Hadith of the position

"[1] The prominent Shia theologian al-Mufid (d. 1022) includes a more detailed response in his Kitab al-Irshad,"Go back to your position, brother," the prophet said to him [i.e., Ali].

[12]Most accounts of the expedition hold that Ali governed Medina in the absence of Muhammad,[13][10] including those found in the Sahihs by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhi.

Ibn Kathir also includes a report that Ali was left only in charge of Muhammad's family and not Medina, although he also acknowledges the opposite views in the Sahihs.

[24] In Shia and Sufi sources, Moses fulfills the function of prophecy (nubuwwa) and Aaron that of sainthood (walaya), as with Muhammad and Ali, respectively.

[26] As early as al-Kulayni, Shia authors have invoked the hadith of the position as evidence of the (usurped) right of Ali to succeed Muhammad.

[10] Similarly, the contemporary author Reza Aslan notes the succession of the previous prophets by their kin in the Quran and the analogy between Ali and Aaron in the hadith of the position.

The exclusion of Ali, says Aslan, reflected the Quraysh's fear of combining prophethood and caliphate in the Banu Hashim (Muhammad's clan), lest they would grow too powerful.

[29] A conversation to this effect between the Hashemite Ibn Abbas and the second caliph Umar (r. 634–644) is also cited by Wilferd Madelung (d. 2023) and Moojan Momen, two modern Islamicists.

[32] Connected with this hadith is also the Shia belief that their imams have inherited the prophet's esoteric knowledge and his functions, excluding only direct revelation.

[33] In particular, the divinely-inspired Shia imams are believed to be the interpreters par excellence of the inner dimension (batin) of the Quran, and these 'two weights' are said to never separate in the prophetic hadith of the thaqalayn (lit.

[36] Despite its Shia coloring, however, the hadith of the position has remained in Sunni sources, perhaps because it serves as an important piece of evidence for the finality of Muhammad in the chain of prophets.

[35] In response to Shia claims, Sunni scholars argue that the hadith of the position is irrelevant to Muhammad's succession because Aaron died before Moses.

[39] The Sunni scholar Siddiqi rejects the Shia interpretation of the hadith of the position, saying that it refers to the family ties between Muhammad and Ali rather than the caliphate.