It is therefore clear that no ruling was revealed at Ghadīr Khumm at that time to establish any new prescription, whether concerning Alī or anyone else (1)—neither his imamate nor anything else.

However, the hadith concerning allegiance (2) was narrated by al-Tirmidhī and by Ahmad in his Musnad from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—who said:

“Whoever has me as his ally has Alī as his ally.” (3)

As for the addition—namely (4) his words, “O Allah, support whoever supports him and oppose whoever opposes him...” and so forth—there is no doubt that it is fabricated.

Al-Athram reported in his Sunan that al-Abbās asked Ahmad about Husayn al-Ashqar, who had narrated (5) two reports. One of them (6) was the statement (7) addressed to Alī: “You will be called upon to disavow me, so do not do so”; and the other was: “O Allah, support whoever supports him and oppose whoever opposes him.” Abū Ubayd Allāh emphatically rejected this and had no doubt that both reports were fabrications.

Likewise, the words, “You have a greater claim upon every believing man and woman,” are also fabricated.

As for the words, “Whoever has me as his ally has Alī as his ally,” they are not found in the Sahih collections (8), though scholars have transmitted them. There has been disagreement over their authenticity, and it has been reported that al-Bukhārī, Ibrāhīm al-Harbī, and a number of hadith scholars criticized them