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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Biography of Imam `alĪ Ibn AbĪ-tĀlib Ghadir Khumm When the Prophet of Islam (a.s) started his journey towards al-Madinah after the Hajj, there were approximately one hundred thousand persons in the entourage who hailed from various towns and villages. Some people wanted to travel to al-Madinah with the Prophet (a.s) before they disbursed towards their respective homes.

There were others who would leave the caravan when they reached the places from where they were to take diversion towards their homes. As the homes of the people were getting nearer, they advanced faster. Some of them were very happy that they were returning safely after performing the pilgrimage and some others were morose that the felicitous journey was coming to an end.

The caravan was moving smoothly when at a place about three miles from al-Juhafah was a thorny valley that is known as Ghadir Khumm. The Prophet (a.s) ordered the caravan to halt there. This was such a sudden and unexpected order that the people were rather surprised. The surprise was more because the place was not for the halting of caravans. There was no provision for shelter from the sun in the place.

The purpose of stopping the caravan was that the Prophet (a.s) wanted to communicate to the Muslims an important Commandment of Allah. This was the most appropriate place and time because very soon the crowds would disburse and proceed towards their respective homes. People from all the places were there and it was the best occasion to disseminate the important message to all the nooks and corners of the Islamic domain.

There was another valid reason to stress the importance of the message that Ghadir Khumm was not a regular station for rest and recuperation of the caravans. They were asked to stop there specifically because something very vital was to be communicated to them. They were eagerly and patiently waiting to hear about the important Commandment of Allah.

Prior to this, the Da`wat al-`Ashirah was in a small group of close persons from Banū-Hashim, and during the ghazwah Tabūk and the Propagation of the Sūrah of Bara’ah the Prophet (a.s) had subtly indicated about the succession that was sufficient for any intelligent person to know that `Ali (a.s) was the person he desired to succeed him as his Vicegerent. On the other side were the persons who did not like even small matters of import assigned to `Ali (a.s).