unbeliever, while the hypocrites were subdued and concealed their hypocrisy (1). There was no one among them who fought him, nor anyone whom the Messenger feared. It could therefore not have been said to him in those circumstances:

“Convey what has been revealed to you from your Lord. If you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people.”

(Surah al-Mā’idah: 67).

This demonstrates that what took place on the day of Ghadīr was not something he had been commanded to convey, like what he conveyed during the Farewell Pilgrimage. Many—or most—of those who performed Hajj with him did not return with him to Medina. Rather, the people of Mecca returned to Mecca, the people of Taif to Taif, the people of Yemen to Yemen, and the desert dwellers from the surrounding regions to their own territories. Only the people of Medina and those who lived near it returned (with him) (2).

Had what he mentioned on the day of Ghadīr been something he was commanded to convey, like what he conveyed during the Hajj, he would have conveyed it (3) during the Farewell Pilgrimage just as he conveyed other matters. Since he made no mention (4) during the Farewell Pilgrimage of any imamate or anything whatsoever relating to it, and no one has transmitted through any chain of transmission, whether authentic or weak, that he mentioned Ali’s imamate during the Farewell Pilgrimage—indeed, he did not mention Ali anywhere in his sermon (5), even though this was the general assembly at which he was commanded to convey the message publicly—it became clear that Ali’s imamate was not part of the religion he had been commanded to convey (6). Nor, indeed, were the Hadith of Loyalty (7), the Hadith of the Two Weighty Things, and similar reports cited concerning his imamate (8).