Saʿd related that he once witnessed ʿAlī standing on the pulpit and appealing to the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, saying, “Whoever heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the Day of Khumm …” Twelve men arose—including Abū Hurayrah, Abū Saʿīd, and Anas ibn Mālik—and testified that they had heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declare:

“Whomever I am his patron, ʿAlī is his patron. O Allah, befriend those who befriend him and oppose those who oppose him.”

This same report was transmitted by ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā from Hāniʾ ibn Ayyūb—who is reliable—from Ṭalḥah ibn Muṣarrif.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad said: “Ḥajjāj ibn al-Shāʿir narrated to me; Shabābah narrated to us; Nuʿaym ibn Ḥakīm narrated to us; Abū Maryam, together with another of ʿAlī’s close companions, related to me from ʿAlī that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said on the Day of Ghadīr Khumm:

‘Whoever’s patron I am, ʿAlī is his patron.’

He added, ‘Later the people appended the words: O Allah, befriend those who befriend him and oppose those who oppose him.’ Abū Dāwūd recorded the ḥadīth of al-Mukhdaj with this same chain.”

Imām Aḥmad also said: “Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad and Abū Nuʿaym—relating the same account—narrated to us; both said: Faṭr narrated to us, from Abū al-Ṭufayl, who reported:

‘ʿAlī gathered the people in the Rahbah—that is, the courtyard of the Kūfah mosque—and proclaimed, “I adjure by Allah everyone who heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the Day of Ghadīr Khumm say what he said, to stand and bear witness.” Many people stood and testified that when the Prophet had taken ʿAlī’s hand he said to the crowd:

“Do you know that I have a greater claim over the believers than they have over themselves?”

They answered, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He then declared:

“Whomever I am his patron, this man is his patron. O Allah, befriend those who befriend him and oppose those who oppose him.”’

“Afterward,” Abū al-Ṭufayl continued, “I departed with something unsettled in my heart and met Zayd ibn Arqam. I said to him, ‘I have just heard ʿAlī say such-and-such.’ He replied, ‘Why do you find it strange? I myself heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say that to him.’”

Imām Aḥmad recorded this in the Musnad of Zayd ibn Arqam, may Allah be pleased with him. Al-Nasāʾī also transmitted it through al-Aʿmash, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Abū al-Ṭufayl, from Zayd ibn Arqam, as previously cited.

Al-Tirmidhī likewise produced it, narrating from Bundār, from Ghundar, from Shuʿbah, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl, who said, “I heard Abū al-Ṭufayl relate—from Abū Surayḥah, or from Zayd ibn Arqam” (Shuʿbah was unsure)—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever’s patron I am, ʿAlī is his patron.” Ibn Jarīr also transmitted it through Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim, from Abū Nuʿaym, from Kāmil Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Yaḥyā ibn Jāʿdah, from Zayd ibn Arqam.