There is no doubt that prior to his departing from the earth Rasulullah (s) as any responsible leader would do appointed a successor, one that would inherit his mantle of leadership, and thereafter continue to propagate the true teachings of Islam after him. He took the opportunity to make this declaration following the completion of the final Hajj wherein believers from all over the Arab peninsula had gathered. It was here, at the a place called Ghadir Khumm that the Prophet (s) made his intention clear to all, and we are quoting tradition four from Dr Tahir Qadri’s book “The Ghadir Declaration”
عن البراء بن عازب رضي الله عنه، قال: أقبلنا مع رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم في حجته التي حج، فنزل في بعض الطريق، فأمر الصلاة جامعة، فأخذ بيد علي رضي الله عنه، فقال: ألست أولى بالمؤمنين من أنفسهم؟ قالوا: بلى. قال: ألست أولى بكل مؤمن من نفسه؟ قالوا: بلى. قال: فهذا ولي من أنا مولاه، اللهم! وال من والاه، اللهم! عاد من عاداه.
“Barā’ bin ‘Āzib (RA) narrates: We performed hajj with Allāh’s Messenger (SAW). On the way he stayed at a place and commanded us (to establish) the prayer in congregation. After this, he held ‘Alī’s hand, and said: Am I not nearer than the lives of the believers? They replied: Why not! He said: Am I not nearer than the life of every believer? They replied: Why not! He said: One who has me as his master has this (‘Alī) as his guardian. O Allāh! Befriend the one who befriends him and be the enemy of one who is his enemy.” [Ibn Mājah narrated this sound hadīth (tradition) in preface (al-muqaddimah) to his Sunan (1:88 # 116); Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wan-nihāyah (4:168); Hindī, Kanz-ul-‘ummāl (11:602 # 32904); Ibn ‘Asākir, Tārīkh Dimashq al-kabīr (45:167, 168); and Ibn ‘Abī ‘Āsim briefly mentioned in as-Sunnah (p.603 # 1362).]
This was followed by the public coronation of Ali (as) as his successor before the masses, for:
It is narrated by ‘Ali (as) himself. He said: on the day of Ghadir Khum, the Messenger of Allah (saww) had a turban tied round my head (as a symbol of honour) and let the loose end hang down at the back. Then he said: The angels whom Allah (swt) had sent to help me at Badr and Hunayn were wearing turbans of the same kind. He then added: surely the turban differentiates between belief and disbelief.” ‘
[Tayalisi related it in al-Musnad (p.23#154); and Bayhaqi in as-Sunan-ul-kubra (10:14).
Hindi says in Kanz-ul-’ummal (15:306,482#41141,41909) that, besides Tayalisi, this tradition has also been narrated by Bayhaqi, Tabarani, Ibn Abi Shaybah and Ibn Muni’. Hindi has added the following words:
“Surely the turban differentiates between Muslims and polytheists.”
‘Abd-ul-A’la bin ‘Adi has also narrated that the Prophet (saww) called ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (as) on the day of Ghadir Khum, tied a turban round his head (as a sign of honour) and let the loose end hang down at the back.
This tradition is recorded in the following books:
i. Ibn Athir, Asad-ul-ghabah fi ma’rifat-is-sahabah (3:170)
ii. Muhib Tabari, ar-Riyad-un-nadrah fi manaqib-il-’ashrah (3:194).
iii. Zurqani, Sharh-ul-mawahib-il-laduniyyah (6:272).
The Ghadir Declaration, page 80
Despite this key event, when we look in to history we see a completely different individual, Abu Bakr occupying the reins of power and declaring himself to be the Khailfa of Rasulullah (s). The question is how and why did this happen? What key incidents took place between the coronation of Ali (as) and Abu Bakr coming to power, that changed the entire destiny of the Islamic Ummah? The key incidents are two:
The first is the calamity of Thursday wherein certain individuals that successfully impeded the ability of Rasulullah (s) from dictating his will on his deathbed, so that no written record of his choice of successor would exist.
The second incident involved the same individuals engineering a means to counter the appointment of Ali (as) by imposing on the Ummah their own choice.
This second incident was enabled via a gathering at a place called Saqifa Bani Sa’adah. When we had originally penned an article on this topic we sought to analytically go through the events that followed the death of Rasulullah (s) setting out how a chain events unfolded that led to Abu Bakr becoming the head of state, following heated discussions at Saqifa. We focussed on Sunni narratives to piece to gather the events and to show our dear readers that the appointment of Abu Bakr was a full- fledged conspiracy wherein all manner of trickery and dishonesty was adopted to ensure that Abu Bakr won the day by any means necessary.
This naturally caused immense indigestion to the advocates of Abu Bakr, and Ibn al-Hashimi of the now redundant www.ahlelbayt.com website set about refuting our article in its entirety. Countering our analysis through a mixture of conjecture, risible claims and bamboozling medical prognosis the eponymous hero of the nawasib desperately tried to present himself as some saviour out to defend the Nawasaib from rafidah lies. When he had tried the same approach with his defence of Umar’s antics during the pen and paper episode, we provided a swift riposte to counter him. On this occasion rather than rush through a refutation we thought it best to carefully consider each counter argument he produced and then refute it in detail. Having done just that we are please present to our dear readers, the second edition wherein of our article on Saqifa.