An-Nawawi said in Al-Majmuʿ (6/432): “Each of these acts of worship is suitable for expiating sins. So if a person has minor sins, they erase them. If a person has neither minor nor major sins, then good deeds are recorded for him and his ranks are raised because of them. This is like the prayers, fasting, wudu, and other acts of worship of the Prophets, the righteous, and children. And if a person has major sins, but no minor sins, then we hope that these deeds will lighten the burden of those major sins. Abu Bakr Al-Ishraf said at the end of the Book of Iʿtikaf, in the chapter about seeking Laylat Al-Qadr, regarding the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: ‘Whoever stands in prayer on Laylat Al-Qadr with faith and hoping for reward will have his previous sins forgiven.’ He said: This is a general statement. We hope that whoever stands in prayer on that night with faith and sincerity will have all his sins forgiven — both minor and major.” [end quote] Also, fasting only removes sins if Allah accepts the fast, and the same is true for prayer. It is authentically reported that a person may finish their prayer and only half of it is accepted, while another person may finish their prayer and nothing is accepted from it at all. This is because deeds are not judged only by how they look on the outside or by how many deeds a person does. What truly matters is what is in the heart — such as sincerity to Allah, following the Sunnah, and having a heart focused on worship. So a deed may not be accepted fully. Maybe only part of it is accepted, or even just a small amount. That accepted part wipes away a matching amount of sins. So fasting removes some sins, prayer removes some sins, fasting ʿArafah removes some sins, and fasting ʿAshura removes some sins. So what about the person who keeps falling into sins, is careless, distracted in prayer, neglects parts of the obligatory acts, and leaves the recommended acts? And what if they also do things that weaken or cancel out good deeds? This shows us how important it is to take advantage of blessed times and to make our deeds sincere and correct so that Allah accepts them. Only then will those deeds truly wipe away sins. https://t.me/madrasatunaa/270