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GHADIR AL-KHUM

Encyclopaedia of Ismailism by Mumtaz Ali Tajddin

The Prophet left Medina for performing his farwell pilgrimage on Saturday, the 25th Zilkada, 10. He reached Mecca on Wednesday, the 7th Zilhaja, 10, and performed the pilgrimage. He left Mecca on 14th Zilhaja, 10. His caravan reached a little before noon to a pond (ghadir), known as Khum, on 18th Zilhaja, 10/March 16, 632. It is situated about 3 miles north-west of Mecca in the heart of the desert, called Sahara'i Huja, about 3 miles from the town, al-Jahfa. The waters from which it was formed came from a spring, which rises in a valley, and from it the flowed to the sea about six miles away, along a valley which was also called Khum; the name is no longer in use. As the place was frequently watered by rain, there were bushes and thorn trees, which provided large shady areas around the mosque, built in honour of the Prophet between the pond and the spring. The climate there was very hot and unhealthy, and the inhabitants, belonging to the Khuza'a and Kinan tribes, who in any case were not numerous, finally abandoned the region because of fevers, which afflicted them and the lack of pasturage. The town al-Jahfa was a junction from where the routes for Medina, Egypt, Syria and Iraq radiated in different directions. On its border is a pond (ghadir) with a vast open plain, embosomed with trees and bushes, which had been swept off. Under the shade of two trees, a big pulpit for the Prophet was erected with the camel-saddles. Here, the Prophet received the Koranic revelation (5:67), and declared Ali bin Abu Talib as his successor.


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