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'''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 late, with the earliest mention coming from Ibn Ishaq who was born 70 years after the death of the prophet. The mention of "the Sunnah of the prophet" in Ibn Ishaq’s rendition 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 entirety of the supposed speech shows up in Ibn | '''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 late, with the earliest mention coming from Ibn Ishaq who was born 70 years after the death of the prophet. The mention of "the Sunnah of the prophet" in Ibn Ishaq’s rendition 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 entirety of the supposed speech shows up in Ibn Ishaq while Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari report shorter version. Other sources in Hadith repeat isolated fragments of the speech, one of which reminds men to treat their wives well given that they are prisoners to their husbands. It also echoes [[Qur'an]] 4:34 in commanding beating in the case of disobedience. 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. | ||
==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
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Sahih Muslim. Tahqiq by Abdul Baqi. Vol.2 p.886</ref> | Sahih Muslim. Tahqiq by Abdul Baqi. Vol.2 p.886</ref> | ||
Sahih Bukhari reports a short version that lacks the part about women. (see next section) | |||
==Text of the Farewell Sermon== | ==Text of the Farewell Sermon== | ||
'''Ibn Ishaq's version which is the earliest report of the sermon:'''{{Quote|The History of al-Tabari, Volume 9 The Last Years of the Prophet (Translated by Ismail K. Poonawala), pp. 112-113|O people, listen to my words. I do not know whether I shall ever meet you again in this place after this year. O people, your blood and your property are sacrosanct until you meet your Lord, just as this day and this month of yours are sacred. Surely you will meet your Lord and He will question you about your deeds. I have [already] made this known. Let he who has a pledge return it to the one who entrusted him with it; all usury is abolished, but your capital belongs to you. Wrong not and you shall not be wronged. Allah has decreed that there will be no usury, and the usury of Abbas b. Abd al-Muttalib is abolished, all of it. All blood shed in the pre-Islamic days is to be left unavenged. The first such claim I revoke is that of Ibn Rabiah b. al-Harith b. Abd al-Muttalib, who was nursed among the Banu Layth and was slain by the Banu Hudhayl. His is the first blood shed in the pre-Islamic days with which I shall set an example. O people, indeed Satan despairs of ever being worshipped in this land of yours. He will be pleased, however, if he is obeyed in a thing other than that, in matters you minimize. So beware of him in your religion, O people, intercalculating a month is an increase in unbelief whereby the unbelievers go astray; one year they make it profane, and hallow it another [in order] to agree with the number that Allah has hallowed, and so profane what Allah has hallowed, and hallow what Allah has made profane. Time has completed its cycle [and is] as it was on the day that Allah created the heavens and the earth. The number of the months with Allah is twelve; [they were] in the Book of Allah on the day He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred, the three consecutive [months] and the Rajab [which is the month of] Mudar, which is between Jumada and Sha’ban.<BR><BR>Now then, O people, you have a right over your wives and they have a right over you. You have [the right] that they should not cause anyone of whom you dislike to tread on your beds; and that they should not commit any open indecency. '''If they do, then Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them''', but not severely. If they abstain from [evil], they have the right to their food and clothing in accordance with the custom. Treat women well, '''for they are [like] domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves.''' You have taken them only as a trust from Allah, and you have made the enjoyment of their persons lawful by the word of Allah, so understand and listen to my words, O people. I have conveyed the Message, and have left you with something which, if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray; that is, the Book of Allah and the sunnah of his Prophet. Listen to my words, O people, for I have conveyed the Message and understand [it]. Know for certain that every Muslim is a brother of another Muslim, and that all Muslims are brethren. It is not lawful for a person [to take] from his brother except that which he has given him willingly, so do not wrong yourselves. O Allah, have I not conveyed the message?}} | '''Ibn Ishaq's version which is the earliest report of the sermon:'''{{Quote|The History of al-Tabari, Volume 9 The Last Years of the Prophet (Translated by Ismail K. Poonawala), pp. 112-113|O people, listen to my words. I do not know whether I shall ever meet you again in this place after this year. O people, your blood and your property are sacrosanct until you meet your Lord, just as this day and this month of yours are sacred. Surely you will meet your Lord and He will question you about your deeds. I have [already] made this known. Let he who has a pledge return it to the one who entrusted him with it; all usury is abolished, but your capital belongs to you. Wrong not and you shall not be wronged. Allah has decreed that there will be no usury, and the usury of Abbas b. Abd al-Muttalib is abolished, all of it. All blood shed in the pre-Islamic days is to be left unavenged. The first such claim I revoke is that of Ibn Rabiah b. al-Harith b. Abd al-Muttalib, who was nursed among the Banu Layth and was slain by the Banu Hudhayl. His is the first blood shed in the pre-Islamic days with which I shall set an example. O people, indeed Satan despairs of ever being worshipped in this land of yours. He will be pleased, however, if he is obeyed in a thing other than that, in matters you minimize. So beware of him in your religion, O people, intercalculating a month is an increase in unbelief whereby the unbelievers go astray; one year they make it profane, and hallow it another [in order] to agree with the number that Allah has hallowed, and so profane what Allah has hallowed, and hallow what Allah has made profane. Time has completed its cycle [and is] as it was on the day that Allah created the heavens and the earth. The number of the months with Allah is twelve; [they were] in the Book of Allah on the day He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred, the three consecutive [months] and the Rajab [which is the month of] Mudar, which is between Jumada and Sha’ban.<BR><BR>Now then, O people, you have a right over your wives and they have a right over you. You have [the right] that they should not cause anyone of whom you dislike to tread on your beds; and that they should not commit any open indecency. '''If they do, then Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them''', but not severely. If they abstain from [evil], they have the right to their food and clothing in accordance with the custom. Treat women well, '''for they are [like] domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves.''' You have taken them only as a trust from Allah, and you have made the enjoyment of their persons lawful by the word of Allah, so understand and listen to my words, O people. I have conveyed the Message, and have left you with something which, if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray; that is, the Book of Allah and the sunnah of his Prophet. Listen to my words, O people, for I have conveyed the Message and understand [it]. Know for certain that every Muslim is a brother of another Muslim, and that all Muslims are brethren. It is not lawful for a person [to take] from his brother except that which he has given him willingly, so do not wrong yourselves. O Allah, have I not conveyed the message?}} | ||