# The Farewell Sermon (Khutbat al-Wada')

The Last Major Address

The Farewell Sermon was delivered by the Prophet ﷺ on the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah 10 AH at the plain of Arafat, during the standing (wuquf) that is the central rite of the Hajj. He stood on his she-camel al-Qaswa on the slope of Mount Arafat and addressed an estimated 100,000 to 124,000 Muslims — the largest audience of his prophetic career. The sermon was transmitted through multiple companions, in multiple slightly varying versions, and is preserved in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, and the other major hadith collections. It is widely regarded as the Prophet's ﷺ final comprehensive statement to his community — his farewell testament.

The Content

The sermon addresses multiple subjects, but its core themes are those the Prophet ﷺ regarded as the most critical for the community's survival and flourishing after his death.

The sanctity of life, property, and honor: "Your blood, your property, and your honor are sacred to one another — as sacred as this day of yours in this month of yours in this city of yours." The triple invocation of this day (the Day of Arafat), this month (Dhul-Hijjah), and this city (Mecca) — all of which are universally sacred in Islam — elevated the sanctity of Muslim life, property, and honor to an absolute standard. Attacking another Muslim's life, property, or honor is forbidden to the same degree that violating the sacred day, month, or city is forbidden.

The prohibition of riba (usury): "All interest from the time of Jahiliyyah is abolished. The first riba I abolish is that of my uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib." By abolishing his own family's interest claims first, the Prophet ﷺ demonstrated that the rule applied universally, without exception for family or status.

The rights of women: "Fear Allah regarding women. You have rights over them and they have rights over you." The Prophet ﷺ instructed the men of the community to treat women well, to provide for them, to honor their rights — one of the most explicit gender-equity statements in the seerah's narrative.

The brotherhood of all Muslims: "O people, your Lord is one and your father is one. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab; a white man has no superiority over a black man, nor a black man over a white man — except in piety." This statement — made to an audience of over 100,000 at the holiest gathering of the Islamic calendar, in the last year of the Prophet's ﷺ life — is among the clearest anti-racist declarations in the history of religion.

The Quran and the Sunnah as guides: "I am leaving among you two things; if you hold fast to them you will never go astray: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet." Some narrations include "the Book of Allah and my family (Ahl al-Bayt)" — a variation preserved in different chains. Both formulations point to the same principle: the community's guidance is found in the sources the Prophet ﷺ left behind.

The final question: At the end of the sermon, the Prophet ﷺ asked: "Have I conveyed?" The crowd responded: "Yes." He said: "O Allah, be witness" — three times. Then he instructed: "Let the one who is present convey to the one who is absent — for perhaps the one who is conveyed to will retain it better than the one who hears it today."

The Final Revelation

It was at Arafat during the Farewell Pilgrimage that Surah al-Ma'idah 5:3 was revealed: "Today I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion." When Abu Bakr heard this verse recited, he wept — understanding that the perfection of the religion signaled the completion of the prophetic mission, and the nearness of the Prophet's ﷺ death. The Prophet ﷺ had given his community everything it needed. The mission was complete.

The Transmission of the Sermon

The Farewell Sermon was not a single text delivered once and preserved perfectly — it was delivered to over 100,000 people, transmitted by hundreds of companions, and preserved in multiple slightly variant versions across the major hadith collections. The sermon at Arafat on the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah was the principal address, but the Prophet ﷺ also spoke at Mina during the Days of Tashreeq, repeating core elements and adding others. Some narrations include statements not present in others; the variant in which the Prophet ﷺ leaves "the Quran and my family" rather than "the Quran and the Sunnah" is authentic and preserved in Sahih Muslim among others. Both formulations are consistent: the Sunnah is transmitted through the Ahl al-Bayt among others, and the Ahl al-Bayt are among those who carry the prophetic model. Classical scholars have addressed the variation explicitly, and both are accepted within the mainstream of Islamic scholarship.

The instruction to convey the sermon — "let the one who is present convey to the one who is absent" — is itself part of the sermon's institutional design. The Prophet ﷺ knew he was speaking to 100,000 in person; he was also speaking, through them, to every generation that would follow. The companions who heard the sermon understood themselves as conduits, not recipients: they were the first link in a chain of transmission that was meant to extend indefinitely.

The Sermon's Place in History

The Farewell Sermon has been compared to founding documents of other civilizations — a declaration of principles at the culmination of a mission. Its language about the sanctity of life and the equal worth of people across racial lines was stated in 632 CE to an audience of over 100,000, before the concept of universal human rights existed as a juridical category in any civilization. The anti-racist declaration — no Arab over a non-Arab, no white over a black, except in piety — was not a philosophical abstraction: it was a legal pronouncement made by the head of a state to his entire community, at their holiest gathering, in the last year of his life. The Prophet ﷺ chose these principles as the final summary of his mission.

The sermon closes a circle that began with the first revelation in the Cave of Hira: "Read in the name of your Lord who created." Twenty-three years later, on the plain of Arafat, the Prophet ﷺ asked: "Have I conveyed?" He knew the answer. He asked it so the community would hear themselves say yes — and so that Allah would hear it too.

Sources: Sahih al-Bukhari (Kitab al-Hajj, Kitab al-Maghazi); Sahih Muslim (Kitab al-Hajj); Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah; Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; Surah al-Ma'idah (5:3)