and ʿAlī said to him, “Shall I go out with you?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “No.” ʿAlī burst into tears, whereupon he said, “Are you not content to occupy toward me the station of Hārūn toward Mūsā—except that you are no prophet? It is not proper for me to depart unless you remain as my deputy.”

He also related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him, “You are the walī (guardian) of every believer after me.”

He closed every doorway opening into the mosque except the door of ʿAlī, so he would enter the mosque even while in a state of janābah, for that was his only path.

He further said, “Whoever counts me as his mawlā (protector), then ʿAlī is his mawlā.”

And he said, “Allah has informed us in the Qur’an that He was pleased with the Companions beneath the tree; He knew what was in their hearts. Have we ever been told that He later became displeased with them?”

He added: The Prophet of Allah ﷺ said to ʿUmar—when ʿUmar requested, “Grant me permission to strike the neck of this hypocrite,” meaning Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah—(1) “And what makes you sure? Perhaps Allah has already looked upon the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you wish, for I have forgiven you.’”

Al-Tirmidhī (2) transmitted part of this through Shuʿbah, from Abū Balj Yaḥyā ibn Abī Salīm, and regarded it as gharīb.

Al-Nasāʾī (3) likewise recorded part of it from Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā, from Yaḥyā ibn Ḥammād, with the same chain.

[The version of ʿImrān]
Al-Bukhārī said in al-Tārīkh: “ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Riyāḥī narrated to us; Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, from his father, from Manṣūr, from Ribʿī, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn. He said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, ‘I shall surely hand the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and whom Allah and His Messenger love.’ He then summoned ʿAlī, who was suffering from an eye ailment; he spat into his eyes and gave him the banner, and thereafter he never turned his face aside nor complained of them again.”

Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī likewise narrated it from Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm—[from] Abū Mūsā al-Harawī—from ʿAlī ibn Hāshim—from Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī—from Manṣūr—from Ribʿī—from ʿImrān, and so on.

Al-Nasāʾī (4) also brought it out through ʿAbbās al-ʿAnbarī, from ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, with that same chain.

[The narration of Abū Saʿīd on the matter]
Imām Aḥmad (5) said: Muṣʿab ibn al-Miqdām and Ḥujayn ibn al-Muthannā narrated to us; they said: Isrāʾīl narrated to us; ʿAbd-Allāh ibn ʿiṣmah narrated to us; I heard Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī say: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ took the banner, shook it, and then said, ‘Who will take it, fulfilling its due right?’ A certain man came forward and said, ‘I will.’ He said, ‘Proceed.’ (6) Another man then came and said, ‘I will.’ He said, ‘Proceed.’”