Hadith of the position
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Hadith of the position
The Sunni historian Ibn Hisham (d. 833) ascribes to the Islamic prophet Muhammad,
Are you not content, Ali, to stand to me as Aaron stood to Moses, except that there will be no prophet after me?[1]
A slightly different wording of this
Context
The hadith of the position is associated with multiple occasions, including the two pacts of brotherhood between Muhammad and Ali, one before and one shortly after their migration to Medina.[6][7] Muhammad likely made this biblical analogy also at the Ghadir Khumm, shortly before his death in 632 CE.[8][4][9]
Most frequently, however, the hadith of the position is linked to the
"Go back to your position, brother," the prophet said to him [i.e., Ali]. "Medina will only be properly looked after by myself and by you. You are my deputy (khalifa) among my family (ahl al-bayt) and in the place of my emigration and my people. Are you not content, Ali, that you have the same rank with regard to me as Aaron had with regard to Moses, except that there is no prophet after me?[12]
Most accounts of the expedition hold that Ali governed Medina in the absence of Muhammad,[13][10] including those found in the Sahihs by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhi. Alternatively, some Sunni authors place others in charge of Medina. In particular, al-Halabi (d. 1635) names three candidates, while Ibn Kathir (d. 1373) and Mughulta'i (d. 1361) name two. Ibn Kathir also includes a report that Ali was left only in charge of Muhammad's family and not Medina, although he also acknowledges the opposite views in the Sahihs.[13]
Related to this biblical analogy, Muhammad is said to have named his two grandsons, that is, the two sons of Ali, after the two sons of Aaron. More specifically, he reputedly named Hasan and Husayn after Shabbar and Shabbir.[14] This connection is apparently well-known today in South Asia,[15] and in Persian and Urdu literatures.[14]
Status of Aaron
The Quran and rabbinic literature are replete with references to the special status of Aaron and his progeny.[12] In verses 20:29–32 of the Quran, Moses asks God to include his brother Aaron in his prophetic mission.[16] His prayer is answered by God, as evidenced by verses 20:36–42, 25:35,[12] and 28:35.[17] Aaron thus becomes the chosen associate of Moses in his prophetic mission and in revelation,[12][18] as described in verses 21:48–9 and 2:248 of the Quran.[18] In Hebrew Bible, Aaron performs miracles and is entrusted with the esoteric knowledge of the scripture.[12]
Descendants of Aaron
Also related here are the divine prerogatives bestowed upon the descendants of Aaron, as represented by this proclamation in the Hebrew Bible, "Behold, I give unto him [i.e., Aaron] My covenant of peace. And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood."[19] This divine elevation of the prophets' families above others is also a recurring theme in the Quran, where the families of Muhammad and the past prophets are given a prominent role. In the Quran, God often selects the spiritual and material heirs to the previous prophets from their own kin.[20][21]
Golden calf
Aaron failed to prevent the
Shia and Sufi views
In Shia and Sufi sources, Moses fulfills the function of prophecy (nubuwwa) and Aaron that of sainthood (walaya), as with Muhammad and Ali, respectively.[25] In Isma'ili Shia, Moses is counted as one of the seven 'speaking' prophets who brought divine laws to their followers, whereas Aaron is one of the seven 'silent' prophets who conveyed the hidden message of divine revelations to a select group of believers.[26]
Significance in Shia Islam
Succession to Muhammad
As early as al-Kulayni, Shia authors have invoked the hadith of the position as evidence of the (usurped) right of Ali to succeed Muhammad.[12] For instance, al-Mufid writes that this hadith invested in Ali all the privileges of Aaron, except prophethood.[27] In particular, Ali was the deputy of Muhammad just as Aaron was the deputy of Moses,[28] which readily implies that Ali was the rightful successor of Muhammad, so the argument goes.[10]
Similarly, the contemporary author Reza Aslan notes the succession of the previous prophets by their kin in the Quran and the analogy between Ali and Aaron in the hadith of the position. On this basis, he then argues that Ali was the natural successor of Muhammad and that his exclusion from the Saqifa affair after the death of Muhammad in 632 was a deliberate move. The exclusion of Ali, says Aslan, reflected the Quraysh's fear of combining prophethood and caliphate in the Banu Hashim (Muhammad's clan), lest they would grow too powerful.[29] A conversation to this effect between the Hashemite Ibn Abbas and the second caliph Umar (r. 634–644) is also cited by Wilferd Madelung (d. 2023) and Moojan Momen, two modern Islamicists.[30][31]
Imamate
A broader Shia interpretation of the hadith of the position is that its biblical analogy attaches the authority of Ali and his
Significance in Sunni Islam
The Sunni historian al-Shahrastani (d. 1153) writes that the descendants of Muhammad have inherited a special knowledge of the Quran, just as the descendants of Aaron possess a special version of the Torah.[35] In his commentary of Sahih Muslim, the Sunni traditionist al-Nawawi (d. 1277) acknowledges the Shia implications of this hadith.[36] So do al-Halabi in his al-Sira and the contemporary Siddiqi in his edition of Sahih Muslim.[36] Despite its Shia coloring, however, the hadith of the position has remained in Sunni sources, perhaps because it serves as an important piece of evidence for the finality of Muhammad in the chain of prophets.[35]
Debates
In response to Shia claims, Sunni scholars argue that the hadith of the position is irrelevant to Muhammad's succession because Aaron died before Moses.[37][38] The Shia jurist Sharif al-Murtada (d. 1044) counters that had Aaron survived Moses, the former would have indeed succeeded the latter.[16] In this vein, the Shia al-Kulayni claims that Moses' successor Joshua later designated the progeny of Aaron to succeed him instead of his own or Moses' descendants.[11]
Alternatively, the Sunni scholars al-Baqillani (d. 1013) and al-Juwayni (d. 1085) have limited the scope of the hadith of the position to imply only the temporary deputyship of Ali in Medina, similar to the temporary deputyship of Aaron when Moses went to Mount Sinai. If this was indeed a temporary assignment, the Shia theologian Abu al-Fawaris counters, then Muhammad's exclusion of Ali from prophethood would have been unnecessary.[39]
The Sunni scholar Siddiqi rejects the Shia interpretation of the hadith of the position, saying that it refers to the family ties between Muhammad and Ali rather than the caliphate. He argues, "Aaron was the cousin of Moses and so was the case with Ali and the holy prophet."[36] This is rejected by Miskinzoda, who notes that the Quran frequently refers to Aaron as a brother of Moses in verses 7:142, 19:53, and 28:25. In Jewish tradition, Exodus 6:20 similarly holds that Jochebed bore Amran (Imran) his two sons, namely, Aaron and Moses.[40] Nevertheless, for Miskinzoda, that Aaron was Moses' brother whereas Ali was Muhammad's cousin is a limitation of the biblical analogy in the hadith of the position. She suggests that perhaps the two pacts of brotherhood (mu'akha) between Muhammad and Ali partially addressed this limitation by emphasizing the closeness of the two men.[22]
See also
- Succession to Muhammad
- Ghadir Khumm
- Saqifa
- Hadith of the thaqalayn
- Hadith of the twelve successors
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d Miskinzoda 2015, p. 69.
- ^ a b Momen 1985, pp. 13, 325n7.
- ^ Lalani 2000, pp. 73, 148n58.
- ^ a b Poonawala 1982.
- ^ Lalani 2000, pp. 73, 148n57.
- ^ a b Miskinzoda 2015, p. 68.
- ^ Momen 1985, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Donaldson 1933, p. 4.
- ^ Lalani 2000, p. 148n57.
- ^ a b c Momen 1985, p. 13.
- ^ a b Miskinzoda 2015, p. 71.
- ^ a b c d e f Miskinzoda 2015, p. 76.
- ^ a b Miskinzoda 2015, p. 70.
- ^ a b Abbas 2021, p. 57.
- ^ Hyder 2008, p. 79.
- ^ a b Miskinzoda 2015, p. 72.
- ^ Nasr et al. 2015, p. 1767.
- ^ a b Madelung 1997, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Miskinzoda 2015, p. 75.
- ^ Madelung 1997, pp. 8–17.
- ^ Jafri 1979, pp. 14–16.
- ^ a b c Miskinzoda 2015, p. 82.
- ^ Nasr et al. 2015, p. 1783.
- ^ Lumbard 2007, pp. 114–115.
- ^ Nasr et al. 2015, p. 1768.
- ^ Campo 2009, p. 483.
- ^ Miskinzoda 2015, pp. 76–77.
- ^ Miskinzoda 2015, p. 77.
- ^ Aslan 2011, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Madelung 1997, p. 40.
- ^ Momen 1985, p. 19.
- ^ Stewart 2013, p. 169.
- ^ Mavani 2013, p. 240.
- ^ Steigerwald 2006, pp. 373–374.
- ^ a b Miskinzoda 2015, p. 81.
- ^ a b c Miskinzoda 2015, pp. 78–79.
- ^ Rubin 1979.
- ^ Lalani 2000, p. 74.
- ^ Lalani 2000, pp. 73–74.
- ^ Miskinzoda 2015, p. 73.
References
- ISBN 9780300252057.
- ISBN 9780812982442.
- Campo, Juan Eduardo, ed. (2009). "Moses". Encyclopedia of Islam. Facts on File. pp. 482–484. ISBN 9780816054541.
- Donaldson, Dwight M. (1933). The Shi'ite Religion: A History of Islam in Persia and Iraḳ. Luzac & Company.
- Hyder, Syed Akbar (2008). Reliving Karbala: Martyrdom in South Asian Memory. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195373028.
- Jafri, S.H.M. (1979). Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam. Longman.
- Lalani, Arzina R. (2000). Early Shi'i Thought: The Teachings of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1850435928.
- ISBN 0275987337.
- ISBN 9780521646963.
- Mavani, Hamid (2013), Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism: From Ali to Post-Khomeini, Routledge Studies in Political Islam, Routledge, ISBN 9780415624404
- Miskinzoda, Gurdofarid (2015). "The Significance of the Ḥadīth of the Position of Aaron for the Formulation of the Shī'ī Doctrine of Authority". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 78 (1): 67–82. .
- ISBN 9780300035315.
- ISBN 9780061125867.
- Poonawala, I.K. (1982). "'Alī b. Abī Ṭāleb I. Life". Encyclopaedia Iranica (Online ed.).
- Rubin, Uri (1979). "Prophets and Progenitors in the Early Shī'a Tradition". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 1: 41–65.
- Steigerwald, Diana (2006), "Twelver Shīʿī Taʾwīl", The Blackwell Companion to the Qur'ān, Blackwell Companions to Religion, Blackwell Publishing, pp. 373–385, ISBN 9781405117524
- ISBN 9780691134840.