05/24/2026
The day of Arafa, the Eid Al Adha Day, Salatul Eid, and Udheya or Qurbani.
The most revered and the most sacred day of the first ten days of the sacred month of Thul Hejja is the ninth day; the Day of Arafa which is going to be in sha Allah Tuesday May 26, 2026. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said about the greatness of the Day of Arafa: “There is no day greater than the Day of Arafa.” (Muslim) And tied Hajj to this day to show its importance saying: “Hajj is Arafa.” (Authentic Termithi) The greatness of this sacred day is due to the huge mass salvation of believers from the fire of hell, the unlimited answering of the supplications of the believers by Allah, the divine descend of Allah to the first heaven to shower the believers with His heavenly Mercy and Forgiveness, and huge rewards for those believers who are performing Hajj and those who are not provided that they fasted this day and made lots of supplications and other good deed. One of the Day of Arafa virtues is that there is no other day in year where the extent of forgiveness and mercy of Allah reaches such a high level like the day of Arafa.
يقول رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: " ما من يومٍ أكثرُ من أن يعتِقَ اللهُ فيه عبيدًا من النَّارِ من يومِ عرفةَ ، وأنه لَيدنو ، ثم يباهي بهم الملائكةَ فيقول : ما أراد هؤلاءِ ؟ اشهَدوا ملائكتي أني قد غفرتُ لهم." مسلم
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said: “There is no day on which Allah rescues more of His slaves from Fire than the Day of Arafa, and Allah verily draws near them, and then boasts of them before the Angles. O My Angels be witness that I forgave them all.” (Muslim) Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) also said: "Shaytan or Satan never feels more humiliated, more insignificant, more disgraceful, and more outraged on any day than on the Day of Arafa. And that is because he sees the Divine descent of Allah's mass Mercy and Forgiveness on the believers.” (Authentic Malik)
The great Day of Arafa is the day of Ransom or etiq from the hellfire for those who performed the Hajj properly, all their sins committed before Hajj will be all erased. Prophet (Peace be upon him) also said, “Whoever performs a Hajj as prescribed during which he neither commits iniquity nor sin will return home sinless as a new born baby on the very day his mother gave birth to him.” (Bukhari and Muslim) and he (Peace be upon him) said: “And the reward of Hajj Mabrur (Hajj as prescribed) is Paradise." (Bukhari and Muslim)
For those who were not able to perform Hajj and be among those who are in the holy land this year like us, Allah did not forget them nor deprive them from the joys and the huge blessings and rewards that the pilgrimages enjoy, rather Allah blesses them as well with His divine love, and huge gifts, that surpasses even their highest expectations, some of which will not be known to them until they meet Allah on the day of Judgement. As Allah will give those who did the good deed of performing Hajj with big blessings and gifts, Allah will give those of us who do good deeds in those ten days with big blessings and gifts. Allah out of His Mercy legislated for those who are not performing Hajj; a good deed that will bring huge rewards for a little effort; fasting the day of Arafa. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said: “Fasting the day of Arafa erases the sins of the year before it, and of the year after it.” (Muslim) meaning fasting the day of Arafa Tuesday May 26, 2026 by the grace of Allah, the sins committed the year before this day and the sins committed after this year will be erased. What a gift, fasting one day wipes out the sins committed two years. Is it much to fast tomorrow to remove from our shoulders the sins committed in two years? Let us try our utmost.
The last day of the sacred first ten days of the month of Thul Hejja is the day of Eid Al Adha, which is going to be Wednesday May 27, 2026 where Muslims all over the world perform Salt Eid Al Adha Prayer celebrating the blessings and the great rewards and the unlimited gifts that Allah gave them during these holy days and praise Allah much for every single blessing they got and enjoyed and they are sincerely grateful for of that and more. There are some recommended deeds a Muslim should try to observe on the day of Eid as much as possible and they are: 1 – Taking a shower before going out to the prayer if possible. 2- If available, one should use perfume. 3 – Wearing best clothes on the occasion of Eid. It was narrated that Jabir said: The Prophet (Peace be upon him) had excellent garment which he would wear on the two Eids and on Fridays.” (Authentic Ibn Khuzaymah) 4 – The Takbeer on the day of Eid, this is one of the greatest traditions of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) who instructed Muslims to make Takbeer on the day of Eid starting from coming out of one's home to the prayer place until the Emam enters the place and start the Eid prayer. After performing Salat Eid Al Adha, the believers go to perform another ritual of the rituals of Hajj; offering the Udheya or Qurbani. Allah said in the Quran about the Udhiya among other verses, Allah said: “For every nation Allah appointed a rite of sacrifice so that they may pronounce the Name of Allah over the sacrificial animals Allah has provided for them. For your God, Allah, is only One God, so submit yourselves to Him alone.” (Quran 22: 36), and Allah said: “So pray to your Lord Allah and sacrifice.” (Quran 108: 2) These verses not only instructs the believers in their duty to perform prayer and sacrifice but also emphasizes their essential importance as acts of worship. Allah make it very clear in the Quran saying: “It is not their meat nor its blood that reaches Allah, but it is your pity that reaches Allah.” (Quran 22: 37) Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said on the day of Eid: “The first thing we begin this day with is to perform Salat Al Eid, then we perform the sacrifice. Whoever does that have followed our Sunnah, and whoever slaughtered before he prays, it is just meat given to his family, and it is not part of any ritual.” (Muslim)
The Udheya is a confirmed Sunnah or Sunnah Muakkada, but it becomes a Wajib when a Muslim is financially able to perform the Udheya or the Qurbani. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said: “Whoever is financially able to perform the Udhiya, but did not want to do it, then it better for him to not to come even close to the Masjid.” (Authentic Ibn Majah) Scholars of the science of Hadith say: “This hadith clearly clarifies that if one is financially able to perform the Udhiya, he should, but if one is unable financially to perform the Udhey, them one is excused. When a Muslim is about to give Qurbani or Udhiya, he must follow these strict rules: Muslims should be kind and gentle with the animal.
No animal should see another animal being sacrificed.
No animal should be slaughtered with an unsharpened knife.
No animal should see the slaughter knife sharpened in front of them.
No animal should be touched until is confirmed gone.
The phrase “Bismillah Allahu Akbar” should be said at the time of slaughter.
The time to perform the Udhiya starts after Salat Eid Al Adha and ends after sunset of the 13th day of the month of Thul Hejja that is next Wednesday June 19th. Lastly, a reminder that Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) specified the age of the animal to be sacrificed on Eid day. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said: “Do not slaughter anything but a musinnah (Yearling), unless it is too hard for you to find that, in this case, you may slaughter not less than a young sheep of six months old as minimum).” (Muslim) This hadith clearly states that only a musinnah or yearling can be slaughtered as a Udheya, except if one does not find a yearling, then one may get a Lamb of minimum six months old. In other words, a Jadah of sheep is not permissible to be Udheya except if one cannot find a yearling. But many Muslims seek only the six months lambs saying its meat is tender, we should know that the Udheya is an act of worship that must follow only the instructions given by Allah and His Messenger. If someone wants a six-month old lamb, he can get a six-month old lamb in other days.
Let us all utilize those two sacred day left in the first ten days of the month of Thul Hejja to say and do all that Allah loves us to say and do. May Allah accept from all of us our good deeds, grant us salvation from the hellfire and reside us all in the high Firdous in Paradise. Eid Mubarak.
