For this reason, Aisha—may Allah be pleased with her—said:
“Whoever claims that Muhammad concealed any part of the revelation has lied, for Allah Most High says:
‘O Messenger, convey what has been revealed to you from your Lord. If you do not, then you have not conveyed His message.’
[Surah al-Māidah: 67]”
Yet scholars know as a matter of necessity that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—did not convey anything concerning Ali’s imamate. They have many lines of argument by which they establish this knowledge.
One of them is that this is the kind of matter people would have had every reason and incentive to transmit. Had it had any basis, it would have been transmitted, just as comparable statements from his hadith were transmitted—especially given the great number of baseless fabrications narrated concerning Ali’s virtues. How, then, could the truth [the true report] (1), which had been conveyed to the people, have gone untransmitted?!
Moreover, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—commanded his nation to convey what they had heard from him. It was therefore impermissible for them to conceal what Allah had commanded them to convey.
Another is that when the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—died, some of the Ansār proposed that there should be one leader from among them and another from among the Emigrants. This proposal was rejected (2), and they said, “Political authority belongs only to Quraysh.” On various occasions (3), the Companions related hadiths from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—stating (4): “The imamate belongs to Quraysh” (5).
(1) *Al-sidq* (“the true report”) is an addition in (M).
(2) (B) reads: *fa-ankarū* (“so they rejected it”).
(3) *Mawātina* (“occasions”) is omitted from (N), (S), and (B).
(4) *Fī* (“concerning”) is omitted from (B).
(5) The hadith is worded: “The imams are from Quraysh.” Al-Albānī cited it in *Irwā al-Ghalīl*, 2:298–301, hadith no. 520, and graded it sound. It has been transmitted from a number of Companions, including Anas ibn Mālik, Ali ibn Abī Tālib, and Abū Barza al-Aslamī. He then discussed its various chains of transmission. The lengthy hadith of Anas—may Allah be pleased with him—appears in *al-Musnad* (al-Halabī ed.), 3:129. It begins: “The imams are from Quraysh. They have rights over you, and you have corresponding rights,” followed by the remainder of the hadith. Al-Suyūtī attributed it to Ahmad in the *Musnad*, al-Nasāī in the *Sunan*, and al-Diyā al-Maqdisī; al-Albānī graded it sound. Al-Albānī also stated in *Irwā al-Ghalīl* that it was recorded by al-Tayālisī in his *Musnad*, Ibn Asākir, Abū Nuaym in *al-Hilya*, and al-Bayhaqī in his *Sunan*, among others. As for the hadith of Ali—may Allah be pleased with him—it begins: “The imams are from Quraysh. Their righteous are the leaders of their righteous, and their wicked are the leaders of their wicked,” followed by the remainder of the hadith. Al-Suyūtī stated that al-Bayhaqī and al-Hākim recorded it. Al-Albānī noted that it appears in *al-Mustadrak*, 4:75–76; al-Tabarānī’s *al-Mujam al-Saghīr*, p. 85; *Majma al-Zawāid*, 5:192; and other works. Al-Albānī also graded it sound. The hadith of Abū Barza appears in *al-Musnad* (al-Halabī ed.), 4:421, 424; al-Albānī also cited it in Ibn Abī Āsim’s *al-Sunnah*, nos. 1009 and 1029.