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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Fifty Lessons on Principles of Belief for Youths Lesson 38: The Tradition of Thaqalayn and Noah’s Ark The Documentation of the Tradition of Thaqalayn One of the famous Traditions among the ‘ulama of the Sunnis and Shi’ites is the Tradition of Thaqalayn. A large group of the , without any break, recorded this Tradition from the Prophet and some of the great ‘ulama say that 30 of the have mentioned it ( Sirah Halabi , vol. 33, p.

308.A large group of the recorders have mentioned this in their books and there can be no doubt as to this Tradition. The great scholar, Sayyid Hashim Bahrani, in his book, Ghayat al-Maram , mentions this Tradition with 39 documentations from the Sunni scholars and 80 documentations from the Shi’ite ‘ulama. Mir Hamad Husayn Hindi, another great scholar who studied this issue further, mentioned 200 Sunnis who have recorded this Tradition and he has compiled them in 6 volumes.

Among the individuals of the famous who have recorded this are Abu Sa’id Khudari, Abu Dharr Ghifari, Zayd ibn Arqam, Zayd ibn Thabit, Abu Rafa’, Jabir ibn Matam, Huzaifah, Damarah Islami, Jabir ibn Abdallah Ansari and Umm Salimah. The basic Tradition, according to Abu Dharr Ghifari, is that once when he was in the Ka’bah, he turned to the people and said that I heard that the Holy Prophet had said “I leave two things of value among you: the Qur’an and my family.

These two will never separate from each other until they enter unto me in the Fountain of Abundance (kawthar) in Paradise. Thus, take care to follow what I have recommended” (Recorded from Jama’ Tarmjghi as from Niyabi’al-mawadah , p. 37) This Tradition is found in the most reliable of the Sunni sources such as Sahih Tarmidhi Nisai Musnad Ahmad Kanz al-Amal and mustadrak Hakirn , etc.

In many of the books, this Tradition has been called Thaqalayn (two valuable things) and in some it is called khalifitin or two successors which do not differ in meaning. It is interesting to note that in the various Traditions of Islam, this verse has been used by the prophet for the people on different occasions. In the Tradition of Jabir ibn Abdallah Ansari, we read that he said this on the hajj on the day of Arafah.

It is recorded in a Tradition of Abdallah ibn Khattab that in Juhfah (an area between Mecca and Medina where some of the pilgrims enter the state of ihram). It is recorded in a Tradition of Umm Salimah where this is said at Ghadir Khum.

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