IMAMATE THROUGH DAWAT E ZULASHIRA

(HADITH E DAAR- FEAST OF THE CLANSMEN)

It is the hadith regarding the revelation of the verse 26:214
When this verse was revealed, Prophet said its very difficult for him to tell others as he was afraid of the
negative reaction from the people. He asked Imam Ali to gather Bani Abdal Mutallib (children + grand
children). Some hadith say Bani Hashim although both are authentic. He conveyed the message of Islam
and Prophethood and later invited people to eat a goat and miracle happened. There were around 3040 people (acc. To different hadith) and they all ate without any decrement in the quantity of the goats
meat. Then he asked : who will support me in the dawah to spread Islam and be my khalifa, successor,
brother, companion, inheritor etc. No one accepted. Same thing happened on the 2nd day. On the 3rd
day, Imam Ali stood up for him and Prophet said that Imam Ali is his successor, wali, companion etc. He
gives many titles to Imam Ali.
We shias, believe this event clearly indicates the issue of khilafat. There are many different forms of the
hadith.
1. Prophet said to Imam Ali: You are my brother and my companion.
Reference: Musnad Ahmed ibn Hanbal, hadith number: 1300. It is authenticated by Al Haithami in
Majma al Zawaid, vol.8, page 302.
2. You are my brother, companion, inheritor and my minister.
Reference: Sunan Nisaei, hadith no.:8451
The chain for this hadith is the same as that of the above hadith, except for one extra narrator: Fazl ibn
Sahal. He is a reliable narrator since Bukhari and Muslim narrated ahadith through him.
3. You are my khalifa in my family.
Reference: Musnad Ahmed ibn Hanbal, hadith no: 841
This hadith is authenticated by Al Haithami in Majma Al Zawaid, Vol. 9, page 113. Also, authenticated by
Tabari in Tahtheeb al Athar, vol. 1, page 55, hadith no: 1367
4. You are my brother, my successor and my khalifa over them.
Reference: Tafseer al Baghawi, vol. 3, page 400, hadith no.: 214
This chain is authenticated by Al Haithami in Majma al Zawaid vol. 8, page 302
5. You are my wali in this life and hereafter.
Reference: Mustadrak al Hakim, vol. 3, page 132
Al Hakim said it is authentic and Az- Dhahabi agrees with him. Al Albani agrees with him in 2 different
places in : al Silsila al Sahiha vol. 4, page 341, hadith no.: 1750
6. You are my khalifa and my successor after me.
Reference: Tarikh ibn Asakir, vol. 42, page 47
No scholars have authenticated the above but the narrators of the hadith are all reliable.
1

7. There is one hadith which says that Prophet asked for Banu Hashim. This is mentioned in :
Reference: Musnad al Bazzar, vol. 2, page 105, hadith no.: 456
This is authenticated by Al Haithami in Majma al Zawaid, vol. 8, page 302
In effect, all the ahadith are authenticated by top scholars such as:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.

At-Tabari
Zia al Maqdisi
Al Haithami
Az-Dhahabi
Al Albani
Shahabuddin ash Shafaji
Abu Jafar al Kafi

The various arguments Ahle Sunnah pose regarding the above ahadith:
Argument 1: Ibn Taymiyyah in Minhajj us Sunnah vol. 4, page 81 said this hadith is not narrated by anyone
in any ahadith book. He claims to say that for example, it is not mentioned in Mustadrak al Hakim or
Musnad Ibn Hanbal etc.
Reply: We have already provided enough proofs from sunni books with their correct authentication
details.
Argument 2: This hadith is a lie and all scholars agree it is a lie.
Reply: The proofs we have provided above is sufficient for a wise person to agree that the hadith is indeed
authentic. Some of the greatest sunni scholars have agreed to the hadith and authenticated them in their
respective works.
Argument 3: One hadith says that 30 people from Banu Abdal Mutallib were gathered, while some other
hadith say that the number was 40. Thus there is a contradiction between them making the ahadith weak.
Reply: If this argument is believed to be correct, then Bukhari and Muslim will be deemed as weak books
because there is a lot of contradictory ahadith within themselves.
Example 1:
The age of Ayesha.
Sahih Bukhari and Muslim narrate the hadith regarding the age of Ayesha at the time she was married
and they said she was 6 years old. However, Abu Dawud and an-Nisaei said she was 7 years old. This is
also authenticated by al Albani.
Thus there is a contradiction between the age of Ayesha within the 6 most authentic sunni books.
Example 2:
Bayat e Ridhwan (pledging allegiance to the Holy Prophet under the tree).
According to Sahih Muslim, there are different hadith stating the number of companions pledging
allegiance to be 1300, 1400 and 1500 companions.
Example 3:
The number of years Prophet stayed in Mecca.
According to Sahih Bukhari, Prophet stayed in Mecca for 10 years, and in 2 different ahadith according to
Sahih Bukhari itself, he stayed in Mecca for 13 years.
Example 4:
The number of fingers Allah has.
According to Sahih Bukhari, Allah has 4 fingers. According to Sahih Muslim, He has 5. According to Musnad
Ahmed ibn Hanbal, there are 6 fingers. All the ahadith have authentic chains.

Lets make it clear that numbers are a mistake on the narrators part. When a narrator states a number,
he is simply guessing it, thus he guessed a certain number at one instance, he may guess a different
number in the next. It does not weaken the hadith by any means.
Argument 4: Many ahadith say that Prophet asked for Bani Abdal Mutallib and they were either 30 or 40
people. However, this is not possible as Bani Abdal Mutallib are only around 10 people: Abdullah, Hamza,
Abbas, Abu Lahab, Abu Talib, Al Harith, Al Moqavvam, Al Ghidaf, As Saffar. So its not possible to gather
30 or 40 people when there existed only 10.
Reply:
Response 1: The possibility that according to the Prophet, Bani Abdal Mutallib and Banu Hashim are the
same cannot be overlooked. Banu Hashim is a big family with over 40 people, so when he asked for Banu
Abdal Mutallib, he meant Banu Hashim. The reason is because of the hadith in Sahih Bukhari, vol. 4, page
56, Prophet said Banu Abdal Mutallib and Banu Hashim are the same.
Response 2: There is a possibility that Banu Abdal Mutallib doesnt just include them but their children
and grandchildren. There is also a possibility that the slaves of Banu Abdal Mutallib are also included
because according to Sahih Bukhari, vol. 8, page 11: The slaves are part of the family
So in conclusion, the number of people in Banu Abdal Mutallib will be more than 40 with their children,
grandchildren and slaves included.
Argument 5: Sunnis claim that they have a contradictory hadith with the above ahadith. When the verse
was revealed, Ayesha, Ibn Abbas and Abu Hurayra said something which contradicted the hadith by Imam
Ali.
Reply: Ayesha and Ibn Abbas were either not born at the time the verse was revealed or were very young,
if they were born. Thus we have to rely on the narration by Imam Ali.
Abu Hurayra became a Muslim in the 7th A.H. (in Medina). This event happened in Mecca.
So, all the three of them were not aware of the event and were not witness to it.
Argument 6: Prophet said: Ali is my khalifa. But he was not choosing him, he was only predicting that hell
be a khalifa in future.
Reply: Firstly on reading the ahadith, it is very clear that Prophet chose Imam Ali to be his khalifa.
Secondly, according to Ahle Sunnah, Imam Ali was chosen by the people, however Ibn Taymiyyah in his
book Minhajj un Sunnah vol. 1, page 494, said that when someone says my khalifa, it means that he
chose him and in Arabic language it is not allowed to use this in any other context.
Thus, when Prophet said Ali is my khalifa, it means that he himself chose Ali to be his khalifa.

Argument 7: When Prophet said Ali is my khalifa, it does not mean the direct khalifa after the Prophet. It
only means that Ali is going to be a khalifa after Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman.
Reply: Firstly, it contradicts the hadith itself. Also, check the previous reply no. 6 quoting Ibn Taymiyyah.
Secondly, if the Prophet had to tell it this way, in Arabic language, it needs to be conveyed in the following
manner: Ali is the khalifa of khalifa of khalifa of my khalifa. The reason for stating this is because if we
check Tarikh at Tabari, vol. 3, page 277, there is a story mentioned that when Abu Bakr became the khalifa,
people started calling him khalifat Rasulullah, then Umar was called as khalifat khalifat Rasullah. Umar
then states that this will turn out to be a very long title, so simply call me Amir ul Momineen.
Thus, when Prophet said Ali is my khalifa, it meant direct successorship.
Argument 8: Sunnis claim that shias misinterpret the hadith. Prophet was only indicating that Ali is his
secretary who will pay off his dues and collect money after he passes away.
Reply: Prophet was not speaking about Ali being a secretary, but about a dangerous thing since the verse
uses the word Warn. Prophet was afraid of something, maybe a negative reaction from the people. So,
if was choosing a secretary to pay off his dues, why should people have a negative reaction to it? Infact,
it should be otherwise. People should feel happy as they will be receiving money from the Prophet as he
owed them.
Prophet started his message talking about Tawheed, Prophethood etc and then later spoke about his
successorship. He thus cautioned them at the beginning of his message as is evident in the usage of the
word Warn in the verse. Thus the appointment of a khalifa agrees with the circumstances rather than
simply choosing a secretary.
Argument 9: Sunnis claim that this hadith is weak in shia books.
Reply: The hadith is authentic in shia books.
Reference: Bassar ad Darajat, page 186, hadith no.: 19 with authentic chain.
Prophet said about Imam Ali: My brother, my companion, my successor and my pure person and my
khalifa of my ummah.
Thus we see that Prophet spoke about Imamah right at the beginning of his dawah along with Tawheed
and Nubuwwah, thus placing upon Imamah its right emphasis.