Second...

Second, the armed forces of Egypt are identified as the soldiers of both the king and his wazir ! In other words, Fir’aun was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Egypt, and his wazir – Haman - was their deputy commander-in-chief. Needless to say, Musa was the sovereign leaders of the Israelites and his wazir , Harun, was the next in rank to him. No Muslim has ever disputed this, and none ever will till the Hour.

The true followers of Musa also accepted this fact: قالوا آمنا برب العالمين رب موسى وهارون They said: “We believe in the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of Musa and Harun .”[^14] Those were their two leaders and masters. Interestingly, they also said: فألقي السحرة سجدا قالوا آمنا برب هارون وموسى So the magicians prostrated.

They said: “ We believe in the Lord of Harun and Musa .”[^15] The Qur’an too leaves no one in doubt: ولقد مننا على موسى وهارون ونجيناهما وقومهما من الكرب العظيم ونصرناهم فكانوا هم الغالبين وآتيناهما الكتاب المستبين وهديناهما الصراط المستقيم And, indeed, We favoured Musa and Harun. And We saved them both and their people from the Terrible Distress . And We gave them both the Clear Book; and guided them both to the Right Path.[^16] The followers of Musa were apparently also those of his wazir .

All these take us back to Hadith al-Manzilah : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم لعلي أنت مني بمنزلة هارون من موسى إلا أنه لا نبي بعدي The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said to ‘Ali: “ You are to me of the status of Harun to Musa , except that there is no prophet after me.” Without doubt, this hadith establishes – among others – that Imam ‘Ali, ‘alaihi al-salam , was the wazir of , sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi . There was no other wazir for Musa except Harun.

Therefore, there was no other wazir for Muhammad except ‘Ali. This fact too is confirmed in Hadith al-Wirathah , which – as we have proved in this book – has a sahih chain: أنت أخي وصاحبي ووارثي ووزيري You are my brother, and my companion, and my inheritor, AND MY WAZIR .[^17] In simpler words, Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah was the amir of the Ummah – their commander-in-chief, and ‘Ali b. Abi Talib – his inheritor – was the deputy commander-in-chief.

‘Ali, during the Messenger of Allah’s lifetime, was the deputy amir of the believers. The direct implication of this is – the moment the Prophet passed away, Imam ‘Ali automatically became promoted to the rank of the supreme amir of the Ummah .