Yawm Arafah by Hjh Rukiye Sultan

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Sohbah on 03rd June 2025 by Hjh Rukiye Sultan

Bismillahi Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. Tariqatuna as-sohba wal khayru fil jam’iyya. Madad Ya Sayyidi Ya Rasul Allah, wa Mashayikhina Sheikh Nazim Adil Al-Haqqani, Sheikh Muhammad Ar-Rabbani. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatuLlahi wa barakatuhu

As-Salamu alaykum wa Rahamat Allah. Welcome to all of you ladies and Eid Mubarak inshallah, Arafah Mubarak. Yawm Arafah is inshallah [the day] after tomorrow. Mubarak, may Allah accept the hajj from the hajjis inshallah, and write for all of us to go to hajj. It is very holy worship, and, inshallah, everybody can get the essence of this worshipping, the hajj worshipping. Mubarak for all of you.

Bismillahi ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Tariqatuna as-sohba wal khayru fil jam’iyya. Madad ya Sayyidi, ya RasulAllah.

In the Quran al-Karim [it says]:

“وَذَكِّرۡ فَإِنَّ ٱلذِّكۡرَىٰ تَنفَعُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ”

(Quran 51:55)

“Wa dhakkir fa inna adh-dhikra tanfa’ al-mumineen”

“And remind, for indeed, the reminder benefits the believers.” Sadaqallahul Azim.

Allah Azza wa Jalla is saying that – as much as a I can translate –“Remind my servants. Reminders are good for the believers”. It is good for you to be reminded so I remind you about the worshipping, the tasabih, the tahlil – for tomorrow and after tomorrow.

“Wal-Fajr. Wa layaalin ‘ashr” “وَٱلْفَجْرِ وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ” (Quran 89:1–2) – These are from the most holy nights; the Quran al-Karim mentions the ten holy nights of Dhul Hijjah, the month of haram, the month of hajj. Also, it is liked, if possible, to fast the nine days from the beginning of Dhul Hijjah to Yawm Arafah. If not, at least the Day of Arafah.

Mawlana Sheikh used to fast Yawm Tarwiya, that means tomorrow 8th Dhul Hijjah and after tomorrow, 9th Dhul Hijjah, Yawm Arafah. Yawm Tarwiya is the day that hajjis are getting ready to go to Arafah and they go to Mina and some go directly in the evening to Arafah, staying there. It is the holiest day in the year.

When you stand on Arafah, being there, even for five minutes, it counts as hajj. Standing on Arafah is the obligatory action of hajj. By being on Arafah, on the Day of Arafah, even for five minutes, you are a Haji even if you cannot do anything else. Sometimes people are going with different intentions, also they count as hajj because they are on Arafah on the Day of Arafah — this is the holiest day, 9th Dhul Hijjah.

The takbir is wajib in our madhhab, we start from the Day of Arafah, from the morning prayer:
“Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illa Allah hu Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar wa lillahil hamd” — after each fard until the fourth day of Eid, Asr time. That means 23 prayer times we read this takbir.

The Prophet ﷺ was saying: “Zayyinu a’ayadakum bit takbir — beautify your Eids/feasts with takbir,” so you have to make takbir after each prayer. Even if you forget, when you remember you just say this: “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illa Allah hu Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar wa lillahil hamd.” This is the first thing to do.

To fast from the beginning of Dhul Hijjah until the 8th day is very highly rewarded. The reward of fasting each of these days counts like you are fasting 1000 days. The Day of Arafah, when you fast it, it counts like 10,000 days of fasting. In other sayings also, it counts like two years of fasting. This is a very big reward.

It is not recommended for hajjis to fast on Arafah but for whoever is in their own countries, in their own places, it is recommended to fast the Day of Arafah.

Whoever fasts the Day of Arafah, the reward given amounts to how many people were fasting on this day, and also to how many people that should fast and didn’t fast also — that much reward, that much thawab is coming to each person who is fasting on the Day of Arafah. And on Judgement Day, 70,000 angels are taking him/her to the place where he/she will stand. That is how valuable it is to fast the Day of Arafah.

Whoever fasts the Day of Tarwiya, Allah gives him/her the reward He gave to Hazrat Ayyub. And whoever fasts the Day of Arafah, Allah gives reward as much as He gave to Hazrat Isa. On Arafah Day, Allah Azza wa Jalla spreads all the mercy all over the world. The mercy of Allah Azza wa Jalla is increased by many, many folds on the Day of Arafah. Allah honoured and granted this Ummah of the Prophet ﷺ by fasting on the Day of Arafah.

On the Day of Arafah, Allah Azza wa Jalla granted four of His prophets certain things:

• Adam عليه السلام with forgiveness
• Musa عليه السلام with Divinely talking to him
• Ibrahim عليه السلام with qurban instead of Sayyidina Ismail
• Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ with hajj and completing the religion

“Akmaltu lakum deenakum wa atmamtu ‘alaykum ni’matee wa radeetu lakumul Islaama deena” {Quran 5:3)
This was granted to the Prophet ﷺ and his Ummah.

There are two rak’ats on the Day of Arafah between Duhr and Asr, between noon time and Asr time. You read:

• 3 times Sura al-Fatihah
• 3 times Sura al-Kafirun
• 11 times Sura al-Ikhlas

This is for the Day of Arafah, you make the intention for it, for the day. It is nafl.
Whoever prayed this prayer, Allah Azza wa Jalla’s Divinely Address to His angels is:
“You witness that I forgive my servants who did this prayer their sins.”

And on the Day of Arafah, you have to read:

• “La ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la shareeka lah, lahul mulk wa lahul hamd, yuhyi wa yumit, wa huwa ‘ala kulli shay’in qadeer” 100–400 times, as much as you can is better
• Istighfar:
  “Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullahul adheem wa atubu ilayh” 1000 times
• 1000 times Ikhlas Sharif
• Salawat and salaam ala Rasulina: 100–1000 times

And also there is one special prayer for the hajjis, but it is easier for Arabs to understand and say: “Allahumma ighfir lil haaj wa liman istaghfara lahul haaj”
(This means: may Allah forgive the hajjis on Arafah and whoever the hajjis are asking forgiveness for.)

But this is a little bit difficult, so instead you can make istighfar and just read 100 times:
“Astaghfirullahul adheem wa atubu ilayh”

These are the prayers and duas for Arafah Day.

And if you can, afterer Duhr prayer you can read also from Hizbul A’zam, the first chapter, the chapter from Saturday and the last chapter from Salawat Sharifa, for whoever can read. Or you can make big duas in between.

Or you can read the dua from the end of the Dalail al-Khayrat, there is the day from Monday until the end of the khatm of the Dalail al-Khayrat, you can read this dua also. After Duhr prayer and before Asr, you can read this dua with the intention that your prayers are with the people on Arafah in Wuquf, they stand and pray to Allah Azza wa Jalla there. So this is for the Day of Arafah.

For the day of Eid, in the morning, after morning prayer you read 300 times, “SubhanAllah wa bi hamdihi” with the intention of giving it to all the muslimeen wal muslimaat wal mu’mineen wal mu’minaat from Ummat Muhammah, from all the nation of Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ who passed away, from all the Muslims [male and female], we gift it to them.

This is a very big gift for all those who passed away from our nation, from the Prophet’s ﷺ nation. That is the gift of Eid. Allah rewards each person with 1000 lights, 1000 nur in their grave and also for the person who read this, also 1000 nur, 1000 lights in their graves.

And also reading “Rabbana atina fid dunya hasanatan wa fil akhirati hasanatan waqina adhaban nar”, on the Day of Arafah and also on the day of Eid. It is recommended to read a lot of this Ayah Karimah, this dua.

Whoever can afford qurban should do it. The qurban is wajib. And for the qurban, there are rules to slaughter the qurban, with takbir, after Eid prayer. After the Eid prayer is counted qurban, before the Eid prayer is not counted qurban for Eid al-Adha. If you slaughter before the Eid prayer, it counts as normal, as sadaqa but if you slaughter after Eid prayer it counts as qurban for the Eid.

And regarding the qurban meat: one third is for the household, one third is for friends, neighbours and one third for needy people. You can do it like this or you can do it in a different way. You can keep all the qurban for yourself but better to make it into three parts and then you can distribute.

I will tell you abut Hajjah Anne, Hajjah Amina Sultan. I was small and Sheikh Nazim used to take people to hajj, so most of the time he was not at home at hajj time, at Eid time. Our neighbour would come after the Eid prayer and slaughter our qurban and Hajjah Anne used to take off the skin and cut it herself, make it small small and she gave me also to put in one sack many many parts of meat.

Subhanallah she had so much barakah, now I’m wondering with one small qurban, how we were distributing to 10-15 houses, or maybe more. Because she used to give to me in one sack and she gave to Hajji Bahauddin also in one sack. So I went to one place and he went to a different place and we distributed the qurban meat.

Lots of barakah from her hands, subhanallah. And she never gave up, Hajjah Anne. Every year she did the same thing. She didn’t say: “Oh, Sheikh is not here I cannot make qurban”, she was managing alhamdulillah and she was very good, mashallah, in this. So this is a small story about qurban.

Usually, they say when you have a qurban, you have to stand in front [of the qurban]. Now most of the time they make qurban not in your house, [but] in different places. But if you know that your qurban is done, you have to prayer two rak’ats shukr that you slaughtered qurban in Eid Eme. To stand in front of your qurban not feeling pity because they said the luckiest animal is the animal that is made qurban on Eid, on Eid al- Adha, it is the luckiest animal.

On Judgment Day, Allah Azza wa Jalla sends them in front of your grave and makes them like a big horse and you go on them and go under the Arsh of ar-Rahman, under the Throne of Allah Azza wa Jalla. Because [it is recommended] also to stand with your qurban if it’s possible.

The Prophet ﷺ was saying that the greatest day is the day of nahr – “A’zam al ayyam inda Allahi yawm an-nahr”. The greatest day in the presence of Allah Azza wa Jalla is the day of nahr, the first day of Eid or the day when you are slaughtering, making qurban.

The Prophet ﷺ ordered Hazrat Fatima to get up and look when they were having qurban because with the first drop of blood from this qurban Allah Azza wa Jalla is forgiving every sin from you, from whomever listens to this. That is an example from Hazrat Fatima for the whole nation. And you say: “Inna salati wa nusuki wa mahyaya wa mamati lillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen” this is the dua when you finish from qurban.

And inshallah that’s all. Eid Mubarak to all of you. Don’t forget the takbir. The qurban in the Hanafi madhhab can be slaughtered anytime after Eid prayer, in the first three days; it is possible until the third day of Eid. But in madhhab Shafi’i, it is valid in all four days of Eid. So take care of this inshallah.

One lady is asking now – I don’t know, maybe she is watching – that she is in Arafah and she got her period. The Prophet ﷺ, when he was going to Hajj al-Wada he took all his wives, Hazrat Aisha had her period. The Prophet ﷺ said to her: “You do everything except Tawaf and Sa’i. You wait until the period is finishing and then you do this.”

So with this, she can go into ihram, go to Arafah, Muzdalifah, Mina, throw stones to the Shaytan but she has to wait until her period is finished and then she makes Tawaf and Sa’i. This is the answer for the lady inshallah.

Lastly, there is a special prayer for the first ten nights of Dhul Hijjah. You can pray two rakaats on any night during these ten nights. It’s best to do it tonight or tomorrow. There is a lot of rewards even if you do it on just one night. In each rakaat, recite:

• 1 time Surah Al-Fatihah
• 1 time Ayatul Kursi
• 3 times Surah Al-Ikhlas
• 3 times Surah Al-Falaq
• 3 times Surah An-Nas

After finishing the prayer with salam, ask Allah for forgiveness, mercy, and anything else you need in this life and the next. Don’t forget to pray for your loved ones, those who asked for your prayers, and the whole Ummah.

And Eid Mubarak for all of you. May Allah write us with the Hajjis on Arafah. Ameen.

Al-Fatiha.

• Hjh Rukiye Sultan

03 June 2025/ 07 Dhu l-Hijjah 1446

More on the blessed Day of ‘Arafah here.

Google Drive to the full devotions can be found here.