The Ghadīr Khumm () was a gathering of Muslims to attend a sermon delivered by the Islamic prophet Muhammad on 16 March 632 Common Era. The gathering is said to have taken place by the ghadir () in the wadi () of Khumm, located near the then settlement of Rabigh on the path between Mecca and Medina, where Muhammad halted the large caravan of Muslims who had accompanied him in the Farewell Pilgrimage, his only Hajj ritual.
In the sermon, made shortly before his death in June 632, Muhammad made a declaration in favor of Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, by saying: "He whose I am, Ali is his " (). () is a polysemous Arabic word, which can mean 'patron', 'master', 'leader', or 'friend', depending on its context. Shia Islam believe this sermon to be a clear designation of Ali to lead the Muslim community after Muhammad and celebrate the anniversary of the event as Eid al-Ghadir. The Sunni Islam community meanwhile regards the declaration as a simple affirmation of Muhammad's esteem for Ali.
The word () has been translated as 'deceiver', and the valley was so named because the water of its pond was saline and unfit for consumption. At the time of the event, the original inhabitants of the region, namely, the Banu Khuza'a and the Banu Kinanah tribes, had already abandoned the area due to its poor pasturage and harsh climate. Before Muhammad's address there, the location was likely never used as a caravan stop. In Shia Islam sources, the harsh environment of Ghadir Khumm is seen as emphasizing the urgency of Muhammad's divine task as he sought the largest audience for his address before the pilgrims parted ways.
Known as the hadith of the (), Muhammad might have repeated this statement on multiple occasions, and indeed several similar variants of this hadith can be found in Sunni and Shia sources alike. For instance, the version that appears in , another canonical Sunni source, also includes the warning, "Be careful how you treat the two treasures after me." Taking Ali by the hand, Muhammad then asked if he was not () the believers than themselves, evidently a reference to verse 33:6 of the Qur'an. When they affirmed, he declared,
which is known as the hadith of the (, ) in Shia theology. Muhammad might have repeated this sentence three or four more times, as reported in . He then continued, "O God, befriend the friend of Ali and be the enemy of his enemy," according to some versions, including the Sunni and the Shia . The Sunni scholars Ibn Kathir () and Ahmad ibn Hanbal () relate that Muhammad's companion Omar congratulated Ali after the sermon and told him, "You have now become of every faithful man and woman."
Accounts of the Ghadir Khumm appear elsewhere in both Sunni and Shia sources, and these accounts have occasionally been used interchangeably without sectarian prejudice. For instance, the Shia scholar Abdul Hosein Amini () relied on Sunni and Shia sources to list over a hundred companions and eighty-four who had recounted the event, most of whom are now counted among Sunnis. Similar efforts were undertaken by the Shia authors Hamid H. Musavi () and Hussein A. Mahfouz (). Other early accounts of the event include those by the Shia-leaning historian al-Ya'qubi (), and by the Sunni scholars Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Asakir () , al-Tirmidhi (), al-Nasa'i (), Ibn Majah (), Abu Dawud (), Ibn al-Athir (), Ibn Abd al-Barr (), Ibn Abd Rabbih (), and Al-Jahiz ().
Some Sunni historians, such as al-Tabari (), Ibn Hisham (), and Ibn Sa'd (), have nonetheless made little or no mention of the Ghadir Khumm, perhaps because the event supports the Shia legitimist claims, or perhaps they wanted to avoid angering their Sunni rulers by supporting the Shia cause. Consequently, Western authors, whose works were based on these authors, also make little reference to the Ghadir Khumm. Even though the Ghadir Khumm is absent from , its author narrates how Muhammad publicly dismissed some complaints about the conduct of Ali in Yemen in the same "chronological slot" as the Ghadir Khumm. The Islamicist Maria M. Dakake thus suggests that al-Tabari deliberately replaced the Ghadir Khumm tradition with another one that praised Ali but lacked any spiritual and legitimist implications in favor of Shia. Alternatively, in the ninth-century Baghdad, some among the Sunni group Ahl al-Hadith apparently denied the event, which may have prompted al-Tabari to refute their claims in his nonextant book , or in his unfinished . Similarly, as a senior employee of the Shia Buyid dynasty dynasty, the Shia theologian Sharif al-Radi () does not mention the Ghadir Khumm in his , possibly to avoid the ire of the Sunni Abbasids.
Revealed before the Ghadir Khumm, according to the Shi'a, this verse spurred Muhammad to deliver his announcement about 'Ali, which he had delayed fearing the reaction of some of his companions. Sunnis offer different views, one of which connects this verse to Muhammad's criticism of Jews and Christians. Nevertheless, the verse of is highly likely linked to the events that followed the Farewell Pilgrimage, including the Ghadir Khumm, because chapter (surah) five of the Qur'an is often associated with Muhammad's final years in Medina. Verse 5:3 of the Qur'an, also known as the verse of (, ), is similarly connected to the Ghadir Khumm in some Sunni reports by al-Tabari and the Sunni exegete al-Baghdadi (), and by the Shia exegete Shaykh Tusi (), among others. In contrast, most Sunni commentators associate this verse with the Farewell Pilgrimage, and this is also the opinion of al-Ya'qubi. Among various Sunni views, the verse of may refer to the establishment of the rites for Hajj during the Farewell Pilgrimage or the closure of Islamic legislation with the revelation of dietary instructions in the remainder of this verse, although some injunctions about were possibly revealed after this verse. The verse of includes the passage:
In the context of the Ghadir Khumm, the interpretation of the word tends to be split along sectarian lines. Shia sources interpret this word as meaning 'leader', 'master', and 'patron', while Sunni accounts of this sermon tend to offer little explanation, or interpret the hadith as a statement of love or support, or substitute the word with its cognate (of God, ). Shias therefore view the Ghadir Khumm as the investiture of Ali with Muhammad's religious and political authority (), while Sunnis regard the event as an indication of the rapport between the two men, or that Ali should execute Muhammad's will. At any rate, the correct interpretation of the polysemous word depends on its context. In his sermon, Muhammad may have employed the word synonymously to his earlier word ('in charge of the believers more than themselves', ). This then supports the Shia interpretation of the word in the sense of authority (). Alternatively, the Sunni theologian al-Baqillani () rejects any connection between the immediate uses of and by Muhammad.
For Shias, the dramatic announcement at the Ghadir Khumm to thousands of Muslims in the heat of day hardly supports its Sunni interpretation of love () and support () for Ali. These two are also the obligations of every Muslim towards other Muslims, not just Ali. While the Sunni Ibn Kathir considers the Ghadir Khumm a response to complaints about Ali during his expedition to Yemen, the Shia jurist Ibn Shahrashub () argues that Muhammad had earlier dismissed those objections. As for the various meanings of the word , the standard practice in Shia theology is to eliminate all those meanings in the hadith one by one until only the meaning of authority remains.
For Sunnis, it is also unimaginable that most companions would act wrongly and ignore a clear appointment of Ali at the Ghadir Khumm. Indeed, some suggest that the Muslim community did not act as if they had heard about such an appointment, and thus consider this designation improbable. By contrast, Shias believe that the community deliberately ignored the designation of Ali, pointing to the designation of the second Caliphate Umar by his predecessor Abu Bakr, other historical evidence, and that majority does not imply legitimacy in the Qur'an. Some have instead argued that Muhammad would have made such an important announcement earlier, during the Hajj, while others consider this tantamount to criticizing Muhammad's judgement.
|
|