{"id":10631,"date":"2021-01-30T06:16:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T06:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/?p=10631"},"modified":"2021-01-30T06:16:16","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T06:16:16","slug":"shia-islam3-quran-prophets-tradition-say-succession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/10631\/shia-islam3-quran-prophets-tradition-say-succession\/","title":{"rendered":"Shia Islam(3) : What the Qur\u2019an and the Prophet\u2019s tradition say about succession"},"content":{"rendered":"

What the Qur\u2019an and the Prophet\u2019s tradition say about succession<\/h1>\n

\u00a0The\u00a0\u1e24ad\u012bth\u00a0<\/em>of\u00a0Bad\u02be al-Da\u02bfwa<\/em><\/h2>\n

The\u00a0\u1e25ad\u012bth\u00a0<\/em>of\u00a0Bad\u02be al-Da\u02bfwa\u00a0<\/em>(lit. \u2018Beginning of the Preaching\u2019), which is related to the beginning of the Prophet\u2019s mission, is well-known to traditionists, historians and Qur\u2019anic commentators. When God ordered the Prophet to call his close relatives to Islam \u2013 \u2018Warn the nearest of your kinsfolk\u2019 (Q26:214) \u2013 he told \u02bfAl\u012b to prepare some food for the guests. After the leaders of the Ban\u016b \u02bfAbd al-MutT\u0101lib tribe had finished eating, the Prophet began to address them. He said, \u2018The guide never lies. I swear by God, who is one and only, that I am His Prophet to you and all people. You will die just as you sleep and you will be resurrected just as you wake up, and you will be judged for all you do. Then there will be everlasting paradise and eternal damnation. O Sons of \u02bfAbd al-MutT\u0101lib! By God, I know of no youth amongst Arabs who can offer something more valuable to people than what I offer to you. I advise you to believe in God, and whoever helps me in this will be my brother, my legatee, and my successor amongst you.\u2019 The Prophet repeated his call to Islam three times, and it was \u02bfAl\u012b who answered every time, \u2018God\u2019s Prophet, I am ready to help you in your mission.\u2019 No one else responded. At this point, the Prophet said, \u2018I hereby declare that \u02bfAl\u012b is my brother, my legatee my and successor amongst you. So harken to him and obey!\u2019 (Ibn \u1e24anbal 1\/111; \u1e6cabar\u012b, 2\/62; Ibn Ath\u012br, 2\/40). In this way, the Prophet declared \u02bfAl\u012b his successor on the very day he declared his mission to his people.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0\u1e25ad\u012bth\u00a0<\/em>of\u00a0Manzila<\/em><\/h2>\n

Scholars of\u00a0\u1e25ad\u012bth\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0s\u012bra<\/em>\u00a0relate that when the Prophet was setting out on the campaign of T\u0101b\u016bk amongst some thirty thousand men, \u02bfAl\u012b asked him: \u2018Shall I come with you?\u2019 He replied: \u2018no. \u2019 This distressed \u02bfAl\u012b greatly, so God\u2019s Messenger told him: \u2018Are you not pleased to be with me in the same station (manzila<\/em>) as Aaron was to Moses, except that there will be no prophet after me?\u2019 (Bukh\u0101r\u012b, tradition nos. 4706 and 4416). We know that Aaron, according to the Qur\u2019an, was a prophet and, at the same time, Moses\u2019s assistant and successor. Thus, \u02bfAl\u012b was the Prophet\u2019s assistant and his successor. According to Muslim, the famous Sunn\u012b traditionist, when Mu\u02bf\u0101wiya ordered people to insult \u02bfAl\u012b he saw that Sa\u02bfd b. Ab\u012b Waqq\u0101\u1e63 did not do so. When he questioned him about the reason for this, Sa\u02bfd replied: \u2018I do not insult \u02bfAl\u012b because I remember three things the Prophet told him even one of which would be a great honor to me.\u2019 And then Sa\u02bfd reported the above Prophet\u2019s words to \u02bfAl\u012b at the time of the campaign to T\u0101b\u016bk (Muslim 6\/120).<\/p>\n

The\u00a0\u1e25ad\u012bth\u00a0<\/em>of Ghad\u012br<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0\u1e25ad\u012bth\u00a0<\/em>of Ghad\u012br is one of the most widely-narrated and authentic traditions in Islam; it is narrated by no fewer than 120 Companions, ninety Successors, and 360 Sunn\u012b scholars. Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728\/1328), who harbored some enmity towards \u02bfAl\u012b, rejected the authenticity of the tradition. However, the latter-day representative of his school of thought, N\u0101\u1e63ir al-D\u012bn al-Alb\u0101n\u012b (1333\u20131424\/1914\u20131999), criticized him for rejecting it without a thorough investigation of all of its parts. According to this tradition, after having people bear witness to the unity of God, his own prophethood, and the Day of Judgment, the Prophet asked: \u2018Oh, People! How will you treat the two weighty things after me?\u2019 A man stood up and asked aloud, \u2018What are they?\u2019 The Prophet responded, \u2018The greater one is the Book of God, one side of which is in God\u2019s hand and the other is in yours. So hold fast to it lest you go astray. And the lesser one is my progeny (\u02bfitra<\/em>). The All-Knowing One has informed me that these two will never be separated until they reach me at the Pool (haw\u1e0d<\/em>). I have asked All\u0101h to make this happen. Do not go ahead of them lest you perish, nor fall behind them lest you perish!\u2019 Then, the Prophet held up \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s hand so that people could see the whites of their armpits and everyone could recognize him. The Prophet asked people, \u2018Who is more entitled (awl\u0101<\/em>) to the believers than their own selves?\u2019 The people replied, \u2018God and His Messenger know best.\u2019 He added, \u2018God is my master (mawl\u0101<\/em>) and I am the master (mawl\u0101<\/em>) of the believers. I am more entitled (awl\u0101<\/em>) to the believers than their own selves? And whoever I am the master of, then \u02bfAl\u012b is his master too!\u2019 The Prophet repeated this sentence three times (or four times, as A\u1e25mad b. \u1e24anbal relates). Then he added, \u2018Oh, God! Be an ally to his allies and an enemy to his enemies, love those who love him and hate those who hate him, help those who help him and forsake those who forsake him. Turn rightness with him wheresoever he turns. And Lo! Let those who are present inform those who are absent!\u2019<\/p>\n

We would do well to ask what the purpose of such a large gathering of people was. If we take all of the Prophet\u2019s words at Ghad\u012br into consideration, we will find several good reasons to believe his only purpose in stopping all those people there in the heat of the day was to announce his successor to them:<\/p>\n

Firstly, the Prophet began his address by having people bear witness to the unity of God, the truth of Judgment Day, and his own prophethood. Then he proceeds to announce the succession of \u02bfAl\u012b. This implies that \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s succession to the Prophet is, in terms of its significance, on a par with those three fundamental principles of Islam. In other words, if he had intended to express his own friendship to \u02bfAl\u012b or to ask others to befriend him (as some have suggested based on the different means of the word mawla<\/em>), the Prophet would not have mentioned these fundamental beliefs.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the Prophet asks people, \u2018Who is more entitled (awl\u0101) to the believers?\u2019 before saying that \u2018whoever I am the master of, then \u02bfAl\u012b is his master too!\u2019 Here, the Prophet clearly uses the word \u2018mawl\u0101<\/em>\u2019 to signify authority over the people in their social and political affairs and protecting their lives.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, the Prophet informs the people of his imminent death: \u2018I am soon to be called, and I must respond.\u2019 This suggests that he is thinking of and trying to make provisions for the Muslim society after his demise, particularly that there will be a leading authority for people to follow.<\/p>\n

Fourthly, after declaring \u2018whoever I am the master of, then \u02bfAl\u012b is his master too\u2019, the Prophet added, \u2018God is greater, for the religion of Islam is perfected and the blessing is completed and God is now satisfied with my prophethood and \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s\u00a0wil\u0101ya<\/em>.\u2019 These sentences show that God\u2019s religion was perfected and His blessing was completed with \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s succession to leadership (wil\u0101ya<\/em>) after the Prophet (Am\u012bn\u012b, 1\/26, 27, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 47 and 176). Most clearly, the Prophet declares that God is now satisfied with his prophethood and \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s succession as the leader of Muslims.<\/p>\n

Fifthly, after the Prophet had finished his address, Ab\u016b Bakr and \u02bfUmar, along with many other Prophet\u2019s Companions came to \u02bfAl\u012b and congratulated him on the event, which lasted until sunset. Ab\u016b Bakr and \u02bfUmar said to \u02bfAl\u012b, \u2018Congratulations! Between the morning and evening of today, you have become the\u00a0mawl\u0101<\/em>\u00a0of all Muslim men and women\u2019 (Am\u012bn\u012b, 1\/27, 283).<\/p>\n

Finally, those who do not dispute the authenticity of the tradition itself but claim that the Prophets words only meant that people should be friends of \u02bfAl\u012b should pay attention to the fact that it would be incompatible with the Prophet\u2019s wisdom to stop a caravan of about one hundred thousand people in the heat of the day only to tell them to be friends of \u02bfAl\u012b. \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s friendship with the believers was not doubted, because as the Qur\u2019an declares, all Muslims are brothers and friends to each other: \u2018The believers are but a single brotherhood\u2019 (Q46:10) and \u2018The believers, men, and women, are protectors of one another\u2019 (Q9:71).<\/p>\n

Two objections<\/h2>\n

Those who have investigated the\u00a0\u1e25ad\u012bth\u00a0<\/em>of Ghad\u012br accept its authenticity and the fact that its words were indeed uttered by the Prophet. This is why the Companions, the Successors, and later scholars have related the\u00a0\u1e25ad\u012bth\u00a0<\/em>and confirmed that the Prophet said on the occasion of Ghad\u012br: \u2018whoever I am the master of, then \u02bfAl\u012b is his master too.\u2019 However, some have claimed that the Arabic word \u2018mawl\u0101<\/em>\u2019 has never been used in Arabic in the sense of \u2018awl\u0101<\/em>\u2019 (\u2018more entitled\u2019) while those who employ this \u1e25ad\u012bth, in fact, stress this meaning in order to establish \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s leadership after the Prophet.<\/p>\n

In response to this objection, we may remind the critics that the word \u2018mawl\u0101,<\/em>\u2019 as many interpreters confirm, has actually been used in the Qur\u2019an in the sense of \u2018more entitled or proper.\u2019 An example of this sense can be found in the following verse: \u2018So today no ransom shall be taken from you, nor from the faithless. The Fire is your proper abode: it is your refuge and an evil destination.\u2019 (Q57:15)<\/p>\n

Shia Islam(2): The position and responsibilities of the Prophet\u2019s successor<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n