to treat women well. He explained their rights and obligations, and that they were entitled to food and clothing according to what is reasonable, without fixing a specific amount (1). He permitted husbands to strike their wives if they admitted into their homes someone their husbands disliked. In this sermon, he exhorted the community to hold fast to the Book of Allah, telling them that they would not go astray so long as they held fast to it (2). He then told them that they would be questioned about him and asked them to speak: what would they say, and to what would they testify? They replied, “We testify that you have conveyed the message, fulfilled your duty, and sincerely counselled us.” He raised his finger towards heaven and called upon Allah three times to bear witness to their testimony. He instructed them (3) that those present should convey his words to those absent (4).

Ibn Hazm said (5): “Then Umm al-Fadl bint al-Hārith al-Hilāliyyah—the mother of ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Abbās—sent him a cup of milk. He drank it before the people while seated on his camel. When he finished the sermon, he instructed Bilāl, who then pronounced the call to commence the prayer.”

This was an error on his part, may Allah have mercy on him, for the incident of his drinking (6) occurred only later, when he proceeded to ‘Arafah and observed the standing there. This is explicitly stated in the two Sahīh collections (7), in the report from Maymūnah: the people were unsure whether the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was fasting on the Day of ‘Arafah, so she sent him a vessel of milk while he was at the place of standing. He drank from it as the people watched. Another wording reads: “while he was standing at ‘Arafah.”