Contentious issues about the real 9 Zulhijjah

First and foremost, I praise Allah over the blessing that He has given me over the past year and has extended another year of my life. InsyaAllah in 2 days we will meet yet again another 9th Zulhijjah, or the Day of Arafah. It is the single most important day for all Muslim especially the Hujjaj whom were blessed to be presence at the sacred land of Arafah.

In a meaning of a Hadith, the Prophet pbuh has said that there is no other day that Allah frees many of His servants from Hellfire but on the day of Arafah. That is why we are urge to fast on the day of Arafah and ask his forgiveness. Another meaning of Hadith on the advantages of fasting on the day of Arafah, the Prophet says that Allah will forgive all the sins of His servant for the past year and the next.

I hope I am able to do the same. And so, many has also realized the great things that is on offer by Allah on the special day. As more and more people begin to understand, than there will be more question. And, being weak human, we are predisposed to school of thoughts and hence we start to argue about the real day of the Arafah.

Especially with Satellite TV, we learned that for this year the day of Arafah is observed on the 18th December in Saudi while in other parts of the world like Malaysia, the day fall on the 19th. So some would argue that we should follow Saudi while other steadfastly maintains that we have to follow the rule of the country.

As usual, in Malaysia we are normally adopts the Rukyah system for reason lost to me. In other countries, like Saudi, they will see the hilal to determine the first day of the moon. Even country like Sudan benefit from Saudi by just adopting whatever decision their neighbor made. Maybe the sky is always clear in Saudi and the mountains are higher that they are more apt than we Malaysian in finding the moon. If this issue is further discuss, it will get more complicated with countries like India and Pakistan who are often 2 days behind than the rest of the world. Weird not?

Well, for us, the normal servants and on the street Muslim, we just follow what is being announced by the leader of our country. If Malaysia announced Arafah to fall on the 19th, so be it. InshaAllah our fasting and doa would not go unrecognized by Allah AlMighty and Most Forgiving.

Here are some articles concerning the issue. Read here and here.

Than come a question, if a hujjaj is coming from a country that declared first of Zulhijjah different from Saudi, the caretaker of Mecca and Arafah, should he observed his day of Arafah like his country or Saudi? I think even a kindergarten pupil can answer that. Long answer is, if he stick to his country date, the hujjaj simply can't be called a Hajj when he return because: Al Hajj is Arafah. And Arafah is the 9th day of Zulhijjah in Arafah lah. ;-)
Sunset on Arafah. Last minute to make Doa before the sunsets. You will find so many people there, but the air is so quiet with no voices to be heard. All of them are having private conversation with Allah. Tears melting in their eyes! What a feeling!

In a way, it is good if we have different opinion and argue over it, which goes to show that we are more matured and have more knowledge about our religion. On the other hand, it is bad especially if it divides the Ummah. We pray and hope that one day, all the Muslim Ummah will unite and observe the same day for the first of Ramadhan, Eid as well as the Zulhijjah. Afterall, there is only one moon!