❀ Fasting on the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah for Ḥajj Pilgrims ❀
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ Fasting on ʿArafah Day for Pilgrims in the Plain of ʿArafāt
According to scholarly consensus, **fasting on the Day of ʿArafah (9th Dhul-Hijjah) is discouraged (makrūh) for those who are present in the Plain of ʿArafāt during Ḥajj.
📘 [Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/219]
◈ Evidence from the Sunnah
① The Prophet ﷺ drank a bowl of milk on the Day of ʿArafah while he was at ʿArafāt, thus demonstrating that he was not fasting.
📖 [Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2132; Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb fī Ṣawm Yawm ʿArafah bi-ʿArafāt; Abū Dāwūd: 2441; Aḥmad: 1/217; Tirmidhī: 750]
② Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه narrated that:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade fasting on the Day of ʿArafah at ʿArafāt.”
📘 [Ḍaʿīf: Ḍaʿīf Abū Dāwūd: 528; al-Ḍaʿīfah: 404; Tamām al-Minnah: p. 410; Abū Dāwūd: 2440; Aḥmad: 2/304; Ibn Mājah: 1732; Bayhaqī: 4/284]
🔹 Shaykh Ḥāzim ʿAlī Qāḍī has graded it ḥasan in “al-Taʿlīq ʿalā Sabil al-Salām” (2/907).
❖ Scholars’ Position
✔ Jumhūr (majority) of scholars state that it is preferable (mustaḥabb) for pilgrims not to fast on the Day of ʿArafah while in ʿArafāt.
✔ Ibn Qudāmah رحمه الله mentioned that most scholars recommend not fasting in ʿArafāt on that day.
📘 [al-Majmūʿ: 6/380; al-Mughnī: 4/444]
❖ Wisdom Behind Not Fasting
➤ The reason given is that fasting may cause weakness, preventing the pilgrim from engaging fully in supplication, remembrance (dhikr), and other rites of Ḥajj.
➤ However, some scholars opine that if a person does not feel physically weak and can fulfill the rituals with strength, then there is no harm in fasting.
📘 [Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/219; al-Mughnī: 4/444]
