Farewell Sermon: Difference between revisions

'''The Farewell Sermon''' (خطبة الوداع‎, Khuṭbatu l-Wadā') is purported to be the Prophet [[Muhammad|Muhammad's]] final [[Farewell Sermon|sermon]] to his followers before [[Muhammad's Death|his death]] in 632 CE. However like most elements of the Islamic tradition our sources for this are extremely late, in this case At-Tabari writing in the late 800's CE about an event which is purported to have taken place in 632 CE. The mention of "the Sunnah of the prophet" is clearly apycrophal, 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. The entirety of the supposed speech shows up in Tabari, but other sources in the hadith repeat what appear to be its most salient point, reminding men to treat their wives well (like their pack animals) but echoing [[Qur'an]] 4:34 in commanding their forceful separation and beating in the case of disobedience. The command to beat disobedient wives appeared to be the main classical take-away from the speech, and it should be noted that [[List_of_Fabricated_Hadith#Muhammad.27s_Farewell_Sermon|a more recent retelling of the speech]] which omits this injunction is a recent fabrication and not part of the attested classical tradition.

The versions collected by Al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, like those of al-Tabari quoted above and Ibn Ishaq quoted below, include a description of women as  ʿawān, which the translator of al-Tabari quoted above rendered as "domestic animals", while in the hadiths and in the Sira by Ibn Ishaq quoted below it is instead translated as prisoners or captives, following the common traditional exegesis of the sermon. Lane's Lexicon defines ʿawān as animals, especially cows. It is from the same root as other words meaning to help or assist, which is probably why English texts of the sermon occasionally translate ʿawān here as "helpers".<ref>ʿawān عَوَانٌ - [Lane's Lexicon] p. 2204</ref> The translations of al-Tabari and Ibn Ishaq add that the women possess nothing for themselves or lack control over their persons, respectively.