The minimum requirement for standing at 'Arafah

Al-Hawini: What is the minimum requirement for standing at 'Arafah in terms of the beginning and end of the day, and likewise the duration of standing there?

The Shaykh : The hadith on this matter is explicit; namely, his saying (peace be upon him): . It also came in an authentic hadith, with the Messenger (peace be upon him) speaking it while he was in Muzdalifah, where he said: . So, an hour of night or day. However, we do not see it as befitting for the pilgrim to intentionally deviate from the practical Sunnah, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as you all know, only ascended to 'Arafah after he had prayed the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers combined and brought forward at Masjid Namirah, which is not part of 'Arafah. After that, he ascended 'Arafah and remained there until the sun set. So, we do not see it as befitting for a Muslim to intentionally deviate from this Sunnah as long as he is able to do so and finds a way to it.
But this is in terms of completing the Sunnah at least, or fulfilling the obligatory duty required by the generality of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: . So, if he does not spend the latter half of the day after Zuhr in 'Arafah, he is either neglecting the Sunnah or leaving the obligatory duty. As for his Hajj, it is valid, as he (peace be upon him) said: . So, his Hajj is valid, but if he stands for an hour of night or day, he deviates from the practical Sunnah, which may be among the obligatory duties. Yes.

Another questioner : Can the hadith of 'Urwah ibn al-Muththir, which you mentioned earlier, be used as evidence for the pillar status of standing at 'Arafah, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ? So, he stood between standing at 'Arafah and the prayer in Muzdalifah; can this hadith be used as evidence for the pillar status of standing in the combined prayer?

The Shaykh : No, the hadith is only used as evidence for the pillar status of the Fajr prayer in Muzdalifah. As for standing in Muzdalifah—or more accurately, spending the night in Muzdalifah—it is obligatory. But this obligatory duty is not completed except by performing the Fajr prayer there, because the prayer there is the pillar, and the hadith is explicit in that. Yes.
Al-Hawini: Regarding the previous issue, one might say: If the verbal Sunnah conflicts with the practical Sunnah, the verbal Sunnah is given precedence.

The Shaykh : Correct.
Al-Hawini: So, the verbal Sunnah in the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) saying that he permitted him to stand even for an hour, and the practical Sunnah was that he stood for the whole day, so one might say: The stronger position here is the verbal Sunnah, in which case the issue of deviation is not applicable?

The Shaykh : No, this is an error in applying the correct jurisprudential rule. The correct jurisprudential rule that we often repeat to remove some difficulties from some hadiths is: "If his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) conflicts with his action, his saying is given precedence over his action." This is in the case of conflict. And where is the conflict when the part is included in the whole? The part is an hour of the day, which is the pillar, and the Messenger brought the pillar and more. So, where is the conflict here?
Conflict only occurs if it is claimed from one side that the pillar is an hour of night or day, and—also—that the standing of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in 'Arafah from after the Zuhr prayer until the setting of the sun is a pillar. Then we would say: If his saying and his action conflict, the saying is given precedence over the action. But the standing of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in 'Arafah does not establish pillar status; at most it establishes obligation, or the obligatory nature that does not require us to what? Pillar status. Because it is established in the science of the principles of jurisprudence: "Everything that is a pillar is obligatory, everything that is a condition is obligatory, but not everything that is obligatory is a pillar or a condition. No, the pillar or the condition is more emphatic than the obligatory." So, there is no contradiction here between his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) "an hour of night or day" and his standing (peace and blessings be upon him) from after Zuhr until the setting of the sun. There is no conflict at all. Therefore, applying this rule in our issue is a jurisprudential error.