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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books On The Khilafah Of ‘Ali Over Abu Bakr Hadith Al-Wilayah, The Implication of “After Me” =================================================== The phrase “after me” in Arabic is either ba’di (بعدي) or min ba’di (من بعدي). Both mean the same thing and are considered as one and the same. Hadith al-Wilayah has been transmitted with both terms. Imam al-Salihi al-Shami (d.
942 H) for instance says: وروى ابن أبي شيبة وهو صحيح عن عمران - رضي الله تعالى عنه - قال: قال رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم -: " علي مني وأنا منه، وعلي ولي كل مؤمن من بعدي." Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated, and it is sahih , from ‘Imran, may Allah be pleased with him, saying: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “Ali is from me and I am from him, and ‘Ali is the wali of every believer after me ( min ba’di ).”[^1] Meanwhile, al-Hafiz (d.
852 H) also states: أخرج الترمذي بإسناد قوي عن عمران بن حصين في قصة قال فيها قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ما تريدون من علي إن عليا مني وأنا من علي وهو ولي كل مؤمن بعدي Al-Tirmidhi records in a narrative with a strong ( qawi ) chain from ‘Imran b. Hasin: “The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: ‘What do you want from ‘Ali? Verily, ‘Ali is from me and I am from ‘Ali, and he is the wali of every believer after me ( ba’di ).’”[^2] The Shi’i lexicographer, al-Turayhi (d.
1085 H), explains what ba’da (“after”) means in medieval Arabic: بعد: خلاف قبل. قال تعالى) :ولله الامر من قبل ومن بعد (أي قبل الفتح وبعده، وقد يكون بمعنى مع مثل قوله تعالى ): عتل بعد ذلك زنيم (أي مع ذلك Ba’da **: This is the opposite of “before”**. Allah says: (To Allah belongs the Command before and after) [30:4], meaning before the Conquest of Makkah and after it.
Also, it also has the meaning of “with”, like in His Words, (Cruel, after that base-born) [68:13], meaning “with that”.[^3] Classical Sunni lexicographers, Ibn Manzur (d. 711 H) and Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Qadir (d. 721 H), also state: وبعد ضد قبل Ba’da is the opposite of “before”.[^4] The definitions are general. As such, ba’di refers to any “after”, especially “after in time”, “after in status” or “after in sequence”.
A rarer meaning of ba’di is “in my absence” or “during my absence”, as in these verses: قال فإنا قد فتنا قومك من بعدك وأضلهم السامري He (Allah) said: “Verily!