The last sermon of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him

Which words come from which report?

A hadith is a transmitted report attributed to the Prophet. Sahih means authentic, and both reports below carry that grade. They describe different occasions, so a sentence supported by one is not automatically part of the other. Both warn that people's lives and property are sacred.

These summaries are reading aids. They are not quotations, and they are not a reconstructed transcript.

What does the 'Arafah report say?

Jabir ibn 'Abdullah describes the Prophet's Hajj in Sahih Muslim 1218a, graded sahih. The sermon is one passage in that long account. After the sun had passed its highest point at 'Arafah, the Prophet went to the bottom of the valley and addressed the people.

He opens with a comparison: their blood and property are sacred to them, as this day, this month and this town are sacred. Then he sets aside the claims of the pre-Islamic period. The first blood claim and the first interest claim he names are the ones he calls 'ours': the blood claim concerning the son of Rabi'a ibn al-Harith, and the interest owed to 'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, may Allah be pleased with him. The report does not say how these men were related to the Prophet, so this page does not say either. 1

The sanctity statement, in the Arabic of the report:

This version names blood and property. It does not name honour, which the Day of Sacrifice report does.

1AuthenticSahih Muslim 1218a

The passage then addresses the men about women. They are told to fear Allah concerning women, who were taken on Allah's security and made lawful to the men by Allah's word. The report sets a condition about who may sit on the marriage bed, then wording about discipline that it limits to what is not severe, and a duty to provide food and clothing in a fair manner. This page does not quote that wording as personal guidance. Detailed reading of it is outside an introduction like this one. For your own situation, ask a scholar you trust. 1

The passage ends with the Book of Allah. The Prophet says he has left them the Book of Allah, and that they will not go astray if they hold fast to it. He asks what they will say about him. They answer that he conveyed the message, discharged it and gave sincere counsel. He raises his finger to the sky, points it at the people and says 'O Allah, bear witness' three times. 1

What does the Day of Sacrifice report add?

Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, reports the address in Sahih al-Bukhari 1739, graded sahih. The Prophet addressed the people on the Day of Sacrifice (Yawm al-Nahr). He asked which day, town and month this was, and each time they answered that it was sacred. He then said that their lives, property and honour are sacred, like the sanctity of that day, that town and that month. He repeated it many times, raised his head and asked Allah twice whether he had conveyed the message. 2

The sanctity statement in the Arabic of the report, with lives, property and honour side by side:

2AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 1739

The narration then changes speaker. Ibn Abbas says that, by Him in whose hand his soul is, this was the Prophet's will to his community: those present are to pass the message on to those absent. The Prophet warns them not to turn back into disbelievers after him by striking one another's necks. Keeping that change of speaker visible stops the narration from being read as one unbroken quotation of the Prophet. 2

What should I check on a poster called 'the full farewell sermon'?

A label does not show who narrated a sentence, which report it comes from, or where it was said. Check each sentence against a named report before presenting it as the Prophet's words. The 'Arafah passage names the Book of Allah. The Day of Sacrifice passage names honour alongside lives and property. Those are observations about two reports, not verdicts on every other sermon narration.

A caption that names the collection and number, and says whether the text is a quotation, an excerpt or a summary, is easy to check. If passages from several reports are put together, call the result a sourced compilation and mark the source beside each passage.

Which themes do the two reports share?

This reading aid groups the checked passages by theme.

What do these extracts leave out?

This page checks two passages. Neither is the full text of a sermon, and no complete transcript is given here. Sahih Muslim 1218a, graded sahih, is a passage of Jabir's longer account, and the rites around it are not covered. Sahih al-Bukhari 1739, graded sahih, is a short report about the Day of Sacrifice occasion only.

The marriage passage is summarised rather than reproduced in full, because detailed reading of it is outside this introduction. Other passages that circulate on posters, including ones on equality between peoples and on bequests, are not checked here. Leaving them out is not a judgement on them. No Hijri or Common Era date is given for either report, because this page has not checked one against a separate chronology.