Those, who increase the scope of meanings in narration have mentioned another cause for revelation of the verse of propagation. So much so that we know that the first to mention this reason is Tabari in his Tafseer1 . Then others have followed him and Fakhre Raazi2 has mentioned nine reasons and after that stated the reason, which is the topic of the present book; and deems it to be the tenth cause.
Fakhre Raazi has listed ten reasons in his book3 and has deemed the text of Ghadeer to be the tenth! All were narrated without chains of narrators and their reporters are unknown; that is why in Tafseer of Nizamuddin Nishapuri4 they are preceded by words: ‘it is said’; that is the reporters are unknown.
He has placed the report of declaration of Mastership (Wilayat) to be the first reason and its chain of narrators reaches upto Ibne Abbas, Baraa bin Azib, Abu Saeed Khudri and Muhammad bin Ali (a.s.) and it is strange that Tabari, in spite of the fact that he was the most ancient and most cognizant of these problems, has not mentioned its origin. He has not at all mentioned the tradition of Mastership (Wilayat), but in a separate book, he has mentioned this tradition through more than seventy channels.
Another conclusion
These justifications are unreliable; and incompatible with authentic traditions.
End of statement
Qurtubi, in his book of Tafseer,5 under the exegesis of the verse:
يأَيُّهَا الرَّسُولَ بَلِغْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ
“O Apostle! deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord…”6
…has said:
“May Almighty Allah blacken the face of Rafidhis that they say: ‘The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) concealed a matter, which they were in need of and he did not announce it to them.’”
In Irshadus Sari,7 Qastalani adds to this allegation:
“Shia say that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) concealed some matters due to dissimulation (Taqayyah).”
Alas, if these two had only shown the proof of these two allegations against the Shia! Shia can never have the audacity to allege that the Prophet concealed something, whose announcement was obligatory on him, but time is fixed for everything and in that case also, the announcement cannot be made by the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) earlier. If these two pay attention to the statements of their scholars on the verses under discussion – the ten causes that Fakhre Raazi has listed – they will reach to the point for which they accuse the Shia; as some Ahle Sunnat say that this verse was revealed about Jihad, because sometimes the Prophet refrained from encouraging the hypocrites for Jihad.
Some have also said: This verse was revealed when the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) refrained from condemning the gods of the idol worshippers!
A third person says: The Prophet concealed the verse of choice from his wives:
يَأَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ
“O Prophet! say to your wives…”8
According to them, the Prophet did not divulge this verse to his wives fearing that they would choose the world! On the basis of this the revelation of the verse under discussion shows that the Prophet refrained from announcing what was revealed about it! Indeed, the Prophet definitely did not conceal any such thing.
وَإِنَّهُ لَتَذْكِرَةٌ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ وَإِنَّا لَنَعْلَمُ أَنَّ مِنْكُمْ مُّكَذِّبِينَ
“And most surely it is a reminder for those who guard (against evil). And most surely We know that some of you are rejecters.”9