Question

All these Quranic verses and in addition to prophetic traditionsarereferring to the preference of Imam Ali over others as a leader,Imam andcaliph after the Holy Prophet (s.w.).

 Rather, the HolyProphet (s.w.) hadopenly declared this by the command of AllahWho ordered him saying,"O Apostle! deliver what has beenrevealed to you from your Lord; and ifyou do it not, then you havenot delivered His message, and Allah willprotect you from thepeople" (Ma'idah: 67).

 This verse descended on theDay ofGhadeer, during his (s.w.) return from Mecca.

 When hedeliveredthis verse, he ordered the pilgrims to perform theprayers.

 After that, hedelivered an oration wherein he said, "Am Inot the Master of you all?",the whole crowd answered: Sure, OApostle of Allah.

 He continued,"Then, whosoever I am his master,Ali is his master.

 O Allah! be fried towhom he becomes his friend,and be enemy to whom he becomes hisenemy

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"[14]Even, the Holy Prophet (s.w.), in the last moments of his life hewantedto put his speech in a written legal form and to call thecompanions towitness this action; thus, he called the companions- and `Umar ibnal-Khattab was among them.

 When the HolyProphet (s.w.) began hisspeech, `Umar immediately got the pointand retained the aim of theProphet's call, so he (i.e.)