How To Maximise The Day Of Arafah

How To Maximise The Day Of Arafah

This is the month in which all five pillars can be experienced. This is the month in which you have your Nahr on the day of sacrifice — the day the Prophet ﷺ describes as the greatest day in the year. There's another day in these ten days the Prophet ﷺ described as the greatest day in the year as well, which is the day of Arafah. The Prophet ﷺ says the best day of the year is the day of Arafah, and scholars concluded that means these two days are the two best days of the year. You don't have that in Ramadan.

Now the question we have to answer and we have to understand — we haven't gone on Hajj, that's why we're sitting here. Why are those two days so special, and what are we supposed to do in these ten days?

What Is Arafah?

Who can tell me what do people do on the day of Arafah, the ninth day of Dhul Hijjah? They go to Arafah. What is Arafah? It's a mountain — a small mountain. They go and stand there. What are they doing the whole day? They're just making du'a.

The Prophet ﷺ when he did Hajj — do you know how much time he spent in Arafah? He stayed in Mina for five days. The sixth day he went to do Jamarat — he threw the stones at Jamarat. He spent five to six hours in Arafah — just five to six hours in all of Hajj. And then he says a very significant word:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1949; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 889; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3015)

"Hajj is Arafah."

So let's say you went to Hajj — you threw the stones, you stayed at Mina, you did Tawaf on your way in, you did everything. But the day before Arafah you fell ill. If you miss Arafah, your Hajj doesn't count. So if you summarise Hajj, the most important day in Hajj is Arafah — and what's happening on that day?

You have hundreds of thousands of people standing on a mountain making du'a. All of them are wearing two pieces of clothing. The sun is hot in the sky from Dhuhr to Maghrib — not Dhuhr time over here, Dhuhr time over there — 30, 40 degrees Celsius — and the whole day, all of them are like this.

Arafah: A Rehearsal for the Day of Judgement

Now this scene — what does it remind you of? The reason the day of Arafah is the most important day of the year and the most important day of Hajj is because Arafah is a practice day. It's a rehearsal for the Day of Judgement.

My evidence? Surah Al-Hajj. The Surah in the Quran named after Hajj — it is the only Surah named after a pillar of Islam. Does anybody know what the first ayah of Surah Al-Hajj is? Allah says:

"O people, be conscious of your Lord — because the earthquake of the Hour is something great, something terrifying. When you see it, every mother nursing her baby will throw her baby away, and every mother who was carrying a child in her womb will forget about that child. You will see people — they will look intoxicated, like drunkards — but they are not drunkards. Rather the punishment of Allah is so severe they are utterly confused."

This is how Surah Al-Hajj begins. If you read Surah Al-Hajj, the first half of that Surah — the first few pages — is all about the Day of Judgement. Because Hajj is a practice, a mock exam, a rehearsal for the Day of Judgement.

Which is why the day of Arafah is the most important day in Hajj — because that scene when you stand there and you look: hundreds of thousands of people, you don't know where they're from, what caste, what colour, what tribe, how rich, how poor. They're just standing there begging Allah, sweating — sweating like their life depends on it.

That's exactly what will happen on the Day of Judgement. Except it won't be one day — how long will it be? 50,000 years. And it won't be 40 degrees Celsius — how hot will it be? The sun will be brought close. And how much sweat will we be having? We'll be drowning in our own sweat. And will we be wearing two cloths? We'll be wearing no cloths. That's the only difference — everything else is the same.

And what will we be doing on that day — 50,000 years, standing there in the heat? We'll just be begging Allah: "O Allah, please, can you send me back? Please send me back, O Allah, I'll go back — I will do so many good deeds, please." And Allah says: No. You speak empty words. Now just wait in your limbo until the Day of Judgement comes.

We will just be begging Allah — asking Him, begging for the Prophet's intercession, begging for forgiveness — and we are begging Him on the day when it is too late to ask Him. There was a time to ask Allah — that was now. But now it's finished. And now we are asking Him on the day when it's too late.

Why Hajj Is a Pillar of Islam

This is why Hajj is a pillar of Islam. Your submission to Allah is incomplete if you have not done Hajj — because you have to, once in your life, go and see what the Day of Judgement is going to be like. You know when you come back — after standing there with hundreds of thousands of people, sweating in the heat and begging Allah — you're never going to be the same person again. Because you've already rehearsed the Day of Judgement. Your life will never be the same anymore. Now you know. You know what it's like. You know what's coming. Every day you wake up you'll never forget that experience of standing under the hot sun.

That's why if you miss that day, it's like you didn't do Hajj — your Hajj didn't count. Because that was the whole point. The whole point of Hajj was for you to experience the Day of Judgement in this life, to practice it and rehearse it — so that when you come back, you are like a newborn baby, ready to face life like somebody who has seen Jannah and Jahannam with their own eyes.

What to Say on the Day of Arafah

This is why the day of Arafah is very important even if you are not there. The Prophet ﷺ said this is the greatest day of the year. And then he said the best thing that he and the Prophets before him said on this day — this hadith is in Muwatta Imam Malik:

(Muwatta Imam Malik, Book 20, Hadith 246)

"There is none worthy of worship but Allah alone, with no partners. To Him belongs the kingdom, and to Him belongs all praise, and He is able to do all things."

Now tell me something — is this a du'a? It's not a du'a. We are not asking Allah for anything. So on a day where we are supposed to be asking Allah with du'a, how come all the Prophets were praising Allah instead? Then when are you going to ask Allah for the Lamborghini?

Praise Over Petition

If you are going to be praising Him all day — saying "There is none worthy of worship but Allah" — the Prophet ﷺ informs us that Allah said: Whoever is remembering Me and praising Me, and they are so busy praising and remembering Me that they forgot to ask Me — I will give them more than I give those who are asking.

That is why the Prophets, when given the opportunity to ask Allah, they don't ask Him — they just praise Him. Because then they are giving Allah the blank cheque. Allah will give them more, and greater, than those who asked.

And this is why on the day of Arafah — if you want to be like everybody else, you can ask Allah. But if you want to be like the Prophets, you be creative in the way you praise Allah, in the way you thank Him, in the way you give Him gifts, in the way you break down in front of Him. And then He will give you things — He will surprise you — things you never asked for, things you never imagined you would have.

That is the day of Arafah.