Farewell Sermon
After praising and thanking God, the Prophet recited the following sermon, which contains unchanging and ageless criteria, to more than one hundred thousand (one hundred and twenty thousand) Companions and actually to all Muslims and the mankind:
“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be among you again.
O People! Just as you regard this month, this day, this city as sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust.
O my Companions!
Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. Do not return to your previous deviation before me and do not kill one another.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly.
O my Companions!Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Truly, the usury of the Era of Ignorance has been laid aside forever. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. God has judged that there shall be no interest and the first interest that I abolish is the one due to Abbas ibn 'Abd'al Muttalib (Prophet's uncle).
O my Companions! Every right arising out of homicide in pre-Islamic days is henceforth waived, and the first such right I waive is that arising from the murder of Rabi`ah ibn Al-Harith, grandson of Abdulmuttalib (my uncle’s son).
O people!
Today, Satan has lost his power to affect you and to establish sovereignty in your land. However, avoid following him in small things; if you obey him in small things, he will be glad.
Avoid them to protect your religion.
O people! I advise you to show respect to the rights of women and fear God about them. You have taken them as your wives only under God's trust and with His permission.You have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve. If they allow anyone you do not approve into your house, you can beat them slightly. The women have the right to their food and clothing in accordance with the custom.
O Believers!I have left you with something which, if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray; that is, the Book of God.
Believers! Listen to my word well and memorize it! Every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim and that Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim that belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly.
My Companions! Do not oppress yourselves; you have rights over you.
O people! God Almighty gave the rights of everybody to their owners in the Quran. A will is not necessary for inheritance. A child that is born belongs to the owner of the bed. There is deprivation for a person that commits fornication. A person cannot attribute himself to anybody except his father or his master; if he attempts to do so, may the wrath of God, the curse of angels and the curse of all Muslims be upon him. God Almighty will not accept the repentance and witnessing of those people.
O people! Your Lord is one; your father is one, too. All of you are children of Adam. Adam was created out of dust. The one that is the most valuable in the eye of God is the one that fears Him the most. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab except by piety and good action.
O People! Tomorrow they will ask you about me, what will you say?”
They said, ‘We witness that you carried out the duty of being the Messenger of God, You carried out your task faithfully, and you advised us.’
Thereupon, the Messenger of God raised his blessed index finger and then brought it down over the congregation and said,
“O Lord, be my witness! O Lord, be my witness! O Lord, be my witness!”[1]
They Perform the Noon and Afternoon Prayers Together
When the Messenger of God ended the Farewell Sermon, which is a lofty and sacred lesson for the humanity, Bilal al-Habashi started to call the adhan for the noon prayer. The Messenger of God and the Companions listened to the adhan in awe. When the adhan ended, Bilal recited the iqama. The Messenger of God led the noon prayer for that magnificent congregation. Then, iqama was recited again; this time, the Prophet led the afternoon prayer. Thus, the Prophet combined the prayers of two different times with one adhan and two iqamas.[2]
First Sign
It was after the afternoon, near the evening. The Messenger of God was on his camel, Qaswa. Meanwhile the following verse was sent down:
“This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion”[3]
When the Messenger of God recited this verse, the Companions became very happy and joyful. Only one of them was crying: Hazrat Abu Bakr... The Companions did not understand why he was crying. They asked him. He said,
“This verse indicates that the death of the Messenger of God (pbuh) is near; that is why I am crying.”[4]
What Hazrat Abu Bakr said and understood was true; this verse was the first indication that the time for the Messenger of God to pass away was approaching. Since all of the things that needed to proposed and conveyed were proposed and conveyed, the duty of the person who proposed and conveyed them would end.
Sources mention that Hazrat Umar also realized that secret.[5]
From Arafat to Muzdalifa
After the sun set on Friday, the Messenger of God went to Muzdalifa from Arafat on his camel, Qaswa, accompanied by Usama b. Zayd. Meanwhile the time for the evening prayer ended and the time for the night prayer started. The Messenger of God led the evening and the night prayer with one adhan and two iqamas.[6]
From Muzdalifa to Mina.
The Prophet spent the Friday night in Muzdalifa. After performing the morning prayer there on Saturday, he went to Mash’ar al-Haram.
The Messenger of God said to his Companions, “Collect small stones to be thrown at Jamra[7]” and showed them how to throw the stones.
Then, he threw seven small stones at Aqaba Jamra one by one. He uttered “Allahu akbar!” each time he threw a stone. Meanwhile, the Companions threw stones at Jamra in the same way.
After throwing seven stones at Aqaba Jamra, the Messenger of God returned to Mina.
Sacrificing an Animal
The Messenger of God went to the place of sacrificing. He slaughtered sixty-three animals, one animal for each year of his life, with his own hands.[8]He had his hair cut. He gave his hairs to his Companions as a memento. It was an indication that the time to leave his Companions was approaching. His following words strengthened this indication: “O people! Learn the procedure and principles of hajj from me. I do not know but you might not see me here after this hajj.”
Khalid b. Walid Gets Some Hair of the Fringe of the Prophet
While the front part of the hair of the Prophet was being cut, Khalid b. Walid said, “O Messenger of God! Give me some of your hair of the fringe.”
The Prophet accepted his wish, gave him some hairs from the front part of his head and prayed God to make him victorious all the time. Khalid wiped those hairs over his eyes and then placed them into the front part of his cone.
Due to the hair and prayer of the Messenger of God, Khalid became victorious in every battle that he joined. As a matter of fact, the Prophet said, “Wherever I sent Khalid, that place was conquered.”[9]
The Prophet’s Circumambulation of Ifada
The Messenger of God went to the Kaaba to perform thecircumambulation of Ifada (Ziyarah) before noon on the first day of Eid al-Adha. He ordered the Muslims to go there, too. He performed the noon prayer after the circumambulation. Then, he drank water from the Zamzam Well.[10]
The Messenger of God returned to Minah toward the evening of that day.
The Prophet Throws Stones on the Second and Third Days
On the second and third days of Eid al-Adha, when the sun moved toward the west, the Messenger of God went to the first Jamra near the Mina Mosque on foot. He threw the seven pebbles one by one. He uttered, “Allahu akbar!” as he threw each one of them.
Then he went to the second Jamra and then to the third Jamra, also called Jamratu’l-Aqaba. He threw seven stones at each jamra one by one. He uttered, “Allahu akbar!” as he threw each one of them.[11]
Going to Muhassab
It wa Dhul-Hijjah 13, Tuesday.
The Messenger of God went to the stony place called Muhassab from Mina. His tent had been set up there. He said to his Companions there, “May God enliven and brighten the faces of the people who listen to my words, memorize them and then convey them to other people. It is possible that a person who understands my words will convey them to a person who will understand them better. Know it very well that three things will not allow hatred and jealousy into the hearts of Muslims.” He listed them as follows:
“Sincere deeds for the sake of God, advising and obeying Muslim leaders, following Islamic community in creed and righteous deeds...”[12]
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[1]Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 250-252; Tabari, Tarikh, Vol. 3, p. 168-169; Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, ibid, Vol. 5, p. 30, 262, 412, Vol. 1, p. 384, 453; Muslim, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 41-42; Ibn Majah, Sunan, Vol. 2, p. 1024-1025.
[2]Waqidi, Maghazi, Vol. 3, p. 1102; Muslim, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 41; Ibn Majah, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 1025.
[3]Al-Maida, 3.
[4]M. Hamdi Yazır, Hak Dini Kur’an Dili, Vol. 2, p. 1569.
[5]Tabari, Tafsir, Vol. 6, p. 52; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, Vol. 2, p. 13.
[6]Bukhari, Sahih, Vol. 2, p. 177; Muslim, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 42; Abu Dawud, Sunan, Vol. 2, p. 191.
[7]Jamra means small stones or pieces of stones or soil that are permissible to be used for tayammum. There are three small heaps of stones in Mina: Jamratu’l-Ula, Jamratu’l-Wusta and Jamratu’l-Aqaba.
[8]Muslim, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 42; Ibn Qayyim, ibid, Vol. 1, p. 275.
[9]Ibn Athir, Usdu’l Ghaba, Vol. 2, p. 111.
[10]Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 182; Muslim, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 42-43; Ibn Majah, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 1026.
[11]Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 152; Nasai, Sunan, Vol. 5, p. 276-277.
[12]Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 80-82; Ibn Majah, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 1016.
