Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
I pray that God may grant us a pilgrimage that is accepted, an effort that is rewarded, and a sin that is forgiven. I praise before you God Almighty, who has bestowed upon us His greatest blessing by granting us success in performing this noble rite in these sacred lands, and on this blessed Friday.
It is related by Razīn, from Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Zakariyyā, from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—that he 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.”
So praise be to God, abundantly and continuously, for granting me and you the honor of witnessing this exalted day, which has coincided with the blessed Friday. This is a grace upon us and a divine favor that leaves us with no choice but to thank Him, praise Him, and extol 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 devoted to Your noble countenance.
Before long, you will have completed the rites and fulfilled the sacred obligations of the pilgrimage. With that, our greatest duty—commanded by God and facilitated by Him—will have been accomplished.
Each of you will soon 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. For this reason, as we gather in these days—the Days of Tashrīq—I wish to remind you that every one of us must devote his worship sincerely to God, and that upon returning home he should adorn himself with the noble Islamic virtues befitting one who has performed this blessed duty: enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, supporting virtuous conduct, calling to God with insight and wisdom, and exerting all possible effort—through word and deed—in this path.
Let my Muslim brothers know that among the most binding obligations upon each of us is to work for the unity of the Islamic nation, to bring its ranks together, to offer sincere counsel, and to strengthen affection among its members. Let each person begin with himself—rectifying his conduct upon truth, purity, and noble character—then extend this to his household, striving to build families grounded in the ethics of Islam. From such families arises the great Islamic society to which we all aspire and for which we all labor.
The Islamic world will not rise unless Muslims reform what has been corrupted within themselves and straighten what has become crooked. For honor belongs to God, His Messenger, and the believers, and there is no honor for nations that are divided, ignorant, and morally decayed.
Among your most cherished duties today is that each Muslim acquaint himself with a number of his brothers from various 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 mutual support and cooperation in life.
Let each of us pledge before God—before we depart from these sacred places—that he will work for the cause of Islam, strive to serve it, advocate for it, and defend it; that wherever he may be, he will be a sincere soldier for this faith, laboring so that the word of God may be supreme; and that Muslims may become one strong, enlightened, rising, guiding nation, fulfilling its sacred mission of elevating humanity, refining it, and directing it toward truth, justice, and peace.
Upon these principles we must part from these holy lands, 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 exalted, its banner raised high, and we will have rendered a great service and immense benefit to all humanity.
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 homes and families, I again ask Him, exalted be He, to accept from me and from you this pilgrimage which He enabled us to perform, and to make it purely and sincerely for His sake. He is the Lord of piety and forgiveness.
Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
Mina, 11 Dhū al‑Ḥijjah 1374 AH — 31 July 1955
From “King Saud: His Speeches and Addresses,” by Fu’ād Shākir