No one denies Ali ibn Abu Talib (peace be upon him)

At Mina, in the lofty tent of the Eminent Husain ibn Ali, (peace be upon him) more than 700 people gathered, all of whom had directly known one of the Companions of the Prophet (people who had directly known the Prophet); 200 of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (Allah’s greetings and salutations be upon him and his family) were there.

Husain ibn Ali, peace be upon him, rose to give a sermon to those present.

He praised Allah and then said:

“You have all seen, known, and witnessed how this arrogant, conceited, and overbearing man [Muawiyyah ibn Abi Sufyan] has treated us and our followers, the Shi’a. I want to ask you to testify to something. If I speak the truth, then affirm what I say; and if I lie, then say I am lying.

--I ask you, by the right that Allah has over you, and by the right that the Messenger of Allah has over you, and by the right of my blood relationship that I had with your Messenger, to go back to your towns and cities and report this meeting, and my words here, just exactly as it occurred, to our families and tribes, to those in whom you place your trust and confidence, without a doubt. Report my words to them! Then, invite them, and call them to this matter of Wilayat [Wilayat refers to the right of the divinely appointed successorship of Ali ibn Abu Talib, and his line of infallible descendents to the spiritual and worldly leadership of the Muslim nation].

I do this because I am worried that this matter will recede from awareness and disappear, that the truth will be destroyed and be overtaken by dishonesty and deceit.

In this speech, Imam Husain, peace be upon him, mentioned and fully explained every point in the Quran in which Allah referred to the Ahl Bait, the family of the Prophet. Without leaving out anything, he narrated whatever the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s greetings and salutations be upon him and his family, said about his father (Ali ibn Abi Talib), and his brother (Hasan ibn Ali), and his mother, (Lady Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet) [Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them all].

For every point from the Quran he mentioned, and every report from the words of the Prophet, the Companions answered, “Yes, O Allah, it is just as Husain said. We heard these things from the Messenger of Allah; we were present and witnessed these things.” And each of the Followers, the ones who directly knew a Companion, said, “O Lord, a Companion of the Prophet in whom we had trust and confidence had said the same thing to us.”

And Husain ibn Ali (peace be upon him) said: I ask you, by Allah, to report this matter to those persons whom you trust and can rely upon in religious matters.