Dhul Hijjah is the most beloved season for righteous deeds in Islam. Starting an orphan sponsorship in these ten days means your first act of care for a vulnerable child is recorded during the holiest window of the year, and the reward of that ongoing sponsorship continues to flow long after the ten days end, making it one of the most powerful combinations of timed worship and Sadaqah Jariyah a Muslim can give.
And perhaps that is precisely why, throughout his entire life, Prophet ﷺ spoke about orphans with a tenderness that is unlike almost any other topic in the Sunnah. Not as a cause to support from a distance, but as a sacred trust placed by Allah in the hands of those with the means to help.
This Dhul Hijjah, in the most beloved days of the Islamic year, there is a child somewhere in the world waiting for someone like you to become that hand.
The Prophet ﷺ did not merely encourage care for orphans from a position of comfort. He grew up as one. His father, Abdullah, passed away before his birth. His mother, Aminah died when he was six. His grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, who took him in with deep love, died two years later. It was his uncle Abu Talib who finally raised him to adulthood.
This personal experience shaped everything. The Prophet ﷺ became the most vocal, most passionate advocate for orphaned children in human history, not because it was a theological requirement, but because he knew the weight of that vulnerability from the inside.
When Prophet ﷺ spoke about orphans, he spoke as someone who had been one. And that gives his words a depth that goes far beyond religious instruction.
There is one hadith about orphan sponsorship that has moved generations of Muslims to tears and to action.
Sahl ibn Sa’d (RA) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“The one who cares for an orphan and I will be in Paradise like these two,” and he held his index and middle fingers together. (Sahih al-Bukhari, 6005)
Read that again slowly. The Prophet ﷺ the greatest human being to walk this earth, the beloved of Allah, the seal of all prophets, said that the person who sponsors an orphan will be beside him in Jannah. Not near him. Beside him. As close as two fingers pressed together.
This is not a general promise of reward. It is a specific, visual, personal guarantee from the Prophet ﷺ himself. And it applies to anyone, of any background, any financial level, any age, who commits to caring for a child who has no one.
You do not need to be a scholar. You do not need to give thousands. You simply need to sponsor an orphan, and the Prophet ﷺ has promised he will be waiting for you.
The word yateem (orphan) appears 22 times in the Quran. That repetition is itself a message, Allah does not want us to overlook this responsibility.
Some of the most powerful ayaat include:
“Have you seen the one who denies the Day of Judgement? That is the one who drives away the orphan and does not encourage the feeding of the poor.” — (Surah Al-Ma’un, 107:1–3)
This surah is striking in its directness. Allah links the denial of the Day of Judgement to the mistreatment of orphans. It is a warning to those who look past vulnerable children as though they do not exist.
On the other side of that warning is a beautiful promise. In Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah lists the qualities of the truly righteous, and caring for orphans sits at the heart of that list: “…who give wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy…” — (2:177)
Every righteous deed performed in the ten days of Dhul Hijjah carries amplified reward. The Prophet ﷺ confirmed that no days are more beloved to Allah for good deeds than these ten, not even the days of jihad. (Sunan Ibn Majah 1727)
Beginning an orphan sponsorship these days is uniquely powerful for three reasons:
1. Your first act of sponsorship is recorded in sacred time. The moment you commit to a child’s care — setting up the sponsorship, making your intention, happens in the most beloved window of the Islamic year.
2. Orphan sponsorship is Sadaqah Jariyah. Every month your sponsorship continues, long after Dhul Hijjah has passed, carries an ongoing reward. The ten days become the beginning of a stream of good deeds that flows indefinitely.
3. It combines multiple acts of worship in one. You are giving charity, honouring a Prophetic Sunnah, alleviating suffering, and investing in a child’s future, all at once, in the most sacred season of the year.
To understand the full spiritual weight of this season and why every act of worship carries such extraordinary reward right now, read our complete guide to the 10 Best Days of Dhul Hijjah.
Sponsoring an orphan is not an abstract act of charity. It is a real, ongoing commitment to a specific child, and it changes their life in concrete, measurable ways.
Through Al Qulub Trust’s orphan sponsorship programme, your monthly donation provides:
You don’t need to travel. You don’t need to speak a different language. You simply need to give regularly and consistently, and Al Qulub Trust ensures it reaches the child who needs it most.
The ten days of Dhul Hijjah are extraordinary precisely because they are finite. They come. They pass. And the deeds done within them are sealed.
Starting an orphan sponsorship in these days means your commitment to a vulnerable child begins in the most beloved season before Allah. The first pound you give, recorded in sacred time. The first prayer said for that child, in the holiest days of the year.
And somewhere, in a home far from yours, a child will grow up knowing that in the best ten days of an Islamic year, a stranger decided they were worth caring for.
That stranger could be you.
Alongside your sponsorship, consider completing your worship this Dhul Hijjah with Qurbani, ensuring families in the most vulnerable communities also receive meat on the days of Eid. And if you haven’t yet set up your daily giving across all ten days, explore how automated Dhul Hijjah donations make consistent worship effortless.
For a deeper understanding of the rewards Allah has prepared for those who support orphans in Islam, read our full guide: 10 Rewards of Supporting Orphans in Islam.
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