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As for standing on Mount Arafat,
when you behold the thronging crowds, hear the loud
voices speaking in many tongues, and see the various
groups following their leaders through the ritual
observances, matching their actions to theirs, recall
the site of the Day of Resurrection, the gathering of
the communities with their prophets and leaders, each
community following its prophet, aspiring after his
intercession, all wavering with equal uncertainty
between rejection and acceptance.
After that recollection, set your
heart on supplication and entreaty to God, Great and
Glorious is He, that you may be resurrected in the
company of the mercifully successful. Be certain that
your hope will be answered, for the place [Arafat] is
noble, and mercy reaches all creatures from the majesty
of the Divine Presence through the venerable hearts of
the mainstays of the earth.
The standing-place is never devoid
of a generation of the saintly and pious, nor of a
generation of the righteous and magnanimous. When their
aspirations are joined, their hearts devoted exclusively
to humble supplication and entreaty, their hands raised
to God, Glorified is He, their necks outstretched and
their eyes turned heavenward, as they aspire of one
accord in quest of mercy, do not suppose that He will
disappoint their hopes, frustrate their endeavor, or
begrudge them an overwhelming mercy.
That is why it is said that it is a
most grievous sin to be present at Arafat and to imagine
that God, Exalted is He, does not forgive one. It would
seem that the conjunction of aspirations, and the
strength derived from contiguity with the saintly and
pious people assembled from all quarters of the earth,
constitutes the secret of the greater pilgrimage and its
ultimate purpose. For there is no way to obtain the
mercy of God, Glorified is He, in such abundance as by
the conjunction of aspiration and the simultaneous
mutual support of all hearts.
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