This is only a brief narrative of the historic Ghadir Khumm event when the Prophet of Islam appointed his successor as

commanded by the Almighty.

Non-Muslims who like to attack Islam accuse the Prophet of

Islam of having neglected to name his successor, not knowing

that he actually did exactly so in accordance with the Divine

order which he had received on Dhul-Hijja 17, 10 A.H./March

18, 632 A.D., announcing the name of his successor the very

next day, and here are the details:

In 10 A.H./632 A.D., immediately following Hijjatul-Wada'

??? ?????? (the Farewell Pilgrimage, the last pilgrimage per-

formed by Prophet Mohammed), a divine order was revealed to

the Prophet to convey the remaining Islamic tenets: the annual

pilgrimage to Mecca and the Imāmate of the Twelve Infallible

Imāms. The Prophet called on the faithful to accompany him on

his last pilgrimage; he knew that it would be his last and that

he would soon have to leave this temporary abode for the

eternal one. More than one hundred and twenty thousand

Muslims responded to his call.

The Prophet and his company put on the ihram garbs at the

appropriate time at Masjid al-Shajara, a short distance from

Mecca, his birthplace, which he entered on Dhul-Hijja 5, 10

A.H./March 6, 632 A.D. The Prophet's call reached Yemen

where Ali ibn Abū Tālib (?) was acting as his representative.

Twelve thousand Yemenite pilgrims came out headed by Ali in

response to the Prophet's call to accompany him on his historic

Pilgrimage, bringing the total number of those early pilgrims to

more than one hundred and thirty-two thousand.

The Islamic pilgrimage starts in the month of Dhul-Hijja

(month of the pilgrimage), the last Islamic lunar calendar

month, and continues for at least ten days. First, each pilgrim

dons a special garb called ihram; males' ihram ????? consists of two white sheets or towels covering the upper and lower parts

of the body, whereas females wear a full white cotton outfit,

simple and modest. This ihram reminds the pilgrim of his/her

death and of the equality of all before God. All pilgrims per-

form the same rituals; none receives any favorable treatment

or distinction on account of his status, power, or wealth. The

pilgrimage starts by the tawaf, the circling of the Ka'ba seven

2

times. The Ka'ba is identified in Islamic literature as an earthly counterpart to the Almighty's Throne ('Arsh) in heaven where

the angels circle it in adoration. Likewise, in imitation of those angels, Muslim pilgrims circle the Ka'ba in adoration of their

Lord. The tawaf ???? is followed by the Sa'i ???: the pilgrims run back and forth seven times between the -Safa and the Marwa in commemoration of Hagar (Hajar), mother of Ishmael,

frantically searching for water for her newborn son Ishmael.

After that, the pilgrims drink of the well of Zamzam which had

appeared miraculously for Hagar and Ishmael, wash with it or

use it to make ablution for prayers at the Ka'ba but never to

use it in the toilet; Zamzam is too sacred for such an applica-

tion. Then the pilgrims leave Mecca for Muzdalifa, 'Arafa, and

finally Mina to perform certain rites which fall outside the

scope of this book which is intended to be a historical account

of the Prophet of Islam, not one of fiqh. The author is a writer, a researcher, someone who, according to a friend of mine, “insists on finding out who the foundling's father is!” But he is not a faqih. Now let us go back to our original story after having cast a glimpse at the rite of the pilgrimage in Islam.

It was at Arafa that the divine command was received by

Prophet Muhammed to appoint ' Ali as “Ameerul-Mo'mineen,”

???? ???????? the Commander of the Faithful, title of the bear-

er of the highest temporal and religious powers in the Islamic

State, one reserved solely for caliphs, those who are supposed

to be the most knowledgeable of all people of secular and reli-

gious problems and of how to solve them. Mu¦ammed was also

ordered to convey to Ali the knowledge which the Almighty had

bestowed on him so that it would not be lost once he is dead.

In Mina, the Prophet delivered two sermons in preparation for

the great announcement to come. In the first, he referred to

Ali's caliphate and reminded the audience of one particular

hadth which he had conveyed to them on various occasions and

which is identified in books of hadth as “hadth althaqalain ????

??????? ”, tradition of the two weighty things (the first being

the Holy Qur’ān and the second being the Prophet's Progeny,

the” Ahl al-Bayt” mentioned in verse 33 of Chapter 33 [al-

Ahzab] of the Holy Qur’ān). He delivered his second sermon at

Masjid al-Khaif, also located in Mina in the Meccan valley. In it, the Prophet reminded his audience of Ali's Imāmate,

3

emphasizing the necessity of disseminating the contents of his sermon, announcing that those present were duty-bound to

convey it to those who were absent. In both of these sermons,

the Prophet publicly vested on Ali both powers referred to

above.

As soon as the rituals of the pilgrimage were completed, and

to be exact on Dhul-Hijja 17, 10 A.H./March 18, 632 A.D., the

divine order came to the Prophet embedded in verse 67 of

Chapter 5 (al-Ma'ida) quoted in the text of the Prophet's ser-

mon to follow. The Prophet immediately ordered Bilāl ibn

Rabāh, his caller to prayers and one of his faithful sahaba

?????, to convey the following order to the faithful: “Tomorrow,

nobody should lag behind but should go to Ghadeer Khumm

???? ?? .”

The word “Ghadeer” means “swamp,” an area where rain wa-

ter gathers to form a shallow lake. Ghadeer Khumm is located

near the crossroads of trade and pilgrimage caravans coming

from Medīna, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Nejd on their way to

Mecca. The presence of water and a few old trees there served

as a resting place for trade caravans for centuries. A mosque,

called Masjid al-Ghadeer, was later built on the same spot

where the great gathering took place to commemorate that

momentous event, an event which has unfortunately been for-

gotten by the vast majority of the Muslims who, by thus forget-

ting, forgot the most important part of their creed, one without

which their faith is not complete at all according to the

Prophet's sermon to follow and according to the text of the

Holy Qur’ān…

The announcement conveyed by Bilal was transmitted by one

person to another till it reached as far as Mecca proper, and

people were wondering about what it could be. They had ex-

pected the Prophet to linger a little bit longer at Mecca where

the pilgrims could meet him and ask him whatever questions

they had about this new institution called “hajj” and about oth-

er religious matters.

In the morning of the next day, Dhul-Hijja 18, 10 A.H./March

19, 632A.D., the Prophet and his 120,000 companions went to

Ghadeer Khumm ???? ?? , and so did Ali with his 12,000 Ye-

menite pilgrims who had to change their route to the north in-

stead of to the south where they would be home-bound. The

4

Prophet also issued an order to four of his closest sahabis, namely Selman-al-Farisi, Abū Dharr al-Ghifari, Miqdad ibn al-Aswad al-Kindi andAmmar ibn yasir, with whom the reader is

already familiar, to clear the area where the old trees stood, to uproot the thorn bushes, collect the rocks and stones, and to

clean the place and sprinkle it with water. Then these men

took a piece of cloth which they tied between two of those

trees, thus providing some shade. The Prophet told those

sahaba that a ceremony that would last for three continuous

days would be held in that area. Then the same men piled the

rocks on top of each other and made a makeshift pulpit over

them of camel litters as high as the Prophet's own length. They

put another piece of cloth on the pulpit which was installed in

the middle of the crowd, giving the Prophet an overview of the

whole gathering. A man was selected to repeat loudly what the

Prophet was saying so that those who stood the furthermost

would not miss a word.

The athan ???? for the noon prayers was recited, and the

congregational ( jama'a) ???? ??????? prayers were led by the Prophet. After that, the Prophet ascended the pulpit and

signaled to Ali ibn Abū Tālib (?) to stand on his right. Ali did so, standing one pulpit step below the Prophet. Before saying anything, the Prophet looked right and left to make sure that

people were prepared to listen to every word of his. The sun

was so hot that people had to pull some of their outer mantles

over their heads and under their feet in order to be able to

somehow tolerate the heat. Finally the Prophet delivered his

historic sermon which he intended, as the reader will see, to be

not only for the assembled crowd but for all those who were

not present at that gathering and for all their offspring, one

generation after another, till the Day of Judgment.

Here is the text of the Prophet's sermon. We hope it will

bring the reader guidance in the life of this world and happi-

ness and success in the life to come through the intercession of

Muhammed, the one loved most by Allāh, peace and blessings

of the Almighty be on him, his progeny, and true companions

who obeyed him during his lifetime and after his demise and

who did not forget or pretend to forget his following khutba

(sermon):

5

1

Chapter

PROPHET'S HISTORIC GHADIR SERMON:

The text and translation were published through efforts of

Darul-Salam Center in Annandale, Virginia, United States of

America, in DhulHijja 1419/March 1999 when al-Jibouri was

still living in the U.S. A copy of this translation is posted on the Internet, too.

Here is my humble translation of this historic sermon for

you:

“All Praise is due to Allah Who is Exalted in His Unity, Near

in His Uniqueness, Sublime in His Authority, Magnanimous in

His Dominance. He knows everything; He subdues all creation

through His might and evidence. He is Praised always and

forever, Glorified and has no end. He begins and He repeats,

and to Him every matter is referred. Allah is the Creator of

everything; He dominates with His power the earth and the

heavens. Holy, He is, and Praised, the Lord of the angels and of

the spirits. His favors overwhelm whatever He creates, and He

is the Mighty over whatever He initiates. He observes all eyes

while no eye can observe Him. He is Generous, Clement, Pa-

tient. His mercy encompasses everything, and so is His giving.

He never rushes His revenge, nor does He hasten the retribu-

tion they deserve. He comprehends what the breast conceals

and what the conscience hides. No inner I thought can be con-

cealed from Him, nor does He confuse one with another. He

encompasses everything, dominates everything, and subdues

everything. Nothing is like Him. He initiates the creation from

nothing; He is everlasting, living, sustaining in the truth; He is greater than can be conceived by visions, while He conceives

6

all visions, the Eternal, the Knowing. None can describe Him by seeing Him, nor can anyone find out how He is, be it by his

intellect or by a spoken word except through what leads to

Him, the Sublime, the Mighty that He is.

“I testify that He is Allah, the One Who has filled time with

His Holiness, the One Whose Light overwhelms eternity, Who

affects His will without consulting anyone; there is no partner

with Him in His decisions, nor is He assisted in running His af-

fairs. He shaped what He made without following a preexisting

model, and He created whatever He created without receiving

help from anyone, nor did doing so exhaust Him nor frustrated

His designs. He created, and so it was, and He initiated, and it

became visible. So He is Allah, the One and Only God, the One

Who does whatever He does extremely well. He is the Just One

Who never oppresses, the most Holy to Whom all affairs are

referred.

“I further testify that He is Allah before Whom everything is

humbled, to Whose Greatness everything is humiliated, and to

Whose Dignity everything submits. He is the King of every do-

main and the One Who places planets in their orbits. He con-

trols the movements of the sun and of the moon, each circles

till a certain time. He makes the night follow the day and

makes the day follow the night, seeking it incessantly. He splits the spine of every stubborn tyrant and annihilates every

mighty devil.

“Never has there been any opponent opposing Him nor a

peer assisting Him. He is Independent; He never begets nor is

He begotten, and none can ever be His equal. He is One God,

the Glorified Lord. His will is done; His word is the law. He

knows, so He takes account. He causes death and gives life. He

makes some poor and others rich. He causes some to smile and

others to cry.He brings some nearer to Him while distancing

others from Him. He withholds and He gives. The domain be-

longs to Him and so is all the Praise. In His hand is all good-

ness, and He can do anything at all. He lets the night cover the

day and the day cover the night; there is no god but He, the

Sublime,

the

oft-Forgiving

One.

He

responds

to

the

7

supplication; He gives generously; He computes the breath; He is the Lord of the jinns and of mankind, the One Whom nothing

confuses, nor is He annoyed by those who cry for His help, nor

is He fed-up by those who persist. He safeguards the righteous

against sinning, and He enables the winners to win. He is the

Master of the faithful, the Lord of the Worlds Who deserves the

appreciation of all those whom He created and is praised no

matter what. I praise Him and always thank Him for the ease

He brings me and for the constriction, in hardship and in

prosperity, and I believe in Him, in His angels, in His Books

and messengers. I listen to His Command and I obey, and I ini-

tiate the doing of whatever pleases Him, and I submit to His

decree hoping to acquire obedience to Him and fear of His

penalty, for He is Allah against Whose designs nobody should

feel secure, nor should anyone ever fear His “oppression.”

“I testify, even against my own soul, that I am His servant,

and I bear witness that he is my Lord. I convey what He re-

veals to me, being cautious lest I should not do it, so a cata-

strophe from Him would befall on me, one which none can

keep away, no matter how great his design may be and how

sincere his friendship. There is no god but He, for He has in-

formed me that if I do not convey what He has just revealed to

me in honor of Ali in truth, I will not have conveyed His Mes-

sage at all, and He, the Praised and the Exalted One, has guar-

anteed for me to protect me from the (evil) people, and He is

Allah, the One Who suffices, the Sublime. He has just revealed

to me the following (verse): In The Name of Allah, the Most

Gracious, the Most Merciful. O Messenger! Convey what

has (just) been revealed to you (with regard to ' Ali), and if you do not do so, you will not have conveyed His Message at all,

and Allah shall protect you from (evil) people; surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving people (Qur’an, 5:67).

“O people! I have not committed any shortcoming in convey-

ing what Allah Almighty revealed to me, and I am now going to

explain to you the reason behind the revelation of this verse:

Three times did Gabriel command me on behalf of the Peace,

my Lord, Who is the source of all peace, to thus make a stand

in order to inform everyone, black and white, that: Ali ibn Abu

8

Talib is my Brother, Wasi, and successor over my nation and the Imam after me, the one whose status to me is like that of

Aaron to Moses except there will be no prophet after me, and

he is your master next only to Allah and to His Messenger, and

Allah has already revealed to me the same in one of the fixed

verses of His Book saying, “Your Master is Allah and His Mes-

senger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and

pay zakat even as they bow down” (Qur’an, 5:55), and, Ali ibn

Abu Talib the one who keeps up prayers, who pays zakat even as he bows down, seeking to please Allah, the Sublime, the

Almighty, on each and every occasion.

“I asked Gabriel to plead to the Peace to excuse me from

having to convey such a message to you, O people! Due to my

knowledge that the pious are few1 while the hypocrites are

many, and due to those who will blame me, and due to the

trickery of those who ridicule Islam and whom Allah described

in His Book as saying with their tongues contrarily to what

their hearts conceal, thinking lightly of it, while it is with Allah magnanimous, and due to the abundance of their harm to me,

so much so that they called me “ears” and claimed that I am so

because of being so much in his (Ali's) company, always wel-

coming him, loving him and being so much pleased with him

till Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime One, revealed in this re-

gard the verse saying: “ and there are some of them who harm

the (feelings of the) Prophet and say: He is an ear ( uthun ??? ; i.e. he always listens to Ali). Say: One who listens (to Ali) is good for you; He believes in Allah and testifies to the conviction of the believers and a mercy for those of you who believe; and those who (thus) harm the Messenger of Allah shall have a painful punishment” (Qur’an, 9:61). Had I wished to name

those who have called me so, I would have called them by their

names, and I would have pointed them out. I would have

singled them out and called them by what they really are, but I,

by Allah, am fully aware of their affairs. Yet despite all of that, Allah insisted that I should convey what He has just revealed to

me in honor of Ali. Then the Prophet recited the following

verse:) O Messenger! Convey what has (just) been revealed to

you (with regard to ' Ali), and if you do not do so, you will not 9

have conveyed His Message at all, and Allah shall protect you from (evil) people (Qur’an, 5:67).

1 The Muslim majority brags about being a… majority, per-

haps not knowing that the Holy Qur’an condemns the “majority

of people” in as many as 72 verses such as this: ?

??? ????

????? ? ?????? “… but most people do not know”; so, tell this to our dear brothers…

“O people! Comprehend (the implications of) what I have just

said, and again do comprehend it, and be (further) informed

that Allah has installed him (Ali) as your Master and Imam, ob-

ligating the Muhajirun and the Ansar and those who follow

them in goodness to obey him, and so must everyone who lives

in the desert or in the city, who is a non-Arab or an Arab, who

is a free man or a slave, who is young or old, white or black,

and so should everyone who believes in His Unity. His decree

shall be carried out. His (Ali's) word is binding; his command is obligating; cursed is whoever opposes him, blessed with mercy

is whoever follows him and believes in him, for Allah has

already forgiven him and forgiven whoever listens to him and

obeys him.

“O people! This is the last stand I make in such a situation;

so, listen and obey, and submit to the Command of Allah, your

Lord, for Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime One, is your

Master and Lord, then next to Him is His Messenger and

Prophet who is now addressing you, then after me ' Ali is your

Master and Imam according to the Command of Allah, your

Lord, then the lmams from among my progeny, his offspring,

till the Day you meet Allah and His Messenger. Nothing is per-

missible except what is deemed so by Allah, His Messenger,

and they (the Imams), and nothing is prohibitive except what is

deemed so by Allah and His Messenger and they (the Imams).

Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime One, has made me acquain-

ted with what is permissible and what is prohibitive, and I have

conveyed to you what my Lord has taught me of His Book, of

what it decrees as permissible or as prohibitive.

10

“O people! Prefer him (Ali) over all others! There is no knowledge except that Allah has divulged it to me, and all the know-

ledge I have learned I have divulged to Imam al-Muttaqin ????

??????? (leader of the righteous), and there is no knowledge

(that I know) except that I divulged it to Ali, and he is al-Imam al-Mubin ???? ???? (the evident Imam) whom Allah mentions in Surat Ya-Sin: “… and everything We have computed is in (the

knowledge of) an evident Imam” (Qur’an, 36:12).

“O people! Do not abandon him, nor should you flee away

from him, nor should you be too arrogant to accept his author-

ity, for he is the one who guides to righteousness and who acts

according to it. He defeats falsehood and prohibits others from

acting according to it, accepting no blame from anyone while

seeking to please Allah. He is the first to believe in Allah and in His Messenger; none preceded him as such. and he is the one

who offered his life as a sacrifice for the Messenger of Allah

and who was in the company of the Messenger of Allah while

no other man was. He is the first of all people to offer prayers

and the first to worship Allah with me. I ordered him, on behalf

of Allah, to sleep in my bed, and he did, offering his life as a

sacrifice for my sake.

“O people! Prefer him (over all others), for Allah has pre-

ferred him, and accept him, for Allah has appointed him (as

your leader). O people! He is an Imam appointed by Allah, and

Allah shall never accept the repentance of anyone who denies

his authority, nor shall He forgive him; this is a must decree

from Allah never to do so to anyone who opposes him, and that

He shall torment him with a most painful torment for all time

to come, for eternity; so, beware lest you should oppose him

and thus enter the fire the fuel of which is the people and the

stones prepared for the unbelievers.

“O people! By Allah! All past prophets and messengers con-

veyed the glad tiding of my advent, and I, by Allah, am the seal

of the prophets and of the messengers and the argument

against all beings in the heavens and on earth. Anyone who

doubts this commits apostasy similar to that of the early

jahiliyya, and anyone who doubts anything of what I have just

11

said doubts everything which has been revealed to me, and anyone who doubts any of the Imams doubts all of them, and

anyone who doubts us shall be lodged in the fire.

“O people! Allah, the most Exalted and the Almighty, has be-

stowed this virtue on me out of His kindness towards Ali and as

a boon to Ali and there is no god but He; to Him all praise be-

longs in all times, for eternity, and in all circumstances. O

people! Prefer Ali (over all others), for he is the very best of all people after me, be they males or females, so long as Allah

sends down His sustenance, so long as there are beings.

Cursed and again cursed, condemned and again condemned, is

anyone who does not accept this statement of mine and who

does not agree to it. Gabriel himself has informed me of the

same on behalf of Allah Almighty Who he said (in Gabriel's

words): “Anyone who antagonizes Ali and refuses to accept his

wilayat shall incur My curse on him and My wrath.” “… and let every soul consider what it has sent forth for the morrow, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah” (Qur’an, 59:18), “And do not make your oaths a means of deceit between you lest a foot

should slip after its stability” (Qur’an, 16:94), “ Allah is fully aware of all what you do” (Qur’an, 58: 13).

“O people! He (Ali) is janb-Allah mentioned in the Book of Al-

lah, the Sublime One: The Almighty, forewarning his (Ali's) ad-

versaries, says, “Lest a soul should say: O woe to me for what I fell short of my duty to Allah, and most surely I was of those who laughed to scorn” (Qur’an, 39:56).

“O people! Study the Qur’an and comprehend its verses, look

into its fixed verses and do not follow what is similar thereof,

for by Allah, none shall explain to you what it forbids you from

doing, nor clarify its exegesis, other than the one whose hand I

am taking and whom I am lifting to me, the one whose arm I

am taking and whom I am lifting, so that I may enable you to

understand that: Whoever among you takes me as his master,

this, Ali is his master, and he is Ali ibn Abu Talib, my Brother

and wasi, and his appointment as your wali is from Allah, the

Sublime, the Exalted One, a commandment which He revealed

to me.

12

“O people! Ali and the good ones from among my offspring from his loins are the Lesser Weight, while the Qur’an is the

Greater One: each one of them informs you of and agrees with

the other. They shall never part till they meet me at the Pool

(of Kawthar). They are the Trustees of Allah over His creation,

the rulers on His earth. Indeed now I have performed my duty

and conveyed the Message. Indeed you have heard what I have

said and explained. Indeed Allah, the Exalted One and the

Sublime, has said, and so have Ion behalf of Allah, the Exalted

One and the Sublime, that there is no Ameerul-Mu'mineen ????

???????? (Commander of the Faithful) save this Brother of

mine; no authority over a believer is permissible after me except to him.”

Then the Prophet patted Ali's arm, lifting him up. Since the

time when the Messenger of Allah ascended the pulpit,

Ameerul-Mo'mineen was one pulpit step below where the Mes-

senger of Allah had seated himself on his pulpit. As Ali was on

his (Prophet's) right side, one pulpit step lower, now they both

appeared to the gathering to be on the same level; the Prophet

lifted him up. The Prophet then raised his hands to the heavens

in supplication while Ali's leg was touching the knee of the

Messenger of Allah. The Prophet continued his sermon thus:

“O people! This is Ali, my Brother, Wasi, the one who comprehends my knowledge, and my successor over my nation,

over everyone who believes in me. He is the one entrusted with

explaining the Book of Allah, the most Exalted One, the

Sublime, and the one who invites people to His path. He is the

one who does whatever pleases Him, fighting His enemies, be-

friending His friends who obey Him, prohibiting disobedience

to Him. He is the successor of the Messenger of Allah and

Ameerul-Mo'mineen, the man assigned by Allah to guide oth-

ers, killer of the renegades and of those who believe in equals

to Allah, those who violate the Commandments of Allah. Allah

says, “My Word shall not be changed, nor am I in the least un-

just to the servants” (Qur’an, 50.29), and by Your Command, O

Lord, do I (submit and) say, O Allah! Befriend whoever be-

friends him (Ali) and be the enemy of whoever antagonizes

13

him; support whoever supports him and abandon whoever abandons him; curse whoever disavows him, and let Your

Wrath descend on whoever usurps his right.

“O Lord! You revealed a verse in honor of Ali, Your wali, in

its explanation and to effect Your own appointment of him this

very day did You say, “This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor on you, and chosen for you Islam

as a religion” (Qur’an, 5.3); “And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the

hereafter he shall be one of the losers” (Qur’an, 3:85). Lord! I

implore You to testify that I have conveyed (Your Message).

“O people! Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, has perfected

your religion through his (Ali's) Imamate; so, whoever rejects

him as his Imam or rejects those of my offspring from his loins

who assume the same status (as lmams) till the Day of Judg-

ment when they shall all be displayed before Allah, the Exalted

and the Sublime, these are the ones whose (good) deeds shall

be nil and void in the life of this world and in the hereafter, and in the fire shall they be lodged forever, “… their torture shall not be decreased, nor shall they be given a respite”

(Qur’an,2:162).

“O people! Here is Ali, the one who has supported me more

than anyone else among you, the one who most deserves my

gratitude, the one who is closest of all of you to me and the one who is the very dearest to me. Both Allah, the Exalted and the

Sublime, and I are pleased with him, and no verse of the Holy

Qur’an expressing Allah's Pleasure except that he is implied

therein, nor has any verse of praise been revealed in the

Qur’an except that he is implied therein, nor has the Lord testi-

fied to Paradise in the (Qur’anic) Chapter starting with “Has

there not come over man a long period of time when he was

nothing (not even) mentioned?” (Qur’an, 76:1) nor was this Chapter revealed except in his praise.

“O people! He is the one who supports the religion of Allah,

who argues on behalf of the Messenger of Allah. He is the pi-

ous, the pure, the guide, the one rightly guided. Your Prophet

14

is the best of all prophets, and your wasi is the best of all wasis, and his offspring are the best of wasis. O people! Each prophet's progeny is from his own loins whereas mine is from

the loins of Arneerul-Mo'mineen Ali.

“O people! Iblis caused Adam to be dismissed from the

garden through envy; so, do not envy him lest your deeds

should be voided and lest your feet should slip away, for Adam

was sent down to earth after having committed only one sin,

and he was among the elite of Allah's creation. How, then, will

be your case, and you being who you are, and among you are

enemies of Allah? Indeed, none hates Ali except a wretch, and

none accepts Ali's wilayat except a pious person. None believes

in him except a sincere mu'min, and in honor of, Ali was the

Chapter of Asr (Ch. 103) revealed, I swear to it by Allah: “In

the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. I swear by

time that most surely man is in loss” (Qur’an, 103:1-2) except

Ali who believed and was pleased with the truth and with

perseverance.

“O people! I have sought Allah to be my Witness and have

conveyed my Message to you, and the Messenger is obligated

only to clearly convey (his Message). O people! “Fear Allah as Re ought to be feared, and do not die except as Muslims”

(Qur’an, 3:102). O people! “… Believe in what We have re-

vealed, verifying what you have, before We alter faces then

turn them on their backs or curse them as We cursed the viol-

ators of the Sabbath” (Qur’an, 4:47). By Allah! Redid not imply anyone in this verse except a certain band of my sahaba whom

I know by name and by lineage, and I have been ordered (by

my Lord) to pardon them; so, let each person deal with Ali ac-

cording to what he finds in his heart of love or of hatred.

“O people! The noor from Allah, the Exalted One and the

Sublime, flows through me then through Àli ibn Abu Talib

then in the progeny that descends from him till al-Qa'im al-

Mahdi ??? ??? ?????? ( )?? , who shall effect the justice of Allah, and who will take back any right belonging to us because Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, made us Hujjat over those

who take us lightly, the stubborn ones, those who act

15

contrarily to our word, who are treacherous, who are sinners, who are oppressors, who are usurpers, from the entire world.

“O people! I warn you that I am the Messenger of Allah; mes-

sengers before me have already passed away; so, should I die

or should I be killed, are you going to turn on your heels? and

whoever turns on his heels shall not harm Allah in the least,

and Allah shall reward those who are grateful, those who per-

severe. ' Ali is surely the one described with perseverance and

gratitude, then after him are my offspring from his loins.

“O people! Do not think that you are doing me a favor by

your accepting Islam. Nay! Do not think that you are doing Al-

lah such a favor lest He should void your deeds, lest His wrath

should descend on you, lest He should try you with a flame of

fire and brass; surely your Lord is ever-watchful.

“O people! There shall be Imams after me who shall invite

people to the fire, and they shall not be helped on the Day of

Judgment. O people! Allah and I are both clear of them. O

people! They and their supporters and followers shall be in the

lowest rung of the fire; miserable, indeed, is the resort of the

arrogant ones. Indeed, these are the folks of the sahifa [a covenant written by a number of very prominent Muslims, some of

whom are sanctified by some Muslims, pledging to assassinate

the Prophet; it was written and signed then buried at one of

the walls of the Ka'ba]; so, let each one of you look into his

sahifa! [This reference to the sahifa has been overlooked by most people with the exception of a small band, and I, author

of this book, will Insha-Allah shed light on this sahifa in my later writings. The Prophet continued his historic sermon

thus:]

“O people! I am calling for it to be an Imamate and a succes-

sion confined to my offspring till the Day of Judgment, and I

have conveyed only what I have been commanded (by my Lord)

to convey to drive the argument home against everyone

present or absent and on everyone who has witnessed or who

has not, who is already born or he is yet to be born; therefore,

let those present here convey it to those who are absent, and

16

let the father convey it to his son, and so on till the Day of Judgment. and they shall make the Imamate after me a property, a usurpation; may Allah curse the usurpers who usurp, and it is then that you, O jinns and mankind, will get the full attention of the One Who shall cause a flame of fire and brass to

be hurled on you, and you shall not achieve any victory!

“O people! Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, is not to let

you be whatever you want to be except so that He may distin-

guish the bad ones from among you from the good, and Allah is

not to make you acquainted with the unknown. O people!

There shall be no town that falsifies except that Allah shall an-

nihilate it on account of its falsehood before the Day of Judg-

ment, and He shall give al-lmam al-Mahdi (??) authority over it,

and surely Allah's promise is true.

“O people! Most of the early generations before you have

strayed, and by Allah, He surely annihilated the early genera-

tions, and He shall annihilate the later ones. Allah Almighty

has said, “Did We not destroy the former generations? Then

did We follow them up with later ones. Even thus shall We deal with the guilty. Woe on that Day to the rejecters!” (Qur’an, 77: 16-19).

“O people! Allah has ordered me to do and not to do, and I

have ordered ' Ali to do and not to do, so he learned what

should be done and what should not; therefore. you should

listen to his orders so that you may be safe, and you should

obey him so that you may be rightly guided. Do not do what he

forbids you from doing so that you may acquire wisdom. Agree

with him, and do not let your paths be different from his. O

people! I am as-Sirat al-Mustaqeem (the Straight Path) of Allah

whom He commanded you to follow, and it is after me Ali then

my offspring from his loins, the Imams of Guidance: They guide

to the truth and act accordingly.”

Then the Prophet recited the entire text of Surat al-Fatiha

and commented by saying: “It is in my honor that this (Sura)

was revealed, including them (the Imams) specifically; they are

the friends of Allah for whom there shall be no fear, nor shall

17

they grieve; truly the Party of Allah are the winners. Indeed, it is their enemies who are the impudent ones, the deviators, the

brethren of Satan; they inspire each other with embellished

speech out of their haughtiness. Indeed, their (Imams') friends

are the ones whom Allah, the Exalted One, the Great, mentions

in His Book saying, “You shall not find a people who believe in Allah and in the latter Day befriending those who act in opposi-tion to Allah and to His Prophet, even though they may be their own fathers or sons or brothers or kinsfolk; these are they into whose hearts He has impressed conviction” (Qur’an, 58:22).

Indeed, their (Imams') friends are the mu'mins (believers)

whom Allah, the Exalted One, the Sublime, describes as:

“Those who believe and do not mix up their faith with iniquity, those are the ones who shall have the security, and they are

the rightly guided” (Qur’an, 6:82).

“Indeed, their friends are those who believed and never

doubted. Indeed, their friends are the ones who shall enter

Paradise in peace and security; the angels shall receive them

with welcome saying, “Peace with you! Enter it and reside in it

forever!” Indeed, their friends shall be rewarded with Paradise

where they shall be sustained without having to account for

anything. Indeed, their enemies are the ones who shall be

hurled into the fire. Indeed, their enemies are the ones who

shall hear the exhalation of hell as it increases in intensity, and they shall see it sigh. Indeed, their enemies are the ones thus

described by Allah: “Whenever a nation enters, it shall curse

its sister… ” (Qur’an, 7:38). Indeed, their enemies are the ones whom Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime, describes thus:

“Whenever a group is cast into it, its keepers shall ask them: Did any warner not come to you? They shall say: Yea! Indeed,

there came to us a warner but we rejected (him) and said: Al-

lah has not revealed anything; you are only in a great error.

and they shall say: Had we but listened or pondered, we would not have been among the inmates of the burning fire. So they

shall acknowledge their sins, but far will be forgiveness) from the inmates of the burning fire” (Qur’an, 67:8-11). Indeed, their friends are the ones who fear their Lord in the unseen;

forgiveness shall be theirs and a great reward.

18

“O people! What a difference it is between the fire and the great reward! O people! Our enemy is the one whom Allah cen-sures and curses, whereas our friend is everyone praised and

loved by Allah. O people! I am the Warner (nathir )???? and Ali

is the one who brings glad tidings (basheer ????). O people! I

am the one who warns (Mundhir) while ' Ali is the guide (hadi

????). O people! I am a Prophet (nabi ???) and Ali is the suc-

cessor (wasi ???). O people! I am a Messenger (rasool ????) and

Ali is the Imam and the wasi after me, and so are the Imams

after him from among his offspring. Indeed, I am their father,

and they shall descend from his loins. Indeed, the seal of the

lmams from among us is al-Qa'im al-Mahdi. He, indeed, is the

one who shall come out so that the creed may prevail. He, in-

deed, is the one who shall seek revenge against the oppressor.

He, indeed, is the one who conquers the forts and demolishes

them. He, indeed, is the one who subdues every tribe from

among the people of polytheism and the one to guide it. He is

the one who shall seek redress for all friends of Allah. He is the one who supports the religion of Allah. He ever derives (his

knowledge) from a very deep ocean. He shall identify each man

of distinction by his distinction and every man of ignorance by

his ignorance. He shall be the choicest of Allah's beings and

the chosen one. He is the heir of all (branches of) knowledge,

the one who encompasses every perception. He conveys on be-

half of his Lord, the Exalted and the Sublime, who points out

His miracles. He is the wise, the one endowed with wisdom,

the one on whom (Divine) authority is vested. Glad tidings of

him have been conveyed by past generations, yet he is the one

who shall remain as a Hujja, and there shall be no Hujja after

him nor any right except with him, nor any noor except with

him. None, indeed, shall subdue him, nor shall he ever be van-

quished. He is the friend of Allah on His earth, the judge over

His creatures, the custodian of what is evident and what is hid-

den of His.

“O people! I have explained (everything) for you and enabled

you to comprehend it, and this Ali shall after me explain

everything to you. At the conclusion of my khutba, I shall call

on you to shake hands with me to swear your allegiance to him

and to recognize his authority, then to shake hands with him

19

after you have shaken hands with me. I had, indeed, sworn allegiance to Allah, and Ali had sworn allegiance to me, and I on

behalf of Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime, I require you

to swear the oath of allegiance to him: “Surely those who

swear (the oath of) allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is above their hands; therefore, whoever reneges (from his oath), he reneges only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfills what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward” (Qur’an,48:10) .

“O people! The pilgrimage (hajj) and the 'umra are among

Allah's rituals; “So whoever makes a pilgrimage to the House

or pays a visit (to it), there is no blame on him if he goes round them [Safa and Marwa] both” (Qur’an, 2:158). O people! Perform your pilgrimage to the House, for no members of a family

went there except that they became wealthy, and receive glad

tidings! None failed to do so except that their lineage was cut-

off and were impoverished. O people! No believer stands at the

standing place [at 'Arafa] except that Allah forgives his past

sins till then; so, once his pilgrimage is over, he resumes his

deeds. O people! Pilgrims are assisted, and their expenses

shall be replenished, and Allah never suffers the rewards of the

doers of good to be lost.

“O people! Perform your pilgrimage to the House by perfect-

ing your religion and by delving into fiqh, and do not leave the sacred places except after having repented and abandoned

(the doing of anything prohibited). O people! Uphold prayers

and pay the zakat as Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime,

commanded you; so, if time lapses and you were short of doing

so or you forgot, Ali is your wali and he will explain for you. He is the one whom Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, appointed

for you after me as the custodian of His creation. He is from

me and I am from him, and he and those who will succeed him

from my progeny shall inform you of anything you ask them

about, and they shall clarify whatever you do not know. Halal

and haram things are more than I can count for you now or explain, for a commandment to enjoin what is permissible and a

prohibition from what is not permissible are both on the same

level, so I was ordered (by my Lord) to take your oath of

20

allegiance and to make a covenant with you to accept what I brought you from Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime, with

regards to Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen and to the wasis after him who are from me and from him, a standing Imamate whose

seal is al-Mahdi till the Day he meets Allah Who decrees and

Who judges.

“O people! I never refrained from informing you of

everything permissible or prohibitive; so, do remember this

and safeguard it and advise each other to do likewise; do not

alter it; do not substitute it with something else. I am now re-

peating what I have already said: Uphold the prayers and pay

the zakat and enjoin righteousness and forbid abomination.

The peak of enjoining righteousness is to resort to my speech

and to convey it to whoever did not attend it and to order him

on my behalf to accept it and to (likewise) order him not to vi-

olate it, for it is an order from Allah, the Exalted and the

Sublime, and there is no knowledge of enjoining righteousness

nor prohibiting abomination except that it is with a ma'soom

Imam ???? . ?????

“O people! The Qur’an informs you that the Imams after him

are his (Ali's) descendants, and I have already informed you

that they are from me and from him, for Allah says in His Book,

“And he made it a word to continue in his posterity so that they may return “ (Qur’an, 43:28) while I have said: “You shall not stray as long as you uphold both of them (simultaneously).” O

people! (Uphold) piety, (uphold) piety, and be forewarned of

the Hour as Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, has said, “O

people! Guard (yourselves) against (punishment from) your

Lord; surely the violence of the Hour is a grievous thing”

(Qur’an, 22:1).

“Remember death, resurrection, the judgment, the scales,

and the account before the Lord of the Worlds, and

(remember) the rewards and the penalty. So whoever does a

good deed shall be rewarded for it, and whoever commits a sin

shall have no place in the Gardens. O people! You are more nu-

merous than (it is practical) to shake hands with me all at the

same time, and Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime,

21

commanded me to require you to confirm what authority I have vested on Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen and to whoever succeeds

him of the Imams from me and from him, since I have just in-

formed you that my offspring are from his loins. You, therefore,

should say in one voice: “We hear, and we obey; we accept and

we are bound by what you have conveyed to us from our Lord

and yours with regard to our Imam Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen,

and to the Imams, your sons from his loins. We swear the oath

of allegiance to you in this regard with our hearts, with our

souls, with our tongues, with our hands. According to it shall

we live, and according to it shall we die, and according to it

shall we be resurrected. We shall not alter anything or substi-

tute anything with another, nor shall we doubt nor deny nor

suspect, nor shall we violate our covenant nor abrogate the

pledge. You admonished us on behalf of Allah with regard to

Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to the Imams whom you men-

tioned to be from your offspring from among his descendants

after him: alHassan and al-Hussain and to whoever is appoin-

ted (as such) by Allah after them. The covenant and the pledge

are taken from us, from our hearts, from our souls, from our

tongues, from our conscience, from our hands. Whoever does

so by his handshake, it shall be so, or otherwise testified to it by his tongue, and we do not seek any substitute for it, nor

shall Allah see our souls deviating there from. We shall convey

the same on your behalf to anyone near and far of our offspring

and families, and we implore Allah to testify to it, and surely

Allah suffices as the Witness and you, too, shall testify for us.

“O people! What are you going to say?! Allah knows every

sound and the innermost of every soul; “Whoever chooses the

right guidance, it is for his own soul that he is rightly guided, and whoever strays, it is only to its detriment that he goes

astray” (Qur’an, 17:15). O people! Swear the oath of allegiance to Allah, and swear it to me, and swear it to Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to al-Hassan and al-Hussain and to the Imams

from their offspring in the life of this world and in the here-

after, a word that shall always remain so. Allah shall annihilate anyone guilty of treachery and be merciful on everyone who remains true to his word: “Whoever reneges (from his oath), he

reneges only to the harm of his own soul, and whoever fulfills 22

what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward” (Qur’an, 48:10).

“O people! Repeat what I have just told you to, and greet Ali

with the title of authority of “Ameerul-Mo'mineen” and say:

“We hear, and we obey, O Lord! Your forgiveness (do we seek),

and to You is the eventual course” (Qur’an, 2:285), and you

should say: “All praise is due to Allah Who guided us to this, and we would not have found the way had it not been for Allah Who guided us” (Qur’an, 7:43).

“O people! The merits of Ali ibn Abu Talib with Allah, the Ex-

alted and the Sublime, the merits which are revealed in the

Qur’an, are more numerous than I can recount in one speech;

so, whoever informs you of them and defines them for you, you

should believe him. O people! Whoever obeys Allah and His

Messenger and Ali (U and the Imams to whom I have already

referred shall attain a great victory. O people! Those foremost

from among you who swear allegiance to him and who pledge

to obey him and who greet him with the greeting of being the

Commander of the Faithful are the ones who shall win the Gar-

dens of Felicity. O people! Say what brings you the Pleasure of

Allah, for if you and all the people of the earth disbelieve, it

will not harm Allah in the least. O Lord! Forgive the believers

through what I have conveyed, and let Your Wrath descend on

those who renege, the apostates, and all Praise is due to Allah,

the Lord of the Worlds.”

Thus did the Prophet of Allah (?) speak on behalf of the

Almighty Who sent him as the beacon of guidance not only for

the Muslims but for all mankind. But the question that forces

itself here is: “What happened after that historic event? Why

did the Muslims forget, or pretend to have forgotten, their

Prophet's instructions with regards to Ali and supposedly “elec-

ted” someone else in his stead?” To answer this question re-

quires the writing of another book and, indeed many such

books have been written. May the Almighty grant all of us

guidance, and may He count us among His true servants who

recognize the truth when they see it, who abide by His tenets,

23

Who revere His Prophet and follow his instructions in all times, in all climes, Allahomma Ameen . ????? ????

The reader may wonder what happened following this

Ghadeer incident. The answer is very simple: The most promin-

ent Muslims of the time prtended to have forgotten it, so they

met at ????? ??? ????? the shed of Bani Saa'ida, few meters

from the Prophet's Mosque, where they kept for days fussing

with each other about who would succeed the Prophet (?) as

the caliph while the corpse of the Prophet (?) was lying in state waiting to be buried… and the rest is history.

The Ghadeer incident is immortalized in Arabic poetry. Has-

san ibn Thabit, the Prophet's poet, was there and then witness-

ing the appointment of Ali as ???? ???????? Commander of the

Faithful, so he composed the following lines of poetry on the

occasion which I roughly translated below:

Their Prophet on the Ghadeer Day calls on them all At

Khumm, how great the Prophet is when he does call! He said,

“Who is your Master and Wali?” They said, showing on that day no hostility, “Our Master is our God while our Wali is you, You shall find today none to disobey you.” He said to him, “Stand up, O Ali, for I did find “You to be and Imam after me and a

guide.” Ali was sore in the eyes and did seek a remedy For

that from which was complaining Ali, So he was doctored with

the saliva of the best of all, So the one who received it and who gave it are blessed by all. (Reference: al-Qanduzi, Yanabiàl-Mawadda ?????? ?????? , p. 120)

For those who have the habit of casting doubt about anything

in which they do not wish to believe, we would like to state be-

low some mostly classic references where this Khutba of the

Ghadeer is quoted. In these references the reader can deliber-ate on the various portions of this historic sermon as quoted in

bits and pieces in these references. Most of these references

are considered reliable by the majority of Muslims, Sunnis and

Shiites:

1. Jalal ad-Deen al-Sayyuti, Kitab al-Itqan, Vol. 1, p. 31.

24

2. al-Majlisi, Bihar.al-Anwar, Vol. 21, pp. 360-90, Vol. 37, pp.

111-235, and Vol. 41, p. 228.He Quotes book

al-Ih'tijaj by alTibrisi (vol.2)

3. Al-Bidaya wal Nihaya, Vol. 5, p. 208.

4. Badeeal-Ma'ani, p. 75

5. Tareekh Baghdad, V01. 1, p. 411 and V01. 8, p. 290.

6. Tareekh Dimashq, Vol. 5, p. 210.

7. Ibn al-Jawziyya, Tadh'kirat al-Khawas, pp. 18-20.

8. Ibn al-Sa'ud's Tafseer, Vol. 8, p. 292.

9. Al-Tibari, Tafseer al-Qur’an, Vol. 3, p. 428 and Vol. 6, p.

46.

10. al-Fakhr al-Razi, al-Tafseer al-Kabeer, Vol. 3, p. 636.

11. Al-Tamhid fi USool al-Deen, p. 171.

12. Tayseer al-Wusul, Vol. 1, p. 122.

13. Ghiyath ad-Din ibn Hammam, Tareekh Habib al-Siyar,

V01. 1, p. 144.

14. al-Maqrizi, Khutat, p. 223.

15. al-Sayyuti, al- Durr al-Manthur, Vol. 2, pp. 259, 298.

16. Thakha'ir al-'Uqba, p. 68.

17. Ruh al-Ma'ani, Vol. 2, p. 348.

18. Mohibb al-Tabari, AI-Riyadh al-Nadhirah, Vol. 2, p.169.

Look it up also in his Tarkh.

19. Al-Siraj al-Munir, Vol. 4, p. 364.

20. al-Hakim, al-Seera al-Halabiyya, Vol. 3, p. 302.

21. Shar'h al-Mawahib, V01. 7, p. 13.

22. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, al-Sawa'iq al- Muhriqa, p. 26.

23. Ibn al-Badriq, al-'Umda, p. 52.

24. Badr ad-Deen, ' Umdat al-Qari fi Shar'h al-Bukhari, V01.

8, p. 584.

25. Hassan al-Ameen, al-Ghadeer, V01. 2, p. 57.

26. Sharafud-Deen Sadr ad-Deen al-Mousawi, al-Fusul al-

Muhimma, pp. 25-27.

27. Fadha 'il al-Sahaba, p. 272.

28. Faydh al-Ghadeer, V01. 6, p. 218.

29. Kashf al-Ghumma, p. 94.

30. Kifayat al-Talib, pp. 17, 28.

31. al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Kanz al-'Ummal, Vol. 6, p. 397.

32. Imam Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, V01. 4, p. 281.

33. Mishkat al-Masabeeh, p. 272.

34. Mushkil al-Athar, Vol. 3, p. 196.

25

35. Matalib al-Su'ul, p. 16.

36. Muftah al-Najat, p. 216.

37. al-Shahristani, al-Milal wal Nihal, V 01. 1, p. 220.

38. al-Khawarizmi, Manaqib, pp. 80, 94.

39. Ibn al-Maghazli, Manaqib, p. 232.

40. al-Qastalani, al-Mawahib, Vol. 2, p. 13.

41. al-Samhudi, Wafaal-Wafa', Vol. 2, p. 173.

As the reader can see, most of these references are highly re-

spected classic Sunni works that occupy a status in Islamic

heritage. Nevertheless, there are still some people who refuse

to recognize the sun even in broad daylight. We cannot help

but feel sorry for them, and we pray for their guidance.

POST SCRIPT:

This text was published in book form by the Dar al-Salam

Center, Inc. in Thul-Hijja 1419/March 1999. I was at the time

living near this Center in Annandale, Virginia, U.S.A. Some

brothers posted it on the Internet and may Allah reward them

for it. You, too, can do that, Insha-Allah!

26

"Wisdom is the lost property of the Believer,

let him claim it wherever he finds it"

Imam Ali (as)

Document Outline

- Chapter 1

Table of Contents

Chapter 1