Ghadire Khumm

GHADIR E KHUMM

Date

Doa oh Ghadir

Event Backdrop

Geographical location of Ghadir

After the Last pilgrimage

Revelation of the verse 5:3

Hasan Bin Thabit’s poetry

Oath of allegiance

Revelation of the verse 70:1-3

Excuses & Rebuttals

   Doa oh Ghadir:

In The name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

 O Allah I beseech Thee (alone), because, verily, to Thee belongs (all) praise; Thou art Single, has no partner, One, Unique, eternally besought Independent, neither begets, nor begotten, and there is none comparable unto Thee; and Muhammad is Thy servant and Messenger, Thy blessings be on him and on his children. 

O He who, every day, exercises (universal) power, so (it was) under Thy mandate I was taken care of, and because of which I am among those who receive Thy response, follow thy religion, and call Thee (alone).

Thou assisted me like this right from the day I was born, through Thy favours, generosity and kindness, thereafter, Thy favours followed one another in succession, and likewise, also Thy rewards and mercy, in such a manner that Thou, again and again, kept (the uninterrupted flow of favours, rewards and bounties) reactivated since my birth. 

May be I was slow, forgetful, neglectful, careless and indolent, but Thou completed Thy favours, and always thought of me in this connection (granting of favours), bestowed them on me, directed me into their direction, so by Thy power it is as it should be O my God, Master, and Lord, Thou brought (Thy favours) to fullness, did not withdraw (any blessing), till I breathed my last amid those (advantages), Thou was pleased with me, verily Thou art the worthiest of all who grant favours, and it is Thou who perfected Thy bounties for me. 

O Allah we paid attention, obeyed, and responded to Thy call, (and it was also Thy favour to us) therefore, praise is for Thee (alone), we seek Thy pardon O our Lord, and unto Thee we shall return. We believe in "One Allah who has no partner", and in His Messenger, Muhammad, blessings of Allah be on him and on his children. 

We stand up for and comply with Allah's command, and follow the example of the Messenger in the matter of Love and friendship to our "Mawlaa" and "Mawlaa" of the believers, the commander of the faithfuls, Ali ibna abi Taalib, the servant of Allah, the brother of His Messenger, the renowned truthful, the decisive argument over mankind, through whom, the Almighty helped and supported His Prophet and His manifest true religion, the sign (pattern) of the divine system of life, approved by Allah, the all-aware custodian of His wisdom, the repository (being absorbed by the contemplation) of transcendental things, the depository of Allah's secrets, the confidant whom Allah trusted wholly with the affairs of all that which has been created by Him, the witness who bore witness to Him in the midst of His creation. 

O Allah, our Lord - Nourisher, verily we have heard a "crier" calling unto faith: "Believe you in your Lord!" So we believed.

 Our Lord! Therefore forgive us our sins, and remit from us our evil deeds, and make us die the death of the righteous. 

 Our Lord! And give us that which Thou has promised to us by Thy Messengers, confound us not on the Day of Judgement, verily, Thou does not break the tryst (promise to answer him who prays). 

So, O our Lord, it was Thy kindness and a favour that we acted in answer to Thy call and do exactly as Thy Messenger did, taking his words as true, which proves our belief that (Ali) is the "Mawlaa" of (all) the believers: and we also denied and rejected "Jibt" and "Taghoot", the idols representing ignorance and let he (Ali) be our "most loving guardian", acceptance of whose authority (wilayat) has distinguished us, and raise us on the occasion of "the last judgement" in the company of our Imams' for this reason we believe in them, rely on them, and obey them. 

 Whether alone, or in public, we are certain of them; (we have total faith in them) under all circumstances, in their absence, during their lifetime, in the event of their death. 

We are happy to have them as our guides and leaders, they are sufficient for us as a link between us and Allah, in exclusion of others, we do not accept any one in exchange as their substitute, nor take to any one, except them, for intimate friendship. 

We turn to Allah, disassociating ourselves from the group of men and jinn who carried on hostilities against them in every age. We deny and reject Jibt, Taghoot and the four idols, (and condemn) their henchmen and their followers, and every one, man or jin, who at any time, till eternity, patronize them (the idols), 

O Allah we request Thee to be our witness that we were upright and firm in religion in the light of that which Muhammad and his children had set forth, blessings of Allah be on him and on them; our opinion agrees with that which they declared reasonable, our approach to religion is exactly the same which they taught by practice, whatever they said we say, we cherish that which they held dear, we deny that which they denied, we are fond of whomsoever they loved, we hold as an enemy whomsoever they opposed, we condemn whomsoever they censured, we detest whomsoever they disliked, we are kind to whomsoever they treated with kindness. 

We believe in, submit to, agree with, and follow in the footsteps of our masters, blessings of Allah be on them, 

O Allah keep us in this condition for ever, never withdraw it from us, let it stay stable with us, not as a passing phase. Keep us alive always in this manner so far we are kept alive, make us die likewise when the time comes: "Aali Muhammad", our Imams, so following them as an example, befriending them only, being hostile to their enemies, who in fact are Thy enemies, therefore, let us be with them, in this world and in the Hereafter, and be among the favourites, because this alone will given us happiness, O the Most Merciful of all who show mercy!

   Geographical location of Ghadir:

Ghadir literary means small lake or pond (Ref. Al-Munjid). Ghadir is the name of a place that comes on the way from Makkah to Medina. It is 3 miles further than Johfa towards Medina. There existed a small pond at this place. Though geographically it exists on the way to Medina but this place acted as an exit point for all the people going out from Makkah for all the other places. When the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) halted at this place after his last pilgrimage to make his all-significant announcement it was extremely hot at that time and it was close to mid-day. It was a wayside tract of barren land. There was no shelter present over there at that time. In fact there existed merely small minor patches of shades provided by a few acacia trees.

   Date:

The date is 18th Zilhajjah of the year 10 A.H. (10 March 632 CE)

     Event Backdrop:

The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) asked his companions to call the Muslims in general to attend for a pilgrimage to the Holy Kaaba. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) specified that he himself would also be there to attend for the pilgrimage and teach the Muslims the rituals of the pilgrimage and convey his significant messages directly to all. The call for the pilgrimage was made. On his way to Makkah more than 70,000 Muslims joined him. By the fourth of Zilhajjah more than 100,000 Muslims had collected for the Haj with the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.).

     After the Last pilgrimage:

After completing the last pilgrimage the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) along with the Muslims set out of Makkah. On their way back the Muslims reached a place called Ghadir-e-khumm. The following verse was revealed to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.): "O Apostle! Deliver what has been sent down to you from your Lord; and if you don't do it, you have not delivered His message (at all); and Allah will protect you from the people ..." (Quran 5:67)

Delivery of the sermon:

On receiving the above verse, the Holy Prophet stopped at that very place called Ghadir-e-khumm. He ordered his companions to call back those of the Muslims who had gone ahead. He waited for those Muslims who had remained behind to join them. He ordered Salman (A.R.) to prepare for a pulpit with the help of rocks and camel toolings. It was prime noontime and Muslims had tied their heads and legs on account of the heat. Muslims had started to sit near the temporary pulpit. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) was at this place for about 5 hours. He recited nearly 100 verses of the Holy Quran most of which were in the praise of Ali (A.S.). Seventy three times he reminded and admonished the Muslims about their deeds and future.

The following is a part of the lengthy speech of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) which has also been narrated by the sunni authorities repeatedly:

"It seems the time has approached when I shall be called away (by Allah) and I shall answer that call. I am leaving for you two precious things and if you adhere to them both, you will never go astray after me. They are the Book of Allah and my Progeny that is my Ahlul Bayt. The two shall never separate from each other until they come to me by the Pool (of Paradise)." Then the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) in an attempt to remind Muslims of his own authority over them said: "Do I not have more right over the believers than what they have over themselves?" Muslims answered unanimously "Yes, O' Messenger of God ". This served as a stepping stone for the announcement of his hier and vicegerent. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) held out the hand of Ali (A.S.) and said: "For whomever I am his Leader (mawla), 'Ali is his Leader (mawla)." The Holy Prophet then continued to say: "O' God, love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile to him."

    Revelation of the verse 5:3

Once the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) completed his speech this verse of the Holy Quran was revealed to him: " Today I have perfected your religion and completed my favour upon you, and I am satisfied that Islam be your religion." (5:3). This verse explicitly mentions that only along with this express announcement of the vicegerancy by the Holy Prophet(S.A.W.) can the religion of Islam be considered as complete and perfect. Without this announcement or because of the disregard of this announcement the religion of Islam will be merely half truth. As indicated earlier many a time's half truths are more dangerous than full falsehoods. No doubt if the Muslims disregard this announcement they will have to endure oppression and hardship both materially and spiritually.

    Hassan Bin Thabit's poetry:

Immediately after completion of the sermon Hassan Bin Thabit sought the permission of the Holy Prophet to convey to the audience his poetry which he had instantaneously composed regarding this event of ghadir. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) told him "Say with the blessings of Allah ". He then conveyed the following verses of his poetry to the audience:
"He calls them, (on) the day of Ghadir, their Prophet

In Khumm so hear (and heed) the Messenger's call,

He said: "Who is your guide and leader? (mawlakum wa waliyyukum)"

They said, and there was no apparent blindness (clearly):

"Your God, our guide, and you are our leader

And you won't find from among us, in this, any disobedient,"

He said to him: "Stand up O' Ali, for I am

Pleased to announce you Imam and guide after me (min ba'di imam(an) wa hadiy(an)),

So whomever I was his leader (mawla), then this is his leader (mawla)

So be to him supporters in truth and followers,"

    Oath of allegiance:

The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) keeping to his long term merciful nature towards the Muslims did not get content only on this announcement. He wanted this announcement to take the shape of appropriate action from the side of the Muslims. In lieu of this the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) ordered the Muslims to meet Ali (A.S.) and give oath of allegiance to him. Umar Bin AL-Khattab came first to Ali (A.S.), gave oath of allegiance to Ali (A.S.) and said "Well done Ibn Abi Talib! Today you became the Leader (mawla) of all believing men and women." After Umar was Abu Bakr, Uthman, Talha and then others. The entire process of giving allegiance to Ali (A.S.) by the then present 120,000 people took 3 days.

     Revelation of the verse 70:1-3 :

The news about the above announcement and the subsequent allegiance of oath given by the Muslims to Ali (A.S.) spread across both the urban and rural areas. This event was so significant that it touched the Muslims all across the globe. In this process Harith Ibn Nu'man al-Fahri (or Nadhr Ibn Harith according to another tradition) came to know about this. He hurriedly came to Madinah and started disputing with the Holy Peophet(S.A.W.) on the issue of appointment of Ali(A.S.) as the vicegerant. He told the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.)"You commanded us to testify that there is no deity but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah. We obeyed you. You ordered us to perform the prayers five times a day and we obeyed. You ordered us to observe fasts during the month of Ramadhan and we obeyed. Then you commanded us to offer pilgrimage to Makkah and we obeyed. But you are not satisfied with all this and you raised your cousin by your hand and imposed him upon us as our master by saying `Ali is the mawla of whom I am mawla.' Is this imposition from Allah or from you?"

The Prophet (S.A.W.) said: "By Allah who is the only deity! This is from Allah, the Mighty and the Glorious." On hearing this while going back to his she camel Harith said "O Allah! If what Muhammad said is correct then fling on us a stone from the sky and subject us to severe pain and torture." He had not even reached his she camel that Allah (S.W.T.) flung a stone on him who struck him on his head and penetrated his entire body and he was instantaneously left dead. At this the following verse was revealed "A questioner questioned about the punishment to fall. For the disbelievers there is nothing to avert it, from Allah the Lord of the Ascent." (70:1-3).

We have mentioned above the entire episode of the Ghadir. But unfortunately even after knowing and understanding the entire truth we see heads move in rejecting the truth. There are basically 3 excuses which the opponents offer. Though these excuses are self-evident to be no more than futile excuses but we will deal with them in detail so that the opponents are left with no shelter place.

    Excuses:

1. The tradition of Ghadir is not reliable and authentic.

2. The word Maula used in the tradition does not imply master but it means friend. Hence the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) actually announced about the friendship of Ali (A.S.) on the day of Ghadir and not about mastership of Ali (A.S.).

3. It does not appeal to our common sense that the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) appointed Ali (A.S.) as his successor in clear terms and still the companions of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) disobeyed him and after his death appointed a vicegerent by themselves.

We will deal with each one of the above excuses separately and in such details as to dispel all doubts and lay bare the mischief of the mischief-makers.