Who are Ahl e Bait-2

8/7/2019 Who are Ahl e Bait-2

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proven is: the twelve imaamsare masum (infallible). It would be really irrationalto believe that Allah forgotto certify

the future twelve in the Holy Quranas we see thatQuran repeatsthe basic beliefsso often. Itleaves no doubtin our

mindsthat weve to follow the ProphetMuhammad. It gives us no roomto think bad aboutthe Sahaba (companions).

Amazingly, Quran gives no direct, in-directinformation oftwelve infallible leadersto come. So, the shiaas did come up

withaproof fromthe Holy Quran. ItisAyah Number 33 fromSurah Al Ahzaab. In this writing welltry to understand

whatQuranisactually saying thisAyah, asthisAyahiscommonly quoted by Shiaas while debating withSunnis.

And stay quietly in your houses, and make nota dazzling display, like that ofthe former Times of Ignorance; and

establish regular Prayer, and give regular Charity; and obey Allahand His Messenger.And Allah only wishes to remove

all abomination from you, ye members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless.(Surah Al Ahzaab 33:33)

Discussion A Where are the twelve Imaams mentioned?

By no direct or indirectmethod oflanguage isthis Ayah referring to the infallibility oftwelve imaamsto come. We can

find lots of debates between sunnisand shiaasasto who Ahle-Baitare and whatis referred to asAhle-Baitin this Ayah,

butsometimes we forgetthat even if we for the sake ofargumentagree withthe Shiaasthatthis Ayah directly refersto

Ali, Fatimah, Hasanand Hussain, but by no stretch of explanation can they bring the numeric12in the equation. Its

againstthe Sunnah of Allahto mention suchan important beliefin sucha vague way. Ifthe shiaas believe thisAyah

refersindirectly to allthe descendants ofthe Hasanand Hussain, than they willputthemselfin the trouble ofproving

the infallibility ofallthe rapists, drinkers, murdersin history who were known to be Syeds. This willalso putthemin the

toughtask ofproving Syed Yusuf RazaGillaniassinless, which Imsure theyll never wishto.

Discussion B Does this Ayah actually refer to infallibility?

Shiaashave not only misconstrued this verse to the extentthatthey have made the word ahle-baitexclusivelyapplicable to `AIiand Fatimahand their children to the exclusion ofthe holy wives (discussed ahead), buthave gone

even further and concluded wrongly fromits words"Allah only intends to remove uncleanliness from you and purify

you completely", that'Aliand Fatimahand their children are infallible like the Prophets of Allah. The termRijsis

repeated many atimesin the Holy Quran for differentmeanings. They say thatRijs (uncleanliness) implies error and sin,

and, as Allahsays, ahle-baithave been purified ofthis.

Point # 1: The words ofthe verse do notsay that uncleanlinesshas been removed fromthemand they have been

purified. Butthe wordsare to the effect:"Allah intends to remove uncleanliness from you and purify you

completely.Point # 2: The contextalso does nottellthatthe objecthere isto mention the virtuesand excellences of

the Holy Prophet'shousehold. On the contrary, they have been advised here whatthey should do and whatthey shouldnot, because Allahintendsto purify them. In other words, they have been told thatifthey adopted suchand suchan

attitude and way oflife, they will be blessed withcleanliness, otherwise not.

Point # 3:However, ifthe words"Allahintendsto remove uncleanliness from you ..."are taken to mean that Allahhas

made theminfallible, then is no reason why allthe Muslims who performtheir ablutions before offering the Prayer are

notheld asinfallible, because aboutthemalso Allahsays:"But Allah wills to purify you and complete His blessings

upon you."(Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:6)


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Discussion C What is referred to asAhle-Baitin theAyah?

Point # 1: Shiaasbelieve thatthe termAhle-Baitused in the Ayah refersto Ali, Fatimah, Hasan, Hussain and

their descendants. Butatthe same time they use the Ayahto prove the infallibility ofthe twelve imaams. So, the same

Ayah refersto allthe descendants ofAhle-Baitand it doesnt refer to all but only the twelve, and they decide whether it

refersto twelve or allthe descendantsaccording to the situation athand.

Point # 2: Fromthe contextitsproven easily thatthose whomthe Quran is directly addressing when using the term

Ahle-Baitare the wives ofRasulullah. Im nottrying to prove here that Fatimah, Ali, Hasan and Hussain arenotincluded in theAhle-Bait. Rather, Imhighlighting the factthat Quran directly addressestheAzwaaj e Mutahiraat,

the UmmahatulMomineen when using the termAhle-Bait, and Fatimah, Ali, Hasanand Hussainare included as wellas

evident fromthe narrationsthat will be mentioned ahead. Itis worthmentioning that notallthe Sunnicommentators

(mufasireen) of Quran have mentioned wives ofRasulullah under the termAhle-Bait. The reason for that being an un-

ignorable influence ofShiaabeleifsin some of our discussions, like the Shiaa version ofKarbalaand also the termAhle-

Bait.

Ibn e Kathirsaysin the explanation oftheAyah

Thisisasolid proofthatthe wives ofRasulullahare included in the people ofthe househere, because they are the

reason for the revelation ofthis Ayah

Zamakhsarisays

In itthere isaclear proofthatthe wives ofRasulullahare from the people ofhishouse

Point # 3: ThisAyah, theAyaatbefore itand theAyahafter itallare addressing the UmmahatulMomineen directly. Itis

very toug

hto be

lieve

thatQuran

sudden

lycha

ngedth

ea

ddress

ee with

out

even usi

ngth

e word.

This

is

simpl

y not

compatible withthe style of Quran. Itislikely that Quran included a broad termthatincluded othersthan the

UmmahatulMomineen, but, to believe thatit doesntinclude UmmahatulMomineenis very toughto prove.

Point # 4: Literal Meaning of

Itismentioned in Lisaabul Arab: , the people ofhome are its residents. The word is used very

commonly in Arabic referring to his wife. Itissaid in Arabic , meaning so and so became one witha wife. Itis

also used in hindi/urduin the same sense: gharwali and infarsias ahlekhana.

A very important rule ofTafseeristhataportion of Quran elaborates other portion. The word only appearsat

one more place in the Holy Quran and there itis used for the Sarah (the wife of Ibrahim ) and forIbrahim . Atthattime Sarah had no child so we cantsay thatit directly addressed the children as well.

The veryAyahthat Im referring isto the one where angelscome and give her glad tiding ofachild in her old-age:

They said:"Dostthou wonder at Allah's decree? The grace of Allahand His blessings on you, o ye people of the house!

for He isindeed worthy ofallpraise, full ofall glory!" (Surah Hud 11:73)

Point # 5: The Quran usesthe word (and) atthe beginning oftheAyah # 34 whichprovesthatitis related to what was

being said earlier.Al-Qurtabisaysin hisTafseer: the correctthing isthat is related to what was

before it.


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Clarification: Why does Quran use masculine?

Shiaascholarsargue thatifAhle-Baitrefersto theAzwaaj(wives) ofRasulullah directly then why it uses

the masculine term for them. Somehow who knowsarabic grammar can easily make-outthat just because Quran uses

the masculine term we cant conclude for certain thatthose referred to are allmasculine too.

(i) Ar-Raazisaysin the TafseerofthisAyah:The reason for masculine addressing (tazkeerulKhitaab) istheword (Ahl) and (Ahl) ismasculine . The point raised by Imam Raaziis very valid because the word

is used at one more place in the Holy Quran and again withamasculine address.

, thisisin Surah Hud11:73.

(ii) In Arabicpluralmasculine is used to address women out of respect. There are numerous examples ofitinahadithand even in the Holy Quran. Justacouple ofAyaatbefore this Ayahin Ayah # 31: ,itshould be when addressing females. There are narrations quoted in Bukhariwhichtell usthat

Prophet Muhammad used to ask Aisha when she wasill, thisisan example ofsimilar use. So, using a

masculine plural for feminine iscommon in Arabic. The famous word which Prophet Muhammad said

to Khadijaisan example ofit. Itisthere in ahadith, Quran and in the old Arabicpoetry. I can give tens of

examples for it. For more details we can see the commentary ofTabarion thisAyah where has quoted

numerous examples from daily life for using pluralmasculine terms for addressing women.

(iii) Ifthose who are addressed are male and female then we also use masculine terms for addressing in Arabic.So, if we think thatAli, Hasanand Hussain are directly included then Quran can use masculine

for that reason. Thishas been elaborated by Tantawiin hisTafseer:

Allthe linguistagree Arabicagree to give priority to males over females when addressing acrowd of both

and so on

Clarification: Why doesnt Quran use people of the houses?

Few shiaascholarsargue thatifit refersto all ummahatulmomineen then the word used should be (the

people ofthe houses) because the wives of rasulullah used to live in separate hujraat().

Point # 1 Althoughummahatulmomineenlivesphysically in differenthujraat, butthey were part ofthe same home,

the home ofrasulullah.

Point # 2 is whichis used for bothpluraland singular both.

Clarification: The hadith of the cloak

There are various narrationsin which Prophet Muhammad wrappedAli, Fatimah, Hasanand Hussain under acloak and

recited the Ayah under discussion (Surah Al Ahzaab 33:33) and in some narrationshe also Oh Allah!

These are people ofmy home. Thishadithis very famousamongst Shiaasasthe Hadith ofcloak (), and they use it

to prove thatUmmahatulMomineenarenotincluded in theAhle-Bait. For us, these ahaadithcontain evidence that


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Fatimah, Ali, Hasan, Hussain are alsoincluded inAhle-Baitand UmmahatulMoimneenare of-course included by default.

The hadith ofthe cloak are narrated fromAisha, Umm e Salamah, Abdullah bin Abbas, AbiSaeed Al Khudri, Al- Bara

bin Aazib, Abdullah bin Jafar, Ans bin Malik, Abi Al Hamraa, Hassan bin Aliand Waathla .

Narration from Aisha

'A'isha reported that Allah's Apostle went out one morning wearing astriped cloak ofthe

black camel'shair thatthere came Hasan b.'Ali. He wrapped him under it, then came Husain and he wrapped him under

italong withthe other one (Hasan). Then came Fatimaand he took her under it, then came 'Aliand he also took him

under itand then said: Allah only desiresto take away any uncleanliness from you, O people ofthe household, and

purify you (thoroughpurifying).(Sahih Muslim, Kitab Al-Fada'il Al-Sahabah)

There are narrationsin which Aisha asked Rasulullah Am I included amongstthem and he replied that

Indeed You are on the good. Thisis nota No as Shiaasportray it, butitactually showsthatshe is on an even better

status, and thatis because she isthe directly part of Ahle-Baitas Quran includesthem, and for others Prophet

Muhammad made a duaaasitis evident from few narrations: . There isa narration from Sad bin

AbiWaqqasin the Al-Kubra of Nasai where he usesthe following words

Rasulullahmade duaa forAli, Fatimah, Hassan and Hussain: Oh Allahthese are the people ofmy home

There are various narrations fromSad bin AbiWaqqas whichsay the same thing, and the Prophet Muhammad made this

duaimmediately after theAyah was revealed.

Narration from UmmeSalamah

Sayyidah Umm Salamah reported thatthe Prophet putacloak over Hasan, Hussain, Aliand

Fatimahand prayed, O Allah, they are people ofmy house and closestto me. Remove fromthem eviland purify thema

perfectpurification. Umm Salamah (RA) submitted, I too am withthem, O Messenger of Allah! He said, Indeed you

are on good. (Jami Tirmidhi, KitabulManaqib, Authenticated by al-Albani)

There isa narration in the TafseerofAl-Baghawi() whichhas been authenticated by AbdurRazzaq Al-Mahdi which

hasthe following wordsin the reply to the question ofUmmeSalamah: , Indeed, Yes, if Allah wills.

In another narration in Tabarihe replied: ,Indeed you are frommy home.

And in many other narrations Prophet Muhammad gave her the same reply thathe gave Aisha: Indeed you are on

good or towards good

Also, to be noted thatthe ifthe thing isthe way Shiaasclaimthatonlythose who were in the cloak are amongstthe

ahle-bait, then how do they include the 12imaamsin them ?

Narrations regarding Wathla ( )

There are authentic narrationsin which Prophet Muhammad made the duaa: forAli, Hassan, Hussainand Fatimahand Wathla () asked Rasulullah Am I among your home (family) too? . Prophet Muhammad

replied And you are frommy family. Thishadithisin Masnad Ahmed and isauthentic. There are other narrations where

Prophet Muhammad included Salman Al FarsiinAhle-Baitas well, butthey are notauthentic. Thisalso provesthat

Rasulullah when doing duaato Allahto include the-four inAhle-Baitwasntlooking attheir genealogy alone.


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So, the conclusion we reachis:

1- UmmahatulMomineenare the onesaddressin Ayah 33:33 ofthe Holy Quran directly.

2- Ali, Fatimah, Hasanand Hussain are also included in theAhle-Baitbecause ofthe duaa ofthe

Rasulullah. So, hadith ofthe cloak isactually aduaa.

3- Hadithcannotabrogate a Quranic Ayahand asUmmahatulMomineenare the directaddressee ofAhle-Bait

according to Holy Quran; no hadithcan take them out ofthe list, no matter how authenticitis.

4- The face that Prophet Muhammad included other than hisprogeny in theAhle-Baitprovesthatthere are no

reserved seats for people just because oftheir blood-line.

Discussion # D -Darude Ibrahimiand the wordAal

Many Shiaas use the Darud e Ibrahimito prove their point regarding their lineagessupremacy or the infallibility oftheir

imaams, whichisactually almostimpossible to prove fromthe darood. You willcommonly listen to terminologieslike

Aal e Rasool, Aal e Muhammad, AalKisaa, Aal e Ataa amongstshiaas for this reason. We dont disagree that Aalhave a

specialposition in Islam, thatis why we make duaa for themin our Salah, but what we understand from is

different fromtheirs.

Allamaibn e Mansur AfreeqiMisriwritesin Lisaanul Arab: The ofaperson ishis, and the of Allahand his

Messenger are their friends (followers)...

The discussion will extend to severalpagesif I give examples for usage ofin Quran, hadithand common Arabic. Ill

briefly elaborate our understanding ofthe word .

:These are the wivesand the children of Prophet Muhammad.

An importantpointto note isthatin a narration in Bukharithe word (his wivesand hischildren) is used,

hence, explaining whatthe word is used to refer to directly.

: These include the son in law and grandchildren ofRasulullah.

: These include the guided followers ofRasulullah, who try their bestto follow himand hismission.

Once again, those who use itto prove the infallibility ofthe-twelve imaamsshould pointto us where the word 12is

hidden. And those who use ittoo generically should tell us whether they would wantto pray for YusufRazaGillanior

not.

Conclusion

In the end I would like to clarify thatthisis justan attemptto move towardsShiaa-SunniUnity and notahate speech. If

some Shiaa disagrees with what I said in thisarticle should kindly reply to thatin comments, butplease dontpick-up

the point of your choice only, but reply only if you have answer to allthe raised points. I would also requestthe

Shiaasto re-consider their views regarding the Sahaba (companions ofRasulullah) because Quran givesthema

certificate atmany placesin the Holy Quran. When you prove the infallibility ofthe-twelve throughso many U-turns

and their superiority throughindirectmeans, why do you speak about bad aboutthe Sahaba?

Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but)

compassionate amongst each other. Thou wilt see them bow and prostrate themselves (in prayer), seeking Grace

from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure. On their faces are their marks, (being) the traces of their prostration. This is their

similitude in the Taurat; and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it


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strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, (filling) the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result,

it fills the Unbelievers with rage at them. Allah has promised those among them who believe and do righteous deeds

forgiveness, and a great Reward.(Surah Al Fath 48:29)

The vanguard (of Islam)- the first of those who forsook (their homes) and of those who gave them aid, and (also)

those who follow them in (all) good deeds,- well-pleased is Allah with them, as are they with Him: for them hath He

prepared gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever: that is the supreme felicity.(Surah AtTawbah

9:100)

Also, Id be really gratefulifsome Shiaa repliesto these questions:

1- Whatare your views regarding BaqirMajlisi? (Dont reply to this question if you google to find out first who

BaqirMajlisiis)

2- Khomenimade separate chaptersagainst Umar and Abu Bakr in his book and said thatthey used

Quran justto attain power and even called theminfidels. If you dontspeak badly aboutthem both, then why

did Khomeniexpresshishatred so bluntly?

3- Whatis your understanding of Surah Al Fath 48:29, Surahat Tawbah9:100?

4- Do you really believe that Ali or Fatimah had enmity for Umar ? Ifso, then

why they married their daughter to him?

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Who are Ahl e Bait-2