~10 AH · 10 AH
In brief
Hajjat al-Wada' was the only Hajj the Prophet ﷺ performed after the Hijrah, in Dhu al-Hijjah 10 AH, and the largest gathering he ever addressed. Once word went out that he intended to go, tens of thousands joined the caravan from Madinah to Makkah. Along the way he taught the pilgrimage as it has been performed ever since: after the first tawaf he told those without a sacrificial animal to end their ihram and count it as an Umrah, the origin of Tamattu', one of the three forms of Hajj; on the 9th of Dhu al-Hijjah he stood in supplication on the open plain of Arafah from midday until sunset, then spent the night at Muzdalifah; at Mina he stoned the Jamrah, sacrificed camels with his own hand, and stayed three nights before performing the Farewell Tawaf and leaving for Madinah. In his sermons he repeatedly asked Allah to bear witness, and the companions sensed he was bidding them farewell, which gave the pilgrimage its name in his own lifetime. Every hadith on the rites of Hajj traces back to this one journey. It was also his last: he returned to Madinah and never left it again before his death.
This is the pilgrimage from which virtually the entire fiqh of Hajj is derived, since it was the only Hajj the Prophet ﷺ performed after the Hijrah. It also set the template for the Farewell Sermons delivered at Arafah and at Mina (see the linked sermon events), and for the Sermon of Ghadir Khumm delivered on the return journey. It took place only months before the Prophet ﷺ's death.
The Final Year·Chapter 5 of 15The Farewell Hajj
See the whole storyThe Life of the Prophet ﷺ·Chapter 11 of 12Madinah
See the whole storyOther events recorded in 10 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
Gave birth to my son, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, at Dhu al-Hulayfah, just as we set out for the Hajj.
What should I do?
Take a bath, bandage your private parts, and put on ihram.
I shall begin with what Allah began with.
Said as he began the sa'i between Safa and Marwah, since the ayah on Safa and Marwah names Safa first.
اَلله أَكْبَر ، لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا الله ، لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ ، لَبَّيْكَ لَا شَرِيكَ لَكَ لَبَّيْكَ ، إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ وَالنِّعْمَةَ لَكَ وَالْمُلْكَ
Began the talbiyah when his camel al-Qaswa stood up with him at al-Bayda', after praying in the mosque of Dhu al-Hulayfah.
الله أكبر ، الله أكبر ، الله أكبر ، لا إله إلا الله وحده ، صدق وعده ، ونصر عبده ، وأعز جنده ، وهزم الأحزاب وحده ، لا اله إلا الله ولا نعبد إلا إياه مخلصين له الدين ، ولو كره الكافرون
There is no god but Allah alone, with no partner. His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things. There is no god but Allah alone; He fulfilled His promise, aided His servant, and routed the confederates alone.
Said atop Safa facing the Qiblah, after completing tawaf, making supplication in between and repeating it three times.
Bring 100 camels from Yemen, and meet me in Makkah for the Hajj.
Brought sacrificial camels from Yemen for the Prophet ﷺ, and arrived in Makkah for the Hajj.
If I had known beforehand what I have come to know afterwards, I would not have brought the sacrificial animals, and I would have made it an Umrah. So whoever among you has no sacrificial animal with him, let him leave ihram and count it as an Umrah.
Said at Marwah at the end of his sa'i.
Ya Rasulullah, how can we become halal again? Do you expect us to even be intimate with our families?
Complete release.
Asked what kind of release from ihram was meant.
Ya Rasulullah, is this rule only for this year? Or is it for every year?
Umrah has entered into Hajj. No, rather forever and ever.
Intertwined the fingers of his hands as he said this.
Some of us made the intention for both Umrah and Hajj together, others made the intention only for Umrah at that time, and some made the intention only for Hajj.
Recalling the intentions with which the people set out from Madinah.
What are you doing? We are doing Hajj; how can you be dressed like this?
My father told me to get out of ihram.
Ya Rasulullah, Fatima is dressed in such-and-such a way, and she says you told her to do this.
She has told the truth, she has told the truth. What did you say when you undertook the Hajj?
Ya Rasulullah, when I came from Yemen, I said: Labbayk, upon the intention of the Prophet ﷺ.
I have sacrificial animals with me, so do not leave ihram.
Ya Rasulullah, al-salah?
Asked as the group was still travelling toward Muzdalifah, past the time Maghrib would ordinarily be prayed.
The salah is in front of you.
Bring my camel to me.
I happen to stand here, but all of Arafah is a place of standing.
I have sacrificed here, and all of Mina is a place of sacrifice.
I spent the night here, but all of Muzdalifah is a spending-night ground.
Draw water out, O Banu Abdul Muttalib. And were it not for the fact that the people would take this right away from you if I were to do it, I would have helped along with you.
In Hajjat al-Wada', I asked permission from the Prophet ﷺ to leave Muzdalifah early to avoid the crowds, because I am of a large build and I walk very slowly.
Aisha RA narrates that Sawda RA, a heavy and slow-moving woman, asked this on the night at Muzdalifah; from it comes the fiqh that the elderly, the weak, and those who care for them may leave Muzdalifah before the rest.
Ya Rasulullah, are all of your wives going to go back having performed an Umrah and a Hajj, and I only have Hajj?
Ya Aisha, it is sufficient.
Your wives will have double and I will have one? No.
The Prophet ﷺ then told her brother, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr RA, to take her to Tan'im, the nearest point outside the Haram, to put her in ihram there and let her perform an Umrah.
What is the matter? Have you started your menses? Don't worry, this is something that Allah has written for all of the daughters of Adam. Do everything the hujjaj do, except for tawaf.
Said to Aisha RA, whom he found crying in her tent after her menses had begun just outside Makkah.
Tell me about the Hajj of the Prophet ﷺ.
For nine years after the Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ did not perform the Hajj. Then in the tenth year he announced that he was going, and great numbers of people came to Madinah, all eager to follow him and learn the rites of Hajj from him.
“Take [necessary] provisions [for the journey]”
General Hajj-provisioning legislation embodied in the practice of the Farewell Hajj, the DB's principal Hajj event; not claimed as the literal asbab al-nuzul.
وَٱتَّخِذُوا۟ مِن مَّقَامِ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ مُصَلًّى
“[You may] take the standing-place of Ibrahim as a site of prayer.”
Recited by the Prophet ﷺ after praying behind the Maqam Ibrahim during tawaf.
إِنَّ ٱلصَّفَا وَٱلْمَرْوَةَ مِن شَعَآئِرِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ فَمَنْ حَجَّ ٱلْبَيْتَ أَوِ ٱعْتَمَرَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِ أَن يَطَّوَّفَ بِهِمَا
“Indeed, [the hills of] Safa and Marwa are among the signs of Allah. So whoever performs the Hajj or Umrah, let them walk between [the two hills].”
Recited by the Prophet ﷺ on reaching Safa before the sa'i.
وَمَن دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آمِنًا
“Whoever enters it [i.e., the Haram] shall be safe.”
The verse establishing the obligation of Hajj; scholars dispute whether it was revealed years earlier or immediately before this pilgrimage in 10 AH.