The Farewell Sermon, also known as Muhammad's Final Sermon or the Last Sermon, is a religious speech, believed by Muslims to have been delivered by the Islamic prophetMuhammad on Friday the 9th of Dhu al-Hijjah, 10 AH in the Uranah valley of Mount Arafat, during the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj. Muhammad al-Bukhari refers to the sermon and quotes part of it in his Sahih al-Bukhari. Part of it is also present in Sahih Muslim and Sunan Abu Dawood. Verse, "Today I have perfected for you your religion...", is believed to have been recited during the address as the capstone verse of the Quran. Various versions of the sermon have been published, including several English translations. The sermon consists of a series of general exhortations for Muslims to follow the teachings that Muhammad had set forth in the Quran and sunnah.
In a lengthy hadith included in the Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawood, and Sunan Ibn Majah, Jabir ibn Abd Allah narrated details of Muhammad's pilgrimage and reported the following words of his sermon:
An account of the sermon was collected by the early historian Ibn Ishaq, as quoted in Ibn Hisham's Sirah an-Nabawiyah and at-Tabari's Tarikh, with minor differences. The narration is translated by I. K. Poonawala in The History of al-Tabari, vol. IX: The Last Years of the Prophet, as follows: The sermon is also translated by Alfred Guillaume in The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Isḥāq's Sīrat Rasūl Allāh, which is based on the work of Ibn Hisham. Poonawala does not differ much with Guillaume in regards to meaning, but notable differences are his translation of bi’l-ma‘rūf as "with custom" and ‘awān as "domestic animals," whereas Guillaume translates the passage as, "If they refrain from these things they have the right to their food and clothing with kindness. Lay injunctions on women kindly, for they are prisoners with you having no control of their persons." Ibn Ishaq also narrates the method in which the sermon was delivered:
Report by Al-Jahiz
in the Kitāb al-Bayān wa-al-Tabyīn presents the following text of the Farewell Sermon, as translated and annotated by NuhHa Mim Keller:
