Ruling on leaving ‘Arafah then returning to it again

28/10/2010| IslamWeb

Question

What is the ruling on leaving ‘Arafah during the Day of ‘Arafah to buy some items and then returning to it after ten minutes? Is it permissible to leave ‘Arafah again to pray at the Namirah Mosque and return to ‘Arafah after praying? Please advise.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

The time of standing at ‘Arafah starts at noon on the ninth of Thu’l-Hijjah, which is the middle of the day at the time of the Thuhr Prayer, and lasts until the dawn of the Day of Nahr (i.e., the next day). Anyone who stands at any part of this time will have fulfilled standing at ‘Arafah. This is proved by what was narrated in the Sunan that the Prophet said to ‘Urwah ibn Mudharris: "Anyone who witnessed our prayer with us and stood with us until we left Muzdalifah to go to Mina and stood before this at ‘Arafah during the night or day, his Hajj will be complete and his untidiness will be ended."

According to the majority of scholars, it is obligatory for the one who stood during the day to extend this and include part of the night. If the pilgrim did not stand part of the night, he should slaughter a sacrifice because he thereby missed one of the obligations of Hajj. There is no harm in leaving ‘Arafah and returning as standing at ‘Arafah need not s necessarily be continuous. Thus, if you stood at ‘Arafah during the day and extended your standing after sunset, your Hajj would be valid. If you left ‘Arafah then returned, this would be alright, but if you left standing at part of the night, you should slaughter a sacrifice according to opinion of the majority of scholars.

And Allah knows best.