The Last Sermon

During the Prophet’s last pilgrimage, he gave a sermon which was to be his last one. He told his followers to let the Quran and his own examples be their guide in life. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also reminded them of all the duties which Islam has enjoined upon them, and how they would one day meet The Almighty, who would judge each one of them according to their deeds and actions. 

After the sermon, the Prophet turned up and cried: "My Lord! Have I delivered the right Message? Have I fulfilled my calling?" Then he addressed the gathering, “What will you answer to the Lord when asked about me?”

They answered in unison, "We bear witness that you have conveyed The Almighty's message and have performed your duty, and have always care for us."
Pointing his index finger towards Skies then he said,
“O Allah, be my witness, O Allah be my witness, O Allah be my witness!
The Prophet ended his speech by saying, “Convey these messages to those who are absent today."

The last revelation "This day I have perfected for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion Al -Islam." was revealed here.
 
The Holy Prophet also said; “A bond man was given the discretion by Allah either to accept the bounties of the world or that which are with Allah. The bondman preferred those which are with Allah” On hearing this, Hazrat Abu Bakr began to weep because he had understood that reference of the bondman was the Prophet himself.

Within three months of this pilgrimage the Prophet fell ill and left for his Heavenly abode.
The Prophet was a blessing for mankind. He never asked Allah for worldly comforts or power. Instead he used to pray for the welfare of his people and asked Allah to bless them in every way.

Allah says in the Holy Quran, “Wealth and children must not be a hinder in my remembrance. Those shall be losers who adopt it.”  Nowadays we tend to involve ourselves only in the pursuit of worldly luxurious like good food, clothes, cars palatial house, and earning more money.  Often we ignore the needs of our soul, which is the most important. And at the ends of our lives, when it will be too late we will repent greatly.   Now is the time to turn our Creator, now is the time to repent and follow His commands.

Once Angel said to Prophet (Peace be upon him) “O Prophet! ( Pbuh)  live as long as you want, but one day you have to die, love whosoever you want but you have to be separated one day, whatever deeds you do, good or bad you have to reply to The Almighty.
Some Muslims believe that the famous Guru, Guru Nanakjee was a Muslim.  The question is why some Muslims believe this. They have many reasons to say so. They say; “Guru Nanakjee never claimed that he was The Almighty or Prophet. His teachings were to worship one The Almighty Prabhu, as do Muslims. Look at him, his face is covered with a beard, a turban on his head, reciting Zikr (remembrance ofThe Almighty) with tasbih. Some people believe that he had traveled to Makkah. Then what connection did he have with the house of Allah at Mecca that he took such a painful long journey to travel to Mecca?  His close confidants were Baba Farid, Kabirjee and Mian Meer, were also Muslim. The Holy book “Granth Saheb” is full of Qur’anic verses. But from his life it is crystal clear that he was very close the Muslims. During the time of Golden Temple construction, many celebrities were available in India but he opted for Mian Meer to lay the foundation stones. When he left the world for his heavenly abode, his body was not burnt to ashes like Hindu rituals. What surprises the Muslims is that the Guru was close to the Muslims but the followers have distanced themselves from Islam. These are some of the views of Muslims. We need to carefully think about this fact.

 The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the leader of all the prophets The Almighty sent to this world. He is the most important and respectable person in the world after The Almighty. If you disagree with this then who would you say is the most important person after The Almighty? Since The Almighty has chosen him as the final Prophet, we believe he is most important person after The Almighty.
 
Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) mission succeeded because The Almighty granted him His entire treasure, hidden kingdom and power. The entire sky is The Almighty’s Throne from where He watches the Universe and our deeds and accordingly He decides the matter of the world. Don’t play with your God gifted life, be serious today. All the stars, the sun, the moon, mountains, trees, even animals cry with the fear of The Almighty, it is we, who do not fear the The Almighty.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not even know how to write or read; he did not even have a teacher or Guru who could teach him; then who gave him so much of knowledge, vision and wisdom? It is The Almighty Who blessed him with all these wisdom.
     
Jews are reluctant to accept Prophet Muhammad as their last Prophet. BecauseThe Almighty sent many prophets to them such as Yaqoob A.S., Yusuf A.S., Dawood A.S., Sulaiman A.S., Haroon A.S., Moosa and Issa (Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Aaron, Moses and Jesus). In those days Jews considered themselves superior than other tribes, and they could not accept any Prophet who was born in Arabia. Of course Arabia was considered as backward. So they resisted his teachings. As such they preferred to remain with their old ideology.

There was a Jewish scholar called Zaid Ibn Sha’na, who converted to Islam during the time of the Prophet. When he first heard about the Prophet, he was full of doubts so he wanted to check out the facts for himself. He started looking for signs in the Prophet Muhammad, which would establish that he really was a Prophet. So far he was satisfied with what he saw except on two issues which he hasn’t been able to observe yet.

He wanted to know if the Prophet could be provoked to anger, and how he would react if anyone behaves in an insolent manner with him. He had never seen the Prophet angry on any occasion, and he wanted to know how long the Prophet could endure it. So he patiently waited for an opportunity to observe it.

He was looking for a chance to test him on both these points. One day the Prophet came out of his house, Hazrat Ali was with him. A man looking like a Arab tribes ( Bedoin) came and said; “ O Apostle of Allah! My people had converted to Islam; I told them that they would be blessed if they did so. But now a famine has occurred instead, and I am afraid that they might renounce Islam. Help us O Prophet of Allah.”

 The Prophet (peace be upon him) seemed preoccupied, while Hazrat Ali answered ; “ There is nothing in our hands at the moment”
At this Zaid Ibn Sha’na came forward and suggested ‘O Muhammad! I am willing to give you a payment in advance if you promise to deliver me the harvest of dates at the right time.” They agreed to the condition and Zaid paid 80 misqals (1 misqal equals to 4.4 gm.) to the Prophet.  The Prophet handed it over to the Bedouin and said “ Be judicious and meet their needs with this gold.’’

Days passed, and there was only a few days left for the date of payment. One day the Prophet was accompanied by his Companions, Hazrat Abu Bakr, Umar, Osman, Ali ( with whom Allah is leased) was seated near a wall after the funeral prayer of some one.  Zaid Ibn Sha’na suddenly came up and caught hold of the Prophets tunic and harshly said , “Muhammad ! You have not paid my debt; by The Almighty I know everything about you and the descendents of Abdul Mottallib. You have no intention to paying me back.  Hazrat Umar got inflamed at this “O enemy of Allah! If it wasn’t for the Prophet I would have chopped off your head.” But the Prophet gently admonished, “O Umar! We owe him his due. Go and get the required Dates, and bring 2  mounds more of dates as compensation.”

When Hazrat Umar paid back the debts, Sha’na said that they gave him more than the required amount. Umar replied “that it was ordered by the Prophet”.
Then Zaid Ibn Sha’na said, “Don’t you know me? I am Zaid Ibn Sha’na.” At this Umar asked, Do you mean Zaid Ibn Sha’na, who is a great scholar of the Jews?”
He replied, “Yes I am “Then Umar said, “Being such a great scholar, why did you behave with the Prophet like that? It was then Zaid Ibn Sha’na told him about how he wanted to test the Prophet, and he was fully satisfied that he really was a Prophet ofThe Almighty.  Zaid then gave away half of his wealth to the poorer section of the Muslim community came to Prophet and asked for forgiveness and embraced Islam.

It is also related that Holy Prophet himself suffered immense hardship. Hazrat Aisha (wife of the Holy Prophet) has narrated that the Holy Prophet never ate his fill and he never wanted others to know it, for he loved poverty more than riches and hunger more than satiation. Very often he would be restless the whole night due to hunger, yet he would fast the next day. And most of his family members would also fast because there was no food in his house. On most occasions, their share of food would be given to guest who might happen to come or to the poor and hungry, though they were hungry themselves. On one occasion, Hazrat Aisha started weeping and said, “If only we have enough to eat!’’ The Prophet replied, “O Aisha! What do we need more? We have more than enough. The Prophets before me many all suffered more hardship, but they remained strong until they met their Lord and were favoured with high position and diverse comforts. I do not like the bounties of this world. We should only aspire for the infinite bounties of the Hereafter. I love nothing better than to meet my brothers and friends in Hereafter.”  She adds that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) survived hardly more than a month after these sayings and left us to meet his real Master.

Fazl Ibn Abbas visited the Prophet during his (the Prophet’s) last days. The Prophet was very high with fever, but he wanted to go to the Mosque, so Ibn Abbas held him by the hand and they went to the Mosque. Seated on the pulpit, he called for the people to gather, and said. : “The time for my departure is near. If I have hurt anyone on the back, he may avenge him now. Likewise if I have slandered any one, he may slander me. Whoever has any claim against me for money or belongings he may collect it from my money or belongings. No one should have the apprehension that retaliation will cause rancour in my heart—for rancour is against my nature and is not becoming for me. Know it well that whoever recovers his rights from me, or forgives me is dear to me and helps me to go to the presence of Allah with a happy heart. I do not content myself with making this announcement just once; I will make it again.’’ Thereafter he came down from the member (pulpit).
After praying his midday prayer, he went again to the pulpit and made the same announcement. He also repeated his statement about rancour. He added,           

“If anyone owes me anything , he may repay it unmindful of disgrace in this world since disgrace in this world is far less grave than disgrace in the next.”

One of the audiences got up and said, “You owe me three dhirams”. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, “I neither say that the claim is false, nor ask for an oath, but I would like to know more about this debt of three dhirams.” The man replied, “One day when a begger had come to you asked me to give him three dhirams’’. The Holy Prophet (peace upon him) commanded him (Fadel) to give the claimant three dhirams. Then another man got up and said, “I owe three dhirams to the baitulmal (Public exchequer) I had once misappropriated this amount.” The Prophet asked, “Why did you commit misappropriation?” The man replied I was in great straits at that time.” The Prophet asked me (Fadel) to take the money from the man. Then the Holy Prophet (Peace upon him) proclaimed, “ If any one is in any strait, let him ask me to pray for him (since the departure is near at hand) A man got up and said, “ I am much given to false hood, I am a hypocrite and sleep too much.” The Prophet prayed for him, “O Allah! Make him truthful by Thy Grace. Grant him perfectness of faith. Cure his excessive sleepiness. Then another man rose up and said, “O Apostle of Allah! I speak lies and am a hypocrite. There is no sin that I have not committed.” Umar, (Allah be pleased with him) warned him against publishing his sins. The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, “Umar hold your peace” Disgrace in this world is lighter (to bear) than disgrace in the next.” Then he prayed, “O Allah! Bestowed upon him truthfulness and perfectness in faith, and ameliorate his condition.” Another man now got up and said. “O Prophet of Allah! I am a coward and suffer from excess of sleep.” The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) prayed for him too. After that we marked that nobody else was a brave as he was.

The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) then went to the house of Hazrat Aisha (Allah may be pleased with her), and addressed the ladies in like manner, repeating everything that he had said before the men. A lady Companion said, “O Prophet of Allah I am unable to control my envious tongue!” The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) prayed for her. Then he proclaimed, “If anyone of you is apprehensive of any of his, let her come forward for such prayer (since the departure is near at hand)” Consequently the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed for a number of people for various purposes. May Allah shower His infinite blessings on him.        

In the Prophet’s time a certain king showed disrespect for the Holy Scriptures, so he had to suffer the curse of the Prophet and punishment from the The Almighty. It is therefore my duty to warn you against any flippancy about matters of religion. By the same token, always respect this book, please don’t keep anything top of it, and never take it to the toilet. It is better if you read some chapter of it regularly, preferably in the morning, so that during the day you remember The Almighty at every step. Never disrespect this book: it has been written about The Almighty and His beloved Prophets
     
The truthfulness of this book will become evident just minutes before death. If you do not prepare yourself for Hereafter's life and leave this world, and after death you realise that the Heaven and hell really exists then what will you do?

“Praise be to Allah, Lord of the universe, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment!  You alone we worshiping and to you alone we turn for help. Show us the straight path. The way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.” Ameen.

In the Holy Quran Surah ‘ Al- Muminun’ 23 rd  (The brothers) Allah said,
 “Successful indeed are The Believers, those who humble themselves in their prayers, who avoid vain talk, who are active giving charity (Zakat) who guard their modesty except with those joined to them in the marriage bond or (the captive) whom their right hands possess, for they are free from blame. But those whose desires exceed limits are transgressors, those who faithfully observe their trusts and their covenants and who strictly guards their prayers, these will be their heirs, who will be inherit Paradise they will dwell for ever. Man we did create from a quintessence (of clay) then We placed him as a drop of sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed. Then we made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood, then of that clot we made a foetus lump then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh, then we developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, the Best to create! After that at length you will die, again on the Day of Judgment will you be raised up”.

And certainly We sent Noah (A.S.) to his people. He said ‘O my People! Worship Allah! You have no other The Almighty but Him. Will you not fear (Him)? The Chiefs of the unbelievers among his people said; “ He is no more than a man, like yourselves; his wish is to assert his superiority over you; If Allah had wished (to send messengers), He could have send down angels; never did we hear such a thing (as he says), among our ancestors of old. (And some said); “He is only a man possessed; Wait (and have patience) with him for a time.”  (Noah)  said; “O my Lord! Help me; for they accuse me of falsehood!” 23: 26.

And the chiefs of his people who disbelieve and denied the meeting in the Hereafter, and on whom we had bestowed the good things of this life, said; “He is no more than a man like yourselves; he eats and drinks of what you drink.” “If you obey a man like yourselves, be hold, it is certain you will be lost.” Does he promise that when you die and become dust and bones, you shall be brought forth, (again)? Far, very far is that which you are promised! “There is nothing but our life in this world! We shall die and we live! But we shall never be raised up again!” He is only a man who invents a lie against Allah, but we are not the ones who believe in him! (The Prophet) said; “O My lord! Help me; for that they accuse me of falsehood”  
Allah (said) “In but a little while they are sure to be sorry!” 

Did you then think that We had created you in jest, and that you would not be brought back to us (for account)? “Therefore exalted be Allah, the king, the Reality; there is no The Almighty but He, The Lord of the Throne of Honour !