“When the Prophet [s] stopped at the pond of Ghadir on his way back from the Farewell Pilgrimage - it was a very hot morning - he ordered for a platform to be built. Hearing the call for a congregational prayer, we gathered and he gave a strong sermon. He said: Allah has revealed to me: ‘O Apostle! Deliver what has been sent down to you from your Lord; and if you don't do it, you have not delivered His message; and Allah will protect you from the people.’ Jibril (archangel Gabriel) has informed me of my Lord’s command to stand up in this place and announce to all men, white and black that: 'Ali ibn Abi Talib is my brother, my vicegerent, my successor and the leader (Imam) after me. I asked Jibril to ask my Lord for exemption knowing that there are only a few who are pious and many who molest me and criticize me for being so close and so dedicated to 'Ali, calling me one who believes everything that he hears; Allah said about that: ‘ And they say: He is one who believes everything that he hears; say: A hearer of good for you.’ I could name them and point at them If I wished, but I will be kind to them and won’t. Allah will not settle for less than the announcement of 'Ali’s leadership. So, let it be known to you O people! Allah has installed him to you as a leader (wali) and an Imam and made obeying him incumbent upon everyone; his ruling is effective and his word is decisive. Cursed shall be the ones who disobey him, and God’s mercy shall be to the ones who are true to him. Listen and obey; Allah is your guide and 'Ali is your leader. After him and until the Day of Resurrection, the leadership will be for his sons, my posterity. Nothing is forbidden unless Allah, them, and I say so. Allah knows everything and I taught him everything Allah taught me. So, hold on to him and do not reject him for by Allah he is the one who guides to the right way and acts according to it. Allah will never forgive the one who reject him and will definitely punish him with an awful punishment forever and ever, for he is the best human after me as long as there is life on this earth. Cursed is the one who disobeys him. I am conveying to you what Allah told me through Jibril. ‘Let every soul consider what it has forwarded for the morrow’. Understand the decisive verses; do not follow the allegorical ones. No one can explain those to you but the one whose hand I am holding up. I am letting you know that for whoever I am his master, 'Ali is his master. It is Allah who commanded me to install him as a leader. Indeed, I have fulfilled my duty by clearly informing you. No one else is permitted to claim leadership.” He then lifted him high up until his legs was at the same level as the Prophet’s knee and said: “ O’ people, this is my brother, my vicegerent, the retainer of my knowledge and my successor upon the believers and upon the interpretation of the Quran. [In another narration: O Allah! love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile to him; curse those who renounce him; be cross with those who deny him his right. O Allah! To clarify that it is in regards to 'Ali, you sent down: Today I have perfected for you your religion with his leadership. Therefore, the one who does not follow him, and his descendants of my grandchildren until Resurrection Day will be among those ‘whose works are vain and in the Fire they will abide’. Iblis (Satan) caused Adam (a) to depart from the Garden, despite him being the best, because of envy. So, do not envy him lest you make a mistake and your deeds become vain while you do not perceive. It is in regards to 'Ali that Sura “al-Asr” was revealed*. O‘ people! ‘ Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and in the Light which He sent down with him before We alter faces then turn them on their backs, or curse them as We cursed the violators of the Sabbath’. The Light from Allah is in me then in 'Ali then in his posterity down to al-Mahdi, the Qai’m. O people! There will be after me leaders inviting to the Fire; and on the Day of Judgment no help shall they find. Allah and I have nothing to do with them; they and their followers are in lowest depths of the Fire. ‘At that time God shall settle your affairs, you two armies’. ‘The flames of fire and smoke will be sent on you two, and then you will not be able to defend yourselves’. [The Hadith in “Diya' al-`Alamin”]

* On page 392, volume 6 of “Ad-Durr al-Manthur” Ibn Mardawayh relates from Ibn ‘Abbas that the verse: ‘Except those who believe and do good’, was sent down in regards to ‘Ali and Salman.