1. For Selections from Al-Ghadeer, I have relied on the researched edition of Al-Ghadeer published from Markaze Al-Ghadeer, under the supervision of Ayatullah Hashemi Shahroodi (d.z.). In such a way that I have followed the text accurately and selected portions with such care that no discussion is left out and all points of the original book are reflected in this selection. We have also included extensive footnote references.
2. In the published edition, references of the Allamah are included in the main text, whereas references of new books are mentioned in the footnotes. In this book, we have mentioned both in the footnotes.
3. References, not mentioned in the original book, are also mentioned here. All idioms and proverbs used in the book are also explained in the footnotes.
4. Topics referred to in the previous or coming pages are tagged for cross reference.
5. Subheadings are mentioned in appropriate places so that the reader may find it easy to skim through the topics.
6. Headers are given to make access to chapters easy.
7. The translation was compared with the original, four times.
8. Arabic texts of important quotations are included in the main text.
The phrase ‘May Allah be pleased with him’ (r.a.) is only mentioned, because it was present in the original, while we believe that Almighty Allah was not pleased with some people and He would never be please with them ever; individuals inimical to Ahle Bayt (a.s.) or who initiated heresies and deviation; all such people are included in the curse of Allah:
أولَبِكَ يَلْعَنُهُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَلْعَنُهُمُ اللَّعِنُونَ
“These it is whom Allah shall curse, and those who curse shall curse them (too).”1
Associates
I hope my efforts in producing this book would be a accepted in the court of the Almighty and by Imam Ali (a.s.) and may the Imam grant us his special attention during throes of death, at death, on the first night in the grave, in Purgatory (Barzakh) and on Judgment Day (Qiyamat).
I thank the translators, who assisted me in translating from Arabic into Persian; especially Mahdi Moizzi, Saifullah Habibi, Sayyid Mahmud Murtazvi Shahroodi, Ali Quddusi, Sayyid Mahdi Hashemi, Abdul Husain Muhaqqiq Kashani, Mohsin Muhaqqiq.
Also, most respected Ali Saadi, Ja’far Saadi, Shaykh Safa Khazraji and Haider Hubbullah, who helped me in the meaning of the Arabic texts, for which I am thankful to them.
Group of comparers: Ali Rahimiyan, Abul Fazl Talqabi, Murtada Akbari Joo, Murtada Asadi, Muhammad Jawad Nabi Nizad, Ali Ismaili, Muhammad Husain Rabbani, Reza Fauladi, Muhammad Jawad Arzinda and Sayyid Hujjat Pahrezkar.
Ruhullah Mandgari, Hadi Minapour, Ali Rahimiyan, F. Abul Hasni, F. Bakhtiyari. H. Husaini Nizad.
Finally, since this book was completed in the beginning of the Days of Fatima (Ayyam Fatimiya), I dedicate this book to her, the lady, who had to bear great afflictions after the passing away of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.).2
The human Hourie (Hauriya Insiya), the most beloved female to the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.), by whose anger Almighty Allah is infuriated3 and by whose pleasure, He is pleased.4
Fatima, the pure and chaste one, from whom and whose progeny the Almighty Allah has prohibited Hell fire.5
The lady, who was most resembling the Prophet in manners and habits,6 and the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) named her as Siddiqa.7
It is regrettable that none of these excellence and recommendations of the Prophet were respected8 and the house of revelation was put torched.
Umar came with a lighted torch to burn down the house; Fatima saw him and said:
“O son of Khattab, will you burn down my place?”9
“Yes,” he replied, “unless you enter in which the Ummah has entered.”
The leader of that political group then called for firewood, and said:
“By God, I will burn down the house upon you, unless you come out for allegiance,”
Or said:
“I will burn down the house with whoever is present therein.”
He was told: “Fatima is present in this house.”
He replied: “Even if Fatima is present in it.”10
Ibne Shahna says: Umar came to the house of Ali, in order to burn it down along with its occupants. He said: “Enter that, which the Ummah has entered.”11
The beloved daughter of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) lamented in grief. She came out of the house weeping aloud:
“My father, O Messenger of Allah, what all the son of Khattab and the son of Qahafa12 have wrought on us.”
Fatima Siddiqa (a.s.) lamented with the Hashemite ladies and cried aloud:
“O Abu Bakr, how soon you laid siege to the house of Ahle Bayt (a.s.)! By God, I will not speak to Umar till I meet Almighty Allah.”13
And that Egyptian poet14 brawls in drunkenness and stokes fires of repulsion, and reminds of those crimes – whose flames, by God, will never extinguish and he boasts shamelessly in his ‘Umariya Qasida’ – upon which he and his coreligionists pride:
“The statement of Umar to Ali – how noble is its hearer and how great is its sayer: If you don’t give allegiance, I would burn down your house and not leave you alive in that, and it was when the daughter of Mustafa was present in that house. No one other than Abu Hafas (Umar) can make such a statement against the descendants of Adnan and their supporters!”