Due to the participants’ insistence...

Due to the participants’ insistence, Imam Ali started talking having recited some verses of the Holy Quran relevant to his right of Imamate Ali said: “By God, do you remember, the Prophet in the last days of his life, recited a sermon and stated the following statement? “يا أَيُّهَا الناس إِنِّي تاركٌ فِيكُمُ الثقلين كتاب الله و عترتي أهل بيتي فتمسكوا بهما لا تضلوا”.

“I have left for you two precious items: God's book and my Household; there fore resort to these two and you will not be misled”[^7]. Definitely by “Household” is not meant all the relatives of the Prophet because not all of them were flawless; rather by this word is meant only a selected group who are believed by Shiites to be their genuine leaders. In other words if we accept the documents of Thaqalain then we have to accept the true and genuine members of the Household.

This is because out of the Household members only a selected group is the true referent of this narration. The selected group is well known among the Ummah for their purity, their virtues their ethical values, and their vast and immense knowledge. But notice We have so far presented the text of the Thaqalain narration. As we have seen the Prophet always refer to “ كتاب الله وعترتي” “The book and the Household” as two precious items which shall never separate.

However, at times the phrase “كتاب الله وعترتي ” is replaced with “كتاب الله وسنتي” “The Book and my tradition” in the Sunnite books as an insignificant narration. In his book [^8] Ibn Hajar Asqalani has narrated the narration with the latter expression. He then adds: The Prophet's tradition refers to the book itself; so obedience towards both of them is compulsory.

We are not concerned with the validity of such a narration what we are concerned with is the fact that the content of the Thaqalain narration is what we have dealt with so far and if a narration is reported from the great prophet of Islam with the expression “كتاب الله وسنتي” “God's Book and my tradition” that would be another issue which would not contradict the genuine Thaqalain narration.

The Prophet's Household acts as Noah’s Ark If we add up the Safinah [Noah’s ark] narration to the Thaqalain narration we would come up with a world of virtues for the Prophet's Household. Salim Ibn Qais says: while I was present at a Hajj ceremony, I saw Abu Zar Ghaffari holding the door of the Kaaba, shouting.