Ibn Abbas recited, "Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and approved Islam as your religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger, with no inclination toward sin, then indeed Allah is Forgiving and Merciful" [Maidah 5:3], and a Jewish man who was present said, "Had this verse been revealed to us, we would have taken the day of its revelation as a festival."Ibn Abbas replied, "It was revealed on a day of two festivals, on a Friday and on the day of Arafah."
قرأ ابن عباس: {اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم وأتممت عليكم نعمتي ورضيت لكم الإسلام دينا فمن اضطر في مخمصة غير متجانف لإثم فإن الله غفور رحيم} وعنده يهودي فقال: لو أنزلت هذه علينا، لاتخذنا يومها عيدا. قال ابن عباس: فإنها نزلت في يوم عيدين، في يوم جمعة ويوم عرفة.
Narrated by Tirmidhi (3044), Abu Dawud Tayalisi (2832), and Ibn Jareer in his Tafsir (8/87), all of them from the hadith of Hammad bin Salama, from Ammar bin Abu Ammar, the freed slave of Ibn Abbas, who related it. Its chain of transmission is sahih. Ammar bin Abu Ammar was deemed reliable by a group of scholars, among them Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Abu Zura, Abu Hatim, and others. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan gharib hadith from the hadith of Ibn Abbas."Tirmidhi limited his ruling on the hadith to hasan, but the truth is that it is sahih. I have found in some manuscript copies the addition "and it is sahih," but this style differs from Tirmidhi's usual style.After the day of Arafah, revelation did not cease until the Prophet ﷺ passed away three months later. What is meant by "completion" here is the completion of the foundations of the religion and its established legislation contained in the Book and the sahih sunnah, and its manifestation over all other religions. Before this day, the legislations of the earlier prophets were according to the necessity of their particular place and time, and there was no text in their scriptures affirming the completion of their religion. Therefore, after the completion of this religion, all other religions became abrogated, and this religion alone, which Allah completed on the day of Arafah, will remain for all people until the Day of Judgment.So whoever claims prophethood, or adds something of his own, whether in belief, in rulings, or in virtues, while knowing it to be false, has fabricated a lie against Allah and His Messenger.