Admissions Against Interest — Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī and Ibn Ḥajar al-Makkī on Ghadīr and the Caliphate

The strongest arguments are sometimes those drawn from one’s opponents. Both Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī and Ibn Ḥajar al-Makkī acknowledged the mass transmission of the Ghadīr report, and conceded the special, exclusive ministry of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. The author shows that having admitted so much, their attempts to escape the conclusion are nothing but a mirage.

Thirty Companions — and a ministry no one else shared

I say: It has already been established that this Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī is among those who acknowledge the mass transmission of the report of Ghadīr.

He said in his Ṣawāʿiq:¹ Thirty Companions transmitted it, and in it: “O God, befriend whoever befriends him, and be an enemy to whoever is an enemy to him, and abandon whoever abandons him…” and so forth.

And he acknowledged in his al-Minaḥ al-Makkiyya, his commentary on the Hamziyya,² the special ministry belonging exclusively to the Commander of the Faithful (may God be pleased with him) — a ministry in which no one shares with him, neither Abū Bakr nor ʿUmar nor anyone else — in his commentary on the poet’s words:³

Where he said, in his exact words:

Up to his words: “It is from this that the Shīʿa have taken their argument that it constitutes an explicit designation of him as successor after him; and that is indeed the case, were it not for what is coming shortly…” and so forth.

He brought nothing to invalidate it — and how could he? It falls squarely under the Most High’s words: {And they denied it, while their souls were certain of it} [al-Naml: 14].

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Twenty-seven Companions named — and a proof whose pillars have collapsed

Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī acknowledged the same, and mentioned the report of Ghadīr from twenty-seven Companions, then said: And others — listing the names of each individually, apart from the composite narrations such as “twelve,” “thirteen,” “a group of Companions,” “thirty men” — as has already been mentioned.⁴

I have chosen to convey their words on the report of the Station — in order to make clear their argument, whose pillars have collapsed, against the texts of the Sunnah and the Quran. It is this argument that al-Haytamī alluded to with his words: were it not for what is coming.⁵

Al-ʿAsqalānī said in his commentary on al-Bukhārī, in his exact words:⁶

And al-Ṭayyibī said:

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They found no escape but to acknowledge it — yet with a hidden corruption in their hearts

Imam Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh (peace be upon him) said: Reflect on these scholars — when the proof overpowered them, they found no escape but to acknowledge it, yet with a hidden corruption in their hearts.

Up to his words: Because the Prophet ﷺ said “after me” — and this means after his death; and because the occurrence of something affecting the one used in the comparison, which does not occur for the one compared to him, causes no harm. And al-Manṣūr Billāh (peace be upon him) perfected the rebuttal of their argument in al-Shāfī in a manner that admits of no addition.⁷

I say: Thorough discussions have already passed,⁸ and I have only introduced this in order to follow the flow of the inquiry, and lest the one who has been misled suppose that they have something of substance — whereas it is nothing but {a mirage in a flat plain which the thirsty man supposes to be water, until when he comes to it he finds it to be nothing}.

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A special ministry found in no one else

Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī then mentioned what further corroborates this special ministry:⁹ that the Prophet ﷺ made him his brother to the exclusion of all others; and sent him to deliver Sūrat al-Barāʾa; and appointed him his deputy in Mecca during the emigration, until he came to him with his family after discharging his trusts and fulfilling his obligations. All of these point collectively to a special ministry that was found in no one else. End of quote.