Lessons drawn from the hadith
1 – The Hanbali jurists use it as evidence that the time for standing at ʿArafah begins at dawn on the ninth day, for the Prophet’s phrase “by night or by day” is unrestricted and therefore includes the period before the sun reaches its zenith. This position is one of the distinctive rulings of the Hanbali school. The majority, however, hold that the time does not start until midday, and in practice their view is considered the more precautionary.
2 – Al-Khattābī said: The legal implication of this hadith is that anyone who stands at ʿArafah at any moment from after noon on the Day of ʿArafah until dawn on the Day of Sacrifice has caught the pilgrimage.
3 – The Prophet’s words “his pilgrimage is complete” refer to the main pillar of Hajj, namely the standing at ʿArafah. Once that is secured the fear of missing the Hajj is removed, whereas the ṭawāf—although also an essential rite—can still be performed later because its time remains open.
4 – The phrase “and he has carried out his tafath” means that he has come close to the release from consecration that allows him to remove the hair, nails, and grime that the state of iḥrām had obliged him to leave.
5 – This hadith is the proof cited by al-Shaʿbī, ʿAlqamah, al-Nakhaʿī and others that whoever misses the stay in Muzdalifah has missed the entire Hajj; his iḥrām is converted to an ʿumrah just as if he had missed the standing at ʿArafah, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made attendance at “this prayer of ours” a condition for the validity of the pilgrimage. The majority of scholars disagreed, requiring only a compensatory sacrifice from the one who fails to spend the night in Muzdalifah, and this is the practice of Muslims today.
6 – The jurists also deduced that the validity of the standing at ʿArafah does not depend on the pilgrim’s knowing that the place he is in is actually ʿArafah.
7 – They further inferred that a pilgrim whose standing at ʿArafah occurs solely at night has a sound Hajj and is not liable for a sacrifice, even though he missed part of the daytime standing.
8 – The hadith supports the recommendation to depart from Muzdalifah with the imam or after him, for he is the leader of the Hajj procession.