Part 9...

Part 9: The Prophet (PBUH&HF) emphasizes that the divine commandments including the obligatory and prohibited actions will never change in future, and that Imam Ali (PBUH) and other Imams of his offspring are fully aware of all final commandments and their limits. They are the expounders of the religion and the divinely appointed judges for any question pertaining to religion. Part 10: The Prophet (PBUH&HF) asks people to recite the sentences of the covenant with him.

He takes their verbal oath of allegiance to Imam Ali (PBUH) and other Imams of his family. He also asks people who can reach him to confirm their oath by shaking hands with him, Ali, al-Hasan, and al-Husain, peace be upon them. Documentation of the sermon Different pieces of the sermon of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) at the pond of Khum are found separately in many books narrated through numerous Shia and Sunni authorities.

However, the most complete text of the sermon that has reached us, which covers most aforementioned pieces, is found in a number of books of traditions; the most distinguished of those which have been preserved to this date, is al-Ihtijaj, compiled by Ahmad Ibn Ali al-Tabarsi, an outstanding Shia scholar who lived in the 5th century AH.

Since various parts of this speech have been reported in numerous earlier books of traditions, the most comprehensive text available in al-Ihtijaj, is classified as parallel or frequent (Mutawatir). Thus, it should be relied upon irrespective of its chain of narrators. Al-Tabarsi has often omitted the chain of the narrators of the traditions in his book, because as he stressed, he only narrated traditions that were famous among the Shia traditionists before him.

However, due to the importance of the Sermon of Ghadir, al-Tabarsi has quoted the chain of the narrators for this tradition in al-Ihtijaj, which constitutes the following sound authorities traced back to Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (PBUH), the fifth divinely appointed Imam of guidance after the Prophet (PBUH&HF): The detailed sermon, with few minor differences in wording, has been reported in the following books as well: 1- al-Yaqin, Sayyid Ibn Tawus (d. 664 AH), pp.

343-361, narrated from Imam al-Baqir (PBUH) with the following chain of narrators: 2- Rawdhat al-Wa’idhin, Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan al- Fattal al-Nishaburi (d. 508), part 1, pp. 89-99, narrated from Imam al-Baqir (PBUH), with the chain of narrators omitted by the author due to its popularity in the scholastic circles.