579 – On the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Prophet ﷺ forbade fasting on the Day of ʿArafah while one is at ʿArafah.” Narrated by the Five compilers except al-Tirmidhī, declared authentic by Ibn Khuzaymah and al-Ḥākim, yet deemed objectionable by al-ʿUqaylī.⦗1⦘
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Status of the report
The ḥadīth is weak. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Talkhīṣ: “It was transmitted by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah, al-Ḥākim and al-Bayhaqī through the chain of Abū Hurayrah, but in that chain is Mahdī al-Hijrī, an unknown narrator.” Al-ʿUqaylī also related it in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ through the same route and remarked, “No one corroborates him.”
Al-ʿUqaylī added: “Reliable isnāds show that the Prophet ﷺ did not fast on ʿArafah while at ʿArafah, yet no authentic prohibition against fasting it is established from him.”
Points derived from the ḥadīth
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The Day of ʿArafah is a magnificent day, and fasting it is the most excellent of voluntary fasts; for in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1976) the Prophet ﷺ said: “Fasting the Day of ʿArafah—I hope that Allah will expiate by it the year before it and the year after it.”
However, the pilgrim on that day is fully engaged in its prescribed acts—reciting the talbiyah and the takbīr, remembering Allah, and making supplication—devotions unique to the day whose reward is lost if the day passes, a day that may never come again in a Muslim’s lifetime. -
Because of this, it is disliked to fast ʿArafah while at ʿArafah, so that the pilgrim may remain strong and energized to perform