Hadith of position

Ibn Hisham (d. 218/833) ascribes to Muhammad that

Are you not content, Ali, to stand to me as Aaron stood to Moses, except that there will be no prophet after me?[1]

A slightly different wording of this hadith appears in the canonical Sunni collection Sahih Muslim.[1] This tradition is also found in the canonical Sunni works Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih at-Tirmidhi,[1] and Sunan Ibn Maja.[2] In particular, Musnad Ibn Hanbal includes ten different traditions containing the above sentence.[2] The hadith also exists with similar wordings in Shia sources, including the canonical Kitab al-kafi.[3]

The Hadith of Position is associated with multiple occasions, including the two pacts of brotherhood between Muhammad and Ali, one before and one shortly after the migration to Medina.[4][5] Muhammad also made this biblical analogy at Ghadir Khumm, as noted by Donaldson and Poonawala.[6][3]

Most frequently, however, the Hadith of Position is linked to the Expedition of Tabuk in 9-10/630-631 against the Byzantine Empire.[4] Muhammad is said to have left Ali in charge at Medina before leaving on his longest expedition.[7] Afterwards, rumors began to spread by the hypocrites (monafiqs), saying that Ali was left behind because he was a burden to Muhammad, according to the Sunni Ibn Hisham (d. 218/833). Upon hearing this, the account continues, Ali left Medina and caught up (possibly in al-Jurf)[8] with Muhammad, who reassured him, "Are you not content, Ali, to stand to me as Aaron stood to Moses, except that there will be no prophet after me?"[1]

The Shia al-Mufid (d. 413/1022) includes a more detailed response in his famous Kitab al-irshad.

"Go back to your position, brother," the prophet said to him. "Medina will only be properly looked after by myself and by you. You are my deputy (khalifa) among my family (ahl al-bayt) and in the place of my emigration and my people. Are you not content, Ali, that you have the same rank with regard to me as Aaron had with regard to Moses, except that there is no prophet after me?[9]

Most accounts of the expedition hold that Ali was the one left in charge of Medina,[10][7] including those found in Sahihs by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhi. Some Sunni authors place others in charge of Medina: Al-Halabi (d. 1044/1635) names three candidates, while Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373) and Mughulta'i (d. 762/1361) name two. In particular, Ibn Kathir includes an account that Ali was left only in charge of Muhammad's family and not Medina, though he also acknowledges the opposite view of the Sahihs.[10]

Related to this biblical analogy, Muhammad is said to have named the two sons of Ali and Fatima as Hasan and Husayn after the two sons of Aaron, namely, Shabbar and Shabbir.[11] Hyder writes that this connection is well-known today in South Asia,[12] and in Persian and Urdu literature, according to Abbas.[11]

The Quran and the rabbinic literature are replete with references to the special status of Aaron and his progeny, writes Miskinzoda.[9] In verses 20:29-32 of the Quran, Moses asks God to include his brother Aaron in his prophetic mission.[13] His prayer is answered by God, as evidenced by verses 20:36-42, 25:35,[9] and 28:35.[14] Aaron thus becomes the chosen associate of Moses in his prophetic mission and in revelation,[9][15] as described in verses 21:48-9 and 2:248.[15] In Hebrew Bible, Aaron also performs miracles and is entrusted with the esoteric knowledge of the scripture.[9]

Al-Shahrastani (d. 1153) argues that the descendants of Muhammad have special knowledge of the Quran, just as the descendants of Aaron possess a special version of the Torah.[32] In his commentary of Sahih Muslim, al-Nawawi (d. 676/1277) acknowledges the Shia implications of this hadith.[33] So do al-Halabi in his al-Sira and the contemporary Siddiqi in his edition of Sahih al-Muslim.[33] Despite its Shia coloring, the Hadith of Position nevertheless remains prominent in Sunni sources as one of the most important pieces of evidence supporting the finality of Muhammad in the chain of prophets.[32]

In response to the Shia claims, Sunni scholars argue that the Hadith of Position is irrelevant to Muhammad's succession because Aaron died before Moses.[34] The Shia Sharif al-Murtaza (d. 436/1044) counters that had Aaron survived Moses, the former would have surely succeeded the latter.[13] The Shia al-Kulayni adds that Moses' successor Joshua later designated the progeny of Aaron to succeed him instead of his own or Moses'. Al-Kulayni suggests that Joshua did so because it was the divine choice.[8]

The Sunni Siddiqi refutes the Shia interpretation of the Hadith of Position, saying that it refers to the family relationship between Muhammad and Ali rather than the caliphate. He argues, "Aaron was the cousin of Moses and so was the case with Ali and the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him)."[33] Alternatively, Miskinzoda notes that the Quran frequently refers to Aaron as a brother of Moses in verses 7:142, 19:53, and 28:25. In Jewish tradition, Exodus 6:20 similarly holds that Jochebed bore Amran (Imran) his sons Aaron and Moses.[35]

That Aaron was Moses' brother whereas Ali was Muhammad's cousin is a limitation of this biblical analogy for Miskinzoda. She suggests that the two pacts of brotherhood (mu'akha) between Muhammad and Ali partially addressed this limitation by emphasizing the closeness of the two men.[19]

• Nasr, S.H.; Dagli, C.K.; Dakake, M.M.; Lumbard, J.E.B.; Rustom, M., eds. (2015). The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780062227621.
• Rubin, Uri (1979). "Prophets and Progenitors in the Early Shīʿa Tradition". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 1: 41–65.
• Stewart, Devin J. (2013). "family". In Bowering, Gerhard; Crone, Patricia; Kadi, Wadad; Mirza, Mahan; Stewart, Devin J.; Zaman, Muhammad Qasim (eds.). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. Princeton University Press. pp. 167–70. ISBN 9780691134840.
• Poonawala, I.K. (1982). "ʿALĪ B. ABĪ ṬĀLEB I. Life". Encyclopaedia Iranica (Online ed.).
• Lumbard, Joseph (2006). "Prophets and Messengers of God". In Cornell, Vincent J. (ed.). Voices of Islam. Vol. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 101–22. ISBN 9780275987329.
• Hyder, Syed Akbar (2008). Reliving Karbala: Martyrdom in South Asian Memory. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190451806.
• Campo, Juan Eduardo, ed. (2009). "Moses". Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. pp. 482–4. ISBN 9781438126968.
• Donaldson, Dwight M. (1933). The Shi'ite Religion: A History of Islam in Persia and Iraḳ. AMS Press.
• Abbas, H. (2021). The Prophet's Heir: The Life of Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300252057.
• Madelung, W (1997). The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521646963.
• Momen, M. (1985). An Introduction to Shi'i Islam. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300034998.
• Miskinzoda, Gurdofarid (2015). "The significance of the ḥadīth of the position of Aaron for the formulation of the Shīʿī doctrine of authority". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 78 (1): 82. doi:10.1017/S0041977X14001402.
• Mavani, H. (2013). Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi'ism: From Ali to Post-Khomeini. Routledge. ISBN 9781135044732.
• Aslan, Reza (2011). No God But God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam. Random House. ISBN 9781407009285.
• Jafri, S.H.M (1979). Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam. London: Longman.
• Steigerwald, Diana (2008), "Twelver Shīʿī Taʾwīl", The Blackwell Companion to the Qurʾān, Blackwell Companions to Religion, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 373–385, ISBN 978-1-4051-7844-0

• The Hadith of the Analogy "You Are to Me Like Aaron to Moses"
• The Hadith of ‘Manzila’
• Peshawar Nights (Fifth Session, Tuesday night, 27th Rajab 1345 A.H.)