In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

The Destiny of a Community

The city of Mecca is empty while the desert outside the city gets filled by people. Suddenly a message comes from Allah (SWT) to the Prophet and reveals the following verse which has a decisive order to him:

“O Messenger! Deliver what bas been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from the people.”⁽¹⁾

Looking at the content of the verse we can see that this message has already been revealed to the Prophet, because the verse states that “Deliver what bas been revealed to you”. So what could be the reason for Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) to avoid conveying this message? We know with absolute certainty that he would not procrastinate without any reason and he did not have shortcomings in performing his duties. The delay in delivering this message is due to the importance and magnitude of it. And the next part of the verse confirms this fact about the message: “… and Allah will protect you from the people”. Therefore, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) was looking for the opportunity and the right moment to convey this message. But now, this verse is clearly commanding the Prophet to convey the message immediately.

Nonetheless, there is more into this verse. The message referred to in this verse is so crucial that ignoring it implies the actual prophetic mission has not taken place. In other words, disregarding this message is equal to disregarding Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH&HP) efforts in the past twenty three years of that moment. Could this important news be a few commands on certain practices? If so, then disregard of such message should only harm a part of prophetic mission and not the whole effort. Thus, the message has to do with keeping the Prophet’s mission safe and sound from deviation and digression.

In the end of this verse Allah (SWT) promises the Prophet to protect him⁽²⁾ from any harm the enemies and people might attempt to cause. What could this message be that can cause such serious danger to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP)? He had previously defined the command of Charity, Jihad and abstinence from the infidels in family. There was never a word of “danger” in declaring these hard commands.  What order is this that the Prophet is waiting for the proper moment to declare?

The matter must be very crucial because we are informed that the message will not please the enemies who had planned to take advantage of the situations.  Below we have noted some points from the Holy Quran and the history which make things more clear.

 The Holy Quran notes that the unbelievers and the hypocrites would say that Muhammad does not have an heir to leave behind, and thus they were eagerly waiting for the death of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP)⁽³⁾.  They were happy, thinking that Islam would be destroyed with the demise of its prophet.  Even some hypocrites were pleased that they would have a chance at taking up power after the prophet. Thus, in order to faster reach their goal, they created a plan to kill the Prophet on the night of ‘Aqabah.  Allah (SWT) however protected the Prophet, and did not allow for their plan to succeed ⁽⁴⁾.

This message is so crucial that delivering it will make the enemies nervous and has serious dangers for Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP).  This message is none other than introducing the successor of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) in Ghadir. All position seekers had devised plans to usurp this position. Thus when the Prophet introduces his successor by the order of Allah (SWT), the hopes and dreams of those after this position are destroyed and increased their animosity.

On the other hand, if a competent successor is not chosen or if the Prophet does not announce one, then Islam will be without a proper defender and will eventually vanish. Hence, if the successor of the Prophet – selected by Allah (SWT) – is not announced to people, then it is equal to not conveying the prophetic mission. The case of religion without a defender is equal to not ever having the religion. Because time will pass and the religion will be forgotten.

Therefore, by the command of Allah (SWT), His Great Messenger (PBUH&HP) in the land of Ghadir announced that:

“He of whom I am the Master (Mawla), of him Ali is the Master (Mawla)”⁽⁵⁾.

(Selection taken from “Strong Thoughts in Learning Core Beliefs”, by Ayatollah Sayyed Muhammad Mousawi Noori)

The Roshd Website congratulates all the Muslims, especially you dear friend, upon the arrival of the great divine announcement of the succession of Amir al-Mu’minin (PBUH) to the Prophet, Eid al-Ghadir.

Roshd Islamic Shia Website

Footnotes:

1. The Holy Quran, (5:67)

2. Interestingly, Allah (SWT) does not deny this danger; but He does promise His Messenger absolute safety in conveying the message. In the mean time, Allah (SWT) reminds the Prophet (PBUH&HP) of bad consequences for not announcing this message.

3. Both Sunni and Shia reference books have addressed the narration of hypocrites attempting to assassinate the great Prophet on the night of ‘Aqabah.  Some of these resources are:

Masnas Ahmad, vol. 2, p. 453 - al-Bidayah wa al-Nahayah, vol. 5, p. 26 - Tafsir Ibn Kathir, vol. 2, p. 387 - Tafsir Durr al-Manthoor, vol. 3, p. 259 - Tafsir Qurtobi, vol. 8, p. 207 - Sireh Halabiseh, vol. 3, p. 162 and…

4. The Holy Quran unveils the vicious dream of some infidels in the verse 30 of Surah Toor: “They say: ‘(he is) a poet, (one) for whom we may expect the accident of time?”

5. An excerpt from the sermon of Ghadir by the Great Prophet (PBUH&HP). For more information on the event of Ghadir addressed by both Sunni and Shia sources please visit the article of “The Event of Ghadir and its Importance” in the beliefs section.