The Auspicious Feast of Ghadīr-e Khum
On Tuesday, the 25th of June 2024 A.D. (the 18th of Dhū al-Hijjah 1445 A.H.)
The 18th of Dhū al-Hijjah is to be celebrated in the Shi'ī world as the great anniversary of the declaration of Ghadīr-e-Khumm in which the Prophet announced the following about Imam Ali,
«مَنْ كُنْتُ مَوْلاهُ، فَهذا عَلِىٌّ مَوْلاهُ»
“Whomever's master (Mawlā) I am, this Ali is also his master.”
This event is so significant to the Muslims that no serious scholar of Islam can ignore it.
The story is that ten years after the Emigration (10 A.H. / 632 A.D.), the Messenger of Allah asked people in different places to join him in his last pilgrimage to Mecca. On this pilgrimage he taught them how to perform Hajj in a correct and unified form. This was the first time that Muslims with this magnitude gathered in one place in the presence of the Prophet. On his way to Mecca, more than seventy thousand people followed him and on the fourth day of Dhū al-Hijjah more than one hundred thousand Muslims had entered Mecca.
While returning from his last pilgrimage, when the Prophet and the crowd of people reached a place called Ghadīr-e-Khumm, the Prophet received the following command of Allah,
﴿یَا أَیُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَیْکَ مِنْ رَبِّکَ وَ إِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُ وَ اللَّهُ یَعْصِمُکَ مِنَ النَّاسِ...﴾
“O the Messenger! Announce that which has been revealed to you from your Creator and Nurturer, and if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people…” (The Quran, 5:67)
In the verse, the Prophet is reminded of the extraordinary significance of the task that had been assigned to him, and he is guaranteed protection from any dangers that might result from proclaiming the message!
Ghadīr-e-Khumm was a place where people from different provinces used to greet each other before taking different routes for their homes. Therefore, the Prophet stopped at that place to convey the message to the pilgrims before they dispersed. He sent for all people who have been ahead in the way to come back and waited until all pilgrims who fell behind arrived and gathered. Then, a pulpit was set up by piling up camel saddles so he could make his announcement. The weather was very hot so, people were wrapping their robes around their feet and legs, and were sitting around the pulpit, on the hot rocks. Then the Prophet delivered his long sermon. He recited some verses from the Quran, and for several times reminded and warned people of their deeds and future.
At the end, when the Prophet made people enough prepared, took the hand of Ali, raised it and introduces him as the master of his Ummah after his demise. The assembled multitude had not begun to disperse when the agent of revelation revealed this verse to the Prophet,
﴿...اَليَومَ يَئِسَ الَّذينَ كَفَروُا مِن دينِكُم فَلاَ تَخْشَوهُم وَاخْشَونِ اَلْيوَمَ اَكَمْلَتُ لَكُم دينَكُم وَ اَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيكُم نِعمَتي وَ رضَيتُ لَكُمُ الاِسْلاَمَ ديناً...﴾
“…This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion…”
The Prophet left the place where he was standing, while all around the sound of Takbīr (Allah is the Great) was to be heard as the pilgrims expressed their warm and enthusiastic feelings towards Ali. People came up to him in groups and congratulated him on his appointment as leader, addressing him as their master and the master of every believer, man and woman.
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(The sermon of Prophet Muhammad at Ghadir Khum)
