The Importance of Covenant on the Occasion of Ghadir Khum
The conditional sentence in the verse of proclamation (wa-in lam taf'al fama ballaghta risalatahu = and if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message) is a warning sentence. This is to highlight the importance of the Commandment, meaning that if the Commandment is not announced to people and if the duty is not discharged, apparently nothing of religion has ever been observed. As a result, the conditional sentence intends to express the importance of the condition in the arrangement of the important retributions; therefore, this sentence cannot be considered as a conditional sentence because conditionality is chiefly used where man is ignorant of the realization of the retributions since he is unaware of the realization of the conditional case. This probability, however, shall not be true in the case of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH).
Since the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) was a brave man sparing no sacrifice of life and property in the Cause of Islam, the fear expressed in the verse does not address him; rather, it has to do with Islam and his mission. He knew well that those embracing Islam out of the fear of Imam Ali’s sword, expansion of Islam, escaping from solitude, and finding no way but to join the Muslim ranks and obey the rules of the Prophet (PBUH) will stand against Imam Ali (A.S) after his death. The prophet has already experienced opposition of some ignorant people and their attempts to lead the people astray, so he knew well that after his departure the spread of Islam would be hampered.
He was also worried about misguidance of the Muslim by some Muslim rulers, because some of them used to strongly stand against leadership of Imam Ali (A.S) any time the Prophet (PBUH) began to announce it. Hence, the Almighty God assures him that He would support him when he announces the leadership of Imam Ali.
Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi
Other links:
Ghadir Khum- Introduction
Indications of the Leadership of the Commander of Believers Imam Ali (A.S) in the Verse of Proclamation
Why the Almighty God Assures the Prophet (PBUH) on the Day of Ghadir Khum?
