The mount of Blessings (Jabla-Rahma)

In the 10^th Hijrah year, when the unbelievers were forbidden to visit Holy Ka’bah, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) accompanied by fourteen thousand Muslims left Madinah for Makkah to offer Hajj. That year, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) offered all the Hajj rites. Hence, whatever he did became "Sunnah". Till today, all the Muslims follow it. Before this, he did not perform the complete Hajj rites. In the previous year, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) himself did not go to Makkah. However in the 10^th Hijrah year, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed all the Hajj ceremonies; wore the Pilgrim robe (Ahram), circumambulated the Holy Ka’bah seven times and performed "Sai" between Safa and Marva seven times.

‘Sai’ is performed in commemoration of "Hajirah", (Ismael’s mother). According to tradition she had run between the two peaks several times in search of water for her infant son. The well of Zamzam had burst forth to help quench their thirst. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) of Islam, on 9th Zil-Hajj, invited all the Muslims, who had gathered in Makkah for Hajj, to the hill named Jabal-Al-Rahmah in Arafat, so that he could talk to them. At this instance not a single person other than the Muslims was among the pilgrims.

When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) saw the great Muslim congregation, he felt that his voice would not be heard by all. Therefore he appointed a few persons with loud voices at various places in order to repeat aloud his words so that all the Muslims could hear his sermon. This Sermon is called "Khutbat-ul-Wida" or "the last sermon" in Arabic.

Among those who repeated the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) words were Bilal^R.A and Rabiya bin Umayyah. Both of them had very loud and clear voices.

Before the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) began his Sermon, he asked the people, "Do you know which month is this?"

They all replied, "This month is the month of Zilhaj, one of the sacred months".

The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) asked, "Do you know which land is this?"

They replied with one voice, "It is the sacred land of Arafat, O Prophet of Allah".

After this, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) began his actual discourse. First he took the name of Allah. After His praise he recited testimonies and then began:

All praise be to Allah. We glorify Him and seek His help and pardon; and we turn to Him. We take refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our deeds. There is none to lead him astray whom Allah guides aright, and there is none to guide him aright that He leads astray. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone; having no partner with Him, and I bear witness that Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is His bondsman and His Messenger. I admonish you, O bondsmen of Allah! To fear Allah and I urge you to His obedience and I open the speech with that what is good.

Ye people! Listen to my words: I will deliver a message to you, for I know not whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you here again. O people! Verily your blood your property and your honour are sacred and inviolable until you appear before your Lord, as this day and this month is sacred for all. Verily you will meet your Lord and you will be held answerable for your actions. Have I not conveyed the message? O Allah! Be my witness.

He who has any trust with him he should restore it to the person who deposited it with him.

Beware, no one committing a crime is responsible for it but he himself. Neither the son is responsible for the crime of his father nor the father is responsible for the crime of his son.

O people! Listen to my words and understand them. You must know that a Muslim is the brother of Muslim and they form one brotherhood. Nothing of his brother is lawful for a Muslim except what he himself allows willingly. So you should not oppress one another. O Allah! Have I not conveyed the message?

Behold! All practices of paganism and ignorance are now under my-feet. The blood-revenges of the days of Ignorance are remitted.

The first claim of blood I abolish is that of Ibn Rabi’ah Harith who was nursed in the tribe of Sa’d and whom the Hudhayl killed.

Usury is forbidden, but you will be entitled to recover your principal. Wrong not and you would not be wronged. Allah has decreed that there should be no usury and I make a beginning by remitting the amount of interest which Abbas^R.A bin Abdul Muttalib has to receive. Verily it is remitted entirely.

O people! Fear Allah concerning women. Verily you have taken them on the security of Allah and have made their persons lawful unto you by words of Allah! Verily you have got certain rights over your women and your women have certain rights over you. It is rights and, not to commit acts of impropriety which, if they do, you have authority to chastise them, yet not severely. If your wives refrain from impropriety and are faithful to you, clothe and feed them suitably.

Behold! Lay injunctions upon women but kindly.

O people! Listen and obey though a mangled Abyssinian slave is your amir if he executes (the ordinances of) the Book of Allah among you.

O people! Verily Satan is disappointed at being ever worshipped in this land of yours, but he can be obeyed in anything short of worship.

He will be pleased in matters you may be disposed to think of little account, so beware of him in your matters of religion.

Verily, I have left amongst you the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) which if you hold fast, you shall never go astray.

"And if you were asked about me, what would you say?" They replied: "We bear witness that you have conveyed the message, and discharged your ministry."

The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) addressed the assembly again on Friday Zilhaj, Hijrah 10 A.H. and besides repeating some of the important points of the previous address, he threw a good deal of light on some new questions.

As usual, he opened his oration with praising Allah and expressing his gratitude to Him.

O people! Verily the intercolation (of a prohibited month) aggravates infidelity. Thereby the unbelievers are led to wrong. For they make it lawful one year and forbid it in another year to be in conformity with the number (of months) which Allah declared unlawful so they consider violable that which Allah declared to be inviolable and they consider inviolable what Allah declared to be violable.

Verily the time has revolved in its own way from the day when the heavens and the earth were created. The number of months to Allah is twelve of which four are sacred; three are consecutive ------ Dhul Qa’dah, Dhul Hijjah, Muharram, and Rajab which is between Jumadah ad Sha’ban.

O people! Do you know what day it is, what territory it is, what month it is?

To this the people answered: The day is the day of sacrifice; and the territory is the sacred territory, the month is the sacred month. At each reply the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:

So I apprise you that your lives, your property and your honour must be as sacred to one another as this sacred day, in this sacred month, in this sacred town.

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. And if they commit a fault that you are not inclined to forgive, then part with them for they are the servants of Allah and are not to be chastised.

Behold! Listen to me. Worship your Lord: offer prayers five times a day; observe fast in the month of Ramadan; make pilgrimage to the House (Holy Ka’bah); pay readily the Zakat (Poor-rate) on your property and obey whatever I command you, only then will you get into the heaven.

Let him that is present convey it unto him who is absent. For happily, many people to whom the message is conveyed may be more mindful of it than the audience."

The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) picked up the thread of his oration on the next day also and added:

O people! Verily your Lord is one and your father is one. All of you belong to one ancestry of Adam and Adam was created out of clay. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab; or for white over the black or for the black over the white except in piety. ‘Verily the noblest among you is he who is the most pious’.

Behold, the nearer ones of you should convey the message to the remoter ones. I have conveyed the message.

Then looking up to the heaven, he said:

"O Lord! I have delivered the message and discharged my ministry".

"Yes," cried all the people crowding round him, "yes, verily you have".

"O Lord! I beseech Thee bear Thou witness unto it".

And with these words, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) concluded his address.

In the end, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) completed his Sermon with the words, "Asalam-o-Alaikum", "peace be on you". This Sermon left a deep impression on the hearts of the people present there. Some Islamic historians have written that on that day one hundred forty thousand Muslims were gathered in Jabal-Al-Rahmah and were listening to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). While he addressed them, they repeated his words. When the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) asked them if he had discharged his duty fully they replied in unison and when one hundred forty thousand Muslims answered the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in one voice, it seemed as if the desert mountains were trembling. The people who heard the Prophet’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) Sermon that day, could not forget it till their last breath, as if the words of this Sermon had been absorbed into their very being.

Even today when one reads this Sermon, the words of this Sermon greatly impress him. It has often been hailed as one of the main guiding lines for human rights in Islam.

The above-mentioned Sermon is also called "Hajj-Al-Bilagh", because in addition to those injunctions which the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) preached, he used the word of "Balaghat", for questioning the fulfilment of his responsibilities. Most of the Muslims know this Sermon as the Farewell Sermon, and are fully aware of the injunctions preached in it and its substance and merit.