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5. GHADĪR (THE POND OF) KHUMM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE (3) As we know in order to understand the Qur’ān properly we have to know, among other things, the explanation of it from the Qur’ān, namely, the Qur’ān explains itself. As one of the duties of the Prophet (( )ﷺs.a.w.) was to explain the Qur’ān, we also have to know his explanation through the ḥadīith as well as the occasion which led to the revelation of the verses. In Qur’ānic science it is called asbāb al-nuzūl. Similarly, in the science of Ḥadīth, not knowing the occasion that made the Prophet ( )ﷺsay any statement would lead us to misunderstanding what he had said. It is called asbāb alwurūd. One example of misunderstanding the verse of the Qur’ān for ignoring the ḥadīth of the Prophet ( )ﷺis Dr. Rashad Khalifa’s translation. As a person who claimed to be “God’s Messenger of the Covenant” he denied the validity of the Ḥadīth and translated the Qur’ān his own way, called Quran: the Final Testament. Allah says in the Qur’ān: )99:ك ْال َيقِينُ (الحجر َ ك َح َّتى َيأْ ِت َي َ َواعْ ب ُْد َر َّب And worship your Lord until there comes to you the certainty (i.e. death) (Q. 15:99) Asad’s translation is: “and worship thy Sustainer till death comes to thee.” His commentary of this verse is: Lit., “till there comes unto thee that which is certain (al-yaqīn)” – a term which in the Qur’ān is often used as a metonymy for “death” (Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Tafsīr). Pickthall’s translation is, “And serve thy Lord till the inevitable cometh unto thee” where it could mean “death” which is inevitable. A. Yusuf Ali’s translation starts becoming ambiguous, namely, “And serve your Lord until there comes unto you the Hour that is certain.” In Rodwel’s translation the term “al-yaqīn” becomes more ambiguous, namely, “And serve thy Lord till the certainty o’take thee.” Rashad Khalifa’s
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translation is totally different, as he translates ḥattā )(ح َّتى as َ “in order” which is one of its meanings, rather than “till,” as follows: “And worship your Lord, in order to attain certainty.”1 He explained it and said: “The practices of worship are our means of attaining certainty.” The term al- yaqīn meaning “death which is certain” was expressed by the Prophet ( )ﷺwhen ‘Uthmān ibn Maẓ‘ūn passed away. When Umm al-Ālā’ praised him and bore witness that Allah had honoured him, the Prophet ( )ﷺasked her how she knew it. When she said she did not know it, the Prophet ( )ﷺsaid: ّللا َما أَ ْد ِري َوأَ َنا ِ َّ ّللا َو ِ َّ ْأَمَّا ه َُو َف َق ْد َجا َءهُ ْال َيقِينُ إِ ِّني ََلَرْ جُو َل ُه ْال َخي َْر مِن )(رواه البخاري و الطبراني و النسائي... ّللا َما ُي ْف َع ُل ِبي َو َل ِب ُك ْم ِ َّ َرسُو ُل As for him, death which is certain has come to him, and wish him well from Allah; by Allah I do not know, even as a Mesenger of Allah, what will be done to me or to you (Reported by al-Bukhārī, al-Ṭabarī and al-Nasā’ī) With regard to the ḥadīth of the Prophet ( )ﷺat the Ghadīr Khumm, ُ َمنْ ُك ْن ، ُ َو َعا ِد َمنْ َعا َداه، ُال َمنْ َواله ِ اللَّ ُه َّم َو، ُت َم ْولهُ َف َعلِي َم ْوله Whomsoever I am Mawlā, Ali is also his Mawlā. O Allah, befriend whosoever befriends him and be the enemy of whomsoever is hostile to him. The Arabic linguist Ibn Manẓūr in his Lisān al-‘Arab ْ dictionary mentioned the meanings of wali )(ال َولِي, namely: ْ nearness )(القُرْ ب, closeness ) ّ(ال ُّد ُنو, then he mentioned the ْ as follows: meanings of mawlā )(الم ًْولَى ك ُ الما ِل, the owner (of a slave); ال َع ْب ُد, the slave; المُعْ ت ُِق, the one who frees a slave; المُعْ َت ُق, the freed slave; ُ الصاحِب, the companion; 1
In a similar verse, Rashad Khalifa also translate al-yaqīn as certainty, namely, )44-46: َح َّتى أَ َتا َنا ْال َيقِينُ (المدثر.ين ِ " َو ُك َّنا ُن َك ِّذبُ ِب َي ْو ِم ال ِّدWe disbelieved in the Day of Judgment. Until certainty came to us now” (Q.44:46-477)
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ونحوه كابن ال َع ِّم ُ والقريب, the near one such as the paternal-cousin ِ ِ and the like; الجار, the neighbor, ُالحليف َ , the ally; ُ البن, , the son; ال َع ُّم, the paternal-uncle; ال َّنزي ُل, the guest (in the house); ك ُ ال َّشري, the partner; ت ِ ابنُ اَل ُ ْخ, the son of one’s sister; ُّالولِي َ , the close one; ُّ الرَّ ب, lord; الناصِ ر, the supporter; ال ُم ْن ِع ُم, the one who blesses; ال ُم ْن َع ُم عليه, the one who is blessed, ُّ الم َُحب, the beloved; التاب ُع, the follower; صهْر ِّ ال, the husband of one’s daughter. The meanings of mawlā in the above ḥadīth can be found in the following Qur’ānic verse: ُ ون َو ْالم ُْؤ ِم َن )47: (التوبة...ض ُه ْم أَ ْولِ َيا ُء َبعْ ض ُ ْات َبع َ َو ْالم ُْؤ ِم ُن The believers, men and women are awliyā’ (helpers, supporters, friends, protectors) of one another… (Q. 9:71) so that ‘Ali and the rest of the believers, are helpers, protectors, friends and supporters of one another. It is reported that Usāmah ibn Zayd said to ‘Ali: “You are not my mawlā; it is the Messenger of Allah who is my mawlā.” ُ ْ“ َمنWhomsoever I am So, the Prophet said كنت موله فعلي موله Mawlā, Ali is also his Mawlā.” It could also mean “whomever I am his beloved one, then Ali also should be his beloved one.” The Prophet (’)ﷺs intention was to make the believers love him more than their love for each other, like the Prophet ( )ﷺhimself, as mentioned in the Qur’ān, that the Prophet ( )ﷺis nearer to the believers than to themselves, namely, more worthy of being loved by them. The Prophet ()ﷺ wanted to make loving Ali obligatory for Muslims as they did to him. Translating mawlā as authority or leadership claimed by the Shi’is is unacceptable by the Sunnis, as authority or leadership belongs to the Prophet ( )ﷺalone. The expression “Whomever I am his leader, is also his leader,” as ‘Ali could not be a leader alongside the Prophet ()ﷺ, unless the Prophet ( )ﷺabdicated, which is impossible. The additional َبعْ دي
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(“after me”) in some ḥadīth narrated by two Shi’ī narrators, Ja‘far ibn Sulaymān and ‘Ajlah al-Kindī, are interpolations to justify their claim for Ali’s succession. 6. In order to understand what the Prophet meant with his statement about Ali in Ghadīr Khumm, we have to go back to find out why he said what he said, as follows: In the month of Ramadan before the Last Pilgrimage, the Prophet ( )ﷺhad sent a military expedition led by Ali with about 300 horsemen to Yemen. After finishing the campaign the army returned to Makkah and approached from the South to join the Prophet ( )ﷺin his Farewell pilgrimage. As Ali was eager to meet the Prophet ( )ﷺas soon as possible, he rode on ahead of his men, and appointed a man to replace him in leading his army and rushed to Makkah. Amongst the state's fifth of the spoils there was enough linen to clothe the whole army, but ‘Ali had decided that it must be handed over to the Prophet ( )ﷺuntouched. But the new leader was persuaded to lend each man a new change of clothes out of the linen so that they would enter Makkah with good and neat appearance. When Ali came out to meet them he saw them with the new dress from the clothing. “Wou unto you! What is this?” He said: “I dressed them to make themselves neat and tidy when they come to people.’ The men all knew that they would be in Makkah on the Feast Day where everyone would be wearing their best clothes, and they also would like to look their best. But ‘Ali felt he could not accept this idea. So, he ordered them to put on their old clothes again and return the new ones to the spoils. They were unhappy with this decision. When the Prophet heard of it he said: "O people, blame not ‘Ali, for he is too scrupulous in the path of Allah to be blamed." But resentment continued as they might not have heard what the Prophet ( )ﷺhad said.
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Buraydah said: “We have carried out a military expedition with Ali in Yemen and I saw something strange from him. When I came to the Prophet ( )ﷺI mentioned to him about Ali’s shortcomings I saw the Prophet (’)ﷺs face changed, and said: ‘O Buraydah, am I not more deserved be the believers than themselves?’ I said, “But certainly, O Messenger of Allah!’ He said: “For whoever I am his mawlā, ‘Ali is also his mawlā.” (Reported by Ahmad and al-Nasā’ī) Buraydah also narrated that the Prophet ( )ﷺsent Alito Khalid to bring the Khumus, (of the booty)2 and I hated `Ali, and Ali had taken a bath. I said to Khalid, "Don't you see this (i.e. Ali)?" When we reached the Prophet ( )ﷺmentioned that to him. He said,"O Buraydah! Do you hate Ali?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Do not hate him, for he deserves more than that from the Khumus." (Reported by Bukhari) Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī narrated that he asked Ali to ride the camels he had taken as booty, so that their camels could rest, but Ali refused and said that they also had their share in the booty, like the rest of the Muslims. When Ali left and appointed a person to replace him in leading the army, the new leader allowed them to ride the camels taken as booty. When Ali found out that his deputy disobeyed him, he blamed him. So, Abū Sa‘īd promised himself to complain to the Prophet ( )ﷺagainst him. While he was criticizing and counting what he thought Ali’s shortcomings, the Prophet ( )ﷺpatted him on his thigh and told him that he knew Ali was too scrupulous in the path of Allah to be blamed. Since then Abū Sa‘īd promised himself not to say anything bad 2
Khumus means “one-fifth”. The one-fifth of the booty is the share of the Prophet and the Muslims, as mentioned in the Qur’an, as follows: ْن ِ َّ ِ ََّواعْ لَمُوا أَ َّن َما َغنِمْ ُت ْم مِنْ َشيْ ء َفأَن ِ لِل ُخم َُس ُه َولِلرَّ س ِ ِين َواب ِ ُول َولِذِي ْالقُرْ َبى َو ْال َي َتا َمى َو ْال َم َساك )47:“ الس َِّبيل (اَلنفالAnd know whatever of war-booty that you may gain, verily one-fifth of it is assigned to Allah, and to the Messenger, and to the near relatives [of the Messenger], (and also) the orphans, the needy and the wayfarer,… (Q. 8:41)
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about Ali openly or secretly. (Reported by al-Bayhaqī and Ibn ‘Asākir) In conclusion, the ḥadīth of Ghadīr Khumm was the Prophet (’)ﷺs response to the complains and criticism of his companions against Ali’s behaviour as a leader of a military expedition to Yemen where he was considered to be too scrupulous in dealing with the spoils of war. He announced that Muslims should love and support Ali like he did with him. The Prophet ( )ﷺdid not appoint him as his successor, but announced that he who loved him should also love Ali. Suppose the Prophet ( )ﷺdid actually appoint Ali to be his successor, but the Muslims are no aware of it, it would mean that the Prophet ( )ﷺfailed in delivering the message which is unlikely. If the Muslims are aware of the appointment of Ali as his successor, but they reject it, then the Prophet ( )ﷺfailed in his mission, as they had become hypocrites, apostates after his death, because they disobeyed him. Did the Prophet fail in his message? Did his followers destroy Islam after him? On the contrary, after him people elected the best man among them, Abū Bakr r.a. (CIVIC, 14 October, 2016) :المراجع ( هـ373 .تفسير الطبري )ت ( هـ647 .تفسير القرطبى)ت ( هـ444 .تفسير ابن كثير)ت htps://www.al-islam.org/ghadir/incident.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith_of_the_pond_of_Khumm http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo9780195390155/obo-97801953 http://www.dd-sunnah.net/forum/showthread.php?p =553768#post55376 https://gift2shias.com/2013/10/24/hadith-of-ghadir-khumm-a-sunniperspective/ http://www.utm.thaqalayn.org/files/ghadeer.pdf” http://www.discoveringislam.org/ghadir_khumm.htm https://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress.com/p://sunnah.com/ bukhari/64/377