It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) set out for Tabuk, people began to lag behind. The Companions would say: "O Messenger of Allah! So-and-so has stayed behind." He (peace and blessings be upon him) would say: "Leave him. If there is any good in him, Allah will bring him to join you; and if it is otherwise, Allah has relieved you of him." Until it was said: "O Messenger of Allah! Abu Dharr has stayed behind; his camel has slowed him down." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Leave him. If there is any good in him, Allah will bring him to join you; and if it is otherwise, Allah has relieved you of him." Meanwhile Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) waited a little for his camel, but it remained slow. When he was getting delayed, he took up his belongings, loaded them on his back and set off on foot following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had halted at a certain place when an onlooker saw him and said: "O Messenger of Allah! Here is a man walking along the road." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Would that it were Abu Dharr!" When the people looked carefully, they exclaimed: "O Messenger of Allah! By Allah, it is indeed Abu Dharr!" Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "May Allah have mercy on Abu Dharr. He walks alone, he will die alone, and he will be raised alone." Then time passed, and Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) was moved to al-Rabadhah. When his death approached, he instructed his wife and his slave: "When I die, wash me, shroud me, then carry me and place me at the edge of the highway, and say to the first caravan that passes by you: 'This is Abu Dharr.'" When he died, they did so. Suddenly a caravan appeared, and they did not notice until their mounts had nearly reached the bier. In that caravan, with a group of the people of Kufah, was Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him). They asked: "What is this?" They were told that it was the funeral of Abu Dharr. At this Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) burst into tears and said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke the truth: "May Allah have mercy on Abu Dharr. He walks alone, he will die alone, and he will be raised alone." Then he dismounted and took charge of his burial himself until he had buried him. When they reached Madinah, the words of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud and his burial (of Abu Dharr) were mentioned before the Commander of the Believers Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). This hadith has an authentic (sahih) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.

It is narrated from Jumay' bin Umayr al-Laythi that he said: I came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and asked him about Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), and he rebuked me. Then he said: "Shall I not tell you about Ali? This is the house of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the Mosque, and this is the house of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) with Surah Bara'ah to the people of Makkah. They set off, and they saw a rider. They asked: 'Who is this?' He said: 'I am Ali.' Ali said: 'O Abu Bakr! Hand over the document (letter) that you have with you.' Abu Bakr asked: 'O Ali! Has something happened concerning me?' Ali said: 'By Allah! I know nothing but good.' So Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) took the document and went off with it, while Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) returned to Madinah and said: 'O Messenger of Allah! What is the matter concerning us?' He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'There is nothing for you but good, but I have been told that none shall convey (this message) on your behalf except you yourself or a man from you.'" This hadith is shadhdh (anomalous), and the cause of its weakness is Jumay' bin Umayr and, after him, Ishaq bin Bishr.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and ordered him to proclaim these words, then he sent Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) after him. Abu Bakr was still on the way when he heard the grunting of the she-camel of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He came out in alarm, thinking that perhaps the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had come, but it was Ali. Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) gave him the written instruction of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), in which Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) had been appointed leader of the Hajj and Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) had been ordered to proclaim these words. So Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up during the days of Tashriq and proclaimed: "Indeed, Allah and His Messenger are free of (all obligations to) the polytheists" [Surah al-Tawbah: 3] , and "So travel freely in the land for four months" [Surah al-Tawbah: 2] , and that after this year no polytheist shall perform Hajj, no one shall circumambulate the House (the Ka'bah) naked, and none shall enter Paradise except a believer. Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) kept making this proclamation, and when his voice grew hoarse, Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) would stand and call out. This hadith has an authentic (sahih) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.

It is narrated from Zayd bin Yuthay' that he said: We asked Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): "With what were you sent during that Hajj?" He said: "I was sent with four things: that none shall enter Paradise except a believer; that no one shall circumambulate the House (the Ka'bah) naked; that after this year a believer and a disbeliever shall not gather together in the Sacred Mosque; and that whoever has a covenant with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it remains valid until its term, and whoever has no covenant, he has a respite of four months." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), but they did not record it.

Salamah bin Nu'aym bin Mas'ud narrates from his father that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) speak when the messenger of Musaylimah the Liar came with his letter. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked the two messengers: "Do you two also say what he (Musaylimah) says?" They said: "Yes." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By Allah! Were it not that messengers are not killed, I would have struck off both your necks." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Imam Muslim, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.

Al-Qasim bin Abd al-Rahman narrates from his father that a man came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "O Abu Abd al-Rahman! There are some people here who recite according to the recitation of Musaylimah (the Liar)." Abdullah said: "Can there be, after Islam has spread, any book other than the Book of Allah, or any messenger other than the Messenger of Allah?" He sent him back. The man came again and said: "O Abdullah! By the One besides whom there is no god, they are in that house reciting the recitation of Musaylimah, and they have with them a mushaf in which the words of Musaylimah are written." This was during the caliphate of Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). Abdullah said to Qarazah, who was the head of the cavalry: "Go and surround that house and bring those who are in it." He did so and brought eighty men. Abdullah said to them: "Woe to you! Is there any book other than the Book of Allah, or any messenger other than the Messenger of Allah?" They said: "We repent to Allah; we have wronged ourselves." So Abdullah let them go and did not fight them; rather he exiled them to Syria, except their ringleader Ibn al-Nawwahah, who refused to repent. Then Abdullah said to Qarazah: "Go and strike off his neck and throw his head into his mother's lap, for I think his mother knew of this deed of his." So he did so. Then Abdullah began narrating and said: "This man (Ibn al-Nawwahah) and Ibn Uthal came as messengers from Musaylimah to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him: 'Do you bear witness that I am the Messenger of Allah?' He retorted to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): 'Do you bear witness that Musaylimah is the messenger of Allah?' The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Were you not a messenger, I would have killed you.' And from that day the sunnah was established that a messenger is not killed." This hadith has an authentic (sahih) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) met Musaylimah (the Liar), and Musaylimah said to him: "Do you bear witness that I am the messenger of Allah?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I believe in Allah and His messengers." Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "This is a man who has been left behind for the destruction of his people." This hadith has an authentic (sahih) chain of narration, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that Banu Sa'd bin Bakr sent Dimam bin Tha'labah to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He came to us, made his camel kneel at the door of the Mosque and tied it, then entered the Mosque, where the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting with his Companions. He asked: "Which of you is the son of Abd al-Muttalib?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I am the son of Abd al-Muttalib." He asked: "Muhammad?" He said: "Yes." He said: "O Muhammad! I am going to ask you questions and I will be somewhat harsh in my questioning, so do not be displeased with me in your heart, for I personally bear no ill will in my heart." He said: "Ask whatever is on your mind." He said: "I ask you by Allah, who is your God, the God of those before you and the God of those who will come after you: Is it Allah who has sent you to us as a Messenger?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Allah, yes." He said: "I ask you by Allah, who is your God, the God of those before you and the God of those who will come after you: Has Allah commanded you that we should worship Him alone, not associate anything with Him, and abandon these idols and rivals that our forefathers used to worship?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Allah, yes." Then he mentioned the obligations of Islam one by one, including prayer, zakah, fasting and Hajj, asking about each obligation by Allah just as he had asked before, until when he had finished he said: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that you are His servant and Messenger. I will fulfil these obligations and avoid the things you have forbidden me, neither adding to them nor taking away from them." Then he turned back towards his camel, and as he turned his back the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If this man with the two braids is truthful, he will certainly enter Paradise." Dimam was a man of sturdy build, with a thick beard and two braids. Then he came to his camel, untied its rope and went to his people. People gathered around him, and the first thing he did was to begin reviling the idols al-Lat and al-Uzza. The people said: "O Dimam! Stop! Fear their curse, leprosy, elephantiasis and madness." He said: "Woe to you! By Allah, these idols can neither harm nor benefit. Allah has sent a Messenger and revealed a Book to him, by which He has rescued you from the superstitions in which you were caught. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is His servant and Messenger. I have brought you from him the commands he has given and the things he has forbidden." So, by Allah, before evening fell that day there was not a single man or woman in their settlement who had not become Muslim. Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says: We have never heard of a delegate to his people better than Dimam bin Tha'labah. The two Shaykhs agreed on the narration of Dimam's arrival in Madinah, but neither of them narrated this hadith in such detail, and this hadith is sahih (authentic).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed Hajj in the tenth year after his arrival in Madinah, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) performed Hajj al-Ifrad.

It is narrated from Sufyan that he said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed Hajj several times before the Hijrah, and after the Hijrah he performed only the Farewell Hajj. The total number of his sacrificial animals was one hundred camels, among which was a camel with a silver ring in its nose. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) slaughtered sixty-three camels with his own blessed hand, and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) slaughtered the rest. Al-Thawri was asked: Whose narration is this? He said: Ja'far bin Muhammad from his father, from Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him); and Ibn Abi Layla from al-Hakam, from Miqsam, from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). Imam al-Hakim says: As for the narrated hadiths that explain the Farewell Hajj, the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) agreed on recording them with authentic chains on their conditions, and the most authentic and most complete of them is the hadith of Ja'far bin Muhammad al-Sadiq from his father from Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him), which Imam Muslim alone recorded. By the will of Allah Almighty and His help, we have now reached the account of the beginning of the final illness of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).