In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and may prayer and peace be upon our master and Prophet Muhammad, and his pure progeny, and may Allah’s curse be upon all their enemies from the first to the last one.
One of the indisputable principles of dialogue on matters of difference is that each side of the dispute is supposed to make use of the ideas accepted by the other side or base his or her arguments on principles taken for granted by both sides.
Throughout history, Shiite scholars have used this methodology against other Islamic sects in all issues of disagreement -jurisprudential or theological- especially the issue of Imamate and caliphate.
As far as the event of Ghadir [Khumm] is concerned it is dealt with in the same manner. Shiite works are full of narrations narrated by Sunnites. Shiite scholars quote in their books narrations related by the most important and reliable sources of Sunnites with the same chains of reporters that have appeared in Sunnite works. In order to prove that these narrations support their beliefs, they appeal to the words of the most famous of their scholars. They follow this methodology to the extent, that they even appeal to the words of their linguists in order to determine the meaning of a word.
The application of this methodology may, nevertheless, cause some simpletons to doubt (about the scholarly strength of Shiites) and some fanatics to ignore the truth (about Shiites). This is, for example, Ruzbehan [Baqli] who says: “It is not surprising that he (a Shiite scholar) suffices to quoting from mere Sunnite sources. This is because Shiites do not have any narration (hadith) books nor do they have any scholars expert in the science of narration. To prove his point of view, he is thus in dire need of Sunnite sources.”[1]
The present work is about Ghadir Narration as Narrated by Ahl al-Bayt (a.s). It studies briefly the Ghadir narration in Shiite works compiled by Shiite Mujtahids in order to remind Ibn Ruzbehan [and his likes] that Shiites have their own books, narrations and Mujtahids needing thus no Sunnite books to prove their points of views.
Similarly Sunnites need to know that Ghadir narration is agreed on by all Muslims, to the extent that the Shiite and Sunnite scholars have the same opinion in quoting some of its versions with the same text and documentation.
Ahl al-Bayt (a.s) and the scholars who have followed them, have taken Ghadir narration into consideration, trying their best to disseminate and propagate it.
This work contains beneficial points that are not noticed or are ignored by the Sunnite narrators.
Relying on first-hand Shiite sources, I will mention versions of Ghadir Narration under certain headings, adding some [explanatory] points (concerning each one of them).
Sayyid Ali al-Husaini al-Milani
[1] – Dala’il al-Sidq, vol. 1, p. 58.
