Umar was the first to clasp the hand and swear allegiance to Ali at Ghadir -e-Khum

A renowned historian lbne Khawand Shah (deceased 903 A.H.) on page 173 of the First Volume of his book `Rawzatus Safaa' and yet another famous historian, Ghias-liddin (deceased 942 A.H.) on page 144, volume III of his great presentation, ` Habibus Siyar' write, "When the meeting held under the serene and blissful atmosphere of the Revelation ended, the Holy Prophet made Imam Ali sit in a specially pitched tent and ordered the Muslims to proceed group by group and congratulate Imam Ali for his succession. When the males leave finished their greetings the Apostle of God ordered his revered wives to go and offer their congratulations.


According to the narration of a respectable companion of the Prophet, Zaid bin Arqam, immediately on receiving the orders of the Prophet the entire crowd with one voice said, "By all means we shall most willingly obey the mandate of God Almighty and His Apostle". Later all present moved forward towards Imam Ali bin Abi Talib. Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, Talha and Zubair were first to clasp the hand of Ali and swear allegiance.
 

They were followed by the Muhajirs and Ansars one by one, by the rest of the congregation who swore allegiance and congratulated Ali on his designation as Commander of the Faithful. This grand celebration continued for full three days. 

(Kitabul Wilayah, by Mohammad bin Jarir Tabari, deceased 310 A.H.).

Abu Hamid Ghazali (deceased 505 A.H.),describes the words which Umar bin Khattab uttered at the time of greetings and they are, as follows, "Excellent! How fortunate you are O father of Hasan! Now you have become my master as well as of all the Muslims". 

(`Sirrul Alamain' page 9).

Hafiz Abu Bakr Khateeb Baghdadi (deceased 463 A.H.) has also quoted these words in his book on history. If we go through the pages of history, biography, Hadith, Tafseer and Arabic literature we shall find that this great festival of the Islamic world was begun with the recitation of an ode of Hassan ibne Thabit, who was an esteemed poet of the court of the Prophet and died in 54 A.H.

Hafiz bin Abdullah Marzbani (deceased 378 A.H.) with reference of the companion of the Prophet, Abu Saeed Khudri, writes in `Mirqatush Sher' that when the Apostle of God had declared the proclamation of Ali's succession Hassan ibne Thabit said, "O Messenger of God! I have composed a few couplets in praise of Imam Ali and I beg you to allow me to recite them". The Holy Prophet said, "Alright, you can recite". On getting this permission Hassan began to recite his ode.

The opening couplet was:

` Yunadihumu Yawmal Ghadeer Nabiyyuhum
Be-Khummen Wasma' Bir-Rasule Munadiya'

This impromptu and befitting poem of the Prophet's court has reached us through thirtyeight most authentic and correct literary sources. One very important phase of Hassan's ode is that this renowned literary figure of the seat of Islam gave such an apt. elucidation and explanation of the word `Mawla' that it presents a vivid and clear meaning of this expression. The result was that this explanation left no room for any conjectures on the part of the non-Arab critics and thus put stop to any possible adverse effects on the goodliterary taste-

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