The Messenger of Allah...

The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his progeny, has emphasized these things on numerous occasions: on Ghadir Khumm's Day, on the ‘Arafat day of his Farewell Pilgrimage, after leaving Taif, from his pulpit in Medina, and inside his blessed chamber during his sickness, when the room was full of his companions. He said in the latter incident: "O people!

I feel I am going to die very soon, and I had previously informed you as my duty, and to leave no excuse for you, that: I am leaving with you the Book of Allah, the Glorious and Mighty, and my ‘itra , my Ahl al­Bayt." Having finished, he took ‘Ali's hand and lifted it saying: "This ‘Ali is with the Qur'an, and the Qur'an is with ‘Ali: they shall never separate from one another till they reach me by the Pool."[^7] A learned group among the majority has admitted the above.

Even Ibn Hajar, quoting the tradition of the Two Weighty Things, says, "Be informed, then, that the tradition calling for upholding both of them comes through numerous ways narrated by more than twenty companions." Further he says, "Here a doubt arises about when he said so. Some traditionists say he said so at Arafat during the Farewell Pilgrimage and others that he said so in Medina when he was sick, while his room was crammed with his companions.

Another group say that he made that statement at the Khumm swamp, and in yet another that he made it, by way of preaching, after having left T'aif as mentioned above." Ibn Hajar furthermore says, "There is no contradiction here, for there is no objection to his repeating it at those places, and at others, out of his own concern for the unassailable Book and the Purified ‘itra ," up to the end of his statement.[^8] Suffices the Imams from the Purified ‘itra the fact that their rank with Allah is similar to that of the Book which falsehood cannot approach from front or from back.

This must be sufficient testimony that takes people by the neck and obligates them to abide by their sect. A true Muslim does not accept any substitute for the Book of Allah; therefore, how can he deviate from the path of those who are its own peers?

V Non­Adherents to the ‘Itra Shall Stray, The gist of his saying "I am leaving unto you that which, as long as you uphold to it, shall never let you stray: the Book of Allah and my ‘itra " is that anyone who does not uphold both of them spontaneously will eventually stray.