Shaban & His New Interpretation (Part 2)
(B) The traditional reluctance to entrust tried men with great responsibility. Apart from the young age of Imam Ali, Shaba also refers to the reluctance of the Arabs in entrusting 'untried men with great responsibility.' This implies that Abu Bakr was selected by the Arabs because he had been 'tried with great responsibilities.' I doubt whether Shaban would be able to substantiate the implication of his claim from Islamic history. One will find more instances where Imam Ali was entrusted by the Prophet with greater responsibilities than Abu Bakr.
Imam Ali was left behind in Mecca during the Prophet's migration to mislead the enemies and also to return the properties of various people which were given in trust to the Prophet. Imam Ali was tried with greater responsibilities during the early battles of Islam in which he was always successful. When the declaration (bara'at) against the pagan Arabs of Mecca was revealed, first Abu Bakr was entrusted to convey it to the People of Mecca, but later on this great responsibility was taken away from him and entrusted to Imam Ali.
Imam Ali was entrusted with the city and citizens of Medina while the Prophet had gone on the expedition to Tabuk. Imam Ali was appointed the leader of the expedition to Yemen. These are just a few examples which come to mind at random. Therefore, on a comparative level, Ali ibn Abi Talib was a person who had been tried and entrusted with greater responsibilities than Abu Bakr. (c) The behavior of the Medinan community about the declaration of Ghadir. Firstly, if an event can be proved as true by the accepted academic standards (of the Sunnis, of course), then the reaction of the people to that event is immaterial. Secondly, the same 'traditional reluctance' used by Shaban to discredit the declaration of Ghadir can be used here against his scepticism towards the event of Ghadir. This traditional reluctance, besides other factors which are beyond the scope of this paper, (5) can be used to explain the behavior of the Medinan community. Thirdly, although the Medinan community was silent during the events which kept Imam Ali away from the khilafah, there were many among them who had witnessed the declaration of Ghadir Khume. On quite a few occasions, Imam Ali implored the companion of the Prophet to bear witness to the declaration of Ghadir. Here I will just mention one instance which took place in Kufa during the khilafah of Imam Ali, 24 years after the Prophet's death. Imam Ali heard that some people doubted his claim of precedency over the previous khulafah, therefore, he came to a gathering at the mosque and implored the eyewitnesses of the event of Ghadir Khume to verify the truth of the Prophet's declaration about his being the lord and master of all the believers. Many companion of the Prophet stood up and verified the claim of Imam Ali. We have the names of 24 of those who testified on behalf of Imam Ali, although other sources like the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal and Majma'as-Zawa'id of Hafiz al-Haythami put that number at 30.
Also bear in mind that this incident took place 25 years after the event of Ghadir Khume, and during this period hundreds of eyewitnesses had died naturally or in the battles fought during the first two khulafah's rule. Add to this the fact that this incident took place in Kufa which was far from the centre of the companions, Medina. This incident which took place in Kufa in the year 35 A.H. has itself been narrated by four companions and 14 tabi'un and has been recorded in most books of history and tradition. (6)
In conclusion, the behavior of the Medina community after the death of the Prophet does not automatically make the declaration of Ghadir Khume improbable. I think this will suffice to make Shaban realize that his is not a 'new' interpretation; rather it exemplifies,the first stage of the classical response of the Sunni polemicists -- an outright denial of the existence of an event or a hadith which supports the Shi’ah views-- which has been absorbed by the majority of the western scholars of Islam.
Notes:
5- For more details, see S S A Rizvi, Imamate, Tehran: WOFIS,1985, pp 120-121.
6- For full references, see Al-Amini, Al-Ghadir vol 1, Tehran: Mu'assatul Muwahhidi, 1976, pp 166-186.
From the book: Ghadir
By: Ayatullah Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
Other links:
Prophetic Texts Relating to Imamate of Imam Ali (A. S)
The Event of the Day of Warning
The Tradition of Ghadir and Its Continuity (Part 1)
The Tradition of Ghadir and Its Continuity (Part 2)
Divine Designation
