A Study of the Implication of the Hadith of the Pond of Khumm for the Divine-Political Legitimacy in Imamate System

After the Holy Prophet’s passing away, the question of his successorship has become one of the controversial issues among Islamic denominations. The answer to the question about who and which source one has to rely on for the legitimacy of the person who is entitled to succeed the Prophet Muhammad after his demise has become even more challenging. The present article studies the textual proofs in ShiÝi KalÁm for the divine legitimacy of the Infallible Imam. The proofs are all based on the widely transmitted hadiths about the Ghadir Event. Drawing upon a descriptive- analytic method as well as an approach based on fiqh al-hadith, the article has dealt with the issue in question within the textual KalÁm. Methodologically, on the basis of the implication of the Hadith of the Pond of Khumm, the term mowlÁ signifies the following facts that mawlÁ in the very context in which it is used in this occasion refers to the one who, prior to everybody else, is entitled to take possession [of something], that on the basis of the revealed verse in Ma’idah, 5:671 and its imperative content God ordains the Prophet to communicate the Divine message to the people and immediately warns the Prophet that if he does not, he will not have communicated His message and thus His message will have been left incomplete unless Amir al-MuÞmenin Ali (peace be upon him) is appointed as his successor on God’s command. Upon communicating the Divine message, the verse al-MaÞidah 5: 3 has been revealed signifying that God has perfected his (the Prophet’s) religion for him, and He has completed His blessing upon him, and He has approved Islam as his religion. From the first-person pronouns whose antecedent is God along with all the verbs used in the mentioned verses one can easily recognize that the legitimacy and the appointment of Ali ibn AbitÁlib as the rightful successor to the Prophet (peace be on him and his progeny) is done by God. The Prophet was also ordained by God to communicate this Divine message to the people.