A Selection from Muhammad's Orations
Muhammad was more than a religious leader; he was a political figure who had, by the time of his death, united most of the Arab peoples into a centralized government based on "Shariah" (Islamic law), and which encompassed both the secular and religious. Church-state separation is a concept that is foreign to Orthodox Islam: the two were originally viewed as inseparable. Collections of Muhammad's "Orations" reveal the Prophet in his role of charismatic messenger. The excerpt is Muhammad's last oration and was delivered, while he was ill, only five days prior to his death.
Source: Mohammad Ubaidul Akbar, Orations of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam (New Delhi, India: Nusrat Ali Nasri for Kitab Bhanan, 1979), pp. 101-106.
He praised Allah, thanked Him, sought forgiveness for the martyrs of the battle of Uhad and prayed for them. Then he said: "O people, (draw near) to me." So they gathered round him.
Then he said: "Well, there is a man whose Lord has given him option between living in this world as long as he wishes to live and eating from this world as much as he likes to eat, or meeting his Lord."
(Hearing it) Abu Bakr wept and said: "Nay, may our fathers, mothers and properties be your ransom..."
Then the Apostle of Allah—may Allah send him bliss and peace!—said: "There is none more bountiful to us for his company and wealth than the son of Abu QuhAfa (Abu Bakr). Had I taken any intimate friend except my Lord, I would have taken the son of Abu QuhAfa as my intimate friend. But there is love and brotherhood of Faith"—(He said it twice or thrice). "The fact is that your companion is the intimate friend of Allah. There should not remain in the mosque any door (open) except the door of Abu Bakr."
"O people, it has reached me that you are afraid of your Prophet's death. Has any previous prophet lived forever among those to whom he was sent: so that I would live forever among you?
"Behold, I am going to my Lord and you will be going to Him. I recommend you to do good to the First Emigrants and I recommend the Emigrants to do good among themselves.
"Lo, Allah, the Exalted, says: 'By the time, Man is in loss'—to the end of the Sura (ciii.).
"Verily the things run with the permission of Allah, the Exalted, and verily delay in a matter should not urge you on its hastening in demand. Allah—the Mighty and the Great—does not hasten for the hastiness of anybody.
"He who contends with Allah, He overcomes him. He who tries to deceive Allah, He outwits him. In a near future if you get the authority then do no mischief on the earth and do not cut off your blood relations.
"I recommend you to do good to the Helpers. They are those who prepared the lodging and faith for you. So you should behave them well.
"Did they not divide with you their fruits equally? Did they not make space for you in their houses? Did they not prefer you to themselves while poverty was with them?'
"Lo, men will increase in number, but the Helpers will decrease to the extent that they will be among men as salt in food. They are my family with whom I took my shelter; they are my sandals; and they are my paunch in which I eat. So observe me in them.
"By Him in Whose hand is my life, verily I love you; verily the Helpers have done what was on them and there remains what is on you.
"So he who from among you gets power in any matter and becomes able to do harm to people therein or to do good to others therein, then he should appreciate one of them who does well and should overlook one of them who does bad. Lo, do not be selfish about them.
"Behold, I shall precede you; I will be your witness and you are to meet me. Lo, the 'Haud' is your meeting place. By Allah, just now, I see my 'Haud' from here.
"Beware, he who likes to come to it along with me to-morrow, should hold back his hand and tongue except from necessary matters."
"Lo, I have, indeed, been given the keys of the treasures of the earth. By Allah, I do not fear for you that you will turn polytheists after me. But I fear for you that you will be entangled in them, then you will fight one another and will perish like those who perished before you.
"O people, verily the sins spoil the blessings and change the lots. When the people are good, their rulers do good to them and when the people are bad, they oppress them." Then he said: "There may be some rights which I owe to you and I am nothing but a human being. So if there be any man whose honour I have injured a bit, here is my honour; he may retaliate.
"Whosoever he may be if I have wounded a bit of his skin, here is my skin; He may retaliate.
"Whosoever he may be, if I have taken anything from his property, here is my property; so he may take. Know that he, among you, is more loyal to me who has got such a thing and takes it or absolves me; then I meet my Lord while I am absolved.
"Nobody should say, I fear enmity and grudge of the Apostle of Allah. Verily these things are not in my nature and character. He whose passion has overcome him in aught, should seek help from me so that I may pray for him."