The Virtue of the Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the Pious, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows:
We are in this night, the night of the seventeenth of the month of Dhul Qa'dah in the year 1418, meeting with our brothers as is our custom in the monthly gatherings, which we ask Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to make beneficial for us and for everyone among the people who reaches them. Since the ten days of Dhul Hijjah have drawn near and the Muslims are preparing for Hajj to the House of Allah the Sacred, I thought it appropriate that our meeting tonight be around these two topics: The first topic is the ten days of Dhul Hijjah. Regarding these ten days, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Based on this noble hadith: We should strive in righteous deeds in these ten days, such as fasting, dhikr, reading the Qur'an, frequent prayer, charity, and doing good to creation, and other things that bring one closer to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). For righteous deeds in these ten days are better than righteous deeds in the last ten days of Ramadan, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) generalized with a confirming generalization by saying: It is incumbent upon students of knowledge to spread awareness among people regarding the virtues of these ten days, because people are heedless of them and ignorant of their virtues; they need to be reminded and need knowledge and understanding. The most emphatic of these days for fasting is the Day of 'Arafah, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about fasting on the Day of 'Arafah and said: As for what some people do of specifically fasting on the seventh, eighth, and ninth days, thinking that there is a special merit in that, this is an error. Yes, if it is one's custom to fast three days of every month and he fasts on the seventh, eighth, and ninth in place of the days he used to fast, there is no harm. But to say that it is from the Sunnah to fast on the seventh, eighth, and ninth, this has no basis. So regarding the ten days, it is either the Day of 'Arafah only, or all ten days. As for one whose custom is to fast three days of the month and he makes the seventh, eighth, and ninth those days, there is no blame on him.