Glimpses of Shi'ism in the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal

Chapter 6 : Hadith Al-ghadir

Ahmad bin Hanbal says:

‘Abdulla-h bin Ahmad relates from ‘Ali- bin Haki-m Awdi- from Shari-k from Abi Isha-q from Sa‘i-d bin Wahab and Zayd bin Yuyhay‘ both of whom have narrated:

(Imam) ‘Ali- [(‘a)] complained and addressed the people at Rahbah, saying:

“All those who had heard the Prophet’s words at Ghadi-r Khum, stand up.”

The narrator says:

Six persons on behalf of Sa‘i-d and six persons on behalf of Zayd stood up and bore testimony that they heared the Prophet say on the Day of Ghadi-r:

“A laysa Allahu awla- bi al-mu’mini-n? Qa-lu: Bala-. Qa-la: Allahumma man kuntu mawla-h fa ‘Ali-yyun mawla-h. Allahumma wa-li man wa-la-h wa ‘adi man ‘ada-h (Is not God superior to the faithful?

Yes! said the gathering. He said:

O Allah! For whomsoever I am master ‘Ali- is his master. O Allah! befriend his friends and despise his enemies)”.[^34]

Ibn Hanbal has recorded the event of Ghadi-r over 30 times in his Musnad through different isna-d or chains of authority and in the words of more than 10 companions of the Prophet.[^35] The version of Hadi-th al-Ghadi-r mentioned above is from the notes of Ibn Hanbal’s son ‘Abdulla-h on his father’s work. Ahmad Sha-kir the annotator of the Musnad has described as sahi-h the isna-d of this hadi-th and has said about Sa‘i-d bin Wahab Khaywa-ni- that he was among the trustworthy and experienced Muslims of the first generation after the Prophet.[^36]

Notes:

[^34] Al-Musnad, hadith no. 950 (Ahmad Sha-kir). [^35] Al-Salafi-, Murshid al-Muhta-r, vol. 3, pp. 156-157. [^36] Ahmad Sha-kir’s explanation on Hadith al-Ghadi-r.