'ARAFAT

or 'Arafah. The "Mount of Recognition," situated twelve miles from Makkah; - the place where, the pilgrims stay on the ninth day of the pilgrimage, and recite the mid-day and afternoon prayers, and hear the Khutbah or sermon. Hence it is a name given to the ninth day of the month Zu 'l-Hijjah. Upon the origin of the name given to this mountain, Burton says, "The Holy Hill owes its name to the following legend : - When our first parents forfeited heaven for eating wheat, which deprived them of their primeval purity, they were cast down upon earth. The serpent descended upon Ispahan, the peacock at Cabul; Satan at Bilbays (others say Semnan or Seistan), Eve upon 'Arafat, and Adam at Ceylon (Sarandib). The latter, determining to seek his wife, began a journey, to which the earth owes its present mottled appearance. Wherever our first father placed his foot, which was large, a town afterwards arose; and between the strides will always be country Wandering for many years, he came to the Mountain of Mercy, where our common mother was continually calling upon his name, and their recognition of each other gave the place the name of 'Arafah."