Today we discuss the incident of the Farewell Hajj, the last and only Hajj of th

e prophet PBUH. There is a lot of material to discuss in the particular section.

When did Allah reveal the obligation for Hajj? This is actually a very difficult
question and it has a fiqh analagous scenario. And that is, can a person delay
Hajj for a few years once they are qualified to go? There are two opinions:
1. If you say you can, of the evidence that group uses is that Hajj was revealed
a few years before the prophet PBUH went for Hajj.
2. The other opinion is that no, Hajj was revealed (the ayat of Hajj) in the 9th
year of the Hijrah so the prophet PBUH only went as soon as Allah revealed the
relevation for Hajj.
This contraversy lingers on to the four madhahib. Must you go for Hajj as soon a
s you are financially capable? Or are you allowed to wait for a future year of y
our life thinking 'insha Allah I will be alive in a few years and I can go then'
. This is the classic contraversy from the beginning of time. And it goes back t
o, among other things, when did Allah actually reveal the obligation for Hajj? I
bn al Qiyyam and many scholars follow the opinion that, it is not allowed to del
ay the Hajj once you are able (financially) to do so. They also then say the aya
t of Hajj came down in the beginning of the 10th year. So as soon as the ayat ca
me down, the prophet PBUH went for Hajj in the same year, according to them. How
ever the fact is we don't know for sure when the ayat really came down. Historic
ally speaking, the bulk of the muslim world has not gone for Hajj the same year
they get the means to do so. So insha Allah, as long as you have a reasonable in
tention that 'I am going Hajj soon' and you don't delay it forever and ever, the
n it is permissable to delay, even though it is better not to delay it. Nonethel
ess there is an ikthilaf over when Allah revealed the verse of Hajj. And what is
this verse? Surah al-Imran verse 97.
97. In it are clear signs [such as] the standing place of Abraham. And whoever e
nters it shall be safe. And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to th
e House - for whoever is able to find thereto a way. But whoever disbelieves - t
hen indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds.
So some ulama say this ayat came down in the 10th year of the Hijrah, even thoug
h it is apart of surah al-Imran. When was this revealed? At the time of Uhud. Ja
abir RA narrates that "the prophet PBUH spent 9 years after hijrah not performi
ng Hajj. And then in the 10th year he announced he will be going for Hajj, so mu
ltitudes of people came to Madinah, all of them wanting to do Hajj with the prop
het PBUH, and follow his actions. Therefore the prophet PBUH announced a few mon
ths before or maybe even a month and a half before that he is going for Hajj, so
let the people who want to come, come to do Hajj with him. So from across the l
ands people flocked to Madinah and the city swelled up, 10s of thousands of peop
le continued to come. And even along with way throughtout the entire journey, 10
s of thousands of people continued to flock. A number of ahadith report that the
sahaba said "as far as the eye could see, we could see flocks of humanity. We l
ooked in front, behind, left and right and all we could see is men". Never in th
e seerah did the prophet PBUH have a larger audience and group of people followi
ng him. And the prophet PBUH told them "take your rights of Hajj from me". Of co
urse the prophet PBUH only did one Hajj, therefore all of the fiqh of Hajj comes
from this one Hajj. All of the contraversies and madhahibs discuss what did the
prophet PBUH do, how did he do it, is it obligatory, sunnah, wajib etc. All of
the contraversy is over one Hajj of the prophet PBUH.
Ibn Ishaaq and others say the prophet PBUH left for Hajj
in the 10th year of the Hijrah. Of course he passes away
wal in the 11th year of the Hijrah. So just a few months
And he prayed Zuhr in the masjid, and he left Madinah on

on the 25th Dhul Qa'da

on the 12th Rabbi al-Aw
before he passes away.
the 25th. And he made h

is way to Dhul Hulayfa, right outside Madinah, prayed two raka'at and entered th
e state of ihraam. From the time of the prophet PBUH, the people called this Haj
j, Hajj a tul wada'a. This name was given even in the lifetime of the prophet PB
UH. Where did it come from? We learn in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, that ibn Umar
says, the prophet PBUH stood on the day of sacrifice (10th Dhull Hijjah). And he
said 'this is the day of the big Hajj'. And he kept on saying 'Oh Allah bare wi
tness' and he was bidding farewell to the people, saying goodbye to the people.
So the people began calling this Hajj the Farewell Hajj" and ibn Umar said "we d
id not understand the implication". That is, they are calling it the Farewell Ha
jj, yet this means the prophet PBUH is going to pass away. It didn't click in th
eir minds - they didn't understand the prophet PBUH is literally bidding farewel
l.
So the term comes from the seerah, sunnah and the actions of the sahaba while th
e prophet PBUH was still alive. And of course the prophet PBUH had a preminition
, he knew this was the end, that is why he is bidding farewell to the 10s of tho
usands of people. Our early scholars give a nice round number that 100,000 peopl
e were there at the Farewell Hajj. But this is a complete guess. No doubt this w
as the largest gathering of sahaba; the bulk of them we don't know their names.
We have plenty of narrations from anonymous people that 'someone who heard the k
hutbah of the prophet PBUH said this'. Of course he is a sahabi because he heard
and saw the prophet PBUH. So there are 10s of thousands of people performing th
e Hajj with the prophet PBUH. As we mentioned, the prophet PBUH left on the 25th
Dhul Qa'da and he reached Mecca the 4th Dhul Hijjah. This is 10 days exactly it would take 10 days on average for a large caravan that is going at an average
speed. Not too slow, not too fast. So our prophet PBUH camped outside of Mecca
since he arrived at night; it was not his sunnah to enter any city at night time
. Also, for adhab for the ka'bah as he did not want to enter in a tired state. H
e rested, woke up in the morning, prayed Fajr and then took a ghusl in the state
of ihraam. This is of course well known with no ikhtilaf that you can take a gh
usl in the state of ihraam.
He then entered Mecca in the day time, early morning on a Sunday and he performe
d the tawaaf, the first three of them quickly and the rest of the four slowly. A
nd then he announced a change in the plans and he said "If I had known then (in
the beginning of my journey) what I now know, I would not have made the intentio
n of combining the hajj and umrah, and I would have made the intention of sepera
ting the hajj and umrah, and I would not have brought my animals with me". In ot
her words he's changed his mind but he can't act upon that change of mind. Fiqh:
if you have animals with you, in the sharia, those animals are sacred in Hajj.
This is very rare in our times of course, but anyway when you enter ihraam you w
ill then decorate the animals and distribute them. So our prophet PBUH told Ali
RA to bring 100 camels from Yemen. He when he got to Mecca said "if I knew then
what I know now" which is an Arabic expression i.e. "if I knew better, I would h
ave done something else". What is that something else? Do the umrah, get out of
ihraam, remain in Mecca without ihraam until the 8th, re-enter ihraam and then d
o Hajj. So he announced to the people "everyone who came without animals, get ou
t of your ihraam and become halal again". This was unique and new; this is not a
llowed in pre-Islam. So some sahaba asked how they can become halal again. And t
he prophet PBUH said "yes everything is halal" - getting out of ihraam in betwee
n umrah and Hajj was unimaginable for them.
A'isha narrates "therefore some people made the intention for both umrah and Haj
j together (qiraan), others made the intention only for umrah and some people on
ly for Hajj (ifraat)". From this we get the famous fiqh that there are three typ
es of Hajj:
1. Hajj qiraan (joining umrah and Hajj with one ihraam - you stay in ihraam thro
ughout).

2. Hajj ifraat (only doing Hajj)

3. Hajj tamatu (seperating umrah from Hajj with seperate ihraam for each).
All three types are jaaiz and there is a contraversy as to which one is better,
but all three are permissable. Our prophet PBUH performed qiraan, but he clearly
told the sahaba to do tamatu, and some of them also did ifraat. Ali RA was in Y
emen to be a judge and dispute settler; the prophet PBUH sent word to Ali to bri
ng 100 camels from Yemen and to meet in Mecca for the Hajj.
So Ali arrived with an entourage plus the 100 camels and he immediately entered
into the tent of Fatimah RA because he had not been with her for a long time. No
w Ali is in ihraam, so obviously everything is not allowed. But then he sees Fat
imah and she is wearing perfume, and is out of ihraam, and is beautified. At thi
s he gets angry and says "what are you doing? We are doing Hajj! How can you be
dressed like this?" So she says "my father (the prophet PBUH) told me to do this
". And this is of course news to him; so he marches to the prophet PBUH and says
"ya RasulAllah Fatimah is dressed in such a way and she says you told her to do
this." So the prophet PBUH said "yes she has spoken the truth; I commanded them
to get out of ihraam, and you aswell can get out of it. Which intention did you
come with?" Now if he came with the intention of only doing Hajj, this is okay
because it can become tamatu. So Ali RA said "when I came from Yemen, I saw 'lab
ayk' upon the intention of the prophet PBUH". Walahi this shows us the status of
Ali ibn Abi Talib. He didn't know what to say, so rather he said 'whatever the
prophet PBUHs intention is, that is mine'. So that meant qiraan, so he has to st
ay in ihraam. Thus the bulk of the sahaba ended up doing tamatu, some of them di
d ifraat (those who came later), and a very small few i.e. those who brought the
ir animals with them did qiraan, including the prophet PBUH.
So the prophet PBUH camped outside of Mecca on the Saturday and entered on the S
unday. And he did tawaaf sunday morning and he stayed in Mecca on Sunday, Monday
, Tuesday, Wednesday. Four full days, and on the morning of Thursday which was t
he 8th of Dhul Hijjah, he prayed Fajr in the ka'bah and he then made his way for
wards to Mina. From here the books of seerah and hadith all mention hundreds of
narration of what he did. That analysis is more befitting in a fiqh class; every
single hadith of fiqh pertaining to Hajj takes place now. We have literally hun
dreds; entire books dedicated to this topic, and there's one hadith considered t
o be the mother of all hadiths when it comes to the Hajj of the prophet PBUH. An
d that is the hadith of Jaabir. Why? Because it is the longest, around 3-4 pages
long. We'll quickly discuss it to be thorough but note most of this is fiqh rel
ated. This is recorded in sahih Muslim, that its reported by Ja'far ibn Muhammad
from the ahlul bayt, from his father, that "we went to Jaabir ibn Abd Allah, an
d he began asking about who all of us were. Until it was my turn." So this is Ja
'far ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib. Of course for the tw
elver shia these are their imams. From our perspective they are extremely righte
ous but they don't have the powers other groups give them.
So this is the great-great grandson of the prophet PBUH. Jaabir ibn Abd Allah wa
s one of the last sahaba to die. At this point in time he was a blind old man. T
he narration continues: "when I said I am Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Husayn ibn Ali ib
n Abi Talib, he stood up, placed his hand on my head and he opened up my shirt a
nd he touched me". So he wanted to touch and feel the great great grandson of th
e prophet PBUH. "And he then said 'ask what you want you are welcome my nephew'"
i.e. he is showing respect to the ahlul bayt, and this is a part of sunni Islam
to do this. Eventually Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Husayn says "tell me about the Hajj
of the prophet PBUH". So this is the great great grandson of the prophet PBUH a
sking Jaabir about the Hajj of the prophet PBUH, and Jaabir begins his long hadi
th. He took out his nine fingers and said "for nine years the prophet PBUH did n
ot perform the Hajj. Then he made the announcement in the 10th year he will perf
orm the Hajj, so large numbers of people came to Madinah, all of them eager to f

ollow the prophet PBUH and be behind him. So we reached dhul hulayfa, and Asma b
int Uwais gave birth to Muhammad ibn Abi Bukr". So Abu Bukr married Asma who gav
e birth to his final son, Muhammad ibn Abu Bukr. "And she sends a message to the
prophet PBUH to ask 'what should I do'. The prophet PBUH said 'take a bath, put
on ihraam'". So women can enter ihraam even though they can't pray or do tawaaf
while they are bleeding.
The prophet PBUH prayed at dhul Hulayfa, mounted off Kaswa and stood with has ba
ck towards one of the valleys. And Jaabir says "as far as I could see in front o
f me, there was nothing but riders and pedestrians, and to my right, and to my l
eft, and behind the same. And the prophet PBUH was prominent amongst us (meaning
in the middle), and the Qur'an was still coming today". SubhanAllah this is 70
years afterwards and Jaabir is reminiscing. So he's saying the Qur'an was still
being revealed at that time, so he himself is getting excited. "And he was the m
ost knowledgeable of the Qur'an, and whatever he did, we followed him in all tha
t he did. And when he got off his camel he said 'the talbiyah'. We did not have
any intention other than the Hajj". Here he is saying he didn't understand tamat
u i.e. doing umrah and Hajj. "But when we came with him to the ka'bah, he touche
d the black stone and made seven tawaafs, three of them running and four of them
walking. Then he prayed behind miqaam-e Ibrahim". Note this is where the fiqh o
f umrah and Hajj comes from, the hadith of Jaabir. So Jaabir said he prayed behi
nd miqaam-e Ibhraim and recited the verse from the Qur'an. And Jaabir says "he r
ecited surah Kafiroon and surah Ikhlas in the first and second rakat. Then he re
turned to the miqaam-e Ibrahim and kissed it.
He then went out of the gate to as-Safa, and when he reached it he recited the v
erse in the Qur'an: 'verily, Safa and Marwa are signs of Allah...'. Then the pro
phet PBUH said "I shall began with what Allah began with" i.e. Safa, and he clim
bed up Safa until he could see the ka'bah, he turned around, faced the ka'bah an
d said a dua (the famous sunnah dua when you are doing sa'ee). In this dua the p
rophet PBUH says that Allah has fulfilled His promise, and He has spoken the tru
th, and He has aided His servant, and He has destroyed all of the enemies of Isl
am by Himself, and what a beautiful thing to say when Mecca is returned to the p
rophet PBUH. Remember the prophet PBUH did not have to fight any battle for Mecc
a, the prophet PBUH took an army but there was no war. Allah averted the battle;
so the prophet PBUH is now praising Allah for having given him Mecca and fulfil
ling His promise. The prophet PBUH spent a long time making dua, repeated these
words three times, descended and walked towards Marwa, and when his feet came to
the bottom of the valley he ran (in our times we run between the green lights).
In the prophet PBUHs time it was still two mountains which you literally go und
er. The green lights are meant to indicate when you would dip under; our mother
Haaja couldn't see Ismail which is why she ran under to get to the other side an
d see him. And the prophet PBUH did the same at Marawa.
When he finished he said "If I knew then what I know now I would not have brough
t my sacrificial animals, and would only have performed umrah. Whoever amongst y
ou did not bring animals should only do umrah and get out of ihraam". Jaabir say
s at this Suraka ibn Malik stood up; this is that same Suraka who the prophet PB
UH met during Hijrah. Now he has come back to Mecca just to do Hajj. Suraka said
"ya RasulAllah is this rule only for this year? Or every year?" Meaning this is
a new thing so is it for all the years? So the prophet PBUH intertwined the fin
gers of his hands and said "Hajj and umrah has been combined together until the
day of Judgement" meaning this new law of being able to umrah and Hajj in one jo
urney while getting out of ihraam (tamatu), this is until the day of Judgement.
Ali RA came back from Yemen with the hadi of the prophet PBUH and found Fatimah
RA to be there amongst those who had taken the ihraam off as we mentioned. She w
as wearing colourful clothing and had applied make up. Ali RA became irritated a
t her, but she said "my father told me to do so" as we discussed before.
Jaabir said "the total number of animals brought by Ali from Yemen was 100." Thi

s is a massive amount of money; a mini fortune which the prophet PBUH purchased
from the people of Yemen. On the 8th dhul Hijjah, the rest of the sahaba clipped
their nails, entered into ihraam and went to Mina. And the prophet PBUH led the
way, prayed in Mina: Zuhr and Asr, Maghrib and Isha, and then Fajr. So he's tel
ling us what to do in Mina. Jaabir continues: "the prophet PBUH then waited unti
l the sun rose a little". This is the 9th dhull Hijjah. "And commanded a tent be
pitched for him at Namyura". Now, Namyura is the land right outside Arafat; its
the one stop before. "So the prophet PBUH then set out, and the Quraysh did not
doubt that he would stop at 'al-masharil haraam' (the sacred site)".
What is the sacred site? One needs to understand the Quraysh's rituals of Hajj.
Muzdhalifah and Mina is inside the haram area of Mecca. That is where all the ru
les apply: you cannot hunt animals, pluck trees, carry weapons etc. That is the
haram area defined by the sunnah and seerah. Now Mina and Muzdhalifah are both i
nside this area; however Arafat is not inside the haram. Arafat is sacred and ho
ly because of Hajj, but it's not inside the haram area. So the Quraysh invented
a new doctrine: they said "we are the people of the haram, how can we leave the
haram in Hajj and stand at Arafat? That's for the rest of you guys. We will stay
at the very boundary of the haram, which is Muzdhalifah, at a place called 'almasharil haraam'". So they reinvented the rules of Hajj to make it elitest for t
hemselves. So the Quraysh would not stand at Arafat, believe it or not. They wou
ld not go to the pillar of Hajj, thinking they are too holy to leave the haram.
So when the prophet PBUH said "set my tent at Namyura", the Quraysh who are new
muslims assumed "ok he will stick with out tradition" because Namyura is right o
utside Arafat; its not inside. So thought he would stop at al-masharil haram. Th
e prophet PBUH however passed on that point, he continued going until he came to
Arafat and he camped at Namyura. So as we said Namyura finishes and Arafat begi
ns - there is literally a line to this day in the masjid of Arafat, called 'masj
id Namyura' signifies where Arafat begins.
"So our prophet PBUH camped a stones throw away from the line i.e. right outside
the planes of Arafat. Then he got down until the sun had passed the miredian, a
nd then he commanded 'bring my camel to me' and continued going inside Arafat".
In other words he waited until right at the beginning of Zuhr, and then he enter
ed Arafat. He literally camped waiting for milisecond after Zuhr begins, then he
enters Arafat which was new for the Quraysh. "And he made his way to 'batnul wa
dee'" which is a valley inside Arafat, "and he addressed the people over there".
By the way a common misconception is that the prophet PBUH gave only one 'final
' khutbah. In reality he gave at least three khutbahs: he gave a khutbah on the
day of Arafat (i.e. right now) and this was the most important as it established
the sunnah that every year the imam/kateeb gives a khutbah. He also gave khutba
hs in Mina aswell, on the 10th and 11th (maybe even the 12th). Of course there i
s 100,000 plus people and he has multiple opportunities to speak to the masses s
o he takes advantage of conveying different information in each khutbah.
"Then the prophet PBUH asked Bilal to make the iqaamah, and the prophet PBUH led
the people in Zuhr and Asr, and he did not pray anything in between". As we kno
w in Hajj, when you get to Arafat you pray Zuhr and Asr together: two and two. "
Then the prophet PBUH, after giving the khutbah, he then mounted his camel again
, and made his way to wear the rocks are". That is, the place we now call 'jabaa
al rahma'. So from the masjid (which is now the masjid of course it was built a
fterwards), he gives the khutbah, and then goes to what is now 'jabaa al rahma'.
And in all liklihood he did not climb the mountain; if he climbed it, he only d
id so a little. No narration says he climbed to the top. In any case, what he sa
id there was "I happen to stand here, but all of Arafat is a place of standing".
So he's literally saying 'there is nothing special coming to 'jabaa al rahma'".
That's something very important to know because a lot of people go to extreme l
engths to go to jabaa al rahma, but there's no need to do that. Anywhere in Araf
at is the same. He said the same in Mina, that "I happen to camp here, but all o
f Mina is a place of camping". And the same in Muzdhalifah. Walahi this shows us

the fiqh of the prophet PBUH and his care and concern: he fully understands tha
t people might somehow think "only that area" - no, all of Arafat, all of Mina,
all of Muzdhalifah is the same.
Back to the hadith of Jaabir: "And he continued to stand there from after Zuhr u
ntil sunset. And he continued to make dua". Walahi you read this and your mind b
oggles. Anyone who's been to Hajj knows: you cannot stand there for more than 20
/30 minutes. It's physically impossible. The prophet PBUH stood non-stop from th
e time of Zuhr until Maghrib, he is standing there with his hands raised making
dua upon dua. Hours go by and of course that is the essence of Hajj. The prophet
PBUH said "the essence of Hajj is Arafat". And Jaabir says "Until the sun had s
et and the yellow light had dissapeared in the sky, and the disc of the sun had
gone below, he then put Usama ibn Zaid (son of Zaid ibn Harith the prophet PBUHs
'adopted son') on the camel behind him and he pulled the nose-string of Kaswa (
his camel) until it almost touched his saddle". Meaning the prophet PBUH is hold
ing his camel back. He's not rushing it forward i.e. he's taking the camel very
slowly. "And he continued to go to Muzdhalifah telling the people with his hands
to slow down". All of us who have been to Hajj know this is the most chaotic ti
me; our prophet PBUH even though no-one is going to block him, he wants to set t
he example for us. SubhanAllah. He wants to show us, so he's telling the people
with hands 'slow down'. "And he proceeded this way until he reached Muzdhalifah.
Someone asked him "ya RasulAllah, as-salah?!" And he pointed forward and said "
the salah is in front of you"" meaning they will pray Maghrib and Isha together
in Muzdhalifah.
"The prophet PBUH continued until he reached Muzdhalifah, and there he led them
in Maghrib and Isha with one azaan and two ikhamas". Again its shortened, three
raka'at and two. One azaan and two ikhamas. "The prophet PBUH then laid down and
rested, until he offered the dawn prayer; he then made dua in Muzdhalifah until
the sun had become bright". This is a sunnah most people don't do, to stay in M
uzdhalifah and make dua. "And then he made his way to al masharil haram, faced t
he kiblah and glorified Allah. He then hastened before the sun rose up to go to
Mina, and followed the middle road and there he threw his seven pebbles saying '
Allahu akbar'". So the prophet PBUH threw from the bottom of the valley but we c
an throw from anywhere. "Then he went to the place of sacrifice and sacrificed 6
3 camels with his own hands". 63 out of the 100 Ali RA had brought him. Jaabirs
report does not mention this, but its reported when the prophet PBUH took the kn
ife the 100 camels were rushing and racing to see who would the first to be slau
ghtered by the hands of the prophet PBUH. "He then gave the remaining to Ali to
slaughter (37)". So the prophet PBUH slaughtered one camel for every year of his
life (he's 63 years old now).
"He then commanded a peice of flesh be taken from each of those animals, put it
in a pot to cook and when it was cooked he took some meat out, he ate and drank
a bit of soup". So this is a sunnah to cook the meat, eat a bit ourselves and sh
are with others. This is something we all do, the meat of the sacrificed animals
is halal for us and we should distribuite it to the poor and fuqhara. "Then the
prophet PBUH rode again to the ka'bah and prayed the Zuhr prayer in the haram.
He then went to the banu Abdul Muttalib who were in charge of taking the zamzam
water out. He asked them 'draw water out oh banu Abdul Muttalib, were it not for
the fact that the people would take this right away if I were to do it, I would
have helped along with you'". Meaning what? It's amazing the prophet PBUH under
stands if he were to draw water, everybody will try to draw water too because it
will become a sunnah. So to save the ummah from that he did not do it. He under
stands people are so eager and extreme they will try to copy him in every way; b
ecause of this he didn't draw water; rather he drank from the water they gave hi
m. This is the long hadith of Jaabir, and as we said there are hundreds of hadit
h about the Hajj of the prophet PBUH each one of which gives primarily fiqh ruli
ngs. Most important for us is the khutbahs of our prophet PBUH.

As we said the prophet PBUH gave multiple khutbahs, one in Arafat and two/three
in Mina. One of the day of Arafat of that year it happened to be a Friday. So th
is is where the notion comes from that the prophet PBUH called that Hajj "al Haj
j-akbar" meaning 'the great Hajj'. A number of points: 'al Hajj-akbar' is the 9t
h dhull Hijjah. Every Hajj we go to is a great Hajj. If there is anything called
'a smaller Hajj' it is umrah. But unfortunately what has happened is there's th
is cultral notion that if Arafat falls on a Friday, then it becomes 'hajje akbar
'. This is a misunderstanding of what the prophet PBUH. However, if Arafat does
fall on a Friday, no doubt there is some extra blessings and we thank Allah for
that. But if it dosen't, the Hajj is no lesser of a Hajj. Every single Hajj is '
al hajj akbar' and in particular the 9th dhull Hijjah is the day of 'al hajj akb
ar'. However no doubt in the time of the prophet PBUH Arafat did fall on a Frida
y. It was on the 9th dhull Hijjah standing on the planes of Arafat that Allah re
vealed wahi to him. So the wahi of the Qur'an came down on this auspicious occas
ion, and what was revealed is the famous verse in the Qur'an:
(5:3) This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upo
n you and have approved for you Islam as religion.
Note this wasn't the last verse revealed, but it is one of the last verses and w
hat a beautiful verse. One of the jews came to Umar RA and said "you have a vers
e in the Qur'an, if we had its equivalent we would have taken that day as the da
y of Eid". Umar asked "what verse?" And the jew recited it to him. Umar said "I
know exactly when this verse was revealed: the prophet PBUH was standing on Araf
at on the day of hajj akbar and Allah revealed it so it's already a day of celeb
ration for us". And walahi what a fitting ayat to come down when Islam it at its
glorious peak. When 100000+ people are doing Hajj. When the entire Arabian Peni
nsula is upon Islam, when there isn't a single idol that is being worshipped, an
d when all the arabs have embraced Islam. So this verse came down and it was her
e the prophet PBUH stood up, some said he was on his camel, and he gave a sermon
and told al Abbas and Ali to quiten the crowd, and he told Abbas to repeat afte
r him. In the sunan of Abu Dawud its said that one of the sahaba said "We listen
ed to the prophet PBUH khutbah and we could hear it, even from our tents". So wh
at appears to be the case, somehow the voice of the prophet PBUH was amplified i
.e. it was a miracle. So from this we get a miracle that Allah blessed his voice
so the people of Arafat could hear his voice directly. This is important khutba
h of Arafat, and he said:
1. "Oh people, listen to me for I know not whether I shall meet you again after
this year."
So he most likely had a preminition from Allah that he will die soon.
2. "Your blood, your money are haraam for you"
Meaning you cannot kill each other or steal each others money
3. "Just like this day has its sanctity in this month and in this land".
So here he abolishes the law of the jungle, which was rampant in Arabia. The 'su
rvival of the fittest' is gone - nobody can steal, rape, plunder etc other peopl
e anymore. This law is gone. Note the arabs, all of them, despite their paganism
they upheld the sanctity of the haram. They respected the haram, the ka'bah, th
e Hajj, they respected especially the 9th dhull Hijjah. No blood was ever shed o
n these days. So the prophet PBUH is saying "you understand how sacred this land
is, how holy this place is and how blessed this day is, each one of your lives
and properties is just as sacred as the ka'bah, as the 9th dhull Hijjah etc".
4. "Verily, everything from the time of jaheleya, it is under my foot".

Here
one,
als,
and

the prophet PBUH uses a harsh term to say everything from jaheleya is now g
obliterated forever. All of the ways of jaheleya: everything. Culture, ritu
idol worship etc. All of jaheleya is now gone. This is such a comprehensive
powerful statement. Islam has come with something new.

5. "All of the blood fueds from the days of jaheleya are gone".
All of the tribal warfares are gone, and this too was rampant in Arabia. Every s
ingle tribe had a long list of enemies, and a long list of allies written in blo
od. Every tribe had its fueds, its greviances, this was what was preventing the
tribes from uniting. What did our prophet PBUH say? "All of these fueds are unde
r my foot: obliterated".
6. "The first blood money that I obliterate is the blood money from my own famil
y, the son of Rabiah ibn al-Harith ibn Abdul Muttalib".
Note al-Harith is the uncle of the prophet PBUH, Rabiah is his cousin. Breif sto
ry: one of the sons of Rabiah was killed in a war between two tribes, the Banu S
a'ad and the Hudhayl. And he was being raised by the Banu Sa'ad (like the prophe
t PBUH). This boy however was caught in the battle and killed by the tribe of Hu
dhayl. So the Quraysh had a long fued against the Hudhayl because of this: they
wanted blood money (100 camels) which hadn't been paid, and they were willing to
go to war. So this is something owed to the Quraysh, what did the prophet PBUH
say? "The first blood money I obliterate is my own family". He is being the role
model here.
7. "Verily, the riba (interest) is under my foot. And the first I abolish is tha
t of my uncle, al Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib".
Abbas was a wealthy man, and he was well known for giving lots of loans on riba.
And when Islam came riba was prohibited but this was old news, so he was due lo
ts of interest. So the prophet PBUH said "the first money obliterated is the mon
ey of my uncle" meaning Abbas is paid back what he loaned out, not a penny more.
SubhanAllah this is being the leader by example. His family will benefit from t
he blood money and riba, but no more. The prophet PBUH himself is showing the pe
ople he is serious about this.
8. "And fear Allah with regards to women and their rights. For you have taken th
em with the protection of Allah, and made them permissable with the name of Alla
h".
So in a society where women had no right whatsoever, and this is something so im
portant. There was no reason for Islam to come and talk about women; there was n
o reason for our prophet PBUH to mention women in the farewell pilgrimage on the
day of Arafat in the most important khutbah he ever gave. Yet he did. He has a
paragraph about women. Why? Because no ummah can flourish if its women are mistr
eated. No ummah can rise if its women are not treated with dignity and respect.
So he is saying Allah has given us the women; the nikah contract happens in the
name of Allah, so they are with us under Allahs protection.
9. "And their right upon you is that they do not allow anyone to step on your be
d, or that you would hate".
Meaning the women have to be faithful and loyal to their husband.
10. "And if they do something (disobey you), you have the right to discipline th
em in a manner that is not painful".
No doubt this phrase may be problematic in our time, this is a seperate tanget.
The fact of the matter is that, in this society when it was the norm that men wo

uld beat their wives without any question. This was the normal rule. What did th
e prophet PBUH say? 'If they do something of a serious consequence, they you can
discipline WITHOUT any pain'. Now, whether it should be done in our time is a s
eperate discussion. In our times any type of discipline will break a marriage ra
ther than save it so we should be careful. The point is our prophet PBUH set gui
delines but one needs to realise when this was said. Walahi its groundbreaking a
nd its leaps and bounds beyond what was going on at the time.
11. "And they have a right over you, that you give them their risk (sustenance)
in a manner suitable to you".
Meaning the men are obliged to take care of their women financially and in terms
of all other needs in a manner that is in accordance to what men have. So the p
rophet PBUH is stressing the importance of family rights; and saying the money o
f the husband should be spent on his wife and children.
12. "And I have left among you something that as long as you hold it, you shall
never go astray. The kitaab-Allah".
This was the khutbal tul wada'a in Arafat.
13. "You shall soon be asked about me so what shall you say?"
And the people replied "we will testify you have conveyed the message, done your
duty and you were sincere". When they said this, the prophet PBUH raised his ha
nds to the sky and said three times "OH Allah bear witness they have said they'v
e heard me and understood me". Why? Allah says in the Qur'an "On that day every
ummah will be asked about its messenger, and the messenger will be asked". Subha
nAllah the messenger will be asked and the people will be asked. So our prophet
PBUH wanted the ummah to respond that "Oh Allah our prophet PBUH has done the jo
b" and they all indeed testify to this. On the next day, the 10th dhull Hijjah,
the prophet PBUH gave another khutbah and said:
1. "Verily time has returned to its rightful place as it was on the day that All
ah created the heavans and the Earth. A year is 12 months, four of which are sac
red".
Now the Quraysh had a weird custom of changing the years around whenever they wa
nted. So if they wanted to go to war and it happened to be a sacred month, they
would say 'lets just swap' and literally they will just swap a month. Obviously
this will jumble all the months up, so this year in which the prophet PBUH did H
ajj just so happened to perfectly alligned i.e. just as how it should be. The or
der of the months are the same as when Allah created the heavans and Earth. Mean
ing, 'keep the calender as it is this year'. Then he paused and asked "what mont
h is this?" The people were shocked because its such an obvious question. He sai
d |"isn't this the month of dhul Hijjah?" THey said "yes". Then he said "what da
y is this?" Again they were shocked because its an obvious answer. Then he said
"what place is this?" Again the people were embarrased to answer because it's so
obvious. The point is, he is saying the same message again by asking them these
questions to make them realise how holy in Mecca and dhul Hijjah.
2. "Verily your lives, money and honour are haraam upon you just as sacred as th
is month, day and this place is upon you".
What is he doing in all of this? SubhanAllah he is uniting the ummah and making
it one. He is saying 'forget everything you are one ummah under Allah'.
3. "Woe to you. Do not return being kuffar after me. Killing one another."
He is saying 'those were such ridiculous, pagan evil ways - don't go back to tha

t'. Look at the ummah today, its exactly what the prophet PBUH warned us about.
That 'don't kill each other'.
4. "Let the one who is present inform the one who is absent".
Meaning go and tell people about this khutbah. In one version in Tirmidhi he sai
d "Shaytan has given up hope of being worshipped in this land. Arabia will not r
eturn to idoletry until the days of dajjal. BUT he is hopeful in you obeying him
in matters you consider trivial". In another version he said "what he is hoping
for is to make you fight one another" i.e. disunity. This is where he is optimi
stic. He won't trick the muslims in worshipping idols anymore. The ummah as a wh
ole will not return to that.
5. "The muslim is the one from whose hands and tongue other muslims are safe fro
m. And the mu'min is the one whom the people trust with their money and property
. And the muhajir is the one who has left his sins. And the mujahid is the one s
triving in the path of Allah".
Note this is a famous hadith, but all of these narrations are different hadith w
hich different sahabi heard and we peice them together.
6. "Fear Allah, pray your 5 prayers, fast Ramadan, give zakat and obey your rule
rs and you shall enter Jannah".
Meaning concentrate on the basic tenants of Islam and we will enter Jannah. This
is the famous hadith in Tirmidhi.
7. "O people,
sm of an Arab
in over black
usness). Have

your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. There is no favoriti
over a foreigner, nor a foreigner over an Arab, and neither red sk
skin, nor black skin over red skin, except through taqwah (righteo
I not conveyed the message?"

This is another famous hadith in Muslim. This is an authentic hadith, and is com
pletely revolutionary. No philosopher, leader, intellectual in the history of hu
manity ever said 'all humans are equal'. Nobody. Every society thought 'we are b
etter' whether it was race, ethnicity etc. The first people to say this was the
prophet PBUH. Clearly this is from the divine. This is not something the son of
Abdul Muttalib would say. The person who has the most noble lineage among all th
e Arabs. He is saying it dosen't matter if you are arab or not. White or black e
tc. Except taqwah. It's revolutionary for humanity. Even now we are struggling w
ith this concept.
So as we said the prophet PBUH gave a khutbah in Arafat, on the 10th, 11th, 12th
etc. All of them put together we get the big poster we usually see. But realise
that poster is not one khutbah, it's a mixture of all of them.
We conclude and say the prophet PBUH spent three nights in Mina, typically we sp
end two and leave on the 12th. The prophet PBUH spent three and left on the 13th
. At night he went to perform tawaaf a tul wada'a and returned on his journey to
Madinah. A'isha RA narrates when they first arrived in Mecca (4th dhul Hijjah)
the prophet PBUH entered in his tent and she was crying. The prophet PBUH said "
what is the matter have you started your menses?" SubhanAllah this shows us the
intuitive nature of the prophet PBUH; also, for the women who get their menses d
uring the blessed times i.e. last 10 days of Ramadan etc, A'isha RA also experia
nced this! So she was crying because the menses has begun but she is literally r
ight outside of Mecca. The prophet PBUH said "don't worry, this is something All
ah has ordained for all of the daughters of Adam. Do everything the hujjaj do ex
cept for tawaaf". Before the 13th she finished her menses, so she asks "ya Rasul
Allah are all of your wives going to go back having performed umrah and Hajj and
I only have Hajj?" So the prophet PBUH said "ya A'isha its sufficient". But A'i

sha said "your wives will have double and I have one? No". So the prophet PBUH t
hen told Abdur Rehman ibn Abi Bukr to take her to Taneem, the closest place to M
ecca outside of the haram. It's the smallest distance from the ka'bah to the cir
cle of Mecca. So he took her to Taneem, put her in ihraam and let her do umrah.
Abdur Rehman himself did not do umrah. From this and more we note its clear that
its permissable but not the encouraged thing to do multiple umrahs.
The prophet PBUH already left so they meet him back on the journey and go home t
o Madinah. One final incident that is a very big source of contraversy betweent
he sunni and shia schools of thought. It's very important for the shia; for us i
t's an innocent story with a very simple explination. But for the shia this stor
y becomes the basis of Ali RA becoming the next khalifah. For us the story is so
innocent that ibn Hishaam and others mention it almost in passing. There's a co
ntext which we understand and after that there's no big deal. But for the shia t
his story is so huge that from it they claim Ali RA should have been the next kh
alifah. And this story is in the books of hadith, its well known. The sunnis do
not change history; there's a charge that we as sunnis hide the blessings of Ali
RA. No walahi we say Ali RA is the best of the sahaba, and his blessings are co
untless, and he was the son in law, and the cousin and the ahlul bayt and his bl
essings go on and on. But Abu Bukr and Umar and Uthmaan are also blessed. And Ab
u Bukr deserved to be the khalifah before him, there's no doubt. He was deserved
of it at a later a time. We don't compete between the sahaba. Ali deserved to b
e the khalifah and he became it when it was his time.
In any case, what is this incident? It is the incident of Gadhir Khum: the well
of Khum. And it occured the next day outside of Mecca. And it's an innocent stor
y from the sunni perspective. What happened? Recall that Ali RA came from Yemen
to do Hajj. And as he's coming he obviously has his people with him. And he has
the wealth of Yemen, the zakat and sadaqat etc, along with 100 camels for the pr
ophet PBUH. He arrives in Mecca, he's very excited and so he rushes to meet the
prophet PBUH and leaves someone else in charge of the entourage. That person dec
ides to distribute new clothes to the entire entourage from the treasury i.e. th
e sadaqat. Yemen was known for its good clothes and cloth, so this person made h
is own ijtihad that 'we deserve this and we're supposed to look good'. This of c
ourse is not allowed. Ali RA comes back and he is inscenced: he tells them to ta
ke the clothes off and put them back. How will they feel? Not too happy, they ar
e grumbling, angry etc. As soon as Hajj finishes they complain to the prophet PB
UH. So the prophet PBUH then gives that paragraph which is known as the sermon o
f Ghadir Khum.
And in this khutbah the prophet PBUH says "whoever is the mawla of Ali, I am the
mawlwa of him, and Ali is to me like Harun and Musa were" so he praises Ali RA
in a very high manner. And there is no denying this. And he rebukes those people
for criticising Ali RA, and they deserve to be rebuked. Who are they to take th
e garments out of the treasury? That is not their right. And the prophet PBUH sa
ys Ali RA is indeed the mawla, and Allah loves him. And so he says "So stop comp
laining to me about Ali." And the prophet PBUH also says "I leave behind two thi
ngs; as for the first of them hold onto it, it is the book of Allah. As for seco
nd fear Allah with regards to my family." Note the prophet PBUH didn't say "hold
onto my family". Rather he said "fear Allah with regards to them" meaning 'make
sure you treat them well'. The context is crystal clear, and that is why, a sim
ple point: when the prophet PBUH passes away four months later and the sahaba ar
e gathered together, none of them including the supporters of Ali mention Gadhir
Khum. It wasn't in their minds that Gadhir Khum is about who will be the khalif
ah. It was simply in the context of what is going on "stop irritating me about A
li, he is my family and he's done the right decision" and that is absolutely val
id. This is in the incident of Gadhir Khum: its all valid and it did happen, but
we don't read in the politics as the shia do.
Final point, of the main benefits of the sermons of the prophet PBUH:

1. Obliterating all the old customs of jaheleya

2. Beginning with his own family to demonstrate the reality of what he is preach
ing
This is a new beginning for the ummah. All old laws are destoryed and the new la
ws of Islam are now in place.
3. Stressed the rights of muslims amongst each other
4. Strengthening the ties of the ummah - if the ummah was united, the persian em
pire and roman empire wouldn't be conquered
5. Obliterating jaheleya tribes and racism. These are the two things that destro
y the ummah to this day. Skin colour, racism etc. All of these are just figments
of the imagination.
6. He emphasised the rights of women
7. Most importantly he left them with the primary source of law: the book of All
ah and told the people to hold firm to it.