About the Author

Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi is the Imam of the Shi'a Muslimcommunity of British Columbia.

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Chapter 3

Orientalists and the Event of Ghadir Khum

By Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi

I. Introduction The 18th of Dhil-Hijjah 1410 AH is to be celebrated in the Shi'iworld as the 1,400th anniversary of the declaration of GhadirKhum in which the Prophet said the following about Imam Ali:

'Whomsoever's master (mawla) I am, this Ali is also his master.'This event is of such a significance to the Shi'as that no seriousscholar of Islam can ignore it.

The purpose of this paper is tostudy how the event of Ghadir Khum was handled by theorientalists. By 'orientalists' I mean the western scholarship ofIslam and also those easterners who received their entire Islamictraining under such scholars.

Before proceeding further, a brief narration of the event ofGhadir Khum would not be out of place. This will be especiallyhelpful to those who are not familiar with Ghadir Khum. Whilereturning from his last pilgrimage, Prophet Muhammad, uponwhom be peace, received the following command of Allah: '0Messenger! Convey what had been revealed to you from yourLord; if you do not do so, then [it would be as if] you have notconveyed His message [at all]. Allah will protect you from thepeople' (5:67). Therefore he stopped at Ghadir Khum on Dhil-Hijjah18, 10 A.H. to convey the message to the pilgrims beforethey dispersed. As it was very hot, a dais shaded with brancheswas contructed for him.

Then the Prophet gave a long sermon.At one point, he asked his faithful followers whether he,Muhammad, had more authority (awla) over the believers thanthey had over themselves; the crowd cried out: 'Yes, it is so, 0Apostle of Allah!' Then he took Ali by the hand and declared:'Whomever's master (mawla) I am, this Ali is also his master'(Man kuntu mawlahu fa hadha Aliyiun mawlahu). Then theProphet also announced his impending death and charged thebelievers to remain attached to the Qur'an and Ahl al-Bayt.

Thissummarizes the important parts of the event of Ghadir Khum.The main body of this paper is divided as follows:

Part II is abrief survey of the approach used by the orientalists in studying Shi'ism.

Part III deals with the approach used to study GhadirKhum in particular. Part IV is a critical review of what M AShaban has written about the event in his Islamic History AD600-750. This will be followed by a conclusion.