Ghadeer in the light
of Holy Quran and Traditions
Thorugh the books of history it is
evident that people after the demise of Holy Prophet (SAWA) left the door of
Ameer ul momeneen – Imam Ali (as) despite the fact that he (SAWA) had on
numerous occasions announced the leadership and successorship of Ameer ul
momeneen – Imam Ali (a.s). The books of traditions are filled with hadees of
immediate successorship and mastership of Imam Ali (as) after Holy Prophet
(sawa) but this clear and evident command of Holy Prohet (sawa) was ignored to
its fullest due to the treacherous folks who were the so called companions of Holy
Prophet (sawa) and the result can be explicitly seen even in todays era where
the masses are still kept ignorant about the event of Ghadeer to an extent that
the majority among them have not heard the term itself or even if heard about
it, they have been misinformed about its authenticity and false claims have
been put that Ghadeer has no reality and has not been discussed in Quran. Our
aim of this article is to critically evaluate this false claim and analyze the
Quranic verse concerning Ghadeer in the books of tradition of Ahle Sunnat.
One can sight atleast three clear
verses from Quran concerning the event of Ghadeer but the pre condition is that
the spectacles of prejudice should be kept aside while analyzing these verses. The
most famous verse among these is the Ayat e Tableegh
The 67th
verse of Surah Maidah describes the events before the declaration of Imamat of Imam
Ali (a.s), the verse is as follows:
يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنْزِلَ
إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ وَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُ وَاللَّهُ
يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ (٦٧)
“O
Messenger. proclaim the (message) which hath been sent to Thee from Thy Lord.
if Thou Didst not, Thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission.
and Allah will defend Thee from men (Who mean mischief). for Allah guideth not
those who reject Faith.”
From the above ayat it is crystal clear that there was a message that
was reveled in the past to Holy Prophet (SAWA) whose deliverance was not easy
on Holy Prophet (SAWA). Then the above ayat was revealed and Holy Prophet
(SAWA) was assured of security.
And the tone of the above ayat is conditional and threatening that if
this was not delivered then it is as if the mission of prophethood was not done
(all the efforts Holy Prophet made in the way of tableegh made void), proves
the importance of the message.
And the delivery of this message could cause a harm which the prophet is
anticipating and Allah is giving amnesty to Prophet from the mischievous ones. It
is noteworthy that the courageous prophet did not fear for himself but this
fear was towards Islam and his prophethood.
The term النَّاسِ in the ayat does not
refer to kafirs as the word النَّاسِ
comprises of both momin and kafirs and is very generic. Hence it is necessary
that we enumerate those munafiqs in the time of Prophet (SAWA) in the scope of النَّاسِ
The most obvious question that comes to the mind of every person is what
could have been this critical message? Which would have upset the munafiqs? The
obvious answer to this is the mastership of Imam Ali (as) and if we check the
books of Ahle Sunnat to get the answers of the above questions the fact becomes
evident for us.
For the sake of brevity we will just bring one narration that is from Abu
Abdulah Husain bin Hakam in Tafsir Hebrii page 262:
نزلت في
عليّ عليه السّلام، أمر رسول اللّه صلّى اللّه عليه [و آله] أن يبلّغ فيه، فأخذ
رسول اللّه صلّى اللّه عليه [و آله] بيد عليّ عليه السّلام، فقال، «من كنت مولاه
فعليّ مولاه، اللّهمّ وال من والاه و عاد من عاداه»
Hebrii narrates from Hasan bin Hussain from Habban from Qalbii from Abi Saleh
from Ibne Abbas concerning the explanation of the above ayat says that this
ayat was revealed concerning Ali (a.s). Holy Prophet (SAWA) was commanded to
deliver what was revealed concerning him then he caught the hand of Ali (a.s)
and said: of whomsoever I am his master this Ali is his master, Oh Allah
befriend who befriends him and keep enemy who keeps him enemy. The chain of
narration of this hadees is considered moatabar near ahle sunnat.
Among the noted narrators of the Hadees e Ghadeer from the companions of
Holy Prophet (SAWA) near the Ahle Sunnat are as follows:
1) Zaid bin arkam –Al ghadeer volume 1 page 424
2) Abu saeed khudrii – tafseer al quran al azeem volume 4 page 173, dur
ul mansoor volume 3 page 117
3) Abdullah bin asakir – al kashfal bayan volume 4 page 92, shawahedut
tanzeel volume 1 page 239
4) Abdullah bin masood – dur ul mansoor volume 3 page 117, ruh al maanii
volume 4 page 282
5) Jabir bin Abdullah ansari – shwahedut tanzeel volume 1 page 255
6) Abu Hurayrah – shwahedut tanzeel volume 1 page 249, faraedus simtain
volume 1 page 158
7) Abdullah bin abi awfi aslamii – shwahedut tanzeel volume 1 page 252
8) Burah bin Azib ansari – Mafatih ul gaib volume 12 page 50, alkashf
wal bayan volume 4 page 92
Among the narrators of Hadees e Ghadeer from the Tabeiiyns near the Ahle
Sunnat are as follows:
1) Imam Baqir (a.s) – Alkashf wal bayan volume 4 page 92, yanabi ul
mawaddat volume 1 page 119
2) Imam Jafar e Sadiq (a.s) – Tafser e Hebrii page 285
3) Attiyah bin saad awfii – An nor al mushtaal min kitab e maa nazal minal
quran fii Ali page 86
4) Zaid bin Ali – Manaqib e Ali bin abi talib page 26
5) Abu Hamza Sumalii - Manaqib e Ali bin abi talib page 26
Among the narrators of Hadees e Ghadeer from the scholars of Ahle Sunnat
are as follows:
1) Abu Jaffar Tabarii – Al wilayat fi tarik e hadees al ghadeer
2) Abu Hatim Razii – Durr ul mansoor volume 2 page 298
3) Hafiz Abu Abdillah mohamelii – Kanzul ummal volume 11 page 603
4) Hafiz ibne mardawiyeh – Durr ul masoor volume 2 page 298
5) Abu Ishaq salabi – Alkashf wal bayan volume 4 page 92
6) Abu Naim isfahani – Maa nazal minal Quran fi Ali page 86
7) Wahidi nishapoori – Asbaab un nazool page 135
8) Hakin haskani – shawahedut tanzeel volume 1 page 255
9) Abu Saeed sajistani – Kitab al wilayat volume 1 page 121
10) Abul Qasim ibne asakir shafeii – Tarikh e madina e Damishk volume 12
page 237
11) Fakhr e raazi – Tafsir e Qabir volume 12 page 49
12) Abu Salim nasibii Shafeii – Mataleb as saool page 16
13) Shaikh ul islam Hammuiiy – Faraedus simtain volume 1 page 158
14) Saeed Ali Hamdani – Mawaddat ul kurba
15) Ibne sabbagh maleki – Al fusool al mohimma page 42
16) Qazi Aynii – umadotul qarii fi shar e sahih al bukharii volume 18 page
206
17) Nizamuddin nishapoori – garaeb al quran wa ragaeb al furqan volume 6
page 194
18) Kamaulud deen maybadi – Shar e diywan e ameerul momeneen page 406
19) Jalal ud deen suyuti – durr ul mansoor volume 3 page 114
20) Mirza Mohammad badkhashani – Mafatihun najat page 34 chapter 3 fasl 11
21) Shahabudeen alusii – Ruh al maanii volume 4 page 192
22) Qazi shaukani – fath al qadeer volume 2 page 60
23) Qunduzii hanafii – yanabi al mawaddat volume 1 page 119
24) Shaikh Mohhamd abdooh – Almunaar volume 4 page 463
With 8 companions of Holy prophet (SAWA), 5 tabeeiyen and 24 scholars
explaining the Ayat e Tableegh to be concerning Ali (a.s) there remains no
doubt in the mind of any Muslim that this ayat could be of any other occasion
than ghadeer. Keeping aside the other ayats in Quran concerning the event of Ghadeer
and the numerous traditions concerning this event it remains a surprise that
why this event has been kept a secret among the general masses of Muslims and
has not been discussed openly by the scholars? No doubt that the acceptance of
this event would raise unjustifiable objections towards some very famous
personalities of the Muslim Ummat who openly usurped the mastership of Ali
(a.s), and would expose or raise questions to their very intent for accepting
Islam. Hence the advocates of those Munafiqs will always try to hide this day
and this event from the masses, in the end we pray to Allah that he guides the
truth seeker towards the straight path the path of Ghadeer.
