Ayesha relates Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as saying: There is no day when God sets free more servants from Hell than the Day of ‘Arafa. He (God) draws near, then praises them to the angels, saying: What do these want?
(Sahih Muslim)
This hadīth brings into light the importance of the Day of Arafa, when Allah forgives and sets free from Hell maximum number of His servants.
The word yubdhi means ‘he boasts’, but here it means ‘he praises’. This is perhaps meant to show to the angels that their misgivings about Adam which they had expressed before the Lord at the time of his creation were wrong. The Qur’ān records these apprehensions of the angels when Allah said: “And recall the time when your Lord said unto the angels: ‘Verily I am going to place a Vicegerent on earth.’ The angels expressed their apprehensions before the Lord in the following words: ‘Will Thou place on it such as will spread corruption thereon and shed blood – whereas it is we who extol Thy limitless Glory and hallow Thy Name?’ God answered: ‘Verily I know that which you do not know’.” (2:30-31)
Allah, on the Day of Arafa, when millions of pilgrims come from all corners of the world, asks the angels to see for themselves whether their apprehensions were correct. Now here stand before the Lord not those about whom they apprehended corruption but the devoted servants of God, who have undergone the hardships of journey purely for the sake of their Lord.