Verse of ikmal al-din
By contrast, Shia authorities are nearly unanimous that the verse of ikmal was revealed following the announcement of Muhammad about Ali at the Ghadir Khumm, after his Farewell Pilgrimage and shortly before his death in 632 CE.
In Shia sources, Muhammad received this revelation following his designation of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib at Ghadir Khumm to lead the nascent Muslim community after him.
[9][10][4] In particular, the former source adds that Muhammad repeated this statement three or four times and that his companion Umar congratulated Ali after the sermon, "You have now become mawla of every faithful man and woman.
[17] The perfection of Islam and the completion of blessing in the verse are interpreted as the banishment of idolatry from the pilgrimage in some reports by al-Tabari and al-Zamakhshari (d. 1144), another Sunni exegete.
[19] Some other Sunni commentators view the perfection of Islam and the completion of blessing as a reference to the rites of Hajj which were established by Muhammad in his Farewell Pilgrimage.
[21] Nearly unanimous,[16] Shia sources explain that the verse of ikmal was revealed to Muhammad after his announcement about Ali at the Ghadir Khumm on the return trip after the Farewell Pilgrimage in 632.
In Shia sources, the perfection of religion and the completion of blessing in the verse of ikmal followed the establishment of Ali's spiritual authority (walaya) over Muslims.
[17] Muhammad H. Tabatabai (d. 1981), author of the seminal Shia exegesis Tafsir al-mizan, argues in his work that 'today' in the verse of ikmal is the day of the Ghadir Khumm.
Tabatabai contends that the perfection of religion in the verse of ikmal is the guardianship (walaya) of Ali, as opposed to the closure of Islamic legislation, advanced by some Sunni scholars.
[21] Tabatabai elsewhere challenges the prevalent Sunni view by arguing that the perfection of Islam in this verse cannot refer to a minor occasion such as the promulgation of a religious injunction.
