The Last Sermon of The Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H)

 

The Last Sermon of The Holy Prophet
( P.B.U.H )

Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) the Prophet of Islam, was born in 571* A.D. at Makkah. He belonged to the noble family of Quraish. Our Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last of the prophets. The Quraish used to worship idols and did not believe in One God.

Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) asked the Quraish not to worship their false gods. He told them that he was Prophet of God and asked them to worship the One and the only true God. Most of them refused to accept Islam. They thought that by preaching Islam he was against their gods and their ancestors. They opposed this new faith and their bitter opposition caused the Prophet (peace be upon him) much agony and a lot of trouble.

Their opposition to Islam became so fierce and terrible that he had to ask the believers to migrate to Medina. In 622 A.D. the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself accompanied by his faithful friend Hazrat Abu Bakr, migrated to Medina. This event is known in history as the "Hijra".

In Medina, the Prophet (peace be upon him) founded an Islamic Society, based on the three principles that all power belongs to God, Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His Prophet, and all Muslims are brothers to one another.

He raised women from the status of a chattel to complete legal equality with men. He made people to live with faith, sincerity and honest dealing, and for the first time in history made universal human brotherhood a fact and principle of common law. His support and guide in all that work was the Quran.

In the 10th year of Hijra, the Prophet together with his followers went to perform Hajj at Makkah. On this historic occasion, he addressed a very large gathering of Muslims on Mount Arafat. This address proved to be his last Hajj sermon.

In this sermon, he once again repeated, the message of Islam. He said. "There is no god except Allah. He is the only God. None shares His authority and power. He fulfilled His promise and helped His Prophet against the forces of evil. "

"O people! Listen to me carefully. We may not have the opportunity to meet again in such an assembly after today".

He quoted a verse from the Holy Quran and said, "Allah says, O mankind! we created you from a male and a female and made you into tribes and nations so as to be known one from the other. And in 'the eyes of Allah, the most righteous is the most honourable among you. In the light of this verse, no Arab is superior to a non-Arab. Nor is a white man in any way better than a black man. Only the goodness of a person makes him superior to others. The whole of humanity is the offspring of Adam, and Adam was created from dust. I, therefore, crush under my feet all the false claims to greatness and superiority founded on blood or wealth. "

He further said, "O people! A Muslim is another Muslim's brother and all the Muslims are brothers among themselves. "

Finally he said: "I have given you the message of Allah. I am leaving among you a thing, which will guide you. If you act according to it, you will never go wrong. This is the Holy Book of Allah. "

Although the Prophet (peace be upon him) is no more with us, we have the Holy Quran to give us guidance. We should read it daily and try to understand what it teaches. If, we make a habit of acting according to its teachings, we will very soon achieve our former greatness in the world.