Remembering Arafah and the Last Sermon

November 26, 2009

This is  an excerpt of the sermon delivered by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) during the Hajj on the Ninth Day of Dhul-Hijjah 10 A.H. in the ‘Uranah valley of Mount Arafat’ in Makkah. Video uploaded from Pioussis.

The Most Complete and Authorative Text of the Sermon of The Holy Prophet at Arafah:

“All praise is due to Allah, so we praise Him, and seek His pardon and we turn to Him. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of 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 God 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 God but Allah, the One; He fulfilled His promise and granted victory to His bondsman, and He alone routed the confederates (of 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 as to be known to one another. Verily in the sight of Allah, the most honoured amongst you is the one who is most God-fearing. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab, nor for the white over the black nor for the black over the white except in God-conciousness.
All mankind is the progeny of Adam and Adam was fashioned out of clay. Behold; every claim of privilage whether that of blood or property, is under my heels except that of the custody of the Ka’bah and 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 practice 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 I abolish is that of Ibn Rabiah bin Harith who was nursed in the tribe of Sa’ad and whom the Hudhayls killed. All interest and usurious dues accruing from the times of ignorance stand wiped out. And the first amount of interest that I remit is that which Abbas ibn Abd-al Muttalib had to receive. Verily it is remitted entirely.
O’ people! Verily your blood, your property and your honour 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 got certain rights over your women and your women have certain rights over you. It is your right upon them to honour their conjugal rights, and not to commit acts of impropriety, which if they do, you are authorised by Allah to separate them from your beds and chastise them, but 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 the 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 of Allah.
O’ people! Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, has ordained to everyone his due share (of inheritance). Hence there is no need (of special) testament for an heir (departing from the rules laid down by the Sharia).
The child belongs to the marriage-bed and the violator of wedlock shall be stoned. And Reckoning of their (deeds) rests 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 is the father 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 every other Muslim, and all the Muslims form one brotherhood. And your slaves; see that you feed them with such food as you eat yourselves, and clothe them with the clothes that you yourselves wear.
Take heed not to go astray after me and strike one another’s necks. He who (amongst you) has any trust with him, he must return it to its owner.
O’ people! Listen and obey, though a mangled Abyssinian slave is appointed your Amir, provided he executes (the Ordinance of) the Book of Allah among you.
O’ people! No Prophet would be raised after me and no new Ummah (would be formed) after you.
Verily I have left amongst you that which will never lead you astray, the Book of Allah, which if you hold fast you shall never go astray.
And beware of transgressing the limits set in the matters of religion, for it is transgression of (the proper bounds of) religion that brought destruction to many people before you.
Verily, the satan is disappointed at ever being worshipped in this land of yours, but he will be pleased by obedience in anything (short of worship that is) in matters you may be disposed to think insignificant, so beware of him in your matters of religion.
Behold! Worship your Lord; offer prayers five times a day; observe fast in the month of Ramadhaan; pay readily the Zakat (poor due) on your property; and perform pilgrimage to the House of God and obey your rulers and you will be admitted to the Paradise of your Lord.
Let him that is present, convey it unto him who is absent, for 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 Prophethood and looked to our welfare.”
Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) lifted his forefinger towards the sky and then pointing towards people said:
“O’ Lord: Bear Thou witness unto it.
O’ Lord: Bear Thou witness unto it.”

(Khutbat-ul-Hajjatul Wida, Seerat Ibne Hesham)
Retrieved from “http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Last_Sermon_of_Muhammad_by_Sunni_Accounts

Thanks to  Sparklywater.com and Jawaid Ahmed for this text and for the enlightening discussion of the Last Sermon and changes made to it over time.


The 10 Days of Hajj

November 20, 2009

The Best 10 Days in Dhul Hajjih by Shaikh Yasir Qadhi. This video and others are also available at Islamictube.net.

The last 10 days began on November 18, 2009.  Arafah is  on Thursday, November 26.  Eid is on Friday, November 27. Thursday is also Thanksgiving, and many of us have Thursday and Friday free from work.  Falling on a national holiday makes this an easy time for us to pray, to fast, to go to the Eid prayer.  Take advantage of this time.


An IMAX Hajj

August 7, 2009

 Journey to Mecca is a 45 minute IMAX film that chronicles the hajj of 14th century scholar Ibn Battuta and also brings the only aerial footage of hajj approved by King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia.  The film is in Arabic and English and is currently playing in Dearborn, Michigan among other cities around the world.  The film premiered in January 2009 in Dubai. Journey to Mecca was voted the most popular film at the 2009 at the La Géode Film Festival in France.

Contact information about hosting the film for children and in other cities can be found on the Journey to Mecca  website


Hajj Videos

December 7, 2008

Here are videos, old and new, that together show Muslims during all parts of the hajj.   A note: you will want see the faces of the Muslims and  listen to the dua at Arafah.

Salat at hajj 2008

Tawaf around the Kaaba

Safa and Marwah

A dua at Arafat.

Muzdelifah. 

At the Jamarat, stoning Shaitan

Hajj this year is going on as construction continues to expand Masjid al-Haram.


A Video on How to Make Hajj

December 7, 2008

This is a video from Huda TV that gives step-by-step instruction on how to make hajj.  You will see all of hajj from assuming ihram to making umrah through all of the phases of hajj. There is also information about visiting the Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) mosque in Medinah.