The Day of Arafah

The heart of Hajj

Picture a wide plain outside Makkah, a sea of people in white, and almost nothing happening except people asking Allah for things until the sun goes down. That is the Day of Arafah. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Hajj is Arafah” (Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud). A pilgrim who misses this standing has missed the Hajj.

It falls on 9 Dhul-Hijjah, the peak of the first ten days of that month. The Prophet ﷺ said that no good deeds done on other days are better than those done in these days (Bukhari 969).

It is also the day the religion was completed. The verse below was revealed while the Prophet ﷺ was standing at Arafah on a Friday, during his Hajj (Bukhari 45).

The best day for dua

There is no day on which Allah frees more people from the Fire than the Day of Arafah (Muslim 1348). The Prophet ﷺ said the best dua is the dua of the Day of Arafah, and the best thing he and the prophets before him said is the line of tawhid below (Tirmidhi 3585).

For those of us at home, the day has a simple shape:

• Fast, if you are not on Hajj. The Prophet ﷺ said he hoped from Allah that fasting this day would expiate the sins of the year before it and the year after it (Muslim 1162).
• Keep the afternoon until Maghrib for dua, the hours the pilgrims spend standing.
• Repeat the dua of Arafah, below, as often as you can, then ask for whatever you need in your own words.
• Ask forgiveness for yourself, your parents and the people you love, and make dua for the pilgrims.
• Say the takbir. Many follow the practice, reported from the Companions, of saying it after each obligatory prayer from Fajr on the Day of Arafah until Asr on the 13th of Dhul-Hijjah; the schools differ slightly on the details.
• Write your list the night before, so you don't spend the afternoon trying to remember it.
• If you can't fast or pray because of your period or illness, the dua, dhikr and takbir of the day are still yours.

Fasting on Arafah: who and when

The fast is for those who are not on Hajj. When people at Arafah were unsure whether the Prophet ﷺ was fasting, a cup of milk was sent to him and he drank it in front of them (Bukhari and Muslim). So pilgrims don't fast on this day; everyone else is encouraged to.

One question comes up every year: what if your local calendar puts the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah on a different day from the one when the pilgrims stand at Arafat? Scholars differ. Some say to fast on the day the pilgrims are at Arafah, since the day takes its name from that standing. Others say to fast on the 9th by your own local calendar, the way every other date is set. Both views are held by serious scholars. Follow your community and don't let it trouble you.