Despite all those unfavorable circumstances the divine will...

Despite all those unfavorable circumstances the divine will decreed that the best and most exalted personage who through the grace of God had attained the highest spiritual station next to the Prophet should be appointed as his successor so that by the designation of this great man to lead the ummali the universal message of the Prophet should be completed.

According not only to Shi'i scholars of hadith but also certain Sunni scholars as well ( 2 ) the Qur'anic verse in question was revealed on the day of Ghadir Khumm the day on which the Prophet the veracity of whose speech is guaranteed by ( 29 ) God Himself received the divine command by way of revelation and in accordance with wisdom to expound the last and most essential foundation of Islam by presenting 'Ali…