Q25: The Holy Prophet said "I leave two things, the Holy Quran and my Sunnah." Why follow the Ahlul-Bayt?
It is a common misconception amongst Sunnis that the Holy Prophet uttered the above sentence in his final sermon and whilst it has been narrated in various Sunni books, interestingly it has not been narrated at all in the main Sunni books of hadith. In-fact, in Sahih Muslim it states:
"O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah's call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family." (Book 31, No. 5920)Sahih Muslim clearly states the two weighty things as the Holy Quran and the Ahlul-Bayt. Even if you disagree and believe that the Holy Prophet states his 'Sunnah', who knew the sunnah better than anyone else? People like Imam Ali (as) and Bibi Fatima (as) who were with him throughout his mission. Shias are those Muslims who follow the Holy Quran and the Ahlul-Bayt together as instructed by the Holy Prophet. We do not take one and reject the other.
Q26: Why doesn't the Ahlul-Bayt include the wives of the Holy Prophet?
The above hadith from Sahih Muslim continues on:
"He (Husain) said to Zaid: Who are the members of his household? Aren't his wives the members of his family? Thereupon he said: His wives are the members of his family (but here) the members of his family are those for whom acceptance of Zakat is forbidden. And he said: Who are they? Thereupon he said: 'Ali and the offspring of 'Ali, 'Aqil and the offspring of 'Aqil and the offspring of Ja'far and the offspring of 'Abbas. Husain said: These are those for whom the acceptance of Zakat is forbidden. Zaid said: Yes." (Book 31, No. 5920)A similar version of this has also been narrated in Sahih Bukhari. The Holy Prophet, again and again, in the traditions of the Ahle Sunnah, identifies the Ahlul-Bayt as being five people, himself, his daughter, Bibi Fatima (as), her husband (and his cousin) Imam Ali (as) and his two grandsons Imams Hasan (as) & Hussain (as). Most famously, he states the people of the Ahlul-Bayt upon the revelation of the following verse of the Holy Quran:
"Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity [of sin], O people of the [Prophet's] household, and to purify you with [extensive] purification." (Surah 33, Verse 33)This verse was revealed and acknowledged by none other than Aisha, wife of the Holy Prophet in Sahih Muslim (also known as Hadith al-Kisa - tradition of the Cloak):
"'A'isha reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) went out one morning wearing a striped cloak of the black camel's hair that there came Hasan b. 'Ali. He wrapped hitn under it, then came Husain and he wrapped him under it along with the other one (Hasan). Then came Fatima and he took her under it, then came 'Ali and he also took him under it and then said: Allah only desires to take away any uncleanliness from you, O people of the household, and purify you (thorough purifying)" (Book 31, No 5955)
The same tradition has also been narrated by the son of another wife of the Holy Prophet, Umm Salama as mentioned in Sunan Tirmidhi (one of the six major hadith collections for the Ahle Sunnah):
The above Quranic verse is known as Ayat of Tathir - the verse of purification, and does not refer to the wives of the Holy Prophet. Although it appears in a section of verses in which the wives are being discussed, the reference to the Prophet's household does not include the wives. When you study the Holy Quran, there are many occasions when it changes subject and in this verse the gender also changes from feminine to masculine which refers to a mixed group rather than just the wives of the Holy Prophet. Besides, how could the wives be considered part of the Ahlul-Bayt when one of the wives took up arms against Imam Ali (as)? If she was part of the Ahlul-Bayt surely she would not take such action.
Q27: Where is the concept of Imamat or Imams mentioned in the Holy Quran?
There are a few references to the concept of Imamat in the Holy Quran, most significant is in Surah Bani Israel:
"The day (of Judgement) We shall summon all men with their respective Imams, whosoever is given his record in his right hand will be able to read his account, and none will be wronged the breadth of a thread." (Surah 17, Verse 71)"With their respective Imams," not with their parents, with their Prophets or with their Holy Books - although some Sunni scholars have tried to translate the arabic "bi-Imaamihim" as meaning the Holy Book which is clearly incorrect. On the day of Judgement we will be called with our respective Imams - something I will be discussing in the next section inshallah.
"And (remember) when his Lord tried Abraham with (His) commands, and he fulfilled them, He said: Lo! I have appointed thee a Imam for mankind. " (Surah 2, Verse 124)Imam is a very holy title, a holy position referred to in the Holy Quran. Prophet Ibrahim became a Prophet first and then an Imam. The title of "Imam" was bestowed upon him by Allah (SWT) after he was "tried" and tested.
Q28: Why should we believe in the 12 Imams?
Well, how about because Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari say so?
"Narrated Jabir bin Samura: I heard the Prophet saying, "There will be twelve Muslim rulers (who will rule all the Islamic world)." He then said a sentence which I did not hear. My father said, "All of them (those rulers) will be from Quraish." (Sahih Bukhari: Vol 9, Book 89, No.329)
"It has been narrated on the authority of Jabir b. Samura who said: I joined the company of the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) with my father and I heard him say: This Caliphate will not end until there have been twelve Caliphs among them. The narrator said: Then he (the Holy Prophet) said something that I could not follow. I said to my father: What did he say? He said: He has said: All of them will be from the Quraish." (Sahih Muslim: Book 20, Nos. 4477-4484)There are countless traditions referring to the twelve caliphs or twelve successors contained in many other Ahle Sunnah books - Sunan Tirmidhi, Sunan Abu Dawud and Kanz al-Ummal.
Q29: How do we know the 12 Imams are the 12 Shia Imams?
After highlighting the ahadiths that exist in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, surely it is down to the Ahle Sunnah to try and name these 12 rulers, caliphs. We Shias know exactly who they are, but it seems many Sunni scholars struggle to identify them.
Ibn Arabi goes through all of the Ummayad and Abbasid caliphs and concludes: "I cannot understand the meaning of this hadith." Ibn Hajar Asqalani, leading Sunni scholar states: " No one has much knowledge about this particular hadith of Sahih Bukhari."
Jalaluddin Al-Suyuti (famous Egyptian Sunni scholar and commentator on the Holy Quran) has had a stab at naming them: "We see that from the twelve, four are the Righteous Caliphs, then Hasan ibn Ali, then Muawiyah, then Ibn Zubayr, and finally Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. They are eight, four of them remain."
So how does he get twelve? He pulls together eight names and then starts speculating in a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to get to twelve.
Another Sunni scholar, Suleman ibn Ibrahim al Hanafi al Qandozi actually backs the Shia belief in his book Yanabi al-Mawaddah:
"A Jewish man named Na'thal, went to the Prophet (SAW) and said: "Every Jewish Prophet left a successor, who is your successor? The Prophet (SAW) said, specifying them, "After me, Ali ibn Abu Talib and then my two sons Hasan and Hussain and after Hussain, nine Imams will follow from his children."The Jewish man said, "Name them."The Prophet said, "When Hussain leaves this world, his son Ali, and after him, his child Muhammed and after Muhammed, his son Jafar and after Jafar, his son Musa and after Musa, his son Ali and after Ali, Muhammed. After Muhammed, his child Ali and after Ali, Hasan and after Hasan, his child Muhammad al-Mahdi. These are the twelve Imams."That concludes the section about the Ahlul-Bayt and next time I will be focussing more specifically on the 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi (as).
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