Step 5 of 12
The 9th: Standing at 'Arafah
The day of 'Arafah is the heart of hajj. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Hajj is 'Arafah," and whoever reaches it before dawn on the 10th has caught the hajj. There is no day on which Allah frees more of His servants from the Fire than the day of 'Arafah.
The Prophet ﷺ waited at Namirah until the sun passed its zenith, then addressed the people in his great sermon. The adhan was called and he prayed dhuhr, then the iqamah was called and he prayed 'asr, with no prayer between them: the two prayers joined at the time of dhuhr, and shortened, as he shortened his prayers throughout his hajj.
He then rode to the place of standing by the rocks, faced the qiblah, and remained there in supplication until the sun had set. All of 'Arafah is a place of standing, so the pilgrim may stand anywhere within its bounds. It was here, on a Friday, that the verse ﴿ٱلْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ﴾ (“This day I have perfected your religion for you”) was revealed.
Spend the afternoon in du'a, dhikr and repentance. The Prophet ﷺ said that the best du'a is the du'a of the day of 'Arafah, and that the best words he and the prophets before him said are the words below. Al-Tirmidhi recorded this hadith and graded it hasan gharib, and al-Albani graded it hasan.
لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
La ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lah, lahu al-mulku wa lahu al-hamd, wa huwa 'ala kulli shay'in qadir
There is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
If someone stands at 'Arafah during the day, must they stay until sunset?
2 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Maliki, Shafi'i.
Show each school
- Obligatory (wajib)Hanafi · Hanbali
- Pillar (rukn): part of the nightMaliki
- SunnahShafi'i
- Hanafi
- One who stands by day must stay until sunset, and one who leaves before it owes a sacrifice unless he returns before sunset.
- Maliki
- The pillar is to be at 'Arafah for some moment after sunset; standing by day is obligatory and made up by a sacrifice, but one who leaves before sunset and never returns that night has missed the hajj.
- Shafi'i
- Joining part of the night to the day is a sunnah, so one who leaves before sunset is recommended, not required, to offer a sacrifice.
- Hanbali
- Staying until sunset is one of the obligations of hajj, and one who leaves before it and does not return owes a sacrifice.
- Jami' al-Tirmidhi 889 Graded by Ahmad Muhammad Shakir: Sahih · Al-Albani: Sahih · Zubair Ali Zai: Isnaad SahihSahih
- Sahih Muslim 1348Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 1218Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1662 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1082 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 45 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Qur'an 5:3
- Jami' al-Tirmidhi 3585 Graded by Ahmad Muhammad Shakir: Hasan · Al-Albani: Hasan · Zubair Ali Zai: DaifHasan
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
The positions of the four schools are summarised from their standard references and are pending review by a qualified scholar. Follow the school you were taught, and for your own situation, ask a scholar.
Create a free account to keep your place as you go. Create a free account · Sign in