During the caliphate and rulership of His Eminence Amir Al-Mu’minin (‘a) once, the Eid of Ghadir fell on a Friday. He delivered a very eloquent sermon that revealed the greatness and grandeur of the Eid of Ghadir.

“Thanks be to Allah Who does not need the thanks of the thanks-givers, but He has made it a means that through it, people may confess to His Lordship. I testify that there is no god except Allah, the One without a partner and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger.

On the first day of creation, Allah chose His Eminence, Muhammad (S) with His knowledge among all His creations and gave him a lofty status among the prophets also, so that he may, on behalf of Allah, order the people to perform certain things and restrain them from certain acts. Allah appointed him as His representative for recognizing His laws because Allah is not visible to the eyes and does not permeate into the intricate layers of the minds, thoughts, and assumptions. Indeed, Allah is none but an absolute king.

The Almighty Allah attached the testimony of the prophethood of His Eminence, Muhammad (S) with the confession in His divinity and bestowed such a distinction that no one else can obtain. His Eminence, Muhammad (S) was indeed deserving of this distinction and bestowal because he dedicated himself completely to Allah and he was the beloved (servant) of Allah.

Without any doubt, one who changes his attitude every now and then, cannot receive this distinction and the mind that becomes the prey of every assumption cannot reach the level of Allah's love. Allah has commanded us that we must invoke blessings and greetings upon him so that his honour may increase and that this act may also become the reason for the acceptance of the prayer of the supplicant.

The Almighty Allah Himself also blesses him and grants more and more honour and dignity and He increases his greatness, till there is no limit to his greatness and honour and it will remain forever....

Then after His Eminence, Muhammad (S), the Almighty Allah made some personalities as His special servants. He granted them a high status on account of the greatness of His Eminence Muhammad (S) and entrusted them the responsibilities of His Eminence, Muhammad (S) so that, in the capacity of true callers towards Allah, they may invite the people towards the Almighty Allah and impart to them the lessons about understanding of the divine reality. Such a person is present in every age and time. The Almighty Allah created them at the very first moment of creation. They spoke up to mention His praise and gratitude for Him which occupied a place in their hearts while they were yet in the form of Noor (effulgence). Then He made them Hujjat (proof) for all those who testify to His Lordship and confess to his servitude ...

Despite these, they are His servants, and they are such that they do not do anything without His leave. They always act according to His orders. The Almighty Allah is Himself well aware of their circumstances and conditions. They do not seek forgiveness for anyone except those who are liked by the Almighty. Their hearts are never devoid of the fear of Allah.

They comply with all His orders, and they follow the divine practice. They do not transgress the limits set by God and they conduct themselves in conformity with His commands.

Also, the Almighty Allah did not keep His servants blind and deaf, gave them intellect which is intertwined in their beings and fixed firmly to their souls. He made the power of senses subservient to intellect and placed it in the inner portion of the ears, eyes, and the body. In this way, he exhausted His proof on everyone and showed them an illuminated path.

Through his power, He gave to the people a tongue that speaks so that they may speak about all that they perceive through the senses and through contemplation and reflection.

O congregation of believers! After this I want to tell you that today, Allah the Mighty and Sublime, has brought you two eid’s. They are such that one could not have been established without the other. He did this in order to complete the goodness for you and that He may make you aware of the straight path and that He may take you behind those with enlightened hearts, who have obtained light from the brilliance of His guidance and that He may make you walk on the path of His manifest religion and bestow you with His uncountable favours.

On the basis of this, He made the day of Friday as the day of congregation and directed everyone to participate in it. So that whatever you have done during the week may be clarified. And whatever defects and shortcomings you have made in your work may be corrected and organized every Friday. It is on this day that believers remember each other. It is on this day that the pious display piety. It is on this day that the Almighty Allah rewards the deeds of the righteous many times the rewards for other days. However, the matter does not end at this. Rather it is necessary that you comply with His commands and that you shun that which He has prohibited and put in more effort to do that which He has emphasized.

Now, you know that faith in the oneness of God is not acceptable till one acknowledges the messengership of His Eminence Muhammad (S), and no faith or act is accepted till one accepts the wilayat 1 of the one whom Allah has appointed as the wali.2

And the obedience of Allah is not performed in the proper manner except that you may receive the mercy and support of Allah, and the guidance of those who are eligible for mastership. That is, those about whom He sent the ayat (verse) on the day of Ghadir and informed about His intention regarding His special and chosen servants. And He directed the holy messenger to convey the revealed message to the people, that he must not worry about the deviant ones and the hypocrites. And He himself guaranteed to protect him against their evil.

By issuing guarantee of protection to the Holy Prophet (S) against the evil of those people with ill intent, the Almighty Allah exposed the real attitude of those who were in doubt, and He unveiled the inner feeling of those who trod the path towards apostasy. That was the time when the believers as well as the hypocrites came to know whatever they were supposed to know. After that, one who was careless turned away from the truth, and one who was steadfast and firm in his attitude remained determined to accept the truth.

It was the time when there was increase in the ignorance of hypocrites and the audacity of the disobedient ones. They clenched their teeth and thrashed their limbs (in helplessness). One of them made a statement and another came screaming, and one who had made disobedience his habit remained persistent in his defiance.

Some of them even confessed but this confession was not sincere or driven on faith, while another group confessed with the tongue as well as with absolute sincerity and faith.

In this way Allah completed His religion, and by perfecting His religion, delighted the Holy Prophet (S), the believers and their followers. And it was that event of Ghadir that some of you were there in person, and some of you had learned about it from others and through this event the promise Allah had made to the ‘patient ones’ was fulfilled, and He destroyed Fir’awn, Haman and Qaroon, their lackeys, their armies, and their citadels.

However, one group was left, which does leave any stone unturned in ruining the situation. Now the Almighty Allah will control them in their respective places and destroy their remnants and obliterate their signs and after that make them remorseful and distressed and include them in a group whose hands He has kept open and made their bodies strong and gave them strength (till they misuse their discretion and divine bounties). They have distorted the religion of Allah and made His laws topsy curvy and very soon, but at a proper time, Allah will be victorious over His enemies and Allah is Kind and All­Aware.

(It was not necessary for me to have said all this because) even a shorter discourse would have sufficed to inform. O, people! may Allah have mercy on You. Ponder upon that towards which Allah has called you and emphasized on and pay attention to His religion and tread His path. Do not choose crooked paths so you may not fall behind the path of Allah.

Indeed, today is a very important day.

It was today that prosperity arrived; today the grades of the deserving people were raised, and the divine proof became clear.

Today is the day of illuminating the truth and the day of speaking openly about the holy position3 and on the basis of Nass. 4

Today is the day of the completion of religion.

Today is the day of renewal of the oath.

Today is the day of testimony and witnesses.

Today is the day of exposing the reality of hypocrisy.

Today is the day of talking about the reality of faith.

Today is the day of defeating the Satan.

Today is the day of that promised to be the day of decision of truth.

Today is the day that those who are inclined to loftiness have forgotten.

Today is the day of showing the path and guidance.

Today is the day of testing the people.

Today is the day of guiding towards the guides.

Today is the day of revealing the hidden goals, making of plans and preparations of others.

Today is the day of clearly mentioning the names of leaders.

(The Imam also mentioned further points with regard to this day, and then he said):

Now you must be mindf ul-towards Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, as regards your deeds and be caref ul-of Him and do not unfaithful to Him. By having faith in the oneness of Allah and by obeying the One who has ordered you to obey Him, try to gain divine proximity. Leave off the path of misguidance and do not follow those who have deviated and those who also have misled others. The Almighty Allah has condemned a group in His book and stated:

“And they shall say: O our Lord! Surely, we obeyed our leaders and our great men, so they led us astray from the path” (33:67).

“O our Lord! Give them a double punishment and curse them with a great curse” (33:68).

And the Almighty Allah also said:

“And when they shall contend one with one another in the fire, the weak shall say to those who were proud: Surely we were your followers; will you then avert from us a portion of the fire?” (40:47).

And:

“And they shall all come forth before Allah, then the weak shall say to those who were proud: Surely, we were your followers, can you therefore avert from us any part of the chastisement of Allah?” (14:21).

Do you know what 'Istikbar' is? ‘Istikbar’ means leaving off the obedience of an Imam whose obedience Allah has commanded and to stand proudly before one about whom the Almighty Allah desires that people should obey him. Many tales are narrated in the holy Qur’an regarding such arrogant people, and if one ponders upon these verses, they keep him from the evil path and they are edifying.

“Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way in ranks as if they were a firm and compact wall” (61:4).

Do you know what the meaning “in His way” is? And who is “path of Allah” and “way of Allah”? I am the “path of Allah”. One who does not walk on it5 falls into the pit of misguidance. I am the “path of Allah” that Allah has appointed after the prophet and identified it.

I am the distributor of Paradise and Hell.

I am the Proof of Allah on all the humanity.

Now you wake up from the sleep of unawareness and perform good deeds before the arrival of death and compete with each other for achieving divine forgiveness before (it is Judgment Day) and a wall is raised behind which would be Paradise and outside, Hell.

At that time, you will call out, but no one will hear your voice. And you shall plead but no one will pay any heed to it. (Come to your senses) before that you begin to call for help and no one comes to help you. Make haste to follow the obedience before you lose the opportunity6 and take it as if the ‘destroyer of pleasures’7 has just reached you. And there is nowhere one can flee to, to escape it.

This congregation is about to come to an end and each of you will return to your homes. May Allah have mercy on you and that may you become generous to your family members. May you do good to your brothers. Thank Allah for the bounties He has given you. Become united so that Allah may help you. Be kind to others so that Allah may firm up your friendship. Send gifts to each other from the favours the Almighty Allah has given you. On this ‘Eid, the Almighty Allah gives manifold rewards in comparison with other ‘Eids. Such a reward will not be available to you on any other Eid except Eid of Ghadir.

Performing good deeds on this day increases your wealth and prolongs your lifespan and being nice to one’s relatives becomes the cause of Divine mercy. Give as much as you can on this day from the wealth Allah has given you, to your brothers and the members of your family. Always keep a cheerful face. Express your happiness when you meet each other and fulfil the thanks for the Divine bounties.

Go and do good as much as possible to those who have expectations from you. Be equitable between yourself and those who are under you with regard to the matter of eating and drinking, and as much as possible put this equitability into practice because on this day a dirham spent on charity is rewarded with an equivalent of a hundred thousand dirhams and the bounty is under the control of Allah.

On this day, the Almighty Allah has made fasting a recommended act and fixed a very great reward for it, but on this day if one fulfils the needs of his brothers-in-faith without their asking for it, and does good to them willingly and with inclination, its reward is equal to the one who fasts on this day and prays the whole night till the break of dawn. And on this day, one who offers victuals to a person in order that he may break his fast of this day, his action is the same as if he has sponsored the breaking of fasts of many groups of such people …

When you meet each other, along with greeting each other, shake hands and congratulate each other for the favour you have received on this day.

Those present here are obliged to convey all that they hear to those who are not present. And the rich should search out the needy and that the strong may seek out the weak8 The Holy Prophet (S) has ordered us to do all these.9

In this sermon, His Eminence Ali (‘a) has clearly mentioned that the Almighty Allah has Himself appointed the leader and revealed the Qur’anic verse about it. This is in clear refutation of those who claim that no specific person was appointed as an Imam or caliph in Islam, and that nothing is mentioned about it in the Holy Qur’an. ln this way they present Islam as a religion devoid of a political philosophy.

Now the question is that who is more knowledgeable about Qur’an, Islam, interpretation of Qur’anic verses and the circumstances of revelation? Imam Ali (‘a), or a scholastic theologian, or a qadi attached to the court of a caliph, or a Jewish orientalist, or some professor of history and literature, or a doctor of human rights, or a so-called colonial researcher who is ignorant of Islam?

In fact, from the Holy Prophet (S) to Imam Mahdi (‘a) - and whatever that has been narrated about his revolution, the future of the Muslim world, the belief in the establishment of the just rule of Imam Mahdi (‘a); all these denote giving a practical shape to the 'City of Ghadir'. It is always the duty of true Muslims - and those who believe in the Qur’anic government - to endeavour to build this city for every generation in every age. And whatever Imam Mahdi (‘a) has to establish, is own task, which he shall carry out during the period of his reappearance.

The Almighty Allah says:

“And whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him, and Allah is Powerful over His affair.” (65:3)

In fact, the appointment of the Holy Prophet (S) for prophethood, Ghadir, Ashura10 and the

Mahdi are four real sides of the edifice of Islam that shall surround the whole world during the period of Imam Mahdi (‘a).

It is mentioned in Mafatih al-Jinan that it is recommended to recite Du’a Nudbah on Friday and the Day of Ghadir.

• 1. Guardianship.
• 2. Guardian.
• 3. The position of an infallible leader.
• 4. Divine text.
• 5. This refers to one who does not obey him.
• 6. This means that do not think that the day of reward and punishment is distant.
• 7. This phrase refers to death.
• 8. It means that the rich and powerful people should help the poor and the weak.
• 9. The above passage is quoted from Mustadrak Nahj ul-Balagha, Allamah Hadi Kashif al-Ghita, Najafi.
• 10. The 10th of Muharram.