In short
- More people are freed from the Fire than on any other day
- Fasting it wipes out two years of sins
- Its du'a is the best du'a
- “Hajj is Arafah”
- Allah swears by it in the Qur'an (85:3)
1. The day Allah completed the religion
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا
Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and chosen Islam as your way of life.
A Jewish man said to ʿUmar: “There is a verse in your Book which, had it been revealed to us Jews, we would have taken that day as a festival.” ʿUmar asked which verse. He said: “Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and chosen Islam as your way of life.” ʿUmar said: “We know that day and the place where it was revealed to the Prophet ﷺ. He was standing at Arafah, on a Friday.”
Of all the days on which a verse could have been revealed, the verse announcing that Islam was complete came down on Arafah, while the Prophet ﷺ stood among the pilgrims. ʿUmar's answer shows that the Companions already treated the day, and the Friday it fell on, as days of celebration.
2. More people are freed from the Fire than on any other day
مَا مِنْ يَوْمٍ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَنْ يُعْتِقَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ عَبْدًا مِنَ النَّارِ مِنْ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ، وَإِنَّهُ لَيَدْنُو، ثُمَّ يُبَاهِي بِهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ، فَيَقُولُ: مَا أَرَادَ هَؤُلَاءِ؟
ʿAʾishah reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “There is no day on which Allah frees more servants from the Fire than the Day of Arafah. He draws near, then He speaks proudly of them to the angels and says: What do these people want?”
Allah's nearness on this day is a nearness that befits His majesty; we affirm it as the Prophet ﷺ described it, without comparing it to anything created. The question “What do these people want?” is an invitation: those who ask are given what they asked for.
3. Fasting it wipes out two years of sins
صِيَامُ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ أَحْتَسِبُ عَلَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُكَفِّرَ السَّنَةَ الَّتِي قَبْلَهُ وَالسَّنَةَ الَّتِي بَعْدَهُ
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Fasting the Day of Arafah: I hope from Allah that it wipes out the sins of the year before it and the year after it.”
This reward is for those who are not on Hajj. Scholars explain that fasting removes the minor sins; major sins need sincere repentance. Read the rulings on fasting on Arafah.
4. The best du'a is the du'a of Arafah
خَيْرُ الدُّعَاءِ دُعَاءُ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ، وَخَيْرُ مَا قُلْتُ أَنَا وَالنَّبِيُّونَ مِنْ قَبْلِي: لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ، وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
The Prophet ﷺ said: “The best supplication is the supplication of the Day of Arafah, and the best thing that I and the prophets before me have said is: There is no god but Allah, alone, without partner. His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things.”
Each chain on its own has weakness (the Darussalam edition of at-Tirmidhi marks this one weak), but al-Albani and others judged the narration sound because the chains support each other. The words of the dhikr itself are authentic in many other hadiths.
This makes the whole day, and its afternoon above all, a time to ask. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr drew from this hadith that du'a on the Day of Arafah is better than du'a on other days. The dhikr it names, lā ilāha illallāh, is praise rather than a request, and scholars point out that praising Allah is itself a way of asking Him.
5. Hajj is Arafah
الْحَجُّ عَرَفَةُ
ʿAbd ar-Rahman ibn Yaʿmar reported that the Prophet ﷺ, standing at Arafah, had it announced: “Hajj is Arafah. Whoever reaches it before the dawn prayer on the night of Muzdalifah has caught the Hajj.”
Every other rite of Hajj can be made up or compensated if it is missed. The standing at Arafah cannot. That is why the scholars agree that it is the greatest pillar of Hajj.
6. Allah swears by it in the Qur'an
وَالْيَوْمِ الْمَوْعُودِ وَشَاهِدٍ وَمَشْهُودٍ
By the Promised Day, and by the witness and the witnessed.
الْيَوْمُ الْمَوْعُودُ يَوْمُ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَالْيَوْمُ الْمَشْهُودُ يَوْمُ عَرَفَةَ، وَالشَّاهِدُ يَوْمُ الْجُمُعَةِ
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The Promised Day is the Day of Resurrection, the Witnessed Day is the Day of Arafah, and the Witness is Friday.”
وَالْفَجْرِ وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ
By the dawn, and by ten nights, and by the even and the odd.
Ibn ʿAbbas and most of the early commentators explained the “ten nights” as the first ten nights of Dhul Hijjah, and Ibn Kathir said this is the correct view. Some reports explain “the odd” (al-watr) as the Day of Arafah, the 9th day, and “the even” as the Day of Sacrifice, the 10th. A hadith with that meaning is in Musnad Ahmad, but scholars differ on whether its chain is sound.
7. Allah speaks proudly of the people of Arafah
In the hadith from ʿAʾishah above, Allah “speaks proudly of them to the angels”. Another narration, from ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAmr, describes it in more detail:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يُبَاهِي مَلَائِكَتَهُ عَشِيَّةَ عَرَفَةَ بِأَهْلِ عَرَفَةَ، فَيَقُولُ: انْظُرُوا إِلَى عِبَادِي، أَتَوْنِي شُعْثًا غُبْرًا
The Prophet ﷺ said: “On the evening of Arafah, Allah speaks proudly of the people of Arafah to His angels. He says: Look at My servants; they have come to Me dishevelled and dusty.”
8. It is the peak of the best ten days of the year
مَا مِنْ أَيَّامٍ الْعَمَلُ الصَّالِحُ فِيهَا أَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ مِنْ هَذِهِ الْأَيَّامِ
Ibn ʿAbbas reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these days” (meaning the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah). They asked: “Not even striving in the path of Allah?” He said: “Not even striving in the path of Allah, except a man who went out with his life and his wealth and came back with neither.”
The Day of Arafah sits inside these ten days, so good deeds on it carry the virtue of the ten days and the virtue of Arafah together. See the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah.
9. It is one of the days of Eid
يَوْمُ عَرَفَةَ وَيَوْمُ النَّحْرِ وَأَيَّامُ التَّشْرِيقِ عِيدُنَا أَهْلَ الْإِسْلَامِ، وَهِيَ أَيَّامُ أَكْلٍ وَشُرْبٍ
ʿUqbah ibn ʿAmir reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The Day of Arafah, the Day of Sacrifice and the days of Tashriq are our festival, people of Islam. They are days of eating and drinking.”
For the pilgrims, Arafah is part of their festival: this is one reason scholars give for why the Prophet ﷺ did not fast at Arafat. For everyone else, the Eid itself begins at sunset with the night of the 10th.
Is Arafah the greatest day of the year?
Scholars have two views. One group holds that Arafah is the best day of the year, because of the forgiveness and freeing from the Fire described above. Another group, including Ibn Taymiyyah, holds that the Day of Sacrifice is the greatest, based on this hadith:
ʿAbdullah ibn Qurt reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The greatest day in the sight of Allah is the Day of Sacrifice, then the Day of Rest (the 11th).”
Both days are among the greatest of the year, and both views are held by respected scholars. What matters is that you fill both of them with worship.
Questions people ask
What are the virtues of the Day of Arafah?
Allah frees more people from the Fire on this day than any other (Sahih Muslim 1348); fasting it wipes out the sins of the year before and the year after (Sahih Muslim 1162); its du'a is the best du'a (at-Tirmidhi 3585); the religion was completed on it (Sahih al-Bukhari 45); and the Hajj itself is Arafah (Abu Dawud 1949).
Does fasting on Arafah forgive all sins?
Scholars explain that it wipes out minor sins of the previous and following year. Major sins need sincere repentance: regret, stopping the sin, resolving not to return to it, and returning any rights taken from people.
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