when you yourselves are Arabs?”
They answered, “We heard the Messenger of Allah on the Day of Ghadīr Khumm say, ‘For whomever I am the mawlā, this man is his mawlā.’ ”
Riyāḥ continued: “When they left, I followed them and asked, ‘Who are these men?’
They said, ‘A group from the Anṣār, among them Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī.’

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah ⦗1⦘ said: “Sharīk related to us, from Ḥanish, from Rabāḥ ibn al-Ḥārith, who said: While we were sitting in the Rahbah with ʿAlī, a man arrived bearing the signs of travel and said, ‘Peace be upon you, my mawlā.’ They asked, ‘Who is this man?’ Abū Ayyūb replied, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah say:
‘For whomever I am the mawlā, ʿAlī is his mawlā.’ ”

Aḥmad ⦗2⦘ said: “Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; al-Rabīʿ—meaning ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ al-Aslamī—narrated to us; Ziyād ibn Abī Ziyād al-Aslamī told me: I heard ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib adjure the people, saying, ‘I adjure by Allah every Muslim who heard the Messenger of Allah speak on the Day of Ghadīr Khumm to stand and testify to what he heard.’ Twelve men who had fought at Badr then rose and bore witness.”

He (Aḥmad) ⦗3⦘ also said: “Ibn Numayr narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Malik narrated to us, from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Kindī, from Zādhān, that Ibn ʿUmar said: I heard ʿAlī in the Rahbah adjuring the people: ‘Whoever witnessed the Messenger of Allah on the Day of Ghadīr Khumm saying what he said, let him stand and testify.’ Thirteen men then rose and testified that they had heard the Messenger of Allah say:
‘For whomever I am the mawlā, ʿAlī is his mawlā.’ ”

He (Aḥmad) ⦗4⦘ further said: “Ḥajjāj ibn al-Shāʿir narrated to us; Shabābah narrated to us; Nuʿaym ibn Ḥakīm narrated to us; Abū Maryam—and another of ʿAlī’s companions—told me, from ʿAlī: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said on the Day of Ghadīr Khumm:
‘For whomever I am the mawlā, ʿAlī is his mawlā.’
He added: Thereafter the people said, ‘O Allah, befriend whoever befriends him and show enmity to whoever shows enmity to him.’ ”

This report is transmitted through numerous chains from ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him), and it also has multiple chains from Zayd ibn Arqam.

Ghundar narrated from Shuʿbah, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl: I heard Abū al-Ṭufayl reporting from Abū Maryam—or from Zayd ibn Arqam; Shuʿbah was uncertain—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
‘For whomever I am the mawlā, ʿAlī is his mawlā.’
Saʿīd ibn Jubayr said, “And I had heard it earlier from Ibn ʿAbbās.” Al-Tirmidhī ⦗5⦘ transmitted it from Bundār, from Ghundar, and commented: “Sound and uncommon (ḥasan gharīb).”

Imām Aḥmad ⦗6⦘ said: “Sufyān narrated to us; Abū ʿAwānah narrated to us, from al-Mughīrah, from Abū ʿUbayd, from Maymūn Abū ʿAbd Allah, who said: Zayd ibn Arqam, while I was listening, related:
We camped with the Messenger of Allah in a valley called Khumm. He ordered that the prayer be performed and he led it in the midday heat. Then he addressed us, and a cloth was spread over an acacia tree to shade the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from the sun. He said, ‘Do you not know—or do you not bear witness—that I have a greater claim on every believer than he has on his own self?’ They replied, ‘Indeed!’ He said, ‘So for whomever I am the mawlā, ʿAlī is…’