The Farewell Pilgrimage
The Prophet ﷺ's final Hajj, 10 AH
In Dhu al-Ḥijja of 10 AH the Prophet ﷺ led over 100,000 Muslims in Hajj. His addresses at ʿArafat and Mina summarised the ethics of Islam: sanctity of blood, wealth and honour; the end of pre-Islamic feuds and usury; the rights of women; and the equality of the descendants of Adam.
Overview
This lesson covers the Prophet ﷺ's Farewell Pilgrimage (Ḥajjat al-Wadāʿ) in Dhu al-Ḥijja of 10 AH: the announcement, the vast gathering, the successive addresses (at ʿArafat on 9 Dhu al-Ḥijja, at Mina on the Day of Sacrifice, and during the days of tashrīq), the revelation of the verse of completion, and the Prophet ﷺ's return to Madinah in the last months of his life.
Context
By 10 AH Islam had spread across most of Arabia. Delegations from every major tribe had come to Madinah. The Prophet ﷺ announced his intention to perform Hajj, and Muslims from as far as Yemen travelled to join him. Sources including Ibn Sa'd and later works place the number of pilgrims between 100,000 and 140,000 — a scale unmatched at any earlier point in Islam.
What this means
The Prophet ﷺ left Madinah on 25 Dhu al-Qaʿda, entered iḥrām at Dhu al-Ḥulayfa, and taught the rites step by step as he performed them. He led the ṭawāf and saʿī on entering Makkah. On 8 Dhu al-Ḥijja the pilgrims moved to Mina; on 9 Dhu al-Ḥijja they went to ʿArafat, where the Prophet ﷺ delivered the most famous of his addresses from atop his camel Qaṣwāʾ, with Rabiʿa ibn Umayya repeating his words loudly for the crowd to hear. He spoke again at Mina on 10 Dhu al-Ḥijja, and further on the days of tashrīq.
What is firmly established from the addresses
The addresses are transmitted through many independent narrations preserved in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Musnad Ahmad and the Sunan collections. The following elements are attested in the most reliable of these narrations: the sanctity of Muslims' lives, property and honour, likened to the sanctity of the day (of ʿArafat) and the sacred month; the abolition of the interest (ribā) of pre-Islamic Arabia, beginning with the interest owed to his own uncle al-ʿAbbas; the abolition of pre-Islamic blood-feuds, beginning with the blood of his own family; the injunction to treat women well and the mutual rights of husbands and wives; the equality of the descendants of Adam, 'no Arab is superior to a non-Arab, nor a white over a black, except by taqwā'; and the command to hold fast to the Book of Allah, which he was leaving with them.
The verse of completion
During the day at ʿArafat, Al-Māʾida 5:3 was revealed: 'This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion.' ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb is reported to have wept when the verse was revealed to a Jewish rabbi's astonishment — he understood that if the religion was complete, the Prophet ﷺ's departure could not be far.
A note on the 'Farewell Sermon' as a single text
The Farewell Pilgrimage produced more than one address — at ʿArafat, at Mina on the Day of Sacrifice, and on the days of tashrīq — with overlapping but not identical content. The single continuous 'Farewell Sermon' text circulated in modern collections is a composite compiled from these multiple narrations. Cited elements are well attested; the exact ordering and the precise wording of any full continuous text is later editorial arrangement.
Ghadir Khumm
On the return journey the Prophet ﷺ stopped at Ghadir Khumm and addressed the pilgrims, mentioning ʿAli. The address is transmitted in Sahih Muslim, Musnad Ahmad and others: 'Whoever I am his mawlā, ʿAli is his mawlā.' Sunni and Shia scholars interpret the precise meaning of mawlā (friend, ally, patron, guardian) and its implications differently. Both traditions treat the event itself as historically reliable.
Why this matters
The Farewell Pilgrimage is the Prophet ﷺ's final large-scale public teaching. He did not summarise Islam in doctrinal formulae but in an ethics of shared humanity, sanctity of life, fair dealing and worship. Combined with the verse of completion, it makes clear that Islam is not to be added to after him.
Application today
The Prophet ﷺ's summary is a checklist for the ordinary Muslim: is any life, property or honour I touch treated as sacred? Do I take unjust interest from anyone? Do my women — mother, wife, daughter, sister, colleague — feel that I treat them well? Do I judge people by their piety or by their background?
Timeline placement
Dhu al-Ḥijja 10 AH (March 632 CE). Follows the Return to Makkah; precedes the Prophet ﷺ's final illness roughly 80 days later.
Reflection
The Prophet ﷺ summarised Islam not as slogans but as sanctity of life, honest dealing, kindness to women and equal dignity of all people. Which of these did his final address ask more of than you are currently giving?