Hadith of Performance and Delivery

The Hadith of Performance and Delivery

1. No one shall deliver for me
except me or a man from my house

Imam Ahmad in his Musnad recorded that Abu Bakr said:

The Prophet sent me with the chapter of Bara-ah to the people of Mecca:

Abu Bakr travelled on for 3 days then the Prophet said to Alī:

"Follow him and send Abu Bakr back to me and go on to deliver the message yourself."

Alī did that and Abu Bakr came back to the Prophet. He wept and said:

Messenger of God did anything happen concerning me?

The Prophet said that nothing happened but good.

"But I am commanded that no one should deliver it except myself or a man from me."1

Al-Hakim in his Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Mustadrak recorded through his channel to Jumai-a Ibn Omair Al-Laithi that Abdullah Ibn Umar said to him:

"The Messenger of God sent Abu Bakr and Umar with the chapter of Bara-ah to the people of Mecca.

The 2 men went on and suddenly a man overtook them. They asked: Who is this?

He said: I am Alī. Abu Bakr, give me the written message which you have.

Abu Bakr said: What happened concerning me?

Alī said: By God, I do not know but good.

Alī took the written message and went on and Abu Bakr and Umar went back to Medina and said:

Messenger of God what happened to us?

He said nothing but good but I am told:
No one should deliver for you but you or a man from you."2

Al-Nasā'ī in his book "Khasais-e-Alī " (Distinctions of Alī) reported that the Messenger of God sent the chapter of Bara-ah to Mecca with Abu Bakr.

Then he ordered Alī to follow him. He told him:

Take the written message from Abu Bakr and go to the people of Mecca.

Alī reached Abu Bakr and took the message from him.

Abu Bakr sadly went back and said to the Messenger:

Did any Revelation come down concerning me?

The Prophet said:

No but I am commanded that either I should deliver it or a man from the members of my House.3

Al-Tirmidhi recorded through his channel to Anas Ibn Malik that Anas reported:

The Prophet sent Bara-ah with Abu Bakr then he called him and said:

No one ought to deliver this except a man from the members of my House.

He called Alī and gave him the chapter."4

Ibn Hisham in his Biography of the Prophet recorded that Muhammad Al-Baqir reported the following:

"When Bara-ah was revealed to the Messenger he sent Abu Bakr to lead the people in pilgrimage.

The Prophet was told:

Messenger of God it would be good if you send Bara-ah with Abu Bakr so that he will announce it.

The Prophet said:

No one should deliver for me but a man from the members of my House.

Then he called upon Alī Ibn Abu Tālib and said to him:

Take the verses at the beginning of Bara-ah...

Alī went on riding the camel of the Messenger until he reached Abu Bakr on the road.

Abu Bakr said: Are you a commander or commanded?

Alī said: I am commanded and they went on and Abu Bakr led the people in the Hajj Pilgrimage.

When the Day of Arafat came Alī stood up and announced to the people what the Messenger ordered him to announce..."5

It seems that this event was well known.
Umar did not deny it when Ibn Abbas reminded him of it.

Ibn Abbas reported the following:

"... Umar said to me:

Ibn Abbas I see your man (Alī) is treated unjustly...

I said: Amīr Al-Mū’minīn give him his right. He pulled his hand from my hand and went on speaking to himself then he stood waiting for me.

When I came to him, he said:

Ibn Abbas I think they (the Quraishites) did not give him the leadership only because they thought he was too young for that...

I said: By God, neither God nor His Messenger considered him too young when they ordered him to take the chapter of Bara-ah from your man.

He (Umar) turned his face away from me and sped up and I went back."6

Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Ganji al-Shafi'i in his book Kifāyat al-Tālib fī manāqib Alī b. Abī Tālib page 151 recorded that Al-Harith Ibn Malik reported the following:

"I came to Mecca and met Saad Ibn Abu Waqqas I asked him:

"Did you hear any recommendation for Alī?"

He said:

I witnessed 4 for him; if one of them were for me I would prefer it to having the whole world living in it as long as Noah lived.

The Messenger sent Abu Bakr with Bara-ah to the pagans of Quraish. He travelled a day and night then the Prophet said to Alī:

Follow Abu Bakr take Bara-ah from him and deliver it and send Abu Bakr back to me.

Abu Bakr came back crying. He said:

Messenger of God, did any revelation come down concerning me?

The Prophet said:

None but good. No one should deliver for me except myself or a man from me;

or he said: from the members of my House..."7

Whether the Messenger sent Abu Bakr with the chapter of Bara-ah or the chapter came down after he left for the pilgrimage;

and whether Abu Bakr went back to the Prophet or he continued in his leadership of the pilgrimage

- these hadiths unanimously agree that the Messenger declared that no one should deliver for him (or perform for him) but a man from him or a man from the members of his House (and the 1-2 hadiths and the hadith of Ibn Abbas stated that this was by order from God.)

- That man was Alī Ibn Abu Tālib.

Let us try to understand what the Messenger meant by his saying

"No one should deliver for me except a man from me (or from the members of my House)."

The Holy Prophet did not mean that no one should report his word or deed except a man from the members of his House;

- otherwise it would be forbidden for people from outside his House to report what he said or did and this is untrue.

The Messenger used to say: "Let the present inform the absent."

Nor did the Messenger mean that he should not send a messenger to people except a man from his House

because he sent many messengers to kings and princes and tribes and individuals and none of them were from the members of his House.

The rest of the people can report the words and the deeds of the Holy Prophet:

But what they report would not be securely free of error. Many times the reporters themselves became confused and they contradicted each other in their reports.

Therefore none of them would be an authority to the Muslims in representing the Messenger and in replacing him as the communicator of the Islamic instructions.

The one who represents the Holy Prophet is a man from the members of his House.

The one who delivers for the Messenger and represents him –

should be the treasurer of the Knowledge of the Messenger, knowing all of what was revealed to the Messenger and what the Messenger gave of instructions.

This is exactly what the Messenger meant when he said:

"I am the city of knowledge and Alī is the gate of that city.
Whoever wants to enter that city should come through the gate."

The Messenger informed us that the members of his House during his lifetime were only 4: Alī, Fatima and their 2 children (Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein).

Of those hadiths several hadiths which indicate this is what Muslim reported through Saad Ibn Waqqas:

When this verse 'Let us invite our sons and your sons... ' the Messenger called Alī, Fatima and Hassan and Hussein and said:

God, these are the members of my House."8

No man was among these 4 during the time of the Holy Prophet except one person: That is Alī Ibn Abu Tālib. Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein were still children and Fatima was a grown lady.

Thus when the Messenger said:

"No one performs for me except a man from the members of my House" - he had meant only Alī. Therefore he sent him with the chapter of Bara-ah.

The Messenger did not mean to bestow on Alī this office of his representation because he was from his relatives.

The Prophet would not elevate his relatives above other people because they are his relatives.

- He is the one who called upon people to erase all tribal prejudices and declared the human equality and that there is no superiority but through righteousness.

And so the hadith of Ibn Abbas speaks clearly that what the Prophet did was by order from God and not through a human desire.

The Almighty of course would prefer Alī to the rest of the people only because He purified him and the rest of the members of the House completely.

The quoted hadiths indicate that Alī was the only deputy of the Messenger and no one from the Muslims represents the Messenger except him.

It is reported that Hubshi Ibn Janadah reported the following:

"I heard the Messenger of God saying: Alī is from me and I am from him and no one represents me except Alī.".

Al-Tirmidhi in his authentic Sunan reported this hadith and said this is good, unusual and authentic.9

Ibn Mājah reported it also in his authentic Sunan10
and so did Imam Ahmad in his Musnad.11

Alī's general representation of the Holy Prophet stands clearly in the hadiths which declared that:

obedience of Alī is an obedience of God and His Messenger;
disobedience of Alī is a disobedience of God and His Messenger;
to slander him is to slander God and His Messenger;
to love him is to love God and His Messenger
and to be hostile to him is to be hostile to God and His Messenger.

Al- Hakim in his Mustadrak recorded that Abu Dharr reported the following:

"The Messenger of God said:

'Whoever obeys me obeys God
and whoever disobeys me disobeys God;
and whoever obeys Alī obeys me;
and whoever disobeys Alī disobeys me.'"

Al-Hakim said: "This is an authentic hadith.12

But the 2 sheikhs Al-Bukhārī and Muslim did not report it."

Al-Hakim in his Mustadrak also reported on the same page many hadiths which indicate that to slander Alī is to slander the Messenger and to love him is to love the Messenger and to be hostile to him is to be hostile to the Messenger.

It could be argued that the hadiths of representation and delivery substantiate that Alī is the Imam of the Muslims in jurisprudence rather than worldly affairs:

It does not substantiate his leadership in rule and administration. Therefore they do not prove that he is the 1^st Caliph of the Messenger.

The weakness of this argument is easy to discover when we remember that the hadiths which indicate the imperativeness of his obedience and the prohibition of his disobedience actually announce his leadership in jurisprudence and worldly affairs.

In addition to this the separation between religion and worldly affairs has no place in Islam.

2. Summary of the Previous

It has become clear by now that what was supposed to happen had happened:

The Messenger had done what was dictated by the nature of his mission and the principles of his religion along with the grave circumstances under which his nation and state was living.

He responded to all that and to the need of the Muslims for a genuine authority in the Islamic teaching by appointing a genuine Imam for the nation to lead it after him. This is what was expected and this is what took place.

The Holy Prophet informed the Muslims in many ways that he chose for them a man to lead them after him.

We have mentioned until now 4 kinds of statements by the Holy Prophet through which he informed the Muslims that Alī is their Imam:

He made him their authority when he made him the Gate of the City of Knowledge and told them whoever wants to enter into that City has to come through the Gate.

He informed them also on the day of the Home Conference that Alī is his brother his minister his executor and his successor.

He also informed them on many occasions that Alī to him is like Aaron to Moses in everything except the Prophethood. He informed them that God commanded him that no one should represent him but Alī. He informed them that their obedience to Alī is an obedience to God and His Messenger and that their disobedience to Alī is a disobedience to God and His Messenger.

3. The Hadith Is a Prophecy

The Prophet uttered these important statements in reliance on the Divine revelation:

Otherwise he could not declare that obedience to Alī is obedience to God and his disobedience is a disobedience to God.

He could declare that only if God informed him through a clear revelation that Alī will never in his future life disagree with the command of God and the teachings of His Prophet.

The declaration itself implies a very clear prophecy and it is clear that that prophecy had been realized.

The Imam lived after the Messenger about 30 years in which he was a miniature copy of the great Messenger. He followed his way for and never parted with the order of God and the Prophet's instructions.

The event of the chapter of Bara-ah took place during the days of pilgrimage the 9^th year after the Hijra.

Later, during the 10^th year after the Hijrah and at the time of his farewell pilgrimage, the Messenger issued statements which took the shape of general declaration in the presence of thousands of pilgrims:

Those statements were directed to the Muslims of every generation. This was on and before the Day of Ghadīr Khum.

• 1. Imam Ahmad Al-Musnad part 1 p. 3.
• 2. Al-Hakim Al-Mustadrak part 3 p. 51.
• 3. Al-Nasā'ī Khasais-e-Alī (The Distinctions of Alī) p. 20.
• 4. Al-Tirmidhi his authentic Sunan part 2 p. 183. (Al-Fairouzabadi Fadha-il Al-Khamsah part 2 p. 343 conveyed it.)
• 5. Ibn Hisham al-Sīrah an-Nabawiyyah (Biography of the Prophet) part 2 p. 547.
• 6. Ibn Abi'l-Hadid in his Commentary on Nahj ul-Balagha part 3 p. 105.
• 7. Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Ganji al-Shafi'i Kifāyat al-Tālib fī manāqib Alī b. Abī Tālib p. 151 (conveyed by Al-Amini Al-Ghadir part 1 p. 40.)
• 8. Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ part 15 p. 176.
• 9. Al-Tirmidhi part 5 his authentic Sunan p. 300.
• 10. Ibn Mājah his authentic Sunan part 1 hadith no. 145.
• 11. Imam Ahmad Al-Musnad part 4 pp. 164-165.
• 12. Al-Hakim Al-Mustadrak part 3 p. 121.