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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Leading The Ummah Chapter 21:Answers To Questions Two Questions The dearest prophet of Islam announced Ali's caliphate on the day of Ghadir and made the Muslims’ obedience towards him compulsory. Now, here are two Questions: If Ali's caliphate was announced on such a day, then why was his caliphate ignored altogether and why did people follow somebody else? Why didn't the Imam employ the content of this narration to prove his legibility?

The Answer to the first Question Although some of the Prophet's followers forgot about Ali's Imamate and ignored the divine order on the day of Ghadir and despite the fact that the number of indifferent people is very high in any community, there were a great number of people who remained faithful towards Ali (as).

Compared with the first group their number was low, but this group consisted of a large list of the Prophet's distinguished followers, such as Salman Farsi, Abuzar Ghaffari, Meqdad Ibn Aswad, Ammar Yaser, Abi Ibn Kaab, Abu Ayyub Ansari, Khozaymah Ibn Sabit, Baridah Aslami, Abu Heytham Ibn Altyhan, and Khalid Ibn Saeed and tens of others whose names and criticisms of caliphate are recorded in history books and who were famous for their loyalty towards Imam Ali (as).

The history of Islam records two hundred and fifty Sahabi (the Prophet's friends) who were the Prophet's faithful followers and never left him up to their last days and some of them got martyred while they were at the Imam's service[^1].

It should be regretfully said that the issue of Imam Ali's Imamate was not the only issue against which some of the Prophet's friends rose; rather, even at the time of the Prophet, some Muslims explicitly ignored the Prophet's orders or interpreted them in their own interest. In other words some of the Prophet's followers would carry out the Prophet's orders if they were not an obstacle to their political thoughts or wishes.

However, if the Prophet's religious instructions did not match their thoughts or ideas, they would try to advise the Prophet against those instructions. And if the Prophet did not surrender to their wishes, they would entirely either ignore the Prophet's orders or they would complain, insisting that the Prophet give up his position.

Here are some samples of misbehavior: In his last days the Prophet ordered a pen and an inkpot so that he could write something which could have stopped his ummah from going astray.