The Prophet's farewell message; the Quran and Ahlul Bayt as the two inseparable guides
This is our last night together, and tonight we tell the most important story of all. It is the story of a promise, a gift the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) left for all of humanity on the last journey of his life. It is the story of the two treasures he said would never lead us astray, and the day he stood in the blazing desert sun to deliver the message Allah had been waiting for him to announce.
After twenty-three years of prophethood, the message of Islam was nearly complete. The Quran had been revealed, the laws had been established, the community of Muslims had grown from a handful of believers in a small cave to a nation stretching across the Arabian Peninsula. The Prophet (PBUH) was now in his early sixties, and he knew that his time in this world was drawing to a close.
In the tenth year after the Hijra, the Prophet (PBUH) announced that he would perform the Hajj pilgrimage. Word spread across the Muslim lands, and people came from every direction to join him. Over one hundred thousand Muslims gathered in Makkah to perform the Hajj with their beloved Prophet, a pilgrimage that became known as Hajjat al-Wada, the Farewell Pilgrimage, because it would be his last.
During the Hajj, the Prophet (PBUH) gave a sermon at Mount Arafat that shook the hearts of all who heard it. He spoke of the sanctity of human life, the equality of all people, the rights of women, the prohibition of usury and injustice. He said: "All of you are from Adam, and Adam was from dust. No Arab has superiority over a non-Arab, and no non-Arab has superiority over an Arab, except through taqwa, consciousness of Allah."
Then he asked the gathered thousands: "Have I conveyed the message?" And they answered: "Yes!" And he pointed to the sky and said: "O Allah, be my witness."
After completing the Hajj, the Prophet (PBUH) and the vast caravan of over one hundred thousand Muslims began the journey back to Madinah. On the 18th of Dhul Hijjah, they reached a place called Ghadir Khumm, a crossroads in the desert where the different groups of pilgrims would separate to go to their various homelands.
But the Prophet (PBUH) stopped the entire caravan. He sent word ahead to call back those who had already passed, and he waited for those still behind to catch up. All one hundred thousand gathered under the desert sun in the middle of the day. Something extraordinary was about to happen.
A platform was built from camel saddles so the Prophet (PBUH) could be seen by the massive crowd. The heat was so intense that people placed parts of their cloaks under their feet and parts over their heads for shade. Why would the Prophet stop everyone in this scorching heat at a barren crossroads? Because a verse had come down from Allah that could not wait:
"Ya ayyuhar-Rasul, balligh ma unzila ilayka mir-Rabbik. Wa in lam taf'al fama ballaghta risalatah. Wallahu ya'simuka minan-nas."
"O Messenger, convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord. And if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people."
This verse, from Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:67), carried an urgency unlike any other. Allah was telling His Prophet: if you do not deliver this message, it is as though you have delivered nothing at all. The entire mission of prophethood hung on this one announcement. And Allah promised to protect him, because He knew this message would face opposition.
The Prophet (PBUH) stood on the platform and delivered a long sermon. He began by praising Allah and reminding the people that he was a mortal man whose time would soon come. Then he said the words that define the Shia understanding of Islam:
"Inni tarikun fikum ath-Thaqalayn: Kitab Allah wa 'Itrati Ahla Bayti. Ma in tamassaktum bihima lan tadillu ba'di abadan. Wa innahuma lan yaftariqa hatta yarida 'alayya al-hawd."
"I am leaving among you two weighty things: the Book of Allah and my Progeny, my Ahlul Bayt. As long as you hold fast to both of them, you will never go astray after me. And these two will never separate from each other until they meet me at the Pool of Kawthar."
Two treasures. Not one, but two. The Quran, the word of Allah, and the Ahlul Bayt, the family of the Prophet. They go together, inseparable, like two ropes twisted into one. You cannot follow the Quran properly without the guidance of the Ahlul Bayt, and you cannot follow the Ahlul Bayt without the Quran. They are the two lights that illuminate the path.
Then the Prophet (PBUH) called Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) to his side. He took Ali's hand and raised it high, so high that the white of both their arms could be seen by the crowd. And he proclaimed:
"Man kuntu mawlahu fa hadha Aliyyun mawlah. Allahumma waali man waalah, wa 'aadi man 'aadah."
"Whoever I am his master, then Ali is his master. O Allah, befriend whoever befriends him, and oppose whoever opposes him."
The crowd erupted. People came forward to congratulate Ali (AS). The first to do so was Umar ibn al-Khattab, who said: "Congratulations, O Ali! You have become the master of every believing man and woman."
And then the final verse descended, completing the religion of Islam:
"Al-yawma akmaltu lakum dinakum wa atmamtu 'alaykum ni'mati wa raditu lakumul-Islama dina."
"Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen Islam as your religion."
This verse, from Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:3), was the last major verse of the Quran to be revealed. The religion was not complete with just the Quran. It was not complete with just the prayers and fasting and Hajj. It was complete when the line of guidance after the Prophet was established, when the people knew who would lead them after he was gone.
In the Shia tradition, Ghadir Khumm is the most significant event after the Prophet's own mission began. It is the day when the chain of leadership, the Wilayah, was passed from the Prophet to Imam Ali (AS), and through him to the Eleven Imams who would follow: Hasan, Husayn, and nine from the descendants of Husayn (AS), ending with Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his reappearance).
Imam Sadiq (AS) called Ghadir "the greatest Eid of Allah." He said: "There is no Eid for the Muslims, neither Fitr nor Adha, that is greater than the Eid of Ghadir. And it is the Eid of Allah, the Most Exalted."
The story of the Two Treasures is the story of how Allah ensured that humanity would never be left without guidance. The Quran is the message, perfect and preserved. The Ahlul Bayt are the living interpreters, the ones who understood the Quran not just with their minds but with their being, because they lived it completely.
And the Quran itself tells us about the love we should have for the Prophet's family. In Surah Ash-Shura (42:23), Allah says: "Qul la as'alukum 'alayhi ajran illal-mawaddata fil-qurba." "Say: I do not ask you for any reward for this, except love for my close relatives." The only reward the Prophet (PBUH) asked for his twenty-three years of sacrifice was that we love his family.
As we end our thirty nights of stories, remember this: every story we have told, from Adam's first step on earth to Ibrahim's sacrifice, from Musa's staff to Yunus in the whale, from Maryam's palm tree to the companions of the cave, all of these stories lead to this moment. All of the prophets carried the same light, and that light was passed from one to the next until it reached Muhammad (PBUH), and from him to Ali (AS), and from Ali through the chain of Imams until the final Imam, al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his reappearance), who carries it still.
The two treasures, the Quran and the Ahlul Bayt, are the Prophet's gift to every generation until the Day of Judgment. They will never separate. They will never lead you astray. Hold fast to both, and you will find your way.
"Ya ayyuhar-Rasul, balligh ma unzila ilayka mir-Rabbik. Wa in lam taf'al fama ballaghta risalatah." "O Messenger, convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord. And if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message." -- Al-Ma'idah (5:67)
"Al-yawma akmaltu lakum dinakum wa atmamtu 'alaykum ni'mati wa raditu lakumul-Islama dina." "Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen Islam as your religion." -- Al-Ma'idah (5:3)
"Qul la as'alukum 'alayhi ajran illal-mawaddata fil-qurba." "Say: I do not ask you for any reward for this, except love for my close relatives." -- Ash-Shura (42:23)