Arafah Day is Eid

Born on the Day of Arafah

Arafah Day is Eid

Sheikh Hany Hilmy
Wednesday, 03 December 2008

The First Virtue: The day where Allah perfected His religion and completed His favors upon us

It was Agreed upon on behalf of Omar Ibn Al Khattab, May Allah blesse him that a Jewish man said: "Oh prince of believer, there is a verse in your book if it descended on the Jews; we would have considered it as a celebration". He said: "which verse?", The Jewish said: {الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِيناً} {This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion} [Al-Maeda: 3]. Omar said: "We knew that day as well as the place where it descended on the prophet peace upon him, The day was Friday in Arafa" [Narrated by At-Termethei on behalf of Ibn Abbas].

He meant to tell him that if this Ayah descended on them, they would have a big celebration and feast.

And it is our Eid, as narrated in the Hadith, that Arafat day is Eid. The Eid doesn't start on the day of slaughtering followed by the days of Tashriq. On the contrary, the day of Arafat is one of the Eid's days.

Narrated by Abu Dawud and Annesaei and classified as sahih (correct) by Al Albani that the prophet peace be upon him said: «The day of, days of Attashriq and the day of Slaughtering, are our Eid.. people of Islam.. and these are days remarkable for eating and drinking» [Said by Sunnah people except Ibn Majah modified by Abu Dawud (241/9) and At-Termedhi (773) and Annesaei (252/5) and Ahmad (605/28)].

The Duty:
Since Eid was where Allah perfected our religion and blessings, we should have two worships: Gratitude and happiness.

We should be happy by God's mercy and kindness and be happy that we reached that day. Witness that this big day is the day of freedom from hellfire in your life.

If you reach it, then this is one of the best blessings. When you are happy, your heart will feel the love of the Most Merciful. You are happy because of His mercy and kindness.

You will feel that the blessings are descending as well as that you don't deserve them. When you thank your lord "Oh Allah, praise be to You", you will feel the happiness in your heart. Praise be to Allah, Praise be to Allah. These are the words that you will be saying and nothing else. If you want to say something else, you will say Praise be to Allah for the blessing of Islam and suffice as a blessing. You will say Praise be to Allah for enabling us to say there is no God but Allah. Praise be to Allah who had no son and no partner in His possession and Allah who is the Greatest.

Say ‘Allah is the Greatest' and I will tell why we need to say that?

The day of Arafah is a great day. We should glorify Allah in it. It has great blessings that we need to thank Allah for. If you instill these meanings in your heart, your heart will be purified from the inside out and will be completely clean. Once the love of the Most Merciful is inside your heart, it will be fully occupied.

So, your practical duty is to dedicate a time in your day to praise, thank, glorify Allah the all Mighty and especially make lots of supplication at that day.

Enumerating praise on Allah is one of the reasons for supplication to be raised and accepted by Him. I cannot enumerate Your praise. Oh Allah, I don't know what to say. I see myself as a sinner and criminal. I am the one who disobeyed Allah's commands. I am the one whom You ordered and I disobeyed. Here I am blessed from the day of my creation till the end. Your bounties never stopped despite my sins. Oh Lord, Praisebe all to You and to You all return.

Your heart will be filled by saying these words and Allah would love it from you because it is called the flattering worship. This means that you don't know how to express your praise to Allah so you flatter Him. He loves it from you. This is the relation between the lovers. Try and then you will find the meaning of the Most Merciful love.