Farewell Hajj is the last and only pilgrimage of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and during this, Prophet (ﷺ) delivered His last Sermon or Message for the whole mankind.
Highlights:
Ibn Ishaaq and others say the Prophet PBUH left for Hajj on the 25th Dhul Qa'da in the 10th year of the Hijrah. Of course he passes away on the 12th Rabbi al-Awwal in the 11th year of the Hijrah. So just a few months before he passes away. And he prayed Zuhr in the masjid, and he left Madinah on the 25th. And he made his way to Dhul Hulayfa, right outside Madinah, prayed two raka'at and entered the state of ihraam. From the time of the Prophet PBUH, the people called this Hajj, Hajjatul Wida' (Farewell Hajj). This name was given even in the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Where did it come from? We learn in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, that ibn Umar says, Prophet Muhammad 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 witness' 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 did not understand the implication". That is, they are calling it the Farewell Hajj, yet this means Prophet Muhammad PBUH is going to pass away. It didn't click in their minds - they didn't understand the Prophet PBUH is literally bidding farewell.
So the term comes from the seerah, sunnah and the actions of the sahabah while Prophet Muhammad 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 thousands of people. Our early scholars give a nice round number that 100,000 people were there at the Farewell Hajj. But this is a complete guess. No doubt this was the largest gathering of sahabah; the bulk of them we don't know their names.
We have plenty of narrations from anonymous people that 'someone who heard the khutbah of Prophet Muhammad 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 the Hajj with the Prophet PBUH. As we mentioned, Prophet Muhammad 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. He 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 ghusl in the state of ihraam.
He then entered Mecca in the day time, early morning on a Sunday and he performed the tawaaf, the first three of them quickly and the rest of the four slowly. And 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 intention of combining the hajj and umrah, and I would have made the intention of seperating the hajj and umrah, and I would not have brought my animals with me". In other 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 shariah, those animals are sacred in Hajj. This is very rare in our times of course, but anyway when you enter ihraam you will then decorate the animals and distribute them. So our Prophet PBUH told Ali R.A. 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 have 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 do Hajj. So he announced to the people "everyone who came without animals, get out of your ihraam and become halal again".
This was unique and new; this is not allowed in pre-Islam. So some sahabah asked how they can become halal again. And the Prophet PBUH said "yes everything is halal" - getting out of ihraam in between umrah and Hajj was unimaginable for them.
1. Hajj Qiraan (joining umrah and Hajj with one ihraam - you stay in ihraam throughout).
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 controversy as to which one is better, but all three are permissable.
Our Prophet PBUH performed qiraan, but he clearly told the sahabah to do tamatu, and some of them also did ifraat.
Ali RA was in Yemen to be a judge and dispute settler; Prophet Muhammad PBUH sent word to Ali to bring 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 R.A. because he had not been with her for a long time.
Now Ali is in ihraam, so obviously everything is not allowed. But then he sees Fatimah and she is wearing perfume, and is out of ihraam, and is beautified. At this 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 (Prophet Muhammad PBUH) told me to do this". And this is of course new 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 Prophet Muhammad 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 said 'labbayk' upon the intention of Pophet Muhammad 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 stay in ihraam.
Thus the bulk of the sahabah ended up doing tamatu, some of them did ifraat (those who came later), and a very small few i.e. those who brought their animals with them did qiraan, including Prophet Muhammad PBUH.
So the Prophet PBUH camped outside of Mecca on the Saturday and entered on the Sunday. 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 the 8th of Dhul Hijjah, He prayed Fajr in the ka'bah and he then made his way forwards 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 hundreds; entire books dedicated to this topic, and there's one hadith considered to be the mother of all hadiths when it comes to the Hajj of the Prophet PBUH.
And 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 related. This is recorded in Saheeh Muslim, that its reported by Ja'far ibn Muhammad from the ahlul bayt, from his father, that "we went to Jaabir ibn Abd Allah, and 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 twelver shia these are their imams. From our perspective they are extremely righteous but they don't have the powers other groups give them.
He then went out of the gate to as-Safa, and when he reached it he recited the verse in the Qur'an: 'verily, Safa and Marwa are signs of Allah...'. Then the prophet PBUH said "I shall began with what Allah began with" i.e. Safa, and he climbed up Safa until he could see the ka'bah, he turned around, faced the ka'bah and said a dua (the famous sunnah dua when you are doing sa'ee). In this dua the prophet PBUH says that Allah has fulfilled His promise, and He has spoken the truth, and He has aided His servant, and He has destroyed all of the enemies of Islam by Himself, and what a beautiful thing to say when Mecca is returned to the prophet PBUH. Remember the prophet PBUH did not have to fight any battle for Mecca, 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 fulfilling 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 under. 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 and 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 brought my sacrificial animals, and would only have performed umrah. Whoever amongst you did not bring animals should only do umrah and get out of ihraam". Jaabir says at this Suraka ibn Malik stood up; this is that same Suraka who the prophet PBUH 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 fingers 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 journey 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 was wearing colourful clothing and had applied make up. Ali RA became irritated at 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." This 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 telling us what to do in Mina. Jaabir continues: "the prophet PBUH then waited until 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 rules 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 inside this area; however Arafat is not inside the haram. Arafat is sacred and holy 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 'al-masharil haraam'". So they reinvented the rules of Hajj to make it elitest for themselves. So the Quraysh would not stand at Arafat, believe it or not. They would 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 outside Arafat; its not inside. So thought he would stop at al-masharil haram. Prophet Muhammad 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 begins - there is literally a line to this day in the masjid of Arafat, called 'masjid 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, and 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 entered 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 wadee'" 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 khutbahs in Mina aswell, on the 10th and 11th (maybe even the 12th). Of course there is 100,000 plus people and he has multiple opportunities to speak to the masses so 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 know 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 afterwards), 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 did so a little. No narration says he climbed to the top. In any case, what he said 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 lengths to go to jabaa al rahma, but there's no need to do that. Anywhere in Arafat is the same. He said the same in Mina, that "I happen to camp here, but all of 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 that 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 until sunset. And he continued to make dua". Walahi you read this and your mind boggles. 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 the 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 set 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 holding 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 time; our prophet PBUH even though no-one is going to block him, he wants to set the 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 iqaamas. "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 Muzdhalifah and make dua. "And then he made his way to al masharil haram, faced the Qiblah 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 can throw from anywhere.
"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 share 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 understands 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 understands people are so eager and extreme they will try to copy him in every way; because of this he didn't draw water; rather he drank from the water they gave him. This is the long hadith of Jaabir, and as we said there are hundreds of hadith about the Hajj of the prophet PBUH each one of which gives primarily fiqh rulings.
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 this is where the notion comes from that the Prophet PBUH called that Hajj "al Hajj-akbar" meaning 'the great Hajj'. A number of points: 'al Hajj-akbar' is the 9th 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 this 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 akbar'. However no doubt in the time of the prophet PBUH Arafat did fall on a Friday. It was on the 9th dhull Hijjah standing on the planes of Arafat that Allah revealed wahi to Him. So the wahi of the Qur'an came down on this auspicious occasion, and what was revealed is the famous verse in the Qur'an:
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 Arafat on the day of hajj akbar and Allah revealed it so it's already a day of celebration for us".
This is important khutbah of Arafat, and here is what Prophet Muhammad said:
All of the tribal warfares are gone, and this too was rampant in Arabia. Every single tribe had a long list of enemies, and a long list of allies written in blood. 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 under my foot: obliterated".
Brief story: one of the sons of Rabiah was killed in a war between two tribes, the Banu Sa'ad and the Hudhayl. And he was being raised by the Banu Sa'ad (like Prophet Muhammad PBUH). This boy however was caught in the battle and killed by the tribe of Hudhayl. 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.
SubhanAllah this is being the leader by example. His family would benefit from the blood money and riba, but no more. The prophet PBUH himself is showing the people He is serious about this.
Now, whether it should be done in our time is a seperate discussion. In our times any type of discipline will break a marriage rather than save it so we should be careful. The point is our Prophet PBUH set guidelines but one needs to realise when this was said. Walahi its groundbreaking and its leaps and bounds beyond what was going on at the time.
Why? Allah says in the Qur'an "On that day every ummah will be asked about its messenger, and the messenger will be asked".
SubhanAllah the messenger will be asked and the people will be asked. So Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wanted the ummah to respond that "Oh Allah our Prophet PBUH has done the job" and they all indeed testify to this.
On the next day, the 10th dhull Hijjah, the prophet PBUH gave another khutbah and said:
The order of the months are the same as when Allah created the heavens and Earth. Meaning, 'keep the calender as it is this year'. Then he paused and asked "what month is this?" The people were shocked because its such an obvious question. He said "isn't this the month of dhul Hijjah?" They said "yes". Then he said "what day 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 is city of Mecca and the month of dhul Hijjah.
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 optimistic. He won't trick the Muslims in worshipping idols anymore. The ummah as a whole will not return to that.
Note this is a famous hadith, but all of these narrations are different hadith which different sahabi heard and we peice them together.
No philosopher, leader, intellectual in the history of humanity ever said 'all humans are equal'. Nobody.
Every society thought 'we are better' whether it was race, ethnicity etc.
The first to say this was the Prophet Muhammad 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 the Arabs. He is saying it dosen't matter if you are arab or not. White or black etc. except taqwah.
It's revolutionary for humanity. Even now we are struggling with this concept.
So as we said Prophet Muhammad 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 spend two and leave on the 12th. Prophet Muhammad PBUH spent three and left on the 13th. At night He went to perform tawaaf a tul wida'a and returned on his journey to Madinah.
SubhanAllah this shows us the intuitive nature of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ; also, for the women who get their menses during the blessed times i.e. last 10 days of Ramadan etc, A'isha RA also experianced this! So she was crying because the menses has begun but she is literally right outside of Mecca. The Prophet PBUH said "don't worry, this is something Allah has ordained for all of the daughters of Adam. Do everything the hujjaj do except for tawaaf".
Before the 13th she finished her menses, so she asks "ya RasulAllah are all of your wives going to go back having performed umrah and Hajj and I only have Hajj?"
So Prophet Muhammad PBUH said "ya A'isha its sufficient".
But A'isha said "your wives will have double and I have one? No".
So Prophet Muhammad PBUH then told Abdur Rehman ibn Abi Bakr to take her to Taneem, the closest place to Mecca outside of the haram. It's the smallest distance from the ka'bah to the circle 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 to Madinah.
One final incident that is a very big source of controversy betweent he sunni and shia schools of thought. It's very important for the shia; for us it's an innocent story with a very simple explanation. But for the shia this story becomes the basis of Ali R.A. becoming the next khalifah. For us the story is so innocent that ibn Hishaam and others mention it almost in passing. There's a context which we understand and after that there's no big deal. But for the shia this story is so huge that from it they claim Ali R.A. should have been the next khalifah. 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 R.A.
No walahi we say Hazrat Ali R.A. is the best of the sahabah, and his blessings are countless, and he was the son in law, and the cousin and the ahlul bayt and his blessings go on and on.
But Hazrat Abu Bakr and Hazrat Umar and Hazrat Uthmaan are also blessed. And Abu Bakr 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 sahabah.
Hazrat Ali R.A. deserved to be 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 story from the sunni perspective. What happened? Recall that Ali R.A. 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 Prophet Muhammad 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 decides to distribute new clothes to the entire entourage from the treasury i.e. the sadaqat. Yemen was known for its good clothes and cloth, so this person made his own ijtihad that 'we deserve this and we're supposed to look good'.
This of course is not allowed. Hazrat Ali R.A. comes back and he is inscenced: he tells them to take the clothes off and put them back. How will they feel? Not too happy, they are grumbling, angry etc. As soon as Hajj finishes they complain to Prophet Muhammad PBUH. So the Prophet PBUH then gives that paragraph which is known as the sermon of Ghadir Khum.
And in this khutbah the Prophet Muhammad PBUH says,
And the Prophet PBUH also says "I leave behind two things; as for the first of them hold onto it, it is the book of Allah. As for second fear Allah with regards to my family."
Note Prophet Muhammad 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 simple point: when the Prophet PBUH passes away four months later and the sahabah gathered together, none of them including the supporters of Hazrat Ali mention Gadhir Khum. It wasn't in their minds that Gadhir Khum is about who will be the khalifah.
It was simply in the context of what is going on "stop irritating me about Ali, he is my family and he's done the right decision" and that is absolutely valid.
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.
1. Obliterating all the old customs of jahiliyah.
2. Beginning with his own family to demonstrate the reality of what he is preaching This is a new beginning for the ummah.
All old laws are destoryed and the new laws of Islam are now in place.
3. Stressed the rights of Muslims amongst each otheo.
4. Strengthening the ties of the ummah - if the ummah was united, the persian empire and roman empire wouldn't be conquered.
- Farewell pilgrimage summary.
- How did The Prophet perform hajj.
- Complete Process & Steps of Hajj.
- Last sermon of Prophet Muhammad.
- Last sermon written in Arabic.
- Prophet Muhammad's speech.
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Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam became obligatory upon Muslims (who are fulfilling the certain criteria) following the revelation of this particular verse of Surah Al-Imran:In it are clear signs [such as] the standing place of Abraham. And whoever enters it shall be safe. And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House - for whoever is able to find thereto a way. But whoever disbelieves - then indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds. (Surah Al-Imran, Verse No-97)
Farewell Hajj Of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) announced a few months 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 lands people flocked to Madinah and the city swelled up, 10s of thousands of people continued to come. And even along with way throughtout the entire journey, 10s of thousands of people continued to flock. A number of ahadith report that the sahabah said "as far as the eye could see, we could see flocks of humanity. We looked in front, behind, left and right and all we could see is men". Never in the seerah did the Prophet PBUH have a larger audience and group of people following him. And Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told them "take your rights of Hajj from me". Of course Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) only did one Hajj, therefore all of the fiqh of Hajj comes from this one Hajj. All of the controversies and madhahibs discuss what did the Prophet PBUH do, how did he do it, is it obligatory, sunnah, wajib etc. All of the controversy is over one Hajj of Muhammad ﷺ.
Kaabah With Pilgrims Touching The Golden Door (the bāb al-tawbah)
Ibn Ishaaq and others say the Prophet PBUH left for Hajj on the 25th Dhul Qa'da in the 10th year of the Hijrah. Of course he passes away on the 12th Rabbi al-Awwal in the 11th year of the Hijrah. So just a few months before he passes away. And he prayed Zuhr in the masjid, and he left Madinah on the 25th. And he made his way to Dhul Hulayfa, right outside Madinah, prayed two raka'at and entered the state of ihraam. From the time of the Prophet PBUH, the people called this Hajj, Hajjatul Wida' (Farewell Hajj). This name was given even in the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Where did it come from? We learn in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, that ibn Umar says, Prophet Muhammad 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 witness' 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 did not understand the implication". That is, they are calling it the Farewell Hajj, yet this means Prophet Muhammad PBUH is going to pass away. It didn't click in their minds - they didn't understand the Prophet PBUH is literally bidding farewell.
So the term comes from the seerah, sunnah and the actions of the sahabah while Prophet Muhammad 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 thousands of people. Our early scholars give a nice round number that 100,000 people were there at the Farewell Hajj. But this is a complete guess. No doubt this was the largest gathering of sahabah; the bulk of them we don't know their names.
We have plenty of narrations from anonymous people that 'someone who heard the khutbah of Prophet Muhammad 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 the Hajj with the Prophet PBUH. As we mentioned, Prophet Muhammad 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. He 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 ghusl in the state of ihraam.
Muhammad ﷺ Entered The City Of Mecca:
Kaabah In The City Of Mecca.
He then entered Mecca in the day time, early morning on a Sunday and he performed the tawaaf, the first three of them quickly and the rest of the four slowly. And 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 intention of combining the hajj and umrah, and I would have made the intention of seperating the hajj and umrah, and I would not have brought my animals with me". In other 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 shariah, those animals are sacred in Hajj. This is very rare in our times of course, but anyway when you enter ihraam you will then decorate the animals and distribute them. So our Prophet PBUH told Ali R.A. 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 have 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 do Hajj. So he announced to the people "everyone who came without animals, get out of your ihraam and become halal again".
This was unique and new; this is not allowed in pre-Islam. So some sahabah asked how they can become halal again. And the Prophet PBUH said "yes everything is halal" - getting out of ihraam in between umrah and Hajj was unimaginable for them.
Three Types Of Hajj:
Hazrat Aisha narrates:Therefore some people made the intention for both umrah and Hajj together (qiraan), others made the intention only for umrah and some people only for Hajj (ifraat).From this we get the famous fiqh that there are three types of Hajj:
1. Hajj Qiraan (joining umrah and Hajj with one ihraam - you stay in ihraam throughout).
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 controversy as to which one is better, but all three are permissable.
Our Prophet PBUH performed qiraan, but he clearly told the sahabah to do tamatu, and some of them also did ifraat.
Ali RA was in Yemen to be a judge and dispute settler; Prophet Muhammad PBUH sent word to Ali to bring 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 R.A. because he had not been with her for a long time.
Now Ali is in ihraam, so obviously everything is not allowed. But then he sees Fatimah and she is wearing perfume, and is out of ihraam, and is beautified. At this 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 (Prophet Muhammad PBUH) told me to do this". And this is of course new 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 Prophet Muhammad 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 said 'labbayk' upon the intention of Pophet Muhammad 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 stay in ihraam.
Thus the bulk of the sahabah ended up doing tamatu, some of them did ifraat (those who came later), and a very small few i.e. those who brought their animals with them did qiraan, including Prophet Muhammad PBUH.
So the Prophet PBUH camped outside of Mecca on the Saturday and entered on the Sunday. 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 the 8th of Dhul Hijjah, He prayed Fajr in the ka'bah and he then made his way forwards 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 hundreds; entire books dedicated to this topic, and there's one hadith considered to be the mother of all hadiths when it comes to the Hajj of the Prophet PBUH.
And 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 related. This is recorded in Saheeh Muslim, that its reported by Ja'far ibn Muhammad from the ahlul bayt, from his father, that "we went to Jaabir ibn Abd Allah, and 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 twelver shia these are their imams. From our perspective they are extremely righteous 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 was one of the last sahabah to die. At this point in time he was a blind old man. The narration continues: "When I said I am Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, he stood up, placed his hand on my head and he opened up my shirt and he touched me". So he wanted to touch and feel the great great grandson of the 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 asking Jaabir about the Hajj of the prophet PBUH, and Jaabir begins his long hadith. He took out his nine fingers and said "for nine years the prophet PBUH did not perform the Hajj. Then he made the announcement in the 10th year he will perform the Hajj, so large numbers of people came to Madinah, all of them eager to follow the prophet PBUH and be behind him. So we reached dhul hulayfa, and Asma bint Uwais gave birth to Muhammad ibn Abi Bukr".
So Abu Bukr married Asma who gave 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 back towards one of the valleys. And Jaabir says "as far as I could see in front of me, there was nothing but riders and pedestrians, and to my right, and to my left, 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 most knowledgeable of the Qur'an, and whatever he did, we followed him in all that 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 tamatu i.e. doing umrah and Hajj. "But when we came with him to the ka'bah, he touched the black stone and made seven tawaafs, three of them running and four of them walking. Then he prayed behind maqaam-e Ibrahim". Note this is where the fiqh of umrah and Hajj comes from, the hadith of Jaabir. So Jaabir said he prayed behind miqaam-e Ibhraim and recited the verse from the Quran. And Jaabir says "he recited surah Kafiroon and surah Ikhlas in the first and second rakat. Then he returned to the miqaam-e Ibrahim and kissed it.
Maqaam-e-Ibrahim, People Kisses It During Hajj.
He then went out of the gate to as-Safa, and when he reached it he recited the verse in the Qur'an: 'verily, Safa and Marwa are signs of Allah...'. Then the prophet PBUH said "I shall began with what Allah began with" i.e. Safa, and he climbed up Safa until he could see the ka'bah, he turned around, faced the ka'bah and said a dua (the famous sunnah dua when you are doing sa'ee). In this dua the prophet PBUH says that Allah has fulfilled His promise, and He has spoken the truth, and He has aided His servant, and He has destroyed all of the enemies of Islam by Himself, and what a beautiful thing to say when Mecca is returned to the prophet PBUH. Remember the prophet PBUH did not have to fight any battle for Mecca, 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 fulfilling 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 under. 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 and 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 brought my sacrificial animals, and would only have performed umrah. Whoever amongst you did not bring animals should only do umrah and get out of ihraam". Jaabir says at this Suraka ibn Malik stood up; this is that same Suraka who the prophet PBUH 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 fingers 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 journey 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 was wearing colourful clothing and had applied make up. Ali RA became irritated at 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." This 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 telling us what to do in Mina. Jaabir continues: "the prophet PBUH then waited until 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 rules 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 inside this area; however Arafat is not inside the haram. Arafat is sacred and holy 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 'al-masharil haraam'". So they reinvented the rules of Hajj to make it elitest for themselves. So the Quraysh would not stand at Arafat, believe it or not. They would 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 outside Arafat; its not inside. So thought he would stop at al-masharil haram. Prophet Muhammad 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 begins - there is literally a line to this day in the masjid of Arafat, called 'masjid 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, and 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 entered 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 wadee'" 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 khutbahs in Mina aswell, on the 10th and 11th (maybe even the 12th). Of course there is 100,000 plus people and he has multiple opportunities to speak to the masses so 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 know 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 afterwards), 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 did so a little. No narration says he climbed to the top. In any case, what he said 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 lengths to go to jabaa al rahma, but there's no need to do that. Anywhere in Arafat is the same. He said the same in Mina, that "I happen to camp here, but all of 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 that 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 until sunset. And he continued to make dua". Walahi you read this and your mind boggles. 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 the 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 set 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 holding 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 time; our prophet PBUH even though no-one is going to block him, he wants to set the 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 iqaamas. "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 Muzdhalifah and make dua. "And then he made his way to al masharil haram, faced the Qiblah 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 can throw from anywhere.
Eid al-Adha: Sacrificing Animals
Then he went to the place of sacrifice and sacrificed 63 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 knife the 100 camels were rushing and racing to see who would the first to be slaughtered 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 share 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 understands 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 understands people are so eager and extreme they will try to copy him in every way; because of this he didn't draw water; rather he drank from the water they gave him. This is the long hadith of Jaabir, and as we said there are hundreds of hadith about the Hajj of the prophet PBUH each one of which gives primarily fiqh rulings.
Hajj-Akbar: The Great Hajj
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 this is where the notion comes from that the Prophet PBUH called that Hajj "al Hajj-akbar" meaning 'the great Hajj'. A number of points: 'al Hajj-akbar' is the 9th 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 this 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 akbar'. However no doubt in the time of the prophet PBUH Arafat did fall on a Friday. It was on the 9th dhull Hijjah standing on the planes of Arafat that Allah revealed wahi to Him. So the wahi of the Qur'an came down on this auspicious occasion, and what was revealed is the famous verse in the Qur'an:
This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. [Al-Quran: 5,3)Note this wasn't the last verse revealed, but it is one of the last verses and what a beautiful verse. One of the jews came to Umar R.A. and said "you have a verse in the Qur'an, if we had its equivalent we would have taken that day as the day 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 Arafat on the day of hajj akbar and Allah revealed it so it's already a day of celebration for us".
Mount Arafat.
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 Peninsula is upon Islam, when there isn't a single idol that is being worshipped, and when all the arabs have embraced Islam.
Farewell Sermon Of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:
So this verse came down and it was here 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 after him. In the sunan of Abu Dawud its said that one of the sahaba said "We listened to the prophet PBUH khutbah and we could hear it, even from our tents". So what 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 khutbah of Arafat, and here is what Prophet Muhammad said:
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.
Your blood, your money are haraam for you.Meaning you cannot kill each other or steal each others money.
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 'survival of the fittest' is gone - nobody can steal, rape, plunder etc other people 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, the Hajj, they respected especially the 9th dhull Hijjah. No blood was ever shed on 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".
Verily, everything from the time of jaheleya, it is under my foot.Here Prophet Muhammad PBUH uses a harsh term to say everything from jaheleya is now gone, obliterated forever. All of the ways of jaheleya: everything. Culture, rituals, idol worship etc. All of jaheleya is now gone. This is such a comprehensive and powerful statement. Islam has come with something new.
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 single tribe had a long list of enemies, and a long list of allies written in blood. 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 under my foot: obliterated".
The first blood money that I obliterate is the blood money from my own family, the son of Rabiah ibn al-Harith ibn Abdul Muttalib.Note al-Harith is the uncle of Pophet Muhammad PBUH, Rabiah is his cousin.
Brief story: one of the sons of Rabiah was killed in a war between two tribes, the Banu Sa'ad and the Hudhayl. And he was being raised by the Banu Sa'ad (like Prophet Muhammad PBUH). This boy however was caught in the battle and killed by the tribe of Hudhayl. 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.
Verily, the riba (interest) is under my foot. And the first I abolish is that 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 lots of interest. So Prophet Muhammad PBUH said "the first money obliterated is the money 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 would benefit from the blood money and riba, but no more. The prophet PBUH himself is showing the people He is serious about this.
And fear Allah with regards to women and their rights. For you have taken them with the protection of Allah, and made them permissable with the name of Allah.So in a society where women had no right whatsoever, and this is something so important. There was no reason for Islam to come and talk about women; there was no reason for our Prophet ﷺ to mention women in the farewell pilgrimage on the day of Arafat in the most important khutbah He ever gave and ever delivered in the Yet he did. He has a paragraph about women. Why? Because no ummah can flourish if its women are mistreated. 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 Allah's protection.
And their right upon you is that they do not allow anyone to step on your bed, or that you would hate.Meaning the women have to be faithful and loyal to their husband.
And if they do something (disobey you), you have the right to discipline them 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 would beat their wives without any question. This was the normal rule. What did the 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 seperate discussion. In our times any type of discipline will break a marriage rather than save it so we should be careful. The point is our Prophet PBUH set guidelines but one needs to realise when this was said. Walahi its groundbreaking and its leaps and bounds beyond what was going on at the time.
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 Prophet Muhammad is stressing the importance of family rights; and saying the money of the husband should be spent on his wife and children.
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.
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, Prophet Muhammad PBUH raised his hands to the sky and said three times "Oh! Allah bear witness they have said they've 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".
SubhanAllah the messenger will be asked and the people will be asked. So Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wanted the ummah to respond that "Oh Allah our Prophet PBUH has done the job" and they all indeed testify to this.
On the next day, the 10th dhull Hijjah, the prophet PBUH gave another khutbah and said:
Verily time has returned to its rightful place as it was on the day that Allah created the heavans and the Earth. A year is 12 months, four of which are sacred.Now the Quraysh had a weird custom of changing the years around whenever they wanted. 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 Hajj just so happened to perfectly alligned i.e. just as how it should be.
The order of the months are the same as when Allah created the heavens and Earth. Meaning, 'keep the calender as it is this year'. Then he paused and asked "what month is this?" The people were shocked because its such an obvious question. He said "isn't this the month of dhul Hijjah?" They said "yes". Then he said "what day 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 is city of Mecca and the month of dhul Hijjah.
Verily your lives, money and honour are haraam upon you just as sacred as this 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'.
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 that'. Look at the ummah today, its exactly what Prophet Muhammad PBUH warned us about. That 'don't kill each other'.
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 said "Shaytan has given up hope of being worshipped in this land. Arabia will not return 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 optimistic. He won't trick the Muslims in worshipping idols anymore. The ummah as a whole will not return to that.
The muslim is the one from whose hands and tongue other muslims are safe from. 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 striving in the path of Allah.
Note this is a famous hadith, but all of these narrations are different hadith which different sahabi heard and we peice them together.
Fear Allah, pray your 5 prayers, fast Ramadan, give zakat and obey your rulers 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.
O people, your Lord is one and your father Adam is one. There is no favoritism of an Arab over a foreigner, nor a foreigner over an Arab, and neither red skin over black skin, nor black skin over red skin, except through taqwah (righteousness). Have I not conveyed the message?This is another famous hadith in Muslim. This is an authentic hadith, and is completely revolutionary.
No philosopher, leader, intellectual in the history of humanity ever said 'all humans are equal'. Nobody.
Every society thought 'we are better' whether it was race, ethnicity etc.
The first to say this was the Prophet Muhammad 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 the Arabs. He is saying it dosen't matter if you are arab or not. White or black etc. except taqwah.
It's revolutionary for humanity. Even now we are struggling with this concept.
So as we said Prophet Muhammad 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 spend two and leave on the 12th. Prophet Muhammad PBUH spent three and left on the 13th. At night He went to perform tawaaf a tul wida'a and returned on his journey to Madinah.
Madinah.
A'isha R.A. narrates when they first arrived in Mecca (4th dhul Hijjah) Prophet Muhammad 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 Muhammad ﷺ; also, for the women who get their menses during the blessed times i.e. last 10 days of Ramadan etc, A'isha RA also experianced this! So she was crying because the menses has begun but she is literally right outside of Mecca. The Prophet PBUH said "don't worry, this is something Allah has ordained for all of the daughters of Adam. Do everything the hujjaj do except for tawaaf".
Before the 13th she finished her menses, so she asks "ya RasulAllah are all of your wives going to go back having performed umrah and Hajj and I only have Hajj?"
So Prophet Muhammad PBUH said "ya A'isha its sufficient".
But A'isha said "your wives will have double and I have one? No".
So Prophet Muhammad PBUH then told Abdur Rehman ibn Abi Bakr to take her to Taneem, the closest place to Mecca outside of the haram. It's the smallest distance from the ka'bah to the circle 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 to Madinah.
One final incident that is a very big source of controversy betweent he sunni and shia schools of thought. It's very important for the shia; for us it's an innocent story with a very simple explanation. But for the shia this story becomes the basis of Ali R.A. becoming the next khalifah. For us the story is so innocent that ibn Hishaam and others mention it almost in passing. There's a context which we understand and after that there's no big deal. But for the shia this story is so huge that from it they claim Ali R.A. should have been the next khalifah. 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 R.A.
No walahi we say Hazrat Ali R.A. is the best of the sahabah, and his blessings are countless, and he was the son in law, and the cousin and the ahlul bayt and his blessings go on and on.
But Hazrat Abu Bakr and Hazrat Umar and Hazrat Uthmaan are also blessed. And Abu Bakr 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 sahabah.
Hazrat Ali R.A. deserved to be 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 story from the sunni perspective. What happened? Recall that Ali R.A. 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 Prophet Muhammad 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 decides to distribute new clothes to the entire entourage from the treasury i.e. the sadaqat. Yemen was known for its good clothes and cloth, so this person made his own ijtihad that 'we deserve this and we're supposed to look good'.
This of course is not allowed. Hazrat Ali R.A. comes back and he is inscenced: he tells them to take the clothes off and put them back. How will they feel? Not too happy, they are grumbling, angry etc. As soon as Hajj finishes they complain to Prophet Muhammad PBUH. So the Prophet PBUH then gives that paragraph which is known as the sermon of Ghadir Khum.
And in this khutbah the Prophet Muhammad 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 R.A. 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 the garments out of the treasury? That is not their right. And the Prophet PBUH says Ali R.A. is indeed the mawla, and Allah loves him. And so He says "So stop complaining to me about Ali."
And the Prophet PBUH also says "I leave behind two things; as for the first of them hold onto it, it is the book of Allah. As for second fear Allah with regards to my family."
Note Prophet Muhammad 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 simple point: when the Prophet PBUH passes away four months later and the sahabah gathered together, none of them including the supporters of Hazrat Ali mention Gadhir Khum. It wasn't in their minds that Gadhir Khum is about who will be the khalifah.
It was simply in the context of what is going on "stop irritating me about Ali, he is my family and he's done the right decision" and that is absolutely valid.
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.
Messages From The Sermons Of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:
Final point, of the main benefits of the sermons of Prophet Muhammad PBUH:1. Obliterating all the old customs of jahiliyah.
2. Beginning with his own family to demonstrate the reality of what he is preaching This is a new beginning for the ummah.
All old laws are destoryed and the new laws of Islam are now in place.
3. Stressed the rights of Muslims amongst each otheo.
4. Strengthening the ties of the ummah - if the ummah was united, the persian empire and roman empire wouldn't be conquered.
(Recommended Post: Concept Of Unity Of Muslim Ummah In Modern Age)
5. Obliterating jaheleya tribes and racism. These are the two things that destroy 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 Allah and told the people to hold firm to it.
"And Complete Hajj And Umrah For Allah..."
Have you been there? Share your journey with us below in the comment section!
5. Obliterating jaheleya tribes and racism. These are the two things that destroy 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 Allah and told the people to hold firm to it.
Have you been there? Share your journey with us below in the comment section!
Transcript Of The Video Lecture Of Sheikh Dr Yasir Qadhi (Farewell Hajj From Seerah Of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ).