The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 69
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 69 Prophet’s absence from Medina for about two and one - half months. Delegations now poured in from all parts of Arabia offering their submission and announcing their acceptance of Islam. In a short time the whole of Arabia adhered to the Pax Islamica. In the ninth year after the Emigration, the Prophet went on pilgrimage to Mecca. On the day of the pilgrimage he received the revelation: “This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favor unto you and have chosen for you Islam as your faith” (5:4). The Prophet, as was his wont, announced the revelation and delivered an address - known as the Farewell Address - to the huge assemblage in the valley of Arafat outside Mecca. He started by saying that he did not know whether he would be able to meet them agai n on the occasion of the pilgrimage, and he asked them to lend an attentive ear to what he had to say. He went on to admonish them to order their lives in accordance with the commandments of God; to take particular care that no trespass was committed again st any person in respect of his life, property, or honor; to treat women with due regard and consideration, fully observing their rights, which corresponded to the rights that the men had. He expressed solicitude for the welfare of prisoners of war, some o f whom they still had among them, saying that they must be accorded the same treatment as members of the captors’ own families; he stressed that all human beings were equal, whatever their individual status, and that no one could claim any privilege or sup eriority against any other. He ended by asking them to bear witness to the Unity of God, and to affirm the principal articles of faith. He then inquired