Is bathing on the Day of Arafah a Sunnah?

Purity (tahara) is not a condition for standing at Arafat. The standing of a menstruating woman or someone in a state of major ritual impurity (junub) is valid by scholarly consensus. Bathing on the Day of Arafat is recommended only for the pilgrim (hajj), not for every Muslim, and this is what has been reported from the Companions. The four madhhabs (schools of thought) have agreed on the permissibility of bathing on the Day of Arafat for the pilgrim, and that whoever does so will be rewarded. The evidence for this is the actions of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. The prophetic hadiths that indicate the Prophet's (peace be upon him) bathing on the Day of Arafat are weak or fabricated.