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PROPHET MUHAMMED NAMES HIS
SUCCESSOR
(10 A.H. /632 A.D.)
Non-Muslims who like to attack
Islam accuse the Prophet of Islam of having neglected to name
his successor, not knowing that he actually did exactly so in
accordance with the Divine order which he had received on
Thul-Hijja 17, 10 A.H./March 18, 632 A.D., announcing the name
of his successor the very next day, and here are the details:
In 10 A.H./632 A.D., immediately
following Hijjatul-Wada' (the Farewell Pilgrimage, the last
pilgrimage performed by Prophet Mohammed), a divine order was
revealed to the Prophet to convey the remaining Islamic tenets:
the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and the Imamate of the Twelve
Infallible Imams. The Prophet called upon the faithful to
accompany him on his last pilgrimage; he knew that it would be
his last and that he would soon have to leave this temporary
abode for the eternal one. More than one hundred and twenty
thousand Muslims responded to his call.
The Prophet and his company put
on the ihram garbs at the appropriate time at Masjid al-Shajara,
a short distance from Mecca, his birthplace, which he entered on
Thul-Hijja 5, 10 A.H./March 6, 632 A.D. The Prophet's call
reached Yemen where' Ali ibn Abu Talib was acting as his
representative. Twelve thousand Yemenite pilgrims came out
headed
By' Ali in response to the
Prophet's call to accompany him on his historic Pilgrimage,
bringing the total number of those early pilgrims to more than
one hundred and thirty-two thousand.
The Islamic pilgrimage starts in
the month of Thul-Hijja (month of the pilgrimage), the last
Islamic lunar calendar month, and continues for at least ten
days. First, each pilgrim dons a special garb called ihram;
males' ihram consists of two white sheets or towels covering the
upper and lower parts of the body, whereas females wear a full
white cotton outfit, simple and modest. This ihram reminds the
pilgrim of his/her death and of the equality of all before God.
All pilgrims perform the same rituals; none receives any
favourable treatment or distinction on account of his status,
power, or wealth. The pilgrimage starts by the tawaf the
circling of the Ka'ba seven times. The Ka'bais identified in
Islamic literature as an earthly counterpart to the Almighty's
Throne (' Arsh) in heaven where the angels circle it in
adoration. Likewise, in imitation of those angels, Muslim
pilgrims circle the Ka'ba in adoration of their Lord. The tawaf
is followed by the sa'i: the pilgrims run back and forth seven
times between the -Safa and the Marwa in commemoration of Hagar
(Hajar), mother of Ishmael, frantically searching for water for
her newborn son Ishmael. After that, the pilgrims drink of the
well of Zamzam which had appeared miraculously for Hagar and
Ishmael, wash with it or use it to make ablution for prayers at
the Ka'ba but never to use it in the toilet; Zamzam is too
sacred for such an application. Then the pilgrims leave Mecca
for Muzdalifa, 'Arafa, and finally Mina to perform certain rites
which fall outside the scope of this book which is intended to
be a historical account of the Prophet of Islam, not one of
fiqh. The author is a writer, a researcher, someone who,
according to a friend of mine, "insists on finding out who the
foundling's father is!" But he is not a faqih. Now let us go
back to our original story after having cast a glimpse at the
rite of the pilgrimage in Islam.
It was at' Arafa that the divine
command was received by Prophet Muhammad to appoint 'Ali as
"Ameerul-Mo'mineen," the Commander of the Faithful, title of the
bearer of the highest temporal and religious powers in the
Islamic State, one reserved solely for caliphs, those who are
supposed to be the most knowledgeable of all people of secular
and religious problems and of how to solve them. Muhammad was
also ordered to convey to' Ali the knowledge which the Almighty
had bestowed upon him so that it would not be lost once he is
dead. In Mina, the Prophet delivered two sermons in preparation
of the great announcement to come. In the first, he referred to'
Ali's caliphate and reminded the audience of one particular
hadith which he had conveyed to them on various occasions and
which is identified in books of hadith as " hadith al-thaqa-
Linguistically, the meaning of"
Arneerul- Mo'mineen " is: the one who bestows knowledge on the
believers, the one who "meers" (pours knowledge upon) them.
lain," tradition of the two
weighty things (the first being the Holy Quran and the second
being the Prophet's Progeny, the" Ahl al-Bayt" mentioned in
verse 33 of Chapter 33 [al-Ahzab] of the Holy Qur'an). He
delivered his second sermon at Masjid al-Khaif, also located in
Mina in the Meccan valley. In it, the Prophet reminded his
audience of' Ali's Imamate, emphasizing the necessity of
disseminating the contents of his sermon, announcing that those
present were duty-bound to convey it to those who were absent.
In both of these sermons, the Prophet publicly vested upon' Ali
both powers referred to above.
As soon as the rituals of the
pilgrimage were completed, and to be exact on Thul-Hijja 17, 10
A.H./March 18, 632 A.D., the divine order came to the Prophet
embedded in verse 67 of Chapter 5 (a1-Ma'ida) quoted in the text
of the Prophet's sermon to follow. The Prophet immediately
ordered Bilal ibn Rabah, his caller prayers and one of his
faithful sahaba, to convey the following order to the faithful:
"Tomorrow, nobody should lag behind but should go to Ghadir
Khumm."
The word "ghadir" means "swamp,"
an area where rain water gathers to form a shallow lake. Ghadir
Khumm is located near the crossroads of trade and pilgrimage
caravans coming from Medina, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Nejd on
their way to Mecca. The presence of water and a few old trees
there served as a resting place for trade caravans for
centuries. A mosque, called Masjid al-Ghadir, was later built on
the same spot where the great gathering took place to
commemorate that momentous event, an event which has
unfortunately been forgotten by the vast majority of the Muslims
who, by thus forgetting, forgot the most important part of their
creed, one without which their faith is not complete at all
according to the Prophet's sermon to follow and according to the
text of the Holy Qur'an...
The announcement conveyed by
Bilal was transmitted by one person to another till it reached
as far as Mecca proper, and people were wondering about what it
could be. They had expected the Prophet to linger a little bit
longer at Mecca where the pilgrims could meet him and ask him
whatever questions they had about this new institution called
"hajj" and about other religious matters.
In the morning of the next day,
Thul-1:1ijja 18, 10 A.H./March 19, 632A.D., the Prophet and his
120,000 companions went to Ghadir Khumm, and so did' Ali with
his 12,000 Yemenite pilgrims who had to change their route to
the north instead of to the south where they would be
home-bound. The Prophet also issued an order to four of his
closest sahaba, namely Selman-al-Farisi, Abu Tharr al-Ghifari,
Miqdad ibn al-Aswad al-Kindi and' Ammar ibn yasir, with whom the
reader is already familiar, to clear the area where the old
trees stood, to uproot the thorn bushes, collect the rocks and
stones, and to clean the place and sprinkle it with water. Then
these men took a piece of cloth which they tied between two of
those trees, thus providing some shade. The Prophet told those
sahaba that a ceremony that would last for three continuous days
would be held in that area. Then the same men piled the rocks on
top of each other and made a makeshift pulpit over them of camel
litters as high as the Prophet's own length. They put another
piece of cloth on the pulpit which was installed in the middle
of the crowd, giving the Prophet an overview of the whole
gathering. A man was selected to repeat loudly what the Prophet
was saying so that those who stood the furthermost would not
miss a word.
The athan for the noon prayers
was recited, and the congregational (jama 'a) prayers were led
by the Prophet. After that, the Prophet ascended the pulpit and
signaled to' Ali ibn Abu Talib to stand on his right. ' Ali did
so, standing one pulpit step below the Prophet. Before saying
anything, the Prophet looked right and left to make sure that
people were prepared to listen to every word of his. The sun was
so hot that people had to pull some of their outer mantles over
their heads and under their feet in order to be able to somehow
tolerate the heat. Finally the Prophet delivered his historic
sermon which he intended, as the reader will see, to be not only
for the assembled crowd but for all those who were not present
at that gathering and for all their offspring, one generation
after another, till the Day of Judgment.
Here is the text of the
Prophet's sermon. We hope it will bring the reader guidance in
the life of this world and happiness and success in the life to
come through the intercession of Muhammad, the one loved most by
Allah, peace and blessings of the Almighty be upon him, his
progeny, and true companions who obeyed him during his lifetime
and after his demise and who did not forget or pretend to forget
his following khutba:_files/image001.gif) |
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