Be Thou a Friend of those who are his (‘Ali s) friends...

Be Thou a Friend of those who are his (‘Ali s) friends, and be Thou an Enemy of those who are his enemies.” [^4] The hadith on Ghadir is among the mutawatir [^5] hadith s, which is narrated not only by the Shi‘ah ‘ulama’ but also by approximately 360 Sunni scholars[^6] and the number of transmitters reaches 110 . Twenty six prominent Muslim ‘ulama’ have written a separate book about the chain of transmission and transmitters of this hadith .

Abu Ja‘far Tabari, the renowned Muslim historian, has compiled the chain of transmission and transmitters of this hadith in two bulky volumes. For further information, one may refer to the book, Al-Ghadir . [^1]: Surah ash-Shu‘ara’ 26:214. [^2]: Tarikh at-Tabari, vol. 2, pp. 62-63; Tarikh al-Kamil, vol. 2, pp. 40-41; Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, vol. 1, p. 111; Ibn Abi’l-Hadid, Sharh Nahj al-Balaghah, vol. 13, pp. 210-212. [^3]: Sirah Ibn Hisham, vol. 2, p.

520; Ibn Hajar (al-‘Asqalani), As-Sawa‘iq al-Muhriqah (Egypt, 2nd Edition), Book 9, Chapter 2, p. 121. [^4]: Khwarazmi al-Maliki, Al-Manaqib, p. 80; Sibt ibn Jawzi al-Hanafi, Tadhkirat Khawas al-Ummah, p. 20; Ganji Shafi‘i, Kifayah at-Talib, p. 17; and others. [^5]: Mutawatir: a tradition from the Prophet (S) or an infallible Imam, repeatedly and widely narrated in an uninterrupted sequence, through successive reliable narrators.

{Trans.} [^6]: See, for example, Ibn Hajar, As-Sawa’iq al-Muhriqah (Egypt, 2nd Edition), Book 9, Chapter 2, p. 122. Previous…