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 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.

If you have health concerns and are considering what to pack for hajj,  make sure you carry an ID bracelet  or necklace with that lists andy life-threatening food or drug allergies, medical conditions  or a rare blood type.  In addition to the traditional medical id bracelets and necklaces, there are new ID products you can consider. 

There is an ID that can fasten through your  shoelaces.  You can have your  medical history saved and stored on a flash drive with universal medical insignia - a device small enough to carry with you on a keychain, bracelet or necklace–and it can be opened and read by any doctor anywhere with access to a computer.

When we prepare for hajj we should also prepare for death.  No one is guaranteed return from hajj.  We are supposed to put our affairs in order, make our wills, say our goodbyes.  We try to mend fences with those estranged from us–relatives, friends, enemies. Understandably, we often  put these uncomfortable conversations off until the last possible minute.

Ramadan is a good time to begin the process of forgiving, asking forgiveness and reconcilling with others just as we fast and pray and hope for forgiveness from Allah and reconcilliation in our relationship to Allah.

 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. 

A meeting of Arab health ministers  took place in Egypt last week. Recommendations adopted there may place restrictions on who may make hajj this year.  It is not certain yet which countries will place the recommendations into effect. In an effort to disrupt the spread of  the H1N1 swine flu virus,  Muslims with chronic illnesses, under 12 or over 65 may  be banned from hajj.

Authorities in Egypt, India and Pakistan have said that bureaucratic problems arising from efforts to enforce the ban while simultaneously fulfilling alloted hajj quotas would present many difficulties for their respective countries. Over 20% of hajj applicants in each these countries is over 65 years old.

Guidelines for those planning to make hajj in 2009 can be found at the Ministry of Hajj.  Do not leave getting your immunizations until the last minute.  Depending on where you are traveling from, you may be advised to have immunizations against yellow fever, or to get a single 500 mg dose of ciprofloxacin. Immunizations received within less than 10 days arrival in Saudia Arabia will not be accepted and you will not get to make hajj. Also look at other recommendations for immunizations for adults and children.

The Salma K. Farid Academy, a Muslim school in Conneticut, staged a hajj reenactment with its students last year and plan to make it an annual event.  The schools head administrator, Ponn M Sabra noted that acting out the hajj gave children a better understanding of the rites than did just reading or memorizing the details of it.

Seeing  their children reenact the hajj made the event was especially meaningful for the parents who had already made hajj themselves.  Children whose parents were away making hajj gained a better understanding of what their parents how their parents fulfilled this pillar of Islam.

The Hajj Ministry is making it known that the all efforts are being made to ease concerns about hajj during the swine flu outbreak.  Before the epidemic began, the Saudia government had already made upgrades in hospital and health care available to hajjis.  Hajj officials stress that they are experienced in successfully handling contagious illnesses and are taking every precaution during this hajj season.

If you are planning to go to hajj, it is not too early to start getting fit and exercising.  Hajj challanges the even the most athletic among us.  The crowds, the heat, the travel conditions and the loss of sleep drain energy from everyone.  So it is important that you make sure that, in as much as is possible for you, that your body is not fighting against you as well. 

To walk around the Kaaba 7 times, and to go back and forth between Safa and Marwah seven times doesn’t sound so bad.   Plan on taking 2 hours to accomplish just that much of your obligations.  If you get winded or tire easily, try to build your stamina. Start taking short walks now and gradually increase the length of your excursions until you can walk 2 hours or longer.

Another fitness concern relates to the restroom facilities.  Once you leave your hotel and start the hajj, you will not have access to the western “throne” type of toilets.  Instead, you will find them built down into the floor.  For older westerners who have lost flexiblity as they aged, it is important to begin re-learning an old skill so that they can use the restrooms comfortably. 

The easiest exercise for this problem is simply to remember that every time you want to pick up your shoes or anything else on the floor, you should squat down instead of bending over.  If you start now, by the time hajj season comes, you should be flexible enough so that you don’t even have to think about it.