Hajj & The Day of Arafah
๐ฏ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
For anyone who ever stands on the wide plains of Arafat in the month of Hajj, it is an awesome sight to behold. As far as the eyes can see, all around you worshippers stand seeking Allahโs forgiveness and mercy. Thereโs something spiritual in those hours spent there through the day till the sun goes down over its golden plains. In those moments itโs perhaps easy to think of the covenant; one we took before this world, elsewhere in another gathering.
Allah(swt) said that He brought the descendants of Adam out of the their fathersโ loins, and they testified against themselves that Allah is their Lord and King and that there is no deity worthy of worship except him. Allah created them on this fitrah, or way, just as he said;
โSo set you (Oh Muhammed) your face truly towards the religion, Hanifan. Allahโs fitrah with which He has created humankind.โ [TMQ 30:30]
[Ibn Kathir]
So it was that all people were gathered together and each one of us was asked;
โAm I not your Lord?โ And we replied โYes!โ [Al-Araaf 7:172]
And so we entered this world upon this fitrah, you could say, hard wired into our genes; an innate impulse deep inside of us to seek out the higher power that can be sensed within our very being. So inevitably and instinctively at some point in peoplesโ lives we turn to Allah, whether itโs in times of danger, calamity or during an intense experience that triggers a natural response; to turn in prayer, seeking out and surrendering to a higher power; that is Allah (swt).
We uphold the covenant by worshipping Allah(swt) and Arafah was the day on which Allah perfected His religion, completed His favour upon His beloved Prophet (saw) and approved Islam as a way of life.
The Prophet (saw) said:
โThe most excellent dua is the dua on the Day of Arafah. And the best of what I and the prophets before me have said is; โNone has the right to be worshipped but Allah, alone without partner. To Him belongs all that exists, and to Him is the praise, and He is powerful over all things,โโ [Muwatta]๐
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