The Prophet ﷺ performed Fajr at al-Abtah on Thursday the 8th of Dhul Hijjah, before leaving for Mina on his mount in mid-morning. When the caravan left al-Abtah, those of his companions who had previously left the state of Ihram after having performed Umrah, reentered into Ihram with the intention of performing Hajj. They chanted the Talbiyah with their departure for Mina.1 During the journey, Bilal I protected the Prophet ﷺ from the heat of the sun by providing him with shade. Abu Umamah I narrates:
The companions informed us that when the Prophet ﷺ left for Mina. Bilal, travelling alongside the Prophet’s conveyance, held a stick that had a cloth on top of it, providing him with shade.
Yawm al-Arafat- 9th of Dhul Hijjah
After having performed Fajr at Mina, the Prophet ﷺ addressed his companions. Jabir ibn Abdullah I narrates:
After the prayer the Prophet ﷺ ordered everyone to remain in their places and proclaimed the majesty of the Allah with the following words: ‘Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La ilaha illallah, wallahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar wa lillahil Hamd’. He uttered these words after each prayer until Asr of the last day of Tashreeq.
The Farewell Sermon
The Prophet ﷺ then asked them: ‘You shall be asked to testify about me on the Day of Judgement; so what will you say?” They replied in unison: “We testify that you have delivered your Lord’s message, gave your people good counsel and fulfilled your task.” The Prophet ﷺ then pointed his fingers to the sky and then to the people and said: “My Lord, bear witness.” He repeated this several times.
Dhuhr and Asr
After the sermon, The Prophet ﷺ instructed Bilal I to recite the Adhan and to utter the Iqama for Dhuhr salah thereafter. The Prophet ﷺ and his companions then observed the Dhuhr prayer, which was offered in Qasr mode i.e. the prayer was shortened to two rak’ahs. Bilal then uttered the Iqama for Asr salah, which was led by the Prophet ﷺ immediately after Dhuhr salah, again in Qasr mode. The Prophet ﷺ did not perform any supererogatory prayers (Sunan) between the two prayers but prayed both of them together at the time of Dhuhr with one Adhan and two Iqamas.
Wuquf At Jabal al-Rahmah
The great scholar Imam Nawawi writes:
All of Arafat is a place of Wuquf although its best place is the Prophet’s ﷺ place of Wuquf, which is near the large stones laid out at the bottom of Jabal al-Rahmah in the heart of Arafat.
Dua of the Prophet
The Prophet ﷺ supplicated for himself and his Ummah and declared that du’a made on the Day of Arafat is the best of supplications. Amr ibn Shu’aib narrates from his grandfather that the Prophet ﷺ said:
لَآ إِلٰهَ إِلاَّ اللّٰهُ وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ❁
Lā ilāha illa Llāh, waḥdahu lā sharīka lah, lahu l-mulku wa lahu l-ḥamd, wa huwa ʿalā kulli shay’in qadīr.
None 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.
The Question of Fasting
The Prophet ﷺ spent the rest of the day in fervent prayer and supplication. Such was his devotion that there was a dispute among the companions about whether he was fasting or not. Lubaba bint al-Harith (Umm al-Fadl) J, the wife of al-Abbas ibn Abdul Mutallib I, sent him a cup of milk to determine if he was fasting or not. The Prophet ﷺ drank the milk while he was riding his camel, confirming that he was not in fact fasting.
Providing Guidance
A Bedouin from the tribe of Qays Aylan called Abdullah Ibn al-Muntafiq I looked for the Prophet ﷺ until he found him at Arafat. He reports:
I went through the crowd to reach him, but people tried to stop me. The Prophet ﷺ told them: ‘Let the man pass; he has something to ask.’ I passed through the crowd until I reached him and held the rein of his she-camel. The necks of our two camels touched each other in opposite directions. He did not change position. I said: ‘I ask about two things – what will save me from hell and what will admit me into heaven?’ He looked at the sky, then he turned to me with his noble face and said: ‘You have asked your question concisely, although you are asking about something tremendous. Listen to me and understand what I am saying: Worship God alone, associating no partners with Him. Attend to your prayers, pay your Zakat (i.e. the obligatory charity) and fast in Ramadan. Whatever good you expect from people, treat them in that very way; and whatever you hate from them, do not reciprocate. Now let go of the rein of my she-camel.
Ready for Departure
As the Prophet ﷺ was ready to depart from Arafat, he summoned Usama ibn Zayd I to ride with him on his camel. This may have come to a surprise to many, particularly those new to Islam, since Usama was a young man of Abyssinian heritage. The Prophet ﷺ, however, wanted to emphasise the egalitarian nature of the pilgrimage and the Muslim community as a whole. He thus practically declared that “no Arab has any superiority over a non-Arab, nor a white man over a black one, except by being more God-fearing.”
Maghrib & Isha
After alighting from his camel, the Prophet ﷺ performed wudhu and instructed Bilal I to recite the Adhan. He performed a complete ablution this time, having previously performed a light ablution on the way to Muzdalifah, washing each body part just the once.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ moved until he came to Muzdalifah, where he prayed Maghrib and Isha with one Adhan and two Iqamas, and he did not offer any prayer in between them.
Another narration states that there was a short interval between Maghrib and Isha during which people tied up their camels. Usama ibn Zayd I narrates:
He prayed Maghrib and then everyone tied up the camels in their places, before Iqama was given and Isha was prayed.
Concessions
The Prophet ﷺ made concessions for individuals who were regarded as weak, such as women, children, the elderly and infirm. They were allowed to leave Muzdalifah for Mina during the night in order to avoid the morning rush, so they could perform Rami with greater ease. One of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ, Sawda bint Zama J, who was elderly and slow in movement, sought special dispensation from the Prophet ﷺ to proceed to Mina before the departure of the rest of the pilgrims. The Prophet ﷺ approved her request and she departed from Muzdalifah early. Aisha J narrates:
Sawda asked the permission of the Prophet ﷺ to leave early before the rush of the people. She was a slow woman and he gave her permission, so she departed (from Muzdalifah) before the rush of the people. We remained at Muzdalifah until dawn, and set out with the Prophet ﷺ but I suffered so much that I wished I had taken the permission of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as Sawda had done, and that would have been dearer to me than any other happiness.
The Night
Asma, when she was in her dwelling place at Muzdalifah, asked me whether the moon had set. I said: ‘No.’ She prayed for some time, and again asked: ‘My son, has the moon set?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ She then said that we should set out for Mina, so we departed and proceeded until she threw pebbles at the Jamrat (Jamrat-al-Aqaba), before she returned to her dwelling place and offered the morning prayer. I said to her: ‘Respected lady, we set forth in the very early part of dawn, when it was dark’. She replied: ‘My son, there is no harm in it; Allah’s Apostle ﷺ had granted permission for women to do so.’