Ghadir Khutba
( PART 2 )
(6)
O people! " ...Believe in what We have revealed, verifying what you have, before We alter faces then turn them on their backs or curse them as We cursed the violators of the Sabbath" (Qur'an, 4:47). By Allah! Redid not imply anyone in this verse except a certain band of my sahaba whom I know by name and by lineage, and I have been ordered (by my Lord) to pardon them; so, let each person deal with ' Ali according to what he finds in his heart of love or of hatred.
O people! The noor from Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime, flows through me then through ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib then in the progeny that descends from him till al-Qa'imal-Mehdi, who shall effect the justice of Allah, and who will take back any right belonging to us because Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, made us Hujjat over those who take us lightly, the stubborn ones, those who act contrarily to our word, who are treacherous, who are sinners, who are oppressors, who are usurpers, from the entire world.
O people! I warn you that I am the Messenger of Allah; messengers before me have already passed away; so, should I die or should I be killed, are you going to turn upon your heels? And whoever turns upon his heels shall not harm Allah in the least, and Allah shall reward those who are grateful, those who persevere. 'Ali is surely the one described with perseverance and gratitude, then after him are my offspring from his loins.
O people! Do not think that you are doing me a favour by your accepting Islam. Nay! Do not think that you are doing Allah such a favour lest He should void your deeds, lest His wrath should descend upon you, lest He should try you with a flame of fire and brass; surely your Lord is ever-watchful.
O people! There shall be Imams after me who shall invite people to the fire, and they shall not be helped on the Day of Judgment.
O people! Allah and I are both clear of them.
O people! They and their supporters and followers shall be in the lowest rung of the fire; miserable, indeed, is the resort of the arrogant ones. Indeed, these are the folks of the sahifa; so, let each one of you look into his sahifa!
This reference to the sahifa has been overlooked by most people with the exception of a small band, and we will, Insha-Allah, shed a light on this sahifa later on. The Prophet continued his historic sermon thus:
O people! I am calling for it to be an Imamate and a succession confined to my offspring till the Day of Judgment, and I have conveyed only what I have been commanded (by my Lord) to convey to drive the argument home against everyone present or absent and on everyone who has witnessed or who has not, who is already born or he is yet to be born; therefore, let those present here convey it to those who are absent, and let the father convey it to his son, and so on till the Day of Judgment.
And they shall make the Imamate after me a property, a usurpation; may Allah curse the usurpers who usurp, and it is then that you, O jinns and mankind, will get the full attention of the One Who shall cause a flame of fire and brass to be hurled upon you, and you shall not achieve any victory!
O people! Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, is not to let you be whatever you want to be except so that He may distinguish the bad ones from among you from the good, and Allah is not to make you acquainted with the unknown.
O people! There shall be no town that falsifies except that Allah shall annihilate it on account of its falsehood before the Day of Judgment, and He shall give al-lmam al-Mehdi (U authority over it, and surely Allah's promise is true.
O people! Most of the early generations before you have strayed, and by Allah, He surely annihilated the early generations, and He shall annihilate the later ones. Allah Almighty has said, "Did we not destroy the former generations? Then did we follow them up with later ones. Even thus shall we deal with the guilty. Woe on that Day to the rejecters!" (Qur'an, 77: 16-19).
O people! Allah has ordered me to do and not to do, and I have ordered 'Ali to do and not to do, so he learned what should be done and what should not; therefore. you should listen to his orders so that you may be safe, and you should obey him so that you may be rightly guided. Do not do what he forbids you from doing so that you may acquire wisdom. Agree with him, and do not let your paths be different from his.
(7)
O people! I am al-Sirat al-Mustaqeem (the Straight Path) of Allah whom He commanded you to follow, and it is after me 'Ali then my offspring from his loins, the Imams of Guidance: they guide to the truth and act accordingly.
Then the Prophet recited the entire text of Surat al-Fatiha and commented by saying:
It is in my honor that this (Sura) was revealed, including them (the Imams) specifically; they are the friends of Allah for whom there shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve; truly the Party of Allah are the winners.
Indeed, it is their enemies who are the impudent ones, the deviators, the brethren of Satan; they inspire each other with embellished speech out of their haughtiness.
Indeed, their (Imams') friends are the ones whom Allah, the Exalted One, the Great, mentions in His Book saying, "You shall not find a people who believe in Allah and in the latter Day befriending those who act in opposition to Allah and to His Prophet, even though they may be their own fathers or sons or brothers or kinsfolk; these are they into whose hearts He has impressed conviction" (Qur'an, 58:22). Indeed, their (Imams') friends are the mu'mins (believers) whom Allah, the Exalted One, the Sublime, describes as: "Those who believe and do not mix up their faith with iniquity, those are the ones who shall have the security, and they are the rightly guided" (Qur'an, 6:82).
Indeed, their friends are those who believed and never doubted. Indeed, their friends are the ones who shall enter Paradise in peace and security; the angels shall receive them with welcome saying, "Peace be upon you! Enter it and reside in it forever!"
Indeed, their friends shall be rewarded with Paradise where they shall be sustained without having to account for anything.
Indeed, their enemies are the ones who shall be hurled into the fire.
Indeed, their enemies are the ones who shall hear the exhalation of hell as it increases in intensity, and they shall see it sigh.
Indeed, their enemies are the ones thus described by Allah: "Whenever a nation enters, it shall curse its sister..." (Qur'an, 7:38).
Indeed, their enemies are the ones whom Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime, describes thus: "Whenever a group is cast into it, its keepers shall ask them: Did any warner not come to you? They shall say: Yea! Indeed, there came to us a warner but we rejected (him) and said: Allah has not revealed anything; you are only in a great error. And they shall say: Had we but listened or pondered, we would not have been among the inmates of the burning fire. So they shall acknowledge their sins, but far will be forgiveness) from the inmates of the burning fire" (Qur'an, 67:8-11).
Indeed, their friends are the ones who fear their Lord in the unseen; forgiveness shall be theirs and a great reward.
O people! What a difference it is between the fire and the great reward!.
O people! Our enemy is the one whom Allah censures and curses, whereas our friend is everyone praised and loved by Allah.
O people! I am the Warner (nathir) and' Ali is the one who brings glad tidings (bashir).
O people! I am the one who warns (munthir) while 'Ali is the guide (hadi).
O people! I am a Prophet (nabi) and' Ali is the successor (wasi).
O people! I am a Messenger (rasul) and' Ali is the Imam and the Wasi after me, and so are the Imams after him from among his offspring. Indeed, I am their father, and they shall descend from his loins.
(8)
Indeed, the seal of the lmams from among us is al-Qa'im al-Mehdi. He, indeed, is the one who shall come out so that the creed may prevail. He, indeed, is the one who shall seek revenge against the oppressor. He, indeed, is the one who conquers the forts and demolishes them. He, indeed, is the one who subdues every tribe from among the people of polytheism and the one to guide it.
He is the one who shall seek redress for all friends of Allah. He is the one who supports the religion of Allah. He ever derives (his knowledge) from a very deep ocean. He shall identify each man of distinction by his distinction and every man of ignorance by his ignorance. He shall be the choicest of Allah's beings and the chosen one. He is the heir of all (branches of) knowledge, the one who encompasses every perception. He conveys on behalf of his Lord, the Exalted and the Sublime, who points out His miracles. He is the wise, the one endowed with wisdom, the one upon whom (Divine) authority is vested.
Glad tidings of him have been conveyed by past generations, yet he is the one who shall remain as a Hujja, and there shall be no Hujja after him nor any right except with him, nor any noor except with him.
None, indeed, shall subdue him, nor shall he ever be vanquished. He is the friend of Allah on His earth, the judge over His creatures, the custodian of what is evident and what is hidden of His.
(9)
O people! I have explained (everything) for you and enabled you to comprehend it, and this 'Ali shall after me explain everything to you.
At the conclusion of my khutba, I shall call upon you to shake hands with me to swear your allegiance to him and to recognize his authority, then to shake hands with him after you have shaken hands with me.
I had, indeed, sworn allegiance to Allah, and ‘Ali had sworn allegiance to me, and I on behalf of Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime, I require you to swear the oath of allegiance to him: "Surely those who swear (the oath of) allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is above their hands; therefore, whoever reneges (from his oath), he reneges only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfills what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward" (Qur'an,48:10).
(10)
O people! The pilgrimage (hajj) and the 'umra are among Allah's rituals; "So whoever makes a pilgrimage to the House or pays a visit (to it), there is no blame on him if he goes round them [Safa and Marwa] both" (Qur'an, 2:158).
O people! Perform your pilgrimage to the House, for no members of a family went there except that they became wealthy, and receive glad tidings! None failed to do so except that their lineage was cut-off and were impoverished.
O people! No believer stands at the standing place [at 'Arafa] except that Allah forgives his past sins till then; so, once his pilgrimage is over, he resumes his deeds.
O people! Pilgrims are assisted, and their expenses shall be replenished, and Allah never suffers the rewards of the doers of good to be lost.
O people! Perform your pilgrimage to the House by perfecting your religion and by delving into fiqh, and do not leave the sacred places except after having repented and abandoned (the doing of anything prohibited).
O people! Uphold prayers and pay the zakat as Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime, commanded you; so, if time lapses and you were short of doing so or you forgot, ' Ali is your wali and he will explain for you.
He is the one whom Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, appointed for you after me as the custodian of Hiscreation. He is from me and I am from him, and he and those who will succeed him from my progeny shall inform you of anything you ask them about, and they shall clarify whatever you do not know.
Halal and haram things are more than I can count for you now or explain, for a commandment to enjoin what is permissible and a prohibition from what is not permissible are both on the same level, so I was ordered (by my Lord) to take your oath of allegiance and to make a covenant with you to accept what I brought you from Allah, the Exalted One and the Sublime, with regards to' Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen and to the wasis after him who are from me and from him, a standing Imamate whose seal is al-Mehdi till the Day he meets Allah Who decrees and Who judges.
O people! I never refrained from informing you of everything permissible or prohibitive; so, do remember this and safeguard it and advise each other to do likewise; do not alter it; do not substitute it with something else.
I am now repeating what I have already said: Uphold the prayers and pay the zakat and enjoin righteousness and forbid abomination.
The peak of enjoining righteousness is to resort to my speech and to convey it to whoever did not attend it and to order him on my behalf to accept it and to (likewise) order him not to violate it, for it is an order from Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, and there is no knowledge of enjoining righteousness nor prohibiting abomination except that it is with a ma'soom Imam.
O people! The Qur'an informs you that the Imams after him are his (' Ali's) descendants, and I have already informed you that they are from me and from him, for Allah says in His Book, " And he made it a word to continue in his posterity so that they may return " (Qur'an, 43:28) while I have said: "You shall not stray as long as you uphold both of them (simultaneously)."
O people! (Uphold) piety, (uphold) piety, and be forewarned of the Hour as Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, has said, "O people! Guard (yourselves) against (punishment from) your Lord; surely the violence of the Hour is a grievous thing" (Qur'an, 22:1).
Remember death, resurrection, the judgment, the scales, and the account before the Lord of the Worlds, and (remember) the rewards and the penalty. So whoever does a good deed shall be rewarded for it, and whoever commits a sin shall have no place in the Gardens.
(11)
O people! You are more numerous than (it is practical) to shake hands with me all at the same time, and Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, commanded me to require you to confirm what authority I have vested upon 'Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen and to whoever succeeds him of the Imams from me and from him, since I have just informed you that my offspring are from his loins.
You, therefore, should say in one voice: "We hear, and we obey; we accept and we are bound by what you have conveyed to us from our Lord and yours with regard to our Imam' Ali (V' Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to the Imams, your sons from his loins. We swear the oath of allegiance to you in this regard with our hearts, with our souls, with our tongues, with our hands. According to it shall we live, and according to it shall we die, and according to it shall we be resurrected. We shall not alter anything or substitute anything with another, nor shall we doubt nor deny nor suspect, nor shall we violate our covenant nor abrogate the pledge. You admonished us on behalf of Allah with regard to' Ali (V' Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to the Imams whom you mentioned to be from your offspring from among his descendants after him: al-Hasan and al-Husain and to whoever is appointed (as such) by Allah after them. The covenant and the pledge are taken from us, from our hearts, from our souls, from our tongues, from our conscience, from our hands. Whoever does so by his handshake, it shall be so, or otherwise testified to it by his tongue, and we do not seek any substitute for it, nor shall Allah see our souls deviating there from. We shall convey the same on your behalf to anyone near and far of our offspring and families, and we implore Allah to testify to it, and surely Allah suffices as the Witness and you, too, shall testify for us."
O people! What are you going to say?! Allah knows every sound and the innermost of every soul; "Whoever chooses the right guidance, it is for his own soul that he is rightly guided, and whoever strays, it is only to its detriment that he goes astray" (Qur'an, 17:15).
O people! Swear the oath of allegiance to Allah, and swear it to me, and swear it to' Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to al-Hasan and al-Husain and to the Imams from their offspring in the life of this world and in the hereafter, a word that shall always remain so. Allah shall annihilate anyone guilty of treachery and be merciful upon everyone who remains true to his word: "Whoever reneges (from his oath), he reneges only to the harm of his own soul, and whoever fulfills what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward" (Qur'an, 48:10).
O people! Repeat what I have just told you to, and greet' Ali with the title of authority of "Ameerul-Mo'mineen" and say: "We hear, and we obey, O Lord! Your forgiveness (do we seek), and to You is the eventual course" (Qur'an, 2:285), and you should say: "All praise is due to Allah Who guided us to this, and we would not have found the way had it not been for Allah Who guided us" (Qur'an, 7:43).
O people! The merits of' Ali ibn Abu Talib with Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, the merits which are revealed in the Qur'an, are more numerous than I can recount in one speech; so, whoever informs you of them and defines them for you, you should believe him.
O people! Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger and' Ali (U and the Imams to whom I have already referred shall attain a great victory. O people! Those foremost from among you who swear allegiance to him and who pledge to obey him and who greet him with the greeting of being the Commander of the Faithful are the ones who shall win the Gardens of Felicity.
O people! Say what brings you the Pleasure of Allah, for if you and all the people of the earth disbelieve, it will not harm Allah in the least.
O Lord! Forgive the believers through what I have conveyed, and let Your Wrath descend upon those who renege, the apostates, and all Praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
CONCLUSION:
Thus did the Prophet of Allah speak on behalf of the Almighty Who sent him as the beacon of guidance not only for the Muslims but for all mankind. But the question that forces itself here is: "What happened after that historic event? Why did the Muslims forget, or pretend to have forgotten, their Prophet's instructions with regards to' Ali and "elected" someone else in his stead? To answer this question requires another book,
And indeed many such books have been written. May the Almighty grant all of us guidance, and may He count us among His true servants who recognize the truth when they see it, who abide by His tenets, Who revere His Prophet and follow his instructions in all times, in all climes, Allahomma Ameen 
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