The Farewell Pilgrimage
The 10th year of Hijrah had seen Islam triumphant over the whole of Arabia. The Prophet announced his intention to perform Hajj. 90,000 individuals responded to his call. By the time, they had started performing hajj on the 8th Zu’l Hajj, the crowd had amounted to 124,00.
All the rites and rituals were performed that day the way we perform them today.
Farewell Sermon at Arafat
The Prophet delivered a sermon/speech at Arafat for the last time before leaving this ephemeral world. He started as, “O people! Listen to my words, for I do not know whether I shall ever meet you in this place again after this year.”
The following points paint a clear picture of the message of the sermon.
- The blood and property are sacred. Lord will ask you of your works. One mustn’t breach another’s property.
- All usury is abolished.
- All bloodshed in the Days of Ignorance is to be left unavenged.
- You have rights over your people and they have rights over you. You have taken them only as a trust from God.
- Every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim, and that all Muslims are brethren.
- Everyone is equal. No Arab has superiority over Ajmi and vice versa.
- Feed and clothe your slaves well. If they commit a fault, of which you aren’t inclined to forgive, then part from them.
“Let him that is present tell it unto him that is absent. May be he that shall be told may remember better than he who has heard it.”
Then the Prophet asked, “O God! Have I conveyed Thy message? Upon this people replied with one accord. “Yes”, The Prophet added: “O God! Thou art my Witness.”
At the very moment a revelation came, which the Prophet read instantly, “this day, have I perfected for you your faith, and completed My blessings upon you, and have accepted for you al-Islam as your religion.”
Achievements of the Holy Prophet
- End of Jahiliya period
- Unification of the Arab tribes
- Consolidation of Islam
- Foundation of a universal religion
Never in the history of the world a man had so little achieved much as the Prophet did. The Holy Prophet began his life as an orphan, lived his boyhood and youth in poverty as a shepherd and a salesman, and then as a recluse in Mount Hira, then he became a humble preacher, for which he was persecuted and hunted out of his native city, to become a refugee in an alien city. At last, he rose to be ‘the Ruler of Arabia.’
For complete Islamic history notes click here.
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