Ghadir-e Khum, the Fate of Humans’ Perfection

It is the tenth year of Hijra (Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s departure from Mecca to Median in AD 622) and the Prophet (PBUH) is on return from his last pilgrimage to Hajj.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

A considerable mass of people whose number was estimated at being around 120,000 are welcoming him till they reach an arid area near Mecca, called Ghadir-e Khum.  It is midday of 18th of the lunar month of Dhul al-Hijjah that suddenly courier of Allah reveals His message to the Prophet, “O Apostle! Communicate that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and if you do not, you will not have communicated His message, and Allah shall protect you from the people (verse 67, Chapter Ma’ida)” and the Prophet orders his entourage to stop and all of them descend on this arid and hot desert and make a pulpit from the camels’ toolings for him so God’s Messenger could make his announcement. Addressing the people, he says, “All praise is due to Allah and I take shelter to Allah from nafs amarah (carnalities)” and continues by asking his followers whether he is not superior to their egos. People unanimously confirms that he is definitely superior to their egos. Then he says to the participants, “It seems the time 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 he took ‘Imam Ali (A)’s hand and raised it and declared, ‘To whomever I am his wali, this one is also his wali. My God, befriend whoever befriends him and be hostile to whoever is hostile to him.” He repeated it three times and continued, “Oh Allah, make Ali (A) the axis of justice”, adding, “It is necessary the participants to make others know of this event.

The ceremony is still underway that Allah reveals the Prophet with another message, “This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor on you, and chosen for you Islam as a religion.”

As the result, Allah appointed Imam Ali (A) as the successor of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The late Allama Amini in his book Al-Ghadir has mentioned the narrators of the event of Ghadir chronologically as follows: 110 allies of  Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), 48 followers of him, 56 ulama  of the second Hijra century, 92 ulama of the third Hijra century, 43 ulama of the fourth century, 24 ulama of the fifth century, 18 ulema of the sixth century, 21 ulama of the seventh century, 18 ulama of the eighth century, 16 ulama of the ninth century, 14 ulama of the tenth century 14 people, 12 ulama of the 11^th century, 13 ulama of the 12^th century, 12 ulama of the 13^th century and 19 ulama of the 14^th century.

So the Event of Ghadir in the reliable books of Sunnis, like the book “Musnad” written by Imam  Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the book “Sunan at-Tirmidh” collected by Al-Tirmidhi,  and  the book “Al-Mustadrak” written by Al-Hakim al-Nishapuri, has been documented, and in any condition it is not deniable and Almighty God has issued all warnings to the humanity that first , they complete their religion and secondly He stipulated all evidences in the Holy Quran and has put the narrators of the event in different centuries. So one can dare to say based on all these clear calls that Ghadir-e Khum is the place for the fate of humans’ perfection and if they resort to it and drown fully in it, they can purify their souls in order to reach perfection.

 By: Hamid Reza Naghashian