A period of around fifty-five years went into the writing of the book of Al-Ghadeer. This book and its author became so famous that no one is ignorant about them.
This book comprises of 20 volumes in Arabic1 with a very solid prose and literary writing. So far only eleven volumes from it are printed. Ayatullah al-Uzma Sayyid Mohsin al-Hakeem and Ayatullah Sayyid Husain al-Hamami have said regarding this book:
لَّا يَأْتِيهِ الْبَاطِلُ مِنْ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ
“Falsehood shall not come to it from before it.”2
The great Ayatullah Sayyid Abdul Hadi Shiraz, Shaykh Muhammad Reza Aale Yasin and Allamah Urdubadi have said:
لا رَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
“There is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who guard (against evil).”3
In spite of the fact that points mentioned in Al-Ghadeer are not pleasing to the taste of many, since they are based on reliable sources and references, and till now, that is fifty-five years have passed since it was written, but so far, no one and no group has been able to write the rebuttal of Al-Ghadeer, or even a critique of a page of it.
Late Allamah Amini himself said: I fully read ten thousand books – many of them multi-volume – from the beginning to the end and I constantly referred to around a hundred thousand books.
Sources, on which the points mentioned in book of Al-Ghadeer are based, are all from books of Ahle Sunnat. This does not mean that Ahle Sunnat books were reliable in the view of Allamah Amini and the books of Shia were not reliable in his view.
One of the elemental basis of logic is to argue through the established principles of the opponent. The late Allamah has followed this same logical principle and based all the points on the established principles of Ahle Sunnat and he himself says:
“The points mentioned in Al-Ghadeer are not sectarian, they are Islamic; that is not limited to points in which only the Shia believe; on the contrary, they are points on which all schools of Islam have consensus.”
He also says:
“During debate with Ahle Sunnat, Shia argue through Ahle Sunnat traditions as their traditions are acceptable to them (Ahle Sunnat); otherwise Shia do not have any need for their traditions. It is also an established and reliable style of debate and not a style followed by Ahle Sunnat: because all the time, they reason through traditions and important books of their own sect; whereas such reasoning is beyond the pale of the rules of debate and discussion.”
Some have a false notion of Ghadeer and they think that it causes dispute among Islamic sects. Those, who have this notion, not only have they studied Ghadeer, on the contrary they are ignorant of the influence of Ghadeer in Islamic countries.
Firstly, one who reads Al-Ghadeer, will realize that the author is having healthy intention and his aim was only to compile history of Islam.
Secondly, the matter of Ghadeer is not only the personal view of Allamah Amini and extensive sources, which are hinted at in Al-Ghadeer, support this claim. Approximately, it can be said that not a single sentence is mentioned in Al-Ghadeer, without reasoning and without reference.
Therefore, if someone claims that the book can cause disunity, we would have to accept that all books, in which Ghadeer is mentioned, are roots of this cause. And we know that sources of Ghadeer comprise primary non-Shia Islamic sources including the six most authentic books (Sihah Sitta) of Ahle Sunnat.
Thirdly, after the publication of Al-Ghadeer, numerous articles appeared in the journals of Egypt, Syria and Iraq etc. extolling this book and a flood of appreciative letters started from all Islamic countries.
Most letter writers were important Ahle Sunnat scholars, who had obtained this book from rulers and ministers of Islamic countries so that Friday prayer leaders, congregation leaders and university teachers may write commendations and appreciate the value of the efforts invested by the author. Around fifty samples of such letters are mentioned in the introduction to the new edition of Al-Ghadeer.4
These letters and articles show that Al-Ghadeer is a book, on the authentic matter of which, all Muslims sects have consensus.