Today is Arafah Day

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

Today is the 9th day of Dhul-Hijjah is the day of Arafah. It is this day when the pilgrims
gather on the mountain plain of Arafah, praying and supplicating to their Lord.
The day of Arafah holds great importance in Islam since this is the Day when ALLAH
completed his revelation on His Messenger (saw). On this day too, he delivered the last
sermon as a will to his ummah.
It is reported in the Sahihayn (i.e. Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim), from Umar
Ibn al-Khattab (ra) that a Jewish man said to him:
"O Amir al-Muminin (O head of the Muslims)! There is a verse in the Qur'an, which if
was revealed on us, the Jews, we would have taken that day as an Eid (festival). Umar
asked: 'Which verse?' He said:

"This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and
have chosen for you Islam as your religion." [Surah al-Maidah (5): 3]

Umar (ra) said: 'We know on which day and in which place was this verse revealed to
ALLAH's Messenger (saw). It was when he was standing in Arafah on a Friday.'

Arafah is the day on which ALLAH took the covenant from the progeny of Adam (as),
it was reported that Ibn Abbas (ra) narrated: The Messenger of ALLAH (saw) related:

"(When ALLAH created Adam (as) ALLAH took covenant from him in a place Na'man
on the day of Arafah, then HE extracted from him all the descendants who would be
born until the end of the world, generation after generation, and spread them out in
front of HIM in order to take a covenant from them also. HE spoke to them face to
face saying:

"Am I not your Lord?"

and they all replied: 'Yes, we testify to it'. ALLAH then explained why HE had all of
mankind bear witness that HE was their Creator and only true God worthy of worship.
HE said:

"That was in case you (mankind) should say on the Day of Resurrection, 'Surely, we
were unaware of this. We had no idea that YOU, ALLAH, were our Lord. No one told
us that we were only supposed to worship YOU."

[(Sahih by Shaikh al-Albani in Silsilah al-Ahadith as-Sahihah vol: 4, no: 1623]

Indeed, the day of Arafah is a blessed day and there is no other covenant greater
than this covenant! Arafah is a day of Forgiveness from sins, freedom from the
Hell-Fire for the people who are present in the plain of Arafah. A'ishah (ra) narrated
the Messenger of ALLAH (saw) saying:

"There is no day on which ALLAH frees more people from the Fire than the day of
Arafah. HE comes close and expresses HIS pride to the angels saying, 'What do
these people (the Hajis) want?'"

[Sahih Muslim]

This Hadith mentions forgiveness for the pilgrims. In addition to this, fasting on the
day of Arafah is a Sunnah and an expiation of sins for the residents. Hunaydah ibn
Khalid reported from his wife that some of the wives of the Prophet (saw) said:

"The Messenger of ALLAH (saw) used to fast on the nineth of Dhul-Hijjah, on the
day of Ashurah, on three days of each month, and on the first two Mondays and
Thursdays of each month."

[(Sahih) by Shaikh al-Albani in Sahih Abi Dawud vol: 2, no: 462]

It is reported in Sahih Muslim that when the Messenger of ALLAH (saw) was asked
about the fasting on the day of Arafah, he said:

"It expiates the sins of the previous year and that of the following year."

[Sahih Muslim]

This fasting is Mustahabb only for the non-pilgrims and not for the Hajis (the pilgrims)
because it was not the practice of ALLAH's Messenger (saw) to fast on the day of Arafah
during pilgrimage and in a narration he also forbade doing so. Imam at-Tirmidhi
(d. 275H) said:

"The People of Knowledge consider it recommended (Mustahabb) to fast on the day of
Arafah, except for those at Arafah."

[Jâmi'ut-Tirmidhi (3/377)]
Let's not let this day pass without any act of worship or good deed.

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.