The Blessed Day of Arafah - Shaykh Yousaf Jahangir

Khutbah Opening

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الْكَلَامِ كَلَامُ اللَّهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهُدَى هُدَى نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

ثُمَّ أَمَّا بَعْدُ — اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، وَلِلَّهِ الْحَمْدُ

The Blessing of Witnessing Dhul Hijjah

My brothers and my sisters, Allah tells us in the Quran:

If you try to enumerate and count and understand Allah's many blessings and favors that He has bestowed upon you, you will not be able to do so — meaning Allah's mercy and blessings and favors overwhelm us as Muslims. And from the greatest blessings that Allah has bestowed upon us, bestowed upon you and bestowed upon me, is that He has favored us and honored us to witness another season of Dhul Hijjah — those first blessed ten days of Dhul Hijjah — about which the Prophet said there are no days of the entire year that the righteous deed is more beloved to Allah than in these days.

Meaning Allah loves righteousness and piety from you at all times, and our Lord — from His names — is al-Shakur, that He will reward you abundantly and appreciates that good which you have done and accepts it from you. However, in these days Allah multiplies that reward, just the way He does in the days of Ramadan and the last ten nights and Laylatul Qadr. This season is just as important as those last ten nights.

My brothers and my sisters, we are not promised another Dhul Hijjah. We are not promised to see another Arafah. This may be the last one that we see. Wallahi, just on the way to this khutbah today I received a message that one of our congregation members has passed away — may Allah have mercy upon him. Allah had not written for him to witness another day of Arafah, to complete these ten days. This is something which we have to reflect over. We are not promised another one, so we have to make the most of this opportunity.

The Day of Arafah — The Greatest Day of the Year

As we know, in this particular year — 1444 after Hijrah — the day of Arafah is on this Tuesday. And this day is the greatest day of our calendar as Muslims. About this day, the Prophet said that the greatest day of Hajj is the day of Arafah. About this day, the Prophet said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 15, Hadith 3127)

There is no day of the entire year that Allah sets free more servants from the fire of Hell than this day. Pay attention to this — this Tuesday, Allah is going to set free more servants who are destined for the fire of Hell, and He is going to set them free from His mercy, than any other day of the year. So we have to make sure that we make an extra effort on this day of Arafah, to show Allah that we want His mercy from the bottom of our hearts — and it's not just an empty statement. Not "yes, I want Allah's mercy, yes, I want to be forgiven" — but what have you done to show Allah, not to show others, to show Allah from the bottom of your heart that you want His mercy and to be accepted from Him on this day.

Allah Descends and Boasts of the People of Arafah

My brothers and sisters, the Prophet tells us: Allah lowers — He comes to the lowest heaven — and He gathers the most noble of angels, and He asks them: "What are these people of Arafah doing? Why have they gathered here, in a disheveled state, tired and exhausted, and left their families? Why are these people here?" And of course Allah already knows, however the reason why He asks is so that they can be praised in the highest part of Jannah, so that Allah can remember them with the most noble of angels. And the angels tell Him: "They have gathered seeking two things — Your rida, Your happiness and Your pleasure, and Your rahma, and Your mercy." And Allah says: "Bear witness that I have given them both of these two things. I have given them My mercy and I am pleased with every single one of them."

May Allah make us from them. This day is a day of forgiveness for everyone — not just for the people of Arafah, for every single one of us.

The Worst Person on the Day of Arafah

This is why you find the Salaf would worship Allah like no other day of the year. Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak tells us — he saw Sufyan al-Thawri on the day of Arafah, on the plains of Arafah. He came to him and he was sitting and he was crying and he was making du'a. And he asked him a very strange question. He said: "Who is the worst of all of these people on the day of Arafah? Who is the worst of them?" A very strange question. Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak replied: "The worst of them is the one who thinks Allah will not forgive him." SubhanAllah. Thinking that Allah is not going to forgive your sin is greater than the sin you have committed in the first place. This is a day of forgiveness and mercy, my brothers and sisters. So we have to make the most of this day — all ten days — but the day of Arafah is not like any other day of the year.

Just the way the entire month of Ramadan prepares us for the last ten nights, and the last ten nights prepare us for the night of Qadr — then similarly, these first ten days prepare us for the day of Arafah.

The Best Du'a — On the Day of Arafah

This is a day of making du'a. The Prophet said: the best du'a that you can ever make is on the day of Arafah. And the best du'a that me and the prophets and messengers that came before me have said is:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3585)

Fasting the Day of Arafah

This day is so beloved to Allah that fasting one day — the Prophet told us — the one who fasts this day of Arafah has the sins of the previous year forgiven and the sins of the coming year forgiven. Let me repeat that: fasting one day on the day of Arafah — this Tuesday — just one day, one day, Allah is going to forgive you for the sins you have committed in your previous year and the sins that you are going to commit in the upcoming year, referring to the minor sins — showing us Allah's mercy. SubhanAllah.

How many sins do we commit in an hour, in a single day? We wouldn't be able to enumerate them. The things that we look at, the things that we hear, the things that we say, what we scroll on social media, the fasad it causes to our nafs — just in one day, how many sins do we commit? How many haram glances do we take? How many bad things do we say? And how much of our senses that Allah has blessed us with do we use to draw closer to Him, to cleanse and refine the soul, and to worship Him — with His remembrance, with our speech, and what we see and what we hear? Fasting this one day has all of those sins forgiven — the previous year and the upcoming year.

The Completion of the Religion on the Day of Arafah

From the great virtues of this day of Arafah is that it was the day that Allah chose to complete and perfect His religion. The Prophet, as we know, he only performed one Hajj in his lifetime — just one Hajj, that farewell pilgrimage, right at the end of his life. And whilst he was standing on Arafah on the day of Jummah, Allah sent down the verses of Surah al-Ma'idah to him:

"O Muslims, today I have completed your religion for you and I have perfected My favour upon you and I am happy and pleased with Islam being your religion." Allah is telling us that regarding this religion He has done three things: He has completed it, He has perfected it, and He is pleased with it. So why, O Muslims, are we going to seek guidance in anything other than Allah's religion?

The way Allah has created us as human beings, we need guidance for everything that we do. Every time you leave your house, you get in your car, you need guidance — you're going somewhere. Anything you do in this life, you need guidance. And Allah has favored and honored every single one of you to have this guidance in the most complete and perfect way. May Allah make us from those people that are set free from the fire of Hell on this day, and that He accepts our Ibadah and He forgives our shortcomings — and surely Allah knows best.

The Reality of the Grave and the Value of Good Deeds

One day the Prophet was walking with his companions and he walked past a grave. He stopped the Sahaba and he taught every single one of us a very important lesson. He said: "The person in this grave — for him to come and pray two short, quick units of prayer, that which you people hold insignificant" — two quick Salah: the two for Fajr, the two for entering the Masjid, the two for Wudu — something which you hold insignificant, which takes no more than a minute, a Nafl prayer, not even a Fard — "that will be accepted by Allah and increase this man in his good deeds. That is more beloved to this man than the entire dunya that you people have."

SubhanAllah. The people in the grave — and we are going to be in the grave one day; it's not a far, abstract concept, that is going to be us one day, and a lot sooner than many of us think — they would give up your entire dunya to pray two units of Salah. Why? Because they now know the reality that this dunya is worthless in the sight of Allah if it's not going to help you get closer to Him — it is going to take you away from Him. The only true value and worth that you have in your grave are your righteous deeds.

As the Prophet said — a hadith which we have all heard — three things follow the person to the grave: a man's family, his wealth, and his righteous deeds. The family and the wealth return; his righteous deeds remain. And when he is in the grave, another narration tells us, he sees the only thing left with him from now until Yawm al-Qiyamah are his good deeds. And he is going to say:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6514; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2960)

"And you were the one that I gave no attention to out of all three. I gave all my energy to my dunya and to my family. I gave no energy to my Akhirah, to my Deen, and to my righteous deeds." That is the true loss, and that is the true guilt that those people are going to feel. May Allah protect us.

Controlling One's Senses on the Day of Arafah

My brothers and my sisters, these are the days not of sin but of righteousness and piety. The Prophet, peace be upon him, was leaving Arafah and behind him on the camel that he was riding was a young companion — his cousin, Fadl ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him. And Fadl was a young companion and he was looking at women. The Prophet, peace be upon him, turned his head — and Fadl didn't pay much attention to this, he carried on looking. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said to him:

(Musnad Ahmad; referenced in Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1543, and Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1218)

"Oh my cousin, this day — the one that controls his sight, and controls that which he hears, and controls that which he says — will have his sins forgiven." What more could we possibly ask for in this dunya than attaining Allah's mercy and attaining His forgiveness against the transgressions that we commit against our own souls?

Worship Is Not Restricted to Times and Places

These are the days of righteous deeds — of course for the people of Hajj, but for every single one of us also. Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali said: "Whoever is not able to reach the house of his Lord, then let his heart reach the Lord of the house — because He is closer to him than his jugular vein."

Our worship is not restricted to times and places. Yes, when we come to the Masjid we increase in our worship; when the virtuous seasons come we increase in our worship. However, as Muslims, our worship of Allah is with every single breath — how we behave, our character, how we treat one another, how we speak to one another: to our wives, to our husbands, to our children, to our neighbors, to our colleagues, our classmates. Our worship of Allah never leaves us.

The Ibadah of Sacrifice

One of the most important acts of Ibadah that we learn in these days is the Ibadah of sacrifice. Time doesn't allow us to get into the details of Udhiyah and Zabiha, however there is one point that I'd like to mention: we sacrifice with our hearts before we do with anything else in this dunya — animals or otherwise. We sacrifice our lust, our whims, our desires, our sins, and we give them up for Allah's sake and refine our character. And this is the greatest sacrifice that we make.

The Prophet at the end of his life slaughtered two sheep — one for himself and his family, and the second one: who was that for? It was for those from his Ummah that were not able to sacrifice — the poor and the needy. That is the love and the mercy the Messenger of Allah had for you. At 1444 years ago he slaughtered and sacrificed and wanted you to get that reward, just the way he sacrificed his life many times for us to receive the reward and the message of Islam that is going to lead us to Jannah.

That is our role model. That is our source of guidance — not these rappers and these actors and these social media influencers. The character and the standard that we have as Muslims is the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.

Closing Du'a

In ending, I ask Allah that He calls us all to His house and makes us from the Hujjaj and the Mu'tamireen. We ask Allah to forgive our shortcomings and our sins. We ask Allah to accept our good deeds.

O Allah, favor us to be from those who attain Your love and Your mercy in these ten days. O Allah, accept the Hajj of all those that have gone — return them to their families safely, earning Your reward and Your pleasure. O Allah, make us from the people of Taqwa that You are pleased with, and those that are aware of Your guidance and obedience at all times. O Allah, guide us to the straight path — make guidance easy for us and strengthen our Iman. O Allah, give us goodness in this life and the next life, and have mercy upon our deceased and cure our sick and make easy the affairs of all those that are suffering. May Allah bless you.