Introducing Eid Ghadir
The 18th of Dhu ‘l-Hijja is celebrated in the Shi’a world as the ‘idd of Ghadir Khumm in which Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) said about Imam ‘Ali: “Whomsoever master (mawla) I am, this ‘Ali is also his master.” This event is of such significance to the Shi’as that no serious scholar of Islam can ignore it. The purpose of this paper is to study how the Orientalists handled the event of Ghadir Khumm . By “orientalists”, I mean the Western scholarship of Islam and also those Easterners who received their entire Islamic training under such scholars.
Before proceeding further, a brief narration of the event of Ghadir Khumm would not be out of place. This will be especially helpful to those who are not familiar with the event. While returning from his last pilgrimage, the Prophet received the following command of Allah:Â
“O the Messenger! Convey what had been revealed to you from your Lord; if you do not do so, then [it would be as if] you have not conveyed His message [at all]. Allah will protect you from the people.” (The Qur’an 5:67)
Therefore he stopped at Ghadir Khumm on the 18th of Dhu ‘l-Hijja, 10 AH to convey the message to the pilgrims before they dispersed. At one point, he asked his followers whether he, Muhammad, had more authority (awla) over the believers than they had over themselves; the crowd cried out, “Yes, it is so, O Apostle of Allah.” Then he took ‘Ali by the hand and declared:Â
“Whomsoever master (mawla) I am, this ‘Ali is also his master – man kuntu mawlahu fa hadha ‘Aliyun mawlahu.” Then the Prophet also announced his impending death and charged the believers to remain attached to the Qur’an and to his Ahlul Bayt. This summarizes the important parts of the event of Ghadir Khumm.
The main body of this paper is divided as follows: Part II is a brief survey of the approach used by the Orientalists in studying Shi’ism. Part III deals with the approach used to study Ghadir Khumm in particular. Part IV is a critical review of what M.A. Shaban has written about the event in his Islamic History AD 600-750. This will be followed by a conclusion