(Al-Hakim says...

(Al-Hakim says:) Narrated to us Abu al-­Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Tamim al-­Hanzali in Baghdad, from Abu Qallabah ‘Abd al-­Malik ibn Muhammad al-­Raqqashi, from Yahya ibn Hammad; also narrated to me Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Balawayh and Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ja’far al-­Bazzaz, both of them from ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, from his father, from Yahya ibn Hammad; and also narrated to us Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn Suhayl, the faqih of Bukhara, from Salih ibn Muhammad, the hafiz of Baghdad, from Khalaf ibn Salim al-­Makhrami, from Yahya ibn Hammad; and Yahya ibn Hammad narrated from Abu ‘Uwwanah from Sulayman al-A’mash, from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Abu al-­Tufayl, from Zayd ibn Arqam, may God be pleased with him, who said: "The Messenger of Allah , may God's peace and benedictions be upon him and his progeny, while returning from his last hajj ( hijjat al-­wada') came down at Ghadir Khumm and ordered (us) towards the big trees, and (the ground) underneath them was swept.

"Then he said, 'I am about to answer the call (of death). Verily, I have left behind two precious things amongst you, one of which is greater than the other. The Book of Allah, the Exalted, and my ‘ itrah (kindred).

So watch out how you treat these two after me, for verily they will not separate from each other until they come back to me by the side of the Pond.' Then he said 'Verily, Allah, the Almighty and the Glorious, is my master (mawla) and I am the master of every believer (mu'min) .' Then he took ‘Ali, may God be pleased with him, by the hand and said, 'This (‘Ali) is the master of whomever I am his master.