Ghadir khumm’

[beydou...@yahoo.com]

On 18th thulhijjah of the year 10 A.H., after completing the one and only pilgrimage in the prophet’s life, He also invited all the Muslims to take part in the Hajj pilgrimage. In a short while, large number of Muslims had been moving towards Makkah, were they learned the customs of Hajj from the Prophet and performed the glorious worship of Hajj. When the Hajj pilgrimage and the visits to the Holy Ka’ba were over, the caravans made ready for their return. The holy Prophet was among those who accompanied a caravan to set off for Medina.

 

The Holy Prophet(pbuh) along with hundreds of Muslims reached a place called ‘Ghadir khumm’ near Mecca.

The following verse was revealed

[Quran 5:67] O Messenger! deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from the people; surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving people.

 

On receiving the above verse, the Holy Prophet stopped at that very place & delivered a speech an extract of which is :-[….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 (pbuh) 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 heir and vicegerent.

The Holy Prophet(pbuh) held out the hand of Ali(as) and said: ” For whoever I am his Leader (mawla), ‘Ali is his Leader .” The Holy Prophet then continued to say: ” O’ God, love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile to him.”

The historical details are very well known to all of us and widely found in various books of history, theology and polemics.

 

I would like to quote a hadith :

Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a) was asked if there was Eid for Muslims besides Friday, Adha and Fitr. Imam replied, “Yes, there is one more Eid which is most great in holiness (a’adhamuha hurmatan).” The person asked him which Eid that was. Imam said:”It is the day when the Messenger of God declared Amirul M’mineen his vicegerent, saying: 

‘WAMAN KUNTU MAWLAAHU FA-’ALIYYUN MAWLAAH’ 

(Of whosoever I am the Mawlaa, ‘Ali is also his Mawlaa). And it is the 18th of Dhil-hijjah.”

So we would like to congratulate you on this auspicious occasion, Eid of Ghadeer.