The Sermon of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) At Ghadir Khumm

Part 10 : Pronouncing the Covenant and Taking the Oath of Allegiance

O people! There are too many of you to shake my hand at the same time,

and Allah, the mighty and the majestic, commanded me to take verbal recognition from you regarding what I finalized (on behalf of Allah) about Ali,

the Commander of the Believers, and about the Imams from me and him who shall succeed him, based on what I informed you that my offspring are from his loins.

Therefore, pronounce this in one voice:

“We heard, obeyed, are satisfied, and are submitted to what you have conveyed to us from our Lord and your Lord with regard to the authority of Ali, the Commander of the Believers, and the authority of the Imams from his loins.

We pledge allegiance to you in this regard with our hearts, our souls, our tongues, and our hands.

According to this, shall we live, shall we die, and shall we be resurrected.

We shall not alter, nor shall we substitute, nor shall we entertain doubt, [nor shall we deny,]. nor shall we distrust, nor shall we withdraw from the covenant, nor shall we breach the pact.

[(O Messenger!) You advised us on behalf of Allah regarding Ali, the Commander of the Believers, and the Imams after him that you mentioned to be of your offspring from his descendants (who are):

al-Hasan, al-Husain, and whomever Allah shall appoint after them.

The covenant and the pledge are taken from us, from our hearts, our souls, our tongues, our minds, and our hands.

1 We have mentioned the part within the brackets from al-Yaqin due to the greater fluency of its narration. The original text of this part according to the narration in al-Ihtijaj is as follows: “We obey Allah, and obey you and Ali, the Commander of the Believers, and his descendants, whom as you mentioned, are from your offspring from his loins after al-Hasan (PBUH) and al-Husain (PBUH).”—I have

We shall convey the same on your behalf to anyone, near or far, among our offspring and our people,

We take Allah as witness to this, and surely Allah suffices as witness.

already informed you of the position of al-Hasan and al-Husain to me, and their status before Allah. Verily, they are the chiefs of the youth of Paradise. Indeed, they both are Imams after their father, Ali, and I am their father prior to him—Thus say: “We obey Allah, and obey you, Ali, al-Hasan, al-Husain,

and the Imams that you mentioned, based on the covenant and the pledge that are taken from us for the Commander of the Believers, from our hearts, our souls, our tongues, and through handshaking for him who can reach his hand to them both (the Prophet (PBUH&HF) and Imam Ali (PBUH)), or else through affirming by tongue. We shall not seek any substitute for it, nor shall we ever let our souls deviate from it.”

You are also witness over us; so are anyone who obeyed, visible or covered, Allah’s Angels, His forces, and His servants. And Allah is greater than every witness.”

O people! What do you say? Verily, Allah is well-aware of every voice and the secrecy of every soul;

“He who accepts guidance, it is to the benefit of his own soul, and he who goes astray, does so to his own loss.”1

Those who pledge fealty, they indeed pledge fealty to Allah; the hand of Allah is over their hands.2

1 Chapter 39, Verse 41 of the Holy Quran. 2 cf. Chapter 48, Verse 10 of the Holy Quran.

O people! Be mindful of Allah, give your oath of allegiance to Ali, the Commander of the Believers, may Allah’s blessings be upon him, to al-Hasan and al-Husain, and to the Imams [from them].

a goodly Word, that is enduring.1

Allah shall cause whoever acts treacherously to perish and shall have mercy on whoever remains loyal.

“Thus, anyone who violates his oath has indeed violated his (own) soul, and anyone who fulfills the covenant he has made with Allah, He shall soon grant him a great reward.”2

1 This phrase refers to the Verse 28, Chapter 43 of the Holy Quran, where Allah states, “(Allah) made it a Word, enduring in his posterity…” On the commentary of this verse, Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said, “This (word) means leadership (Imamate), which Allah has placed it in the offspring of al-Husain (PBUH) until the Day of Judgement.” (Kamal al-Din, p. 358, Hadith 57; Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 24, p. 177, Hadith 8).

2 Chapter 48, Verse 10 of the Holy Quran.

O people! Say what I told you, and greet Ali with the title of “The Commander of the Believers.”

And also say: “We listened, and obeyed, Your forgiveness (do we seek), Our Lord, and towards Your (reward or punishment) is the eventual turn.”1 And say: “Praise be to Allah who has guided us to this. Never could we be guided had Allah not guided us.”2

1 Chapter 2, Verse 285 of the Holy Quran. For the usage of term “Masir” for Paradise and Hell, refer to verses 25:15 and 14:30 of the Holy Quran, respectively.

2 Chapter 7, Verse 43 of the Holy Quran.

O people! Without doubt, the merits of Ali Ibn Abi Talib in the sight of Allah, the mighty and the majestic, which are indeed revealed in the Quran, are more numerous than I could recount in one speech; thus, whenever someone relates them to you and acquaints (you) with them,1 believe him.2

O people! Whoever obeys Allah, His Messenger, Ali, and the Imams that I mentioned, has indeed achieved a great prosperity.3

1 This phrase can be read in two ways with different meanings. The word ...... .

.. (with accent) means “and introduced them”, but ...... . ..

(without accent) means “while cognizant of them”. 2 There are numerous traditions from different Imams (PBUT) to this effect: “Do not call us Lords (Arbab), but (other than this) tell anything you wish in our merits, because you will never reach the depth of the merits that Allah has bestowed upon us.” cf. Bihar al- Anwar, vol. 25, p. 270, Hadith 15; p. 273, Hadith 20; p. 279, Hadith 22; p. 283, Hadith 30; p. 289, Hadith 45; vol. 26, pp. 2-6, Hadith 1; vol. 47, p. 68, Hadith 15.

3 cf. Chapter 33, Verse 71 of the Holy Quran.

O people! The foremost from among you in paying homage to him, (truly) accepting his guardianship, and greeting him as “the Commander of the Believers” are the winners of the gardens of bliss.

O people! Say what makes Allah be pleased with you,

and (know that) if you and all the people on earth disbelieve, it shall not harm Allah in the least.

O Allah! Forgive the believers [through what I have conveyed and commanded,] and let Your Wrath descend upon those [who deny]. and disbelieve,

and praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Endnotes

The marks that appear in the text show the choice of phrases from the following books, which have minor differences in wording from the original text of al-Ihtijaj, narrated from Imam al-Baqir (PBUH). The marked phrases either do not appear in al-Ihtijaj, or have slightly different wordings:

. According to al-Yaqin, pp. 343-361, narrated from Imam al-Baqir (PBUH).

¦ According to Rawdhat al-Wa’idhin, part 1, pp. 89-99, narrated from Imam al-Baqir (PBUH).

* According to Iqbal al-A’mal, p. 456, narrated from Hudhaifa Ibn Yamaan. Notice that in al-Ihtijaj, this part is divided into two sections, which are a few sentences away from each other.

This part has also been narrated separately through numerous authorities from many of the Imams (PBUT). cf. al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 295, Hadith 3 (narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH)); al-Tafsir, al- Ayyashi, vol. 1, p. 332, Hadith 153 (narrated from Imam al-Baqir (PBUH)); Tafsir al-Imam al-Askari (PBUH),

p.112, Hadith 58 (narrated from Imam al-Kadhim (PBUH)); Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 37, pp. 118-222, Ahadith 7-90, from numerous authorities.

§ According to Iqbal al-A’mal, p. 454, narrated from Hudhaifa Ibn Yamaan. This part has also been narrated .