Farewell Sermon

According to Muslim historians, Muhammad’s Farewell Sermon (خطبة الوداع‎, Khuṭbatu l-Wadā') was delivered on the ninth day of Dhu al-Hijjah (Month of Hajj- Pilgrimage 632 CE) in the valley of mount Arafat. This area located in Saudi Arabia was, and still is, considered holy and even today non-Muslims are forbidden from entering.

The sermon took place ten years after Muhammad’s Hijra (هِجْرَة Migration) to Medina, meaning it was after conquering Mecca.

Before we begin our analysis of the Farewell Sermon, we must note that as an event, it took place following this Qur'anic revelation:

Accordingly, the listeners were all strictly Muslim. Muhammad was addressing his own people, since no others were allowed to enter the area of the Sacred Mosque, which includes the Plain of Arafat.

The sermon is reported in numerous Hadith sources. Some reports mention the full sermon, while others mention fragments of it.

The earliest account of the full sermon was by Ibn Ishaq (d.150 H) who reported it on the authority of Abdullah Bin Abi Nujayh (d.131) who was a prominent religious authority in Mecca.^[1] Since that he never reported any Hadith directly from a companion of Muhammad^[2], this means that the chain of narration of Ibn Ishaq’s sermon report has two missing links: The sermon witness and the one who heard the witness’s report.

Ibn Ishaq’s report is found in Ibn Hisham’s (d. 213 H) biography of Muhammad^[3] which is a summary of Ibn Ishaq’s missing work. Ibn Ishaq’s report is also found in the History of Al-Tabari (d. 310 H).^[4]

The second earliest mention of the full sermon after Ibn Ishaq was by Al-Waqidi (d. 207 H) who reported it with two chains of narrations: One goes back to Ibn Abbas a cousin of Muhammad, and the other goes back to a witness named Amr Bin Yathribi.^[5]

Sahih Muslim reports a shorter version of the sermon in a narration where the great great grandson of Muhammad (The grandson of Hussien) meets Jabir, a companion of Muhammad who lived until the age of 94 (d.78 H). He asked Jabir to tell him about the prophet’s pilgrimage. Jabir proceeded to detail the events of the pilgrimage including the farewell sermon.^[6]

Sahih Bukhari reports a short version that lacks the part about women. (see next section)

Ibn Ishaq's version which is the earliest report of the sermon:

Sahih Bukhari's verion:

Shahih Muslim's version:

The Hadith corpus mentions many sermons by Muhammad but they are very short and usually each sermon includes a single main point. The farewell sermon is the only reported sermon that’s long and includes many different points making it the only one that resembles a full sermon. This sermon has its significance to Muslims since that Muhammad, in front of thousands of followers, bid farewell to his nation by saying he might not be here ever again then he died three months later. He preached important points in this farewell sermon: The sacredness of Muslims’ blood and properties, the abolishing of everything pertaining to the pre-Islamic era, how women should be treated by their husbands and finally stating that Muslims will never go astray if they hold fast to the book of Allah.

The sermon has impacted practiced Islam in the following ways:

1-Following the footsteps of Muhammad, delivering a public sermon by an Imam became a ritual part of the Hajj. It’s called the sermon of Arafah and it’s delivered in Arafah. In modern times this sermon is delivered by a prominent Imam chosen by the Saudi government. The grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Abdul Aziz Al-Shikh used to be chosen to deliver the sermon every year for over 3 decades until 2015 when he fell ill^[7].  

2-The sermon clarified that the beating mentioned in the Quran as a punishment for wives with ill-conduct shouldn’t be severe. No other Hadith clarified this.

3-The sermon in Sahih Muslim’s is part of a long report by Jabir where he detailed the events of Muhammad's pilgrimage. This detailed report became an important source for how the Hajj should be conducted.

4-Muhammad ended the sermon by saying “Haven't I conveyed to you? O Allah bear witness”. This expression is sometimes used by religious and public speakers at the end of an important speech.

Although the Hadith corpus is full of reports that are considered misogynistic in modern standards, the farewell sermon is the only Hadith that describes wives as prisoners with their husbands. This description is mentioned in the version by Ibn Ishaq, Al-Waqidi and several other sources such as Sunan Ibn Majah^[8] and Al-Tirmidhi^[9]. But it isn’t mentioned in Sahih Muslim’s version. The version of Sahih Bukhari drops the women part from the sermon altogether.

Traditional Sunni Islam takes the sermon as authentic especially that large parts of it are reported in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim which are deemed by Sunni Muslims as the most authentic collections of Hadith.

Away from traditional Islamic standards for Hadith authenticity, it’s apparent that the sermon includes two fabrications:

1-In many versions of the sermon, including the earliest version by Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad says “O people! listen to my words. I do not know whether I shall ever meet you again in this place after this year.” The fact that Muhammad died 3 months later turns what he said into a prophecy, which means it was a fabrication as it’s the habit of historians to deem accounts of miracles and prophecies in any tradition as ahistorical. In the sermon's versions reported in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, there’s no mention of this prophecy.

2-The sermon as reported by Ibn Ishaq, Al-Waqidi, Sahih Muslim and some other sources includes the following line:

“I have left you with something which, if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray; that is, the Book of Allah.“

Ibn Ishaq’s version adds to it: “and the sunnah of his Prophet.”

The mention of "the Sunnah of the prophet" is clearly apocryphal, as Patricia Crone has shown in God's Caliph, since such a concept did not exist in actual khalifal/Islamic jurisprudence until well into the Abbassid period. Other renditions such as that of Sahih Muslim don’t mention the Sunnah of the prophet.

The sermon as reported by Ibn Ishaq and many other sources includes the following part:

“Treat women well, for they are ʿawān with you”.

All Hadith exegesis and classical Arabic dictionaries agree that ʿawān mentioned in this Hadith means captives or prisoners. Despite this unanimous agreement, the word is mistranslated in some English translations into one of the following:

1-“Domestic animals” which appears in Ismail K. Poonawala’s translation of Al-Tabari’s history.

This mistranslation stems from the existence of two Arabic words identical in pronunciation but different in meaning. One is singular and the other is plural:

The word ʿawān in the Hadith is a plural word since that it’s describing a plural noun (women). The sentence in the Hadith literally means “They are ʿawān at you”. The singular of ʿawān is ʿāniyah which means female captive. It’s derived from the verb ʿanā which means (he) submitted (to). ^[10]

There’s another ʿawān in Arabic which is a singular word so it cannot be the one meant in the Hadith. This singular ʿawān is listed in Lane’s lexicon which makes it clear the word is singular and has the plural form of ʿūn. Lane lists several meanings for ʿawān including beast or a cow.

2- Rizwi Faizer in her translation of al-Waqidi's Life of Muhammad, translated ʿawān as: “for they are bound to you and are dependent on you.”^[11] This is an apologetic translation that has no basis whatsoever.

3- Another apologetic translation that appears on many websites such as the international Islamic university in Malysia.^[12]

In this popular English translation of the sermon, ʿawān is translated as “partners and helpers” which has no basis whatsoever. It might have originated from the misconception that the word ʿawān is derived from the word ʿawn which means help. Whereas all classical sources affirm the word ʿawān is derived from ʿanā which means (he) submitted (to). And not a single classical source says that ʿawān has anything to do with “help”.

Note that while translations of the following hadiths of the farewell sermon differ, the same Arabic text occurs in the line about beating without severity. In Arabic, 'beat them, but not severely' is fa-idribuhunna darban ghayra mubarrihin (فَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ ضَرْبًا غَيْرَ مُبَرِّحٍ), which literally translates to mean 'beat them, a beating without violence/severity/sharpness/vehemence^[13]'.

The version of the farewell sermon in Sunan Abu Dawud was collected also in Sahih Muslim.

The translations of al-Tabari and Ibn Ishaq add that the women possess nothing for themselves or lack control over their persons, respectively.

These versions of the farewell sermon all allude to a verse in the Quran in which beating of women is mandated in certain situations.

• Muhammad's Last Sermon - Staring At The View (archived), http://staringattheview.blogspot.com/2013/07/muhammads-last-sermon.html 

• The Farewell Sermon - Blog post discussing the "sources" provided for this alternative Farewell Sermon (archived), http://bjhollingum.blogspot.com/2010/05/farewell-sermon.html 
• Fraudulent Translation of Muhammad's 'Last Sermon' to Make It Egalitarian - T. Omar Moros, Islam-Watch, August 18, 2009 (archived), http://www.islam-watch.org/authors/89-other-authors/134-fraudulent-translation-of-muhammad-last-sermon-egalitarian.html