The Last Sermon of Muhammed The Prophet (PPH)

This sermon was delivered on the Ninth day of Dhul-Hijjah, 10 A.H. ( 623AD) in the Uranah Valley of Mount Arafat in Mecca. It was the occasion of annual rites of Hajj. It is also known as the Farewell Pilgrimage.

All praise is due to Allah, we praise Him, we seek His forgiveness, and we turn to Him. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils within ourselves and from the evil consequences of our deeds. Whom Allah guides aright, there is none to lead him astray; and there is none to guide him aright whom Allah leads astray. I bear witness that there is no G-d but Allah, the One, having no partner with Him. His is the sovereignty and to Him is due all praise. He grants life and causes death and is Powerful over everything. There is no G-d but Allah, the One; He fulfilled His promise and granted victory to His bondsman and He alone routed the confederates (the enemies of Islam).

O people, listen to my words, for I do not know whether we shall ever meet again and perform Hajj after this year. O Ye people, Allah says, “O people We created you from one male and one female and made you into tribes and nations so that you may know one another. Verily the sight of Allah, the most honored among you is the one who is most G-d-fearing.’’ There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab and of a non-Arab over an Arab, nor a the white over the the black nor the black over the white except in G-d-consciousness.

All humanity is the progeny of Adam and Adam was fashioned from clay. Behold! every claim of privilege whether that of blood or property, is under my heels except that of the custody of the Ka’ba and the supplying of water to the pilgrims. O people of Quraish, don’t appear (on the Day of Judgement) with the burden of this world around your necks, whereas other people may appear (before the Lord) with the rewards of the Hereafter. In that case I shall avail you naught against Allah.

Behold! all practices of the days of ignorance are now under my feet. The blood revenges of the days of ignorance are remitted. The first claim on blood that I abolish is that Ibn Rabi’ah bin Harith who was nursed in the tribe of Sa’ad and whom the Hudhay is killed. All interest and usury accrued from the times of ignorance stand wiped out. And the first amount of interest that I remit is that which Abbass bin ‘Abd-al Muttalib had to receive; verily it is remitted entirely.

O people, verily your blood, your property, and your honor are sacred and inviolable until you appear before your Lord, as the sacred inviolability of this day of yours, this month of yours and this very town (of yours). Verily, you will soon meet your Lord and you will be held answerable for your actions.

O people, verily you have certain rights over your women and your women have certain rights over you. It’s your right upon them to honor their conjugal rights and not to commit acts of impropriety, which if they do, you are authorized by Allah to separate them from your beds and chastise them, not severely, and if they refrain, then clothe and feed them properly.

Behold! it is not permissible for a woman to give anything from the wealth of her husband to anyone but with his consent.

Treat women kindly, since they are your helpers and not in a position to manage their affairs themselves. Fear Allah concerning women, for verily you have taken them on the security of Allah and have made their persons lawful unto you by words with Allah.

The child belongs to the marriage-bed and the violator of wedlock shall be punished. And reckoning of their (deeds) rest with Allah. He who attributes his ancestry to other than his father or claims his clientship to other than his master, the curse of Allah is upon him. All debts must be repaid, all borrowed property must be returned, gifts should be reciprocated and a surety must make good the loss to the assured.

Beware, no one committing a crime is responsible for it but himself. Neither the child is responsible for the crime of his father, nor the father is responsible for the crime of his child. Nothing of his brother is lawful for a Muslim except what he himself gives willingly. So do not wrong yourselves.

O people, every Muslim is the brother of other Muslims and all the Muslims form one brotherhood. And your slaves! See that you feed them with such food as you eat yourselves and clothe with the clothes you yourselves wear.

Take heed not to go astray after me and strike one another’s necks. He who (among you) has any trust with him, he must return it to its owner.

O people, listen and obey, though a mangled (head) Abyssinian slave is appointed your Amir (Leader), provided he executes the ordinance of the Book of Allah among you.
O people, no prophet will be raised after me and no new um’mah (community) will be formed after you.

Verily I have left among you that which will never lead you astray, the Book of Allah and the Sunnah (life traditions) of His Messenger, which if you hold fast, you shall never go astray. And be aware of transgression of (the proper bounds) of religion that brought destruction to (many people) before you.

Verily, satan is disappointed at ever being worshipped in this land of yours but if obedience in anything (short of worship is expected) i.e., he will be pleased in matters you may be disposed to think insignificant; so beware of him in matters of your religion.

Behold, worship your Lord, offer prayers five times a day, observe the Fast in the month of Ramadan, pay readily the Zakah (poor-due) on your property, perform the Pilgrimage to the House of G-d, and obey your rulers and you will be admitted to the Paradise of your Lord.

Let him that is present convey it to him who is absent so many people to whom the message is conveyed may be more mindful of it than the audience.

And if you were asked about me, what would you say? They answered: We bear witness that you have conveyed the trust (of religion) and discharged your ministry of apostlehood and looked to our welfare.

Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (may peace be on him) lifted his forefinger towards the sky and then pointing towards the people said:

‘O Lord, bear thou witness unto it; O Lord , bear Thou witness unto it”

Views of some prominent Western writers about the Prophet Muhammed (PPH)

George Bernard Shaw:
“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears The last Sermon to me to possess the assimilating capability to the changing phases of existence which can make itself appeal to every age.” “I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today. Medieval ecclesiastic, either through their ignorance or bigotry, painted Muhammadanism in the darkest colors. They were, in fact, trained to hate both the man Muhammad and his religion. To them Muhammad was anti-Christ. I have studied him, the wonderful man, and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ he must be called the savior of humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving the problems in a way that would bring it much needed peace and happiness. Europe is beginning to be enamored of the creed of Muhammad. In the next century it may go still further in recognizing the utility of that creed in solving its problems, and it is in this sense that you must understand my prediction.” A collection of Writings of Some of the Eminent Scholars – Page 77 published 1935

Lamartine:
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modem history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires only they founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislation, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and souls…. His forbearance in victory, his ambition which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire, his endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death-all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was twofold: the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with the words. Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of answers to common questions on Islam a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he? Histoire de la Turquie, Pans 1854, Vol. 11, pp. 276 – 77.

Bosworth Smith:
He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope’s pretensions, Caesar without the legions of Caesar: without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue. If ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammad, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports. Mohammad and Mohammadanism, London 1874, p 92.

Montgomery Watt:
His readiness to undergo persecution for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement all argue his fundamental integrity To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad. Mohammad at Mecca, Oxford, 1953, p 52.

H. Hart:
My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular level. The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, New York: Hart Publishing Company Inc. 1978, p 33.

Thomas Carlyle:
The lies, which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man, (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only. The word of such a man (Muhammad) is a voice direct from nature’s own heart; men must listen to that, as to nothing else; all else is wind in comparison…” “On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History, The Hero as Prophet” .