Ghadir Khumm

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Pp-pc Template:Infobox event The Ghadīr Khumm (Template:Langx) was a gathering of Muslims to attend a sermon delivered by the Islamic prophet Muhammad on 16 March 632 CE. The gathering is said to have taken place by the ghadir (Template:Langx) in the wadi (Template:Langx) of Khumm, located near the then settlement of al-Juhfa on the path between Mecca and Medina, where Muhammad halted the large caravan of Muslims who had accompanied him in the Farewell Pilgrimage, his only Hajj ritual.

In the sermon, made shortly before his death in June 632, Muhammad made a declaration in favor of Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, by saying: "He whose I am, Ali is his " (Template:Langx). (Template:Langx) is a polysemous Arabic word, which can mean 'patron', 'master', 'leader', or 'friend', depending on its context. Shi'a Muslims believe this sermon to be a clear designation of Ali to lead the Muslim community after Muhammad and celebrate the anniversary of the event as Eid al-Ghadir. The Sunni community meanwhile regards the declaration as a simple affirmation of Muhammad's esteem for Ali.

Etymology

Ghadir Khumm refers both to the gathering of Muslims for Muhammad's sermon and its location, which was a pond (Template:Langx) fed by a nearby spring in a wadi known as Khumm, situated between the cities of Mecca and Medina.Template:Sfn The pond was located near the settlement of al-Juhfa,Template:Sfn a strategic trijunction where routes from Medina, Egypt, and Iraq intersected.Template:Sfn

The word (Template:Langx) has been translated as 'deceiver', and the valley was so named because the water of its pond was saline and unfit for consumption.Template:Sfn At the time of the event, the original inhabitants of the region, namely, the Banu Khuza'a and the Banu Kinana tribes, had already abandoned the area due to its poor pasturage and harsh climate.Template:Sfn Before Muhammad's address there, the location was likely never used as a caravan stop.Template:Sfn In Shia sources, the harsh environment of Ghadir Khumm is seen as emphasizing the urgency of Muhammad's divine task as he sought the largest audience for his address before the pilgrims parted ways.Template:Sfn

Background

Ten years after Muhammad's migration to Medina and on the last days of Dhu al-Qadah, Muhammad performed the Hajj rituals in Mecca shortly before his death in 632 CE.Template:Sfn This Hajj ceremony has become known as the Farewell Pilgrimage.Template:Sfn In a sermon in Mecca (at Arafat),Template:Sfn and possibly again at the Ghadir Khumm,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Muhammad alerted Muslims about his impending death. After the Hajj, he embarked on the return journey from Mecca to Medina, accompanied by an entourage of Muslims. The announcement at the Ghadir Khumm took place during the return journey among a congregation of these Muslims,Template:Sfn possibly numbering in the tens of thousands.Template:Sfn

The sermon

At Ghadir Khumm, Muhammad called the Muslim caravan to a halt ahead of the noon congregational prayer, before the pilgrims parted their ways,Template:Sfn and then asked for a dais to be raised.Template:Sfn After the prayer,Template:Sfn Muhammad delivered a sermon to a large number of Muslims in which he emphasized the importance of the Qur'an and his (Template:Langx, Template:Lit, his family).Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn His statement is widely reported by Sunni and Shia authorities, and the version that appears in , a canonical Sunni collection of hadiths, reads:

I left among you two treasures which, if you cling to them, you shall not be led into error after me. One of them is greater than the other: The book of God, which is a rope stretched from Heaven to Earth, and my progeny, my ahl al-bayt. These two shall not be parted until they return to the pool [of paradise] ().Template:Sfn

Known as the hadith of the (Template:Langx), Muhammad might have repeated this statement on multiple occasions,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and indeed several similar variants of this hadith can be found in Sunni and Shia sources alike.Template:Sfn For instance, the version that appears in , another canonical Sunni source, also includes the warning, "Be careful how you treat the two [treasures] after me."Template:Sfn Taking Ali by the hand, Muhammad then asked if he was not (Template:Lit) the believers than themselves,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn evidently a reference to verse 33:6 of the Qur'an.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn When they affirmed,Template:Sfn he declared,

"He whose I am, Ali is his ," (Template:Langx)Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

which is known as the hadith of the (Template:Langx, Template:Lit) in Shia theology.Template:Sfn Muhammad might have repeated this sentence three or four more times, as reported in .Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He then continued, "O God, befriend the friend of Ali and be the enemy of his enemy," according to some versions,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn including the Sunni and the Shia .Template:Sfn The Sunni scholars Ibn Kathir (Template:Died in) and Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Template:Died in) relate that Muhammad's companion 'Umar congratulated Ali after the sermon and told him, "You have now become of every faithful man and woman."Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Historicity

File:Investiture of Ali Edinburgh codex.jpg

The Investiture of Ali at Ghadir Khumm in the fourteenth-century Ilkhanid copy of Chronology of Ancient Nations, illustrated by Ibn al-Kutbi

The historicity of the Ghadir Khumm is rarely disputed within the Muslim community,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn as its recorded tradition is "among the most extensively acknowledged and substantiated (Template:Langx)" in classical Islamic sources.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, several variations exist in the early sources,Template:Sfn and there is a significant weight of different accounts.Template:Sfn The narrative of the Ghadir Khumm is, for instance, preserved in Chronology of Ancient Nations by the Sunni polymath al-Biruni (Template:Died in), which survives in an early fourteenth-century Ilkhanid copy by Ibn al-Kutbi.Template:Sfn The Shia inclination of those responsible for this copy is evident from its illustrations of Ali, including one entitled The Investiture of Ali at Ghadir Khumm.Template:Sfn

Accounts of the Ghadir Khumm appear elsewhere in both Sunni and Shia sources, and these accounts have occasionally been used interchangeably without sectarian prejudice.Template:Sfn For instance, the Shia scholar Abdul Hosein Amini (Template:Died in) relied on Sunni and Shia sources to list over a hundred companions and eighty-four who had recounted the event, most of whom are now counted among Sunnis.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Similar efforts were undertaken by the Shia authors Hamid H. Musavi (Template:Died in) and Hussein A. Mahfouz (Template:Died in).Template:Sfn Other early accounts of the event include those by the Shia-leaning historian al-Ya'qubi (Template:Died in),Template:Sfn and by the Sunni scholars Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Kathir,Template:Sfn Ibn Asakir (Template:Died in),Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn al-Tirmidhi (Template:Died in), al-Nasa'i (Template:Died in), Ibn Maja (Template:Died in), Abu Dawud (Template:Died in), Ibn al-Athir (Template:Died in), Ibn Abd al-Barr (Template:Died in), Ibn Abd Rabbih (Template:Died in), and Jahiz (Template:Died in).Template:Sfn

Some Sunni historians, such as al-Tabari (Template:Died in), Ibn Hisham (Template:Died in), and Ibn Sa'd (Template:Died in), have nonetheless made little or no mention of the Ghadir Khumm,Template:Sfn perhaps because the event supports the Shia legitimist claims,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn or perhaps they wanted to avoid angering their Sunni rulers by supporting the Shia cause.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Consequently, Western authors, whose works were based on these authors, also make little reference to the Ghadir Khumm.Template:Sfn Even though the Ghadir Khumm is absent from , its author narrates how Muhammad publicly dismissed some complaints about the conduct of Ali in Yemen in the same "chronological slot" as the Ghadir Khumm. The Islamicist Maria M. Dakake thus suggests that al-Tabari deliberately replaced the Ghadir Khumm tradition with another one that praised Ali but lacked any spiritual and legitimist implications in favor of Shia.Template:Sfn Alternatively, in the ninth-century Baghdad, some among the Sunni group Ahl al-Hadith apparently denied the event,Template:Sfn which may have prompted al-Tabari to refute their claims in his nonextant book ,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn or in his unfinished .Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Similarly, as a senior employee of the Shia Buyid dynasty, the Shia theologian Sharif al-Radi (Template:Died in) does not mention the Ghadir Khumm in his , possibly to avoid the ire of the Sunni Abbasids.Template:Sfn

Links to the Qur'an

In Shia and some Sunni sources,Template:Sfn two verses of the Qur'an are associated with the Ghadir Khumm: verse 5:3, which announces the perfection of Islam, and verse 5:67, which urges Muhammad to fulfill his divine instructions.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The latter, sometimes known as the verse of (Template:Langx, Template:Lit), has been linked to the Ghadir Khumm by the Sunni exegetes al-Suyuti (Template:Died in) and al-Razi (Template:Died in),Template:Sfn and the Shi'a exegete al-Qumi (Template:Died in),Template:Sfn among others.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The verse of warns Muhammad:

O Messenger! Convey that which has been sent down unto thee from thy Lord, and if thou dost not, thou wilt not have conveyed His message. And God will protect thee from mankind. Surely God guides not disbelieving people.Template:Sfn

Revealed before the Ghadir Khumm, according to the Shi'a, this verse spurred Muhammad to deliver his announcement about 'Ali, which he had delayed fearing the reaction of some of his companions.Template:Sfn Sunnis offer different views, one of which connects this verse to Muhammad's criticism of Jews and Christians.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, the verse of is highly likely linked to the events that followed the Farewell Pilgrimage, including the Ghadir Khumm, because chapter () five of the Qur'an is often associated with Muhammad's final years in Medina.Template:Sfn Verse 5:3 of the Qur'an, also known as the verse of (Template:Langx, Template:Lit), is similarly connected to the Ghadir Khumm in some Sunni reports by al-Tabari and the Sunni exegete al-Baghdadi (Template:Died in),Template:Sfn and by the Shia exegete al-Tusi (Template:Died in),Template:Sfn among others.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In contrast, most Sunni commentators associate this verse with the Farewell Pilgrimage,Template:Sfn and this is also the opinion of al-Ya'qubi.Template:Sfn Among various Sunni views, the verse of may refer to the establishment of the rites for Hajj during the Farewell Pilgrimage or the closure of Islamic legislation with the revelation of dietary instructions in the remainder of this verse, although some injunctions about were possibly revealed after this verse.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The verse of includes the passage:

This day those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion. So fear them not, but fear Me! This day I have perfected for you your religion, and completed My Blessing upon you, and have approved for you as religion, Submission (Islam).Template:Sfn

Other literary references

File:Ali Receiving the Bay'a (Swearing of Allegiance) (painting, recto; text, verso), folio from a manuscript of Maktel-i Ali Resul of Lami‘i Chelebi, late 16th century.jpg

Ali publicly referred to the Ghadir Khumm during his caliphate, here he is shown receiving the pledge of allegiance in a manuscript by the Ottoman Sufi writer and poet Lami'i, late sixteenth century

The Ghadir Khumm has also been preserved in the Arabic literature.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The earliest such instance is a disputed poem attributed to Hassan ibn Thabit (Template:Died in),Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn who accompanied Muhammad during the pilgrimage.Template:Sfn For instance, the poem is quoted by the prominent Shia theologian al-Mufid (Template:Died in).Template:Sfn The poem appears also in some other Shia and Sunni sources, according to the Islamicist Husain M. Jafri (Template:Died in).Template:Sfn Included in this poem is the verse, "Stand up, O Ali, for I find only you to be an imam and a guide after I [Muhammad] depart."Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In regards to its authenticity, Mohammad A. Amir-Moezzi, another expert, does not find this attribution problematic,Template:Sfn while Jafri considers it highly improbable that these events would have passed unrecorded by Ibn Thabit, who was the "official poet-reporter of Muhammad."Template:Sfn By contrast, the Islamicists Josef Horovitz (Template:Died in) and Ignác Goldziher (Template:Died in) reject the veracity of this poem.Template:Sfn The Shia al-Kumayt ibn Zayd (Template:Died in) is another early poet who composed verses on the same theme.Template:Sfn

Historical references

On one occasion during his caliphate, Ali is known to have asked Muslims to come forward with their testimonies about the Ghadir Khumm.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In doing so, he may have publicly laid claim to a spiritual and political authority greater than others, particularly his predecessors.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Muhammad's statement at the Ghadir Khumm, "O God, befriend the friend of Ali and be the enemy of his enemy," was likely the standard formula for pledging allegiance at that time.Template:Sfn Indeed, Ali and his son Hasan both demanded a similar pledge from their supporters during their caliphates.Template:Sfn The hadith of the is also cited by Ammar ibn Yasir, a companion of Muhammad, to support the legitimacy of Ali's caliphate in the account of the Shia historian Ibn A'tham al-Kufi (ninth century) of the negotiations before the Battle of Siffin (657). This might be the earliest such reference in historical sources.Template:Sfn

Interpretation

While the authenticity of the Ghadir Khumm is rarely contested, its interpretation is a source of controversy between Sunni and Shia.Template:Sfn (Template:Langx) is a polysemous Arabic word, the meanings of which have varied in different periods and contexts.Template:Sfn The Arabic root (و-ل-ي) of the word describes affinity and proximity between two parties,Template:Sfn and the word itself can therefore have opposite meanings, namely, 'master', 'leader', 'patron', 'beloved', 'supporter', 'freed slave', 'friend', 'client', and 'neighbor'.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Before the Islamic era, the term may have applied to any form of tribal association,Template:Sfn whereas, in the Qur'an and hadith literature, the word and its cognate can mean 'Lord', 'master', 'trustee', 'guardian', 'helper', 'protecting friend', 'freed slave', and (spiritual or material) 'heir'.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In the context of the Ghadir Khumm, the interpretation of the word tends to be split along sectarian lines. Shia sources interpret this word as meaning 'leader', 'master', and 'patron',Template:Sfn while Sunni accounts of this sermon tend to offer little explanation,Template:Sfn or interpret the hadith as a statement of love or support,Template:Sfn or substitute the word with its cognate (of God, Template:Lit).Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Shias therefore view the Ghadir Khumm as the investiture of Ali with Muhammad's religious and political authority (),Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn while Sunnis regard the event as an indication of the rapport between the two men,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn or that Ali should execute Muhammad's will.Template:Sfn At any rate, the correct interpretation of the polysemous word depends on its context.Template:Sfn In his sermon, Muhammad may have employed the word synonymously to his earlier word ('in charge of the believers more than themselves', ). This then supports the Shia interpretation of the word in the sense of authority ().Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Alternatively, the Sunni theologian al-Baqillani (Template:Died in) rejects any connection between the immediate uses of and by Muhammad.Template:Sfn

Shia view

File:The event of Ghadir.jpg

Modern Shia artwork depicting the Ghadir Khumm, sourced from the website of Iran's leader, Ali Khamenei

For Shia Muslims, the Ghadir Khumm signifies the investiture of Ali with the guardianship () of the Muslim community after Muhammad.Template:Sfn In particular, for them this was his most public announcement about the succession of Ali.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Shia accounts describe how Umar and other companions visited Ali after the sermon to congratulate and pledge their allegiance to him, even addressing him as (Template:Langx, Template:Literal translation).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

For Shias, the dramatic announcement at the Ghadir Khumm to thousands of Muslims in the heat of day hardly supports its Sunni interpretation of love (Template:Langx) and support (Template:Langx) for Ali.Template:Sfn These two are also the obligations of every Muslim towards other Muslims, not just Ali.Template:Sfn While the Sunni Ibn Kathir considers the Ghadir Khumm a response to complaints about Ali during his expedition to Yemen,Template:Sfn the Shia jurist Ibn Shahrashub (Template:Died in) argues that Muhammad had earlier dismissed those objections.Template:Sfn As for the various meanings of the word , the standard practice in Shia theology is to eliminate all those meanings in the hadith one by one until only the meaning of authority remains.Template:Sfn

Sunni view

Among Sunni Muslims, the Ghadir Khumm is not associated with the succession to Muhammad.Template:Sfn Instead, the event is often connected to Ali's campaign in Yemen, from which he had just returned prior to the Farewell Pilgrimage. Ali is said to have strictly imposed the Islamic guidelines for the distribution of booty and that reportedly angered some soldiers. Ibn Kathir, for instance, sides with Ali in his account of the episode but also suggests that the Ghadir Khumm sermon was simply intended as a public declaration of Muhammad's love and esteem for Ali in light of the earlier events.Template:Sfn

For Sunnis, it is also unimaginable that most companions would act wrongly and ignore a clear appointment of Ali at the Ghadir Khumm.Template:Sfn Indeed, some suggest that the Muslim community did not act as if they had heard about such an appointment,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and thus consider this designation improbable.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn By contrast, Shias believe that the community deliberately ignored the designation of Ali,Template:Sfn pointing to the designation of the second caliph Umar by his predecessor Abu Bakr,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn other historical evidence,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and that majority does not imply legitimacy in the Qur'an.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Some have instead argued that Muhammad would have made such an important announcement earlier, during the Hajj, while others consider this tantamount to criticizing Muhammad's judgement.Template:Sfn

Eid al-Ghadir

While 18 Dhu al-Hijjah is not a significant day on the Sunni calendar, Shia Muslims celebrate this day as the Eid al-Ghadir, the day on which Islam was completed as a religion by the appointment of Ali as Muhammad's successor.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In a hadith attributed to Muhammad recorded by Ibn Babawayh, Muhammad considers Ghadir Khum to be the best and highest of the festivals of his Ummah. Specific rituals for Eid al-Ghadir have been narrated by Shia Imams. Fasting on Eid al-Ghadir is one of the recommended and emphasized ones. Shias honor the holiday by making pilgrimages to the city of Karbala in Iraq.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

References

• Template:Cite thesis

External links

• Academic summary and reading list for the Ghadir Khumm, by Oxford Bibliographies