The Farewell Pilgrimage
Ten years after the migration (hijrah), the Messenger of Allah [peace and blessings be upon him and his Progeny] ordered to his close followers to call all the people in different places to join him in his last pilgrimage. On this pilgrimage he taught them how to perform the pilgrimage in a correct and unified form.
Date
Location
In this place, the following verse of the Qur an was revealed:
"O Apostle! Deliver what has been sent down to you from your Lord; and if you don t do it, you have not delivered His message (at all); and Allah will protect you from the people ..." (Qur an 5:67)
The Sermon
On this day the Messenger of Allah [s] spent approximately five hours in this place; three hours of which he was on the pulpit. He recited nearly one hundred verses from The Glorious Quran, and for seventy three times reminded and warned people of their deeds and future. Then he gave them a long speech.
Tradition of the Two Weighty Things (thaqalayn)
"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)."
Acknowledgement of Authority
"Do I not have more right over the believers than what they have over themselves?"
"Yes, O Messenger of God."
Then followed the key sentence denoting the clear designation of Ali as the leader of the Muslim ummah. The Prophet [s] held up the hand of Ali and said:
"For whoever I am his Leader (mawla), Ali is his Leader (mawla)."
The Prophet [s] continued:
"O God, love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile to him."
Coronation of Imam Ali [a]
Revelation of Qur anic Verse 5:3
"Today I have perfected your religion and completed my favour upon you, and I was satisfied that Islam be your religion." (Qur an 5:3)
Hassan b. Thabit s poetry
Immediately after the Prophet s speech, Hassan b. Thabit, the Companion and poet of the Messenger of Allah [s], asked for his permission to compose a few verses of poetry about Imam Ali [a] for the audience. The Prophet [s] said: "Say with the blessings of Allah". Hassan stood up and said: "O people of Quraysh. I follow with my words what preceded and witnessed by the Messenger of Allah [s]. He then composed the following verses at the scene:
In Khumm so hear (and heed) the Messenger s call,
He said: "Who is your guide and leader? (mawlakum wa waliyyukum)"
"Your God, our guide, and you are our leader
And you won t find from among us, in this, any disobedient,"
He said to him: "Stand up O Ali, for I am
So whomever I was his leader (mawla), then this is his leader (mawla)
So be to him supporters in truth and followers,"
There he prayed: "Allah! Be a friend and guide to his follower
And be, to the one who is Ali s enemy, an enemy"
After his speech, the Messenger of Allah [s] asked everybody to give the oath of allegiance to Ali [a] and congratulate him. Among those who did so was Umar b. al-Khattab, who said:
"Well done Ibn Abi Talib! Today you became the Leader (mawla) of all believing men and women."
Allah ordered His Prophet [s] to inform the people of this designation at a time of crowded populous so that all could become the narrators of the tradition, while they exceeded a hundred thousand.
Narrated by Zayd b. Arqam: Abu al-Tufayl said: "I heard it from the Messenger of Allah [s], and there was no one (there) except that he saw him with his eyes and heard him with his ears."
Some Sunni commentators further report that the first three verses of the chapter of al-Ma arij (70:1-3) were revealed when a dispute arose after the Prophet [s] reached Madinah. It is recorded that:
On the day of Ghadir the Messenger of Allah summoned the people toward Ali and said: "Ali is the mawla of whom I am mawla." The news spread quickly all over urban and rural areas. When Harith Ibn Nu man al-Fahri (or Nadhr Ibn Harith according to another tradition) came to know of it, he rode his camel and came to Madinah and went to the Messenger of Allah [s] and said to him: "You commanded us to testify that there is no deity but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah. We obeyed you. You ordered us to perform the prayers five times a day and we obeyed. You ordered us to observe fasts during the month of Ramadhan and we obeyed. Then you commanded us to offer pilgrimage to Makkah and we obeyed. But you are not satisfied with all this and you raised your cousin by your hand and imposed him upon us as our master by saying `Ali is the mawla of whom I am mawla. Is this imposition from Allah or from you?"
The Prophet [s] said : "By Allah who is the only deity! This is from Allah, the Mighty and the Glorious."
On hearing this Harith turned back and proceeded towards his she-camel saying: "O Allah! If what Muhammad said is correct then fling on us a stone from the sky and subject us to severe pain and torture." He had not reached his she-camel when Allah, who is above all defects, flung at him a stone which struck him on his head, penetrated his body and passed out through his lower body and left him dead. It was on this occasion that Allah, the exalted, caused to descend the following verses:
"A questioner questioned about the punishment to fall. For the disbelievers there is nothing to avert it, from Allah the Lord of the Ascent." (70:1-3)
source : al-islam.org
