Message #11078

[Zeynab]

This is a purely Hadith stuff.  Both Shiia and Sunni ahadith, which are considered canonical, are in a complete mess.  I'm sure everyone knows it.  They are both rife with contradictions and confusions.  Regarding this Ghadeer-e-Khum story, the Sunni hadiths have contradictions even within themselves.  Some Sunni historians and imams reject it downright, not because it's un-Quranic to appoint a successor, but as Prof. M.A. Shaban writes "Such an event is inherently improbable considering the Arab's traditional reluctance to entrust young and untried men with great responsibility. Furthermore, at no point do our sources show the Madinan community behaving as if they had heard of this designation ......"( Shaban, Vol. I, pp.16).   I agree, there's no talk of this Ghadeer story in the entire history of Madinah.  But that bit about Arabs traditionally being unwilling to entrust responsibility to an inexperinced person is needless to say.  Regardless what the Arabs traditionally accepted or not, there's NO such concept as a hereditary system of governance described nor implied in the Quran.  The Quran makes it clear that the Prophet came only as a warner, his duty was to convey the Message of the Quran, and then one day he would pass away.  Those who accept the Message conveyed by him will benefit their own souls.  Those who reject it will only hurt themselves ultimately.  The Quran has made it abundantly clear that after the Prophet, the life will go on and generations will keep passing by and everyone will be responsible for their own deeds.  Allah never entrusted the Prophet to find a successor, and the Prophet knew very well that that's not his responsibility.  The Prophet already had enough to take care of during his lifetime until his last days.  He was only focused on that.

I agree, there's no talk of this Ghadeer story in the entire history of Madinah.  But that bit about Arabs traditionally being unwilling to entrust responsibility to an inexperienced person is needless to say.  Regardless what the Arabs traditionally accepted or not, there's NO such concept as a hereditary system of governance described nor implied in the Quran.  The Quran makes it clear that the Prophet came only as a warner, his duty was to convey the Message of the Quran, and then one day he would pass away.  Those who accept the Message conveyed by him will benefit their own souls.  Those who reject it will only hurt themselves ultimately.  The Quran has made it abundantly clear that after the Prophet, the life will go on and generations will keep passing by and everyone will be responsible for their own deeds.  Allah never entrusted the Prophet to find a successor, and the Prophet knew very well that that's not his responsibility.