Bismillah,

One of the brothers wanted me to read TabaTabae’s Tafseer of verse [5:3] famous as “The verse of completion of religion”, and al-TabaTabaei was basically saying that this was revealed about the Imamah, and that this is the last order in Ghadeer Khum and that Allah completed the religion and completed his favor on us by revealing Imamah.
He also said that this can’t be about Hajj or anything else, it has to be about something BIG and NEW and that when this verse descended on that day the Kouffar lost hope as the verse says as they thought that after the Prophet (SAWS) dies there will be no Imams or successors to carry his message.

This guy apparently forgot that according to him Verse 5:55 was revealed about Imamah, and that verse 5:83 was also revealed about Imamah, and that verse 4:83 ALSO was revealed about Imamah, and that verse 4:214 about when the prophet (SAWS) was told warn his close relatives and he appointed ‘Ali (ra) as his successor and brother and inheritor and caliph after him based on the narrations that al-TabaTabaei himself quoted, and many other verses which they claimed were revealed about the Imams and the Imamah… That’s all setting aside the countless narrations, such as this one

أَحْمَدُ عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ أَبِي نَصْرٍ عَنِ الرِّضَا ( عليه السلام ) قَالَ سُئِلَ عَنْ قَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ وَ اعْلَمُوا أَنَّما غَنِمْتُمْ مِنْ شَيْ‏ءٍ فَأَنَّ لِلَّهِ خُمُسَهُ وَ لِلرَّسُولِ وَ لِذِي الْقُرْبى فَقِيلَ لَهُ فَمَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ فَلِمَنْ هُوَ فَقَالَ لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ ( صلى الله عليه وآله ) وَ مَا كَانَ لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ لِلْإِمَامِ فَقِيلَ لَهُ أَ فَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ كَانَ صِنْفٌ مِنَ الْأَصْنَافِ أَكْثَرَ وَ صِنْفٌ أَقَلَّ مَا يُصْنَعُ بِهِ قَالَ ذَاكَ إِلَى الْإِمَامِ أَ رَأَيْتَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ( صلى الله عليه وآله ) كَيْفَ يَصْنَعُ أَ لَيْسَ إِنَّمَا كَانَ يُعْطِي عَلَى مَا يَرَى كَذَلِكَ الْإِمَامُ .

Kafi 1/544:

In which the Imam al-Reda narrated that they asked the Prophet (SAWS) about this verse:
{And know that anything you obtain of war booty – then indeed, for Allah is one fifth of it and for the Messenger and for [his] near relatives and the orphans, the needy, and the [stranded] traveler, if you have believed in Allah and in that which We sent down to Our Servant on the day of criterion – the day when the two armies met. And Allah, over all things, is competent.} (8:41)
They asked who should we give this to? He replied The share of Allah is to the Prophet (SAWS) and the share of the Prophet (SAWS) is to the Imam ect… Then he starts telling them what to give the Imam and so on, This means that they knew who the Imam was otherwise how can they give him if they don’t know him? which means that Imamah was revealed before Ghadeer, which means That according to al-TabaTabaei the Kouffar should have lost hope ages ago as it was common knowledge before Ghadeer that there would be successors and Imams.

And that is Sahih according to Majlisi and Behbudi

‘Ali (ra) refuted al-TabaTabaei about the Tafseer of verse [4:59] in Nahjul-Balagha, this is the verse:

((O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result.)) [4:59]

Basically what al-TabaTabaei’s theory is, that this verse implies linguistically that “those in authority” must be infallible and that the ruler must be appointed by Allah otherwise why would the people obey him?

The Islamic sunni interpretation is that the obedience of the ruler is tied with his obedience to Allah and his Prophet, because the ruler is not infallible, and that if the believers disagree with each-other OR with the ones in authority then the judge between them is the Quran and the pure Sunnah.

Listen to ‘Ali’s (ra) understanding and interpretation in the “peak of eloquence” of al-Radi, in Letter #53 to al-Ashtar al-Nakha’ee whom he had appointed as the ruler of Egypt:

“Maalik! You must never forget that if you are a ruler over them than the caliph is the ruler over you and Allah is the Supreme Lord over the caliph. And the reality is that He has appointed you as the governor and tested you through the responsibility of this rulership over them.”

And then he says:
“When you are faced with problems which you cannot solve or with a difficult situation from which you cannot escape or when uncertain and doubtful circumstances confuse and perplex you, then turn to Allah and the Holy Prophet (s) because Allah has thus ordered those whom He wants to guide: “Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger” The way to turn to Allah is to act diligently according to the clear and explicit orders given in His Holy Book and to the turn to the Holy Prophet (s) means to follow those of his Sunnah about which there is no doubt and ambiguity and which have been generally accepted to be correctly recorded.”

BUT GUESS WHAT!? I had a really hard time finding this quote in the sermon do you know why? Because the Shia removed this verse from Nahjul Balagha in the English translation!!! Here is the Arabic version of Nahjul-Balagha from the original book of al-Radi from Sistani’s official website, it says:

وَارْدُدْ إِلَى الله وَرَسُولِهِ مَا يُضْلِعُكَ مِنَ الْخُطُوبِ(1)، وَيَشْتَبِهُ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ الاْمُورِ، فَقَدْ قَالَ اللهُ سبحانه لِقَوْم أَحَبَّ إِرْشَادَهُمْ: (يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الاْمْرِ مِنْكُمْ فَإنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْء فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللهِ وَالرَّسُولِ)، فَالرَّدُّ إِلَى اللهِ: الاْخْذُ بِمُحْكَمِ كِتَابِهِ(2)، وَالرَّدُّ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ: الاْخْذُ بِسُنَّتِهِ الْجَامِعةِ غَيْرِ الْمُفَرِّقَةِ.

And here is the link: Nahjul-Balagha by al-Radi from Sistani’s official Website

Whereas I have checked the English Shia website “al-Islam” and their other website “nahjulbalagha”and This is what I got instead:

“When you are faced with problems which you cannot solve or with a difficult situation from which you cannot escape or when uncertain and doubtful circumstances confuse and perplex you, then turn to Allah and the Holy Prophet (s) because Allah has thus ordered those whom He wants to guide. The way to turn to Allah is to act diligently according to the clear and explicit orders given in His Holy Book and to the turn to the Holy Prophet (s) means to follow those of his orders about which there is no doubt and ambiguity and which have been generally accepted to be correctly recorded”

Where is the verse!? are the Shia afraid of ‘Ali’s (ra) Tafseer and interpretation of that verse because it contradicts their beliefs in infallibility of the rulers and their understanding of how Allah appoints leaders???

Check the link and see for yourself: Sermon #53 from nahjulbalagha.org