In Usul-e-Kafi we find narrations of the Innocent Imams about nomination and appointment by God and His Apostle of Hazrat Ali and eleven other Imams to Wilayat and Imamat, i.e., to the office of the religious and temporal leader and ruler of the Ummat, to obey whom was a religious obligation. Since the first to be nominated was Hazrat ALI, and at Ghadir-i-Khum the proclamation was made only in his favour, we will, at this stage, take up sayings in regard to him alone. Seeing that the traditions, as usual, are very long, here, too, we will be giving only their condensed translations.
It is narrated that Imam Baqar (once) said that when the command of God in respect of the Waliyat and Imamate of Hazrat ALI was received by the Prophet (peace be upon him and his dependents) and the following verse of the Quran was revealed:
You will find friends only in God and His Apostle and in the believers (V: 55)
and people, in general, did not fully grasp its meaning, the Almighty bade the Prophet to describe the office of Waliyat, in detail, to the people, and announce to them plainly the appointment of Hazrat Ali to it so that they could know and understand what it signified. The sacred Prophet, thereupon, was greatly worried and feared that on hearing about the Waliyat and succession of Hazrat Ali, Muslims might turn apostates and begin to disown and oppose him. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his dependents) then, begged the Lord to reconsider His Command upon which the Revelation came:
O Apostle: Make known that which hath been delivered unto thee from thy Lord, for, if thou do it not, then thou hast failed to fulfil the mission of a Messenger. And God will certainly protect thee from (the evil-minded) men.” (Q V: 67)
In another narration the Prophet is reported to have said, “When I feared that people might become apostates and disobey and reject me, I did not feel inclined to comply with this command. Then, there came an order from God with exceptional positiveness and stress that I had to carry out the order and was threatened with punishment in case of non-compliance”. After this admonition and threat of punishment, the Prophet (peace be on him and his dependents) made the declaration at Ghadir-i-Khum. He collected all the people for the occasion and the proclamation of the Waliyat and Imamate of Hazrat Ali was made in everybody’s presence. (p. 178-179)
Yet another narration says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) particularly addressed Hazrat Abu Bakr and Hazrat Omar and said, “You both get up and wish Ali by saying, As-Salam-o-Alaika, ya Amir-al-Momini”, and so they did.”
In another standard book of Isna Ashariyya called, Ehtijaj-e-Tabrisi, the incident of Ghadir-i-Khum, has been related on the authority of Imam Baqar, with a number of additions. The narrative begins from page 28 and ends on page 35 of the book.
Even a gist of it will take eight to ten pages of our article, the pages of which are of smaller size than that of Ehtijaj-e-Tabrisi, and, therefore, we will content ourselves with the observation that, in it, it is, further, added that after the Holy Prophet had ended his long sermon concerning the Caliphate and Imamate of Hazrat Ali, he took, at his own hand, from all those present (numbering about a lakh) the pledge of fealty in respect of the Caliphate of Hazrat Ali, and the first to do so were Abu Bakr, Omar and Usman, and then came all the Muhajirin (Emirgrants) and Ansar (Helpers), and, finally, all the others who were present. It went on like that till late in the evening, and the prayers of Maghrib and Isha were offered together. (p. 35)
In another report occurring in Usul-e-Kafi, it is stated that when the holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his dependents) was returning from the Farewell Haj and had reached Ghadiri-Khum, Gabriel came to him with the verse:
“0 Apostle! Make known that which hath been revealed unto thee from thy Lord.”
The Prophet, then, had the announcement made for the people to gather there and the ground was cleared of thorns where acacia trees had grown. When the people had collected, the Prophet, after a few introductory remarks, said “Ali is the Maula’ of whom I am the Maula. 0 God! Have friendship towards those who have friendship for Ali, and show enmity towards those who have enmity for Ali”. The sacred Prophet said it thrice which aroused feelings of malice, double-dealing and hypocrisy among the people and they observed that the command, certainly, was not from God. The Prophet simply wanted to thrust his cousin (uncle’s son) upon them by raising his rank and position. (p. 182) There is yet another narrative, in the same context, in Furu-i-Kafi only a substance of which, too, can be given here.
In it, extremely abominable and heathenish charge and accusation has been made against the leading Companions like Abu Bakr, Omar, Salim Maula Abu Huzaifa and Abu Obaida Ibni Jarrah.
It is related by Hasaan Shutarban i.e., (camel driver) that “once, Imam Jafar Sadiq travelled on my camel from Medina to Mecca. When we reached Ghadir-i-Khum, the Imam looked at the left side of the mosque and said that it was the place where the Prophet (peace be upon him and his dependents) had stood up and raising up Ali with both the hands had proclaimed his Caliphate and Imamate. and said, A1i is the Maula of whom I am the Maula.” Imam Jafar Sadiq, then, looked at the right side of the mosque and observed that there was the tent of Abu folan and folan (meaning Abu Bakr and Omar) and Salim Maula Abi Huzaifa and Abu Obeida Bin Al Jarrah). When they saw the Prophet (peace be upon him and his dependents) lifting up Ali with both the hands and announcing his Wilayat and Imamate, they said among themselves: ‘Just look at his eyes (meaning, God forbid, the eyes of the Prophet)? How are these rolling as if these were the eyes of a lunatic ?“ It was, then, that Gabriel appeared with the following verse:
And lo, those who disbelieve would fain disconcert thee with their eyes when they hear the Reminder, and say lo ! he is indeed mad’. (LXVIII: 51)
Please Note:The meaning of the verse, in fact, is that when the Unbelievers hear the Quran, 0 Apostle, they stare at you and want to disconcert and rattle you and say that you are mad. The reference, evidently, is to the Pagans of Mecca, but, in Furu-i-Kafi, it is stated about Imam Jafar Sadiq that he said that it applied, particularly to Hazrat Abu Bakr, Hazrat Omar, Hazrat Salim Maula Abi Huzaifa and Hazrat Abu Obeida bin Jarran.
Another book by the author of Usul-e-Kafi, Abu Jafar Muhammad bin Yaqub Kulayni, is called, Kitab-ur-Roza which is the last part of his compedium, Al-Jame-ul-Kafi. It contains the report of a long sermon by Hazrat Ali at the end of which he is related to have said while narrating the event of Ghadiri-Khum: “When the Prophet (peace be upon him and his dependents) reached Ghadir-i-Khum, a pulpit was erected by his order. He mounted on it and holding me by the arms raised me up in such a manner that the whiteness of his armpits was visible, and, (then), proclaimed in a loud voice to the assembly: Ali is the Maula of whom I am the Maula. 0 God, love him who loves Ali, and have enmity towards him, who is the enemy of AlL’’ The report goes on to say that, at the end of the sermon, Hazrat Ali used the word al-Ashqiyan (highly wretched, sinful and depraved persons) for Hazrat Abu Bakr and Hazrat Omar, and related, in detail, the punishment they were doomed to receive in the Hereafter, and, then, Hazrat Ali uttered the worst kind of imprecation against all the Ansar and Muhajirin. without naming anybody, who had accepted Hazrat Abu Bakr and Hazrat Omar, as the Caliphs, or, so to say, against the entire Muslim Ummat of that time and all the holy Companions.
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