The Farewell Pilgrimage, also called the Balāgh ḥajj (the Pilgrimage of Conveyance) and Ḥajjat al-Islām (the Pilgrimage of Islam), was performed in the tenth year of the Hijra. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), during this pilgrimage, bade farewell to the people and did not perform any other pilgrimage thereafter. Since the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform any other pilgrimage while in Medina, it is also called Ḥajjat al-Islām. However, both before and after prophethood, but before the Hijra, he performed the pilgrimage several times. It is said that the obligation of the pilgrimage was established in the tenth year of the Hijra. The opinions of those who claim it was made obligatory in the ninth year, or in the sixth year, are considered odd.
This pilgrimage is also called the Balāgh ḥajj (the Pilgrimage of Conveyance), because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) conveyed the divine rulings regarding the pilgrimage to the people both verbally and through his actions. There remained nothing among the essential principles and rules of Islam that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had not clarified. After explaining and elucidating the rulings of the pilgrimage to the people, while standing at ʿArafa, the Exalted Allah revealed to him the following verse:
"This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion." (al-Māʾida 5:3)
The explanation of all these matters will be given later.
What we wish to describe is how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the Farewell Pilgrimage. For in this matter, the transmitters have reported many different and conflicting accounts according to the information that reached them. Especially after the Companions (ṣaḥāba), there have been extremely divergent disagreements. By Allah's praise, help, and gracious success, we will present the narrations transmitted by the imams on this matter. We will reconcile and harmonize these differing reports in a way that will bring comfort to the hearts of those who reflect, contemplate, and examine the subject deeply. We will establish a concordance that will bring healing to the hearts of those able to understand the meaning of the transmitted reports on this subject. God willing, we will achieve this. Our trust and reliance is upon Allah.
Many among the early and later scholars of sīra (biography of the Prophet) have given special importance to the Farewell Pilgrimage of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). The erudite Abū Muḥammad b. Ḥazm al-Andalusī wrote an entire volume on the Farewell Pilgrimage. He treated many parts of his book excellently. However, as we will explain in due course, he also had some misconceptions. In this matter, we seek the help of Allah.