The last sermon of ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, which he delivered from the pulpit of the grand mosque in Damascus (في آخر خطبة خطبها عمر بن عبد العزيز من منبر الجامع الكبير في دمشق قال):
إنكم لم تخلقوا عبثاً ولن تتركوا سدى، وإن لكم معاداً ينزل الله فيه للفصل بين عباده
Verily you were not created in vain, nor will you be abandoned without accounting for your deeds. Indeed for you there is an appointed time in which Allāh will judge between His slaves.
فقد خاب وخسر من خرج من رحمة الله التي وسعت كل شيء وحرم جنة عرضها السموات والأرض
Wretched and ruined is the one who leaves the mercy of Allāh, a mercy which encompasses all things. Ruined is the one who will be denied a Garden which is as wide as the heavens and the earth.
ألا ترون أنكم في أسلاب الهالكين، وسيرثها بعدكم الباقون، كذلك حتى ترد إلى خير الوارثين
Do you not see that you are on the path of destruction? Those who follow you will inherit this earth, until it will be granted to the best of inheritors.
وفي كل يوم تشيعون غادياً ورائحاً إلى الله، قد قضى نحبه، وانقضى أجله، فتودعونه وتدعونه في صدع من الأرض غير موسد ولا ممهد
Every day you carry your dead, returning to Allāh. Indeed he has fulfilled his covenant, and come to the end of his time. So you bid farewell to him, and place him in the crevice of the earth, without a cushion, without a cradle.
قد خلع الأسباب، وفارق الأحباب، وسكن التراب، وواجه الحساب، غنياً عما خلف، فقيراً إلى ما أسلف
Indeed his reason for living has gone, and he is parted from his loved ones; residing in the dust, waiting to face the reckoning. He is rich in what he has left behind in this world, poor in his provisions for the Hereafter.
فاتقوا الله عباد الله قبل نزول الموت وانقضاء مواقيته، وأني لأقول لكم هذه المقالة وما أعلم عند أحد من الذنوب مما أعلم عندي، ولكن أستغفر الله وأتوب إليه
So fear Allāh, and worship Allāh, before death descends upon you, and your appointed time comes to an end. And verily I say this, not knowing anyone with more sins than I, but I seek Allāh's forgiveness and I ask for His repentance.
ثم رفع طرف ردائه وبكى حتى شهق ثم نزل فما عاد إلى المنبر بعدها حتى مات
Then he raised the side of his garment to cover his face and he cried, until he sobbed profusely. Then he descended from the pulpit, never to go back to it until he died. May Allāh have mercy on him.
