Dhūl Ḥijjah, the Day of ʿArafah and
Fasting
By Imam Wahbah Az-Zuḥaylī, may Allah
have mercy on him[1]
…As for the
ten days of Dhūl Ḥijjah, al-Bayhaqī has related on the authority of Jābir, who said, ‘The Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “By the dawn, and ten
nights” [al-Fajr 89:1-2], {The ten is the ten of the sacrifice, the day is
the Day of ʿArafah
and the even (shafʿ)[2]
is the Day of the Immolation (yawm an-naḥr).}
Ibn ʿAbbās explained “By the dawn” to
be the dawn of the daytime “and ten nights” to be the ten of the
sacrifice. Regarding “is there not in that an oath for the intelligent?”,
he said, ‘those who have discernment’.
Masrūq said, ‘The ten is the ten of the
sacrifice which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, promised Mūsā, peace be upon him, and we have
completed them with ten.’
Al-Bukhārī and al-Bayhaqī have related on the authority of Ibn
ʿAbbās, from the Prophet, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, that he said, {There are no days more beloved to Allah in which to do good deeds
and none better than these ten days.} They said: ‘And not even to strive[3]
in God’s way?’ He said: {Not even to strive in God’s way, except for a man who
strives with his life and his wealth and then doesn’t come back with anything.}’
Al-Bayhaqī has related on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said, ‘The Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, {There are no better days according
to Allah, and there are no days that I love to do good deeds in more than these ten,
so increase therein in tahlīl, takbīr and taḥmīd.}’
Al-Bayhaqī has related on the authority of some of the
wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that the
Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would fast the nine days of
Dhūl Ḥijjah, the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ
and three days of every month: the first Monday of the month and two Thursdays.
Al-Bayhaqī has also related in his Shuʿab on the
authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said, ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘{The master of the months is the month of
Ramaḍān, and the greatest of them in sanctity (ḥurmah) is Dhūl Ḥijjah.}’
And there is al-Bayhaqī’s narration on the authority of
Abū Hurayrah, who said, ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, said, {There are no days in this worldly life in which Allah loves
to be worshipped through deeds more than these ten days; fasting every day
therein is equivalent to fasting a year and standing in every one of its nights
is equivalent to standing in the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr).}’ This
ḥadīth is proof that fasting every day of the ten days of Dhūl Ḥijjah[8]
is equivalent to fasting a year.
In another narration of al-Bayhaqī, it is on the
authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said, ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, said, {There are no better days according to Allah, and
there are no days in which good deeds are more beloved to Allah, Mighty and
Majestic, than these ten days, so increase therein in tahlīl, takbīr
and the dhikr of Allah, for indeed they are the days of tahlīl, takbīr
and the dhikr of Allah. Fasting one of these days is equivalent to
fasting a year and good deeds therein are multiplied seven hundred times.} This
ḥadīth is proof of the Sunnah virtue of fasting the ten days of Dhūl Ḥijjah.
Fasting the Day of ʿArafah, Muḥarram
and ʿĀshūrāʾ
The Prophetic Sunnah has emphasised fasting the Day of ʿArafah
(al-Waqfah), Allah’s sacred month of al-Muḥarram and ʿĀshūrāʾ because of
the virtues and distinctions that lie therein. As for fasting the Day of ʿArafah
and commending it, this is due to the Exalted’s statement: “and the witness
and the witnessed” [al-Burūj 85:3]. It has been related from Abū Hurayrah, marfūʿan[9]
and mawqūfan,[10]
that the witnessed is the Day of ʿArafah.
Al-Bayhaqī has related in his Shuʿab, on the
authority of Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, said, {The best of days according to Allah is Friday, which is
the witness, while the witnessed is the Day of ʿArafah and the Promised Day is
the Day of Resurrection.}[11]
Muslim has narrated on the authority of Abū Qatādah
that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, {For
fasting the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, I expect that Allah expiate the sins of the year
that preceded it.} In another narration, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, informs us, {Fasting the Day of ʿArafah is expiation for a
year, as well as the one that follows it, while fasting the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ is
expiation for a year.}
ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said, ‘There
is no day in the year that I love to fast more than the Day of ʿArafah.’[12]
Al-Bayhaqī has narrated in his Shuʿab on the
authority of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, on the authority of his father, on the authority
of his grandfather, who said, ‘The supplication that the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, made the most on the Day of ʿArafah was: {There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner.
He has the Dominion and He deserves all Praise, and He has power over
everything.}’[13]
Al-Bayhaqī has also narrated in his Shuʿab on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said, ‘The specific days (al-ayām al-maʿlūmāt)[14]
are the ten days and the designated days (al-ayām al-maʿdūdāt)[15]
are the days of tashrīq.’[16]
…
Related Posts:
[1]
(tn): Translated from the Imam’s book Uṣūl al-Īmān
wa al-Islām
(Damascus: Dār
al-Fikr, 2008), v.1, p.485-487
[2] (tn):
Sūrat al-Fajr
89:3
[3] Ar. jihād
[4] (tn): i.e. saying la ilāha illa Allah
[5]
(tn): i.e. saying al-ḥamdu
lillāh
[6]
(tn): i.e. saying Allahu akbar
[7]
(tn): i.e. saying subḥān
Allah
[8]
(tn): apart from the day of ʿĪd,
which is the 10th
[9]
(tn): i.e. its chain of transmission is traceable back to the Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace
[10]
(tn): i.e. attributed to a Companion and the Companion did not attribute it to
the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace
[11]
(tn): Please refer to al-Burūj
85:1-3
[12]
Narrated by al-Bayhaqī
in as-Sunan al-Kubrā
[13] Ar. La ilaha illa Allah, waḥdahu, la sharīka lah, lahu al-mulk, wa
lahu al-ḥamd wa huwa ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr
[14]
Please see al-Ḥajj
22:28: “…and invoke Allah’s name on specific days…”
[15] Please
see al-Baqarah 2:203: “Remember Allah on the designated days…”
[16]
(tn): i.e. the three days that follow the ʿĪd of the Sacrifice
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