He said, “What day is this?”
We replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.”
He said, “Is it not the middle of the Days of Tashrīq?” Abū Dāwūd alone related this report.
Abū Dāwūd added, “The uncle of Abū Ḥurra al-Raqāshī likewise stated that the Prophet ﷺ delivered the sermon on the middle of the Days of Tashrīq.”
This ḥadīth is also transmitted by Imām Aḥmad with a continuous and more detailed chain. He said: ʿAffān related to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Zayd informed us, from Abū Ḥurra al-Raqāshī, from his uncle, who said:
“I was holding the rein of the Messenger of Allah’s camel on the middle day of the Days of Tashrīq, keeping the people back from him. He said:
‘O people! Do you know in what month you are, on what day you are, and in what land you stand?’
They answered, ‘In a sacred day, a sacred month, and a sacred land.’
He said, ‘Your blood, your property, and your honour are inviolable to you, as sacred as this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this land of yours, until you meet your Lord.
Listen to me and you will live. Beware—do not wrong one another, beware—do not wrong one another, beware—do not wrong one another. It is unlawful to take a man’s wealth except with his willing consent. Behold, every claim to blood, property, or privilege from the pre-Islamic period is now placed beneath my feet until the Day of Resurrection. The first blood I set aside is that of Rabīʿah ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, who was being suckled among Banū Layth when he was killed by Hudhayl. Likewise, every kind of usury from the pre-Islamic era is abolished, and Allah has decreed that the first usury I abolish is the usury of al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. Yours is the principal of your capital; you shall neither wrong nor be wronged.
Time has completed its cycle and returned to its original order on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth.’ He then recited: ‘Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve months in the Book of Allah on the day He created the heavens and the earth; of them, four are sacred. That is the right religion, so do not wrong yourselves therein’ (Qur’an 9:36).
‘Beware! Do not revert after me into disbelievers, striking one another’s necks. Surely Satan has despaired of being worshipped by those who pray, yet he is content with stirring discord among you.
Fear Allah concerning women, for they are like captives in your hands and have no power over themselves. You have rights over them and they have rights over you: they must not permit anyone you dislike to trample upon your bedding, nor admit into your homes anyone you dislike. If you fear their recalcitrance, admonish them, then leave them alone in beds, and strike them without severity. They are entitled to their provision and clothing in a decent manner. You have taken them by Allah’s trust and made their private parts lawful by the word of Allah.
And whoever has been entrusted with a trust, let him return it to the one who entrusted him.’”