(This day have I perfected your religion for you…) [5:3].
This verse was revealed on Friday, on the Day of ‘Arafah, at the farewell pilgrimage, after ‘Asr prayer in the tenth year of the Hijrah while the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, was present in ‘Arafat on the back of his camel al-‘Adba’.
‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Hamdan al-‘Adl informed us> Ahmad ibn Ja‘far al-Qati‘i> ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad> his father> Ja‘far ibn ‘Awn> Abu ‘Umays> Qays ibn Muslim> Tariq ibn Shihab who said: “A Jewish man went to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be well pleased with him, and said: ‘O leader of the believers, you recite one verse in your Scripture which, if it had been revealed to us, we would have taken the day in which it was revealed as a day of celebration’. ‘Which verse is this?’ asked ‘Umar. He said: ‘It is (This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you…)’. ‘Umar said: ‘By Allah, I know the day in which it was revealed to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and the hour in which it was revealed to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and his family and give him peace. It was revealed on Friday, in the afternoon of the day of ‘Arafah’ ”. This was narrated by Bukhari from al-Hasan ibn Sabah and also by Muslim from ‘Abd ibn Humayd, and Ibn Sabah and Ibn Humayd related it from Ja‘far ibn ‘Awn.
Al-Hakim Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Shadhyakhi informed us> Zahir ibn Ahmad> al-Husayn ibn Nuhammad ibn Mus‘ab> Yahya ibn Hakim> Abu Qutaybah> Hammad> ‘Ammar ibn Abi ‘Ammar: “Ibn ‘Abbas recited this verse in the presence of a Jewish man, and the latter said: ‘If this verse was revealed to us, we would have taken the day in which it was revealed as a celebration day’. Ibn ‘Abbas said: ‘Well, it was revealed in two days of celebration which coincided with each other: it was a Friday which coincided with the day of ‘Arafah’ ”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou