Eid-E-Ghadeer-Celebration With Guidance

Dr. Mazhar Naqvi
Heartiest Greetings to all the lovers of Maula-e-Kaynaat Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu Talib on the occasion of Eid-E-Ghadeer.
Imamis have been attaching great importance to the widespread celebration of Eid-E-Ghadeer to create awareness about the declaration of Maula Ali as successor of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad at the place known as Ghadeer-e-Khum on 18^th day of Baqreed month. The event has been recorded in detail by companions of the Prophet, contemporary historians, poets and even western scholars. However, elements who had opposed the Prophet initially and embraced Islam not from heart but as a tactical move strived to cast a doubt over the declaration to suit their political moves after the death of Hazrat Muhammad. Scholars on their pay roll penned down the event in such a manner that a large section of Muslims remain unaware of the significance of the declaration. Their hostility towards Ghadeer-Declaration has restricted the celebration to Imami community only. It is ironical in the wake of repeated attempts being made by anti-Islam forces to tarnish its image and brand it as a religion advocating terrorism, violence, intolerance and anti-democracy. Western Media has played a vital role in tarnishing image of Islam and their attempt is still going unchecked. Even the western scholars have not done justice with the event of Ghadeer-E-Khum. Instead of researching the event rationally, they preferred to rely on the work of anti-Imami authors. It was an intentional move on their part to divide Muslim community into various sects and they succeeded in their objective to a great extent. As a result, Ghadeer-E-Khum that should have served as a base for keeping Muslim Ummah united unfortunately emerged as a source of division among the followers of Islam. Unfortunately, such efforts continue to be unabated whereas there is urgent need to portray the event in its right perspective to frustrate the design of those whose sole agenda is to promote Wahabi ideology. This ideology has been floated by successors of those who wanted to reintroduce the practices abolished by the Holy Prophet and killed his grandson at Karbala when he refused to sanction them. Western world patronized this ideology as Islam brought by the Holy Prophet does not suit their interest-based economy or tendency to hoard and make profit through at the cost of even humanity.
Hence, it is imperative for the lovers of Hazrat Ali to greet and celebrate Eid-E-Ghadeer. Such endeavor on their part let the en tire world know how Islam was hijacked vested interest from the house of the Holy Prophet through fake traditions, diplomacy, treachery and bloodshed. The blogger would like to sum up with what Vaglieri has remarked  in the Encyclopedia of Islam about Ghadir Khum:   
'It is, however, certain that Muhammad did speak in this place and utter the famous sentence, for the account of this event has been preserved, either in a concise form or in detail, not only by Al-Ya'kubi, whose sympathy for the 'Alid cause is well-known, but also in the collection of traditions which are considered as canonical, especially in the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal; and the hadiths are so numerous and so well attested by the different isnads that it does not seem possible to reject them.Several of these hadith are cited in the bibliography, but it does not include the hadith which, although reporting the sentence, omit to name Ghadir Khum, or those which state that the sentence was pronounced at al-Hudaybiyya. How numerous these hadiths(traditions) are is evident from the pages in which Ibn Kathir has collected a great number of them with their isnads.'

Time has come for the western scholarship to view the event of Ghadeer from the perspective of Imamis as their patronage to Wahabi ideology has plunged the world into orgy of terrorism. Imami  scholars have produced great works on the issue of Ghadir Khum. 'Abaqat al-Anwarwritten in Persian by Allama Mir Hamid Husayn al-Musawi (d. 1304 AH) of India. Allama has devoted two bulky volumes (consisting of about 1,080 pages) on the isnad, tawatur and meaning of the hadith of Ghadir.Another significant work has been produced  in 11 volumes in Arabic by Allama Abdul Husayn al-Amini.He has  given full references and also names of 110 sahaba of the Prophet and also 84 tabi'un (disciples of the sahaba) who have narrated the hadith of Ghadir. He has also chronologically given the names of the historians, traditionists, exegetists and poets who have mentioned the hadith of Ghadir from the first until the fourteenth Islamic century.