The Farewell Pilgrimage and Ghadir Khumm – the First Spark of Division in Islam

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This article is one of Seyit Derviş Tur Dede’s writings on the Alevi faith. For a general introduction: What is Alevism? Faith, history and core values

THE DAY OF GHADIR KHUMM IS THE HOLY FESTIVAL OF THE ALEVIS:

May the Festival of Ghadir Khumm (Kadir Hum Bayramı) be blessed for all our canlar (fellow believers) who love the Ehl-i Beyt (Ahl al-Bayt, the family of the Prophet). With all my heart I celebrate the velayet (spiritual guardianship) of Imam Ali, commanded by verse 67 of the Sura al-Maida (Maide). I wish that our Festival of Ghadir Khumm may be blessed for all friends of the Ehl-i Beyt.

Dear, highly valued friends, I would like to explain here a sacred service that we have wanted to carry out from 1992 until today but could not because of certain obstacles. In 1992 Arab Alevis explained on television that in Ghadir Khumm the Prophet Muhammad handed over the office to Imam Ali and gave him the velayet – as the place where it was proclaimed that he would be the leader of Islam after him – and that this took place on 15 March 632 in the area called Ghadir Khumm. Therefore, they explained quite openly, the day of the velayet on which Imam Ali was given this office is the holy festival of the friends of the Ehl-i Beyt. They had explained very well that this handover was a command of verse 67 of the Sura al-Maida. After my wife and I had watched this programme, we had the following conversation.

Now that the Alevi faith is only just beginning to blossom in Europe, let us explain to the community the vasilik (the role of designated heir) and the velayet of the Prophet that were handed over to Imam Ali, as well as the sanctity of the event of Ghadir Khumm, and so help the Festival of Ghadir Khumm to be celebrated. The Anatolian Alevis could not celebrate it for centuries because of the oppression of the Ottoman genocide. That is why we have not been able to continue it to this day. Let us tell this event to our friends on the Federation’s board. The Alevi faith is only now coming onto the agenda in Europe anyway. We thought we could begin celebrating the Festival of Ghadir Khumm together as well. We agreed between ourselves to take the subject of Ghadir Khumm to the board meeting on Saturday.

Saturday came, and we went to the association. The friends on the board – Ahmet Aydemir, İsmail Yağlı, Musa Bakır, İsmail Elçioğlu, Sabit Yıldız – and I discussed the pending problems of the Federation and the associations, and then, under wishes and suggestions, I told them what I had seen on television. It turned out that most of the friends had watched that programme. I made the following proposal: “Friends, we are servants of God, we are the community of Muhammad, we are devotees of the Ehl-i Beyt. Is that not what we say about ourselves? Do we not believe that Imam Ali is the vasi (designated heir) and deputy of the Prophet Muhammad and represents the Ehl-i Beyt? Who can deny the sacred value of Imam Ali’s having been born in the Kaaba? So why do we not celebrate the day of this sacred office given to Imam Ali as a festival? Look, all the friends of the Ehl-i Beyt living in the Islamic world tell of the events on the day of Ghadir Khumm and of the betrayals committed afterwards, pass this on to their future generations and also celebrate it as a festival. Friends, we too are only just trying to bring the Alevi faith into the life of the community in Europe. If we include the Festival of Ghadir Khumm in this work, the community will accept it as a sacred value of the Alevi faith. If we put it in the calendar we publish next year, or tell all our associations in advance that this day is our Festival of Ghadir Khumm, we will thus have begun one more service” – with these words I ended my speech.

Believe me, none of the friends objected. The first to speak on this was my musahip (spiritual companion, “path brother”) Ahmet Aydemir: “Friends! I have no objection at all to what the chairman has said, and I consider his proposal justified. But I ask the chairman! He lived in Erzincan until he was 14. In all that time, did he ever hear of or see a festival called the Festival of Ghadir Khumm? As for me, I attended the military high school in Erzincan. Dedes always came to our village. But I never saw or heard of either the dedes or our fathers celebrating such a festival. Even if it is sacred according to our faith! A festival that our fathers and grandfathers have not celebrated until now! If we bring it up now, let us consider what it will bring to our organisation and what it will cost it. In this environment we are already struggling against a political ideological group that tries to obstruct us, claiming that we are reviving Alevism. If we bring up the Festival of Ghadir Khumm as well, they will say: You see! These people are taking the Anatolian Alevi faith towards Iranian Shiism. They are Khomeinists – and they will spread bad propaganda against us. We will bring a second problem on ourselves” – so he ended his speech. İsmail Yağlı took the floor. He said that he had neither seen nor heard of such a festival in Çorum and confirmed Ahmet Aydemir’s doubts. The other friends voiced exactly the same doubts. After a long discussion we took the following decision: Yes, that they have not explained the sanctity of Ghadir Khumm to the Anatolian Alevis until today is the greatest failing of the seyyids and dedes. And that the community does not celebrate the Festival of Ghadir Khumm is above all the greatest failing of the Anatolian Alevis. Just as our grandfathers could not uphold many of our values because of Ottoman oppression, so we too cannot celebrate the Festival of Ghadir Khumm in this environment. In this environment we are obliged to put this matter on hold. God willing, the possibilities will mature at a later time. If circumstances allow, we too will then fulfil this service and celebrate our festival – so we decided.

Unfortunately we had taken this decision in 1992. In 1993 the Federation moved to Cologne. The board changed. Because the officials who came to head the AABF had no such concern, the subject of the velayet of Ghadir Khumm has not been raised to this day. Even when we raised it personally time and again, no one supported us. Today, thanks to Düzgün TV, we have some media opportunity, and so we want once again to explain the sanctity of Ghadir Khumm and make it known to our canlar who do not know that it is our holy festival.

Since 1986 many organisations and people have emerged that surround us like a ring and try to do away with the sacred values of the Alevi faith. We are still contending with those who say that Alevism is outside Islam. When I think about it, I believe that the time has come for the silent Alevi community, loyal to its faith, to embrace its identity without hesitation. The time of which we said 28 years ago “if the possibilities mature and circumstances allow” has come. We must keep alive our sacred values, which our grandfathers and fathers could not live out until today because of oppression. I know that in our Alevi community there is a large uninformed section. But these are the very people who know everything better than everyone else. And then there are those who play at political Alevism against the Alevi faith. They will be disturbed and will create a great deal of misinformation. They will slander us mercilessly too. But we have entrusted our innermost being to God. We have set out on this path with the motto “Let the heart be left behind, but not the Path.”

The meaning of the Farewell Pilgrimage! And the three important sermons delivered by the Prophet Muhammad

The first sermon, at Mina, abolished blood feuds. It is about Muslims being brothers.

The second, the sermon he gave at Arafat on his camel, is about women.

The third sermon is his declaration, on the way from Mecca to Medina at the stopping place called Gadir-i Hum (Ghadir Khumm), that he gave Imam Ali the velayet and that Ali would be the caliph and leader of Islam after him. It is also about the Quran and his Ehl-i Beyt. This event took place on the 18th of the month of Dhu al-Hijja (Zilhicce) in the Hijri calendar, 25 March 632 in the Common Era.

The Prophet Muhammad’s preparation for the pilgrimage: on 22 February 632 in the Common Era, on the 25th of Dhu al-Qada or Dhu al-Hijja of the 10th year in the Hijri calendar, he had completed all his preparations to fulfil the duty of the pilgrimage (Hajj). He had set out from Medina to Mecca with a crowd of 40,000 people. The fact that in the sermons he delivered during this pilgrimage the Prophet Muhammad spoke as if bidding farewell, and that afterwards he passed into God’s mercy, conveyed the message that he would be leaving this world. That is why this pilgrimage is called the Farewell Pilgrimage (Veda Haccı). This event took place on the 18th of the month of Dhu al-Hijja in the Hijri calendar, 25 March 632 in the Common Era.

Since his emigration from Mecca to Medina, and even when he conquered Mecca and took it from the hands of Abu Sufyan, the Prophet Muhammad had not been able to circumambulate the Kaaba in the sense of the pilgrimage. The Kaaba is the place where Ali was born. That holy Spirit clothed itself in a human body in the Kaaba and came into the world as Ali. The Prophet Muhammad himself knew that this holy place was holy. But! To make it holy for the community of Muhammad as well, it was necessary for him to circumambulate it at least once in the sense of the pilgrimage. And that is exactly what the Prophet Muhammad did in his final step.

Had the Prophet Muhammad not performed the Farewell Pilgrimage, the polytheists would have done away with the sanctity of the Kaaba and the direction of prayer (kıble), or would have made it a place of idols again. That is why this Farewell Pilgrimage of the Prophet is so important. Some supporters of the Umayyads within the Sunni sharia try to distort this third sermon of Ghadir Khumm with various interpretations. They twist and bend it in thousands of different formulations. They have written hundreds of books. They put forward thousands of baseless interpretations, but its meaning and essence have not changed. The proof is in the history of Islam written by Prof. Dr. Neşet Çağatay.

Many people from other tribes, hearing that the Prophet Muhammad would go on pilgrimage, also came to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage with him. According to some accounts, more than 100,000 people gathered in Mecca. The journey between Medina and Mecca takes nine days. On Sunday, the first of March or 4 Dhu al-Hijja 632, the Prophet Muhammad enters the Haram-ı Şerif (the noble sanctuary) through the Beni Şeybe gate of Mecca with a large crowd. On the same day he circumambulates the Kaaba exactly seven times. Then he moves to the Makam-ı İbrahim (Station of Abraham), where, while praying, he twice prostrates himself in thanks. “In the Sunni sharia they say he prayed two rakats.” The prayer the Prophet Muhammad offered:

“O my Lord! Thanks and gratitude are Yours. All glory and honour are Yours. There is none to be worshipped but You. You have no partner, no equal and no associate. All these dominions are Yours. It is You who give life and cause death. You have power over all things. What You say shall be, comes to be; what You say shall cease, ceases to be. You have helped Your servant. You have routed those who opposed Your true religion. O my Lord! Make this Kaaba holy. Increase its glory, its honour and its majesty” – with these words he performs his worship.

Having completed his worship, the Prophet Muhammad climbs the hill of Safa. Then he reaches Marwa (Merve). He goes back and forth seven times between Safa and Marwa. The reason for running back and forth seven times between the hills of Safa and Marwa is this: in Abraham’s time, when the area was still desert, he had left his wife Hagar (Hacer) there with Ismail. When Ismail was only two or three years old, their drinking water ran out. Ismail cried and asked his mother for water, and Hagar ran seven times between these hills searching for water for her son Ismail, but found none. According to many sources, Ismail, while crying, struck his foot on the ground, and at that very moment the water of Zamzam gushed forth from the spot where he had struck his foot. That is why pilgrims run back and forth seven times between those hills.

The Prophet stays in Mecca for three days. On Thursday, the eighth of Dhu al-Hijja, he mounts his camel and arrives at Mina with all the pilgrims. He stays there that night; in the morning he and Imam Ali together perform their worship with two prostrations (he prays two rakats). That day the Prophet orders the sacrificial animals to be slaughtered at Mina. He himself had brought 60 camels from Medina for sacrifice. Imam Ali, who had come from Yemen the day before, had also brought the Prophet 40 camels as a gift. Together they made 100 camels. That day the Prophet Muhammad made Imam Ali his partner in the pilgrimage. Of the 100 camels, 60 were sacrificed in his own name; he had each of these camels slaughtered so that it corresponded to one year of his age. 40 were sacrificed in Imam Ali’s name.

The Prophet Muhammad instructed Imam Ali to distribute the meat, the hides and everything else of these 100 slaughtered camels to the people. Imam Ali distributes all of it to the people. The Prophet Muhammad orders that a piece be taken from the meat of each of the 100 sacrificed camels and that these be cooked together in an earthenware pot. Then they eat this cooked meat together with Imam Ali and the companions with him. By doing so he abolished the custom, coming from the Jahiliyya and still continuing, that the person who slaughters a sacrificial animal may not eat of its meat.

The next day he climbs Mount Arafat from there. There too, although it is already afternoon (the time of ikindi), he again performs worship with two prostrations together with Imam Ali. He offers his thanks and praise to the exalted Lord (Cenabı Mevla). The Farewell Pilgrimage and the expedition to Tabuk describe the last years of the Prophet Muhammad’s life. The place of the spring of Tabuk near Damascus is 14 stages’ journey from Medina. History books write that on this journey the Prophet Muhammad performed worship with two prostrations (prayed two rakats) only at the stopping places, morning and evening, and that during the Farewell Pilgrimage too he performed worship with two prostrations at the Makam-ı İbrahim, at Mina and at Arafat. The Prophet Muhammad worshipped twice a day, morning and evening. You will not find five daily prayer times in the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad. Nor will you find them in the noble Quran.

The supporters of the Umayyads hardly ever make worship with two prostrations a topic, because the five prayer times introduced by Muawiya would then fall away. They stubbornly impose the five prayer times on Umayyad Islamic society. And because Muslims would then not pray five times, they absolutely refuse to write that the Prophet Muhammad worshipped twice a day with two prostrations. For they too know that the five-times prayer! Muawiya took it from the worship system of the Prophet Jesus as practised in the Syriac monastery of Mor Gabriel in Midyat (Mardin). The prayer with tekbir, bowing and prostration that Sunni Muslims perform today is exactly the same as the prayer performed in the Syriac Christian faith. At that time worship was performed seven times a day in the Syriac faith. Later the Syriacs reduced it to five times. Now they pray twice, evening and morning. The Syriacs reduced it step by step to two times. But our Sunni Muslims cannot change it, because they have stuck the label of the Prophet Muhammad on all the invented rules introduced by Muawiya.

The Prophet Muhammad then addresses the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered in the valley of Arafat and delivers the greatest sermon of the Islamic revolution. With the three great sermons he delivered during this pilgrimage, the Messenger of God brought about the greatest revolution in world history. The blood feud, continuing for centuries, had destroyed all security of property, life and honour on the Arabian Peninsula. Usury, for its part, had made all the poor slaves of the rich. Women were regarded as the property and chattels of men. They were handed on from one man to another, and in gambling women were staked instead of money. Children were held responsible for the crimes of their fathers, and fathers for the crimes of their children. If a member of a family committed a crime and hid, another member of the family who could be caught bore that person’s punishment. If the first-born child of a family was a girl, she was buried alive in the sand and killed, because she was supposed to bring bad luck. The sermons delivered at the Farewell Pilgrimage abolished all the evils of the old Jahiliyya: the blood feud, usury, [the inequality of] women and men, gambling, making a relative pay for someone else’s crime, and every kind of oppression.

The sermon of the Prophet Muhammad at Mina

“O people! Listen to me well. Perhaps after this year I will not be able to meet you here again. I take all the customs of the Jahiliyya before Islam under my foot and trample them. All the blood feuds of the time of the Jahiliyya are abolished. They are lies and fabrications. The first blood feud I abolish is the blood feud of Rabia, son of Haris, the grandson of Abdulmutalib. I have renounced it. You too renounce all blood feuds. The custom of usury of the time of the Jahiliyya is abolished. The first usury I abolish is the usury of my uncle Abbas. Your capital remains yours. Neither do wrong, nor suffer wrong. O people! Whoever holds something in trust, let him return it to its owner. God does not forgive the denier.

O people! You have certain rights over your wives. They must respect these rights of yours. They too have rights over you. Treat them well. You took them in the name of God, giving your word to God. By God’s command you have become lawful to one another. If they betray you and rebel without right, separate your beds. Provide for their livelihood until they marry someone else, and part from them giving them all their belongings. Everyone is responsible for his own wrongdoing.

Who is whose heir? The Quran has determined it with verses. There is no need for me to make a testament. The child belongs to the one in whose bed it was born. It is forbidden for you to come together with anyone other than the wives you took with God’s covenant. That is fornication, that is adultery. Adultery is a great crime in the sight of God. It is likewise forbidden for women to come together with anyone other than the men to whom they were married by God’s covenant and command. That is fornication, that is adultery, that is a crime. Those who obey God’s commands are on the right path. O people! It is not permissible for a woman to give anything of her household’s property to another without her husband’s permission. Nor is it permissible for the husband to give anything of his household’s property to another without his wife’s consent. Woman and man are equal. As God has commanded.”

Sura al-Ahzab (Ahsab), verse 35: The upright Muslim men and women. The believing men and women. The humble, reverent men and women. The truthful men and women, the patient men and women, the men and women devoted from the heart, the men and women who give alms, the men and women who fast. The men and women who guard their chastity. The men and women who remember God much. For all of them God has prepared “forgiveness” and a peaceful life.

Sura al-Nur (Nur), verse 71: “The believing men and the believing women are guardians of one another. Whoever enjoins what is good and forbids what is evil – on them God will have mercy.”

The sermon of the Prophet Muhammad at Arafat

“O people! Arabs and non-Arabs have no superiority over one another. Neither has the white any superiority over the black, nor the black any superiority over the white. Superiority belongs only to those who fear God and observe His commands; who are of pure character; who guard their chastity; who are not hypocritical and two-faced; who uphold justice – they are the superior ones. For all human beings are created from earth; they are the sons of our forefather Adam. Muslims are brothers to one another. As the Sura al-Anfal (Enfal) commands: “Not even his brother’s property is lawful for a person unless he gives it of his own free will.:

Do not wrong yourselves. Feed your slaves from what you eat and clothe them with what you wear. If they commit a fault you cannot forgive, part from them (set them free). They too, like you, are servants of God; do not treat them badly, do not oppress them.”

O people! Just as this day, this month and this city are sacred, so too are your property and your lives sacred. Therefore the blood and property of one another are forbidden (haram) to you. In the hereafter you will come before God, and He will ask you about your deeds one by one and punish or reward you accordingly. Beware of striking off one another’s heads like the unbelievers. Do not do to others what you would not consider fitting for yourselves. Everyone who commits a crime is himself responsible for his crime. The son is not responsible for the crime committed by the father, nor the father for the crime committed by the son.

O people! Pay back the debts you have taken on. To stand surety for others means that if the person for whom you stand surety cannot keep his word, the guarantor is responsible for keeping that word. A gift is answered with a gift. Do not seek out one another’s faults; live in harmony with one another. Be brothers. Islam has made us strong. Satan has lost hope of being worshipped by you in this land of ours. With evil things that you regard as small, consider insignificant and see no harm in doing, you will gladden Satan.

O people! Every kind of ugly custom left over from the time of the Jahiliyya is forbidden. Let those who are present here convey my words to those who are absent. Perhaps among those not present here there are some who will remember my words better than those who are present here.”

But right there the third verse of the Sura al-Maida is revealed; he recites this verse too and ends the sermon thus: “O people! Forbidden to you are carrion, blood, the flesh of swine, what has been slaughtered in the name of other than God, what has been strangled before its life departed, what has been killed by a blow, what has been torn by a beast of prey, what has been [divided] by divining arrows, and what has been slaughtered for stones, statues and idols. Whoever is in hunger and distress may eat without exceeding the limit. Today those who deny have given up hope of turning you away from your religion. Do not fear them; fear God.

Today I have perfected your religion for you. As religion I have “chosen Islam for you.” I leave you two sacred trusts. One is the noble Quran, the second is my Ehl-i Beyt. As long as you hold fast to these two trusts and cling to them firmly, you will not go astray. I have fulfilled the responsibility placed upon me. Are you content with this? God is pardoning, forgiving, merciful. O people! I have conveyed to you every word commanded by God. I am responsible for my duty, and I have fulfilled my responsibility. Tomorrow they will ask you about me – what will you say? Will you bear witness: you fulfilled God’s mission, conveyed His commands to us, carried out your duty, gave us counsel and testament?” The people answer with one voice: “Yes, O Messenger of God, you have conveyed it. We bear witness.” Thereupon the Prophet Muhammad says: “Be witness, O Lord! Be witness, O Lord! Be witness, O Lord!” and offers his thanks and praise to God. After that he thinks of preparing the return to Medina.

THE SERMON OF GHADIR KHUMM

After circumambulating the Kaaba and completing his pilgrimage, Muhammad leaves Mecca on 25 March 632 CE to return to Medina. When he has covered one day’s stage on the road to Medina, he halts at a place called Cuhfe (al-Juhfa), by the water in the valley called the Spring of Gadir-i Hum. At this stopping place verse 67 of the Sura al-Maida is revealed and gives the following command: “O Prophet! Convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord. If you do not do so, you will not have delivered His message. God protects you from the people. Truly, God gives no opportunity to the unbelievers.”

The Prophet Muhammad orders those pilgrims who had gone ahead to turn back and come, and those who had fallen behind to catch up and gather. It was past noon and very hot. The Prophet Muhammad, together with all the people, (performs worship with two prostrations). The Prophet Muhammad orders a raised platform to be made from camel saddles. The companions immediately make the requested platform. After the worship, the Prophet Muhammad climbs the raised pulpit, calls Imam Ali to his side as well and delivers the following sermon to the people:

“O people! I too am a human being like you; I have been called by God; my days too are numbered, and the days when I shall depart from this world have drawn near. Praise and glory belong to God alone. We believe in Him, we take refuge in Him. There is none but Him who guides. It is God who knows and makes known all things. With the verse that has just come He has commanded me to make known to you what I am responsible for. The end of whoever departs from God’s commands is punishment. I bear witness that there is none to be worshipped but Him. Do you bear witness to the oneness of God and that Muhammad is His servant and Prophet?” The tens of thousands of companions present cry out:

“We bear witness, O Messenger of God”, they answer. “O believers! I leave you two trusts that will guide you on the right path of God. The two are certainly inseparable from each other and will come to me together until the Day of Resurrection. The first of them is the Quran, the second is my Ehl-i Beyt. If you hold fast to the rope of the Quran, the word of God, and do not depart from the path (the command) of the Ehl-i Beyt, you will not lose your way (go astray) after me.”

After saying this, the Prophet Muhammad takes the hand of Imam Ali beside him, raises it up and continues the sermon thus:“O people! You know that I have more right of disposal and velayet over my whole community than they have over themselves. O people! Know that God is my mevla (lord and protector). And I am the mevla of all believers. Whoever’s mevla I am, Ali too is his mevla. Ali’s flesh is in my flesh. His blood is in my blood. I am from Ali, Ali is in me, Ali completes me. Whoever loves God has loved me. Whoever loves me has loved Ali. Whoever is an enemy of God is also my enemy. Whoever is my enemy is also Ali’s enemy.”

After completing these words, the Prophet Muhammad raises his hands and offers the following prayer: “O my Lord! Love whoever loves Ali. Be an enemy to whoever is Ali’s enemy. Help whoever helps Ali. Hold in contempt whoever holds Ali in contempt and insults him. Ali’s flesh is in my flesh. Ali’s blood is in my blood. Ali is in me, I am in Ali. The Truth is always with Ali. For together with me he represents my Ehl-i Beyt. O my Lord! Protect him from all evil” – and as he offered this prayer, all the companions joined in with “Amen”. The Messenger of God ends his sermon with these words: “O people! Let those who are present here convey my words to those who are absent. Perhaps among those who are absent there are some who will remember my words better than those who are present here.”

After this sermon of the Messenger, the companions line up to congratulate Imam Ali and pledge allegiance to him. Umar ibn al-Khattab (Ömer ibn-i Hattab) and Abu Bakr (Ebu Bekir), who later became caliphs, pledge allegiance before everyone else, saying: “O Ali, son of Abu Talib, blessed are you, for you have become the mevla of us all, women and men alike. We congratulate you.” The other companions too congratulate Imam Ali on his imamate one after another and make their pledge of allegiance. Indeed, the companion Hasan bin Sabit (Hassan ibn Thabit) even wrote a poem about Imam Ali’s imamate and the pledge of allegiance to him. But I could not find it.

Until that day the Prophet Muhammad had not openly and officially appointed a vasi (deputy) in his place. On that day this official declaration was made in obedience to the command of verse 67 of the Sura al-Maida. This declaration stirred into action certain people who could not stomach the closeness between the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali and who had their eye on the leadership of the religion of Islam. This was the first spark of division in Islam. That at his last pilgrimage, the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Prophet Muhammad, in accordance with the command of verse 67 of the Sura al-Maida, gave Imam Ali the velayet and appointed him his deputy is the handing over of the office by God’s command. Thus the Prophet Muhammad left the caliphate to Imam Ali. The change of office at Ghadir Khumm is the festival day of the Alevis. To all Alevis who say: I belong to the community of the Prophet Muhammad, I am a devotee of the Ehl-i Beyt, and to the dedes and officials of the cemevis, I make my humble proposal! On the day of Ghadir Khumm we should explain the sacred values of Imam Ali and perform worship with three prostrations. Then, just as at the Feast of Sacrifice, we should joyfully visit one another, congratulate one another and celebrate the festival together.

So on that day all the companions and all the other people present there pledged allegiance to Imam Ali. Some companions who had their eye on the caliphate pledged allegiance, albeit unwillingly. But right there the spark of hostility towards Imam Ali and the Hashimite family began to form. The first spark of division in Islam began with this event. The event of Ghadir Khumm was a change of office. That those present at the ceremony of the change of office came, congratulated, pledged allegiance and said: O Ali, son of Abu Talib, you have now become the mevla of every believing man and woman – this is the proof that the guidance and administration of the religion of Islam passed from the Prophet Muhammad to Imam Ali. Those who pledged allegiance to Imam Ali and congratulated him accepted Imam Ali’s velayet. In the religion of Islam brought by the noble Quran, to pledge allegiance and later turn back is synonymous with apostasy. For immediately after the “pledge of allegiance” (biat) the Messenger of God said: “Today I have perfected your religion and completed My favour upon you. I have brought you Islam as religion. Are you content and pleased?” The companions all together affirm: “We are content, O Messenger of God.”

The pledge of allegiance is to the velayet, which is the perfection of religion. And the velayet is the point at which truth (the right) and falsehood (the wrong) part ways. Although they pledged allegiance to Imam Ali at Ghadir Khumm, they turned back from the ikrar (vow) they had given. But the servant does not have the power to break the command of Almighty God. The Prophet Muhammad sanctified the Kaaba, the birthplace of Imam Ali, with his circumambulation at the last pilgrimage, the Farewell Pilgrimage. Going on pilgrimage to the Kaaba has a strong connection with the pledge of allegiance once given. To go to the Kaaba as a pilgrim is to renew one’s allegiance to the holy Spirit that came into the world in that Kaaba. It is to declare one’s devotion and to ask forgiveness for the mistakes one has made. The prostration [of the angels] was to Adam, God’s vicegerent, and to that divine Light in Adam; and this Light was the light of Ali ibni Ebu Talib, the Commander of the Faithful, and in the Kaaba this Light clothed itself in a human body and came into the world as Ali.

The first Kaaba towards which the angels turned their faces was the light of Ali ibn Abi Talib. That is to say, the true kıble (direction of prayer) is not the stones and walls of the Kaaba. What truly makes the Kaaba the direction of prayer is the holy Spirit born inside the Kaaba. And that is Ali ibn Abi Talib. Therefore everyone who turns his face towards the kıble has necessarily accepted allegiance to Ali ibn Abi Talib. Indeed, even if they do not believe it or want it with their tongues and hearts, every person who goes on pilgrimage to the Kaaba has pledged allegiance to Imam Ali. For the whole Islamic world that says “Allah, Muhammad, ya Ali” and says: we are devotees of the Ehl-i Beyt, the event of Ghadir Khumm is very important. It is the holiest festival. Again and again I congratulate the whole community of Muhammad and the friends of the Ehl-i Beyt on their festival.

After returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman, Ebu Übeyde (Abu Ubayda), Abdurrahman bin Avf (Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf) and Elmuğure bin Sebe agreed to act together to prevent the caliphate from passing after the Prophet’s death to the Prophet’s relatives, the Ben-i Haşim (Banu Hashim), that is, to Imam Ali. They made this agreement after returning from the pilgrimage. They decided among themselves that with the giving of the velayet to Imam Ali, whom the Prophet Muhammad had appointed his deputy at Ghadir Khumm, the prophethood had come to an end. After returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage they no longer kept any of the Prophet’s words as before and gave no value to the Prophet’s words. These are the ones who turned back from the pledge of allegiance (the ikrar) they had given.

After the Farewell Pilgrimage the Prophet had fallen ill. He received news that Byzantium was coming to make war on the Muslims with a great army. The Prophet Muhammad too was obliged to set out against the Rum (Byzantines) with a large army. Therefore the Prophet Muhammad ordered a strong army to be raised. At the head of the army that was to go to war he had placed Usame (Usama), the son of his slave to whom he had given his freedom and whom he trusted. He had ordered all the companions to join this army. But none of the companions who had pledged allegiance at Gadir-i Hum joined this army. These false Muslims no longer listened to the Prophet; these opportunists were waiting for the Prophet’s death. When the Messenger of God, the Prophet Muhammad, saw that discord and mischief were growing, he said: “Bring me paper and pen, so that I may write down for you what you should do after me without falling upon one another.” They did not accept even this command. Above all, Umar ibn al-Khattab rudely objected, saying (This man is ill and not himself; he does not know what he is saying) and “The Quran is enough for us”. He prevented the Prophet Muhammad’s testament from being written down. History records this event as the “Event of the Pen and Paper” (Kırtas olayı). Their whole aim was to take the caliphate out of Imam Ali’s hands. For this they had made a pact. Unfortunately they succeeded in that too, and split Islam in two.

The usurpation of the caliphate immediately after the Prophet Muhammad’s death is the first spark that created division among the Muslims. Later, Muawiya’s betrayal of Imam Ali, followed by his having Hasan poisoned, widened the division further. Third, the attempt of his son Yazid, on Muawiya’s testament, to wipe out Husayn and the entire lineage of the Prophet at Karbala was the last drop that made the cup overflow.

Within 86 years the Umayyads turned the religion brought by the Prophet Muhammad upside down and, with invented hadiths, presented each of their betrayals to the world of that time as the “fiqh and Sunna” of our Prophet. Against the term “Ehl-i Beyt” they invented the word “Ehl-i Sünnet” (People of the Sunna). Turning the religion of Islam upside down in this way, they proclaimed to the whole world: “This is Islam!” The guileless and pure Muslims who still follow the Sunni sharia are made to believe that the Salafi and Wahhabi sharia founded by the Umayyads is the sharia brought by the Prophet. Although no verse of the Quran says that you shall pray five times a day, the Sunnis who believe in Umayyad Islam still pray five times a day. Although there is no expression called the teravih prayer in the Quran, they pray 20, or in some places 40, rakats in the month of Ramadan.

The Prophet Muhammad departed this world in 632 CE. The schools of law (mezhep) were invented in the years 755–756, in the time of the Abbasids. After one hundred and twenty-four years had passed, they inflicted the greatest betrayal on the Muslim faith by inventing the schools of law with a divide-and-rule system among the Muslims and by playing politics. That is why the Alevi Islamic community rejected sectarianism then, and rejects it today. For just as the Alevis did not accept the injustices committed with the first caliphate, they gave no credence to all the invented “consensus and analogy” (icma ve kıyas) that came after it. In a word, the Alevis do not accept what the Ehl-i Beyt and their descendants, the 12 Imams, did not accept, nor what is not in the Quran. So it is today, and so it will be in the future.

The Alevis who at that time did not leave the side of the children and grandchildren of the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali, who added nothing to the Islamic faith they brought but accepted and continued it just as it was, were constantly kept under oppression and massacred by the Umayyads and Abbasids, who held the power of the state.

Yes, our forefathers gave their lives, gave their heads in these massacres, but made no concessions in their faith. By hiding the children of the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali among themselves, they ensured, through an esoteric system, that their lineage, though small in number, has survived to this day. And it is the Alevi Islamic community in Anatolia that, together with them, has carried on to this day the Islamic faith brought by the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali and continued by their children.

That is why the chief architects of the Alevi faith are Imam Ali and the Ehl-i Beyt. In their worship, their prayers and their gülbanks (ritual blessings), the Alevis always remember Imam Ali, the Ehl-i Beyt and the 12 Imams together with the Prophet Muhammad. As for the Festival of Ghadir Khumm: counting seven days from the first day of the Feast of Sacrifice, the eighth day is the Festival of Ghadir Khumm. In this way we can easily calculate each year when it falls.

Sura al-Shura (Şura), verse 23: My beloved, tell your community: for bringing you this true religion I ask no reward from you. I ask only for pure love and devotion to my Ehl-i Beyt. God forgives those who walk on the path of Truth and bestows favours on them.

Sura Al Imran (Ali İmran), verse 110: O Ehl-i Beyt of Muhammad! You are a good community brought forth for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong and believing in God. Had the People of the Book believed, it would have been better for them. So, in order to understand the sanctity of the Prophet Muhammad, Imam Ali and the Ehl-i Beyt and the Islam he brought, one must learn very well the meaning of the Farewell Pilgrimage and the sermon of Ghadir Khumm.

With my deepest feelings I congratulate all devotees of the Ehl-i Beyt on the Festival of Ghadir Khumm. I offer my love and affection (aşk-ı muhabbet). Delivered in a live broadcast on 08/08/2020.

Translated from the Turkish original by Seyit Derviş Tur.