[204] Then he said: And from the book of Fada'il of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and the hadiths of Abu Bakrah and ibn Malik, and Ibanat ibn Battah, and Kashf of al-Tha'labi, from al-Bara' ibn 'Azib, he said: We approached along with the Messenger of Allah, His glory is mighty, until we were at Ghadir Khumm, so he called: The prayer is a gathering, and it was swept under two trees, and he gathered from the branches of the trees and made it a pulpit, and he said: O people, what do you witness?, they said: You have delivered and advised, so Allah rewarded you on behalf of us with the best of what He rewarded a prophet on behalf of his nation, he said: Am I not closer to the believers than their own selves?, they said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah, so he took by the hand of 'Ali and raised them until the whiteness of their armpits appeared and he said: Whosoever I was his master, then this 'Ali is his master, this is my master and your master and the master of every believer, male and female, O Allah, befriend whosoever befriends him, and oppose whosoever opposes him, and support whosoever supports him, and desert whosoever deserts him,