Arafat Unites Them: So Why Do We Create Division? The Joy of Unity

All praise is due to Allah, who has blessed the Ummah of Muhammad (PBUH) with the grace of Eid festivals, establishing them as a period of spaciousness within His religion. These festivals are preceded by seasons of forgiveness and times of obedience that bring us closer to the Lord of Creation. Allah has brought Muslims together within these festivals, observing a single set of rituals that glorify their Lord. We draw near to Him in the unity and adherence that He desires for us. 

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "Indeed, Allah is pleased with three things for you: that you worship Him and associate nothing with Him, that you all hold fast together to the rope of Allah and do not become divided, and that you advise those to whom Allah has given charge over your affairs." (1)

There is no doubt that finding joy in the assembly of Muslims, united upon a single decision – even if that decision is considered less preferred by some people of knowledge – is itself a major sharia interest. Through it, hearts are unified, the bonds of brotherhood are strengthened among the believers, the ranks are consolidated upon the word of Tauhid, and the ritual of the community, commanded by Allah, becomes manifest. 

The early imams of Islam established that holding to the community and unity, and rejecting division and discord, is an absolute, core principle of the faith.

In this vein, Imam ash-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) clarifies, in his book "Ar-Risala," the supreme objective of holding to the community: "And since their community implies holding to their community in their lands and the general flow of their judgments, then hold to their community, for the division of the community does not exist in any land; rather, it exists due to the ignorance of those who are ignorant and their departure from what is known." (2)

This early foundation makes clear that observing agreement with the general community of Muslims in their general, manifest judgments must be given priority over individual opinions and interpretations.

As long as this assembly is based upon a valid opinion, expressed by people of knowledge, and possesses a degree of weight in both analysis and independent judgment, then observing the interest of harmony is something that should be taken into careful consideration, especially in the great seasons and manifest rituals where the meaning of the Ummah's unity and its assembly before all other nations becomes manifest.

 The Discrepancy of New Moons

Yet every year, with the approach of seasons of obedience such as Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha, we find some people are heedless of this great objective. The old argument returns regarding the new moons and sightings, and the joy of Eid, along with the unity of the ritual, is lost in endless debates: should the criterion be the sighting in each individual country? Or the general, shared sighting among different lands? Or the sighting in Makkah due to the connection of the rituals, time, and space to it? Or the specific school of thought a person belongs to, which they seek to impose upon their reality? This has left the average person confused between these opinions, and the matter has at times reached the point where the difference between some Muslims in the same land is two full days, not just a one-night discrepancy in the sighting.

This is something that calls into question how closely this extreme variation matches the supreme objective that sharia established: unifying the word and harmonizing the hearts. There is no doubt that dispute in this matter is ancient among people of knowledge, with its own recognized reasons and evidence. However, fairness requires us to differentiate between a valid, validly based difference of opinion that the early imams countenanced, and a stubborn adherence to opinions or geographical customs that are not based upon manifest evidence, particularly in an age where barriers and distances have vanished.

The predecessors used to immensely glorify the unity of Muslims in the manifest rituals, valuing it above their own personal convictions. 

So much so that Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed behind Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) in Mina with four rak'ahs, even though his opinion was that the prayer should be shortened to two.

When he was asked about the reason for praying with four behind him, in contradiction to his own opinion, he said a phrase that became legendary: "Dispute is evil."

(3) Reflecting this meaning, Imam Malik ibn Anas (may Allah have mercy on him) said, establishing the principle of leaving aside dispute in the context of manifest acts of worship: "Dispute is not the way of religion, and people have not become divided except by abandoning the traditional way and resorting to argumentation." (4)

 Fiqh and Reality

A powerful, مقاصدي (objectives-based) fiqh inquiry might be worthy here of careful thought and long reflection: is it possible to narrow the scope of this difference, so that its effect remains confined only to the entering and exiting of the month of Ramadan, and does not extend, as much as possible, to the Day of Arafat and the festivals? That which perhaps strengthens this view is that the texts related to Ramadan directly linked the judgments to the sighting of the new moon, addressing each individual or region.

The Prophet (PBUH) said: "Fast upon seeing it and break your fast upon seeing it, and if it is obscured from you, then complete the full number of Sha'ban as thirty." (5)

Opinion differed among people of knowledge regarding the meaning of this wording and its application, to the extent that a group of modern verifiers, including the scholar Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (may Allah have mercy on him), adopted the view that definitive astronomical calculation can be utilized to either negate the established sighting or to confirm it when certainty is achieved. 

This is to provide ease for the Ummah and prevent confusion, as he established in his treatise "Ar-Risala: Awail ash-Shuhur al-Arabiyya" (The Start of the Arabic Months).

This is even though the majority of early jurists held a contrary view due to the lack of precise astronomical tools in their time. The issue of Ramadan is inherently based upon the sighting of the moon for each specific region, and that is why the famous dispute arose among jurists over whether difference of location should be considered.

Those who argued for considering it used the famous hadith of Kuraib, narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), when the sighting of the new moon differed between the people of Syria and the people of Madinah, and he said: "But we saw it on Saturday night, so we will not cease fasting until we complete thirty or see it." (7)

 The Uniqueness of Arafat

However, as for the Day of Arafat, a careful, insightful reflection reveals that the sharia texts did not link the virtue within it only to the "ninth day of Dhu al-Hijjah," in an abstract sense of calculation for each individual country, isolated from the reality of the situation. Rather, they linked it as a description to the "Day of Arafat," in the sense of a specific time bound to a specific place, and to a specific action being carried out by the pilgrims. The Prophet (PBUH) said: "The fast of the Day of Arafat: I hope that Allah will expiate for the year before it and the year after it."

(8) And the Day of Arafat, in the technical language of sharia and its truth, is the day upon which the pilgrims stand at the plains of Arafat, and Arafat can only exist by this observed standing at that location in Makkah.

For this reason, a brilliant galaxy of people of knowledge have adopted the view that unifying the fast upon that specific day is closer to the manifest wording of the text, and clearer in achieving the objective of assembly and the unity of the ritual. This meaning is strengthened by the fact that Muslims in the east and west turn their hearts upon that day to Arafat, watching the greatest spectacle of Islam. The supplications of those standing at Arafat unite with the supplications of those fasting in all other lands, and all share in glorifying this momentous season and bringing its blessings to mind. This مقاصدي (objectives-based) orientation is supported by what has come down in the Sunan collections from the Prophet (PBUH), who said: "The fast is on the day you fast, and the breaking of the fast is on the day you break your fast."

(9) In another narration: "The fast is on the day you fast, and the breaking of the fast is on the day you break your fast, and the sacrifice is on the day you sacrifice." 

(10) This hadith is explained by Imam al-Khattabi (may Allah have mercy on him) in "Ma'alim as-Sunan," providing a powerful, مقاصدي interpretation: "The hadith means that the mistake is removed from people in matters that are resolved by independent judgment. 

So, if a group of people were to use independent judgment and did not see the new moon except after thirty days, and they did not break their fast until they had completed the fast, then it was made clear that the month was twenty-nine days, then their fast and their breaking of the fast are both valid, and there is no blame upon them nor sin. Rather, this is a lightening from Allah, and kindness toward His servants."

(11) Sharia, therefore, considered that being in agreement with the community is the ruling principle, and it has removed any distress from individuals and smaller groups if they are in accordance with the general, manifest state of the Muslims.

 Sharia Objectives

Nothing is known – as has been recorded in the books of early positive law – that is an explicit judgment from the four imams regarding this modern situation specifically. This is because their written research was focused upon the confirmation of new moons and difference of location geographically, due to the cutting off of news and the difficulty of communication between distant regions, and not upon the issue of linking the fast of the Day of Arafat with the standing of the pilgrims, combined with the extreme speed of immediate, modern communication of news, sound, and image, as is the reality today.

However, the general rules of sharia have gloried the matter of assembly and forbidden division using the most forceful wording. Allah has said: "And hold fast all of you together to the rope of Allah and do not become divided." 

(Surat Al-Imran: 103) And He has said: "And do not dispute, lest you fail and lose your strength." (Surat Al-Anfal: 46)

Imam al-Juwayni (the Imam of the Two Holy Mosques) summarized this great مقاصدي principle in his book "Ghiyath al-Umam," explaining that the soundness of the Ummah's judgments and rituals is connected to its unity and the avoidance of any division of its word, and that the scattering of fatwas and judgments within the greatest rituals leads to the weakening of religion in the hearts of the common people. (12) The objective of these narrations and fiqh positions is not to cancel independent judgment or to invalidate validly based differences in the specific details of issues. Rather, the point is to draw attention to the fact that sharia does not view specific details in isolation from their effects upon the Ummah's entity, its unity, and its strength. Indeed, Imam ash-Shatibi made the raising of the causes of dispute and the preserving of harmony among the highest objectives of sharia, explaining in "Al-Muwafaqat" that the Lawgiver is looking towards achieving harmony and assembly and raising the causes of division and dispute. 

(13) For this reason, the divine scholars would always look towards the final results of opinions and their effects among the people, and not just at the strength of an abstract piece of evidence that is isolated from the manifest, observed reality.

The Educational Consciousness

We might be heedless of an educational and civilizational dimension that is no less important than the مقاصدي dimension of fiqh.

This is the effect of this repeated dispute in shaping the consciousness of the new generations and their understanding of the meaning of the one Ummah. 

A child who grows up in this age of technology sees the pilgrims assembled on the plain of Arafat via direct, trans-continental broadcast, hears their cries of 'Here I am, O Allah!' and their supplications, and their heart is shaken by the sight of their solid convergence. 

Then they are shocked that the Muslims around them in their own country or their own home are divided over defining the Day of Arafat itself, with some fasting today and some fasting tomorrow.

This makes it difficult for them to absorb this scene or understand its exact reasons in fiqh, and it leaves within them a feeling of scattering and specific details, and it weakens in their consciousness the collective identity of the Islamic Ummah.

Sharia has taken into consideration even the manifest forms of the Muslims, commanding stillness and dignity when going to the congregational prayer.

The Prophet (PBUH) said: "When you go to the prayer, do not go at a run, but rather go walking with stillness and dignity." (14) All of this is in order to preserve the awe of the congregation, its stillness, and the manifest harmony of its movement. How then can it not be so for the great rituals and the great festivals that represent the entire Ummah before itself and before the world? How then can the assembly of Muslims upon a single Day of Arafat not have a profound effect in consolidating the meaning of the single Ummah in the souls of the young, and in strengthening the Islamic sense of belonging among Muslims living as minorities and in western communities, where the need for unity is even more severe, and the effect of division is clearer and causes even more confusion regarding the emerging Islamic identity in those places?

 A Hope for Unity

It is not hidden from anyone with insight that the Ummah is living today through an crisis of a comprehensive reference, as it is living through an crisis in unifying its word and its vision on many of its major issues. 

Therefore, every step that leads to narrowing the scope of dispute and widening the scope of agreement in the manifest acts of worship is worthy of deep study and careful analysis by modern fiqh academies and councils of great scholars.

For this reason, the urgent question arises: Is it not time for the Ummah – through its official fiqh institutions – to move towards adopting a single Day of Arafat upon which all Muslims assemble, as long as the place of the standing is known and observed, with no two people differing over it, and as long as the text linked the virtue to that specific day as a description and a name? The aim of this proposal is not to confiscate the inherited dispute of fiqh, nor to cancel the recognized independent judgment regarding the sighting of the new moons. Rather, the point is to activate the understanding of final results, and to look into the supreme interest of the Ummah, and to search for the widest paths that achieve the objective of assembly and are closest to bringing the hearts together, especially in an age where spatial dimensions have vanished and the entire earth has become as a single village.

And the musk-like ending of this meaning is that which we began with: the statement of the Prophet (PBUH) regarding holding to the community and adherence. For he brought together in a single text monotheism, unity, and adherence, as if he were establishing for the Ummah that the unity of Muslims in their rituals is not just an organizational, social, or political interest, but rather is itself a major act of worship and a major act of nearness that brings the servants closer to the Lord of the earth and the heavens.

 Footnotes and Citations

[1]: Narrated by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Judgments, Chapter of the Prohibition of Excessive Questioning Without Need, Hadith No. (1715).

[2]: Ash-Shafi'i, Muhammad ibn Idris, Ar-Risala, edited by Ahmad Muhammad Shakir, Cairo: Maktabat wa Matba'at Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi, 1st ed., 1358 AH, p. 503.

[3]: Narrated by Abu Dawood in his Sunan, Book of Hajj Rituals, Chapter of Praying in Mina, Hadith No. (1960).

[4]: See: Ibn Abd al-Barr, Yusuf ibn Abd Allah, Jami' Bayan al-Ilm wa Fadlih, edited by Abi al-Ashbal az-Zuhairi, Dammam: Dar Ibn al-Jawzi, 1414 AH, Vol. 2, p. 912.

[5]: Narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih, Book of Fasting, Chapter of the Statement of the Prophet (PBUH): If you see the new moon, then fast, Hadith No. (1909), and Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Fasting, Chapter of the Obligation of Fasting Ramadan Upon Seeing the New Moon, Hadith No. (1081).

[6]: Shakir, Ahmad Muhammad, treatise "Ar-Risala: Awail ash-Shuhur al-Arabiyya: Hal yajuz shar'an ithbatuha bil-hisab al-falaki?" (The Start of the Arabic Months: Is it Sharia-wise permissible to establish them using astronomical calculation?), Cairo: Maktabat as-Sunna, 1st ed., 1358 AH, pp. 7-15.

[7]: Narrated by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Fasting, Chapter of the Clarification that Each Land Has Its Sighting and that if They See the New Moon in a Land, Its Judgment Does Not Become Fixed for What is Remote from Them, Hadith No. (1087).

[8]: Narrated by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Fasting, Chapter of the Recommendation of Fasting Three Days from Each Month and the Fast of the Day of Arafat, Hadith No. (1162).

[9]: Narrated by Ibn Majah in his Sunan, Book of Fasting, Chapter of What Has Come Down Regarding the Two Eid Months, Hadith No. (1660), and authenticated by al-Albani in as-Silsilat as-Sahiha No. (224).

[10]: Narrated by at-Tirmidhi in his Sunan, Book of Fasting, Chapter of What Has Come Down Regarding Fasting is the Day You Fast and Breaking the Fast is the Day You Break Your Fast, Hadith No. (697), and he said: "This is a hadith hasan gharib mufassar."

[11]: Al-Khattabi, Hamad ibn Muhammad, Ma'alim as-Sunan, Aleppo: Al-Matba'at al-Ilmiyya, 1st ed., 1351 AH, Vol. 2, p. 114.

[12]: See: Al-Juwayni, Abd al-Malik ibn Abd Allah, Ghiyath al-Umam fi Iltiyath ad-Zulm, edited by Abd al-Azim ad-Dib, Doha: Ministry of Islamic Affairs, 2nd ed., 1400 AH, pp. 210-215 (by meaning and context-based adaptation).

[13]: Ash-Shatibi, Ibrahim ibn Musa, Al-Muwafaqat fi Usul ash-Shari'a, edited by Mashhur ibn Hasan Al Salman, Dammam: Dar Ibn al-Qayyim, 1st ed., 1424 AH, Vol. 2, p. 289.

[14]: Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim: Narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih, Book of the Call to Prayer, Chapter of Walking to the Prayer with Stillness and Dignity, Hadith No. (636), and Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Mosques and Places of Prayer, Chapter of the Recommendation of Coming to the Prayer with Dignity and Stillness, Hadith No. (602).