All of the Islamic traditionists from various Islamic branches have a unanimous agreement that this narration is healthy and is narrated from the Prophet and no Islamic figure doubts the authenticity of it.
It is enough for the validity of this narration to be mentioned by some great Sunni figures like Moslem in his Sahīh, al-Tirmezī and Ahmad bin Hanbal in their Mosnads, al-Nasāee in his Khasāes, Hākim al-Naysābūrī in al-Mostadrak ‘Ala al-Sahīhayn, Abu Dawūd and Ibn Mājeh in their Sonans.
In Shia sources this narration is so widely narration that to mention the sources is beyond the scope of this short writing.
The text of this narration defers from source to source and it indicates that the Prophet used to utter it in many occasions with different wordings. However, most of these sources say that the Prophet said,
«إِنِّي أَوْشَكَ أَنْ أُدْعَى فَأُجِيبَ وَ إِنِّي تَارِكٌ فِيكُمُ الثَّقَلَيْنِ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ حَبْلٌ مَمْدُودٌ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ وَ عِتْرَتِي أَهْلَ بَيْتِي وَ إِنَّ اللَّطِيفَ الْخَبِيرَ أَخْبَرَنِي أَنَّهُمَا لَنْ يَفْتَرِقَا حَتَّى يَرِدَا عَلَيَّ الْحَوْضَ فَانْظُرُوا مَا ذَا تَخْلُفُونِّي فِيهِمَا.»
“I am about to receive a call (to leave this world) and I will answer it, but I am leaving among you two precious things: The one being the Book of Allah in which is like a rope hung from the sky to the earth (and those who hold it fast will be saved from falling) and the second are the members of my household. Allah the Subtle the Aware has informed me that these two will never be separated till they come to me by the Pond (in the Day of Judgment), so consider how you act regarding them after my departure.”[1]
In another similar narration the Prophet says:
«إنّي تارك فيكم ما إن تمسكتم به لن تضلوا بعدي; أحدهما أعظم من الآخر; كتاب الله حبل ممدود من السماء إلى الأرض وعترتي أهل بيتي ولن يتفرقا حتى يردا على الحوض فانظروا كيف تخلفوني فيهما»
“I will leave among you something that if you cling to them you will not lose the right path. One of them is greater than the other. (They are:) the Book of Allah that is like a rope hung from the sky to the earth and my household. These two will never be separated till they come to me by the Pond, so consider how you act regarding them after my departure.”[2]
A shorter version of this narration is mentioned by Hākim al-Naysābūrī in al-Mostadrak and he believes that his narration contains a healthy chain of transmitters based on the viewpoint of Moslem and Bokhārī in their Sahihs although they did not narrate it.[3]
Intelligibly, these narrations contain some distinct points:
- The Prophet leaves behind himself two successors to guide his Ummah, namely the Quran and his household.
- These two successors will remain existent till the Day of Judgment and will never separate.
- The Prophet ordains his Ummah to cling to both of them to be saved from misguidance and to cling here means to follow and obey them and implement whatever they dictate.
In these noble narrations, if we link the first notion (that the Prophet leaves two precious things after his demise) with the second one (that these two will always remain connected) we find out an indispensable principle which is that there is always a member from the Household of the Prophet among people and that he will never be segregated from the Book of Allah.
Bin Hajar al-‘Asqalānī, the famous Sunni scholar, clearly has come to the same conclusion and says, “The narrations persuading people to refer to the Book of Allah and the Ahl-al-Bait point to the fact that the trustworthy members of the Prophet will always succeed each other till the Day of Judgment just as the same as the Quran will remain alive till that day. Therefore, the Household of the Prophet bring about safety and stability for the residents of the earth. As we will explain, there is another prophetical narration proving this fact which states, ‘Among each generation of my nation, there are some just individuals from my household.’”[4]
No doubts, these narrations strongly suggest the truth that constantly, there is a religious leader among people who is descended from the Prophet.
In our time, the only example that can be imagined for this narration is Imam Mahdi; otherwise, we have to confess that for centuries these noble narrations had no proper meaning since one may ask that after the demise of Imam Hassan al-‘Askarī (the Shia eleventh Imam) that took place in the third century after Hijrah who was among people until now to supervise the religious affairs of people, a totally learned man who would be considered the second only to the Quran and a man that people should believe in him and had to obey him? How do those believing that Imam Mahdi has not been born or that the Imam Hassan al-‘Askarī had no son interpret these narrations?
The conclusion is that Imam Mahdi is alive and lives among people but, for some reasons that Allah is aware of, he is hidden and people could not recognize him. Imam Mahdi, although being out of people’s sight, oversees people’s affairs, is not inattentive to their problems and as the Prophet has said, is like the sun behind the clouds that its rates come to people.
