 As for the pilgrim who is present in Arafah, Imam As-Shafi’i and his companions said (in one of the prominent books of the Shafi’i legal school of thought) al-Mukhtasar, ‘It is mustahabb (sunnah) for him not to fast’.”

Prohibiting the pilgrims from fasting on these days is a great mercy for them, for fasting will exert undue hardship on the person performing the hajj.Above all, Muhammad did not fast while he stood before Allah offering supplications in Arafah.On the other hand, those who are not performing their hajj may observe fasting to gain the merits of the blessed day.