As the last days of the Prophet’s (saws) life of the world
started nearing and the Prophet (saws) indicated the same to the people, the
obvious question that would have made the Muslims restless would have been with
respect to the successor ship of the Prophet (saws). As it was also a practice
of the Holy Prophet (saws) to always appoint a successor behind him even when
he undertook small excursions of two days or lesser. Is
it acceptable that the grand Prophet (saws) would determine successor for
himself before the battle of in Tabuk which for few days and not very far from Medina
but did not do it when he (saws) was about to leave this world forever? On one
side we find in the books of traditions that the Holy Prophet (saws) said :
“All of the prophets owned
executors and successors and quoting that Salman Farsi asked messenger of
Allah: Each prophet had its own executor and successor, who is yours?”
And on the other side we find the
majority of this nation believing that the Prophet (saws) did not determine
anyone as his successor!
The matter was made crystal clear
by Allah (swt) when He ordered His Prophet (saws) for the farewell Hajj as we
find in a tradition quoted in Hayat ul Qoloob thus:
Sayyid IbnTawus and Shaykh Ahmad bin Abi Talib, Tabarsi etc., and
tradition scholars of Shia and Sunni have from multiple channels, narrated from
Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s.) that the Messenger of Allah (Saws) conveyed all the
laws of religion with the exception of the rituals of Hajj and the guardianship
(Wilayat) of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s.). Jibraeel (a.s) came down from the
heavens and said: O Messenger, the Creator of the universe sends you His
greetings and says that I never took up any of My prophets without having
fulfilled the religion and proofs. Therefore, two important matters are yet to
be conveyed to your followers: one is concerned with the rituals of Hajj and
the other is the matter of Wilayat and Caliphate. Because I have never kept My
earth devoid of the divine proof and I will not let it to remain thus till
Judgment Day. Therefore you are commanded to teach the people about the rituals
of Hajj. So you may go for Hajj and each of those who are capable from Muslims
should also accompany him. All those who are present here or who live around
Medina in the desert, should be taught the Hajj rituals as you have taught them
prayers, fasting and Zakat etc.
As instructed the Prophet (saws) announced
it amongst the nation his intention to go for Hajj. This being the first announced Hajj of the
Prophet (saws) after migration to Medina
massive
crowd from amongst the enthusiastic followers decided to accompany the Prophet
(saws). It is recorded in the books of
history that there was an epidemical outbreak at the time of leaving for the
farewell Hajj despite this the number of companions recorded in the books of
history vary from ninety thousand to one lakh twenty four thousand or more
. And Muslim
scholars have named this Hajjul Wida as Hajje Islam or Hajje Balagh or Hajje Kamaal
and Hajje Tamam
.
Allama Amini in his Al Gadheer says that we are confident that this Hajj is
called as Hajj eBalagh as the Ayat-e-Tabligh was revealed in this Hajj and it
is called as Kamaal as Ayat-e-Iqmaal was revealed in returning from this Hajj.
Where on one side there were lakhs
of enthusiastic follower’s accompanying the Holy Prophet (saws), in the same
crowd were some who would not fear to dare oppose the Holy Prophet (saws) openly
and it would not be inappropriate to tag them as the rebellious transgressors.
We would like to set the ground of
further discussion here taking help of a shocking incident that took place in
the same Hajje Wida, where the second caliph of muslim denied openly to follow
the instruction of the Holy Prophet (SAWS). The Prophet (saws) had commanded
the Muslims to remove the Ihram of Hajj and change the niyyat to Umrah-e-Tamatto
if they were not carrying the sacrificial animal along with them. The Prophet
(saws) upon leaving from medina took along sixty six sacrificial animals along
with him and he continued with his Ihram and niyyat of Hajj e Qiran. While Amirul
Momeneen (as) left from Yemen along with thirty four sacrificial animals with the
same niyyat as that of the Holy Prophet (saws). For details on the type of Hajj
refer foot note
.
After
this command, some obeyed the Prophet (saws) and some remained firm on their
stance and one who remained firm on his stance was Umar bin Khattab. The Holy
Prophet (saws) summoned him and asked why he had not removed the Ihram. “Perhaps
you have brought sacrificial animals?”
He
replied: “No.”
The Prophet (saws) asked: “Then why have
you not removed the Ihram when I commanded it?”
He
said: “O Prophet of Allah, as long as you are in Ihram, I will also not
remove mine.”
The
Prophet said: “You will not believe in Hajj Tamatto as long as you are
alive.”
And
as the Prophet (saws) had predicted he remained a denier of Hajj Tamatto till
during his Caliphate one day he went to the pulpit and stopped people from Hajj
Tamatto. And he issued strict orders that no one must perform it. So Shia and
Sunni scholars have widely narrated that Umar said:
“Two Mutahs were allowed during the time of the Holy Prophet (S). I
prohibit both. And I will punish severely one who performs them: one is the
Mutah of women and one is the Mutah of Hajj
.”
It
is evident from the above incident that he did not stop at disobeying the
Prophet (saws) openly but also went a step forward and arrogantly manipulated
with the orders of Shariyat and took pride in announcing this. There is no
surprise in this behaviour of his as what we shall discuss next is even
shocking.
Allama
Majlisi brings in Hayat al Qoloob a narration from Huzaifah which is as
follows:
They reached Ghadeer Khum and halted there. The Messenger of Allah (SAWS)
prayed with the people and when he ordered, they came to him and the Prophet
summoned Amirul Momineen (a.s.) and taking his left hand and raised it and
loudly announced his Wilayat, making his obedience obligatory on all. He (saws)
ordered them not to turn away from Ali (a.s.) after the Prophet has passed
away.
He also stated that whatever he was saying was by the command of Allah,
and he said: “Am I not having more authority on the lives of the believers,
than they have over themselves?” People cried: “Yes, you indeed have such
authority.” The Messenger of Allah (SAWS) said:
“Of whomsoever I am the master,
this Ali is also his master. O Allah, love those who love Ali and be inimical
to one who is inimical to Ali and help those who help Ali and degrade one who
degrades Ali.”
Then he commanded the people to pay allegiance to Imam Ali (a.s.). So
all paid allegiance and no one objected. Abu Bakr and Umar had gone ahead to
Johfa before the allegiance. The Messenger of Allah (S) called them back and
told them in a sharp tone:
“O son of Abu Qahafa and O Umar, pay allegiance to Ali as he is after me
the Wali Amr and Imam.”
They asked: Is this order from himself or from Allah? So they paid
allegiance and they all set out from there. They continued to travel during the
day and the night till they reached the mountain pass of Harshi. Abu Bakr and
Umar had already reached there carrying tin cans filled with pebbles. Huzaifa
says that when the Messenger of Allah (SAWS) neared the mountain pass, he
summoned me and Ammar Yasir, and ordered Ammar to catch hold of the head of the
she-camel and continue to pull it and he told me remain behind the beast.
In this way we reached to the top of the mountain pass and Abu Bakr and
Umar were following us. They threw the cans between the legs of the Prophet’s
camel as a result of which it was terrified, and was about to bolt throwing
down the Prophet. His Eminence, called out to the she-camel: Be quiet, nothing
will happen to you. At that time the Almighty Allah made her speak up and she
said in eloquent Arabic:
“O Messenger of Allah (SAWS), by Allah, I will not move my legs as long
as you are on my back.”
The two came near the she-camel to topple her, but I and Ammar drew out
our swords and ran to them and they fled from there in the dark night failing
in their plot to assassinate the Prophet. Huzaifa says: I asked,
“O Messenger of Allah (S), who were these people who acted in this
manner against you?”
The Messenger of Allah (S) replied:
“O Huzaifa, they are hypocrites in the world and the hereafter.”
I said: “Why don’t you send someone to behead them?”
He replied:
“The Almighty Allah has commanded me not to fight them lest people blame
me for eliminating my own followers after having invited to Islam and after
fighting the enemies and then killed them after gaining victory over the
enemies. O Huzaifa, leave them, the Almighty Allah would punish them on
Judgment Day. He has given a little respite in this world. After that He will
throw them into a dreadful chastisement.”
Thus we conclude from the above hadis
that the incident of Gadheer had left such remorse in the hearts of the
hypocrites and caused absolute insecurity in the achievement of their evil
motives hence they desperately decided to kill the noble Prophet (saws) and
snatch the Caliphate from the freshly appointed caliph of the Muslim nation.
No surprise that Allah (swt) had
promised security to the Prophet (saws) in Ayat-e-Tableegh and ensured that
there is no Guidance for the disbelievers.
If the seekers of truth uncover the incidents starting from Hajje Wida
till the demise of the beloved Daughter of the Holy Prophet (saws) in the pages
of history, most certainly they would be shocked to find how these leaders of
rebellion along with their daughters plotted against the Holy Ahlul Bait (a.s)
and executed the heinous crime of assassinating the Proofs of Allah in this
world.
In the
end we Pray to Allah that He hastens the zahoor of His Last Hujjat (atfs )
immediately so that these criminals could be treated as they deserved and their
crimes be exposed in front of the whole world. Ameen
Here it is worth
bringing the attention of our readers to the tradition from Ilalush Sharai it is narrated through
reliable chains from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) that the Holy Prophet (S) made the Hajj
twenty times secretly, and on each occasion dismounted to urinate at the pass
of Mashar-ul-Haram. The narrator asked why he did that? The Imam replied:
Because that was the place where idols were first worshipped.
It is narrated by Shaikh Kulaini(ar) and
ShaykhTusi (ar) that after coming to Medina the Messenger of Allah (SWT) had
performed only one Hajj and he had performed all other Hajj pilgrimages before
Hijrat. It is narrated from Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s.) that the Messenger of
Allah (S) had performed ten secret Hajjs and in all of them he used to dismount
and pass urine at the beginning as explained above. It is narrated from many
other chains that the Holy Prophet (SAWS) had performed twenty Hajjs and in
each of them he used to dismount at a small spot of Mashar and urinate there.
The above traditions are quoted from Hayat
ul Qoloob. Although the Ahle-sunnat believe that this was the only Hajj Holy
Prophet (saws) performed in his life time.
It has been
mentioned that hajj has three types, hajj al-tamattu‘ (which is the duty of
those whose home is at least 16 farsakhs (nearly 90 km) far from Mecca and both
hajj al-qirān and hajj al-ifrād which are the duty of those who live in Mecca
or outside it but within mentioned distance. hajj al-tamattu‘ differs from the
other two in being a single worship composed of one ‘umrah and one hajjah, in
which ‘umrah is performed first, followed by a separating period during which
the person takes off his iḥrām and is allowed to do some acts which are
prohibited for the muḥrim (the person who is in a state of iḥrām). It is
before putting on iḥrām again for hajj. For this reason, it is called hajj
al-tamattu‘. So ‘umrah is a part of hajj al-tamattu‘ and called ‘umrah of
tamattu‘ and the Hajjah is the second part and both must be performed in the
same year. This is different from hajj al-qirān or hajj al-ifrād because each
worship consists of a hajjah only while ‘umrah is a separate worship called
‘umrah al-mufradah. Thus, ‘umrah al-mufradah could be performed in one year and
hajj al-ifrād or al-qirān in another year. Both types of ‘umrah have common
rules which will be mentioned before having a look at hajj al-tamattu‘, it is
‘umrah, hajj al-ifrād or al-qirān, their ‘umrah and the difference between
them.
Musnad
Ahmed bin Hanbal, Volume 1 page 52 Hadith 369, Sahih Muslim, Book 007, Number
2801 & 2814, Sunan
Saeed bin Mansur, Volume 1 page 218 Tradition 852, Sharh Tajreed Al-Aqaid, page
408, Fakhrudeen Razi in his authority work Tafseer Kabeer, Volume 3 page 96,
Sunan al Kabeera’ by Imam Behaqqi, Volume 7 page 206 quoted from http://en.shiapen.com/comprehensive/mutah/umar-banned-mutah.html
