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Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala ash-sharafi al-anbiya wal-mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasulullah ﷺ, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kaseeran kaseeran. Akhwan wa ba’ad. My brothers and sisters, let me do my annual reminder about Yawm al-Arafah. Because there is always this never-ending confusion about Yawm al-Arafah. Is it today? Is it tomorrow? Do we follow Saudi Arabia? Do we do this? Do we do that? So let me clarify this for you.
Yawm al-Arafah is the name given to the 9th of Dhul Hijjah. If the 9th of Dhul Hijjah did not have a name, it would have no name. Like the 8th of Dhul Hijjah has no name. But the 8th is the 8th. The 10th of Dhul Hijjah is called what? Eid ul Adha. Right? The 1st of Shawwal. What is the name of the 1st of Shawwal? Eid ul Fitr. Right? So just like that, the 9th of Dhul Hijjah, the name is Yawm al-Arafah.
So people say, when should we observe the fast? When should we fast for Yawm al-Arafah? We fast for Yawm al-Arafah on Yawm al-Arafah. When is Yawm al-Arafah? 9th of Dhul Hijjah. So if I am living in Iceland, I am living in Greenland, I am living in Blackland, I am living in Redland, I am living here, I am living there, makes no difference. Whenever, in whichever land you are living, when it is 9th of Dhul Hijjah, that is Yawm al-Arafah for you and you should fast. What about the people in Saudi Arabia? They will fast when it is 9th of Dhul Hijjah for them. In that case, they will not fast because they are studying; the people in Hajj are present in Arafah. But those who are not in Hajj, they will fast. So it’s not a question of following this country or that country. The question is: you are fasting on the day when it is 9th of Dhul Hijjah in your country. Here in India, Inshallah, it will be tomorrow. 9th of Dhul Hijjah is tomorrow. So those of people who are fasting all the nine days, Alhamdulillah, for them there is no issue; they continue to fast. But those who are fasting only on Yawm al-Arafah, for them, they need to fast tomorrow. People in other countries where they saw the moon earlier, they will fast. For today, for example, will be the 9th of Dhul Hijjah for them and they will fast. So please don’t confuse yourself.
Second thing now is a really important thing, which is, as far as the day itself is concerned, this is the most Mubarak day in the whole year. Because this is the most Mubarak day of the ten most Mubarak days. The ten days including Eid ul Adha. But the first nine days and then Eid ul Adha, the first ten days. These ten days of Dhul Hijjah are the best days of the year. And of these days, the 9th of Dhul Hijjah, is Yawm-ul-Arafah, which is the best of those nine days. Right? Now think about this. We know the last ten nights of Ramadan. These are the best nights. And one among those nights, one among the odd nights, is Lailat-ul-Qadr. So out of the ten nights of Ramadan, there are five nights, which are the odd nights; one of those five nights is Lailat-ul-Qadr. If somebody says, do you know which one it is? We don’t know. It is one of those. But with Yawm-ul-Arafah, we know specifically. There is no guesswork. We know it is the 9th of Dhul Hijjah. So let us make the most of that.
Now how do you make the most of that? By doing any kind of good deed: Nawafil, praying extra Salat, reading Quran, making Dhikr, and making Dua. And of course, Khair, giving charity and so on. Repairing your relationships with your family, especially with the people who are related by blood, Silat-ul-Raham. So all of these things. Now of that, the two most important things to do are fasting itself. Because Rasulullah ﷺ said the fast of Yawm-ul-Arafah is expiation of sins for the previous year and the next year. And this refers to minor sins. Major sins still need specific Istighfar and Tawbah. And we ask Allah ﷻ to help us not to fall into major sin because as a Muslim, it is very shameful if we fall into major sins. So we must never fall into major sins. But minor sins, we forget them, and so on. These things, it’s expiation, forgiveness of sins in the previous year and the following year. So this fasting is very, very important. The other one is to make Dua. Of course, a lot of Dhikr. Don’t waste that day in anything else other than this. But make a lot of Dua.
And as far as that is concerned, Rasulullah ﷺ also told us the best Dua for Yawm-ul-Arafah. And that best Dua is… Rasulullah ﷺ said, this is the Dua which all the Ummah made on this day to make this Dua. This is the best Dua for Yawm-ul-Arafah. Like, for example, the best Dua for Laylatul Qadr is what? What is the best Dua? Huh? Ah, “Allahumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibbul-‘afwa fa’fu ‘anni.” For Allah, You are the Forgiver; You like to forgive, so forgive me. This is from the Hadith of Aisha Siddiqa radiyallahu anha; we know this. That is the Dua for Laylatul Qadr, the best Dua. Now, obviously, you can make any other Dua you want. And so also, you should make for this day, Inshallah. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for whatever you need: make Dua for yourself, make Dua for your families, make Dua for the Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, make Dua that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala relieves all the suffering that the Ummah is suffering from, and helps us in times of difficulty and stress. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to accept, Inshallah, Allah will accept.
Also, what is very, very important to do on this day is to make Istighfar and Tawbah, and to correct our lives. Right? Make Istighfar, make sincere Tawbah to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala for all the wrong that may be happening in our lives. Whether it is small or big, the issue is not small and big. The issue is that any disobedience is the disobedience of Allah huwa al-akbar, Allah who is Akbar. So therefore, it’s not a question of saying, “this is a small sin.” What does it mean a small sin? Any sin is a disobedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. So it’s not a question of small and big. Right? Any sin, we are not supposed to commit; let us not commit sins. If something happens without our knowledge, we immediately make Istighfar. So make sincere Istighfar. Because please understand that, and believe me, if anybody doesn’t like me to say this, I don’t care, but my point is, I don’t make the rules. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala made the rules. And the rules that Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us very specifically: Allah does not accept the Du’as of those who are earning Haram and eating Haram. Very simple. Allah does not accept the Du’as.
So if you have, I’ve got, your income is all full of interest-based income and this and that, and you are taking bribes and you are oppressing people and you are swallowing lands and you are doing this and you are doing all kinds of Haram and that is your income, then believe me, you can make Dua, you can stand upside down and make Dua, it is not acceptable. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala does not accept. Allah is pure and beautiful and Allah accepts only that which is pure. Similarly, Khairat, you can be spending millions and billions and trillions in charity, you will not get the value of one cent out of that if it is not Halal. You cannot take Haram income and give it in charity; makes no difference. You can build hospital after hospital, Masjid after Masjid; the Masjid is fine, no problem, but you will not get any value from that because that Masjid has been built with Haram money. You can do Hajj after Hajj; you do Hajj with Haram money, Hajj is not acceptable. So please, correct ourselves. Let us correct ourselves. Change our ways, right? Halal earning and Halal eating. Check what you are eating. Make sure it is Halal. Make sure it is hand-slaughtered.
…tered Zabiha. Don’t just eat meat because, oh, this is a Muslim shop. Makes no difference. I’m sorry to say that. People buy anything from anywhere; they feed anybody anything. Check, always check, ask and say: Is this hand-slaughtered Zabiha? Hand-slaughtered Zabiha is a ridiculous term, but I’m saying it, because this is how people speak nowadays. Zabiha means hand-slaughtered. But they have machine-slaughtered, which is haram.
So if it is machine-slaughtered, especially with chickens, that’s why I never touch chicken anywhere.
Because the majority of chickens that come in the market are all machine-slaughtered. And machine-slaughtered is haram. It’s like eating roadkill. You know? So please check. Check and eat. Nobody says don’t eat. Please eat. Eat chicken until you start laying eggs. I don’t care. But make sure, make sure that you are eating halal. So, earning and eating halal is number one important thing. So make istighfar, make tawbah. Let us use this day to change our lives and bring them on the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ. So very, very important. Let’s not waste the day. And please, I don’t even need to say it, but I’m saying it. No social media, no chit-chatting. That day, keep it clean and pure. Get rid of social media anyway. But, especially on that day, get out of it. Don’t, don’t even respond to a message. Nothing. Just shut your phone down. Right? The world will run. Believe me, if I drop dead today, the world is not going to stop. So, don’t worry about the world. You make sure that that day is pure for Allah ﷻ only. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to help us to focus and to benefit from that. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi al-mahim bi rahmatika Allah.