The Farewell Pilgrimage

After having consolidated the power of Islam in Arabia, the Prophet set out to perform Hajjatul wada‘, his Farewell Pilgrimage. It was the last year of his life. He left Madinah for Makkah accompanied by Madinan Muslims. When the news spread that the Prophet was going to perform the pilgrimage, various tribes living in Arabia began pouring into Makkah. Therefore when the Prophet of Islam performed his first as well as his last pilgrimage, he was joined by nearly 125,000 Muslims. During this pilgrimage the revelations about the rules of the hajj were given to him. These are followed by all Muslims to this day. When the Prophet arrived at Mount Arafat, he imparted some teachings to the people present on that occasion. These are preserved in the form of the “Final Sermon.” During the Sermon of Arafat the last passage of the Quran was revealed: “Today I have completed your religion for you, and completed My blessings upon you. I have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” (Al Ma’idah, 5:3) This proved to be his last visit, that is why it came to be called the “Farewell Pilgrimage”. Only three months after his return to Madinah, The Prophet Muhammad fell ill and, with the consent of all of his wives, stayed in the house of Aishah. He had fever and headache. He remained ill for about two weeks and breathed his last on 12 Rabiul Awwal, 632 A.D. He continued leading prayers till he became too weak to go to the mosque. But before his death, he said his last prayer in the Prophet’s Mosque and made Abu Bakr, his closest companion, the Imam of this prayer. The Prophet died in the room attached to the Prophet’s Mosque. He was buried in the same place. Later when Abu Bakr and Umar died, they were also buried to the right and left side of the Prophet. The Spread of Islam after the Death of the Prophet At the time of the Prophet’s demise, his companions numbered nearly a lakh and twenty five thousand. However, it is worth noting that if you go to Makkah and Madinah you will find only a small number of graves there. The reason for this is that these companions left Arabia and spread to various countries. The majority of them breathed their last in various Asian and African countries, where their graves still exist. For example: Umm Haram bint Milhan, a sahabiya, (a Companion of the Prophet) who was married to Ubadah ibn al-Samit Ansari, undertook several trips to foreign countries along with her husband. Her grave is in Cyprus, and is called the grave of the pious woman. The grave of Khalid ibn al-Walid, who was born in Makkah, is in Hims (Syria). The same is true of the majority of the Companions of the Prophet. Why did this happen? In his sermon on the occasion of the farewell pilgrimage, the Prophet Muhammad instructed the people present to spread Islam to other lands. The Prophet Muhammad said: “…..All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and it may be that the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed Your message to Your people.” It was this injunction of the Prophet that led to the Sahabah (Companions of the Prophet) settling in foreign lands. In those countries, they either did business or earned their living by hard work, all the while communicating to their non-Muslim compatriots the message of monotheism which they had received from the Prophet. Every one of them thus became a virtual ambassador of Islam. This resulted in Islam spreading across the globe. Its evidence can still be seen in the inhabited world of that time.