Farewell Sermon

The Farewell Sermon (Arabic: Khuṭbat al-Wadāʿ) is the comprehensive address delivered by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) during the Farewell Pilgrimage (Ḥajjat al-Wadāʿ), in the tenth year after the Hijra, corresponding to 632 CE. It was pronounced principally on the ninth of Dhū al-Ḥijja on the plain of ʿArafāt near Mount al-Raḥma, with supplementary portions delivered at Minā during the days of Tashrīq and at the Masjid al-Khayf. The sermon is preserved in the canonical ḥadīth collections — notably the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd, and the Musnad of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal — and in the Sīra literature of Ibn Isḥāq and Ibn Hishām. Roughly 120,000 to 144,000 Companions are reported to have been present, with the words relayed across the assembly by criers including Rabīʿa ibn Umayya. It is regarded as the Prophet's valedictory summation of the Islamic moral and legal order, delivered shortly before his death in Rabīʿ al-Awwal of 11 AH.

The sermon's content articulates several foundational principles. It declared the sanctity of life, property, and honour as inviolable — "as sacred as this day, this month, this city." It abolished the practices of jāhiliyya: all claims to interest (ribā), beginning with the interest owed to the Prophet's own uncle al-ʿAbbās, were annulled, and the blood-feuds of the pre-Islamic era, starting with the blood of his kinsman Ibn Rabīʿa, were cancelled. It affirmed the rights of women and reciprocal marital duties, the just treatment of slaves, and the prohibition of intercalation (nasīʾ) of the lunar months, fixing the year at twelve months. Crucially, it proclaimed the equality of all believers — "no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab, nor white over black, except by piety" — and identified the Qurʾān and the Prophet's Sunna as the twin sources of guidance he left behind. The sermon also concluded with the verse of completion, Qurʾān 5:3, "This day I have perfected for you your religion."

The Farewell Sermon is frequently characterised in modern Muslim discourse as an early charter of human rights, dignity, and racial equality, and it remains a recurring reference point in discussions of Islamic constitutionalism and social justice. The Farewell Pilgrimage itself established the normative ritual sequence of the Ḥajj, which Muslims continue to perform. As of 2026 the sermon retains canonical authority across all schools and is invoked in contemporary debates on economic ethics (the prohibition of ribā), gender rights, and universal human equality, and is cited in the preambular literature of Islamic human-rights instruments such as the Cairo Declaration of 1990.

For the CSS Islamic Studies paper, the Farewell Sermon is a high-frequency topic, examined both as a factual recall item (date, place, occasion, audience size) and as an analytical essay prompt on its significance as a charter of human rights, its abolition of jāhiliyya practices, and its enunciation of equality, women's rights, and economic justice. Candidates should be able to quote its key clauses, anchor them in the canonical ḥadīth sources, and connect them to the broader theme of the Prophet's legacy and the completion of revelation. The typical question angle asks students to evaluate the sermon as a universal moral document with enduring contemporary relevance.