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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Al-Muraja'at Letter 60 Evasion Refuted Muharram 30, 1330 You have, may Allah support the truth through your person, asked us to be convinced that the gist of hadith al­Ghadir is that ‘Ali is the most worthy of imamate when and if the Muslims choose him as such and swear the oath of allegiance to him, hence his priority to which the hadith hints is futuristic, rather than immediate.

In other words, such a priority will take place when and if it is forcibly taken, rather than being actual, so that it does not clash with the caliphate of the three Imams who preceded him [in ruling the Muslims]. We ask you in the light of the truth, the dignity of justice, the honour of fairness, and the logic of fair play, if you yourself are convinced of it so that we may follow suit and follow in your footsteps.

Do you agree to give such an explanation yourself, or can it be attributed to you, so that we may follow in your footsteps and do as you do? I do not think that you are convinced or pleased with a view such as this. I am convinced that you yourself wonder about anyone who would accept to derive such a meaning for this hadith when the text does not at all suggest it, nor can anyone conceive it as such; nay, it even challenges the wisdom and discretion of the Prophet (pbuh)..., astaghfir-Allah .

It neither agrees with his great deeds nor very serious statements made on the Ghadir Day, nor with the irrefutable proofs which we brought forth above, nor with what al­Harith ibn al­Nu’man al­Fahri understood, and what is emphasized by Allah and His Messenger, as well as all the companions.

Yet even the pending priority does not actually agree with the general meaning of this hadith, for it obviously does not necessitate that ‘Ali (as) should not have been the mawla of the three caliphs, nor the mawla of anyone who died while being contemporary to any of them.

This is exactly the opposite of the conclusion driven home by the Prophet (pbuh) who asked: "Do I not have more authority over the believers than the believers themselves have?" and people answered him in the affirmative; then he (pbuh) said: "To whomsoever I have been the mawla (i.e.

master of each and every Muslim individual, without any exception), ‘Ali is his mawla ." So, as you see, nobody is made the exception [other than, of course, the person of the Prophet Himself.] implied in this statement; ‘Ali is indeed the mawla without any argument.