to be your Prophet’s brother?”

He replied, “Yes.” The Prophet then took him by the hand and went to the pulpit. He said, “O Allah, this man (1) is from me, and I am from him. Indeed, he stands in relation to me as Aaron did to Moses. Indeed, whoever has me as his mawlā has Alī as his mawlā (2).”

Alī then departed, and Umar followed him (3), saying, “Congratulations, congratulations, Abū al-Hasan (4)! You have become my mawlā and the mawlā of every Muslim.”’ (5) Thus, the bond of brotherhood (6) indicates his superiority, so he is the imam.”

The reply is, first, to demand verification of this report. He did not attribute this hadith to any book whatsoever, contrary to his usual practice of providing references—even though the books he normally cites furnish no valid proof. Here, however, he merely related it without a chain of transmission, following the practice of his predecessors, the Rāfidī shaykhs, who lie and narrate lies without chains of transmission.

Ibn al-Mubārak said:

“The chain of transmission is part of the religion. Were it not for the chain of transmission, anyone could say whatever he wished. But when questioned, he stops short and is left bewildered (7).”

Second: This hadith is fabricated according to the hadith scholars. No one knowledgeable about hadith doubts that it is fabricated (8), and its fabricator was an ignoramus who told a lie