So much so that Muhammad bin Jarir has written these two...

So much so that Muhammad bin Jarir has written these two traditions by seventy-five different chains of narrators ( asnad ).”[^10] ‘Abdu ’l-Husayn Ahmad al-Amini has classified the narrators of this tradition and has found that among them are one hundred and twenty sahabah (companions of the Prophet) and eighty-four tabi‘in (disciples of the companions). The number of Sunni muhaddithin (traditionalists) who have narrated it reaches upto three hundred and sixty.

Two hundred and sixty special books (several of them in many volumes) have been compiled by Shi‘a and Sunni scholars on this tradition only.[^11] The Origin of the Name When we see that between these two events, the Prophet repeatedly referred to the followers of ‘Ali as “Shi‘a”, we have to admit that not only the faith of Shi‘ism, but even the name was originated by the Prophet himself.

The following ahadith are quoted from Sunni sources: Ibn ‘Asakir narrates from Jabir bin ‘Abdullah that he said: “We were with the Prophet (s.a.w.w) when ‘Ali came (to us). The Prophet (s.a.w.w) said, ‘I swear by Him in whose…