Source: Fatāwā Muḥammadiyyah, Vol. 1, p. 585
❖ Question:
What is the virtue of fasting on the Day of ʿArafah?
✿ Answer:
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu wa-s-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh. Ammā baʿd!
✿ Ḥadīth of Abū Qatādah رضي الله عنه:
عَنْ أَبِي قَتَادَةَ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ:
«صِيَامُ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ، إِنِّي أَحْتَسِبُ عَلَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُكَفِّرَ السَّنَةَ الَّتِي قَبْلَهُ وَالسَّنَةَ الَّتِي بَعْدَهُ»
“Fasting on the Day of ʿArafah — I hope from Allah that it will expiate (the sins) of the year before it and the year after it.”
(Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī, Vol. 1, p. 131, Chapter: The Virtue of Fasting on the Day of ʿArafah)
Imām al-Tirmidhī remarked:
حديث أبي قتادة حديث حسن
“The ḥadīth of Abū Qatādah is ḥasan (sound).”
✿ Ḥadīth of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī رضي الله عنه:
عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ بْنِ النُّعْمَانِ، قَالَ:
سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ:
«مَنْ صَامَ يَوْمَ عَرَفَةَ غُفِرَ لَهُ سَنَةٌ أَمَامَهُ، وَسَنَةٌ بَعْدَهُ»
“Whoever fasts on the Day of ʿArafah, his sins of the previous year and the following year are forgiven.”
(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Vol. 1, p. 125, Chapter: Fasting on the Day of ʿArafah)
✿ Summary of Meaning:
Both of these blessed ḥadīths make it clear that:
❀ Fasting on the Day of ʿArafah results in the forgiveness of sins for the past year and the coming year.
❀ This tremendous virtue, however, is specifically for non-pilgrims.
❀ As for those performing Ḥajj, fasting on the Day of ʿArafah is not Sunnah, since the Prophet ﷺ himself did not fast on that day while standing at ʿArafah.
هٰذَا مَا عِندِي وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
This is what I hold to be correct, and Allah knows best what is right.
