A Sunni brother mentioned that: It is quite difficult for us to digest the so-called “conspiracy theory.” Despite many years of companionship, how could only a few people out of all his companions hold on to Muhammad’s instructions on the issue of Caliphate and the rest disobey him?
I would certainly accept the argument of this brother if he can convince me why almost all the companions of Moses became worshipers of a golden calf after so many years of training?! According to the most important Hadith sources of our Sunni brothers Sahih al-Bukhari, the Messenger of Allah has told Ali that the story of Moses and Aaron (Haroon) is similar to that of the story of him and Ali. The tradition is as follows: “Your position to me is like the position of Aaron to Moses, except that there shall be no Prophet after me” (1)
Now, the position of Aaron (Haroon) to Moses is given by the verses of the Quran, among which are the following three: (Moses said: “O’ Allah) assign me a vizier from my family, (that is) my brother Aaron (Haroon) …,” (Allah) said: “We granted your requests, O’ Moses.” (2)
Allah, Exalted, also said:
“Surely We gave the book to Moses and assigned his brother Aaron as his vizier.”(3)
He, Exalted He is, also said:
“… And Moses said unto his brother Aaron: Take my place in my community.” (4)
Notice that “Ukhlufni” and “Khalifah” (Caliph) are exactly from the same root. Now, to realize what was narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari, we need to replace the word “Moses” with “Muhammad” and “Aaron” with “Ali”, and we are all set!! The sentence becomes “And the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HF) said to his ‘brother’ Imam Ali, take my place among my community.” Of course, the tradition in Sahih al-Bukhari excluded the Prophethood for Imam Ali, and what remains for him is the leadership of the community.
Putting the above 3 verses of The Quran beside what has been narrated by Sahih al- Bukhari and Sahih Al-Muslim, Sunan Ibn Majah and many others, we solve the mystery! Ali is the “brother” and his deputy/successor. By the above authentic tradition, the Prophet (PBUH&HF) meant that Moses had left behind Aaron to look after his people when he went to Miqaat (meeting Allah), in the same way, he was leaving Ali behind to look after the affairs of Islam after he met Allah (i.e., his death).
Confirming what the above tradition implies, we find in the many reports that Imam Ali (AS) received the title of the “brother” of the Prophet when the Prophet established “brothering” among his followers. (5) Interestingly enough, the Prophet on that occasion made Abu Bakr and Umar brothers of each other. (6) If Abu Bakr was really the closest to the Prophet, he would have chosen him for himself instead of Imam Ali.
In fact, if we look deeper at the situation after the death of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and the leaving of Moses to MIQAAT (appointment with Allah), we will see more analogies to what Prophet (PBUH) said to Ali (AS). The Quran states that: Moses (AS) with the order of Allah, assigned Haroon (AS) as his successor (Caliph) and left his people to him, and left for MIQAAT (appointment with Allah) for a total of forty days. After leaving of Moses, most of his companions turned against Haroon, were deceived by Sameri, and became worshipers of a golden calf. (7)
The analogy that Prophet (PBUH) mentioned in the above tradition, seems to be a reality after his demise. Most of the companions (except Abu Dhar, Miqdad, Salman al-Farsi, Ammar, and …) became disloyal to Ali (AS) after the death of Prophet (PBUH), turned against him, and preferred some other people to him. The majority of people disobeyed Ali (AS), as their forefathers disobeyed Haroon (AS). They did not take lessons from The Quran and history, and thus the history repeated over and over again. The repetition of the history of the Children of Israel for Muslims is confirmed by Prophet (PBUH&HF):
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri Narrated: The Prophet said, “You will follow the ways of those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit (i.e., inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a hole of a mastigure (lizard), you would follow them.” We said, “O Allah’s Apostle! (Do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?” He said, “Whom else?” (8)
Think for a while… Why would the Prophet (PBUH&HF) compare his companions to the Jews and the Christians, knowing full well that the Jews and the Christians have mutilated and perverted the religion of Allah (SWT)? Because Allah (SWT) had told him (PBUH&HF) that your companions will turn back, except the select few.
Imam Ali (AS) was still a divinely-appointed Imam during the time of the first three rulers, and what these rulers could take from him was the rulership (which is one of the rights of the Imam) and not the position of Imamat. As for Imam Ali pledging Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman, he was compelled to do that since he had no choice and he was compelled to do so. We, however, never accuse the Imams of being cowards. What Imam Ali did was his duty which is similar to what Haroon did as his duty.
The Quran states that when Moses (PBUH) came back from MIQAAT he was very angry since Allah had informed him that his community went astray during his absence. Moses came and started questioning his brother Haroon, that why he did not take action to prevent this corruption. The Quran states that Haroon (Aaron) replied:
“(O’ Moses) people did oppress me and they were about to kill me.”(9)
The above verse gives another striking similarity between Ali and Haroon. Since Muslims all believe that Haroon was a true prophet of God, they do not allow themselves to call him a coward. In fact, Taqiyyah is mentioned in several verses of the Quran. This requires another article on its own, to explain the importance of Taqiyyah according to The Quran and the numerous traditions of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) reported in the authentic Sunni collections.
Nevertheless, Ali did his duty after the death of the Messenger of Allah, as Haroon (Aaron) did:
“Before this, Aaron had already said to them: ‘O my people! You are being tested in this, for verily your Lord is (Allah) Most Gracious; so follow me and obey my order.’ (10)
Sahih al-Bukhari confirms that Imam Ali refused to give his allegiance to Abu Bakr for six months. He gave his allegiance to Abu Bakr only after the martyrdom of his wife Fatimah al-Zahra, Daughter of the Holy Prophet, and six months after the departure of the Prophet. (11)
Continue in the next article: ( Conspiracy Against Imam Ali (PBUH) 2 )
NOTES:
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1. Sunni References:
(a) Sahih al-Bukhari, Arabic-English version, Traditions 5.56 and 5.700
(b) Sahih Muslim, Arabic, Section of virtues of Ali, v4, pp 1870-71
(c) Sunan Ibn Majah, p12
(d) Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v1, p174
(e) al-Khas’is, by al-Nisa’i, pp 15-16
(f) Mushkil al-Athar, by al-Tahawi, v2, p309
2. The Quran 20:29-36
3. The Quran 25:35
4. The Quran 7:142
5. see Sahih al- Tirmidhi, v5, p363; Sirah Ibn Hisham, p504; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, v4, p251
6. al-Tabaqat, by Ibn Sa’d, v3, part 1, p123
7. The Quran 7:142, 20:90-97, 20:83- 88
8. Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith: 9.422, This tradition is also narrated by Muslim in his Sahih, vol. 8, p. 57. and in Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, vol. 3, pp 84, 94
9. The Quran 7:150
10. The Quran 20:90
11. Sahih al-Bukhari, Arabic-English version, Tradition 5.546
