From Saud ibn Abdulaziz to all his Muslim brothers gathered with him in Mina for the performance of the rites
(Mina, 11 Dhu al‑Ḥijjah 1374 AH / 31 July 1955 CE)
In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.
I pray that God make this pilgrimage accepted, your striving rewarded, and your sins forgiven. I praise before you God, Who has completed upon us His greatest blessing by granting us success in performing this mighty obligation in this sacred land and on this blessed Friday.
Razin relates from Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Zakariyyā that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “The best of days is the Day of ʿArafah, and if it coincides with Friday, it is better than seventy pilgrimages performed on any other day.”
Praise be to God, abundantly, for granting me and you the honor of witnessing this exalted day, which this year coincided with the noble Friday. This is a blessing upon us and a divine success that obliges us to thank and praise Him as He deserves. O God, accept from us and from you our prayers, our supplications, and our pilgrimage, and make all our words and deeds sincerely for Your noble Face.
Before long, you will complete the rites and fulfill the sacred ceremonies of the pilgrimage. With that, our greatest duty—commanded by God and facilitated by Him—will be fulfilled.
Soon each of you will prepare to return to his family and homeland, and I pray from the depths of my heart that you reach them in goodness, health, and well‑being. As we gather in these days—the Days of Tashrīq—I wish to remind you that each of us must devote his worship sincerely to God, and upon returning home must adorn himself with the Islamic virtues befitting one who has performed this blessed obligation: enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, supporting noble character, calling to God with insight and wisdom, and exerting whatever effort he can in word and deed.
My Muslim brothers, among the most binding duties upon each of us is to work for the unity of the Islamic nation, to gather its ranks, to cultivate mutual counsel, and to strengthen affection among its members. Let each person begin with himself—rectifying his own soul upon truth, purity, and noble character. Then let him begin with those under his care, establishing families grounded in Islamic morals, from which arises the great Islamic society we all seek and strive for. The Islamic world will not rise unless Muslims correct what has been corrupted within themselves and straighten what has become crooked. Honor belongs to God, His Messenger, and the believers, and there is no honor for divided, ignorant, and corrupt nations.
Among your most beloved duties today is that each Muslim acquaint himself with a number of his brothers from different lands and regions, thereby fulfilling one of the great divine purposes of the pilgrimage: that Muslims come to know one another. Knowledge and acquaintance are among the strongest means of cooperation and solidarity in life.
Let each of us pledge before God—before we depart from these sacred sites—to work for the cause of Islam, to strive in its service, to call to it, and to defend it. Let every Muslim, wherever he may be, become a sincere soldier for this faith, striving for this creed, making of himself the virtuous Muslim who works so that the word of God may be supreme, and so that Muslims may become one strong, enlightened, rising, guiding nation—fulfilling its sacred mission of elevating humanity, refining it, and guiding it to truth, justice, and peace.
Upon these principles we must part from this sacred land, and upon these ideals we must all cooperate—each in his own country. If we do so, Islam will regain its strength in the world, its word will be honored, its banner raised high, and we will have rendered to humanity a great and noble service.
Let those present convey this message to those absent, and let each of us begin with himself before others.
God alone is capable of granting us and you what we hope for and seek. As I bid you farewell on your journey back to your families and homelands, I ask Him, exalted be He, to accept from me and from you this obligation He enabled us to perform, and to make it purely and sincerely for His noble Face. He is the Lord of piety and forgiveness.
Peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.