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I was about to press play on another podcast about AI and business—a topic that’s fascinating me recently—when something made me pause.
We’re in the blessed 10 days of Dhul-Hijjah, the days where Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught us that there are no days that good deeds are more beloved to Allah (SWT) than these 10 days. And he ﷺ encouraged us to fill these days with Takbeer.
So I found a YouTube playlist of continuous takbeerat and hit play. Within minutes, my home came alive with “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illa Allah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar wa lillahi Alhamd”. Even my children joined in, saying it felt like Eid!
This got me thinking: In our hustle culture, we’ve been conditioned to believe every moment should be “productive”—filled with learning, networking, or advancing our careers. Spending time just saying “Allahu Akbar” can feel… “unproductive”.
There’s a spiritual cost to our endless productivity pursuit. When we fill every quiet moment with podcasts, audiobooks, or more work, we eliminate space for Allah’s remembrance. We become so focused on becoming better professionals that we forget to become better slaves (Abd) of Allah.
The genius of Islam is that it gives us spiritual seasons to remind us of our purpose in life: Ramadan forces us to slow down. The five daily prayers create mandatory pauses. And these ten days of Dhul-Hijjah? They’re asking us to step off the hamster wheel and witness the sacredness of these days and the year’s greatest event: The Hajj.
A Forgotten Practice
Abu Hurairah and Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) had a practice of going to the Madinah marketplace and reciting takbeer out loud.
Picture this: two of the most respected companions of the Prophet ﷺ, standing in the middle of the marketplace, declaring “Allahu Akbar” at the top of their voices.
What moves me most about this story is that the merchants and customers didn’t ignore them or ask them to keep it down. Instead, they joined in, until the entire marketplace reverberated with the declaration that Allah is greater.
The people of Madinah understood something we’ve forgotten: bringing the sacred into our professional spaces isn’t disruption, it’s Barakah.
A Sacred Repetition
We often hear about the positive effects of repeating “positive mantras.” But here’s what makes “Allahu Akbar” infinitely more powerful than any secular mantra: we’re not just reprogramming our minds with positive thinking, we’re aligning ourselves with ultimate Truth.
Every time you say “Allahu Akbar,” you’re making a declaration that transcends your circumstances:
- Allah is greater than your career anxieties.
- Allah is greater than your parenting challenges.
- Allah is greater than your marriage issues.
- Allah is greater than your financial worries.
- Allah is greater than endless to-do lists and looming deadlines.
Repeating this truth hundreds of times over these blessed days leads to a profound change. We’re not just coping with our challenges, we’re fundamentally reframing our relationship to them.
The Arabic word “takbeer” doesn’t just mean declaring Allah’s greatness, it comes from the root meaning “to magnify.” We’re magnifying our understanding of Allah’s power in our consciousness until our problems, no matter how large, feel so small.
Preparing for the Day of Arafat
Repeating Takbeer isn’t just about filling time with good words, it’s a spiritual and mental preparation for the most powerful day of du’a in the Islamic calendar.
Every “Allahu Akbar” you say during these days is training your heart for the Day of Arafat. You’re not just going to stand before Allah on that blessed day with a list of complaints and requests. You’re coming with a heart conditioned to recognize His absolute sovereignty over everything that concerns you.
Repeat after me: “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La ilaha illa Allah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lillahi alhamd….” Now carry these words for the rest of your week.
