KHUTAB XI: 7. GHADĪR (THE POND OF) KHUMM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE (4)

7.  GHADĪR (THE POND OF) KHUMM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE (4)

           Among the arguments of the Shi’is in supporting the ḥadīth of the Ghadīr Khumm,  namely,

مَنْ كُنْتُ مَوْلاهُ فَعَلِيٌّ مَوْلاهُ ، اللَّهُمَّ وَالِ مَنْ وَالاهُ ،

وَعَادِ مَنْ عَادَاهُ  (رواه أحمد(

Whosoever’s mawlá I am, this Ali is also his mawlá. O Allah, befriend whosoever befriends him and be the enemy of whosoever is hostile to him (Reported by Aḥmad)

According to the Shi’a tradition Ḥārith ibn Nu‘mān al-Fihrī on hearing the succession of Ali he came to Madinah and asked the Prophet (ﷺ). When the Prophet confirmed it saying that it was an imposition from Allah Ḥārith returned to his camel, saying, “O Allah, if what Muhammad has said is correct, then fling on us a stone from the sky and subject us to severe pain and torture.” For this, Allah punished him, and revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) the following verse:

سَأَلَ سَائِلٌ بِعَذَابٍ وَاقِعٍ . لِلْكَافِرِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُ دَافِعٌ .

مِنَ اللَّهِ ذِي الْمَعَارِجِ (الْمَعَارِجِ:1-3(

"A questioner asked concerning a torment about to

befall. Upon the disbelievers which none can avert,

From Allah the Lord of the ways of ascent." (70:1-3)

          The term لِلْكَافِرِينَ (“for the believers”) means عَلَى الْكَافِرِين (“on disbelievers”). This means that a person asked concerning a torment about to befall on disbelievers. Who was this questioner?

(a) He could be a disbeliever asking concerning a torment that would befall on him and disbelievers like him in (either in this world or in the Hereafter), because he knew that this would not happen, as he did not believe what the Qur’ān and the Prophet (ﷺ) said. 

Although al-Țabarī and Ibn Kathīr do not mention who the questioner was, al-Qurṭubī gives us some names, but without isnād, namely: (1) al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Kaladah, according to Ibn ‘Abbās and Mujāhid. He was the person who asked concerning a torment from Allah that would occur in the Hereafter on him and on disbelievers, as they said that the Qur’ān was just tales of the ancients, he said, as quoted by the Qur’ān, as follows:

وَإِذْ قَالُوا اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كَانَ هَذَا هُوَ الْحَقَّ مِنْ عِنْدِكَ فَأَمْطِرْ عَلَيْنَا

حِجَارَةً مِنَ السَّمَاءِ أَوِ ائْتِنَا بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ (الأنفال:32(

And (remember) when they said: “O Allah,

if this is indeed the truth from you, then rain

down stones on us from  the sky or bring on

us a painful torment” (Q. 8:32)

At the battle of Badr he (al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith) and ‘Uqbah ibn Abī Mu‘ayṭ were killed in cold blood; (2) Abū Jahl according to al-Rabī‘; (3) a group of disbelievers among the Quraysh tribe.

(b) He could be a believer who turned to be a disbeliever.   He was al-Ḥārith ibn al-Nu‘mān al-Fihrī. When the news reached him that the Prophet (ﷺ) had appointed Ali his mawlā he rode his camel until he reached al-Abṭaḥ (a place between Makkah and Mina, but closer to Mina) where he made his camel keel down, came to the Prophet (ﷺ) asking his confirmation. He said he had obeyed the Prophet (ﷺ)’s command in testifying that there is no deity but Allah, in performing the five-daily prayers, fasting in Ramadan, offering pilgrimage to Makkah. When the Prophet (ﷺ) confirmed that he had raised his cousin Ali to be the mawlá of whom he was mawlá, that was too much for him. He turned back and proceeded towards his she-camel saying: "O Allah! If what Muhammad said is correct then fling on us a stone from the sky and subject us to severe pain and torture." He had not reached his she-camel when Allah, who is above all defects, flung at him a stone which struck him on his head, penetrated his body and passed out through his lower body and left him dead. Then it was revealed سَأَلَ سَائِلٌ بِعَذَابٍ وَاقِعٍ “A questioner asked concerning a torment…” mentioned above.

 © The believers, namely, (1) the Prophet (ﷺ) himself, and (2) Prophet Noah.

          Instead of al-Ḥārith ibn al-Nu‘mān al-Fihrī, the name according to Abū ‘Ubayd al-Harawī (d. 223/836) was Jābir ibn al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith whose father was the leader of Banī ‘Abd al-Dār clan, and the carrier of the Quraysh flag  in the battle of Badr.  Muslim scholars say that it was al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith who questioned the Prophet (ﷺ) according to Ibn ‘Abbās and Mujāhid, not his son Jābir or al-Ḥārith for the following reasons:

a. The verses above are in sūrat الْمَعَارِج (chapter 70) which is Makkiyyah (Makkan chapter), revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ) before his migration to Madinah, and therefore, not after the Prophet (ﷺ)’s migration to Madinah, and not after his declaration of appointing Ali as his mawlá in Ghadīr Khumm. This is the opposite view of the Shī‘īis who said that the above verses were revealed in Madinah. They say that a Makkan chapter could contain Madinan verses, and verse 1 and 2 of chapter 70 could be revealed in Madinah. Moreover, a verse or verses could be revealed more than once, once in Makkah and again in Madinah, such as sūrat al-Fātiḥah which was revealed twice, once in Makkah when the prayer was prescribed, and once again in Madinah when the qiblah (direction in prayer) from Bayt al-Maqdis in Jerusalem was changed to the Ka‘bah in Makkah. But Ibn ‘Abbās or any other mufassirīn did not mention that the first two verses of chapter 70 were revealed in Madinah, unlike any other chapter of the Qur’ān where the Madinan verses in the Makkan chapter, or vice-versa were mentioned.

b. Who were the persons who asked Allah to rain down stones on them from the sky if what the Prophet (ﷺ) claimed was true, as mentioned in sūrat al-Anfāl verse 32 (chapter 8:32) above? According to the Shi’is, it was al-Ḥārith ibn al-Nu‘mān al-Fihrī as mentioned above, if it was true that the Prophet (ﷺ) had appointed Ali as his successor. Another view said that it was al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith’s son called Jābir. The verse was found in sūrat al-Anfāl (“the Spoils”) which is sūrah Madaniyyah (Madinan chapter), namely, revealed after the Prophet (ﷺ)’s migration to Madinah. However, Ibn ‘Abbās said that seven verses starting from verse وَإِذْ يَمْكُرُ بِكَ... (verse 30) till (verse إِلَى جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ (36 were excluded, not revealed after the Prophet (ﷺ)’s migration, but before. They are Makkan verses inside Madinan chapter. This includes verse 32 above. Therefore the persons who asked Allah’s punishment were non-believers who did not believe in the Prophet (ﷺ)’s message in general, before the Prophet (ﷺ)’s migration, not those who did not believe in Ali’s succession, after his migration.

c.   It was either al-Ḥārith or Jābir who made his camel keel down at al-Abṭaḥ (a place between Makkah and Mina) to meet the Prophet (ﷺ) there, not at Ghadīr Khumm, and not in Madīnah. But the Shi’is argue that al-Abṭaḥ or al-Baṭḥā’ which literally means “the flat land, basin-shaped valley” is any masīl (river bed, drain place) containing small pebbles, not only the one near Makkah, but also at Dhū ‘l-Ḥulayfah near Madinah and other places.

As a matter of fact, there is not a single Qur’ānic verse saying explicitly the appointment of Ali as the Prophet (ﷺ)’s successor. All are hints interpreted to be so. Therefore, Muslims are not to believe in it, as it is not stated clearly in the Qur’ān, such as the injunction of prayers, fasting, etc. which are clearly stated. The Shī‘ah mentioned the ḥadīth where the Prophet said to Ali that he was like Hārūn to Mūsá, except there was no prophet after him. The ḥadīth runs as follows:

عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ أَبِى وَقَّاصٍ قَالَ خَلَّفَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ -صلى الله عليه وسلم-

عَلِىَّ بْنَ أَبِى طَالِبٍ فِى غَزْوَةِ تَبُوكَ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ تُخَلِّفُنِى فِى النِّسَاءِ

وَالْصِّبْيَانِ فَقَالَ : " أَمَا تَرْضَى أَنْ تَكُونَ مِنِّى بِمَنْزِلَةِ هَارُونَ مِنْ

مُوسَى غَيْرَ أَنَّهُ لاَ نَبِىَّ بَعْدِى" (رواه البخاري و مسلم وأحمد(

Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqāṣ narrated that the Messenger of

Allah left Ali behind him in the battle of Tabūk. So,

he said: “O Messenger of Allah, are you going to leave

me behind with women and children?” So, he said:

“Are you not going to be content to have position

to me like that Aaron was to Moses, except

that there is no Prophet after me?"

(Reported by al-Bukhārī, Muslim and Aḥmad)

They say that this ḥadīth indicates that the Prophet had appointed ‘Ali to be his successor. Similarly, Prophet Mūsá left behind Hārūn with his people the children of Israel in Sinai when he went to the Mount to receive the tablet containing Allah’s command.

When we refer to the Qur’ān we find that what Prophet Mūsā  wanted and asked Allah not a successor, but a helper, a wazīr from his family, so that they could convey the message to Pharaoh, as mentioned in the Qur’ān  as follows:

وَاجْعَلْ لِي وَزِيرًا مِنْ أَهْلِي.هَارُونَ أَخِي (طه:29-30(

And appoint for me a helper from my family,

Harun, my brother (Q. 20:29-30)

The verses that follow indicate the reason for his need of assistance, and Allah’s grant of his request, as follows:   

اشْدُدْ بِهِ أَزْرِي. وَأَشْرِكْهُ فِي أَمْرِي. كَيْ نُسَبِّحَكَ كَثِيرًا. وَنَذْكُرَكَ كَثِيرًا.

إِنَّكَ كُنْتَ بِنَا بَصِيرًا. قَالَ قَدْ أُوتِيتَ سُؤْلَكَ يَا مُوسَى (طه:31-36(

Increase my strength with him. And let him share my

task. That we may glorify You much, and remember

You much. Verily, you are ever seeing us (Q. 20:31-36)

This means that Hārūn as his assistance would make his back strong, would make him his consultant, and together they would glorify and remember Him much, and Allah would ever see them in choosing them and giving them prophethood and sending them to Pharaoh. Then Allah told him his request had been granted.

      It was said that Prophet Mūsá had suffered from stammering, so that people could not understand what he intended in his speech. When he spoke to Pharaoh, he (Pharaoh) said of him as mentioned in the Qur’ān:

أَمْ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْ هَذَا الَّذِي هُوَ مَهِينٌ وَلَا يَكَادُ يُبِينُ (الزخرف:52(

Am I not better than this one who is despicable and

can scarcely express himself clearly? (Q. 43:52)

          As Prophet Hārūn passed away earlier than his younger brother Mūsá, he could not continue to be his wazīr, let alone his successor. Similarly, Ali as the Prophet’s vizier he remained so until the Prophet’s death. When he was succeeded by the caliphs after him, Ali also remained to be their vizier, assistance and consultant, until he himself was appointed as caliph succeeding ‘Uthmān. He had expressed his reluctance to this office when they offered him the pledge of allegiance, and said:

لاَ تَفْعَلُوا فَإِنِّيْ أَكُوْنُ وَزِيْرًاً خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَنْ أَكٌوْنَ أَمِيْرًاً

Do not do [the pledge], as I prefer to be

a vizier rather than to be an emir.

لَمْ أُرِدِ النَّاسَ حَتَّى أَرَادُوْنِيْ، وَلَمْ أُبَايِعْهُمْ حَتَّى أَكْرَهُوْنِي

I do not want people until they want me, and I will

not pledge allegiance to them until they force me.

(CIVIC, 21 October, 2016)

المراجع:

 المكتبة الشاملة

تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ( 

تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ(

تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ(

http://www.anwar5.net/albatoul/?id=4095.

http://www.aqaed.com/faq/2451

http://www.haydarya.com/maktaba_moktasah/14/book_00/part1/13.htm

http://www.arabtimes.com/portal/article_display.cfm?ArticleID=18373

http://www.mezan.net/sayed_ameli/books/s_imamali/19/04.html