The last sermon of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), known as the Farewell Sermon, was delivered on the 9th of Dhu al-Hijjah, 10 AH (6 March 632 CE), in the Uranah Valley of Mount Arafat during the Hajj pilgrimage. In this sermon, he emphasized the importance of equality, justice, and the sanctity of life and property, stating that all humans are equal and that no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab. He also conveyed the final revelation from Allah, which completed the Quran, affirming that “this day I have perfected your religion for you”(Quran 5:3). The sermon serves as a significant reminder of the core principles of Islam and the importance of unity among Muslims.

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is an example for all of humanity.  He was a remarkable man at all times.  He excelled in all walks of life by being a prophet, ruler, statesman, orator, soldier, husband, friend, father and a grandfather.  He was a man of love, patience, courage, wisdom, generosity, intelligence and exemplary character who inspires over a billion lives throughout the world. Allah says in the Quran that he was sent as a mercy for the people of the world: “We sent thee not save as a mercy for the peoples.” (Quran 21:107)

Historically, the Farewell Sermon of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) occupies an important place in Islam. The sermon consisted of summarized exhortations reflecting some of the core teachings of the Quran and Sunnah. The sermon exemplifies the Quran’s assertion that the prophet was but a warner: This was mentioned 57 times in the Quran.

The farewell sermon of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is one of the most profound speeches in the history of humanity. It is a timeless message that holds relevance for all people, regardless of their background, religion, or ethnicity.

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) undertook his farewell and only pilgrimage in the year 10 A.H. and it has since been the model for performing the fifth pillar of Islam, the Hajj.

The Final Sermon:

“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again.  Therefore, listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.

“O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust.  Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners.  Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.  Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds.  God has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived.  Your capital, however, is yours to keep.  You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity.  God has Judged that there shall be no interest, and that all the interest due to Al-Abbas ibn Abd’el Muttalib shall henceforth be waived…

“Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion.  He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.

“O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you.  Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under a trust from God and with His permission.  If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness.  Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers.  And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.

“O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God, perform your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan, and offer Zakat.  Perform Hajj if you have the means.

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve.  An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; a white has no superiority over a black, nor does a black have any superiority over a white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action.  Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood.  Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly.  Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.

“Remember, one day you will appear before God and answer for your deeds.  So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

“O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born.  Reason well, therefore, O people, and understand words which I convey to you.  I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray.

“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.”

Thus the beloved Prophet (SAW) completed his Final Sermon, and upon it, near the summit of Arafat, the revelation came down: “…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My Grace upon you, and have chosen Islam for you as your religion…” (Quran 5:3)

Indeed the meanings found in this sermon are astounding and it could rightly be described as the Prophet’s last Admonition.

But how have we as his followers kept to his admonitions? We have kept to them in the breach: An incorrigible generation, hell bent on disobedience and trenchant iniquities, we kill our fellow men, we enslave our women in the name of Sunnah, we persecute people of other faiths and engage in terrorism and are unjust to peoples of other races and ethnic persuasions, we are intolerant and intemperate in our manners and speech and we are bigots and fanatical in our ways.

We have gone against all the things in the admonitions. We are unjust, nepotic and consume usury (riba); we even export hard drugs to the ‘House of God; child abuse, prostitution and other forms of iniquities that make Sodom and Gomorrah pale into insignificance.

What will we not do for money? We dispossess the orphans and maltreat the widows. Sexual inequality which the Prophet (SAW) preached against is still the order of the day; 1,393 years after the Prophet (SAW), the Saudis and their cohorts still treat women as chattels. The Admonition talks about equality of men but the Arab Muslims did not remember that when they came to enslave Africans, especially from East Africa. They still do, with many of our women serving as sex slaves in Arab countries.

A generation of vile men and human anacondas, we even attempt to bribe God, but He refused to be mocked. On the Day of Qiyyauma they will reap their just recompense.

LA ILAHA ILLA ANTA SUBHANAKA INNI KUNTU MINAZ ZALIMEEN: “None has the right to be worshipped but You (O Allah)), Glorified (and Exalted) are You (above all that (evil) they associate with You). Truly, I have been of the wrong-doers.”(Quran 21:87)

Eid Mubarak and Barka Juma’at.

In 630 AD, Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his nascent Islamic group conquered the city of Mecca and his Quraish adversaries. It turned out to be an anti-climax as it was a bloodless war, despite the age long animosity of the Quraish to the young Islamic organization and its forced exile to Medina Munawara ten years earlier. The first port of call of the Prophet and his party was the Ka’aba, the ancient citadel of monotheism which had been serially desecrated and made to house over three hundred idols that were being worshipped by the Arab dwellers. It was even reported that the circumambulation of that building known from ancient times as the Tawaf, was sometimes performed naked, presumably accompanied by an orgy of spiritual nature by the pre-Islamic Arab peoples.

The Ka’aba which was allegedly built by ‘father’ Abraham and his son Isma’il as a monument to their God, 2000 years earlier, required spiritual and physical cleansing which the prophet carried out personally with his followers.

With the cleansing and institution of modern Hajj rites, it was never envisaged that impure people, people of doubtful religious piety, people of questionable faith, people of dubious religious persuasion, people with atavistic penchant for corruption and proclivity for political, social and economic crimes would turn the holy pilgrimage into a faith laundering annual exercise. This is exactly what our leaders have turned the Hajj into. But, they forget that you cannot mock God.

This year again, they are going to Mecca in droves to face Mount Arafat on Thursday 5^th June, the 9 day of the Islamic month of Dhu’l Hijjah; a day for the atonement of sins, confession and supplication for Allah’s forgiveness.

They will face Mount Arafat chanting the talbiyah: “Labbayka Allahumma Labbaik” (Here I am, O Allah, here I am). “Labbaika la sharika laka labbaik” (You have no partner). “Innal hamda wa-n-niʿmata laka wa-l-mulka la sharika lak” (Surely the praise, and blessings are Yours, and the dominion is Yours, You have no partner).”

Which God are they reciting Talbiyah to? A God whose injunctions they have serially flouted and abused, or His people whom they have abandoned and sentenced to a life of poverty and tattered penury. The concepts of justice, equity and fairness enjoined on them are being operated in the breach.

These are three interrelated concepts that combine to make a spiritual whole. Justice is the sum-total, in a sense, of all recognized rights and duties, as it often consists of nothing more than a balanced implementation of rights and duties, and of due regard for equality and fairness. The Qur’an is emphatic on the objectivity of justice, so much so that it defies any level of relativity and compromise in its basic conception. A perusal of the Quranic evidence on justice leaves one in no doubt that justice is integral to the basic outlook and philosophy of Islam. But, are our leaders just?

The injustice being perpetrated by our leaders is being witnessed daily in our clime, where our rights are denied and trampled upon; no potable water, no roads, no  electricity for the vast majority who have had to live like cavemen in the 21 Century, add to this the cruelty and injustice in the so-called Band A, no education for their children, no future for those that are educated, not to talk of the teeming population of uneducated (the 15 million out of school), no employment and where they are employed, no salaries ( starvation wages that gets nowhere). Yet our leaders have dusted their jalabiya and ihrams in anticipation of hoodwinking Allah. But He will not be deceived by these vile men who have refused to carry out the job which they were elected to do.

Three hundred medical personnel were drafted to accompany our pilgrims for the Hajj without providing clinics where they would attend to pilgrims in either Medina or Mecca. There are allegations that the medical team is a scam to provide free Hajj to the friends and relatives of government officials in charge of Hajj. And these people would want Allah to accept their prayers.

A few years ago it was alleged that a Governor in one of the states flew his mother to Saudi Arabia on a private jet to perform Hajj. Yet, this same governor was vociferous in saying that the government cannot afford minimum wage for workers. There is God ooo!!!

At a time the so-called minimum wage of N70,000 is not enough to put food on worker’s tables or pay for their accommodation, our insensitive legislators are said to be paying themselves N1 Billion and N2 Billion monthly as ‘illegal constituency allowance. Can these people really make heaven? Some now use out of these spiritually impure funds to embark on Hajj. And they will expect Allah to accept their prayers and supplications?

Allah in Surah Al-Nahl: . . . .Commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you that ye may receive admonition. (Quran 16:90)

In Surah Al Ma’idah, Ayah 9, it is said that we should stand firmly for Allah as witness to fairness: O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: That is next to Piety: And fear Allah. For Allah is well acquainted with all that ye do. (Quran 5:9)

Narrow dictionary equivalents for Justice and Equity are the words Insaaf, ‘Adl and Qist. But the words are more comprehensive in their meaning and application.  The root meanings of the word ‘Adl include the sense of Justice, Equity, Fairness, Non-Discrimination, Counterbalance, to Rectify, Put in Order, Evenness, Proportion and the like. When Prophet Muhammad (SAW), said “help the oppressor and the oppressed”, he was stressing this same concept. The Companions responded that they understood what “helping the oppressed” meant, but what did he mean by “helping the oppressor”? He replied, “By preventing the oppressor from oppressing others”. The root meanings of the word Qist include Equity, Fairness, Justice, Fair Distribution, Correctness, Balance, and Scale. See Surah Al Nisa’, Quran 4:135

It has been said that the issues of injustice, unfairness and inequitable dispensation of resources is an all pervasive malaise. From the flinching tramp by the roadside, the woman who sells her body for money, the rich with their insatiable thirst for more, to the legislator, who is the sole beneficiary of his legislations and the executive who corners the people’s commonwealth to feather their own nests, are all guilty.

When justice, equity and fairness depart from a society, that society is finished. We are reminded when Allah said: “And O my people! Give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due: Commit not evil in the land with intent to do mischief. (Quran 11:85)

But Allah said in Surah Taha that He would punish the transgressors saying: “. . . . . And those on whom descends My Wrath do perish indeed!” (Quran 20:81)

However, for the genuine pilgrims who are intent on turning a new leaf, changing and mending their ways and returning to the path of righteousness; we wish them a rewarding Hajj. And to them we say “Hajj Mabrur!

May Allah’s condemnation never fall on us, Amin!

Rabbana waj’alnaa muslimaini laka wa min zurriyyatinaaa ummatam muslimatal laka wa arinaa manaasikanaa wa tub ‘alainaa innaka antat Tawwaabur Raheem – (Quran 2:128): “Our Lord, and make us Muslims [in submission] to You and from our descendants a Muslim nation [in submission] to You. And show us our rites [of worship] and accept our repentance. Indeed, You are the Accepting of Repentance, the Merciful.”

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend

The concept of the ‘End Time’ is one that features prominently in the pantheon of the Abrahamic religions. Therefore, matters relating to the last days are discussed in their holy books, and the signs we should look for or recognize as the end draws near. There is every truth in the saying that whatever has a beginning must surely have an end. The world as we know it has a beginning and there is no doubt, the end must come. When and how it will end is a matter of conjecture. But the good books are very emphatic about the coming end. Hence, the signs of the end time.

In Islam, matters relating to the end time abound in prophetic Hadiths and some verses in the Holy Quran. However, the most astonishing signs are those that are not only in the Quran but also feature in the Bible.

The most important ones are the coming of the Antichrist, which in Islam is referred to as Dajjal or the False Prophet and the return of Prophet Isa or Jesus. The two books are very emphatic about these events. There is another sign which both the Bible and the Quran are also emphatic about and this relates to the blowing of the trumpet, an event that will signal the end of all life as we know it and a second trumpet that will herald the resurrection.

The Trumpet will (just) be sounded, when all that are in the heavens and on earth will swoon, except such as it will please Allah (to exempt). Then will a second one be sounded, when, behold, they will be standing and looking on! And the Earth will shine with the glory of its Lord: The Record (of Deeds) will be placed (open); the prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward; and a just decision pronounced between them; and they will not be wronged (in the least).  (Quran 39:68-69) See also:1 Corinthians 15:51-52

The Bible says: In the Last Days iniquity shall abound and evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse: Matthew 24:21-24 and Mark 13:19

We also read in the Quran in Surah In-Fithar: When the Sky is cleft asunder; When the Stars are scattered; When the Oceans are suffered to burst forth; And when the Graves are turned upside down; (Then) shall each soul know what it has sent forward and (what it hath) kept back.  (Quran 82:1-5)

The above verses from Surah In-Fithar are very instructive; they portend an end to the world in plain language. When the sky is cleft asunder, which Arabic word ‘infatarat’ could mean split, torn apart or to vanish or become abolished. Also, stars fallen could also signify a collapse of the heavenly bodies and the obliteration of their lights, while the seas bursting forth could mean a great turbulence such as Tsunamis, confusion and chaos with the seas overflowing in  uncontrollable deluge. And most self-evident is the part where the graves are turned upside down, disgorging their content, in readiness for the resurrection.

The verses in the above Surah are corroborated by the following passage in the Bible: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven  with power and great glory.31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:29

There is no doubt that it promises to be a very tragic event when confusion will reign and men will run from pillar to post not knowing what was happening. It is this that reminds me of the events of 27^th January 2002 when the Ordinances at the Ikeja Military Cantonment went up in flames and explosions rent the skies.

Those who heard the explosions started ‘running to nowhere’ as they felt the end has come. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was taking my uncle to the airport to catch a flight to Abuja. As we approached Guardian Newspaper house on the express, we saw an exodus of people and vehicles coming in our direction. I said to myself, what madness is this, on the expressway!

We stopped and tried to get on to the service lane. Then I asked one of the runners what was going on. He looked at me as if I was from Mars and said ‘de don come’. I asked another person and he said to me’ de don come. Then I asked which people and he said, ‘you no hear, I say de don come! War!! Then I said which war, but he was off. No one in that multitude could tell us what was going on. We made a U-turn and headed back to Apapa.

It is significant to know that many of those running did not know what they were running from. Many perished in the Ejigbo canal, while some were separated from their brethren. That was a microcosm of the event that would be witnessed on the last day.

There are many other signs given by the Prophet (SAW) but suffice to say that he said: It will not come until you see ten signs. And (in this connection) he made  mention of the ‘smoke’, ‘Dajjal’, the ‘beast’, the ‘rising of the sun from the west’, the ‘descent of Jesus son of Mary’, ‘Gog and Magog’, ‘sinking of the earth in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia’ at the end of which ‘fire would burn forth from Yemen, and would drive people to the place of their assembly’ (i.e., the place where mankind will be assembled for judgment).  (Sahih Muslim)

Other signs of the end time are: 

• Homosexuality (and lesbianism) would become commonplace, and that is now happening before our very eyes. Social acceptance and legal protection for this abominable sexual perversion is gaining ground. Indeed those who hold fast to the divine prohibition of such sexual perversion are now demonized as a people who suffer from a disease called ‘homophobia’; 

• Children born outside of marriage would become commonplace, in fact marriage itself now seems destined to become obsolete; 

• Fornication and adultery would become commonplace, that, also, appears to have already been fulfilled in a modern world in which virginity and marital fidelity are becoming old-fashioned; 

• “Time would move swiftly—a year passing like a month—a month like a week—a week like a day” etc., and already the perception of swiftly moving time is a universal experience;

• Prevalence of random killing, murder and violence that “a killer would not know why he is killing and the one who is killed would not know why he is being killed”, and “every age is followed by one which would be worse”—already around the world senseless random killing has arrived and is constantly escalating;

• “Nothing would remain of Islam but the name, and nothing would remain of the Qur’an but the traces (of its writing) (i.e., the Qur’an would not be studied, no one would follow its guidance, it would be recited mechanically etc.);

·  The Masajid (mosques) would be grand structures but would be devoid of guidance; and the Ulama (religious scholars of Islam who represent such people) would be the worst people beneath the sky. From them would emerge Fitnah (trials) and they would be the centres of Fitnah (since they betray Islam)” — there are many distinguished scholars of Islam who declare that this prophesy, also, has today found fulfilment. The evidence of such is overwhelming.

However, the End time prophecy that takes the cake is this:  Prophet Muhammad (SAW) prophesied that: 

“People would follow a way of life other than mine, and give guidance other than mine”…“I fear for my people only the leaders who lead men astray”…“Before the Last Hour there will be great liars, so beware of them”…“When the most wicked member of a tribe becomes its ruler, and the most worthless member of a community becomes its leader, and a man is respected through fear of the evil he may do, and leadership is given to people who are unworthy of it, expect the Last Hour”.  Allah knows best.

Be prepared for the day when people will be saying’ De don come!’

Wa minhum mai yaqoolu rabbanaaa aatina fid dunyaa hasanatanw wa fil aakhirati hasanatanw wa qinaa azaaban Naar: “And there are men who say: “Our Lord! Give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and defend us from the torment of the Fire!” (Quran 2:201)

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend.