Interpreting Ghadir event as a message of “friendship” and its repercussions: with special emphasis on Sunni resources

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Graduated from Howze school of islamic studies in Qom, researcher for Almustafa international university, Qom, Iran.

2 Associate professor, Almustafa University, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

The current study aims to outline the conclusions drawn from interpreting
Ghadir event as a message of “friendship”. The above interpretation is
desired and often arrived at by Sunni scholars.The present research seeks
to analyze and explore this interpretation from Ghadir event. In so doing,
it adopts a descriptive-exploratory approach and employs a qualitative
research design to answer this core question: what repercussions or effects
will interpreting Ghadir as a message of friendship can have on the
beliefs of people? A thorough analysis of Suuni writings on Ghadir
event reveals that most Muslims in the era of Imam Ali not only had no
friendship towards him but also attacked his abodence, fought him at
wars and cursed him even eighty years after his martyrdom. Based on
these very same resources, it can be said that being at war with Imam
Ali, enmity towards him and cursing him has repercussions such as
hypocricy, sedition, corruption , straying from salvation and injustice of
companions. These repercussions are the pillars upon which the cult of
anti-Shias has been built.

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