A Shi'ite Encyclopedia (chapter 2-3)
Certainly Your Master Is ...
Certainly your Master is Allah and His Messenger and those who believe who eshtablish prayer and give charity while they bow. And who ever takes Allah and His Messenger and those who believe as a guardian, so surely the party of Allah will be victorious. (Quran 5:55-56)
It is unanimous that the verse descended about Imam Ali (AS) when he gave away in charity his ring while he was in a state of kneeling in his prayer. This is also authenticated successively according to the 12 Imams. Here are some of the Shi'ite references
- Bihar al-Anwar, by Allama Majlisi
- Tafseer al-Mizan, by Allama Tabatabai
- Tafseer al-Kashaf, by Allama Muhammad Jawad Mughniyah
- al-Ghadir, by Allama Abdul Husain Ahmad al-Amini
- Asbat al-Hudate, by Allama Muhammad Ibn Hasan Amuli
But for the sake of the readers I shall produce some Sunni references, and traditions in this respect through other sources. Many Sunni commentators of the Quran confirm the fact that the above verse descended on the honor of Imam Ali (AS) and many Sunni scholars have also mentioned the unanimity or consensus of opinion in their books. Here are some references in this regard:
(1) Tafsir al-Kabir, by Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Tha'labi, under Verse 5:55 (2) Tafsir al-Kabir, by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, v6, pp 186,288-289 (3) Tafsir Jamiul Hukam al-Quran, by Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Qurtubi, v6, p219 (4) Tafsir al-Khazin, v2, p68 (5) Tafsir al-Durr al-Manthoor, by al-Suyuti, v2, pp 293-294 (6) Tafsir al-Kashshaf, by al-Zamakhshari, Egypt 1373, v1, pp 505,649 (7) Asbab al-Nuzool, by Jalaluddin al-Suyuti, Egypt 1382, v1, p73 on the authority of Ibn Abbas (8) Asbab al-Nuzool, by al-Wahidi, on the authority of Ibn Abbas (9) Sharh al-Tjrid, by Allama Qushji (10) Ahkam al-Quran, al-Jassas, v2, pp 542-543 (11) Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v5, p38 (12) Kanzul Ummal, by al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, v6, p391, Tradition #5991 (13) al-Awsat, by Tabarani, narrated from Ammar Yasir (14) Ibn Mardawayh, on the authority of Ibn Abbas
... and more.
There is also a tradition related by Ibn Salam whose chain of sources rises up to the Prophet (PBUH&HF) himself. Please refer to the Sahih of Nisa'i or the commentary of Sura Ma'idah in Jam'a Bayn al-Sihah al-Sittah.
In Ghayah al-Maram, p18, Sayyid al-Bahrayni forwards twenty four (24) traditions from sources other than the Ahlul-Bayt, all supporting the above fact.
For the sake of brevity, I am going to confine my self to a tradition occuring in the commentary of the Quran by Abi Is'haq Ahmad Ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Nisaboori al-Tha'labi. A few comments on the respected personality: He died in 337 AH and Ibn Khallikan gives an account of his death saying: "He was unique as a commentator of the Quran and his Tafsir al-Kabir is superior to all other interpretations."
When he reached this verse he recorded this in his Tafsir al-Kabir on the authority of Abu Dhar al-Ghifari, who said:
Both of my ears may turn deaf and both of my eyes may become blind if I speak a lie. I heard the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessings and peace be upon him and his posterity, saying, "Ali is the guide of the righteous and the slayer of the infidels. he who has helped him is victorious and he who has abandoned him is forsaken." One day I said my prayers in the company of the Prophet.
A beggar came to the mosque and begged for alms, but nobody gave him anything. Ali was in a state of kneeling in the prayer. He pointed out his ring to the beggar, who appraoched him and removed the ring from his finger. Thereupon the Prophet, Allah's blessings and peace be upon him and his posterity, implored Allah the Mighty and Glorious, saying: "O Allah! My brother Moses begged you saying, 'My Lord, delight my heart and make my task easy and undo the knot in my tongue so that they may understand me, and appoint from my kinsmen, Haroon, my brother, as my vizier, and strenghthen my back with him and make him participate in my mission so that we may glorify You and remember You more frequently.
Certainly You see us.' And You inspired him: 'O Musa! All your requests have been granted.' O Allah! I am your slave and your prophet. Delight my heart and make my task easy and appoint from among my kinsmen Ali as my vizier and strengthen my back with him."
Abu Dhar, then, proceeded
By Allah, the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessings and peace be upon him and his posterity had not yet finished his supplication when the trustworthy Gabriel descended to him with this Verse
"Certainly Allah is Your Master, and His Prophet and those who believe who establish prayer and give charity while they bow. And whoever takes Allah and His Messenger and those who believe as a guardian, so surely the party of Allah will be victorious."
Sunni reference: Tafsir al-Kabir, by al-Tha'labi under the commentary of verses 5:55-56 of Quran.
A few comments by the other Commentators
Allama al-Tabarsi, while commenting on this verse in Majma' al-Bayan states: "The plural form has been used for Ali, Commander of the faithful, in order to express his honor and eminence." And masters of the Arabic language use the plural form for an individual to show respect
Allama al-Zamakshari in his Tafsir al-Kashshaf, has mentioned another nice point which is as follows:
If you inquire how this plural word is applicable to Ali, may Allah be gracious to him, who is an individual, I shall say that though this verse is about Ali, an individual, the plural form is used in order to presuade others to act similarly and to give alms as readily as Ali did. There is also an implied instruction that the faithful should keep themselves always on the look out for occasions of acts of sympathy, benevolence and charity to the poor and the needy, and readily do the needful without waiting till the completion of even so important a duty as saying a prayer.
Sunni reference: Tafsir al-Kashshaf, by al-Zamakhshari, v1, p649
Please refer to the Part II of the article of Ghadir Khum for further argument in this regard.
Who is the successor of the Prophet (PBUH&HF)?
Once a person told me that Abu Bakr is more knowledgeable than Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) (Na'oozo Billah)! I asked him how come?! He said because Abu Bakr understood that he should assign a person as his successor to keep the system and community working in order. As it is well-known Abu Bakr assigned Umar as his successor. But the Prophet failed to realize this important task that the Islamic community needs a qualified leader after him, or perhaps it was not important for the prophet that who is going to take over the power after him!
When I heard that, I started asking the following question from myself: Is it possible that the Prophet of Islam who has tried hard to implement Islam, and tolerated a lot of problems, disasters, and paid big price to establish Islam in Arabian peninsula, leaves people without assigning any person to keep this religion alive after him?! The religion that is to be the last religion of God for this world; the religion that was supposed to be for every nation all over the world both inwardly and outwardly (political authority).
What happened that we Muslims are in this miserable situation in the world for centuries? What happened that the chain of successors/rulers (Ulul-Amr) has reached to people like King Fahd, King Husain, Saddam Husain, Husni Mubarak, ...? Something is terribly wrong!
Yes, The problem is leadership and Guardianship. Was this problem not so important for prophet or he didn't take it serious? Of course, he did take it serious and he must have assigned a chain of successors (Caliphs) who where the most qualified as the head of Islamic state and as the guardian of Shari'ah (divine law).
Another question that came out to my mind was that: Are Allah and His prophet more qualified to assign the Caliphs, or people? Is Islam on the basis of democracy (government of people over people) or on the basis of theocracy (Kingdom of Allah over the earth)? The history of Islam testifies that the government after the death of prophet was neither democratic nor theocratic. Just a few people gathered in "Saqifah bani Saaedah" and assigned Abu Bakr as Caliph while Imam Ali was busy of the burial of the holy prophet in Medina.
Is it our choice as to whom should be a Prophet or it is Allah's choice? Can we select Prophet by Shura? The same goes for assigning the successor of Prophet, for Allah knows best who is the most qualified for this position. It seems very strange that a deputy of a chief is assigned by any person other than him.
Deputy of God (or prophet) is only assigned by God (or prophet), and it is not people's business! There are many examples in Quran where Allah states that He is the one who assigns a successor on the earth. Allah, Exalted He is, states in Quran:
"O' David, we assigned you as Caliph (successor) on the earth ..." (Quran 38:26)
He also states:
"... We have assigned you (Abraham) as Imam (leader) for people ..." (Quran 2:124)
As we see, Caliph/Imam for the mankind is assigned by Allah. See also 2:30 (about Adam). Even Prophet Moses, when he wanted to go to Miqaat, did not ask people to form a Shura to assign a Caliph for him. Quran tells us that:
(Moses said: "O' Allah) assign me a vizier from my family, (that is) my brother Aaron (Haroon) ...," (Allah) said: "We granted your requests, O' Moses." (Quran 20:29-36).
Allah, Exalted, also said:
"Surely We gave the book to Moses and assigned his brother Aaron as his vizier." (Quran 25:35).
Allah also said:
"... And Moses said unto his brother Aaron: Take my place among the people." (Quran 7:142).
Notice that "Ukhlufni" and "Khalifa" (Caliph) are exactly from the same root.
In this connection, let us take a look at the following interesting tradition in Sahih al-Bukhari:
The Messenger of Allah said to Ali: "Your position to me is like the position of Aaron (Haroon) to Moses, except that there shall be no Prophet after me"
Sunni References:
(1) Sahih al-Bukhari, Arabic-English version, Traditions 5.56, 5.700 (2) Sahih Muslim, Arabic, v4, pp 1870-71 (3) Sunan Ibn Majah, p12 (4) Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v1, p174 (5) al-Khasa'is, by al-Nisa'i, pp 15-16 (6) Mushkil al-Athar, by al-Tahawi, v2, p309
The Prophet (PBUH&HF) thereby meant that as Moses had left behind Aaron to look after his people when he went to Miqaat (meeting Allah), in the same way he was leaving Ali behind to look after the affairs of Islam after he met Allah (i.e., his death). Let this reminder be food of thought for the possessors of pure heart and open mind.
The above verses of Quran concerning Aaron show that even the prophet does not assign his deputy/successor, and it is rather Allah who does that. Prophet Moses prayed to Allah and requested that Aaron becomes his deputy, and Allah approved the suggestion/request of Prophet Moses (AS).