The Return to al-Ghadir
(1)
A person cannot strip himself of his creed, which he inherited through knowledge, insight and proof. There is no doubt that everyone who holds a creed, believing that it constitutes salvation for humanity in its worldly life and success in its Hereafter, will strive to call to it and to convey it to others so that they may join the caravan of light that he has joined.
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(2)
There is also no doubt that the mechanisms used are the mechanisms of dialogue and proof, since human innate nature was fashioned with the disposition that every truth has a reality and every correct thing has a light that points to it. For this reason the Noble Qurʾan came with proofs and made them a sign of a person’s truthfulness and of the firmness of his opinion and his creed, saying: “Say, ‘Produce your evidence, should you be truthful.’” (Qurʾan 2:111).
(3)
The event of al-Ghadir came as a historical turning point, one of the turning points in defining the true creed, by defining the course of the human being through designating his leadership and his Imam, whose way he must follow and in whose footsteps he must tread. Al-Ghadir is a doctrinal and evidential event, clear in its indication of the Imamate of Imam ʿAli ibn Abi Talib (a) and of his appointment as successor over all the Muslims after the Messenger of Allah (s). There has been disagreement over its interpretation and explanation so that the truths might be twisted away from their correct course; indeed, some deliberately concealed it and ignored it, or struck it out of books so that it would not raise a question among the general public, whereby the truth would be uncovered and the hidden truths would appear.
(4)
The event of al-Ghadir, as a historical and doctrinal turning point, cannot be ignored; rather, it must have centrality in doctrinal dialogues, and must not be skipped over or passed by through gratuitous attempts at interpretation. Rather, one ought to stop at it and bring it forward as a true proof of the right of Imam ʿAli (a) to the Imamate and the successorship, and make it the axis of discussion, and indeed a pickaxe for demolishing all the other theories in this field, because the Prophet (s) intended al-Ghadir to be a witness over the community, and skipping over it is a transgression of the Prophet’s (s) plan and a belittling of his positions and of the genius of his management.
(5)
Hence it is a historical mistake, in the field of doctrinal dialogues and of propagating the way of the Ahl al-Bayt (a), for scholars and intellectuals to skip over this event of al-Ghadir and move on to discussions that are not upon the sound method and that do not light the path for the other; rather, they may increase him in obstinacy, and pride in error may seize him when he becomes absorbed in them. Among those discussions is the deviation of dialogues into doctrinal particulars, which are derived from the fundamentals of belief, or turning to dialogues on jurisprudential matters, which draw from the doctrinal source. It is not correct to discuss topics such as the manner of prayer or how to perform some rituals or rites, because all of that is determined by determining the type of creed; and it is not correct to discuss topics such as the Return (al-rajʿa), the beardless youth, and how the Qurʾan is viewed, because those are doctrinal topics that have greater doctrinal foundations, and they become clear when those foundations are made clear first.
(6)
Correcting the course in doctrinal dialogues requires returning to al-Ghadir and taking it as an axis, and holding the other to reflecting on it and searching for clear answers that explain the appointment of Imam ʿAli (a) by the Prophet (s) as successor over the Muslims, the implications of that designation, and what follows from it in correcting the course of mistaken beliefs.
(7)
When the eminent scholars carried the thought of al-Ghadir on their shoulders and confronted every intellectual challenge with the event of al-Ghadir, the victory of the truth was clear, despite the scarcity of resources. The rulers in various lands used to fear the mention of al-Ghadir, so they banned the book that spoke about it and muzzled every voice that tried to appear in the media expressing it. For this reason wilaʾi thought spread like wildfire in every land it set foot on, and the light of the truth seeped through to everyone who lent an ear, with the least effort.
(8)
In our present time, after the opponents who fear al-Ghadir and its implications have succeeded in distracting many of the preachers from al-Ghadir, and have occupied them with marginal matters or with secondary matters that rest upon defining the correct creed, the truth has become less widespread relative to the availability of media and resources. If all the resources and media tools corrected their course and decided to return to al-Ghadir as an axis of challenge, we would see wondrous results, and we would see the truth having a flame of light in every home, however far-flung and distant the regions might be.
(9)
The event of al-Ghadir was not an incidental event in the history of the Muslims; rather, al-Ghadir was an event planned by the greatest creature on the face of the earth, by command of Allah the Exalted, so that it would be a proof against all creatures until the Day of Judgment.
(10)
Al-Ghadir is the shortcut to the truth.
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
