All Muslims have consensus about Ghadir

News Joint Conferences News of Cultural Affairs Department

Sunday, 25 June 2023

Ghadeer event and hadith are the sources of unity and proximity between Islamic denominations.

ABWA Official Website – Referring to the holding of the conference “Ghadir in Islamic Civilization and Culture, with an Emphasis on Islamic History and Denominations” at the University of Religions and Denominations, and congratulating the month of Dhuʻl-Hijjah, Hojat al-Islam Dr. Mahdi Farmanian stated, “In the holy month of Dhuʻl-Hijjah, there are Eid al-Adha, the day of Arafah, and Eid al-Ghadir, which is an Eid an exclusive to Shiites. However, some Sufi Sunnis also pay special attention to this Eid (of course with their own views and thoughts).”

“All Muslims have a consensus about Ghadir. Throughout history, Muslims have accepted the words of the Prophet (p.b.u.h) about Imam Ali (a.s.) on the day of Ghadir, and their differences and disputes have been about the content, perception, and interpretation of the Shiites and Sunnis regarding the Hadith of Ghadir. Basically, the dispute is about the words that the Prophet (p.b.u.h) used and he explicitly declared Imam Ali (a.s.) as his successor and said: “Ali is my successor.” Unfortunately, many Sufis interpret this as an internal substitution; they argue that the Prophet (p.b.u.h) gave the internal (or spiritual) Imamate to Ali and not the external Imamate. However, we believe that both the internal and external imamate in this event were entrusted to Imam Ali (a.s.),” continued the deputy for Scientific and Cultural Affairs of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly.

“The conference that will be held at the University of Religions and Denomination is based on the same issue, and we will prove that Ghadir is a frequent and accepted hadith in Islamic schools of thought,” he said.

“The conference will be held on July 6, 2023, and its planning goes back to before the spread of Covid-19, that is, about 4 years ago. This conference was supposed to be held in 2019, but it was postponed due to the spread of Covid-19. Therefore, Dr. Ghafourinejad raised it again. Currently, it can be said that Covid-19 has completely disappeared and does not have a special social effect. Therefore, we found it appropriate to hold the conference as soon as possible on July 6, one day before Eid al-Ghadir. This 4-hour conference will start at 8 a.m. and continue until noon,” Dr. Mahdi Farmanian said.

“This conference will be held in three axes or commissions, the first of which is the History Commission. The history commission of Ghadir is about how this event emerged in history. There are many hadiths about this historical issue. Hadith of Ghadeer has caused an event. There are many books and works that have been written about this, and about five articles have been discussed about it at this conference. The second commission is about Ghadeer in Shiite sects. How Shia has dealt with Ghadir, and how the schools and sects that have arisen in Shia, have understood this event, and how they have narrated and interpreted it. The third commission or axis, which I am the head of, is the Commission of Ghadir on Sunni sects. In this commission, 6 articles on Ghadir from the point of view of Mu'tazila, Ahl-e al-Hadith, Salafists, Ash'arite, Matridiya, and Sufis will be reviewed. These are the articles that have been written and the authors and researchers will present them on the day of the conference, God willing,” Hojat al-Islam Farmanian added.

“Of course, other articles related to other religions will be presented at the conference. Such as the reflection of succession in Judaism, or the reflection of succession in Christianity, in which the issue of succession in other religions has been tried to be investigated. Because the issue of succession is accepted by all religions and is not a new issue in Islam. Because the number of these articles is less, they will not be placed in a separate commission and will be reviewed separately,” Farmanian said.

“We wanted more centers to cooperate with us, but this did not happen. Currently, three centers will be with us at this conference: the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy, the Research Institute of History affiliated with the Islamic Propagation Office of the Seminary, and the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly, which will cooperate with us as sponsor of the conference. Apart from the University of Religions and denominations itself, a letter has also been written to the ISC information base to cooperate and get the articles of the conference to be rated by ISC, so that we can organize a good and acceptable conference,” Hojat al-Islam Mahdi Farmanian said.

In the end, the deputy for scientific and cultural affairs of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly said, “In my opinion, it is very good that the University of Religions and Islamic Denominations itself undertakes the investigation of the controversial issues so that the unitary and approximative approach, and also the approach which has always been neglected throughout history and only its controversial aspect has been highlighted, are examined, and each and every issue between Shia and Sunni should be analyzed and analyzed by the university. Because with this work, the neglected part, which is the unity and convergence of the Islamic world, will also be highlighted. It should also be shown so that everyone knows that there are aspects of unity among the disputed issues. I believe that there is a lot of commonality in many issues that are the subject of Shia and Sunni differences. Ghadeer event and hadith are the sources of unity and proximity between Islamic denominations.”

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AhlulBayt (a_s_) World Assembly Ghadir Muslim