Prayers echo across Hajj for Day of Arafah

MECCA: ‘Labbaik allahuma labbaik’ will echo all over the hajj as lakhs get ready to celebrate the day of Arafah today. The devotees will spend one complete day in Mina Valley chanting prayers and will wait for sunset to fall before heading to Arafah. Before noon today, every pilgrim will reach Arafah.

In their feather-white clothing, lakhs will swarm Arafah maidan chanting prayers in praise of the prophet. The Day of Arafah is known as the day where if sought after, millions of Muslims’ sins are forgiven by Allah. Arafah is known as the day Allah perfected the religion of Islam. It is also momentous because it was the day an important verse of the Qur’an, Surah al Maa’idah 5:3, was revealed.

Islamic scholar Sheikh Yousef bin Mohammad was appointed preacher for this year's day of Arafah. There are almost 20 lakh hajj pilgrims currently in the holy city of Mecca. 11252, pilgrims are from Kerala. Dhikr prayers will reverberate all across Arafah while male pilgrims will climb Jabal ar-Raḥmah hill. According to Legend, it was on this hill that the prophet prayed for mercy to Allah.

The pilgrims will later reach Muzdalifah and will call it a day to slumber in rest. The next day, stones will be gathered from this spot to hurl at jamarāt. It is one of a series of refined pre-Islamic ritual acts that must be performed in the Hajj. It is a symbolic reenactment of Ibrahim's (or Abraham's) hajj, where he stoned three pillars representing the Shaitan, and Muslims' temptation to disobey the will of Allah. When the first stones are hurled at the devil, it makes the official end to this year's hajj pilgrimage. On Saturday, the pilgrims will go another round across the Arafah in a final bow of faith before leaving Mecca.