As for the clause, “befriend,” it is an additional wording supported by a strong chain. The merit ascribed to fasting on that day, however, is not authentic. By Allah, the verse was revealed only on the Day of ʿArafah, several days before Ghadīr Khumm—Allah, Most High, knows best.

Al-Ṭabarānī said (1): ʿAlī ibn Isḥāq al-Wazīr al-Iṣbahānī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī al-Muqaddamī narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf ibn Sinān (2) ibn Mālik ibn Mismāʿ narrated to us; Sahl ibn Yūsuf (3) ibn Sahl ibn Mālik—the brother of Kaʿb ibn Mālik—narrated to us, from his father, from his grandfather.

He said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned to Madinah after the Farewell Pilgrimage, he ascended the pulpit, praised Allah and extolled Him, and then said:

“O people,(4) Abū Bakr has never displeased me—not once. Recognize that for him. O people, I am pleased with Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ṭalḥah, al-Zubayr, Saʿd (5) and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, and with the earliest of the Emigrants; acknowledge this for them. O people, safeguard my standing with regard to my Companions, my in-laws, and my brothers-in-law; (6) let none of you be called to account by Allah for having wronged any of them. O people, restrain your tongues from [speaking ill of] the Muslims; when one of them dies, speak well of him.”