The Farewell Pilgrimage and sermon

In the tenth year after the Hijra, the Prophet ﷺ set out from Medina to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. Word spread that he was going for Hajj, and great numbers of people travelled to join him. It was the only Hajj of his life, and many sensed that they were learning the rites of pilgrimage directly from him. They watched closely how he prayed, how he moved between the sacred places, and how he completed each step, so they could follow it after he was gone.

The heart of the journey came on the Day of Arafah, the wide plain near Mecca where pilgrims still gather today. There, before a vast crowd, the Prophet ﷺ delivered the sermon now known as the Farewell Sermon. He spoke clearly so the message could be carried far, and he asked the people whether he had delivered what was entrusted to him. They answered that he had, and he called upon God to bear witness.

His words were simple and weighty. He declared that the lives and the property of people are sacred and not to be wronged. He reminded them that all people share one origin, so no person stands above another by race or by tribe, but only by what is good in the heart and the deeds. He urged kindness and fair dealing in how people treat one another, and he told them he was leaving behind the Quran and his guidance, so they would not go astray if they held to them.

The moment mattered because it gathered the teaching of a lifetime into a few clear principles, spoken to the largest gathering he had ever addressed. It read like a farewell, a settling of accounts before the end, and within a few months the Prophet ﷺ passed away. For the generations that followed, the Day of Arafah became a touchstone: a reminder of the worth of every life, the trust of honest dealing, and the equal dignity of all people before God.