e the Prophet chose Ali for the "'general guardianship' of the people and made Ali, like himself, their 'guardian'" (Tabataba'i 40). This hadith was disputed and some historians have claimed that it was invented later by followers of Ali. They offer numerous explanations of why Muhammad could not have made such a statement. Vaziri points out, for example, that for Muhammad to have made such a declaration would be contrary to the Arab custom of leaving such decisions to the acclamation of the people (74). Shi'ites, however, claim that the evidence of this hadith was suppressed by those who were in favor of the Umayyads' rule. But the hadith in which Muhammad emphasized that the leader of Islam must be a member of his own Quraysh tribe was never suppressed because almost all the claimants were validated, in part, by the remark (Vaziri 75).
Although the Ghadir Khumm hadith could not be proved, the claims of Ali were still very strong and should be viewed separately in terms of relationship, closeness to Muhammad, and earliness of conversion. Despite the importance of these points, however, on a purely practical level the rivalry between two clans of the Quraysh, the wealthy and powerful Beni Umaiya and the Pr
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