The Day of Arafah – its determination and practices

Maulana Shaykh Nazim’s elaboration on this year’s Hajjul Akbar

1^st Nov 2011

A’uzubillah himinash shaitan nirrajeem

Bismillah-hir Rahman-nir Raheem

Assalamu’alaikum wrh wbkt

(Maulana first spoke on this matter on the 28^th of July this year (2011), predicting that although the Day of Arafah would fall on a Friday this year, it will be moved to Saturday, to avoid the massive influx of pilgrims that masses for every Hajjul Akbar. True enough, it happened as he said. He then reveals the Divine Wisdom behind it, as well as the practices for all to benefit from.)

A deserted Arafah on Friday

How the Saints calculate the Day of Arafah and other Holy Days

• Maulana revealed that Saints had a way of calculating when the Day of Arafah would fall. Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (qs) taught that, the following three days in the Muslim Calendar, in the same year, always fall on the same day of the week – the first day of the Muslim calendar (Muharram), the first day of Ramadhan and the Day of Eid in Zulhijjah. Since the first day of Muharram and Ramadhan this past year fell on Saturday, Eid must also fall on Saturday (5^th Nov 2011), hence the Day of Arafah is on Friday, the 4^th of November.

• But as is the Will of the Heavens, the start of this year’s Ramadhan was mired in uncertainty, and this has made the determination of Eid also unclear to the general public.

• Another interesting Saintly calculation is as follows. The day on which the 5^th of Ramadhan falls in one year, will be the day Ramadhan begins in the following year. For example, since the 1^st of Ramadhan fell on a Saturday earlier this year, then the 5^th would have been on a Wednesday. Hence, next year’s Ramadhan will start on a Wednesday!

Divine Wisdom in this year’s Hajjul Akbar

• This year, whilst the masses gather in Arafah on Saturday (5^th November 2011), a Spiritual gathering of Saints and Rijalallah will happen on Friday (4^th November 2011). This is from Divine Wisdom, the Saints had prayed for this.

• Had this year been officially announced as the year of Hajjul Akbar, too many people would have tried to be at this Haj, awaiting the emergence of the Imamul ‘Asr (as), but the Saints are gathering at Arafah to decide on matters of great importance and they did not want it to be crowded. Hence, Hajjul Akbar was not declared to the general public.

• Imam Mahdi (as) will emerge in the year that the Day of Arafah falls on a Friday, as it is according to his honour. Hence, today, Friday, is the Wuquf of Saints, and Maulana says that there will be an appearance of Sohibul Zaman (as) there, though the full manifestation of his (as) power will be only seen in the month of Muharram.

• Maulana advises all to abide by the dates of Arafah and Eid laid down by their own religious authorities/governments/communities, and to have full trust in Allah in this matter. For example, he said that pilgrims must abide by the Hijaz fatwa, and gather on Saturday, they cannot do as they like and gather on Friday instead and still, they will be rewarded like those who have performed the Hajjul Akbar!

Practices on Day of Arafah for those at Arafah

• For those going to Haj, they needn’t fast on that day as they have many obligations to fulfill.

• They must complete the reading of the Kitab, al-Hizbul ‘Azam, also known as the Supreme Daily Dzhikir, a collection of prayers from Qur’an and Hadees, by Mullah Ali Qari. They are to read it from beginning to end.

• They must not smoke cigarettes and sheesha.

• They must not engage in frivolous talk, haggling, quarrelling, arguing or wrangling.

• They are to make fervent prayer (do’as/supplication), whilst pleading and weeping, seeking His Favours and Bounties.

If they do all these, they will emerge clean. If not, they will emerge (as dirty) as they entered Arafah.

Practices on Day of Arafah for those not performing Haj

• Fast on the 8^th (Yawmul Tarwiyah) and 9^th (Yawmul Arafah) of Zulhijjah. Remember fasting means that your tongue, eyes, and all organs, must fast too, especially your heart.

Recite:

• 1000 Suratul Ikhlas, starting from morning and completing the reading before sunset, GrandShaykh Abdullah used to say this.

• La Ilaha illa Allahu Wah’dahu La Shariqa Lah Lahul Mulk wa Lahul Hamd Yuhyi wa Yumit wa Huwa ala Kulli Shay’in Qadir 100x.

• SubhanAllah, wal Humdulilah, wa La Ilaha illallahu, wa Allahu Akbar, wa la Hawla wa la Quwwata illa Billah Al Aliyal Azim, 100x.

• Istighfar 100x.

• Selawat (salutations) on the Prophet (saw) 100x to 1000x.

You may increase all the above recitations to more than the stated numbers, and weep whilst you supplicate, beseeching Allah to grant you His favours.

Make do’a for Shaykh Nazim

Pray also for the Ummah of Muhammad (saw), and for Shaykh Nazim too, he said,

• “Pray for me that I am not placed in a position to be in need of anyone, pray that I am not confined to my bed, pray that I am not humiliated amongst people, pray that the love of Islam is always in our hearts, and that we are under the banner of Islam, here and hereafter.”

The contents of this Summary was extracted from three Suhbahs, titled as follows – Day of Arafat, 27^th October 2011, Wird Arafah 1^st Nov 2011, and Zuhur on Arafah 1^st Nov 2011.

These Suhbahs can be viewed at www.Saltanat.org. There is a Subtitle button next to the Volume control at the bottom of the screen to choose from eleven languages – Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia/Melayu, German, English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Dutch, Italian and Turkish. Click the Audio button for a live translation into the different languages. Should the video no longer be there, please look for it under the video archives of the Saltanat TV site. Saltanat TV is the Official Site of Maulana Shaykh Nazim that is sanctioned and approved by him personally.