Ghadir e Khumm

Yaum-ul-Ghadir Mubarak Everyone!

Eid-e Gadhir is celebrated with great rejoicing by Shia Muslims where they remember Prophet Muhammad's last instructions to the believers. Eid-e-Ghadir is one of the most important days of rejoicing for Shia Muslims around the world as that was the day our beloved Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.) declared Hazrat Ali's vicegerency at Ghadir e Khumm on his return from his last pilgrimage which is known in history as ‘Hajjat-ul-Wida'. This took place on the 18th of Zil-Hajj, in 632 AC, 3 months before his demise, when the Prophet and his followers were returning from his last pilgrimage. Prophet Muhammad announced that he had received an important revelation from Allah, and made a halt at the pond called Ghadir Khumm. A make-shift dias was erected from sadles, sticks and camel skins and as soon as all the pilgrims were gathered, he acted upon the revelation of Ayah-e Gadhir Khumm.

"O Messenger (Prophet), deliver to the people what has been revealed to you from your Lord and if you do not do so then you will not have delivered His message and Allah will protect you from the people. For God does not guide those who reject Faith."

Ya 'ayyuhar Rasoolu ballig maa unzila ilayka mir-Rabbik. Wa illam taf'al famaa ballagta Risaalatah. Wallaahu ya'simuka minan naas. Innal'laaha laa yahdilqawmal kaafiriin. Quran 5:67

The Prophet thence declared "'Man Kuntu Mowlahu fa haza Aliyun Mowlahu'  - 'He of whomever I am the Master-Lord (Mowla), Ali is his Master-Lord (Mowla). Prophet Muhammad had been discoursing all the other revelations among the muslims regarding the tenets and practice of the faith and about material life, and what could this verse of surpassing urgency mean and why was he admonished that if he did not reveal that message then his mission would be unfulfilled! Why had he been warned so strongly by Allah to deliver the message right away.

According to Shia tradition, Prophet Muhammad had been apprehensive about declaring his own son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abu Talib as his spiritual (Amirul Momineen, Commander of the believers) and secular (Caliph, King) heir, for fear that it would divide the nascent Muslim community. The rich Muslims were already jealous of Hazrat Ali's favored position with Prophet Muhammad (being married to Hazrat Fatima, being his cousin, appointed as Commander at many important battles) and in the above revelation God reassures him.

Al Muayyad talks about the Gadhir-e Khumm appointment in his Majalis as follows:

"It must be borne in mind that after the death of the Prophet the belief in the Wilayat of the Imams from his progeny is as important a part of our religion as the belief in the Wilayat of the Prophet in his lifetime. This is supported by the Tradition according to which the Prophet is reported to have said at ‘Ghadeer Khum', "Am I not more precious to you than your own-selves." This is an echo of the Qur'anic verse which says, "The Prophet is more dear to the ‘Momins' than their own-selves to them." It is said, that in response to this question by the Prophet, when the ‘Momins' said "Yes, you are dearer to us than our own lives", the Prophet said, "O God, be witness to their admission". After this he said, "‘Ali is the master of one who acknowledges me to be his master. O God love those who love ‘Ali. Help those who help ‘Ali. Desert those who desert ‘Ali. Let the truth accompany ‘Ali wherever he goes."

Audio Files of this declaration:
Man kunto Mowla Ali Mowla Manaqib by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - my favorite
Man qunto Mowla Snippet by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (.au file)

Prophet Muhammad felt great relief upon accomplishment of his mission of declaring Hazrat Ali his successor and legatee, wasi, and thereupon received the final revelation:

"This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion" Quran 5:3.

"Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is above their hands. Therefore whoever breaks (his faith), he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfills what he has pledged with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward." Quran (48:10)

"And, He it is who made the stars for you that ye maybe rightly guided by observing them in the darkness of the land and the sea; Indeed we have made plain the Signs for the people who can know. Qur'an (6:98)

The Holy Prophet (sas) said:

"As the stars in the sky are the source of guidance to the travelers, the Holy Ones of my Ahl al Bayt (the Imams descended from the Prophet's family) are the source of  guidance for the people. And, as the stars will remain in the sky until the day of judgment, the earth will never be without a Divine Guide from my Ahl al Bayt, that is an Imam".

Several verses in the Quran speak about the Light of God and Rope of Imamat which is a continuous chain (Hablillah) since Hazrat Adam, through all the Prophets including, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and after him through the hereditary Imams. The Mahdi - Savior that is referred to by all Prophets and religions is referred to the Noor of Allah, Living and present in Mowlana Shah Karim Al Hussaini Hazar Imam. Allahuma Salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ahl-e Muhammad.

In the Fatimid era, Eid-e Ghadir became an even more important holiday as the Imams were also the Caliphs and many blessings were showered on the community.

"Morale and enthusiasm were kept up by the observance of various festivals of general Islamic nature; particularly those of Shia and Ismaili. Fridays and the two Idd days were the days of festivity. Moreover, the Shia festival of Idd-e-Ghadeer al-Khumm and the 10th of Muharram were also observed.

Birthdays of the Ahl-e-Bayt (the Prophet's family) and the Imams and certain important dates of the year were celebrated. Imam took part in the celebrations of the festivals. Local festivals of secular origin, like the "Flooding of the Nile" and "Navroz" (beginning of spring) were also encouraged by the Imam. Imam al-Muiz would hold huge receptions at his palace; processions were taken through the town and the whole town was illuminated". - From History of the Imams

Everyday, we repeat in our prayers:"Guide us to the right path: The path of those whom Thou hast blessed." Quran (1:6-7)

Every time I read the Quran, I find more and more passages, pointing to this Grace of Allah, to the presence of the Everliving Guide.

"And say those who disbelieve: "why hath not a sign been sent down unto him (Muhammad)"; Verily thou art a warner and for every people there is a guide" Quran (13:7)

Inshallah, as I get more time, I'll gather these verses and present them here for your enjoyment and guidance. Also check the links below on Panj Tan Paak and Naad-e Ali page.

Please do take a few minutes to read my dear friend, Sakar Datoo's contribution to the Eid e Ghadir page.

O Mu’mins, may God help you in deriving the fullest benefit from the glories of the day. (Eid e Ghadir) (2) It was on this day that God conferred on us the highest of His favors. It was on this day that a great ordinance was issued by God which is the terminating point in the revelation of the religious laws. It was on this day that everything was made clear and the path was made smooth for the seekers of truth by the verse (of the Quran):

"I have perfected your religion. I have bestowed on you my highest favors. I have chosen for you Islam as a religion."

At first the Prophet was reluctant to proclaim the ordinance to the people who, he believed, were prejudiced against it. A Qur’anic verse made the matter clear and left no room for hesitation in his mind. The verse is as follows:

"0 Prophet, deliver the message which has been revealed to you by your Lord. If you fail to do so, it will mean that you have not delivered His message to the people. God will guard you against the people."

There is no sect in Islam which believes that the Prophet failed short of delivering the message of God in such matters as the performance of prayers, the payment of zakat, the fasting or going on pilgrimage, or taking part in the jehad. We know well that he exerted his utmost in making the people offer the prayers which one cannot perform without undergoing some physical discomfort. He preached to the people to pay the zakat and the people did pay, although one does not find it easy to part with money. The people were made to fast and we know well that in fasting one has to put up with unbearable heat and thirst. He exhorted the people to go on pilgrimage, which one cannot undertake without undergoing all sorts of hardships. He ordered the people to join the jehad and they did so at the risk of their lives.

In short, he made no hesitation in the delivering of God’s message in these matters. It was only the question of Wilayat (3) which worried him the most. It was the ordinance pertaining to the Wilayat, the allegiance to Ali and the Imams from amongst his descendants, that he was not prepared to proclaim. Finding the people burning with hatred and jealousy, the Prophet hesitated to deliver this ordinance to them and he was waiting for a favorable time when the above verses were revealed to clear his doubts. If one were to suggest that the Prophet was not hesitating to deliver this ordinance, this stand will make the revelation of the above verse meaningless and superfluous.

These verses, which lay emphasis on the delivery of the ordinance, prove to us that the faith in the Wilayat is the corner stone of our religion. If one does not believe in the Wilayat and discharges all the primary and secondary duties enjoined on us by our religion, the performance of these duties will not help him in the least. His good deeds minus the belief in the Wilayat will lead him to no other place than hell-fire. Belief in the Wilayat of the Prophet is a pivot. On this hinges the whole system of our religious laws. If one has no faith in the Wilayat, the duties laid down in our religion will lose the force of application on him. Hence, the performance or non-performance of these duties will make no difference in his case.

It must be borne in mind that after the death of the Prophet, the belief in the Wilayat Of the Imams from his progeny is as important a part of our religion as the belief in the Wilayat of the Prophet in his lifetime. This is supported by the Tradition according to which the Prophet is reported to have said at Ghadeer Khum: "Am I not more precious to you than your own selves?"

This is an echo of the Qur’anic verse which says:

"The Prophet is more dear to the Mu’mins than their own selves to them." It is said that when the Mu’mins said "Yes, you are dearer to us than our own selves," in response to the Prophet’s question, he said: "Oh God, be witness to their admission." After this he said: "Ali is the master of one who acknowledges me to be his master. 0 God love those who love Ali. Help those who help Ali. Desert those who desert Ali. Let the truth accompany Ali wherever he goes."

1 Reprinted from ‘Life and Lectures of al-Mu’ayyad fid-din as-Shirazi, translated by Jawad Muscati and K.B.M.A. Moulvi, published by Ismailia Association for Pakistan, Karachi, 1966.

2 The day referred to here is known as ‘Yomul-Ghadeer, when Prophet Muhammad declared Hazrat Ali as his successor. This incident took place at Ghadeer Khum on the 18th of Zil-hajj during the Prophet's last pilgrimage, which is known in history as Hajjat ul- Wida. Ahmed bin Hanbal, founder of one of the four main Sunni schools of law, refers to this occasion in his book Masnad ul-Kabeer. He quotes Barra bin Azib, one of the companions of the Prophet: "We were in the company of the Prophet when he halted at Ghadeer Khum and led the congregational prayer. After finishing the prayer, the Prophet took the hand of Ali and raised it up saying, "Am I not dearer to Mu'mins than their own souls?" They replied "yes." Again he said, "Ali is the master of one who acknowledges me to be his master. 0 God, love those who love Ali and hate those who hate Ali." After hearing this, Omar bin Khattab went to Ali and said, "Congratulations to you, 0 son of Abu Ta'lib, you have become the master of every male and female Mu ‘min.

3 The term Wilayat means the 'power', 'authority', 'sovereignty' or 'plenipotency' of the Imam. As a theological concept in Shiism, it involves belief in Imamat, love, devotion and allegiance to the Imams, obedience to their commands and recognition of their rights (see 'A Shi'ite Creed,' tr. by Asaf A.A. Fyzee, Bombay, 1942, p. 96, footnote 6).
- Source "Africa Ismaili" July 1978

            "BOLE NABI ALI KO OOTHA KAR BAGAL TALAK
            PEHCHAN LO YEHI HAI TUMHARA AMIR RAJ
            HAI CHARKH PER YE DHOOM KE
            EID-E-GHADIR AAJ
            NAYAB HUVE NABI KE JANAB E AMIR AAJ"

The Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAW) performed Hajj only once in his lifetime. While
returning from Hajj-tul-Wida(the last Hajj)in the 10th year of Hijra, he
received the following revelation:

            YA HAIRASOOLU BALIGHMA OONZIL
            ILLAYAKA MIRRABIKA WA ILM
            TAFA AL FAMA BALAGHTA RISALAT HUU
            WAALA HUU YA'ASIMUK MINANAAAS
 

            O Apostle! Proclaim the Message which
            has been sent to you from your Lord.
            If you do it not, you have not fulfilled
            and proclaimed His Mission. And Allah will
            defend you from men who mean mischief.For
            Allah Guides not those who reject Faith.

                            (HOLY QURAN 5:67)

No sooner was this Command revealed than the Holy Prophet (SAW) ordered for all the pilgrims to stop on the plains of Arafat (Ghadir e Khum). People assembled. Camels' saddlebacks were made into a stage, and ascending on this stage, the Holy Prophet (SAW) delivered a 'Khutba'. He then summoned Hazrat Amirul Momeneen Mushkil Kusha Mowla Ali to come on the stage, and raising his hand proclaimed:

            "MAN KUNTO MOWLA HUU
             FAHAZA ALI MOWLA HUU" (audio)

(Ali is Mowla of those of whom I am Mowla.)

And then, the Holy Prophet (SAW) made the Firman:

"O People! Hazrat Ali is Syed ul Muslimeen. He is the Imam of the believers. In
fulfilling the Commandment of Allah, I have today completed my duty, and given
you your Imam. I beseech Allah to forgive you and me."

Soon thereafter, Muslim men and women did the 'Baiyat' of Mowla Ali pledging
obedience and loyalty.

And shortly thereafter, the following was revealed upon the Holy Prophet (SAW):

             "This day have I perfected for you
              your religion and completed My favour
              on you and chosen for you Islam as
              a religion..."

                           (HOLY QURAN 5:3)

Thus, Imam e Awwaleen, Amirul Momeneen, Mowla Mushkil Kusha, Mowla Murtaza
Ali (AS) ascended the Throne of Imamat with the Noor of Allah vested in him, and
which Noor continues in the present Imam, Shah Karim Al-Hussaiyni and will
continue till the Day of Judgment.

EJI MOWLA MURTAZA ALI
DUNIYAMAN JAHER THAYA
TENI KUDRAT NO NAHI KOI SHUMAAR
DIN ISLAM TIYAN THI PEDA THAYO
TE KARAN ARSH THI OOTARIYA DHOOL DHOOL
NE ZULFIQAR

             (Mumeen Chetamani - Syed Imam Shah)

One time, on the 18th of Zilhaj, which was a Friday, while giving a Khutba in
Jam e Masjid in Kufa said:

"This day is the day of the Faith's perfection. Today is the day to renew and
refresh the call and promise."

That day was EID-E-GHADIR!

Allah Hafeez

AHLULBAYT IN THE HOLY QURAN

House of Abraham (AS)

Quran testifies that Sarah, the wife of Prophet Abraham (AS), was blessed by angels and was given the glad tiding that she will give birth to two prophets of God:

11:71

And his wife, standing by, laughed when We gave her good tidings (of the birth) of Isaac, and, after Isaac, of Jacob.

11:72

She said: "Alas for me! Shall I bear a child when I am an old woman and my husband now is an old man? That would indeed be a strange thing!"

11:73

The (angles) said: Do You wonder at Allah's decree? The grace of Allah and His blessings be upon you, O People of the House! He is indeed worthy of all praise full of all glory!"

Since in the mercy and the bounty of God offered in the above verse to the People of the House of Abraham, it has been a tendency of some Sunni commentators and their anxiety to find some argument for their counting the wives of the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) in the terms Ahlul-Bayt. They argue that since Sarah the wife of Abraham is included in the term Ahlul-Bayt mentioned in the above verse, then all the wives of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) are included in the verse 33:33 relating to the purity and the excellence of the Ahlul-Bayt of Prophet Muhammad.

However, these commentators intentionally or otherwise ignore the significance of the address by the Angels. If Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is included in the term Ahlul-Bayt used in the above verse, it is not because she was the wife of Abraham, but because she was going to be the MOTHER of two prophets (Isaac and Jacob). She was mentioned by angles in the above verse as a member of Ahlul-Bayt, AFTER she RECEIVED the glad tiding that she is pregnant of Prophet Isaac (AS).

The matrimonial relation between and a man and a woman is only circumstantial and can be given up at any moment. She could never be a permanent partner to any husband to be included in the heavenly address who are endowed with the unique and heavenly excellence UNLESS she brings a son who becomes a Prophet or an Imam. Thus if we consider Sarah as a member of the House, it would be only because she would be the mother of Isaac, and not being the wife of Abraham. The verses 11:71-73 quoted above show that Sarah was called among Ahlul-Bayt after she got to know that she is having Isaac (AS).

House of Imran (AS)

Likewise, Quran mentions the mother of Moses among the Ahlul-Bayt of Imran. Again, as we can see in the following verses, the emphasis here is the MOTHER of Moses and not the wife of Imran:

28:12

And We ordained that he refuse to seek any foster mother before so she said: Shall I point out to you a household who will take care of him for you, and will be kind to him?

28:13

So We restored him to his mother that she might be comforted and not grieve, and that she might know that the promise of Allah is true. But most of them know not.

The mother of Moses is termed as Ahlul-Bayt, not for being the wife of Imran, but for being the mother of Moses, otherwise the wives who are subject to divorce and being substituted with women better than them (Quran 66:5) can't be considered as Ahlul-Bayt as pointed out by Zaid Ibn Arqam as well. This is illustrated with the wife of Noah and Lot, though they were the wives of such great servants of God, they were not considered Ahlul- Bayt. They perished along with the rest of community.

Let's remember what Zaid Ibn Arqam said: "Ahlul-Bayt (household) of the Prophet are his lineage and his descendants (those who come from his blood) for whom the acceptance of charity (Zakat) is prohibited."

The wife of Imran was in the lineage of the Moses, so was the wife of Abraham who was in the lineage of Isaac and Jacob. Similarly, if Fatimah (AS) is among the Ahlul-Bayt Prophet of Islam, it is because not only she was the daughter of the Prophet (PBUH&HF), but also she was the mother of two Imams.

House of Noah (AS)

And Noah Cried unto his Lord and said: "My Lord! Verily my son is of my family; and verily Your promise is true, and You are the most just of the judges."

He (Allah) said: "O Noah! Verily he is not of your family; Verily he is (of) conduct other than the righteous; Therefore do not ask what you have no knowledge about; Verily I advice you not to be of the ignorant ones." (Quran 11:45-46)

Abul Ala Maududi wrote in his commentary of the above verse that:

"If a part of the body of a person becomes rotten and the surgeon decides to cut it off, he will not comply with the request of the patient, who says 'Do not cut because it is a part of my body'. The surgeon will reply, 'It is no longer a part of your body because it is rotten.' Likewise when a righteous father is told that his son is a worthless act, it means to imply that the efforts that you made to bring him up as a good son have gone waste for the work is spoilt and ended in utter failure."

Sunni reference:

• Commentary of Quran by Abul Ala Maududi (published by the Islamic Publications (Pvt) Limited), p367, under verse 11:45-46

Prophet Noah (AS) was pleading for his own son and the reply was that the lad was not worthy of being his son. It is made crystal clear by this verse that though one might be of the same blood and flesh, born through the same parents, but if the issue doesn't possess the good qualities of the parents then he or she is not of his parents' stock (as said in the second verse). Noah had three other sons, Aam, Sam and Yafas who were believers and who with their wives entered the Ark and were saved and Kanan was Noah's son by his OTHER wife who was a disbeliever and perished along with her son.

It can be concluded that if any one does not hold the goodness of the correct faith in Allah, be he the son of the Apostle, he is not to be of the stock of his parentage; His very birth through his own parents is denied to him, even the right to be on God's earth is withdrawn from him, and he is to be destroyed.

Thus, even one is to be the son of a prophet of Allah, the lack of righteousness gets him disowned from the progeny (Itrat) of the apostolic family. It is for this reason that the term Ahlul-Bayt is restricted to the deserving members of the House of the Prophet and doesn't cover all of those who are born from his blood. Ahlul-Bayt are only the individuals among Prophet's descendants who also had close affinity in character and utmost spiritual attainment with Prophet (PBUH&HF).

The Prophet of Islam - His Biography

[Taken from Introduction to Islam by Muhammad Hamidullah (Centre Culturel Islamique, Paris, 1969), with some changes to make it more readable. The changes are marked by pairs of brackets like around this paragraph. Dr. Hamidullah's present address is: 9 Beaver Court, Wilkes Barre PA, 18702, USA.]

IN the annals of men, individuals have not been lacking who conspicuously devoted their lives to the socio-religious reform of their connected peoples. We find them in every epoch and in all lands. In India, there lived those who transmitted to the world the Vedas, and there was also the great Gautama Buddha; China had its Confucius; the Avesta was produced in Iran. Babylonia gave to the world one of the greatest reformers, the Prophet Abraham (not to speak of such of his ancestors as Enoch and Noah about whom we have very scanty information). The Jewish people may rightly be proud of a long series of reformers: Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, and Jesus among others.

2. Two points are to note: Firstly these reformers claimed in general to be the bearers each of a Divine mission, and they left behind them sacred books incorporating codes of life for the guidance of their peoples. Secondly there followed fratricidal wars, and massacres and genocides became the order of the day, causing more or less a complete loss of these Divine messages. As to the books of Abraham, we know them only by the name; and as for the books of Moses, records tell us how they were repeatedly destroyed and only partly restored.

Concept of God

3. If one should judge from the relics of the past already brought to light of the homo sapiens, one finds that man has always been conscious of the existence of a Supreme Being, the Master and Creator of all. Methods and approaches may have differed, but the people of every epoch have left proofs of their attempts to obey God. Communication with the Omnipresent yet invisible God has also been recognised as possible in connection with a small fraction of men with noble and exalted spirits. Whether this communication assumed the nature of an incarnation of the Divinity or simply resolved itself into a medium of reception of Divine messages (through inspiration or revelation), the purpose in each case was the guidance of the people. It was but natural that the interpretations and explanations of certain systems should have proved more vital and convincing than others.

3/a. Every system of metaphysical thought develops its own terminology. In the course of time terms acquire a significance hardly contained in the word and translations fall short of their purpose. Yet there is no other method to make people of one group understand the thoughts of another. Non-Muslim readers in particular are requested to bear in mind this aspect which is a real yet unavoidable handicap.

4. By the end of the 6th century, after the birth of Jesus Christ, men had already made great progress in diverse walks of life. At that time there were some religions which openly proclaimed that they were reserved for definite races and groups of men only, of course they bore no remedy for the ills of humanity at large. There were also a few which claimed universality, but declared that the salvation of man lay in the renunciation of the world. These were the religions for the elite, and catered for an extremely limited number of men. We need not speak of regions where there existed no religion at all, where atheism and materialism reigned supreme, where the thought was solely of occupying one self with one's own pleasures, without any regard or consideration for the rights of others.

Arabia

5. A perusal of the map of the major hemisphere (from the point of view of the proportion of land to sea), shows the Arabian Peninsula lying at the confluence of the three great continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. At the time in question. this extensive Arabian subcontinent composed mostly of desert areas was inhabited by people of settled habitations as well as nomads. Often it was found that members of the same tribe were divided into these two groups, and that they preserved a relationship although following different modes of life. The means of subsistence in Arabia were meagre. The desert had its handicaps, and trade caravans were features of greater importance than either agriculture or industry. This entailed much travel, and men had to proceed beyond the peninsula to Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, Iraq, Sind, India and other lands.

6. We do not know much about the Libyanites of Central Arabia, but Yemen was rightly called Arabia Felix. Having once been the seat of the flourishing civilizations of Sheba and Ma'in even before the foundation of the city of Rome had been laid, and having later snatched from the Byzantians and Persians several provinces, greater Yemen which had passed through the hey-day of its existence, was however at this time broken up into innumerable principalities, and even occupied in part by foreign invaders. The Sassanians of Iran, who had penetrated into Yemen had already obtained possession of Eastern Arabia. There was politico-social chaos at the capital (Mada'in = Ctesiphon), and this found reflection in all her territories. Northern Arabia had succumbed to Byzantine influences, and was faced with its own particular problems. Only Central Arabia remained immune from the demoralising effects of foreign occupation.

7. In this limited area of Central Arabia, the existence of the triangle of Mecca-Ta'if-Madinah seemed something providential. Mecca, desertic, deprived of water and the amenities of agriculture in physical features represented Africa and the burning Sahara. Scarcely fifty miles from there, Ta'if presented a picture of Europe and its frost. Madinah in the North was not less fertile than even the most temperate of Asiatic countries like Syria. If climate has any influence on human character, this triangle standing in the middle of the major hemisphere was, more than any other region of the earth, a miniature reproduction of the entire world. And here was born a descendant of the Babylonian Abraham, and the Egyptian Hagar, Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, a Meccan by origin and yet with stock related, both to Madinah and Ta'if.

Religion

8. From the point of view of religion, Arabia was idolatrous; only a few individuals had embraced religions like Christianity, Mazdaism, etc. The Meccans did possess the notion of the One God, but they believed also that idols had the power to intercede with Him. Curiously enough, they did not believe in the Resurrection and Afterlife. They had preserved the rite of the pilgrimage to the House of the One God, the Ka'bah, an institution set up under divine inspiration by their ancestor Abraham, yet the two thousand years that separated them from Abraham had caused to degenerate this pilgrimage into the spectacle of a commercial fair and an occasion of senseless idolatry which far from producing any good, only served to ruin their individual behaviour, both social and spiritual.

Society

9. In spite of the comparative poverty in natural resources, Mecca was the most developed of the three points of the triangle. Of the three, Mecca alone had a city-state, governed by a council of ten hereditary chiefs who enjoyed a clear division of power. (There was a minister of foreign relations, a minister guardian of the temple, a minister of oracles, a minister guardian of offerings to the temple, one to determine the torts and the damages payable, another in charge of the municipal council or parliament to enforce the decisions of the ministries. There were also ministers in charge of military affairs like custodianship of the flag, leadership of the cavalry etc.). As well reputed caravan-leaders, the Meccans were able to obtain permission from neighbouring empires like Iran, Byzantium and Abyssinia - and to enter into agreements with the tribes that lined the routes traversed by the caravans - to visit their countries and transact import and export business. They also provided escorts to foreigners when they passed through their country as well as the territory of allied tribes, in Arabia (cf. Ibn Habib, Muhabbar). Although not interested much in the preservation of ideas and records in writing, they passionately cultivated arts and letters like poetry, oratory discourses and folk tales. Women were generally well treated, they enjoyed the privilege of possessing property in their own right, they gave their consent to marriage contracts, in which they could even add the condition of reserving their right to divorce their husbands. They could remarry when widowed or divorced. Burying girls alive did exist in certain classes, but that was rare.

Birth of the Prophet

10. It was in the midst of such conditions and environments that Muhammad was born in 569 after Christ. His father, 'Abdullah had died some weeks earlier, and it was his grandfather who took him in charge. According to the prevailing custom, the child was entrusted to a Bedouin foster-mother, with whom he passed several years in the desert. All biographers state that the infant prophet sucked only one breast of his foster-mother, leaving the other for the sustenance of his foster-brother. When the child was brought back home, his mother, Aminah, took him to his maternal uncles at Madinah to visit the tomb of 'Abdullah. During the return journey, he lost his mother who died a sudden death. At Mecca, another bereavement awaited him, in the death of his affectionate grandfather. Subjected to such privations, he was at the age of eight, consigned at last to the care of his uncle, Abu-Talib, a man who was generous of nature but always short of resources and hardly able to provide for his family.

11. Young Muhammad had therefore to start immediately to earn his livelihood; he served as a shepherd boy to some neighbours. At the age of ten he accompanied his uncle to Syria when he was leading a caravan there. No other travels of Abu-Talib are mentioned, but there are references to his having set up a shop in Mecca. (Ibn Qutaibah, Ma'arif). It is possible that Muhammad helped him in this enterprise also.

12. By the time he was twenty-five, Muhammad had become well known in the city for the integrity of his disposition and the honesty of his character. A rich widow, Khadijah, took him in her employ and consigned to him her goods to be taken for sale to Syria. Delighted with the unusual profits she obtained as also by the personal charms of her agent, she offered him her hand. According to divergent reports, she was either 28 or 40 years of age at that time, (medical reasons prefer the age of 28 since she gave birth to five more children). The union proved happy. Later, we see him sometimes in the fair of Hubashah (Yemen), and at least once in the country of the 'Abd al-Qais (Bahrain-Oman), as mentioned by Ibn Hanbal. There is every reason to believe that this refers to the great fair of Daba (Oman), where, according to Ibn al-Kalbi (cf. Ibn Habib, Muhabbar), the traders of China, of Hind and Sind (India, Pakistan), of Persia, of the East and the West assembled every year, travelling both by land and sea. There is also mention of a commercial partner of Muhammad at Mecca. This person, Sa'ib by name reports: "We relayed each other; if Muhammad led the caravan, he did not enter his house on his return to Mecca without clearing accounts with me; and if I led the caravan, he would on my return enquire about my welfare and speak nothing about his own capital entrusted to me."

An Order of Chivalry

13. Foreign traders often brought their goods to Mecca for sale. One day a certain Yemenite (of the tribe of Zubaid) improvised a satirical poem against some Meccans who had refused to pay him the price of what he had sold, and others who had not supported his claim or had failed to come to his help when he was victimised. Zuhair, uncle and chief of the tribe of the Prophet, felt great remorse on hearing this just satire. He called for a meeting of certain chieftains in the city, and organized an order of chivalry, called Hilf al-fudul, with the aim and object of aiding the oppressed in Mecca, irrespective of their being dwellers of the city or aliens. Young Muhammad became an enthusiastic member of the organisation. Later in life he used to say: "I have participated in it, and I am not prepared to give up that privilege even against a herd of camels; if somebody should appeal to me even today, by virtue of that pledge, I shall hurry to his help."

Beginning of Religious Consciousness

14. Not much is known about the religious practices of Muhammad until he was thirty-five years old, except that he had never worshipped idols. This is substantiated by all his biographers. It may be stated that there were a few others in Mecca, who had likewise revolted against the senseless practice of paganism, although conserving their fidelity to the Ka'bah as the house dedicated to the One God by its builder Abraham.

15. About the year 605 of the Christian era, the draperies on the outer wall of the Ka'bah took fire. The building was affected and could not bear the brunt of the torrential rains that followed. The reconstruction of the Ka'bah was thereupon undertaken. Each citizen contributed according to his means; and only the gifts of honest gains were accepted. Everybody participated in the work of construction, and Muhammad's shoulders were injured in the course of transporting stones. To identify the place whence the ritual of circumambulation began, there had been set a black stone in the wall of the Ka'bah. dating probably from the time of Abraham himself. There was rivalry among the citizens for obtaining the honour of transposing this stone in its place. When there was danger of blood being shed, somebody suggested leaving the matter to Providence, and accepting the arbitration of him who should happen to arrive there first. It chanced that Muhammad just then turned up there for work as usual. He was popularly known by the appellation of al-Amin (the honest), and everyone accepted his arbitration without hesitation. Muhammad placed a sheet of cloth on the ground, put the stone on it and asked the chiefs of all the tribes in the city to lift together the cloth. Then he himself placed the stone in its proper place, in one of the angles of the building, and everybody was satisfied.

16. It is from this moment that we find Muhammad becoming more and more absorbed in spiritual meditations. Like his grandfather, he used to retire during the whole month of Ramadan to a cave in Jabal-an-Nur (mountain of light). The cave is called `Ghar-i-Hira' or the cave of research. There he prayed, meditated, and shared his meagre provisions with the travellers who happened to pass by.

Revelation

17. He was forty years old, and it was the fifth consecutive year since his annual retreats, when one night towards the end of the month of Ramadan, an angel came to visit him, and announced that God had chosen him as His messenger to all mankind. The angel taught him the mode of ablutions, the way of worshipping God and the conduct of prayer. He communicated to him the following Divine message:

With the name of God, the Most Merciful, the All-Merciful.
Read: with the name of thy Lord Who created,
Created man from what clings,
Read: and thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught man what he knew not. (Quran 96:1-5)

18. Deeply affected, he returned home and related to his wife what had happened, expressing his fears that it might have been something diabolic or the action of evil spirits. She consoled him, saying that he had always been a man of charity and generosity, helping the poor, the orphans, the widows and the needy, and assured him that God would protect him against all evil.

19. Then came a pause in revelation, extending over three years. The Prophet must have felt at first a shock, then a calm, an ardent desire, and after a period of waiting, a growing impatience or nostalgia. The news of the first vision had spread and at the pause the sceptics in the city had begun to mock at him and cut bitter jokes. They went so far as to say that God had forsaken him.

20. During the three years of waiting. the Prophet had given himself up more and more to prayers and to spiritual practices. The revelations were then resumed and God assured him that He had not at all forsaken him: on the contrary it was He Who had guided him to the right path: therefore he should take care of the orphans and the destitute, and proclaim the bounty of God on him (cf. Q. 93:3-11). This was in reality an order to preach. Another revelation directed him to warn people against evil practices, to exhort them to worship none but the One God, and to abandon everything that would displease God (Q. 74:2-7). Yet another revelation commanded him to warn his own near relatives (Q. 26:214); and: "Proclaim openly that which thou art commanded, and withdraw from the Associators (idolaters). Lo! we defend thee from the scoffers" (15:94-5). According to Ibn Ishaq, the first revelation (n. 17) had come to the Prophet during his sleep, evidently to reduce the shock. Later revelations came in full wakefulness.

The Mission

21. The Prophet began by preaching his mission secretly first among his intimate friends, then among the members of his own tribe and thereafter publicly in the city and suburbs. He insisted on the belief in One Transcendent God, in Resurrection and the Last Judgement. He invited men to charity and beneficence. He took necessary steps to preserve through writing the revelations he was receiving, and ordered his adherents also to learn them by heart. This continued all through his life, since the Quran was not revealed all at once, but in fragments as occasions arose.

22. The number of his adherents increased gradually, but with the denunciation of paganism, the opposition also grew intenser on the part of those who were firmly attached to their ancestral beliefs. This opposition degenerated in the course of time into physical torture of the Prophet and of those who had embraced his religion. These were stretched on burning sands, cauterized with red hot iron and imprisoned with chains on their feet. Some of them died of the effects of torture, but none would renounce his religion. In despair, the Prophet Muhammad advised his companions to quit their native town and take refuge abroad, in Abyssinia, "where governs a just ruler, in whose realm nobody is oppressed" (Ibn Hisham). Dozens of Muslims profited by his advice, though not all. These secret flights led to further persecution of those who remained behind.

23. The Prophet Muhammad [was instructed to call this] religion "Islam," i.e. submission to the will of God. Its distinctive features are two:

1. A harmonius equilibrium between the temporal and the spiritual (the body and the soul), permitting a full enjoyment of all the good that God has created, (Quran 7:32), enjoining at the same time on everybody duties towards God, such as worship, fasting, charity, etc. Islam was to be the religion of the masses and not merely of the elect.
2. A universality of the call - all the believers becoming brothers and equals without any distinction of class or race or tongue. The only superiority which it recognizes is a personal one, based on the greater fear of God and greater piety (Quran 49:13).

Social Boycott

24. When a large number of the Meccan Muslims migrated to Abyssinia, the leaders of paganism sent an ultimatum to the tribe of the Prophet, demanding that he should be excommunicated and outlawed and delivered to the pagans for being put to death. Every member of the tribe, Muslim and non-Muslim rejected the demand. (cf. Ibn Hisham). Thereupon the city decided on a complete boycott of the tribe: Nobody was to talk to them or have commercial or matrimonial relations with them. The group of Arab tribes called Ahabish, inhabiting the suburbs, who were allies of the Meccans, also joined in the boycott, causing stark misery among the innocent victims consisting of children, men and women, the old and the sick and the feeble. Some of them succumbed yet nobody would hand over the Prophet to his persecutors. An uncle of the Prophet, Abu Lahab, however left his tribesmen and participated in the boycott along with the pagans. After three dire years, during which the victims were obliged to devour even crushed hides, four or five non-Muslims, more humane than the rest and belonging to different clans proclaimed publicly their denunciation of the unjust boycott. At the same time, the document promulgating the pact of boycott which had been hung in the temple, was found, as Muhammad had predicted, eaten by white ants, that spared nothing but the words God and Muhammad. The boycott was lifted, yet owing to the privations that were undergone the wife and Abu Talib, the chief of the tribe and uncle of the Prophet died soon after. Another uncle of the Prophet, Abu-Lahab, who was an inveterate enemy of Islam, now succeeded to the headship of the tribe. (cf. lbn Hisham, Sirah).

The Ascension

25. It was at thIs time that the Prophet Muhammad was granted the mi'raj (ascension): He saw in a vision that he was received on heaven by God, and was witness of the marvels of the celestial regions. Returning, he brought for his community, as a Divine gift, the [ritual prayer of Islam, the salaat], which constitutes a sort of communion between man and God. It may be recalled that in the last part of Muslim service of worship, the faithful employ as a symbol of their being in the very presence of God, not concrete objects as others do at the time of communion, but the very words of greeting exchanged between the Prophet Muhammad and God on the occasion of the former's mi'raj: "The blessed and pure greetings for God! - Peace be with thee, O Prophet, as well as the mercy and blessing of God! - Peace be with us and with all the [righteous] servants of God!" The Christian term "communion" implies participation in the Divinity. Finding it pretentious, Muslims use the term "ascension" towards God and reception in His presence, God remaining God and man remaining man and no confusion between the twain.

26. The news of this celestial meeting led to an increase in the hostility of the pagans of Mecca; and the Prophet was obliged to quit his native town in search of an asylum elsewhere. He went to his maternal uncles in Ta'if, but returned immediately to Mecca, as the wicked people of that town chased the Prophet out of their city by pelting stones on him and wounding him.

Migration to Madinah

27. The annual pilgrimage of the Ka'bah brought to Mecca people from all parts of Arabia. The Prophet Muhammad tried to persuade one tribe after another to afford him shelter and allow him to carry on his mission of reform. The contingents of fifteen tribes, whom he approached in succession, refused to do so more or less brutally, but he did not despair. Finally he met half a dozen inhabitants of Madinah who being neighbour of the Jews and the Christians, had some notion of prophets and Divine messages. They knew also that these "people of the Books" were awaiting the arrival of a prophet - a last comforter. So these Madinans decided not to lose the opportunity of obtaining an advance over others, and forthwith embraced Islam, promising further to provide additional adherents and necessary help from Madinah. The following year a dozen new Madinans took the oath of allegiance to him and requested him to provide with a missionary teacher. The work of the missionary, Mus'ab, proved very successful and he led a contingent of seventy-three new converts to Mecca, at the time of the pilgrimage. These invited the Prophet and his Meccan companions to migrate to their town, and promised to shelter the Prophet and to treat him and his companions as their own kith and kin. Secretly and in small groups, the greater part of the Muslims emigrated to Madinah. Upon this the pagans of Mecca not only confiscated the property of the evacuees, but devised a plot to assassinate the Prophet. It became now impossible for him to remain at home. It is worthy of mention, that in spite of their hostility to his mission, the pagans had unbounded confidence in his probity, so much so that many of them used to deposit their savings with him. The Prophet Muhammad now entrusted all these deposits to 'Ali, a cousin of his, with instructions to return in due course to the rightful owners. He then left the town secretly in the company of his faithful friend, Abu-Bakr. After several adventures, they succeeded in reaching Madinah in safety. This happened in 622, whence starts the Hijrah calendar.

Reorganization of the Community

28. For the better rehabilitation of the displaced immigrants, the Prophet created a fraternization between them and an equal number of well-to-do Madinans. The families of each pair of the contractual brothers worked together to earn their livelihood, and aided one another in the business of life.

29. Further he thought that the development of the man as a whole would be better achieved if he co-ordinated religion and politics as two constituent parts of one whole. To this end he invited the representatives of the Muslims as well as the non-Muslim inhabitants of the region: Arabs, Jews, Christians and others, and suggested the establishment of a City-State in Madinah. With their assent, he endowed the city with a written constitution - the first of its kind in the world - in which he defined the duties and rights both of the citizens and the head of the State - the Prophet Muhammad was unanimously hailed as such - and abolished the customary private justice. The administration of justice became henceforward the concern of the central organisation of the community of the citizens. The document laid down principles of defence and foreign policy: it organized a system of social insurance, called ma'aqil, in cases of too heavy obligations. It recognized that the Prophet Muhammad would have the final word in all differences, and that there was no limit to his power of legislation. It recognized also explicitly liberty of religion, particularly for the Jews, to whom the constitutional act afforded equality with Muslims in all that concerned life in this world (cf. infra n. 303).

30. Muhammad journeyed several times with a view to win the neighbouring tribes and to conclude with them treaties of alliance and mutual help. With their help, he decided to bring to bear economic pressure on the Meccan pagans, who had confiscated the property of the Muslim evacuees and also caused innumerable damage. Obstruction in the way of the Meccan caravans and their passage through the Madinan region exasperated the pagans, and a bloody struggle ensued.

31. In the concern for the material interests of the community, the spiritual aspect was never neglected. Hardly a year had passed after the migration to Madinah, when the most rigorous of spiritual disciplines, the fasting for the whole month of Ramadan every year, was imposed on every adult Muslim, man and woman.

Struggle Against Intolerance and Unbelief

32. Not content with the expulsion of the Muslim compatriots, the Meccans sent an ultimatum to the Madinans, demanding the surrender or at least the expulsion of Muhammad and his companions but evidently all such efforts proved in vain. A few months later, in the year 2 H., they sent a powerful army against the Prophet, who opposed them at Badr; and the pagans thrice as numerous as the Muslims, were routed. After a year of preparation, the Meccans again invaded Madinah to avenge the defeat of Badr. They were now four times as numerous as the Muslims. After a bloody encounter at Uhud, the enemy retired, the issue being indecisive. The mercenaries in the Meccan army did not want to take too much risk, or endanger their safety.

33. In thc meanwhile the Jewish citizens of Madinah began to foment trouble. About the time of the victory of Badr, one of their leaders, Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, proceeded to Mecca to give assurance of his alliance with the pagans, and to incite them to a war of revenge. After the battle of Uhud, the tribe of the same chieftain plotted to assassinate the Prophet by throwing on him a mill-stone from above a tower, when he had gone to visit their locality. In spite of all this, the only demand the Prophet made of the men of this tribe was to quit the Madinan region, taking with them all their properties, after selling their immovables and recovering their debts from the Muslims. The clemency thus extended had an effect contrary to what was hoped. The exiled not only contacted the Meccans, but also the tribes of the North, South and East of Madinah, mobilized military aid, and planned from Khaibar an invasion of Madinah, with forces four times more numerous than those employed at Uhud. The Muslims prepared for a siege, and dug a ditch to defend themselves against this hardest of all trials. Although the defection of the Jews still remaining inside Madinah at a later stage upset all strategy, yet with a sagacious diplomacy, the Prophet succeeded in breaking up the alliance, and the different enemy groups retired one after the other.

34. Alcoholic drinks, gambling and games of chance were at this time declared forbidden for the Muslims.

The Reconciliation

35. The Prophet tried once more to reconcile the Meccans and proceeded to Mecca. The barring of the route of their Northern caravans had ruined their economy. The Prophet promised them transit security, extradition of their fugitives and the fulfillment of every condition they desired, agreeing even to return to Madinah without accomplishing the pilgrimage of the Ka'bah. Thereupon the two contracting parties promised at Hudaibiyah in the suburbs of Mecca, not only the maintenance of peace, but also the observance of neutrality in their conflicts with third parties.

36. Profiting by the peace, the Prophet launched an intensive programme for the propagation of his religion. He addressed missionary letters to the foreign rulers of Byzantium, Iran, Abyssinia and other lands. The Byzantine autocrat priest - Dughatur of the Arabs - embraced Islam, but for this, was lynched by the Christian mob; the prefect of Ma'an (Palestine) suffered the same fate, and was decapitated and crucified by order of the emperor. A Muslim ambassador was assassinated in Syria-Palestine; and instead of punishing the culprit, the emperor Heraclius rushed with his armies to protect him against the punitive expedition sent by the Prophet (battle of Mu'tah).

37. The pagans of Mecca hoping to profit by the Muslim difficulties, violated the terms of their treaty. Upon this, the Prophet himself led an army, ten thousand strong, and surprised Mecca which he occupied in a bloodless manner. As a benevolent conqueror, he caused the vanquished people to assemble, reminded them of their ill deeds, their religious persecution, unjust confiscation of the evacuee property, ceaseless invasions and senseless hostilities for twenty years continuously. He asked them: "Now what do you expect of me?" When everybody lowered his head with shame, the Prophet proclaimed: "May God pardon you; go in peace; there shall be no responsibility on you today; you are free!" He even renounced the claim for the Muslim property confiscated by the pagans. This produced a great psychological change of hearts instantaneously. When a Meccan chief advanced with a fulsome heart towards the Prophet, after hearing this general amnesty, in order to declare his acceptance of Islam, the Prophet told him: "And in my turn, I appoint you the governor of Mecca!" Without leaving a single soldier in the conquered city, the Prophet retired to Madinah. The Islamization of Mecca, which was accomplished in a few hours, was complete.

38. Immediately after the occupation of Mecca, the city of Ta'if mobilized to fight against the Prophet. With some difficulty the enemy was dispersed in the valley of Hunain, but the Muslims preferred to raise the siege of nearby Ta'if and use pacific means to break the resistance of this region. Less than a year later, a delegation from Ta'if came to Madinah offering submission. But it requested exemption from prayer, taxes and military service, and the continuance of the liberty to adultery and fornication and alcoholic drinks. It demanded even the conservation of the temple of the idol al-Lat at Ta'if. But Islam was not a materialist immoral movement; and soon the delegation itself felt ashamed of its demands regarding prayer, adultery and wine. The Prophet consented to concede exemption from payment of taxes and rendering of military service; and added: You need not demolish the temple with your own hands: we shall send agents from here to do the job, and if there should be any consequences, which you are afraid of on account of your superstitions, it will be they who would suffer. This act of the Prophet shows what concessions could be given to new converts. The conversion of the Ta'ifites was so whole hearted that in a short while, they themselves renounced the contracted exemptions, and we find the Prophet nominating a tax collector in their locality as in other Islamic regions.

39. In all these "wars," extending over a period of ten years, the non-Muslims lost on the battlefield only about 250 persons killed, and the Muslim losses were even less. With these few incisions, the whole continent of Arabia. with its million and more of square miles, was cured of the abscess of anarchy and immorality. During these ten years of disinterested struggle, all thc peoples of the Arabian Peninsula and the southern regions of Iraq and Palestine had voluntarily embraced Islam. Some Christian, Jewish and Parsi groups remained attached to their creeds, and they were granted liberty of conscience as well as judicial and juridical autonomy.

40. In the year 10 H., when the Prophet went to Mecca for Hajj (pilgrimage), he met 140,000 Muslims there, who had come from different parts of Arabia to fulfil their religious obligation. He addressed to them his celebrated sermon, in which he gave a resume of his teachings: "Belief in One God without images or symbols, equality of all the Believers without distinction of race or class, the superiority of individuals being based solely on piety; sanctity of life, property and honour; abolition of interest, and of vendettas and private justice; better treatment of women; obligatory inheritance and distribution of the property of deceased persons among near relatives of both sexes, and removal of the possibility of the cumulation of wealth in the hands of the few." The Quran and the conduct of the Prophet were to serve as the bases of law and a healthy criterion in every aspect of human life.

41. On his return to Madinah, he fell ill; and a few weeks later, when he breathed his last, he had the satisfaction that he had well accomplished the task which he had undertaken - to preach to the world the Divine message.

42. He bequeathed to posterity, a religion of pure monotheism; he created a well-disciplined State out of the existent chaos and gave peace in place of the war of everybody against everybody else; he established a harmonious equilibrium between the spiritual and the temporal, between the mosque and the citadel; he left a new system of law, which dispensed impartial justice, in which even the head of the State was as much a subject to it as any commoner, and in which religious tolerance was so great that non-Muslim inhabitants of Muslim countries equally enjoyed complete juridical, judicial and cultural autonomy. In the matter of the revenues of the State, the Quran fixed the principles of budgeting, and paid more thought to the poor than to anybody else. The revenues were declared to be in no wise the private property of the head of the State. Above all, the Prophet Muhammad set a noble example and fully practised all that he taught to others.

A Brief Biography of Lady Fatimah (A.S)

Name: Fatimah Al-Zahra, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad (saaw) and Lady Khadija (as); wife of Imam Ali (as); mother of Imam Hasan (as), Hussein (as); Lady Zeinab (as) and Lady Um Kulthum (as).

Birth: Most historians agree Lady Fatimah (as) was born in Mecca five years after Prophethood, the 20th of Jamadi Al-Thani.

Death: Most historians agree Lady Fatimah (A.S.) died at the age of 18 years and seventy-five days old.

The Commander of the Faithful (Ali) (as) himself took charge of her washing. It is reported that Asma' daughter of 'Umays assisted him in washing her. Asma' related: "Fatimah (as) had stated in her will that no one should wash her corpse except Ali (as) and I. Thus we washed her together, and the Commander of the Faithful (as) prayed over her along with Hasan (as) and Husayn (as), 'Ammar ibn Yasir, Miqdad, 'Aqil' az -Zubayr, Abu Dharr, Salman, Buraydah and a few men of Banu Hashim. They prayed over her in the night, and in accordance with her own will Ali (as) the Commander of the Faithful buried her in secret."

There is much disagreement among traditionists as to the exact spot of her grave. Some traditionists have asserted that she was buried in the Baqi'. Others said that she was buried in her own chamber, and that when the Umayyad rulers enlarged the Mosque of Medina, her grave came to be in the sanctuary. Still others argued that she was buried between the grave and pulpit of the Prophet (saaw). It is to this that the Prophet (saaw) alluded in his saying: " There is between my grave and pulpit a garden of the gardens of Paradise." The first view is unlikely, while the two other views are nearer to the truth.

Naming Lady Fatimah (as): The Messenger of Allah (saaw) said Lady Fatimah was given that name "because she and her followers are protected from Hell." Lady Fatimah (as) has various names near Allah (Exalted Be His Name), they are:

• Fatimah (as)
• Siddiqah (the honest)
• Al-Mubarakah (the blessed one)
• Al-Tahirah (the pure)
• Az-Zakiyah (the chaste)
• Ar-Radhiatul Mardhiah (she who is gratified and who shall be satisfied)
• Al-Mardiyyah (the one pleasing to Allah(swt))
• Al-Muhaddathah (a person other than a Prophet, that the angels speak to)
• Az-Zahra (the splendid)

In the Musnad ( collection of transmitted hadiths) of the eighth Imam ar-Rida (as), it is reported that the Prophet (saaw) declared: "I named my daughter Fatimah (as) (the Weaned One) because Allah (swt) weaned her and those who love her from the Fire." The Prophet (saaw) also called her al-Batul (pure virgin), and said to 'A'ishah: "O Humayra' ( a redish white, a well-known epithet of 'A'ishah), Fatimah (as) is not like the women of human kind, nor does she suffer the illness you ( women) suffer! " This is explained in another prophetic tradition which asserts that she never menstruated. It is likewise reported by Sunni traditionists on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, who heard Umm Salim, the wife of Abu Talhah al-Ansari, say: " Fatimah (as) never experienced the blood of menstruation or parturition, for she was created from the waters of Paradise." This is because when the Messenger of Allah (saaw) was transported to heaven, he entered Paradise, where he ate of it's fruits and drank it's water.

Lady Fatimah (as) the daughter of the Prophet Muhammed(saaw) is without doubt the best of the women of all the worlds.
She is the only female in the 14 Infallibles and therefore has a very special place in that she was the Daughter of the Prophet(saaw), the wife of the first Imam(a.s) and mother of the rest of the Imams(a.s).

Proofs Of Her 'Ismah (Sinlessness), Some Of The Signs Proving Her Status With Allah (swt), And Traditions Indicating Her Execellence And Exalted Status

One of the most incontrovertible proofs of Fatimah's (as) sinlessness is Allah's (swt) saying: Surely Allah wishes to remove all abomination from you, O People of the House, and purify you with a great purification [Qur. 33:33] . The argument in favor of this, is that the Muslim community has unanimously agreed that the 'People of the House' (i.e. ahlul-bayt (as)), intended in this verse are the People of the Household of the Messenger of Allah (saaw). Traditions (ahadith) of both the Shi'i and Sunni communities have asserted that this verse particularly refers to Ali (as), Fatimah (as), Hasan (as) and Husayn (as). The Prophet (saaw), moreover, spread over them all one day a Khaybarite mantle and prayed: "O Allah (swt), these are the People of my Household, remove all abomination from them and purify them with a great purification!" Umm Salamah said: "I too, O Apostle of Allah (saaw), am of the People of your House!" He answered: "Your lot shall be good!"

The Divine Will expressed in this verse must by necessity be either an abstract will not implemented by an action, or a will accompanied by an action. The first option is untenable because it implies no particular applicability to the People of the Prophet's House (as); such a will is shared by all obligated ( mukallafin) human beings. Nor is abstract will by itself cause for praise. The entire community has concurred on the view that this verse proclaims the excellence of the People of the Prophet's House (as) over all others, and that the verse refers to them alone. Thus the second option (that the Divine Will referred to in the verse is a will accompanied by action) is true, and in it is clear proof of the sinlessness of those who were intended in the verse. It implies further that it is impossible for them to commit any evil action.
Moreover, any others whom we have not named here are no doubt not held by general consensus as possessing 'ismah (protection from error). Thus since the verse necessarily implies sinlessness it must apply to them (the People of the Prophet' s House (as)) , because it pertains to no other individuals.

Another proof of Fatimah's (as) sinlessness is the Prophet's (saaw) saying concerning her: "Fatimah (as) is part of me. Whatever causes her hurt, hurts me." He (saaw) also said: "Whoever hurts Fatimah (as), hurts me, and whoever hurts me, hurts Allah (swt), exalted be His Majesty!" The Prophet (saaw) said further: "Allah (swt) becomes wrathful for Fatimah's (as) anger, and is pleased at her pleasure." Had she been one who was guilty of committing sins, it would not be that anyone causing her hurt would by this cause the Prophet (saaw) himself hurt in any way. On the contrary, if anyone were to disgrace and hurt her deservedly - even if he were to inflict upon her the severest punishment permitted by the limits set by Allah (swt) - if her action necessitated such retaliation, it would be pleasing to him.

Among the signs indicating Fatimah's (as) exalted status with Allah (swt) is an incident related by both Shi'i and Sunni traditionists on the authority of Maymunah (the Prophet's wife) , who reported that Fatimah (as) was found asleep one day, the hand-mill beside her turning of its own accord. She informed the Apostle of Allah (saaw) of this, and he said: "Allah (swt) knew the weak condition of His handmaid; He thus inspired the hand-mill to turn by itself, and so it did." Among the reports asserting her excellence and high distinction over all other women is the tradition reported on the authority of 'A'ishah who said:

"I never saw a man more beloved of the Apostle of Allah (saaw) than 'Ali (as), or a woman more dear to him than Fatimah (as)."

Sunni traditionists also reported on the authority of the Commander of the Faithful (as) who said: "I asked the Messenger of Allah (saaw), 'Who is more beloved to you, Fatimah (as) or I?' He answered, 'Fatimah (as) is more beloved to me, and you are dearer to me than she is.'" These traditionists also reported from Anas ibn Malik that: "Fatimah (as) is the most excellent of all the women of the world." In another tradition it is reported that the Prophet (saaw) said: "The most excellent among the women of the world are : Maryam (as) daughter of 'Imran (that is, the virgin Mary), Asiyah (as) daughter of Muzahim (wife of Pharaoh), Khadijah (as) daughter of Khuwaylid and Fatimah (as) daughter of Muhammad." It is also related on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas who said: "The most excellent of the women of Paradise are: Khadijah (as) daughter of Khuwaylid, Fatimah (as) daughter of Muhammad (saaw), Maryam (as) daughter of 'Imran and Asiyah (as) daughter of Muzahim." Traditionists report that 'Abdu 'r-Rahman ibn 'Awf' said:
"I heard the Apostle of Allah (saaw) say, 'I am a tree, Fatimah (as) is its trunk and Ali (as) is its pollen. Hasan (as) and Husayn (as) are its fruits, and our followers (Shi'ah) are its leaves. The roots of the tree are in the Garden of Eden, and its trunk, fruits and leaves are in Paradise.' "

Among the things which Allah (swt) completed the great honour of the Commander of the Faithful (as) in this world and the world to come was His special favor towards him in having him unite in marriage with the noble daughter of the Messenger of Allah (saaw), who was the most beloved of all creatures to him, the consolation of his eyes and mistress of the women of the world. Among the many hadith (traditions) concerning this event is the sound hadith reported on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, who. said: "As the Apostle of Allah (saaw) was sitting one day, Ali (as) came to see him. He addressed him saying, 'O 'Ali (as), what brings you here?' 'I came only to greet you with the salutation of peace', Ali (as) replied. The Prophet (saaw) declared: 'Here comes Gabriel to tell me that Allah (swt) has willed to unite you in marriage with Fatimah (as), peace be upon her. He has, moreover, called as witnesses to her marriage a thousand thousand angels. Allah (swt) has revealed to the tree of Tuba, " Scatter your pearls and rubies! " Black-eyed houris rushed to pick the precious stones up, which they shall exchange as presents among them till the Day of Resurrection.'"

It is related on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas, who said: "On the night when Fatimah (as) was married to Ali (as), the Messenger of Allah (saaw) stood before her. Gabriel stood at her right hand and Michael at her left. Seventy thousand angels stood behind her, praising and sanctifying Allah (swt). The Commander of the Faithful (as) prided himself on his marriage to her on numerous occasions." Abu Ishaq ath-Thaqaf reported on the authority of Hakim ibn Jubayr, who reported from al-Hajari who related from his uncle who said: "I heard Ali (as) say one day, "I shall utter words which no other man would utter but that he would be a liar. I am 'Abdullah (Allah's (swt) servant), and the brother of the Apostle of Allah (saaw). I am the one whose guardian is the Prophet (saaw) of mercy, for I have married . the mistress of all the women of the community. I am the best of the vicegerents.' " Numerous reports expressing similar ideas have been transmitted.

ath-Thaqafi reported on the authority of Buraydah, who said: "On the nuptial night of Ali (as) and Fatimah (as), the Prophet (saaw) said to Ali (as), 'Do not do anything until you see me.' He then brought water - or the traditionist reported that he called for water - which he used to perform his ablutions for prayers, pouring the rest over 'Ali (as). The Prophet (saaw) then prayed, 'O Allah (swt), bless them! Shower your blessings over them, and bless for them their two young lions (that is, their two sons Hasan (as) and Husayn (as)).'" ath-Thaqafi also related on the authority of Shurahil ibn Abi Sa'd, who said: "On the morning after Fatimah's (as) wedding, the Prophet (saaw) brought a skinful of milk, and said to Fatimah (as), 'Drink! May your father be a ransom for you.' He likewise said to Ali (as), 'Drink! May your cousin be a ransom for you.'"

Imam Hasan Askari(a.s), our 11th Imam said:
" A woman came to Fatimah Zahra(as) and said:
" I have a weak mother who has become confused about a matter related to her prayer, so she sent me to inquire from you about it."
Lady Fatimah (as) answered her; the woman repeatedly came with questions for Lady Fatimah (as), and she kindly answered her every time.
One day the woman again approached Lady Fatimah (as) with another question from her mother and said to Lady Fatimah (as): "I shall not inconvenience you any more, O' daughter of the Messenger of Allah(saaw)".
Lady Fatimah (as) replied " Ask me regarding anything which comes to your mind, because if a man had been hired to transport a heavy load to the top of a mountain for a reward of one thousand dinars, do you think it would bother him?"
The woman said "No".
Lady Fatimah (as) continued "My reward for answering every inquiry is more than that which fills the space between the ground and the throne with pearls; thus, I should be more apt to answer your questions, for surely I heard my father say": " When the scholars of our Shia are gathered on the day of resurrection, they will be bestowed with the garments of honour equal in quantity to their knowledge and struggle to guide the worshippers of Allah(swt), up to the point that anyone of them will be gifted with one million garments of light."
Then the caller of our Exalted and Glorified Lord will say:
" O you guardians of the orphans of Muhammed(saaw). You who inspire them when they are separated from their fathers, who are their Imams; these are your pupils and the orphans whom you guarded and inspired, therefore bestow them with garments of knowledge in life".
Thus they will bestow each orphan with that which corresponds to the amount of knowledge he recieved from them (the scholars); up to the point that some orphans are bestowed with one million garments. Likewise, the orphans bestow those who learnt from them. Then Allah(swt), the Exalted said:
"Repeat upon these scholars, the guardians of the orphans, the bestowment and double and complete for them and for those who follow them"
Lady Fatimah (as) then added: " O' worshipper of Allah(swt), surely a thread of those garments is better than that on which the sun rises".

Imam Hasan(as) our 2nd Imam has narrated a very famous event about his mother Lady Fatimah (as)
On a particular night Imam Hasan(as) did not sleep and was watching his mother praying.
He kept on watching his mother, even though he was a little boy at that time, as he wanted to know what she was saying in her prayers. He heard her words of prayer for muslim individuals one by one.
But then, he wanted to know what his mother would ask for herself from Allah(swt).
Imam Hasan(as) did not sleep that night at all and was paying attention to his mother, the daughter of the Holy Prophet (saaw), and until dawn he listened to her praying for Muslims. But he did not hear her recite any prayers for herself.
So Imam Hasan (as) approached his mother and asked: " I listened to you all night and did not hear you pray for yourself, but you prayed for others. Why?" Lady Fatimah (as) said "My dear son, first your neighbors then your house!"

During the time of the illness of the Holy Prophet (saaw)

Fatimah (as), Prophet Muhammad's (saaw) only living child, used to visit him every day during his illness. He always rose to greet her and gave her the most comfortable place. Aisha saw her crying beside him, then she saw her laugh immediately afterwards. When she was alone with her, she asked her what had made her cry, then what had made her laugh immediately afterwards, and she said, 'I am not to betray the confidence of the Messenger of Allah (saaw).'
After Muhammad (saaw) had passed away, she explained to Aisha. She had cried because he told her he would be collected to Allah (swt) in this illness, then she laughed when he told her she would be the first of his family to join him. Six months later Fatimah (as) had also passed away.

Others among the Sunnis further include ALL the descendants of the Prophet to the list! Some other Sunnis are very generous and include all the descendants of Abbas (the Abbasid) as well as the descendants of Aqil & Ja'far (the two brothers of Imam Ali) to the list. It should be noted, however, that there have been some leading Sunni scholars who did NOT consider the wives of the Prophet among Ahlul-Bayt. This happens to be consistent with the Shia point of view.

To the Shia, the Ahlul-Bayt of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) consist of the following individuals ONLY:

• Fatimah al-Zahra (AS),
• Imam Ali (AS),
• Imam al-Hasan (AS),
• Imam al-Husain (AS),
• Nine descendants of Imam al-Husain (AS).

and including the Prophet (PBUH&HF) himself, they will become fourteen individuals. Of course, at the time of the Holy Prophet only five of them (including the Prophet) were living and the rest were not born yet. The Shia further assert that these fourteen individuals are protected by Allah from any kind of flaws, and thus worthy of being obeyed beside Quran (the other Weighty Symbol), and they are the only people who have the full knowledge of the interpretation of the Quranic verses.

In this discussion, we would like to explain why the Shia exclude the wives of the Prophet from Ahlul-Bayt, and also we will briefly discuss why Ahlul-Bayt are protected/infallible. (More detailed discussion on the infallibility is provided in Chapter 2). We base our proofs on:

1. Quran,

2. Traditions from the authentic Sunni Collections,

3. Historical events.

Evidence From Quran

The Holy Book of Allah mentions Ahlul-Bayt and their exceptional virtue in the following verse which is known as "Purification Verse" (Ayah al-Tat'hir):

"Verily Allah intends to keep off from you every kind of uncleanness O' People of the House (Ahlul-Bayt), and purify you with a perfect purification". (Quran, the last sentence of Verse 33:33)

                ||    /.            .   |    | ||          |  .  |
w_7 _||  o_)_,_c  .__,_8 ]_,_|  4_|_|| ]_,  _,  |_o_, |
(_/ . /    (          .      :             :  /:
|     | :      /   |         ..      ||   |   |
| _,_8_D_,   o_) _8_D_,  q  .__,_,_,_||   |_8 |
/:         (   /    :   /      : .     (_|

Note that the word "Rijs" in the above verse has got the article "al-" at its beginning which makes the word universal. Thus "al-Rijs" means "EVERY KIND of impurity". Also at the end of the verse, Allah states "and purify you a PERFECT purification." The word "perfect" comes from the emphasis of "Tat'hiran". This is the only place in Quran that Allah uses the emphasis of "PERFECT purification".

According to the above verse, Allah expresses his intention to keep Ahlul-Bayt pure and flawless/sinless, and what Allah intends it will certainly take place as Quran itself testifies (see 16:40). Indeed, a human can be sinless because he is not forced to commit sin. It is the human's choice to accept the instructions of Allah and get His help to avoid sin, or to neglect Allah's commandments and commit the sin. Allah is advisor, and encourager, and warner. A sinless human is still a human; no doubt about it. Some people assert that in order to be human, one SHOULD have some mistakes. Such claim is unsupported. The truth is that Human CAN make mistakes but he does not have to.

It is the Grace of Allah that attracts His servants towards Him, WITHOUT compelling them any way. This is our choice to pursue this attraction and refrain from doing mistakes, or to turn away and commit the mistakes. However, Allah has GUARANTEED to show the Right Path and to provide a pure life for those who seek it:

Whoever works righteousness man or woman and is faithful, We shall revive a PURE life for him. (Quran 16:97)

And whosoever keeps his duty to Allah, Allah will appoint a way out for him. (Quran 65:2)

It is worth mentioning the sentence of Quran in verse 33:33 which is related to purification of Ahlul-Bayt, has been placed at the middle of verses related to the wives of the Prophet (PBUH&HF), and this was the main reason why some Sunnis include the wives of the Prophet in Ahlul-Bayt. However, the sentence related to Ahlul-Bayt (given above) distinguishes itself from the sentences before and after it with a clear distinction. The sentences before and after, use only feminine gender which clearly shows they are addressing the wives of the Prophet (PBUH&HF). However, in contrary, the above sentence uses only masculine gender which is a clear indication that that Quran is changing the individuals who is referring to.

People who are familiar with Quran to some extent, know that such a sharp change of addressee is not a weird-thing, and it has been applied to several places in Quran. For instance we read in Quran:

"O Joseph! pass this over and (O wife of Aziz!) ask forgiveness for your sin, for truly you have been at fault."(Quran 12:29)

In the above verse, "O wife of Aziz" has not been mentioned and the address to Joseph (AS) looks to continue. However the transition of the address from masculine gender to feminine gender clearly shows that the second sentence is addressing the Aziz's wife and not Prophet Joseph (AS). Notice that both sentences are WITHIN one verse. Also note the immediate change of addressing from Aziz's wife to Joseph and again back to the wife in verses before verse 29 and also WITHIN that verse.

In Arabic language, when a group of women are being addressed, feminine gender is employed. However, if only one man exists among that group, masculine gender is used instead. Thus the above sentence of Quran clearly shows Allah is referring to a group other than the wives of the Prophet, using masculine gender, and that group includes some male members.

From the verse 33:33 alone, we can not conclude that the wives of the Prophet are not included in Ahlul-Bayt. This latter claim can be proven by the authentic traditions of the Sunnis from Sihah Sittah in which the Prophet mentioned who Ahlul-Bayt are; and also by comparing the specifications of Ahlul-Bayt given in the verse of Quran with the behavior of the some of the wives of the Prophet mentioned in Sihah Sittah to prove the contrary.

What can be understood from the verse ALONE is that Allah is changing His address (which was exclusively the wives of the Prophet at the beginning of the verse) to some people who include some male members, and may or may not include the wives of the Prophet.

Authentic Traditions

It is interesting to see that both Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Tirmidhi as well as many others confirm the Shi'ite point of view explained above. In Sahih Muslim, there is a chapter named "Chapter of Virtues of the Companions". Inside this chapter, there is a section called "Section of the Virtues of the Ahlul-Bayt of the Prophet". There exists ONLY ONE tradition in this section, and this tradition has no reference to the wives of the Prophet (PBUH&HF). The tradition is known as "The Tradition of Cloak/Mantle" (Hadith al-Kisaa), and is as follows:

Narrated Aisha:

One day the Prophet (PBUH&HF) came out afternoon wearing a black cloak (upper garment or gown; long coat), then al-Hasan Ibn Ali came and the Prophet accommodated him under the cloak, then al-Husain came and entered the cloak, then Fatimah came and the Prophet entered her under the cloak, then Ali came and the Prophet entered him to the cloak as well. Then the Prophet recited: "Verily Allah intends to keep off from you every kind of uncleanness O' People of the House (Ahlul-Bayt), and purify you a perfect purification (the last sentence of Verse 33:33)."

Sunni reference:

• Sahih Muslim, Chapter of virtues of companions, section of the virtues of the Ahlul-Bayt of the Prophet (PBUH&HF), 1980 Edition Pub. in Saudi Arabia, Arabic version, v4, p1883, Tradition #61.

Below is the Arabic text of above tradition given in Sahih Muslim:

      | ||    ^        |       |         |      : |   .      .  ||     .
> q_w |_|| _e_w  . _o  |_7 _o  _D _o 4_,_|_c q  o | ]_c    _,_,_|| _7 _7
/       /     (_)  (_|  /      /    :      /          (_S.      (_./
||    |     ^     | .   | .  w  |        |         ||    |   .
. _,_w_7_|| _@ |_7  o_,  4_|_7 > |_9    _|_c  . _,|  . _w_7_|| _@ |_7_9
(_):             .  (                 (_S     (_).   (_)            .
|     ^   |   | .   | .  :  |  | .   ..     |     ^           | .   .
_@ |_7  o_,  |_8_|_7 > |_9  4_o_D |_9  .__, _@ |_7  o_,  4_e_o   |_7 ]_9
.  (                                        .  (           (_|
.   |   | ||          |  .  |   | | :    ^     | .   | .  w  |
.__,_8 ]_,_| 4_|_|| ]_,  _,  |_o_, |   | |_o   o_,  4_|_7 > |_9    _|_c
.      :            :  /:           (_|      (                 (_S
|     | :     /   |        ..      ||   |   |         ||    /.
| _,_8_D_,  o_) _8_D_, q  .__,_,_,_||   |_8 |    w_7 _||  o_)_,_c
/:        (   /    :  /      : .     (_|     (_/ . /    (

One can see that the author of Sahih Muslim confirms that:

1. Imam Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan, and al-Husain are the Ahlul-Bayt,
2. The purification sentence in Quran (the last sentence of Verse 33:33) was revealed for the virtue of the above-mentioned individuals, and NOT for the wives of the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

Muslim (the Author) did not put any other tradition in this section (section of the virtues of Ahlul-Bayt). If the author of Sahih Muslim believed that the wives of the Prophet were included in Ahlul-Bayt, he would have quoted some traditions about them in this section.

It is interesting to see that Aisha, the wife of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) is the narrator of the above tradition, and she herself is testifying that Ahlul- Bayt are the above-mentioned individuals (i.e., Imam Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan, and al-Husain, may the blessing of Allah be upon them all).

Another version of the "Tradition of Cloak" is written in Sahih al-Tirmidhi, which is narrated in the authority of Umar Ibn Abi Salama, the son of Umm Salama (another wife of Prophet), which is as follows:

The verse "Verily Allah intends to ... (33:33)" was revealed to the Prophet (PBUH&HF) in the house of Umm Salama. Upon that, the Prophet gathered Fatimah, al-Hasan, and al-Husain, and covered them with a cloak, and he also covered Ali who was behind him. Then the Prophet said: "O' Allah! These are the Members of my House (Ahlul-Bayt). Keep them away from every impurity and purify them with a perfect purification." Umm Salama (the wife of Prophet) asked: "Am I also included among them O Apostle of Allah?" the Prophet replied: "You remain in your position and you are toward a good ending."

Sunni reference: Sahih al-Tirmidhi, v5, pp 351,663

Here is the Arabic text of above tradition given by Sahih al-Tirmidhi:

"      | ||         |  .  | "     .  ||    |    :   T ||   .    ..  |. .
... 4_|_|| ]_,  _, |_o_, |     _,_,_||   _|_c  4_, |_|| o ]_8 .__,_| _,
:  /:           (_S.      (_S       :                   /
|.         :  |  | .      .  || |     .   :   |       |  ..          .
q |_,_w_7 q  4_o_D |_9    _,_,_|| |_c ]_9   4_o_|_w   o | .__,_,_,    _9
/         /            (_S.                          (        : .  (_S
|| :   ^      |.    . | .  w  |      @  |   /        | |   . |.
||_o  o_, o _8_D .__9_|_7    _|_c q 4_, |_w_)_,  o_8_|_|_7_9 |_,_,_w_7
(_|    (     /              (_S     /          .  (       .       :
||    .           . | .    :       |   |     | |          | ||
q    w_7 _|| o_8_,_c .__,_8 > |_9    _,_,_,  |_8 |  _@ |_| q_8  o_8_|_||
/ (_/ . /   (         .           (_S  : . (_|             /   (
.  |            |.  |   :   |      |  ..  || :  |     | :        |
_,_, |_,  o_8_e_o |_, | q 4_o_|_w  o | .__,_||_o  | _,_8_D_, o_8 _8_D
(_S.     :  (              /         (                /:       (   /
.     ||  .. .  |       /.  | /       |    .. .  |   || :      | ||
_,_7    _|| .__,_, | q  ,__)_, |_)_o    _|_c .__,_, |   ||_o  ? 4_|_||
/:    (_S             /               (_S              (_|

As we see, al-Tirmidhi also confirms that Imam Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan, and al-Husain are the Ahlul-Bayt, and the purification sentence in Quran (the last sentence of Verse 33:33) was revealed for the virtue of the above-mentioned individuals, and NOT for the wives of the Prophet (PBUH&HF). Also it is apparent from above authentic tradition that the Prophet himself excluded his wives from Ahlul-Bayt. If Umm Salama (RA) was among Ahlul-Bayt, why didn't the Prophet answer her positively? Why didn't he enter her into the cloak? Why did the Prophet tell her that she remains in her own position? If the Prophet (PBUH&HF) would consider Umm Salama among Ahlul-Bayt, he would surely have entered her to the cloak and would have prayed for her perfect purity as well.

It is also worth mentioning that the Prophet (PBUH&HF) did NOT say: "These are among the Members of my House". He rather said: "These are THE Members of my House" since there was no other member of Ahlul-Bayt who was alive at the time of the Prophet (PBUH&HF). Also notice that Umm Salama (RA) who is the virtuous wife of the Prophet is the narrator of the tradition to his son and gives the testimony that who Ahlul-Bayt are.

In the tradition of al-Hakim the wording the last question and answer is as follows:

Umm Salama said: "O Prophet of Allah! Am I not one of the members of your family?" The Holy Prophet replied: "You have a good future but only these are the members of my family. O Lord! The members of my family are more deserving."

Sunni reference: al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim, v2, p416

Also the wording reported by al-Suyuti and Ibn al-Athir is as follows:

Umm Salama said to the Holy Prophet: "Am I also one of them?" He replied: "No. You have your own special position and your future is good."

Sunni reference:

• Usdul Ghabah, by Ibn al-Athir, v2, p289
• Tafsir al-Durr al-Manthoor, by al-Suyuti, v5, p198

Also al-Tabari quotes Umm Salama saying:

I said, "O Prophet of Allah! Am I not also one of your Ahlul-Bayt?" I swear by the Almighty that the Holy Prophet did NOT grant me any distinction and said: "You have a good future."

Sunni reference: Tafsir al-Tabari, v22, p7 under the commentary of verse 33:33

Beside Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Tirmidhi from which we quoted the Tradition of Cloak on the authority of Aisha and Umm Salama respectively, below are more Sunni references of the Tradition of Cloak who reported both versions of the traditions:

(3) Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v6, pp 323,292,298; v1, pp 330-331; v3, p252; v4, p107 from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri

(4) Fadha'il al-Sahaba, by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v2, p578, Tradition #978

(5) al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim, v2, p416 (two traditions) from Ibn Abi Salama, v3, pp 146-148 (five traditions), pp 158,172

(6) al-Khasa'is, by an-Nisa'i, pp 4,8

(7) al-Sunan, by al-Bayhaqi, narrated from Aisha and Umm Salama

(8) Tafsir al-Kabir, by al-Bukhari (the author of Sahih), v1, part 2, p69

(9) Tafsir al-Kabir, by Fakhr al-Razi, v2, p700 (Istanbul), from Aisha

(10) Tafsir al-Durr al-Manthoor, by al-Suyuti, v5, pp 198,605 from Aisha and Umm Salama

(11) Tafsir Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, v22, pp 5-8 (from Aisha and Abu Sa'id al-Khudri), pp 6,8 (from Ibn Abi Salama) (10 traditions)

(12) Tafsir al-Qurtubi, under the commentary of verse 33:33 from Umm Salama

(13) Tafsir Ibn Kathir, v3, p485 (Complete version) from Aisha and Umar Ibn Abi Salama

(14) Usdul Ghabah, by Ibn al-Athir, v2, p12; v4, p79 narrated from Ibn Abi Salama

(15) Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 11, sec. 1, p221 from Umm Salama

(16) Tarikh, by al-Khateeb Baghdadi, v10, narrated from Ibn Abi Salama

(17) Tafsir al-Kashshaf, by al-Zamakhshari, v1, p193 narrated from Aisha

(18) Mushkil al-Athar, by al-Tahawi, v1, pp 332-336 (seven traditions)

(19) Dhakha'ir al-Uqba, by Muhibb al-Tabari, pp21-26, from Abu Sa'id Khudri

(20) Majma' al-Zawa'id, by al-Haythami, v9, p166 (by several transmitters)

... and more ...

Here is another authentic variation of "The Tradition of Cloak" which is related to Safiyya who was another wife of the Prophet (PBUH&HF). Ja'far Ibn Abi Talib narrated:

When the Messenger of Allah noticed that a blessing from Allah was to descent, he told Safiyya (one of his wives): "Call for me! Call for me!" Safiyya said: "Call who, O the Messenger of Allah?" He said: "Call for me my Ahlul-Bayt who are Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan, and al-Husain." Thus we sent for them and they came to him. Then the Prophet (PBUH&HF) spread his cloak over them, and raised his hand (toward sky) saying: "O Allah! These are my family (Aalee), so bless Muhammad and the family (Aal) of Muhammad." And Allah, to whom belong Might and Majesty, revealed: "Verily Allah intends to keep off from you every kind of uncleanness O' People of the House (Ahlul-Bayt), and purify you a thorough purification (Quran, the last sentence of Verse 33:33)".

Sunni references:

• al-Mustadrak by al-Hakim, Chapter of "Understanding (the virtues) of Companions, v3, p148. The author then wrote: "This tradition is authentic (Sahih) based on the criteria of the two Shaikhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim)."
• Talkhis of al-Mustadrak, by al-Dhahabi, v3, p148
• Usdul Ghabah, by Ibn al-Athir, v3, p33

Although the majority of traditions on this issue show that the last sentence of the verse 33:33 was revealed in the house of Umm Salama (as quoted earlier), the above tradition implies that it might have been revealed in the house of Safiyya. Based on the opinion of the Sunni scholars including Ibn Hajar, it is quite possible that the verse was revealed more than once. In each occasion, the Prophet repeated his action in front of different wives so that they all realize who his Ahlul-Bayt are.

The testimony of three wives of the Prophet (Aisha, Umm Salama, and Safiyya) leaves us no room but to believe that the Ahlul-Bayt at the time of the Prophet were no more than five individuals: Prophet Muhammad, Lady Fatimah, Imam Ali, al-Hasan, and al-Husain (Peace be upon them all).

The fact that the gender in later part of Verse 33:33 is switched from feminine to masculine, has led the majority of Sunni commentators to believe that the last part was revealed for Imam Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan and al-Husain, as Ibn Hajar al-Haythami indicated:

Based on the opinion of the majority of (Sunni) commentators, the saying of Allah :"Verily Allah intends to ... (the last sentence of the verse 33:33)" was revealed for Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan, and al-Husain, because of the usage of masculine gender in the word "Ankum" and after that.

Sunni reference: al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar, Ch. 11, section 1, p220

Although the Shia have great respect for the highly righteous wives among the wives of the Prophet (PBUH&HF), such as Khadija, Umm Salama, Umm Ayman and ... (may Allah be pleased with them) who closely followed the Prophet and his Ahlul-Bayt before and after the demise of Prophet (PBUH&HF), yet we do not include even those respected individuals into Ahlul-Bayt since the Prophet clearly excluded them according to the authentic Sunni and Shi'i traditions. Ahlul-Bayt have exceptional virtues that no other pious person after the Prophet would possess them in the world, which are according to Quran: sinlessness, flawlessness and perfect purity.

He who dies with love of the family of Muhammad is a Martyr.

|    . .     .. |              | T            |    .. |             | ||
|  q_9_e_o  .__,|_o  ]_o_7_o   | | .__,_7    _|_c .__,|_o  . _o  q  |_||
/ /                         (_|    .     (_S             (_)    /

And behold! He who dies with love of the family of Muhammad is forgiven.

|  @  |:   .. |              | T           |    .. |            | ||   |
|_,_, |_, .__,|_o  ]_o_7_o   | | .__,_7   _|_c .__,|_o  . _o q  |_|| 4_|
.                         (_|    .    (_S             (_)   /

And more! The one who dies with love of the family of Muhammad is died repented.

 |.          .. |              | T            |     .. |            | ||
|_,_o q_o  .__,|_o  ]_o_7_o   | | .__,_7    _|_c  .__,|_o  . _o q  |_||
/                     (_|    .     (_S              (_)   /
|     | ||   |   /:
.  |_o_, |_||   |_o_)_,_w_o
(_)    :       (_|

Lo! He who dies with love of the family of Muhammad is died as a believer with a COMPLETE belief.

                              | T            |     .. |             | ||
]_o_7_o   | | .__,_7    _|_c  .__,|_o  . _o q   |_||
(_|    .     (_S              (_)   /
/.      /.      ^   :.    ||    ..     ||    / |       ^
_,_)_, q  _)_,_o  o_,  4_,_7_||_, .__,q_o_|| (__)_|_o  o _w_,
/:      / /       (        .    .      /                 /  .

And no doubt! The one who dies with love of the family of Muhammad, the angle of death gives him the glad tiding of Paradise, and so do the two angels who question him (Munkar & Nakeer).

:.    ||    ||    . .            | T            |     .. |          | ||
4_,_7_||   _|| .__9 _,  ]_o_7_o  | | .__,_7    _|_c  .__,|_o . _o q |_||
.    (_S        /:          (_|    .     (_S             (_)   /
|      .   ..          ||            ||    ..:  |   /
|_8_7q    .__,_,_,    _||    w q  _e_|| .__9 _, |_o_)
. / /      : .  (_S    (_/  / /          /

And verily he who dies with love of the family of Muhammad, will be led toward the Paradise as the bride is led to the house of her husband.

                              | T            |     .. |             | ||
]_o_7_o   | | .__,_7    _|_c  .__,|_o  . _o q   |_||
(_|    .     (_S              (_)   /
:.    ||     ||     |  |         :      .    |    :  .
4_,_7_||    _||  .  |_,|_,  o _,_o     _9  4_|  _7_,_9
.     (_S    (_)  .  .    /.     (_S        (_

Behold! And he who dies with love of the family of Muhammad, for him there will open two gates in his grave toward the Paradise.

                               | T            |     .. |            | ||
]_o_7_o   | | .__,_7    _|_c  .__,|_o  . _o q  |_||
(_|    .     (_S              (_)   /
:      ||  : /@  | |      |.          :    | ||   |
4_o_7 _||  4_)_, |_|_o    | _o   o _,_o  4_|_||   |_e_7
/                  /  /      /.            (_|  .

Lo! And the one who dies with love of the family of Muhammad, Allah will make his grave a sacred place of visit for the angels of mercy.

:.    ||    |    .. |             | T           |    .. |           | ||
4_,_w_||   _|_c .__,|_o  ]_o_7_o  | | .__,_7   _|_c .__,|_o  . _o q |_||
(_S                     (_|    .    (_S             (_)   /

And verily he who dies with love of the family of Muhammad, has died on Sunnah.

           |               | T     . .       |     .. |             | ||
o q_,  _@ |_7   ]_o_7_o   | |    _p_e_,    _|_c  .__,|_o   . _o q  |_||
(  /:       .            (_|   (_/    .  (_S               (_)   /
| || :                    T    .              |   :  /    :   |   : ||
4_|_|| 4_o_7    . _o    w_, | 4_,_,_,_c  . _,_, |_,q_,_)_o  4_o |_,_o_||
/  (_)   (_/ :     :   :    (_): .   . /             :

And no doubt! The one who dies with the HATE of the family of Muhammad, will arrive in the day of judgment while it is printed on his forehead that he is desperate from the Mercy of Allah.

|  . | /  .. |              | T     . .       |     .. |            | ||
| _9 |_) .__,|_o  ]_o_7_o   | |    _p_e_,    _|_c  .__,|_o  . _o q  |_||
/                        (_|   (_/    .  (_S              (_)   /

Behold! He who dies with the HATE of the family of Muhammad, has died unbeliever.

                           | T     . .       |     .. |             | ||
]_o_7_o   | |    _p_e_,    _|_c  .__,|_o   . _o q  |_||
(_|   (_/    .  (_S               (_)   /
:.    ||  :  @  |      ^      |
4_,_7_||  4_7_, |    o_w_,  o_|
.             /  (   :  (

And verily he who dies with the HATE of the family of Muhammad, will never hear the smell of Paradise.

Sunni references:

• Tafsir al-Kabir, by Fakhr al-Din Muhammad Ibn Umar al-Razi, Pub. in Egypt (1357/1938), under commentary of verse 42:23, Part 27, pp. 165-166.
• Tafsir al-Kashshaf, by al-Zamakhshari
• Tafsir al-Kabir, by al-Tha'labi

Fakhr al-Razi and others mentioned the above tradition under the commentary of the following verse of Quran, in which Allah tell his Messenger:

"(O Prophet) tell (people) I don't ask you any wage (in return for my prophethood) except to love my near kin. And if anyone earns any good We shall give Him an increase of good (in return for it)" (Quran 42:23).

       : ||    .  :       || | ||  |    |      |      / |@    | | |  | :
_, _o_||   _9  o > q_o_|| |_||  | _7 |  4_,_|_c  o_)_|_,_w | |_|  |_o
(_S. /     (_S        /             /.      :      (               (_|

It has been widely reported by the Sunni commentators of the Holy Quran that:

Ibn Abbas narrated: When the above verse (42:23) was revealed, the companions asked: "O' the Messenger of Allah! Who are those near kin whose love Allah has made obligatory for us?" Upon that the Prophet (PBUH&HF) said: "Ali, Fatimah, and their two sons." He (PBUH&HF) repeated this sentence thrice.

Sunni references:

1. Tafsir al-Kabir, by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Part 27, pp 165-166
2. Tafsir al-Tha'labi, under the commentary of verse 42:23 of Quran
3. Tafsir al-Tabari, by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, under verse 42:23
4. Tafsir al-Qurtubi, under commentary of verse 42:23 of Quran
5. Tafsir al-Kashshaf, by al-Zamakhshari, under commentary of verse 42:23
6. Tafsir al-Baidhawi, under the commentary of verse 42:23 of Quran
7. Tafsir al-Kalbi, under commentary of verse 42:23 of Quran
8. al-Madarik, in connection with verse 42:23
9. Dhakha'ir al-Uqba, by Muhibbuddin al-Tabari, p25
10. Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal,
11. al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, p259
12. Shawahid al-Tanzeel, Hakim Hasakani, al-Hanafi, v2, p132
13. Many others such as Ibn Abi Hatam, al-Tabarani, etc.

Then the Prophet (PBUH&HF) continued:

"Verily Allah has dedicated my wage (of prophethood) to love of my Ahlul-Bayt, and I shall question you about it on the day of judgment."

Sunni references:

• Dhakha'ir al-Uqba, by Muhibbuddin al-Tabari, p26
• al-Sirah, by al-Mala

In another tradition, we read:

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) said: "I advice you to be kind to my Ahlul-Bayt for verily I will dispute you about them on the day of Judgment, and whoever I dispute him shall enter the Fire." He (PBUH&HF) also said: "One who regards me by regarding my Ahlul-Bayt, he has taken a promise from Allah (to enter the Paradise)."

Sunni references:

• al-Tabaqat, by Ibn Sa'd
• al-Sirah, by al-Mala
• al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, p231

Furthermore, al-Kateeb and Ibn Hajar narrated on the authority of Anas Ibn Malik saying:

The Prophet (PBUH&HF) said: "The title of the Book (Saheefah) of believer is love of Ali Ibn Abi Talib."

Sunni references:

• Tarikh, by al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi
• al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 9, section 2, p193

In the above tradition, "The Book of believer" refers to the way a believer conducts the affairs, i.e., his daily life, and his diary.

On the commentary of the Quranic verse: "Lo! those who believe and do good, the Beneficent will appoint for them love (Quran 19:96)," al-Hafidh al-Salafi wrote: Muhammad Ibn Hanafiyyah said: "There will not be a believer unless in whose heart love of Ali and his family exists." In this connection, al-Bayhaqi, Abu al-Shaikh, and al-Daylami reported that the Messenger of Allah said: "A servant (of God) will not be a (true) believer unless he loves me more than his own soul, and loves my progeny more than his own soul and his own family." See al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, pp 261-262 quoted from al-Hafidh al-Salafi, al-Bayhaqi, Abu al-Shaikh, and al-Daylami).

al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad narrated:

The Messenger of Allah said: "He who loves me and loves these two: al-Hasan and al-Husain, and loves their father and mother, he will be with me in Paradise."

Sunni reference:

• Sahih al-Tirmidhi, v5, p641
• Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, on the authority of Imam Ali (AS)
• Fadha'il al-Sahaba, by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v2, p693, Tradition #1185
• al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, p264

It is also narrated that:

The Messenger of Allah said: "Verily the prosperous and the only prosperous and the true prosperous is he who loves Ali in his lifetime and in his hereafter."

Sunni reference:

• Fadha'il al-Sahaba, by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v2, p658, Tradition #1121
• al-Riyadh al-Nadhirah, by Muhibbuddin al-Tabari, v3, p176
• Majma' al-Zawa'id, by al-Haythami, v9, p132
• Sharh Ibn Abil Hadid, v2, p429

Sunni scholars also narrated that Imam al-Hasan Ibn Ali (AS) said the following in a discourse which he delivered on the martyrdom of Imam Ali:

"... I am among Ahlul-Bayt whom Allah has made their love obligatory for any Muslim when He revealed to His Prophet (PBUH&HF): "Say: I don't ask you any wage except to love my near kin. And if anyone earns any good We shall give Him an increase of good (Quran 42:23)." Thus earn the good deed through loving us Ahlul-Bayt."

Sunni references:

• al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim, "Chapter of understanding the virtues of companions," v3, p172
• al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, p259
• Many others such as al-Bazzar, al-Tabarani, etc.

Furthermore, it is narrated from Ibn Abbas:

Ibn Abbas said: "The good deed in the verse: 'And if anyone earns any good We shall give Him an increase of good (Quran 42:23)' is the love of family (Aal) of the Muhammad (PBUH&HF)."

Sunni references:

• Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, as mentioned in:
• al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, p259

Sunni traditionists also narrated that:

After the murder of al-Husain when his family were taken prisoners and were moved to Damascus, a man in the city (who among others was looking at the passing of prisoners in the city) said to Zain al-Abideen (Imam Ali Ibn al-Husain) that "Praise be to Allah who destroyed you and made you helpless and cut the root of sedition." On that, Zain al-Abideen said: "Didn't you read 'Tell I don't ask you any wage except to love my near kin'?" The man answered: "Are you those?" He (Zain al-Abideen) said: "Yes."

Sunni references:

• Tafsir Ibn Kathir (complete version), v4, p112, under commentary of verse 42:23 of Quran
• al-Tabarani, as mentioned in:
• al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, p259

In contrary to all above traditions, Yusuf Ali has a very strange commentary for the verse 42:23. He wrote:

Yusuf Ali> No sort of tangible reward does the Prophet of Allah ask for
Yusuf Ali> proclaiming the Glad Tidings of Allah. But at least he has the
Yusuf Ali> right to ask that his kith and kin should not persecute him and
Yusuf Ali> put all sorts of obstacles in his way, as did the Quraish
Yusuf Ali> against the holy Prophet. (Yusuf Ali's commentary of 42:23)

What Yusuf Ali implied was that, by the above verse, the Prophet was asking his kin not to prosecute him and they should love his kin, i.e., the Prophet. The fact is that the above mentioned traditions of the Prophet regarding the revelation of verse 42:23, contradict what Yusuf Ali commented. I wonder if we Should take the opinion of the Prophet or the opinion of Yusuf Ali?! It is noteworthy that the above mentioned traditions were narrated by the prominent Sunni traditionists through various transmitters. Yusuf Ali was not a traditionist nor do Sunnis consider his commentary an authoritative one.

Besides, we can prove logically that Yusuf Ali's commentary is incorrect. "Those of near kin" are the kin of the Prophet himself. Because Prophet Muhammad is only one person. If Allah wanted to say "Love the Prophet because he is your kin", He could say so, and He would not use "Those of near kin". Moreover, from the verse it is clear that Allah was not addressing non-Muslims, because the verse is about his wage in return for his prophethood. Thus those unbelievers (among his kin or else) who do not recognized him as a prophet, were not being addressed. What kind of wage could the Prophet expect from an unbeliever (among his kin or else) who do not recognize him as a prophet?!

Thus they are Muslims who are being addressed by the verse. Now, if Yusuf Ali meant that the verse was addressing those Muslims who were his kin, then I would like to ask: Who among the near kin of the Prophet who was Muslims but tried to prosecute the Prophet? The answer is Non. If you think otherwise, please present your evidence from the history of the life of the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

Therefore, the Yusuf Ali's commentary is neither in harmony with the above-mentioned Sunni traditions in this regard, nor in harmony with logic.

I do not intend to discuss all the mistakes which exist in the Yusuf Ali's works. I myself have found some trivial mistakes in his translation of Quran, and there is even a book named "Discussion on the errors of Yusuf Ali", (Paperback, .00 in the United States) which discusses some of his errors. Although I do not intend to fully discredit his works, it would be beneficial to mention his translation of a verse of Quran in connection with the current topic, and then compare it to other translations. This verse is very similar to the above-mentioned verse of Quran (42:23). Allah, to whom belong might and majesty, similarly said:

"(O Prophet) tell (people) whatever I asked you as wage (in return for my prophethood) is in the benefit of you (people)" (Quran 34:47).

Here is the Pickthall's translation:

Pickthall> "Say: Whatever reward I might have asked of you is yours"
Pickthall> (34:47).

Now, let us look at the Yusuf Ali's translation:

Yusuf Ali> "Say: No reward do I ask of you; it is (all) in your interest"
Yusuf Ali> (34:47).

One can see that the translation of Yusuf Ali provides meaning quite contradictory to the others. In the translation of the above verse, Yusuf Ali states that the Prophet did not ask any wage. By that, Yusuf Ali contradicted his own translation of the other mentioned verse (42:23) where he states the Prophet did, in fact, ask for the wage:

Yusuf Ali> "Say: No reward do I ask of you for this except the love of
Yusuf Ali> those near of kin." (42:23)

There is no doubt that the reward of the Prophet is with Allah. However, with the above order of Allah, the Prophet did ask People to love his family as his wage. Such request is, in fact, for the benefit of people as verse 34:47 testifies. The verses of Holy Quran explain one another. More Surprisingly, there is a third verse with another wording which implies that the benefit that people get by fulfilling the Prophet's request (i.e., affection and devotion to Ahlul-Bayt) is that they will be led to the path (Sabeel) of Allah:

"Say: I ask of you no reward for it except that one who wishes, may adopt a Path (Sabeel) toward his Lord." (Quran 25:57)

Pickthall's translation:

Pickthall> "Say: I ask of you no reward for this save that whoso will, may
Pickthall> choose a Way unto his Lord." (25:57)

Putting verse 25:57 beside 42:23 and 34:47 gives evidence to the fact that each member of Ahlul-Bayt is the Right Path (Sabeel) toward Allah, and the way toward His satisfaction. The Right Path of Allah is no more than one even though it manifested in a sequence of divinely appointed leaders. As such, each of these leaders were the unique Path (Sabeel) of Allah in their own time, and through whom people can attain protection against disagreement in religious matters. In fact, the Messenger of Allah confirmed the above conclusion from the latter verse. Ibn Sa'd and Ibn Hajar recorded that:

The Messenger of Allah said: "Me and my Ahlul-Bayt are a tree in Paradise whose branches came to this world (Dunyaa). Thus whoso will, may choose a Path unto his Lord (by taking a branch and reaching to the stem in Paradise)."

Sunni references:

• al-Tabaqat, by Ibn Sa'd
• Sharaf al-Nubuwwah, by Muhibbuddin al-Tabari, on the authority of Abu Sa'id
• al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Ch. 11, section 1, p231

The above underlined part of the Hadith of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) is the Quranic verse mentioned above (25:57). The true love for Ahlul-Bayt will, in fact, oblige us to follow their Right Path which guarantees the human prosperity in this world as well the Paradise in the world after.

Wassalam.