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The Ancient Prophets-Informed of the Great Sacrifices

ON THE AUTHORITY of Ibne Shahr Aashoob and Shaikh-e-Tabarsiit is reported that the ancient prophets-Viz. Adam, Zachanah, Abraham and Ishmael, Solomon, Moses, and Jesus, were informed by God, about the Great Sacrifices Husain was to offer to re-cstablish the religion of God in earth.
(Tafseer-e-Ali ibne Ibrahim—Kashful Ghumma—Tazkira-e-ibne ,Jawzi Mataalebus So’ol)
It is said that one of the interpretations of the symbols, KofHa Ya-Ain-Saad, in the Holy Qur'an is that:
Kof stands for Karbala.
Ha—do—Halakat—destruction—death.
Ya—do— Yazeed.
Ain—do—Atash—Thirst.
Saad—do—Sabr-e-Husain-patience and the fortitude of Husain.
It is reported by the Shahr Aasboob and Shaikh-e-Tabarsi that Syecd ibne-Abdullah-e-Ash’ari reported that the Eleventh Holy Imam, Hasan ibne-Ali-Al-Askari said that the Holy Prophet was informed of the tragedy of Karbala and it is confined in these symbol letters in the Holy Qur'an.

Every Prophet bad appointed his Successor

ALONG WITH THE cotonation of a king goes the declaration of the heir-apparent to the throne. It is only a following of the example of what is done with regard to the ministres of the apostles of God.
The divine guidance to humanity, be that through an apostle or through a deputy of his, is a continuous process decreed by the grace of the All-Merciftul Lord. Every apostle of God at the very start of his apostolic mission, did announce his immediate successor so that his followers, after him, might not get beguiled by any imposter. Abraham was succeeded by his sons Ishmael and Isaac. Jacob by his son Joseph, David by his son Solomon, Moses
by his brother Aaron and Jesus by Simon and his other disciples.
“The divine guidance to humanity is a continuous process. Every apostle of God before he started his apostolic mission had to announce his immediate successor so that his follower might not be beguiled by any imposter. Abraham was succeeded by his sons Ishmael


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and Isaac. Moses's successor was Aaron, and Jesus' was Simon. It was the first of the apostolic duties of every apostle of God, to announce his immediate successor to the people, as a guidance to his followers, as to who they should follow after him, as well as safeguard against the venture of the imposters thereafter.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad appoints his Successor

ACCORDING TO THE divinely decreed course (the Sunnat-e-IIahiah) which never chanaes (17:77),at the very inauguration of his apostolic mission under the command from the Lord: "warn thy nearest kith and kin" (26:214), the Holy Prophet invited his kith and kin to a feast and with the declaration of his nearest apostleship, also declared Ali as his Deputy, Vicegerent and Successor. (TB., IA., AF, GB,. WS., AA., and others.)
The above incident has been of such a prominence and signi- ficance and was so ever-fresh in the memory of the people that it could not be missed by the historian be he a Muslim or a non-Mus- lim. History gives a vivid description as to how the Holy Prophet repeatedly asked the assembly as to who among them would be his Deputy, his Vieegerent, and his Successor and Heir, and how at every time, none but Ali, stood up offering himself to the office, which then was only a hopeless proposition, and how ultimately the Holy Prophet called Ali to him, before the assembly of the veterans of the Town (Mecca) and embracing him declared openly in clear - cut words:-
This is my Deputy, my Vicegerent and my Successor; Hear him and obey him.
This is what Carlyle in his 'Sartor Resartus' says: "
"After some three years of small success, he invited forty of his chief kindred to an entertainment; and there stood up and told them: what his pretention was; that he had this thing to promulgate abroad to all men; that it was the highest thing, the one thing which of them would second him in that? Amidst the doubt and silence of all, young Ali, as yet a lad of sixteen, impatient of the silence, started up, and exclaimed in passionate fierce language, That he would! The assembly, among


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whom was Abu Taleb, Ali's father, could not be un- friendly to Mahomet; 'yet the sight there, of one un- lettered elderly man, with a lad of sixteen, deciding on such an enterprise' against all mankind, appeared ridiculous to them ; the assembly broke- up in laughter. Nevertheless, it proved not a laughable thing; it was a very serious thing! 'As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him. A noble- minded creature, as he shows him- self, now and always afterwards; full of affection, of fiery daring. Something chivalrous in him ; brave as a lion; yet with a grace, a truth and affection worthy of Christian knighthood. He died by assassination in the Mosque at Baghdad ; death occasioned by his own generous fairness, confidence in the fairness of others; he said, If the wound proved not unto death, they must pardon the Assassin ; but if it did then they must slay him straightway, that so they too in the same hour might appear befort God, and see which side of that quarrel was The just one!
(TB., IA., AF., Gibns., W. Smith., Amir Ali and others)
Thus the Holy Prophet had proclaimed the authority of Ali, as next only to his own and had enjoined his followers to listen to what Ali said and to obey him even in the very lifetime of his (the Ho1y Prophet's) own.
Besides the above historic ceremonial event, there are the in- numerable other instances when the Holy Prophet gave the practical demonstration of Ali's position as next only to him, and had made innumerable verbal announcements about the unique position of Ali, in relation to him. A few of those instances and the declarations are:-
1. Ali's being left in the bed of the Holy Prophct on the eve of his migration to Madina.
2. Ali's being entrusted with the deposits of the people of Mecca, which were with the Holy Prophet, to he restored to the respective owners, the next day to the Emigration.
3. Ali's being declared as the Brother of the Holy Prophet, when at Madina , each believer according to his


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personal merits, was made the brother of another like him.
4. Ali's being given the hand of the Holy Lady Fatema the only surviving issue and the most loved one of the Holy Prophet.
5. Ali's being sent to take away the verses of the Sura-e- Tauba (i.e., Immunity) from Abu Bakr who was already sent with it, to be read out to the infidels in Mecca, as one of the Holy Prophet himself.
6. Ali's being left in charge of the affairs at Madina, in the place of the Holy Prophet, during his absence on the ex- pedition to 'Tabuk.'
7. The Holy Prophet's declaring:-
I and Ali are of one and the same divine Light." "0' Ali! Thou art to me as Aaron was to Moses, save that there is no apostleship after me." "I am the City of knowledge and Ali is its Gate." "0' Ali! Thou art my brother in this world and in the next." "0' Ali! Thou art to me, as is a head to a body." "0' Ali! Thou art to me, as is a soul to a body." "0' Ali! Thy flesh is my flesh and thy blood is my blood, thou seest what I see and thou hearest what I hear, save there is no apostleship after me.
8. Ali was demonstrated to the world, before the multitude on the occaston of the historic ' Mubahila' as the 'Nafs' or the 'Self, or the 'Soul' of the Holy Prophet.
Besides the above few instances there are many other events and declarations demonstrating clearly the unique position of Ali in relation to the Holy Prophet, with special signi- ficance to Islam and the Muslims.
Besides all the above facts, there is the historic ceremonial Coronation enacted by the Holy Prophet at 'Ghadeer-e-Khum', at the conclusion of his apostolic mission, in the mid- way, on his return journey after his 'Hajjatul-Wida' (the Last or the Parting Pilgrimage) under the most imperative command from the Lord:-
O' (Our) Apostle Muhammad! Convey thou, that which hath already been sent unto thee and if thou didst not


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do it, it would be (as if) thou hast not conveyed (fulfilled) the apostleship (at all); Verily, God will protect thee from the mischief of the people." 5:67
Immediately as the command from the Lord was received, the Holy Prophet stopped the caravan, called back the caravans gone ahead, and waited for those coming behind, and when all the Hajies numbering several thousands were collected, a pulpit at his com- mand was improvised, and mounting the pulpit delivered the historic sermon to the multitude of the audience before him and then called Ali to him on the pulpit and raising him high with the miraculous apostolic strength of his godly hands, declared to the huge assembly:-
"0' people!of whomsoever I am the Lord , Ali is his Lord!" Immediately following the declaration, the Holy Prophet prayed:-
"Lord! Be Thou a friend to the one who is the friend of Ali, And be Thou an enemy to the one who is the enemy 0f Ali, Help Thou the one who helpeth Ali, And discard Thou the one who discardeth Ali."
Immediately as he came down the pulpit, the Holy Prophet ordered every one present there, to pay the allegiance 'Baiyat' to Ali, addressing him as the ' Ameerul-Momineen' (the Com- mander or the Ruler or the Governor of the Faithful).
It is reported that the first one to comply with the command of the Holy Prophet was Omar, who paid his 'Bait' saying: 'Bakhkin Bakhkhin laka ibne Abi Taleb Asbahta Maulayee we Maula kulla Mominin wa Mominatin.'
"Cheer and cheer be to thee 0' son of Abu Taleb ! Thou hast dawned as my Lord and the Lord of all the faith- ful men and faithful women."
For details see:-
(Mish., Khasai, Nisayee., Raudatul Ahbab., Raudatus Safa Musnad Imam Ahmed Hambal-Suyooti and the other historians)
It is also reported that at Omar's addressing Ali as 'son of Abu Taleb', the Holy Prophet, commanded him to address Ali as


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'Ameerul- Momineen', (i.e., the Commander or the Ruler of the Faithful).
It is now for the impartial authorities of the seasoned politicians and the learned ones of the scholars of political science, to say if, after the historic declarations of the Holy Prophet at the very outset of his apostolic mission, at the ' Daawat- e- Asheera', and at the end or the conclusion of his apostleship, at the 'Ghadeer- e- Khum', it could ever be justly said that the Holy Prophet did not nominate any one as his successor and left the matter to the people's choice. And whether such an unjust accusation,, unwarranted by the evidences of the historic events and the universally acknowledged declaration, would mean to throw the blame on the Holy Prophet, of all the bloodshed and chaos created in the name of the succession to him? And the Kalifate passing to tyrants like Yazeed and the other allied characters who have brought nothing but disgrace to the fair name of the faith and the faithful.
It is a matter of disgrace that most of the western writers, either wilfully bully Islam or ignorant of the facts of the Islamic History, betray their prejudice or their ignorance of the truth by criticising the Holy Prophet as the one responsible for leaving his people in chaos and confusion about his succession which resulted in political havoc and disaraceful bloodshed. Reports based on mere folklore, can never be history. It does not become of qualified scholarship to pass any judgments without studying the facts in their fullness and before the necessary scrutiny of their collected data. The truth is that our western writer friends in the guise of impartial historians and as talented writers on the Islamic faith, serve their respective missionary forces by spreading falsehood against Islam and the muslims, and thus poison the public mind through calumnies against the Holy Prophet, his personality and his teachings. Unfortunately those of our brethren who know neither Arabic nor Persian nor even Urdu properly the languages in which is treasurcd, most of the true knowledge about Islam and its heroes, and know only the English language, very easily get drifted in the eloquence of the powerful penman and quietly swal1ow the sugar- coated poisonous pills, and own the wrong information they gather from such prejudiced writings, as the correct knowledge for their own and some of them imagine to own a great store of know- ledge about Islam and even debate about the Islamic teachings basing their arguments upon the wrong information which they have


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gathered from some anti Islamic sources, without proper study of the Qur'an or the authentic Qur'anie literature.
However, the above facts of history clearly assert that the Holy Prophet did not spare any pain in making known to the people about his succession, in even necessary and desirable way possible, from the very beginning of his mission to its conclusion. Inspite of all the possible steps taken by the Apostle of God, if any one still holds his own view, none can stop him to do it, nor shall any one force his views on the other, for Islam is the religion of individual responsibility:-
It has been repeatedly declared in the Holy Qur'an:-
"Shall bear not any bearer, the burden of the other."
2:48,6:165, 35:18, 39 :755 :38.
A muslim has to call his brethren to the right path, only by love and sweet words: (16:125)
The Holy Qur'an declared:-
"Verily, we have shown him (man) the (Right) way, be he grateful (and follow it) or be he ungrateful (and reject it) 76:3
" There is no compulsion in Religion." 2:256

The Start of the Trouble

THE APPROACH OF the long awaited hour for the realisation of their cherished hopes through the execution of their plans, acted as a stimulus to the mischievous minds to actuate them. The inordinate behaviour of the Visitors to the Holy Prophet, while he was about to breathe his last made him turn out all of them from his presence. When the people were sure of the impending departure of the Holy Prophet, the Mohajirs (the immigrant Meccans) and the Ansars (the supporter Madinites) assembled at the Saqa-e-fae- Bani Saa'ada and started parading their respective rights for the paramount power and authority to rule over the vast Muslim empire, in the place of the Holy Prophet. (IQ, IA., Tb., Rs., EHI)
The contending arguments were that:-
"The Mohajirs claimed preference in view of their priority in Islam, their kinship with the Holy Prophet, and their


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immigration with hint, at the manifest end of their lift and property.
The Ansars tirged that they had as much right as any others whatsoever, on account of their receiving the Prophet in his escape from his Meccan enemies, of protecting him in the time of adversity, and of helping him making head against his powerful foes, resulting ultimately in the establishment of the paramount power and authority. They even alleged that they apprehended revenge tf authority went to the people whose fathers and brothers they had killed in defending the Prophet. When Hobab expressed this view Omar indignantly retorted Thou shouldst die if Kalifate settled with such people as whom thou fearest." (E.H.I.)
The fears of Hobab were not unfounded for the spirit of retaliation was ingrained in the blood of the Arabs:-
" Revenge was almost a religious principle among the Arabs. To revenge a relative slain was the duty of his family, and often involved the honour of his tribe; and these debts of blood sometimes remained unsettled for genera- tions, producing deadly feuds." (WI.)
History proves that the fears of Hobab were not false:-
" The fears of Hobab proved correct with the revengeful massacre of the Prophet's or Ali's posterity at Karbala condemning even a six months' Babe and with the hideous crimes perpetrated in the outrages and the massacre of the Ansars at Harra." (EHI)
Refusing the claim of the Ansars, Omar said:-
" The Qoreish did not deny the services rendered by the Ansars to promote the cause of Islam, but with all their meritorious services they should not deem themselves entitled to aspire to the sole authority over the Qoreish." (TB., IA., SHI., EHI)
"The Ansars then said that they would be content to have one Kalif from each of the two parties to exercise joint authority and even nominated Saa'd bin Obida, their leader to be elected from them." (1Q, RAi, RS)


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The Qoreish would by no means agree to any such proposal and they persisted saying that:-
"The Government must remain in the hands of Qoreish while the Ansars should content themselves with the Wazirate or ministry." (1Q, RA., RS., EHI,)
The discussion developed into a regular quarrel and the tension got precipitated and the parties were about to come to blows:-
The Ansars not yielding, the contention grew so hot that they were just upon falling to blows when Abu Bakr intervened and asked them if they had not heard the Holy Prophet saying 'that none was apt to exercise authority over the Qoreish but one from among them- selves. Bashir Sa'd one of the Ansars who shared the views of the Mohajirs at once answered in favour of the Mohajirs.' Thus encouraged, Abu Bakr re- solutely exclaimed that the Qoreisk would not accept any one but a Qoreish to rule over them and stepping forth pointed out Omar and Abu Obeida to the Ansars to choose either of them as the Kalif."
" Now the Ansars began to say that they should prefer paying homage to Ali, the best of the Qoreish. (IA., TB., HS.,)
The question arises when the quarrel could be avoided by any saying of the Holy Prophet:-
1. Why the unchallengable verdict of the Prophet at the histortc assembly at ' Ghadeer- e -Khum' about Ali, was not quoted?
2. Why the covenant taken from them by the Holy Prophet, by a definite ' Baiyat' about Ali, was not re- minded of ?
3. If what was said about the rule over the Qoreish was true, the wording itself clearly indicates that the rule refers to the rule over the Qoreish, and not the rule over all the people, and the Kalifate contested for, was not a Tribal matter but of the Muslims as a whole. Besides the saying 'that Qoreish only to rule the Qoreish' assigned to the Holy Prophet, does not tally with the Holy Quran which declares


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superiority to he recognised only on the basis of piety:-
"Inna akramakum indallahi ataqaakom' 49:13 Verily, the most honoured of you with God is the most pious of you and any saying attributed to the Holy Prophet not tallying with the Holy Qur'an is to he thrown 0n the wall.
4. If the Qoreish wanted only a Qorcish to rule, why Ali was not accepted? who had a joint right, both, as one appointed by the Apostolic declaration at 'Ghadeer- e- Khum' and also as a Qoreishite.
5. (a) Besides, if they wanted one with the highest knowledge to rule over them there was none but Ali about whom the Holy Prophet had said: ' I am the City of knowledge and Ali is its Gate'.
(b) If they wanted the most just one to be their ruler, the people knew that the Holy Prophet had said :- ' Aqzakurn Ali ibnc Abi Taleb (the most just among you is Ali).
(c) If they needed the bravest to rule over them, the position of Ali in this respect is unique, for it is he about Whom the Holy Prophet had declared at Khaiber 'Karearan ghaira farrarin' the repeated attacker who knew no running away. History is there to vouch that it was Ali who stayed with the Holy Prophet in the worst of the situations in the bat- tles for the faith, when most of the companions had deserted him and had fled away, disappearing for days together. The Holy Qur'an has a re- ference to this fact. Besides, in the Muslim World as a whole, none but Ali is called 'A' sadullah' , the Lion of God, and it is Ali in whose praise the Mus lims sing even to this day 'La fata illa Ali la saif illa Zulfiqar' , i.e., there is no youth braver than Ali and there is no sword save the unfailing Zulfiqar."
(d) If the nearest to the Holy Prophet was the one want- ed, who else was there save Ali about whom the Holy Prophet had openly said: " I and Ali are