Arafah · a Light

Umar was told which verse deserved a festival

A Jewish man said to Umar ibn al-Khattab that there is a verse in your book which, had it come down to us, we would have taken that day as a festival. Umar asked which verse. He recited the words: this day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you. Umar answered that he knew both the day and the place it came down. The Prophet ﷺ was standing at Arafah, and it was a Friday. The exchange is preserved near the beginning of Bukhari's collection, and it fixes one of the most quoted lines in the Qur'an to an afternoon on a hill outside Makkah in the year 632.

Umar ibn al-Khattab · Arafah, 632 CE

Source · Bukhari 45