He said...

He said: ‘Do you know - or do you bear witness - that I have more authority over a believer's life than the believer himself has?' They answered: ‘Yes, indeed, you do.' He said: ‘Whosoever accepts me as his mawla , ‘Ali is his mawla ; O Lord!

Befriend whosoever befriends ‘Ali and be the enemy of whomsoever opposes ‘Ali.'" Al-Nisa'i quotes Zayd ibn Arqam saying that when the Prophet (pbuh) returned from the Farewell Pilgrimage, and having reached Ghadir Khumm, he ordered the ground under a few huge trees to be swept clean.

He announced: "It looks like I have been invited [to my Lord's presence] and I have accepted the invitation, and I am leaving with you the Two Weighty Things, one of them is bigger than the other: the Book of Allah and my Progeny, my Household; so, see how you succeed me in faring with both of them, for they shall never part from each other till they join me at the Pool." Then he added: "Allah is my Master, and I am the master ( mawla ) of every believer." Taking ‘Ali's hand, he added saying, "To whomsoever I have been a master, this ‘Ali is his master; O Lord!

Befriend those who befriend him, and be the enemy of all those who antagonize him." Abul-Tufail says: "I asked Zayd: ‘Have you heard these words of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his progeny, yourself?"[^9] He answered that all those who were there under the huge trees had seen the Prophet with their own eyes and heard him with their own ears.

This hadith is recorded by Muslim in a chapter on the attributes of ‘Ali in his Sahih from several different narrators ending with Zayd ibn Arqam, but he abridged it and cut it short - and so do some people behave. Imam Ahmad has recorded this hadith from al-Bara' ibn ‘Azib[^10] from two avenues saying; it reads: "We were in the company of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) when we camped at Ghadir Khumm. The call for congregational prayers was made.

The site of two trees was chosen, and it was swept clean. He performed the noon-time prayers then took ‘Ali by the hand and asked the crowd: ‘Do you not know that I have more authority over the believers than the believers themselves have?' They answered: ‘Yes, we do.' He asked: ‘Do you know that I have more authority over every believer than the believer himself has?' They answered in the affirmative; then he took ‘Ali's hand and said: ‘Whoever has accepted me as his master, this ‘Ali is his master; O Lord!