‘Umar said...

‘Umar said, ‘I think you are a hypocrite because I have heard that the Prophet said, “‘Ali is in relation to me as Aaron was to Moses, other than that after me there will be no Prophet.” It is notable that from the respected source of the Traditions, it can be seen that the Prophet of Islam did not only use this sentence on the occasion of the Battle of Tabuk but that he repeated it seven times on various occasions which shows its generality of meaning: On the day when the covenant of brotherhood ( al-mawakhat awwal Mecca ) was made among the brothers in Mecca, the Prophet chose ‘Ali as his brother and repeated this same sentence.

On the second day of al-Mawakhat , when the day of brotherhood between the Emigrants and the Helpers was repeated, this was repeated and the Prophet once again repeated the Tradition of Manzalah . On that day when the Holy Prophet ordered that the doors which opened from the homes onto the mosque should be closed and he only allowed ‘Ali’s door to remain open, he repeated this same sentence.

Thus it was stated on the occasion of the battle of Tabuk and three other times, the documentation of which is found in the books of Sunnis scholars. There is, then, no room for doubt neither from the point of view of documentation nor from the point of view of the generality of the meaning.

The Content of the Tradition of Manzalah If we study the above Tradition, and we put aside any pre-judgments, we can make use of this Tradition to show that all of the positions which Aaron had among the Bani Israel in respect to Moses, ‘Ali had except as to the Prophet because no other conditions exist in the Tradition. Thus, we can conclude that: ‘Ali was the choice of the ummah after the Prophet (as Aaron had such a position).

‘Ali was the minister and consultant or special assistant to the Prophet and a partner in his leadership because the Qur’an has proven this for Aaron (see 20:2932). ‘Ali was the successor to the Prophet and as long as he was present, no one else could take this position, as Aaron had this in relation to Moses. The Tradition of Yawm Ad-Dar According to that which has appeared in Islamic history, the Prophet in 3 AH was assigned to make open his invitation which he had kept secret until then.

As the Holy Qur’an says: “And admonish your nearest kinsmen.” (26:214) The Holy Prophet called his close family to the home of his uncle, Abu Talib.