7. GHADĪR (THE POND OF)
KHUMM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE (4)
Among the arguments of the Shi’is in
supporting the ḥadīth of the Ghadīr Khumm, namely,
مَنْ كُنْتُ مَوْلاهُ فَعَلِيٌّ
مَوْلاهُ ، اللَّهُمَّ وَالِ مَنْ وَالاهُ ،
وَعَادِ
مَنْ عَادَاهُ (رواه أحمد)
Whosoever’s mawlā I am, this is Ali also his mawlā.
O Allah, befriend
whosoever befriends him and be the
enemy of whosoever
is hostile to him
According to the Shi’a tradition Ḥārith ibn Nu‘mān
al-Fihrī on hearing the succession of Ali he came to Madinah and asked the Prophet
(ﷺ). When the Prophet confirmed it saying
that it was an imposition from Allah Ḥārith returned to his camel, saying, “O
Allah, if what Muhammad has said is correct, then fling on us a stone from the
sky and subject us to severed pain and torture.” For this, Allah punished him,
and revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) the following verse:
سَأَلَ سَائِلٌ بِعَذَابٍ وَاقِعٍ . لِلْكَافِرِينَ
لَيْسَ لَهُ دَافِعٌ .
مِنَ اللَّهِ ذِي الْمَعَارِجِ (الْمَعَارِجِ:1-3)
"A
questioner asked concerning a torment about to
befall.
Upon the disbelievers which none can avert,
From
Allah the Lord of the ways of ascent." (70:1-3)
The
term لِلْكَافِرِينَ (“for the believers”) means عَلَى الْكَافِرِين (“on disbelievers”). This
means that a person asked concerning a torment about to befall on disbelievers.
Who was this questioner?
(a) He could be a
disbeliever asking concerning a torment that would befall on him and
disbelievers like him in (either in this world or in the Hereafter), because he
knew that this would not happen, as he did not believe what the Qur’ān and the Prophet
(ﷺ) said.
Although al-Țabarī and Ibn
Kathīr do not mention who the questioner was, al-Qurṭubī gives us some names, but without isnad, namely:
(1) al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Kaladah, according to Ibn ‘Abbās and Mujāhid. He
was the person who asked concerning a torment from Allah that would occur in
the Hereafter on him and on disbelievers, as they said that the Qur’ān
was just tales of the ancients, he said,
as quoted by the Qur’ān , as follows:
وَإِذْ قَالُوا اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كَانَ هَذَا هُوَ الْحَقَّ مِنْ عِنْدِكَ
فَأَمْطِرْ عَلَيْنَا
حِجَارَةً مِنَ السَّمَاءِ أَوِ ائْتِنَا بِعَذَابٍ
أَلِيمٍ (الأنفال:32)
And
(remember) when they said: “O Allah,
if
this is indeed the truth from you, then rain
down
stones on us from the sky or bring on
us a painful torment” (Q. 8:32)
At the battle of Badr he (al-Naḍr
ibn al-Ḥārith) and ‘Uqbah ibn Abī Mu‘ayṭ were killed in cold blood; (2) Abū Jahl according to al-Rabī‘; (3) a
group of disbelievers among the Quraysh tribe.
(b) He could be a believer who turned to be a disbeliever. He was
al-Ḥārith ibn al-Nu‘mān al-Fihrī. When the news reached him that the Prophet (ﷺ) had
appointed Ali his mawlā he rode his camel until he reached al-Abṭaḥ (a
place between Makkah and Mina, but closer to Mina) where he made his camel keel
down, came to the Prophet (ﷺ) asking his confirmation. He
said he had obeyed the Prophet (ﷺ)’s command in testifying that
there is no deity but Allah, in performing the five-daily prayers, fasting in
Ramadan, offering pilgrimage to Makkah. When the Prophet (ﷺ) confirmed
that he had raised his cousin Ali to be the mawlā of whom he was mawlā, that was too much
for him. He 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. Then it was revealed سَأَلَ سَائِلٌ بِعَذَابٍ وَاقِعٍ “A
questioner asked concerning a torment…” mentioned above.
© The believers, namely, (1) the Prophet
(ﷺ) himself,
and (2) Prophet Noah.
Instead of al-Ḥārith ibn
al-Nu‘mān al-Fihrī, the name according to Abū ‘Ubayd al-Harawī (d. 223/836) was
Jābir ibn al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith whose father was the leader of Banī ‘Abd al-Dār
clan, and the carrier of the Quraysh flag
in the battle of Badr. Muslim
scholars say that it was al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith who questioned the Prophet (ﷺ) according to Ibn ‘Abbās and Mujāhid, not his son Jābir or al-Ḥārith
for the following reasons:
a.
The verses above are in surah الْمَعَارِج (chapter 70) which are Makkiyyah
(Makkan chapter), revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) before
his migration to Madinah, and therefore, not after the Prophet (ﷺ)’s
migration to Madinah, and not after his declaration of appointing Ali as his mawlā
in Ghadīr Khumm. This is the opposite view of the Shi’is who said that the
above verses were revealed in Madinah. They say that a Makkan chapter could
contain Madinan verses, and verse 1 and 2 of chapter 70 could be revealed in
Madinah. Moreover, a verse or verses could be revealed more than once, once in
Makkah and again in Madinah, such as sūrat al-Fātiḥah which was revealed
twice, once in Makkah when the prayer was prescribed, and once again in Madinah
when the qiblah (direction in prayer) from Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem was
changed to the Ka‘bah in Makkah. But Ibn ‘Abbās or any other mufassirīn did
not mention that the first two verses of chapter 70 were revealed in Madinah,
unlike any other chapter of the Qur’ān where the Madinan verses in the Makkan
chapter, or vice-versa were mentioned.
b.
Who were the persons
who asked Allah to rain them down stones on them from the sky if what the Prophet
(ﷺ) claimed
was true, as mentioned in sūrat al-Anfāl verse 32 (chapter 8:32) above?
According to the Shi’is, it was al-Ḥārith ibn al-Nu‘mān al-Fihrī as mentioned
above, if it was true that the Prophet (ﷺ) had appointed Ali as his
successor. Another view said that it was al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith’s son called
Jābir. The verse was found in sūrat al-Anfāl (“the Spoils”) which is sūrah
Madaniyyah (Madinan chapter), namely, revealed after the Prophet (ﷺ)’s
migration to Madinah. However, Ibn ‘Abbās said that seven verses starting from verse وَإِذْ يَمْكُرُ بِكَ... (verse 30) till (verse إِلَى جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ
(36 were excluded, not revealed
after the Prophet (ﷺ)’s migration, but before. They are Makkan verses inside Madinan
chapter. This includes verse 32 above. Therefore the persons who asked Allah’s
punishment were non-believers who did not believe in the Prophet (ﷺ)’s message
in general, before the Prophet (ﷺ)’s migration, not those who did not believe in Ali’s succession,
after his migration.
c.
It was either al-Ḥārith or Jābir who made his camel keel down at al-Abṭaḥ (a place between Makkah and Mina) to meet the
Prophet (ﷺ) there,
not at Ghadīr Khumm, and not in Madīnah. But the Shi’is argue that al-Abṭaḥ or al-Baṭḥā’ which
literally means “the flat land, basin-shaped valley” is any masīl (river
bed, drain place) containing small pebbles, not only the one near Makkah, but
also at Dhū ‘l-Ḥulayfah near Madinah and other places.
As a matter of fact, there
is not a single Qur’ānic verse saying explicitly the appointment of Ali as the Prophet
(ﷺ) ’s successor. All are hints interpreted to
be so. Therefore, Muslims are not to believe in it, as it is not stated clearly
in the Qur’ān, such as the injunction of prayers, fasting, etc. which are
clearly stated. The Shi‘ah mentioned the ḥadīth where the Prophet said
to Ali that he was like Hārūn to Mūsā, except there was no prophet after him.
The ḥadīth runs as follows:
عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ أَبِى وَقَّاصٍ قَالَ خَلَّفَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه
وسلم-
عَلِىَّ بْنَ أَبِى
طَالِبٍ فِى غَزْوَةِ تَبُوكَ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ تُخَلِّفُنِى فِى النِّسَاءِ
وَالْصِّبْيَانِ
فَقَالَ : " أَمَا تَرْضَى أَنْ تَكُونَ مِنِّى بِمَنْزِلَةِ هَارُونَ مِنْ
مُوسَى غَيْرَ
أَنَّهُ لاَ نَبِىَّ بَعْدِى" (رواه
البخاري و مسلم وأحمد).
Sa‘d
ibn Abī Waqqāṣ narrated that the Messenger of
Allah left Ali behind him in the battle of
Tabūk. So,
he
said: “O Messenger of Allah, are you going to leave
me behind with women and children?” So, he
said:
“Are you not going to be content to have
position
to me like that Aaron was to Moses, except
that
there is no Prophet after me?"
(Reported by al-Bukhārī, Muslim and Aḥmad)
They say that this ḥadīth
indicates that the Prophet had appointed Ali to be his successor.
Similarly, Prophet Mūsā left behind Hārūn with his people the children of
Israel in Sinai when he went to the Mount to receive the tablet containing
Allah’s command.
When we refer to the Qur’ān we find that what Prophet
Mūsā wanted and asked Allah not a
successor, but a helper, a wazīr from his family, so that they
could convey the message to Pharaoh, as mentioned in the Qur’ān as follows:
وَاجْعَلْ لِي وَزِيرًا مِنْ أَهْلِي.هَارُونَ أَخِي
(طه:29-30)
And
appoint for me a helper from my family,
Harun,
my brother (Q. 20:29-30)
The verses that follow indicate the reason for his need of assistance, and
Allah’s grant of his request, as follows:
اشْدُدْ بِهِ أَزْرِي. وَأَشْرِكْهُ فِي أَمْرِي.
كَيْ نُسَبِّحَكَ كَثِيرًا. وَنَذْكُرَكَ كَثِيرًا.
إِنَّكَ كُنْتَ بِنَا بَصِيرًا. قَالَ قَدْ أُوتِيتَ
سُؤْلَكَ يَا مُوسَى (طه:31-36)
Increase my strength with him. And let him share my
task. That
we may glorify You much, and remember
You much.
Verily, you are ever seeing us (Q. 20:31-36)
This means that Hārūn as his assistance would make his
back strong, would make him his consultant, and together they would glorify and
remember Him much, and Allah would ever see them in choosing them and giving
them prophethood and sending them to Pharaoh. Then Allah told him his request
had been granted.
It was said
that Prophet Mūsā had suffered from stammering, so that people could not
understand what he intended in his speech. When he spoke to Pharaoh, he (Pharaoh)
said of him as mentioned in the Qur’ān:
أَمْ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْ هَذَا الَّذِي هُوَ مَهِينٌ
وَلَا يَكَادُ يُبِينُ (الزخرف:52)
Am I not better than this one who is despicable
and
can
scarcely express himself clearly? (Q. 43:52)
As Prophet Hārūn passed away earlier
than his younger brother Mūsā, he could not continue to be his wazīr, let
alone his successor. Similarly, Ali as the Prophet’s vizier he remained so until
the Prophet’s death. When he was succeeded by the caliphs after him, Ali also
remained to be their vizier, assistance and consultant, until he himself was
appointed as caliph succeeding ‘Uthmān. He had expressed his reluctance to this
office when they offered him the pledge of allegiance, and said:
لاَ تَفْعَلُوا فَإِنِّيْ أَكُوْنُ وَزِيْرًاً خَيْرٌ
مِنْ أَنْ أَكٌوْنَ أَمِيْرًاً
Do not do [the pledge], as I prefer to be
a vizier
rather than to be an emir.
لَمْ أُرِدِ النَّاسَ حَتَّى أَرَادُوْنِيْ، وَلَمْ
أُبَايِعْهُمْ حَتَّى أَكْرَهُوْنِي
I do not want people until they want me, and I will
not pledge allegiance to them until they force
me.
(CIVIC, 21 October, 2016)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ)
تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ)
تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ)
http://www.haydarya.com/maktaba_moktasah/14/book_00/part1/13.htm
http://www.mezan.net/sayed_ameli/books/s_imamali/19/04.html
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