Arafat: A Monthly Critique of Muslim Thought was a monthly periodical founded by Muhammad Asad in Kashmir in 1946. It was named after the plain of Arafat, the level area before the gates of Mecca where pilgrims spend the ninth day of Dhu al-Hijjah in huge camps as part of Hajj. Asad was the editor, publisher and the sole contributor of the periodical. In the words of Asad: "Arafat was a kind of 'journalistic monologue' meant to clarify - as much as might be possible for a single man - the great confusion prevailing in the Muslim community as to the scope and the practical implications of Islamic Law."