The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, did not speak to the devil during the Farewell Sermon

7-11-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

As Salaamu alaykum A sister mentioned that she read in the last sermon of the Prophet SAAW that he spoke to the devil is that accurate? I had never heard that before. Jazaka Allah khairn Was Salaamu alaikum

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

As far as we know, nothing has been reported about what your friend has mentioned. However, it was reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said in his Farewell Sermon: “Verily, Satan has lost all hope that the worshippers would ever worship (him), but he (is hopeful that he) would sow the seeds of dissension among you....” [Muslim and Ahmad] This does not mean that he saw or spoke to the devil.

Nonetheless, it was reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, spoke to the devil cursing him while he was praying, but this was not in the Farewell Sermon. Abu Ad-Dardaa’  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him relates: “The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, stood up (to pray) and we heard him say: “I seek refuge in Allaah from you.” Then he said: “I curse you with Allaah's curse” three times, then he stretched out his hand as though he was taking hold of something. When he finished the prayer, we said: “O Messenger of Allaah, we heard you say something during the prayer which we had never heard you say before, and we saw you stretching out your hand.” He replied: “Allaah’s enemy Iblees (Satan, the devil) came with a flame of fire to put it in my face, so I said three times, ‘I seek refuge in Allaah from you.’ Then I said three times: ’I curse you with Allaah's full curse.’ But he did not retreat (on any one of these three occasions). Thereafter I meant to seize him. I swear by Allaah that had it not been for the supplication of my brother Sulaymaan (Solomon), he would have been bound, and made an object of sport for the children of Madeenah to play with.” [Muslim and An-Nasaa’i]

Besides, Abu Hurayrah  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “An ‘Ifreet (a strong one) among the Jinn escaped last night to interrupt my prayer, but Allaah gave me power over him, so I seized him and intended to tie him to one of the pillars of the mosque in order that all of you might look at him, but I remembered the supplication of my brother Sulayman: {My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me}.

Allaah Knows best.

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