Ali: The Prophet's Friend or Successor?; Authenticity of Ahadith - Maulana Syed Muhammad Rizvi

• This is the Eid of wilaaya, of Imama and of khilafa.
• We are celebrating the conclusion of the mission of the Prophet.
• It was the last Hajj of the Prophet just a few months before he passed away.
• Most of the teachings of Islam ( prayers, fasting, khums etc) had been discussed in the Quran and in the sayings of the Prophet.
• Allah(s.w.t) wanted to make sure that the Prophet makes the issue of succession clear.
• That was the last missing brick in the building of Islam.
• He sent him the command to convey the message in a very formal and official manner in verse 67 of sura Maida (5;67).
• Since everything else was already discussed, it was the issue of succession that Allah(s.w.t) was asking the Prophet to convey to the people.
• The sermon was delivered in the largest gathering that the Prophet had ever had.
• He first summarized the important teachings of Islam then asked the people whether he had more authority over them than themselves. To which they all unanimously said yes.
• He then called Imam Ali(a) close, lifted his hand and said to the people to remember that whosoever he was the master of, Ali was their master too.
• He also said to them that he was leaving behind 2 things, the book of Allah(s.w.t) and his family and as long as they hold on to them, they would never go astray.
• We celebrate the formal and open introduction of Imam Ali(a) as the master of the Muslims after the Prophet.
• There are more than 100 reporters of the Hadith of Thaqalayn. No other hadith has ever had that many reporters, neither in the Shia books nor in the Sunni books.
• 110 names of people mentioned in the book ‘Al -Ghadir’ of Allama Abdul Hosein Amini who narrated these words of the Prophet for Imam Ali(a).
• More names were then discovered later on making it a total of 120 names of Sahaba who reported this event.
• The Hadith of Thaqalayn is also mentioned in 5 of the 6 books of the Ahle Sunna.
• None of the true scholars of the Sunni world ever denied the event of Ghadir-e-Qum.
• A famous Sufi scholar by the name of Tahir ul Qadri has a book on the wilaya of ImamAli (a) in Ghadir.
• They do not deny the statement of the Prophet however they say that ‘Mawla’ does not necessarily mean leader.
• In Arabic language some words have multiple meanings.
• ‘Mawla’ is one of those. It can mean leader, master, friend or slave.
• To find the true meaning of the word, we have to look at the context.
• Showing the connection between the words ‘awla’ and ‘mawla’ used by the Prophet in the sermon.
• The Prophet did not gather thousands of people just to tell them that Imam Ali(a) was their friend.
• Everyone knew Imam Ali(a) as a friend of Islam from day one, so there was no need of clarification.
• Some argue saying that if the Prophet wanted Imam Ali(a) to be the Khalifa, he would have used the word ‘khalifa’ instead.
• A Hadith was found by a scholar from Sunni sources where the prophet used the word ‘Khalifa’ for Imam Ali(a).
• It was found in a book of Ibn Abi Asim called ‘As-Sunnah’ and the chain of narration goes all the way to Ibne Abbas.
• Ibne Abbas was the cousin and companion of the Prophet and is very highly respected by all Shia and Sunni Muslims alike. He is known as the ‘ink of the nation’.
• In this hadith, the Prophet says to Imam Ali(a) that his station to him is very similar to the position of Harun to Prophet Mussa except that they were both Nabi and imam Ali(a) was not a Nabi. Then he continued by saying that it was necessary for him to go away and that Imam Ali(a) is the Khalifa for all believers after him.
• Sheikh Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani who is considered to be the top most Salafi scholar of this century, studied the ‘as-sunnah’ of ibn Abi Asim and wrote notes on it.
• The book is called ‘Zilal al Jannah fi Takhrij al Sunnah’ where he classified every Hadith from Ibne Asim’s book, grading each one of them.
• He graded the Hadith about the khilafa of Imam Ali(a) as good and all the narrators in the chain of narrators to be all trustworthy and good according to the criteria use by Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim.

Eid-e-Ghadir
Recited By: Maulana Syed Muhammad Rizvi
Date: October 1st, 2015