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Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swineflesh, and that which hath been
dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the
dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and
the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which
hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is
an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so
fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour
unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to
sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
- Surah 5: Verse 3
1st Part: Once we look at the verse above, we realize it talks about disbelievers being despaired.
What does it mean?
a) Dispair: Yas or despair is the opposite of hope.
Ref: Qamus al Muheet Vol2, page 260
b) Disbelievers: mean Idol worshippers/People of the book
2nd Part: The religion is completed today
This means that yesterday , the religion was not complete! It means that Allah provided something
in the religion today, which completed it.
Now, is this thing new or old?
Logically, its going to be new, something not provided before. If it was old, the religion would
have been completed then, not today.
3rd Part: Completed religion
Religion
Idealogy
Shariah
Religion comprises of Idealogy and Shariah. Idealogy is never ending, thus can never be
completed. Example: Allah/Tawheed. Something new can be learnt about Allah everyday, till the
Day of Judgment.
But Shariah can be (is) completed.
WHAT ARE THE OPINIONS OF SCHOLARS WITH REGARDS TO THE THING COMPLETED?
There are 6 opinions:
1) The verse descended at the beginning of ad-Dawah.
Ans:
The 1st condition of disbelievers being in despair does not fit here. At the beginning of ad dawah,
the disbelievers were hoping to destroy Islam and Prophets claim. One of the ways to destroy
Islam was battles.
2nd condition: The religion was not complete yet.
2) They say it was revealed on the day of Fath al Makka. It was in 8 AH
Ans:
a) Fath al Makka was only w.r.t the idol worshippers but not People of the book
b) Religion was not complete yet
3) Was revealed after Surah al Baraat
Ans:
a) It only effects Jews, not idol worshippers and Christians
b) In 9th AH, religion was not yet complete
4) Was revealed on the day of Arafat
Ans:
a) Lets assume that the verse descended that day and religion was perfected. But the other
condition that it should put the disbelievers in despair is not being fulfilled here. Hajj doesnt put
them in a state of despair because they wouldnt care if Muslims perform Hajj or not.
5) Sunnis say: Dont look at the hadith but look at the verse. It talks about certain type of food
being forbidden. Eg: dead meat, swine, blood etc. Thus Allah, after mentioning this, completed the
religion
Ans:
a) Whether Muslims eat dead meat, swine etc or not, should not put disbelievers in a state of
despair
b) These rules were revealed earlier as well:
i)
Surah 2, verse 173
He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any
other name hath been invoked besides that of God. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful
disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then is he guiltless. For God is Oft-Forgiving Most
Merciful.
ii)
Surah 16, verse 115
He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which
the name of other than God has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful
disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, - then God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
iii)
Surah 6, verse 145
Say: "I find not in the Message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden to be eaten by
one who wishes to eat it, unless it be dead meat, or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine,- for
it is an abomination - or, what is impious, (meat) on which a name has been invoked, other than
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God's". But (even so), if a person is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor
transgressing due limits,- thy Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
iv)
Surah 5, verse 90
O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are
an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.
Looking at all the opinions, it is seen that they didnt fulfil the conditions mentioned in the verse
namely:
a) The disbelievers should despair
b) The religion should be completed
Now, if we look at Surah 108:3 (al Kauthar), we know that Prophet did not have a son. Knowing
this, the disbelievers were waiting for a tragedy to befall on the Prophet as evidenced by the verse
Surah 52:30
Or do they say:- "A Poet! we await for him some calamity (hatched) by Time!"
Thus, we realize that the disbelievers were waiting for the Prophet to pass away. They were
assuming the holy Prophet to be just a poet, so that once he dies, the people will forget his
teachings and his religion too.
Also, check the following verse for a similar desire, the disbelievers had towards the Prophet
Surah 8:30
Remember how the Unbelievers plotted against thee, to keep thee in bonds, or slay thee, or get
thee out (of thy home). They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah.
From the past, we see that they had battles with the Prophet and they did not complete their
promises and agreements etc. So the only hope they had now is to wait for the Prophet to pass
away so that they can control muslims again.
In Ghadeer, they saw someone being elected who they fought with in Badr, Khandaq, Khybar etc.
All the kafirs, knew Imam Ali too well. In Ghadeer, when Prophet chose Imam Ali, they thus became
hopeless since a successor was chosen to carry forward the teachings of Islam.
What is the new thing though?
In al-Kafi volume 1, page 289, number 4: This new thing was the bayah which was forced on
everyone, was an obligation.
Hadith by Imam al Baqir (a.s): He spoke about many issues first, then about Ghadeer and said that
Prophet gathered people and everybody later gave bayah. Allah would send one obligation after
another and wilayah was the last obligation that was sent, then the verse 5:3 descended. Imam
said it meant Allah was saying that he will not send anymore obligations.
It reaches Abu Hurayra. It says anyone who fasts on the 18th of Dhil Hijjah, it is like he fasted for 60
months and it is the day of Ghadeer Khum, when Prophet took the hand of Imam Ali and said Am
I not your wali? They said Yes. He said: Whoever am his mawla, Ali is his mawla. Umar came
and congratulated him and said Today you have become my mawla and mawla of all believing
men and women. Then the verse descended.
SUNNI OBJECTIONS:
Ibn Kathir in Al Bidayah wa al Nihayah said:
a)
The hadith above contradicts the hadith in Bukhari an Muslim and says it was revealed on the
Day of Arafat
Ans: Tadhkirat al Khawwas by Ibn al Jawzi, page 30 states that there is no contradiction between
the 2 ahadith because the verse can be revealed twice. Eg: Bismillah was revealed both in Mecca
and Medina.
Our shia scholars say that Ayat e Ruh was revealed more than once.
Surah Fateha was revealed twice
Ayat 33:33 was revealed in Umm Salamas, Ayeshas, Fatimas (sa) house and in the mosque too.
b) If you fast that day (Ghadeer) it is like youve fasted for 60 months, but if you fast during
Ramadhan, it is like youve fasted for just 10 months.
Ans:
In Sahih Muslim, it states that someone fasts for the month of Ramadhan and the next 6 days
of Shawwal, it is as if he fasted for the entire life
From as-Suyuti: If youve fasted 6 days in Shawwal, is it as if you have fasted for one year
Whoever fasts one day from Arafat, it is as if he has fasted for 1000 days (Reference?)
Whoever fasts for 3 days from any month, it is as if he has fasted for his entire life (Ref?)
[There is one problem in the chain
All the narrators are reliable though except one who is unknown. But Al Baghdadi said he is saduq.
Ad-Darqutni narrated from the unknown guy, thus the chain is good since ad-Darqutni is stronger
than Bukhari]
...
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He goes onto say,
If you know this, the reason why I mentioned this hadith and showing that it is authentic, is
because I have seen Ibn Taymiyyah weaken the first part of this hadith, and about the second part
he claimed that it is weak. He did this because of a habit of exaggeration of being too hasty in
weakening the Ahadeeth before collecting its chains and deeply looking at them.
.)74/7 ) (
The hadith, Whoever I am his Maula, Ali is his Maula, has been narrated by Al Tirmidhi, and al
Nisaei and it has many chains of narration, which ibn ukda gathered in one book. And many of its
chains are sahih and hasan
He also says in another book,
Tahdhib al Tahdhib, volume 4, pg 213: Ibn Jareer Al Tabari has gathered this hadith in a book, and
it has doubles the number of people who have mentioned and authenticated this hadith. And also
Ibn Ukda paid special attention to gather this hadith in one book and has narrated it from 70
companions or more.
: ... ( :
. )213/4 ) (
Prophet said that after an argument of some companions with Imam Ali, they came to the Prophet
and he (s) said: what do you want from Ali? He is from me and Im from him. He is the wali of every
believer after me.
If the hadith is interpreted to mean love, then it renders it meaningless because of the words
after me
One uses after me to denote one of the 3 things:
i) Place
ii) Time
iii) Status
We believe, it was speaking about status.
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If this hadith meant friendship why would Imam Ali bring it up 23 yrs after the death of the Prophet?
Why did he ask the companions to admit this? Why did he ask this in the period when the issue of
his Khilafah was being discussed? And why did the narrator almost deny this hadith?
When we turn to the Quran
Surah 9:71
And the believers, men and women, are protecting friends one of another
If the Prophet was referring to the ordinary friendship, then this verse already says that the
believing men and the believing women are protecting friends of each other. There was no need
for Imam Ali to repeat that, and there was no need for the companions to admit this, and nothing
will cause the narrator to have negative feelings toward this hadith. So, we can clearly conclude
that he was referring to Guardianship, in which he meant to say, I am not taking this right from
anybody, I already got this right from the Prophet, and I am accepting this position because of my
duty, not because anybody wants me to.
Why did the companions not follow this hadith?
Our answer is, wasnt the appointing of Prophet Mohammed established from the time of the
Christians and Jews? Did they not know he will be coming and he will be the final Prophet? Yet why
did they not follow him? Similarly with the companions, it is their issue. That is not an indication
that there is a flaw in the hadith.
In Musnad by Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, hadith number 22461:
A group of people, one of them is Abu Ayub Ansari, came to Imam Ali and said Salamun Aleikum
Maulana Imam Ali replied, Why do you call me Maula when you are Arab people? (Arab people
here means free, not slave) They replied, Because weve heard the Prophet saying in Ghadeer
Khum whoever I am his maula, Ali is his maula.
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Al Albaani said in his book, Al Silsala Al Sahiha Volume 4, pg 340: This chain is good, and its narrators
are reliable. Al Haithami also said in Majma Al Zawaed volume 9 pg 104: The narrators of Ahmed
are reliable.
Again this proves that the meaning of the word Maula in this context is Guardian, and not
friendship because Imam Ali said Why do you call me Maulana when you are free people?, and
the reply was what theyve understood from Ghadeer Khum ie. They are the slaves and Imam Ali
owns them.
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Claim 2:
The Prophet was in Mecca for Hajj, however he did not mention anything about Wilayah of Imam
Ali there. He made this statement in Ghadeer Khum, which is in Johfa, 160km from Mecca. Why
did he not say it in Mecca itself if it was so important, where he would have had a bigger crowd?
Most of the people had already gone home after Hajj from Mecca itself.
Reply:
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First of all, the Prophet mentioned Hadith Thaqalayn during Hajj, which is by itself enough to prove
the wilayah of Imam Ali. Even if the incident of Ghadeer Khum did not take place, that hadith is
sufficient to prove the position of the Ahlul Bayt and wilayah of Imam Ali.
Additionally, if you look carefully at the map, you will observe that there are two lines, green line
and a red line. At the bottom of the map is Mecca, if you follow the line right to the top, then that
is Madina. The green line represents the way travellers usually used to travel from Mecca to
Madina. The red line represents the line which Prophet Mohammed used to travel to Madina
when he was hiding from the Kuffar, in the cave. It was not the usual route. Now observe the
position of Mecca. It is in the middle of the mountains. Sunnis assume that people can go directly
to their homes from Mecca. In reality this is not the case, due to mountainous terrain, they need
to travel to Johfa, which is a connection point. From there they can go their respective ways. This
means that most of the people accompanied the Prophet till Johfa, after which they went their
separate ways. Thus he did not lose most of the people as the Sunnis assume.
Let us say he did lose most of the people. Everybody went home, and only the people of Madina
were left with him or the people who lived around Madina. This is still enough.
Why? Lets read the following verse
Surah 9:101
And among those around you of the wandering Arabs there are hypocrites, and among the
townspeople of Al-Madinah (there are some who) persist in hypocrisy whom thou (O Muhammad)
knowest not.
This proves that the people of Madina and those around needed more attention, they also had
the most influence on Islam and its future. The Prophet wanted to focus on them in particular,
and place extra emphasis on them.
Now there is only one more problem we need to clarify from within this question. Sunnis will ask
why did he not make the extra effort in Mecca itself? Why wait till Johfa?
Reply:
He wanted this EXTREMELY important event to be a memorable one. It is a fact that the memory
recalls those incidents much better which took place around exception circumstances. The
Prophet wanted this event to be memorable, he wanted to embed it into the minds of the
believers so no one can claim later to have forgotten it. This is why he stopped them all in the
middle of the way, in an unusual spot like Johfa and made the statement.
Which piece of news will be more memorable for you? One that was mentioned during the regular
news time? Or one that the TV channel would suddenly cuts its program to broadcast it? This is
why it was chosen for the Prophet to declare the guardianship of Imam Ali in Johfa and not in Hajj.
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Claim 3:
The Shia has made a big deal out of something very small. It was a very trivial incident, which they
have blown out of proportion. Prophet Mohammed said this to make peace among the
companions, as some of them were displeased with Imam Ali. That is all. It was merely a small
disagreement that the Prophet wished to sort out and thus made this statement.
Some of the authentic hadiths the sunnis use to support their argument are:
Majma al Zawaid, volume 9, pg 108:
Also Ahmed al Hanbal narrated it, under hadith # 21883:
Prophet sent some people including Imam Ali to Yemen, to preach Islam. There they were
displeased with something about Imam Ali. When they returned, the Prophet asked them, How
was Ali? They told him regarding what they were displeased about. At this the narrator said that
the Prophet had a red face which showed his anger and replied, Man kunthu waliuh fa Ali un
waliuh. The narrator then said, I will never hate Ali again.
: ( ) 21883
: :
: : ( ) ()
)108/9 ( . : .
Al Nisaei, volume 5, pg 130:
Musnad Ahmed, volume 5, pg 358, hadith # 21950:
I had something in my heart against Ali. Me and Khalid ibn Walid were sent to Yemen with Imam
Ali as the leader. We didnt like something about imam Ali. When we told the Prophet about it,
his face changed and he said, Man kuntu waliuh fa Ali un waliuh
Albani said this hadith is authentic according to Musnad, in his book Silsila Sahih, volume 4, pg 337
( ) 21950 358/5 130/5
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Musnad Ahmed, hadith #19081
Tirmidhi, hadith # 3645
Albani said this is authentic in his book Sunan Sahih Tirmidhi, volume 3, pg 521, hadith # 3704:
Similar to the previous ahadith, a group of people came to the Prophet and complained about
Imam Ali. The first person said something, Prophet kept silent, the second person went onto say
something, he kept silent and so forth till the fourth person complained. At this the Prophet
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showed anger he had never shown before and replied, What do you want from Ali? Ali is from
me and I am from Ali. And he is the wali of all the believers after me.
19081 3645 ( 521/3
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132/5 8474 .
Reply:
Those are incidents that have happened in different time, place and has nothing to do with
Ghadeer Khum because this incident actually happened before Hajj, where as Ghadeer Khum
happened after Hajj. This happened in Madina, when Ghadeer happened in Johfa.
;Our proof for this
Book of Al Dhahabi, Tareekh al Islam, Chapter of Kitab al Maghazi, pg 690:
)(He said: This is an authentic hadith, which al Bukhari narrated some of it
Khalid ibn Walid and others were sent to Yemen for 6 months to make Dawa. They did not
succeed in making them accept Islam. Prophet then sent imam Ali and ordered him to tell Khalid
and the rest to return back. Back obviously refers to Madina where the Prophet was. Imam Ali
once he reached Yemen made the people all stand in a straight line and read the Prophets letter
to them. At this first attempt, they all accepted Islam. He then sent a letter telling the Prophet
about this (obviously with Khalid ibn Walid and the rest in their way back as the Prophet had
ordered). When the Prophet read this letter the he went into Sujud and sent Salaam on the tribe
of Hamdaan, the tribe which converted
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Claim 4:
Bring the hadith of Ghadeer Khum through authentic chains, from the Shia books.
Reply:
The Hadith is Mutawater according to Al Ekhtisas for Shaykh Al Toosi, pg 216.
The Shias also have it with authentic chains, some of which are narrated in:
Al Khisal for Al Shaykh Al Saduq, pg 55.
Usul Al Kafi for Al Kulaini, volume 1, pg 286, hadith 1, Chapter of Allah & the Prophets Appointing
on the Imams one by one.
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