Allah will look at His creation and boast of them to the angels. He will ask: What do these servants of mine want? And then, before they finish asking, He will answer their dua. This happens on the day of Arafah, and you can be among those He is talking about. If the first days slipped by unnoticed and for many of us they did, Arafah is Allah’s final and greatest offer of this season. Do not miss it.
When Allah swears an oath in His Book, it signals immense significance. In Surah al-Fajr, Allah swears by the dawn and by the ten nights. The majority of the mufassireen including Ibn Abbas, Ibn Kathir, and Ibn Taymiyyah identified these ten nights specifically as the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, not the last ten nights of Ramadan. Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani in Fath al-Bari (the commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari) noted that what makes these days uniquely precious is that no other time of year brings together all the great acts of worship simultaneously: prayer, fasting, charity and Hajj converge in these ten days alone, and that convergence is what elevates them above everything else, including Ramadan.
Reflect on the Past Year
There is something else about these days that we rarely pause to acknowledge. Dhul Hijjah is the final month of the Islamic calendar. The year is closing. Before the rush of these blessed days pulls you forward, let them also turn you inward, toward an honest account of how the year was spent, which sins have accumulated, which obligations were neglected, which relationships were damaged. The best deeds in the best days of the year deserve to be paired with a sincere intention to enter the next year differently.
Many Muslims become busy with celebrations, gatherings, and preparing the feast for Eid, but the righteous predecessors viewed the end of the year very differently. They saw it as the closing of a personal record, a chapter of deeds that would never return until the Day of Judgment. Our most powerful reflection should be: Who have I become this year? Not what was earned, posted, achieved, or purchased, but what changed within the soul. Did the prayers become stronger or weaker? Did the Qur’an become more beloved or more neglected to us? Did sins quietly become habits? The scholars often said that one of the clearest signs of Allah wanting good for a person is steady growth in obedience and a heart that begins to feel uneasy with sin. Ibn al-Qayyim wrote extensively in Al-Jawab al-Kafi that sins darken the heart slowly until a person no longer feels their weight. The end of the Islamic year is therefore a crucial time to sit alone and honestly audit the state of one’s heart before Allah.
And alongside repentance, bring gratitude. How many unseen disasters did Allah shield you from this year? How many duas were quietly answered? How many times did He conceal your faults while still holding the door open? Ibn Rajab in Lataif al-Ma’arif warned that the greatest loss is reaching a sacred season without internal transformation. Gratitude softens what guilt alone cannot. Enter Arafah with both the humility of someone who knows what they’ve done, and the hope of someone who knows Who they’re standing before.
Gear up for the best day of your life
The Prophet ﷺ testified that these are the best days of this world. Ibn Abbas narrated: ‘There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days’. The companions asked, ‘Not even jihad, ya Rasulullah?’ He ﷺ replied: ‘Not even jihad, except for a man who goes out risking his life and wealth and returns with nothing.'” (Bukhari)
‘Whoever cannot perform Hajj should magnify these ten days and fill them with good deeds at home, for they are more beloved to Allah than even the days of Ramadan.’ (Ibn Rajab)
Among the deeds we should prioritise are:
- Fasting: It is Sunnah to fast the ninth day of Dhul Hijjah. Fasting is one of the best of deeds, and these are the best of days.
- - Raise your voice with dhikr: The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘There are no days greater in the sight of Allah than these ten days, so increase in them the Tahleel, the Takbeer, and the Tahmeed.” (Ahmad)
Ibn ‘Umar and Abu Hurayrah would go out to the marketplace during these ten days reciting Takbir aloud, and the people would follow their practice.
- - Give Sadaqah: The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Charity extinguishes sinful deeds just as water extinguishes fire.’ (Ibn Majah) And if charity extinguishes sins, then these are the days to pour the most water because sins in sacred seasons carry heavier weight, and they deprive the heart of the very forgiveness it came here to receive.
- The Day of Arafah
The day the entire season builds toward is the Day of Arafah. It was the day Allah bestowed upon this Ummah its greatest gift: He perfected the religion of Islam and completed His favour upon us.
When the verse ‘ This day I have perfected your religion for you” (Surah Ma’idah, verse 3) was revealed, a Jewish man said to Umar ibn al-Khattab: ‘If this verse had been revealed to us, we would have taken that day as a festival.’ Umar responded, ‘We know exactly which day it was revealed, and we honour it every year. It was Arafah and for those standing before Allah on that plain, it already carries the joy of Eid.’
The Prophet ﷺ said: There is no day in which Allah sets free more slaves from the Hellfire than the Day of Arafah (Muslim). The Prophet ﷺ told us the best supplication is the supplication of Arafah. And the best thing ever said on that day by him ﷺ and all the Prophets before him (Tirmidhi
ا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ ، وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ ، لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ ، وهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak came to Sufyan al-Thawri on the eve of Arafah and found him weeping on his knees. He asked: ‘Who is in the worst condition among this gathering?’ Sufyan replied ‘The one who thinks Allah will not forgive him’. That is the only barrier. Allah already knows your sins. He already promised forgiveness. ‘O My servants who have transgressed against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’
The Day That Makes the Year
The year is almost over. The days you were given, the ones spent well and the ones that slipped through your fingers and the ones you would rather forget are drawing close. And in His mercy, Allah did not end your year in silence. He ended it with Arafah. With a day on which He draws near, boasts of His servants to the angels, and forgives before they finish asking. You may have entered this year with intentions that never became actions, with sins that became habits, with a heart that drifted further than you meant it to. Bring all of it to this day. The repentance, the gratitude, the grief over what was lost, and the hope of what can still be written. Arafah is not a reward for those who had a good year rather It is a mercy for everyone. Do not let it pass while you are distracted. Stand before Allah wherever you are, with your hands raised and your heart honest. He is already listening. He was always listening. And today, of all the days of the year, He is closest. Related: Hajj Reflections: In Arafah with Allah Yaser Birjas | The Days of Hajj Series | The 9th of Dhul Hijjah The post Arafah: The Door That Opens Once a Year appeared first on MuslimMatters.org .