Indeed ghadeer is
the greatest eid for the believers as said by our sixth imam, Hazrat
Jafar ibne mohammed (a.s ) - this is the greatest eid from the side of Allah.
HE has not raised any prophet but they have considered this day as eid.
Tehzib ul ahkam
volume 3 page 143
We shias who take
this day as the greatest eid and celebrate in it, do we understand our
responsibilities towards this most important incident? Do we realize that
the believers of the last time were also addressed by the holy Prophet sawa on 18th
zilhaj 10 AH? Do we know towards which bayat have we been invited since
that day of ghadeer?
As per the instructions of imam sadiq a.s the day of ghadeer is
called as يوم العهد و المعهود - the day of promise of promised one
And in the earth is called as يوم الميثاق المأخوذ
The day of the
undertaken promise.
That
covenant and promise which the people of heaven and earth recognize due to
gadhir, is which covenant?
Is it not the same
promise for which Allah the Almighty has said in surah baqarah:40 - that you
fulfill My promise? Has imam sadiq a.s not said that: we are the promise
of Allah then whoever fulfills our promise fulfills the promise of Allah. Kafi
volume 1 page 221 tradition 3.
The only remnant of
this promise who is still alive on the surface of this earth is the same imam
for who's ziyarat we say
السلام عليك يا ميثاق الله
الذي أخذه و وكده
He Is our last
master who on the day of ghadeer was introduced by name and his attributes and
his master-ship was also made obligatory upon the people.
But
it is a regret that majority of the masses and even some of his shias do not
know about this covenant, and are unaware of the method of doing his
bayat. Thus from this aspect it is necessary upon us to continuously increase
our recognition of the promise of gadheer so that we can fulfill it in the best
possible manner.
Let us now looks at
the conditions of this covenant that the Holy Prophet (sawa) took from people
on the day of Ghadeer:
Oh people indeed Ali
is your Imam after me and is my successor upon you. He is my successor, my vazir,
my brother and the husband of my daughter and the father of my sons and is the
possessor of shafaet and Hawz and my flag barer. Any one who denies him has denied
me. And any one who denies me has denied Allah (AJ). Any one who agrees with
his Imamat has agreed upon my Prophethood, and anyone who agrees with my
Prophet-hood has accepted the tawheed of Allah.
Oh People whoever
disobeys Ali has disobeyed me and any
one who has disobeyed me has disobeyed Allah (aj). And any one who has obeyed Ali has obeyed me
and any one who obeyed me has obeyed Allah.
Oh people any one
who by his words or deeds opposes Ali has opposed me and any one who has
opposed me has opposed Allah (aj)
Oh people
anyone who appoints anyone as an Imam in
the place of Ali (a.s) surely he has placed some one in my place of
prophet-hood, and any one who has selected some one other than me in the place
of prophet-hood has appointed a God in place of Allah (aj)...
If we ponder in the
above portion of the sermon of Ghadeer it becomes transparent to us that someone who has not accepted
Ali (a.s) and the rightful successors of the Holy Prophet (sawa) as
the Imam then his prophet-hood and Tawheed is also incorrect, then there remains
no scope of just 5% difference between us and those who deny the imamamt of the
rightful Imamas (a.s).
Whatever the Holy
Prophet (sawa) has said concerning Ali (a.s) and the covenant towards him holds
true for all the Imams (a.s) from his progeny till the day of judgement. And
anyone who wishes to fulfill this covenant in any era should be able to
accomplish it. After pronouncing the
above mentioned conditions of the covenant, the Prophet (sawa) explained the
verse of Quran thus:
ايها الناس اوفوا بعهد الله
في علي يوف لكم في الجنة يوم القيامة
Oh people
fulfill the covenant of Allah concerning Ali (a.s) he shall fulfill for you the
promise of paradise on the day of judgement
When we
compare these conditions along with the statement of the Holy Prophet (sawa)
concerning the domain of this covenant, it becomes clear that this covenant is
for all the people till the day of judgement, that they fulfill their promise
of Imamat:
وقد بلغت ما امرت بتبليغه حجة على كل حاضر وغائب
وعلى كل احد ممن شهد او لم يشهد ولد او لم يولد فليبلغ الحاضر الغائب والوالد
الولد الى يوم القيامة
"and
certainly I have informed what I was
commanded concerning its message, it is an argument upon all present and
absent and upon everyone who testified or did not testify, born or yet to be
born, then those who are present should inform those absent and fathers should
inform the children till the day of judgement…"
Thus this
passing of the information of Ghadeer to the generations to come and to all
others present in our time is a responsibility on every one who has heard this
message as per the command of the Holy Prophet (sawa), and any type of
deviation in this command would result in no actions being accepted as per
the verse of Quran the ayate balligh…
Thus it
becomes necessary upon us to pass on the message of true Imamat of even the
Imam of our time as evident from the sermon of Ghadir:
الا ان خاتم الائمة منا
القائم المهدي
Know that
surely the Last of the Imams from us is the Qaim Al-Mahdi
الا انه ولي الله في ارضه وحكمه في خلقه وامينه في
سره وعلانيته
Know that
he is the wali of Allah on His earth and is His Judge on His creatures and is
His trustee for His secrets and His announcements
Lastly we
close our discussion by quoting two points from the sermon of ghdeer:
- Rejecting even one Imam from the Ahlebayt is like rejecting all the Imams:
فمن شك في ذلك فهو كافر كفر
الجاهلية الاولي، ومن شك في شيء من قولي هذا فقد شك في الكل منه
- It is obligatory upon every person to give his bayat to the Aimmah (a.s) by accepting this message of Ghadeer, even in this time and in every time
فأمرت ان اخذ البيعة منكم
والصفقة لكم بقبول ما جئت به عن الله عزوجل
