The late Allamah Amini in the book of Al-Ghadeer,1 has mentioned 360 scholars from the second to the fourteenth century, who mentioned this tradition in their books through various chains of narrators. Some of them are as follows:
1. Imam of the Shafeis, Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Idris Shafei (d. 204 A.H.).
As is mentioned in Nihaya of Ibne Athir2 , he (Idris Shafei) has narrated the tradition of Ghadeer.3
2. Muhammad bin Kathir, Abu Abdullah Abdi Basri, brother of Sulaiman Ibne Kathir, who was fifty years elder to him. Ibne Habban has said:4
“He was a trustworthy and an accomplished person and he died in 223 A.H. at the age of a hundred years.”
3. Imam of Hanbalis, Abu Abdullah Ahmad bin Hanbal Shaibani (d. 241 A.H.).
He has narrated the tradition of Ghadeer through numerous authentic chains in his books of Musnad5 and Manaqib.
4. Hafiz Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismail Bukhari, died 256 A.H. author of Saheeh, which is one of the six canonical books of traditions for Ahle Sunnat.
He has narrated this tradition in his book of Tarikh.6 (It is strange that he abstain from mentioning it in his Saheeh and in this way, put a question mark on the authenticity of Saheeh Bukhari).
5. Hafiz Muhammad bin Isa Abu Isa Tirmizi (d. 279).
He is among the six authors of the Sihah Sitta and he is from every aspect of impeccable reliability.
6. Hafiz Ahmad bin Yahya Balazari (d. 279 A.H.).
Muslim Scholars have trusted him and his books and his books are quoted from that time till date. He has brought this tradition in the book of Ansabul Ashraf. 7
7. Hafiz Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Hanbal, Abu Abdur Rahman Shaibani (d.290).
In his Tarikh, 8 Khatib Baghdadi has praised him for his reliability, honesty and perception of the subject matter. Dhahabi has said in his book of Tadkira:
“We always see that senior scholars testify in favor of Abdullah for his identification of reporters of traditions, and recognizing the causes of tradition [difficulties and weaknesses in traditions] and the names of the narrators and care and continuity on seeking the tradition; so much so that some of them have exaggerated and said that he was most prolific than his father – Imam of the Hanbalis.”
8. Hafiz Abu Abdur Rahman Ahmad bin Shuaib Nasai, author of Sunan, died in 303 A.H. at the age of eighty-eight years.
In his book of Tadkira,9 Dhahabi has narrated from Darqutni as follows:
“He (Nasai) has narrated the tradition of Ghadeer in the books of Sunan10 and Kitab Khasais11 through numerous chains, all of which are authentic and narrated through reliable persons.
9. Hafiz Muhammad bin Jarir Tabari, Abu Ja’far, author of Tafseer and the famous Tarikh Tabari (d. 310 A.H.). Dhahabi has said in Tadkira,12 that he was pious and extremely religious; he has written a separate book regarding Ghadeer.
10. Abu Umar Ahmad bin Abde Rabb Qurtubi (d. 328 A.H.).
In his book of Tarikh,13 Ibne Khallikan has mentioned as follows in his biography:
“He (Qurtubi) was a learned person, who had memorized a large number of traditions and he possessed an encompassing knowledge of traditional reports. He has written Iqdul Fareed, which is a very useful book.”
It is mentioned in the book of Iqdul Fareed14 that:
“Ali accepted Islam at the age of 15 years. He was the first to confess that there is no god, except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) said regarding him: Ali is the master of whomsoever I am the master. O Allah, love those, who love Ali and be inimical to those, who are inimical to Ali.”
11. Hafiz Ali bin Umar bin Ahmad Darqutni15 (d. 385 A.H.).
His biography is mentioned in numerous books of biography and history. Khatib Baghdadi has mentioned in his book of Tarikh:16
“He was an extraordinary man of his time. He was a senior leader and an incomparable person of his era. He was the final authority in knowledge of traditions, identification of weak traditions, names of narrators and account of tradition narrators. He was truthful, honest and just and his testimony was accepted by all. He possessed correct belief and his faith was perfect; and he possessed expertise in sciences other than the science of traditions.”