Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Tawfiq Y. Hasou, The Struggle for the 

Arab World: Egypt’s Nasser and the Arab League (London 

and Boston: KPI, 1985).

Arafat

 

(also Arafa)

Arafat is a plain located 12 miles from downtown 

m

ecca

 where pilgrims come to stand and listen to 

sermons

 during the 

haJJ

, the annual Muslim pil-

grimage. This gathering, which occurs at midday 

on the ninth day of the 12th month of the Muslim 

year (Dhu al-Hijja), is one of the essential require-

ments of the hajj. If a pilgrim fails to be there on 

time, her hajj performance is considered to be 

invalid, and she must perform it again another 

year in order to satisfy the Islamic pilgrimage 

requirement. The q

Uran

 mentions Arafat once: 

“When you pour forth from Arafat, remember 

God at the sacred monument, and remember how 

he guided you when previously you had gone 

astray” (Q 2:198). According to Islamic tradition, 

Arafat is where a

dam

 

and

 e

ve

 were reunited after 

their expulsion from 

paradise

 and where g

abriel

taught a

braham

 the hajj rites.

Among the distinguishing features of the plain 

are Mount Mercy, also called Arafat, a hill where 

m

Uhammad

 gave a farewell sermon during the 

hajj he performed just before his death in 632. 

There is a large 

mosqUe

 nearby called the Namira 

Mosque, where hajj sermons are delivered today 

and broadcast throughout the world. There is 

another mosque at Muzdalifa, the “sacred monu-

ment” mentioned in the Quran, where pilgrims