Year Eleven AH

The year opened with the noble Prophet’s caravan already settled in the sanctified city of Madinah upon his return from the Farewell Pilgrimage. During this year many momentous events took place, the gravest of which was the passing of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Yet Allah merely transferred him from this fleeting abode to everlasting bliss, to a lofty and exalted station— a rank in Paradise above which there is none higher or nobler, as the Most High says:

“Yet the life to come will be better for you than the present, and surely your Lord will give to you so that you will be pleased.” (Al-Ḍuḥā 93:4-5)

This occurred after he had fully discharged the message that Allah had commanded him to convey, had given sincere counsel to his community, guided them to every good he knew for them, and warned and forbade them from whatever would harm them in this world or the next.

We have already cited the report recorded by the two Ṣaḥīḥs from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, who said: The verse, “Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and approved Islam for you as religion” (Al-Māʾidah 5:3) was revealed on a Friday while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was standing at ʿArafah.

We have also transmitted through a reliable chain that when this verse was revealed ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb wept. He was asked, “What makes you weep?” He replied, “Nothing follows perfection but decline,” sensing thereby the impending death of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Prophet ﷺ himself alluded to this, as Muslim relates (1) from Ibn Jurayj, through Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood at Jamrat al-ʿAqabah and said to us, “Learn your rites from me, for I may not perform Ḥajj after this year of mine.”

We have likewise reported the narration preserved by the two ḥāfiẓs Abū Bakr al-Bazzār and al-Bayhaqī (2), through Mūsā ibn ʿUbaydah al-Rabaḍī, from Ṣadaqah ibn Yasār, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: The sūrah “When the help of Allah comes and the victory” (Al-Naṣr) was revealed in the middle of the Days of Tashrīq. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ understood it to be a farewell, so he ordered that his she-camel al-Qaṣwāʾ be made ready, mounted her, and then delivered the sermon of that day, as has already been mentioned.

In the same vein ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, said this to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb when the latter asked him— in the presence of many Companions— about the interpretation of that sūrah, so as to show them Ibn ʿAbbās’s merit, precedence, and knowledge after some of them had objected to his being given priority.