such as preparing distinctive foods, displaying decorations, and the like, so that this day remains on a par with all other days and possesses no special status whatsoever.

Likewise, there is another day in the middle of Rajab on which a prayer known as “the Prayer of Umm Dāwūd” (1) is performed; venerating that day has absolutely no basis in the Sacred Law.

The second category (2) comprises days on which an incident took place—just as incidents occur on countless other days—yet the occurrence of that event does not warrant turning the date into a recurring festival, nor did the early generations accord it any special reverence. One example is the eighteenth of Dhū l-Ḥijjah, the day on which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, delivered a sermon at Ghadīr Khumm on his return from the Farewell Pilgrimage. In that address he urged adherence to the Book of Allah and gave counsel concerning his Household, as related by Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ (3) on the authority of Zayd ibn Arqam (4).

Certain people of misguided passions then went to excess, claiming that the Prophet—after spreading a cloth for ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, and seating him upon a lofty cushion—explicitly appointed him to the caliphate. They recounted statements and actions that are known with absolute certainty never to have occurred, and alleged that the Companions colluded to conceal this explicit designation, usurped the legatee’s right, and thereby lapsed into grave sin and disbelief—save for a mere handful of them.