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Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān

Farewell Pilgrimage (1,120 words)

The pilgrimage (q.v.) to the Kaʿba (q.v.) at Mecca (q.v.) led by the Prophet in year 10 of the hijra (see emigration ), so called because it occurred just months before he died, ‘taking leave’ of the Muslim community (see community and society in the qurʾān ). It is viewed as the primary occasion when the Prophet taught his followers the rites of the Islamic pilgrimage and thus figures prominently in subsequent discussions of its rituals and meaning. It was also the occasion of important announcements concerning the status of several pre-Islamic customs in Islam (see pre-islamic arabia and the qurʾān ). The Prophet's last pilgrimage represents for later Muslims the completion of divine revelation and the scripture and is thus understood as a time of special holiness. The phrase “farewell pilgrimage” (ḥajjat al-wadāʿ) does not occur in the Qurʾān itself; the related verb, waddaʿa, “to take leave, bid farewell,” occurs once at q 93:3, but with the figurative meaning of to forsake or abandon: “Your lord has not forsaken you, nor does he detest you.”¶

The Prophet prepared to perform the pilgrimage ( ḥajj) in Dhū l-Qaʿda 10/632 and set out with a group of his followers, including his wives (see wives of the prophet ), from Medina (q.v.) toward the end of that month. He led the pilgrimage, teaching the customs of the pilgrimage to his followers and answering their questions about specific regulations. A large number of the oral traditions concerning the pilgrimage that are preserved in the standard compilations (see ḥadīth and the qurʾān ) are set during the Farewell Pilgrimage and treat questions which arose on this occasion.

According to the majority of accounts, the Prophet performed both the ʿumra (lesser pilgrimage) and ḥajj (greater pilgrimage) rituals. While he allowed his followers to resume their profane state in between an initial ʿumra and the ḥajj itself, he maintained the sacred state of iḥrām (see ritual purity ), he said, because he was leading animals to be sacrificed (see sacrifice; consecration of animals). During the pilgrimage, the Muslims continually questioned the Prophet about their religious obligations. In his answers to them, he is reported to have cited qurʾānic verses such as q 2:125, “Take as your place of worship (q.v.) the place where Abraham (q.v.) stood” and q 2:158 “ Al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa are among God's rites” They apparently crowded him so much that he performed the circumambulation of the Kaʿba and hurried between Ṣafā and Marwa (q.v.) mounted on a camel. As part of the ceremonies, the Prophet sacrificed a cow or several cows on behalf of his wives. Together with ʿAlī (see ʿalī b. abī ṭālib ), who had come to perform the pilgrimage upon returning from a mission to Yemen (q.v.), the Prophet sacrificed one hundred camels. According to some traditions, he sacrificed sixty-three camels and ʿAlī the remaining thirty-seven; others have him ¶ sacrificing thirty, thirty-three, or thirty-four camels and ʿAlī the remainder (see the chapters on the rites of the pilgrimage in the various ḥadīth compliations: Abū Dāwūd, Sunan, ii, 139-219; Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, iii, 80-285; Ibn Māja, Sunan, 962-1055; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, viii, 72-237; ix, 2-171; al-Nasāʾī, Sunan, vi, 110-277; Tirmidhī, Jāmiʿ, ii, 152-219).

After completing the rituals, the Prophet gave what is now known as the Farewell Speech (Ibn Isḥāq-Guillaume, 651-2; Ibn Ḥajar, Fatḥ al-bārī, viii, 103-10), in which he abolished a number of pre-Islamic customs. Chief among these was the nasīʾ, or intercalary month. From then on the Muslim community would operate on a strictly lunar calendar (q.v.) that would not be adjusted to bring it into alignment with the solar calendar. The Prophet abolished all old blood feuds, implying that the creation of the Islamic umma had made all disputes based on the former tribal system obsolete (see tribes and clans; brother and brotherhood; blood money; kinship). In addition, all old pledges were to be returned, another indication of this new beginning (see contracts and alliances; oaths and promises). The Prophet informed his followers that they were entitled to discipline their wives but should do so with kindness (see marriage and divorce; women and the qurʾān). He commanded that one could not leave one's wealth (q.v.) to a testamentary heir (see inheritance ); that one could not make false claims of paternity (see family; illegitimacy) or of a client relationship (see clients and clientage ). The tradition of holding four months (q.v.) of the year, Dhū l-Qaʿda, Dhū l-Ḥijja, and Muḥarram (months 11, 12, and 1) and Rajab (month 7) sacred was upheld at this time. This measure seems related to the Islamic adoption of the pilgrimage itself, ¶ along with the understanding that the shrine at Mecca lies on holy ground.

Among the qurʾānic passages reportedly revealed during the Farewell Pilgrimage are q 110, some verses in q 9 (see Bell, Muhammad's pilgrimage), and some verses from the opening of q 5. Several reports describe q 110 as hinting at the approaching demise of the Prophet, and on these grounds the text is called Sūrat al-Tawdīʿ (“Leave-taking”; Zamakhsharī, Kashshāf, iv, 219; Ṭabarsī, Majmaʿ, v, 844). Nöldeke, however, holds that q 110 was revealed earlier, probably even before the conquest of Mecca, when the Prophet first foresaw an eventual victory over the Meccans (Nöldeke, gq, i, 219-20). The attribution to the Farewell Pilgrimage, he asserts, is based on an erroneous interpretation of the text related from Ibn ʿAbbās. While q 9:36-7 do contain the regulations concerning the sacred months mentioned in the Farewell Speech, these verses may have been revealed earlier. Nöldeke accepts the dating of some sections of q 5:1-10 to the Farewell Pilgrimage, including the well-known passage, commonly held to be the final revelation: “This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed my favor unto you, and have chosen for you as religion Islam” ( q 5:3; cf. Nöldeke, gq, i, 227-9).

Primary

Abū Dāwūd, 4 vols., Mecca n.d.

Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, 7 vols., Cairo 1985

Ibn Ḥajar, Fatḥ al-bārī, ed. ʿA.b.ʿA. Bāz (with the numeration of ʿAbd al-Bāqī), Cairo 1970, repr. Beirut n.d.

Ibn Isḥāq, Sīra

Ibn Isḥāq-Guillaume

Ibn Māja

Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, 18 vols., Beirut 1972

Nasāʾī, Sunan, 8 vols., Beirut 1980

Ṭabarī, Taʾrīkh

Ṭabarsī, Majmaʿ

Tirmidhī, Ṣaḥīḥ, 4 vols., Beirut 1983

Zamakhsharī, Kashshāf

Secondary

R. Bell, Muhammad's pilgrimage proclamation, in jras (1937), 233-44

Nöldeke, gq

W.M. Watt, Muhammad at Medina, Oxford 1956

A.J. Wensinck/J. Jomier, Ḥadjdj, in ei2, iii, 32-7

Cite this page

Stewart, Devin J., “Farewell Pilgrimage”, in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. Consulted online on 07 January 2017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQSIM_00151>