JAWATAN KHALIFAH: ANALISIS MENGENAI KEHUJAHAN SHAYKH MUHAMMAD MARCI DALAM KARYANYA LIMADHA AKHTARTU MADHHAB AL-SHICAH

Abstract

One of the most complicated problems faced by muslim community shortly after the death of prophet Muhammad PBUH was who to be elected as the khalifah after him. Abu Bakr was appointed finally as khalifah after Muhammad PBUH. But the Shi‘ites persist in arguing that Ali is the most eligible persons to be khalifah.Shaykh Muhammad Mar‘i is one among the Shi‘ites who defend the claim of Ali’s eligibility to be khalifah in his seminal work, LimÄdhÄ Ikhtartu Madhhab al-Shī‘ah. His arguments are based on the interpretation of Äyat al-tablÄ«ghin Surah al-MÄ’idah as well as the hadith of GhadÄ«r Khum. This article is an attempt to appraise critically those arguments according to the rules of Qur’anic exegesis and the principles of hadits evaluation proposed by scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama‘ah. Based on these critical appraisal, the study reveals that his interpretation of Äyat al-tablÄ«gh  is simply inaccurate. There is clearly no indication in Äyat al-tablÄ«ghof Ali’s eligibility to be khalifah after the death of Muhammad PBUH. Moreover, the study also proves that the hadits of GhadÄ«r Khum is too weak to be used as the basis for the above-mentioned claim of the Shi‘ite.