Tomorrow is the Day of Arafah. In preparation for that day, we should all be aware of its significance.
- It is the Day that Allah chose to reveal one of the most blessed verses in the Quran, “Today, I have completed this religion for you, and perfected My favors upon you, and chosen Islam as you way of life” [Mā’idah; 3]. A rabbi said to the Caliph `Umar (r): “If this verse had been revealed to us, we would have taken that day as a day of celebration!!
- It is a Day that Allah gives an oath by, and calls it a day that is ‘witnessed’, in the verse: وَشَاهِدٍ وَمَشْهُودٍ. Ibn Abbās said, “The shāhid is Friday, and the ‘mashhūd’ is the Day of Arafah.” So Friday shall testify for those who pray on it, and Arafah is a Day that Allah and the angels are witnessing and observing.
- It is the Day of Ḥajj and the essence of the pilgrimage. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Ḥajj is Arafah,” meaning it’s all about that day.
- It is a day whose fasting expiates the sins of the year before and the preceeding year – one single day’s fast equivalent to two years of forgiveness!! There is no other day like it in the whole year.
- It is said that this was the Day that Allah took the Covenant (mīthāq) from Adam and his children, and this was the Day that Allah accepted the repentance of Adam.
- It is a Day of Forgiveness and of being freed from the Hell Fire. We learn in the ḥadīth that on no single day are more people forgiven or saved from the Hell Fire than on this Day.
- It is a Day that Shayṭān himself feels the most humiliated and despised as he sees the Mercy of Allah descending down.
- It is a Day that Allah descends down to the lower Heavens, and boasts to the angels about the pilgrims, and grants them their every wish.
Simply put, it is as the Prophet ﷺ said, “The best day of the year is the Day of Arafah”
So make sure that you take advantage of that Day, even if this year we are not performing the Ḥajj. It is verified that a number of Companions and great scholars of the past would spend the day in their local masjids, engrossed in worship, even though they were not doing Ḥajj that year. The day is blessed wherever you are – you don’t have to be in Makkah to take advantage of it!
So make sure you make lots of takbīr, tasbīḥ and taḥmīd, and lots of du`ā, and dhikr, and remember these words in particular from the hadith:
لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
May Allah bless us on the Day of Arafah and forgive our sins! –
Yasir Qadhi
