Eid al Ghadir is named after the event in which Shias believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh), was appointed as the religious authority and leader after the Prophet by Allah (swt).
What is Ghadir?
The event of Ghadir is named after the place in which it took place, beside the pond (ghadir) in the area of Khumm which is located in the modern day city of Al-Juhfah in Saudi Arabia. The pond of Khumm is the place where people from different provinces and locations congregated and greeted each other before heading back to their respective towns and cities after performing the pilgrimage of Hajj.
On the 18th of Dhul Hijjah, the 10th year after Hijrah, after the first and last Hajj carried out by the Holy Prophet (pbuh), our beloved Prophet addressed the people in what is widely regarded as the last time in which he spoke to a large congregation of believing men and women. On the way back to Medina from Mecca, Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) ordered his companions and friends to stop at Ghadir Khumm. In this place, it is believed that the following Quranic verse was revealed and became the basis of the sermon which came thereafter: “Oh Apostle! Deliver what has been sent down to you from your Lord, and if you do not, you have not delivered His message (at all); and Allah will protect you from the people.” Surah Maedeh: Verse 67 It is believed that the final part of the verse shows how mindful the Prophet was of the people’s reaction upon delivering this final message, one that was so great that if he did not pass it on, it would be as if he had never delivered the message of Islam to the people.
The Sermon
After the revelation of the verse, the Prophet (pbuh) ordered for people leaving the Khumm area to return and for a makeshift pulpit to be installed so that he could be seen and heard by all.
The sermon given was as such: “Oh people, Allah the Most Kind the Omniscient has told me that no apostle lives to more than half the age of him who had preceded him. I believe that I am about to be called (to die) and thus I must respond. I am responsible and you are responsible, then what do you say?” They (the people) replied, “We witness that you have informed, advised and striven. May Allah bless you.”
The Prophet continued, “Do you not bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and Apostle, and that His Heaven is true, His Hell is true, death is true, the Resurrection after death is true, that there is no doubt that the Day of Judgment will come, and that Allah will resurrect the dead from their graves?” They said, “Yes, we bear witness.” He said, “Oh Allah, bear witness. ‘Oh people, Allah is my Lord and I am the lord of the believers. I am worthier of believers than themselves. Of whomsoever I had been Master (Mawla), Ali here is to be his Master. (Mawla). Oh Allah, be a supporter of whoever supports him (Ali) and an enemy of whoever opposes him (Ali).” After the people came to congratulate Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet (pbuh) continued to say: “Oh people, I will go ahead of you and you will arrive at my Pond (in Heaven) which is wider than the distance between Basra and San’a. It has receptacles as numerous as the stars, and two cups of gold and two of silver. I will ask you about the two weighty things that I have left for you when you come to me to see how you dealt with them.
The greater weighty thing is Allah’s book, the Holy Qur’an. One end is in Allah’s hand and the other is in your hands. Keep it and you will not deviate. That other weighty thing is my family (Ahlulbayt) and my descendants. The Most Kind the Omniscient had told me that both of them, would not separate until they come to my Pond.”
Source: themuslimvibe