After the great Battle of
Tabook which was not actually fought later on but it was a great call to fight
with a big power of that time Roman Empire.
Next year Prophet (SAW) planned for performing Hajj with his whole family. Whole
of Arabian Peninsula has embraced Islam now.
His Last sermon is the summary of his teachings and commands from Allah (swt).
It is a by- laws for Islamic jurisprudence. Prophet (SAW) emphasized all the
rights over each other.
The Prophet's Last Sermon
While sitting on his camel, on the mount of Rehamt in Arafat on the day of
Arafaa, he delivered his sermon in a loud voice to his people. Rabi'ah ibn
Umayyah ibn Khalaf repeated the sermon after him sentence by sentence. He began
by praising God and thanking Him, and then turning to the people, he said:
"O Men, listen well to my words, for I do not know whether I shall meet you
again on such an occasion in the future. O Men, your lives and your property are
sacred for each other as on this holy day and holy month.
Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon
your deeds. Thus I warn you. Whoever of you is keeping a trust of someone else
shall return that trust to its rightful owner. All interest obligations shall
henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither
inflict nor suffer inequity. Allah has judged that there shall be no interest
and that all the interest due to `Abbas ibn `Abdal Muttalib shall henceforth be
waived. Every right arising out of homicide in pre-Islamic days is henceforth
waived. And the first such right that I waive is that arising from the murder of
Rabi'ah ibn al Harith ibn `Abd al Muttalib. It is your right that they not
fraternize with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to commit
adultery. But if they do, then God has permitted you to isolate them within
their homes and to chastise them without cruelty. But if they abide by your
right, then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do
treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and
committed helpers. Remember that you have taken them as your wives and enjoyed
their flesh only under God's trust and with His permission. Reason well,
therefore, O Men, and ponder my words which I now convey to you. I am leaving
you with the Book of God and the Sunnah of His Prophet. If you follow them, you
will never go astray. O Men, Listen well to my words. Learn that every Muslim is
a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood.
Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless
it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to your own
selves.
O God, have I conveyed Your message?"
As the Prophet delivered his speech, Rabi'ah repeated it sentence by sentence
and asked the people every now and then whether or not they had understood the
Prophet's words and committed them to memory. In order to make sure that the
people understood and remembered, the Prophet used to ask his crier to say: "The
Prophet of Allah asks, `Do you know which day is this?" The audience would
answer, "Today is the day of the greater pilgrimage." The Prophet then would
say, "Tell them that Allah has declared inviolate your lives and your property
until the day you will meet your Lord; that he has made the safety of your
property and of your lives as inviolate as this day." At the end of his speech,
the Prophet S.A.W asked, "O Allah, have I conveyed your message?" And the people
answered from all corners, "Indeed so! Allah is witness."
When the Prophet finished his sermon, he dismounted and waited until noon, at
which time he performed both the noon and the midafternoon prayers. He recited
to the people the concluding divine revelation:
"Today I have completed for you, your religion, and granted you the last of my
blessings. Today I have accepted for you Islam as the religion."[Qur'an, 5:4]
When Abu Bakr heard this verse he realized that with the completion of the
divine message, the Prophet's life was soon to come to a close end.
Today, if we ponder about the life of Prophet (SAW), we can realize his most
amazing personality with greatest leadership qualities in all spheres of life.
ISLAM calls for equality between people. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
said: "An Arab has no superiority to a non-Arab and a white man has no
superiority to a black one except through piety and good deeds."
Abu Dharr of the Ghifar tribe somehow got angry with the freed slave of
Abu Bakr, Bilal of Abyssinia. Both of them were the companions of the
Prophet (peace be upon him).
The altercation became prolonged and Abu Dharr in his fury called Bilal, the son
of a black-skinned mother.
Bilal complained to the Prophet, who addressed Abu Dharr saying, "Did you call
him a name reviling his mother? It appears you still retain vestiges of
Jahiliyyah (Period of Ignorance before Islam)." The Prophet also said in reply,
"You are his brother and should be considerate and kind to him."
Abu Dharr was ashamed and repentant and out of extreme repentance and humility
requested Bilal to trample his face with his feet.
Another example is when, during the lifetime of the Prophet, a woman of the Bani
Makhzoom tribe, Fatimah, was found guilty of theft. She was brought to the
Prophet so that she might receive her punishment according to the Shari 'ah
(Islamic Law).
The Quraish tribe very much resented it since it involved their tribal prestige
and dignity. So they thought of intercession by somebody for the remission of
her punishment.
It was therefore decided after deliberation to send Osamah Bin Zaid for such
intercession since he was very much in favour with the Prophet. So he was
approached, prompted to intercede and he talked to the Prophet on this issue.
The Prophet was very angry and said to Osamah, "You intercede in the matter of
the limits prescribed by God?"
Then he called a big gathering of the believers and, in a touching manner, said,
"The people before you who met their doom, discriminated between the autocrats
and the common people in the dispensation of justice for crimes like theft. The
high-placed were spared while the weaker sections of society were readily
punished. By God, if Fatimah Bint Muhammad had committed theft, I would have
amputated her hand also.
A third example involves Adi Bin Hatim(one of the elite of his time) who came to
Madinah before embracing Islam and found the companions sitting around the
Prophet.
They had just returned from some battle and some of them still had the armoury
and helmets on. 'Adi, witnessing the awe of the Prophet and their reverence for
him, himself fell in awe.
Meanwhile, a humble woman of Madinah came to the Prophet and requested to see
him in private.
The Prophet readily agreed to talk to her. He got up and at some distance from
the gathering talked to her for a sufficiently long time, and having finished
with her came back to the gathering.
When 'Adi witnessed this state of affairs, he was very much touched by this
inconceivable concept of generosity in action and embraced Islam.
A fourth example was offered when, after 21 years of hard struggle, the Prophet
conquered Makkah. Those who had rejected him, had driven him out of his home and
had been waging wars with him were brought before him vanquished. But even then,
he called them to the Faith and kept in view those lofty principles that he had
preached in the vales of Makkah or had enforced in Madinah as a ruler when he
was laying the foundations of a new civilization in the Islamic history.
The Prophet (saw) asked them, “what do you think, how I am going to deal with
you?” They replied, “You are an honoured and noble brother and son of an
honoured and noble brother.” On which he replied, “All right all of you are
forgiven and he repeated the verses of sura al Yousaf
He said: Have no fear this day! May Allah forgive you, and He is the Most
Merciful of those who show mercy. (92
That day he proclaimed those principles that he had been preaching while he had
not yet gained his final victory.
Standing at the gate of the Ka'aba he said, "O you people of Quraish!
Allah has, this day, put an end to your pride of the Jahiliyyah (Days of
Ignorance) and also the pride of your ancestry. Keep in mind! All men are the
offspring of Adam, and Adam was fashioned out of clay". The Quraish who held an
exalted position in the Arab society, and had a high opinion of themselves,
listened to him in silence with bowed heads. On this occasion he recited the
following Quranic verse which he had been reciting off and on: "O Mankind! We
created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into
nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise each
other). Verily, the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the
most righteous of you."
The same rules were followed by the caliphs after Prophet (saw). During the
period of the caliphate of Abu Bakr. He set the example of a ruler whose heart
was full of sympathy for his subjects without distinction of rank or class.
Notwithstanding his position as the head of the Muslim state, he would visit the
girls of the locality whose fathers had fallen martyrs in wars.
He milked their goats for them and assured them that his new responsibilities
would not stand between him and his routine of benevolent acts such as that.
Salallahu taalaa alaa khairi khalqihi Muhammadun wa Alihi wa Ashabihi_Ajmaiin._