Jesus in the Quran: an Akbari Perspective - Part One (1).

by Reza Shah-Kazemi

Ibn 'Arabi refers to Jesus as" symbol of engendering" (mathalan bi-takwin). It is my intention in this paper to show that, in the metaphysical perspective of Ibn 'Arabi's school, one of the most important principles of which the "Qur'anic" Jesus stands forth as a "symbol", sign, and concrete embodiment, is the following:mercy and compassion are the fruits of the realization of the true Self - or self of the Real, the Nafs al-Haqq, as Ibn 'Arabi calls it. Compassion, in turn, should be understood not only morally but also, and a priori, metaphysically, in terms of the bestowal of life:God gives life to the cosmos out of compassion for His own hidden qualities that long to be known; and man participates in this process both positively - through being compassionate towards his own self, as well as towards others - and inversely, by enlivening his own soul and that of others through the knowledge of God. The Qur'anic narratives concerning Jesus, together with the esoteric interpretations thereof from the Akbari perspective, illuminate these intertwined realities of selfhood and compassion in a particularly fruitful manner. Jesus is described in the Qur'an "as a sign for mankind and a mercy from Us". Ibn 'Arabi draws out, in a most instructive way, how these two aspects of Jesus can be spiritually understood: what Jesus is a sign of, and how this relates to mercy or compassion.

I shall begin this paper by referring to the Qur'anic passages in the Sura Maryam that relate the stories of the births of John and Jesus. For it was reflection upon these passages that formed the starting-point for the series of observations that are the subject of this paper. One observes a number of remarkable similarities in these two passages. There is in both cases - to Zakariah, the father of John, and Mary, mother of Jesus - the apparition of an angel to announce the news of the imminent birth of a son; the words addressed to them by the angel, and the responses given by them are similar; several of the phrases used to describe John and Jesus are identical; a vow of silence is observed by both Zakariah and Mary after their vision of the angel, etc. But there are also notable differences between the two narratives, in particular the following one: whereas it is the angel who describes John, it is Jesus who describes himself, through the miraculous words uttered by him as a baby still in his cradle. Indeed, it is the degree of miraculousness that, in general, distinguishes the two narratives: the birth of Jesus to the Virgin was a more absolute kind of miracle as compared with the lesser prodigy of John's being begotten by Zakariah, though "my wife is barren and I have reached infirm old age" (XIX:8). But one should pay particular attention to the words at the end of Jesus' discourse: "Peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I shall be raised up alive."In the case of John, it is the angel who invokes peace upon him: "Peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies and the day he shall be raised up alive."

The reader is struck by the contrast between the invocation of peace upon oneself and the invoking of peace on another. Furthermore, it is peace with the definite article, al-salam, that Jesus invokes upon himself, whereas it is the indefinite form, salamun, that is invoked by the angel on John. It is as if there is a deliberate juxtaposition here between the the divine attribute of peace, in respect of Jesus, and the general quality of peace - ultimately divine, in its essence, but considered here at the level of its formal manifestation -in regard to John. This contrast might be interpreted as an allusion to the fullness of divine life, and the totality of supreme Self-consciousness that infused the human substance of Christ from his very inception, this substance itself being the very Word of God. In this connection, Ibn 'Arabi alerts our attention to an extremely important analogy. The Qur'an tells us that Jesus was indeed God's word, "cast unto Mary, and a spirit from Him."(IV:171). Ibn 'Arabi comments upon this, saying that Gabriel transmitted this Word to Mary just as a prophet transmits God's word to his community. Ibn 'Arabi thus shows that there is something in the very substance of Jesus that is, in and of itself, a revelation, "a sign for mankind", as the Qur'an says (XIX:21). Such a view of Jesus narrows, in certain respects at least, the gap that separates a Muslim from a Christian conception of the "message" of Christ.

In the Fusûs al-Hikam , we find Ibn 'Arabi commenting on this contrast between the two greetings of peace. In the chapter on John we read:

If the speech were that of the spirit: Peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I shall be raised up alive - that is more complete as regards the reality of union and as regards doctrine, and more lofty in interpretation.

'Abd al-Razzaq Kashani provides just such a "lofty interpretation" with his comment on this invocation of peace upon oneself:

God bestows on Himself the salutation of peace, because of His own Self-determination within the 'Isawi substance; and this also shows the perfection of Jesus' station in the witnessing of this oneness.

In other words, it is God Himself who greets Himself within and through the very form of Jesus. Now this touches on many key themes of Ibn 'Arabi's metaphysics, but let us note the following point: the greeting offered to God by Himself through another can be taken as a symbol of the principle that God reveals Himself through the whole of creation. As we saw earlier, Ibn 'Arabi says that Jesus is a symbol of takwin, of engendering, or of creative activity. This comes in the following poem, which opens the chapter of the Fusus on Jesus:

From the water of Mary or from the breath of Gabriel,
In the form of a mortal fashioned of clay,
The Spirit came to be in an essence
Purified of nature, which you call Sijjin...
A Spirit from God, not from anything else.
Thus he raised up the dead and made birds from clay...
God purified him in body and exalted him in spirit,
And made of him a symbol of engendering.

Let us briefly consider this "symbol of engendering" in four ways. First, the creation of Jesus himself - by means of a breath, a word, a spirit, cast into Mary - is a miraculous sign of God's creativity in general, of the way in which the spirit enlivens matter. Secondly, the creation of Jesus is a recapitulation of the specific miracle of the creation of Adam. Thirdly, at the level of cosmogenesis, the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary expresses the principle by which the cosmos itself is brought into being. According to Ibn 'Arabi, the universe originates in the epiphany of the "Muhammadan Reality" (al-haqiqa al-muhammadiyya), this reality being the most receptive of all realities - contained within the primal "Cloud" - to the creative Light of God. It is by virtue of the Prophet's total receptivity to this Light that his passivity (infi'aliyya) is transformed into activity (fa-iliyya):

Muhammad was created as a slave, in principle; he never raised his head seeking leadership, nay, he ceaselessly prostrated in humility, standing [before his Lord] in his condition of passivity, until God engendered (kawwana) from him all that He engendered, bestowing upon him a rank of activity (fa'iliyya) in the world of Breaths...

One is reminded here of the words addressed to Mary in the Qur'an by the angels:

O Mary, Truly God has chosen you and purified you, and preferred you above all women of creation. O Mary, be obedient to your Lord, prostrate to Him and bow with those who bow (III:42-3).

It is not Jesus alone who was made a"sign" but he and his mother together:

And We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign (XXIII:50).

Thus Jesus can be seen as a symbol of the cosmos itself, the "fruit" of the activity that is rooted in total, virgin receptivity to the Word from above, Mary's role here mirroring that of the Muhammadan Reality.

Finally, continuing this process of fa'iliyya, Jesus' own activity positively reflects this divine creativity: his healing of the blind, the leper, his creating a bird from clay, and most importantly, his raising up of the dead. As the Qur'an tells us, Jesus says:

Truly I come unto you with a sign from your Lord. Truly, I create for you out of clay the shape of a bird, and I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird, by God's permission. I heal him who was born blind and the leper, and I give life to the dead, by God's permission (III:49).

It is very instructive to see how Kashani draws out the esoteric meaning of these miraculous acts. In his Tafsir he gives the following commentary:

Truly I create for you, through spiritual discipline and purification and realized wisdom, from the clay of souls still deficient but nonetheless receptive, the shape of a bird, one that flies to the realm of holiness through the intensity of its longing.Then I breathe into it the breath of divine knowledge and true life, through the influence of my presence and my teaching. And it becomes a bird that is, a living soul, flying with the wings of longing and aspiration towards the Real.I heal the blind, the one who is veiled from the light of the Real, one whose eye of insight had always been closed, and had never seen the sun of the face of the Real, nor its light...and the leper, the one whose soul is disfigured by the disease of vices and corrupt beliefs, blemished by the love of this world and besmirched by the stain of concupiscence. And I give life to the death of ignorance with the life of knowledge.

In the spirit of this kind of commentary, one might venture to add that the words of the Qur'an, by God's permission, which qualify the miraculous acts of Jesus, can be understood, esoterically, as meaning that these acts were performed by Jesus in perfect conformity with his knowledge of who the agent really is; who the true Self is, within him, that is performing these acts. In other words, Jesus was not veiled from the Divine reality by his own performance of these acts: he knew that God was acting through him. The fact that God is the sole agent emerges in the Akbari perspective as an inescapable subjective corollary of the objective oneness of being, or, to use Ibn 'Arabi's own words, of the reality "that there is nothing in Being but He."Ibn'Arabi comments in many places on the ontological implications of the verse in the Qur'an, which states "You did not throw when you threw, but God threw"(VIII:17). The following few instances will suffice for our purposes:

You did not throw, so He negated, when you threw, so He affirmed, but God threw, so He negated the engendered existence (kawn) of Muhammad, and affirmed Himself as identical ('ayn) with Muhammad...

Such ambivalent negations and affirmations give rise to bewilderment:

You are not you when you are you but God is you.

But they reveal the truth that it is God alone who is the agent of all acts, the agent who acts through all the faculties of man. This truth is affirmed by Ibn 'Arabi by reference to the words of the famous hadith qudsi, known as the hadith al-taqarrub, "drawing near", in which God says that when He loves a servant, He is "the hearing with which he hears, the sight by which he sees, the hand with which he strikes and the foot whereon he walks."Ibn 'Arabi draws attention to the important fact that God speaks in the present tense, saying "I am his hearing, his sight, and his hand":

God's words "I am" show that this was already the situation, but the servant was not aware. Hence the generous gift which this nearness gives to him is the unveiling of the knowledge that God is his hearing and his sight.

What this implies is that there is no change of ontological agency: God does not "become" the faculties of the servant after having allowed the servant to enjoy, in his previous condition, the prerogative of autonomous agency. God is, and cannot but be, the true agent of all the servant's actions and perceptions. The only change is in the awareness of the servant, his assimilation of the truth that God's sole reality includes all other agencies and excludes all ontological alterity, a truth from which the servant had been veiled by his own faculties. But it is important to add that, if one must not be veiled by the creature and its activities from true Selfhood, one must also avoid the opposite veil; that is, one must not allow the Real to veil the creature from the property that accompanies him perpetually, the property of slavehood. The relationship between the receptivity of pure slavehood and the activity of engendering was noted above; but at this point, what should be stressed is that one of the fruits of this paradoxical combination of realized Selfhood and immutable slavehood is compassion, as the following lines from the chapter on Jesus tell us:

I worship truly, and God is our Master;
and I am His very identity, so understand.
When I say "man", do not be veiled by man,
for He has given you proof.
So be the Real and be a creature.
You will be, by God, compassionate.

The last line expresses the essence of the argument of this paper: "being" the Real - while remaining a creature - means "being" compassionate, merciful, kind. The one cannot "be" without the other. When Ibn 'Arabi writes takun bi'Llahi rahmanan, this sounds rather like an oath: by God, you will be compassionate - in the measure that you realize the true Self, which is veiled by your outer self, your ego. It should be noted that it is not a question here of realizing "one's true Self ", inasmuch as the Self cannot be the property of any individual;the only thing that the individual can be said to possess is the property of essential poverty. In this perspective, no individual owns anything, on the contrary, all individuals "belong" to the Self. This point emerges clearly from the following ta'wil by Kashani of the verses in the Qur'an in which God addresses Jesus"

O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say unto people: worship me and my mother as two gods beside God? He said: Glory to You, never could I say what I had no right to say...(V:116) Did you invite people to your own soul and to your mother - or to the station of your heart and your soul; for truly he in whom subsists the reality of egoity (ana'iyya) and the residue of the soul and passion, or in whom there takes place the fluctuations of the heart and its manifestation through its quality - such a one invites the creature to the station of his soul or to the station of his heart, not to the Real.He said: Glory to You, never could I say what I had no right to say, for indeed I have no being in reality, nor is it appropriate or correct for me to utter speech which I do not really possess; for truly speech and act, quality and being - all of this belongs to You.

If, then, compassion flows from the creature, this is nothing but the compassion of God, not that of the creature; and this compassion flows all the more strongly in the measure that the creature does not appropriate it to himself. Ibn 'Arabi tells his readers to be the Real and a creature, only then will compassion flow from them; and then, not from them in respect of their own creaturely properties, but from them bi'Llah, by or through God. If the consciousness of being the Real is not balanced by the consciousness that one is a creature, a slave, at the same time and for as long as one persists as an individual, then the result is in fact far from compassion, it is pride, self-delusion, and self-divinization. In other words, humility and compassion are two complementary virtues that flow from a proper awareness of reality: a "proper" awareness being one that puts each thing in its right place, knowing that the creature is nothing but the Real, in respect of ItsSelf-manifestation within and through it, and that the creature is nothing before the Real. In both cases, the individual as such is reduced to nothing: self-effacement is the conditio sine qua non of Self-realization.

If one only has awareness of being a creature, however, with no sense of the inner reality of divine Selfhood , then one's virtues, compassion included, will lack that all-embracing totality and that infinite depth which comes from realized spiritual knowledge. The more one is aware of the sole reality of God as the true ontological agent, the only true Self, the more naturally and spontaneously will compassion flow forth. In other words,the closer the individual comes to the source of compassion, the more fully will compassion be manifested through him; that is, such a one becomes not only a marhum, one upon whom compassion or mercy is bestowed, but also a rahim, one who bestows mercy to others. This is what distinguishes the "veiled ones"(al-mahjubun) from the "folk of unveiling"(ahl al-kashf). As Ibn 'Arabi says:

The veiled ones, in accordance with their belief, ask the Real to have compassion upon them, while the folk of unveiling ask that the compassion of God abide through them. They ask for this with the name Allah, saying"O Allah, have compassion upon us", and He only has compassion upon them by causing compassion to abide through them. Compassion has a property which in reality belongs to the essence of "that which abides through a locus" (al-qa'im bi'l-mahall).

Kashani comments:

The property of compassion rules over them, for that which abides through a locus exercises its ruling property over the receptacle, in accordance with its reality; so He only has compassion upon them by causing compassion to abide through them, thus making them compassionate ones (rahimin)...

Those who have been rendered compassionate in this way are said to find the property of compassion by way of mystical "taste" (dhawqan); their spiritual intuition not only gives then a taste of the essence of compassion, but shows them also that compassion is the very essence of the Real. There are many indications that compassion expresses the fundamental nature of God. The Qur'an tells us that "My compassion encompasses all things" (VII:156). The name of God, al-Rahman, is practically synonymous with Allah: "Call upon Allah or call upon al-Rahman" (XVII:10). Repeatedly in the Qur'an al-Rahman is referred to as the divine creative force from which all things arise. According to Ibn 'Arabi, it was precisely because of His compassion that God created the world: the whole of creation is thus itself amarhum, an object of compassion. Every mawjud is a marhum: every thing that is made existent is an object of compassion. This perspective on creation might be seen as a commentary on one of the most important "explanations" of the reason behind the creation of the world by God. According to a famous holy utterance, a hadith qudsi which Ibn 'Arabi often cites, God says: "I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known, so I created."Here the purpose of creation is explicitly tied to God's desire to be known; He wished to manifest His inner perfections; and this is one way of becoming known, that is, knowing Himself outwardly, as distinct from knowing Himself inwardly. As the opening lines of the chapter on Adam in the Fusûs have it:

The Real willed, by virtue of His Beautiful Names, which are innumerable, to see their identities - if you wish you can say: to see His identity - in a comprehensive engendered being that comprises the entire affair... His mystery is manifest to Himself through it, for the vision a thing has of itself in itself is not like the vision it has of itself in another thing, which will serve as a mirror for it.

One of Ibn 'Arabi's most startling declarations comes, though, when he says that the first object of God's compassion was not in fact the creation, it was God Himself. In other words, God had compassion for His own Names and Qualities that wished to manifest themselves, but were hidden in His own essence. In other words, He had compassion for His own hidden "treasures". As Ibn 'Arabi writes:

Through the breath of the All-Merciful, God gave relief (tanfis) to the divine names... He relieved the divine names of the lack of displaying effects.

So the supreme archetype or model of all compassion, of all love and feeling for the "other", is this love of God's Essence for Its own Self-manifestation, for Its own theophany to an "other", and through the "other": everything is ultimately manifested by compassion, is woven of compassion, and returns to compassion: "My compassion encompasses all things", as we saw earlier. Ibn 'Arabi stresses that everything returns to mercy and compassion, but this does not deny the terrible reality of hell nor does it preclude the wrathful side of God. Ibn 'Arabi often cites the hadith in which it is stated that God's compassion takes precedence over His wrath, but he does not deny the reality of this wrath:he attributes it, though, not to God's intrinsic nature, but to the creature's wilful rejection of the mercy that is being offered to him "ontologically", that is, by virtue of the compassion that is inherent to the very nature of being. As Kashani says, in his commentary on the opening line of the chapter on Zakariah:.

For compassion is of the Essence, as it is generous by nature, overflowing with generosity from the treasure of compassion and bounty. Being is the first effusion of the all-embracing compassion which encompasses everything. But as for wrath, it does not essentially pertain to the Real, rather, it consists in a property of a non-existential nature (hukm 'adami), arising out of the absence of receptivity (ladam qabiliyya), on the part of certain things, to the perfect manifestation of the effects of Being and its properties within them... This absence of the effusion of compassion over a given thing, resulting from its lack of receptivity, is called "wrath" in relation to that thing, in the face of the compassionate one(al-rahim).

Therefore the compassion of being not only takes ontological precedence over the non-existential property of wrath, it also prevails, ultimately over the accidental properties of evil and suffering, the concomitants of non-being: "Everyone will end up with mercy". This truth is grasped in the measure of one's awareness - spiritually and not just notionally - of the absolute and infinite reality of goodness and the relative and limited reality of evil.

Jesus in the Quran: an Akbari Perspective - Part two (2).

by Reza Shah-Kazemi

Returning to the theme of selfhood and compassion, the following affirmation by Ibn 'Arabi is of great importance:

God is qualified by love for us, and love is a property that demands that he who is qualified by it be merciful towards himself.

We have seen how God has mercy upon His own Names and Qualities; on the human plane, this"self-compassion" implies radical objectivity towards one's own self. This idea is expressed in a most incisive manner by Ibn 'Arabi in the following dialogue with his own soul: the very fact of the dialogue itself implies the "otherness within", the objectivity that one must have towards one's own soul. The dialogue involves two of the greatest saints of Islam, Mansur al-Hallaj and Uways al-Qarani. Ibn 'Arabi's soul argues that al-Hallaj surpassed the degree of Uways because, while Uways satisfied his own needs before giving away his surplus in charity, al-Hallaj was prepared even to sacrifice his own needs for the sake of others. To this argument of his own soul Ibn 'Arabi replies:

If the gnostic has a spiritual state like al-Hallaj, he differentiates between his soul and that of others: he treats his own soul with severity, coercion and torture, whereas he treats the souls of others with preference and mercy and tenderness. But if the gnostic were a man of high degree... his soul would become a stranger to him: he would no longer differentiate between it and other souls in this world... If the gnostic goes out to give alms, he should offer it to the first Muslim whom he meets... The first soul to meet him is his own soul, not that of another.

To digress a little, although the focus of this paper is on the "Qur'anic" Jesus, the perspectives opened up by Ibn 'Arabi enable one to see the biblical message of Jesus, also, in quite a new light. Through the Akbari perspective on ontological compassion, one comes to appreciate deeper aspects of Christ's biblical injunctions: For instance in Mark:

The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Mark, XII:29).

The meaning of "loving oneself" is altogether transfigured in Ibn 'Arabi's metaphysics of Self-compassion. It is also significant that the second commandment is described as "like" the first. In Ibn 'Arabi's perspective, it is likely that the word 'ayn would be used: it is identical to the first. For he would stress that there is but one God, one reality; thus love of God must be directed to the divine nature in itself, above and beyond all creatures, but also to the divine nature immanent within all creatures, the divinity that constitutes the true being of the creatures. Both modes of love relate to the one and only Beloved. One recalls here another of Christ's sayings:

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me (Matthew, XXV:40).

And this saying in Luke, after taking a child's hand:

Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth Him that sent me (Luke, IX:47).

The idea that every mawjud is by definition already a marhum raises the pitch of Christ's message of charity and compassion, a message that is so often limited to a purely moral application. For example:

Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you..ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful as your Father is merciful (Luke,VI: 27-8, 35-6).

This verse from Matthew evokes with particular clarity the universal compassion that embraces all things by virtue of giving them life:

... your Father... maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust... (Matthew, V:45).

It was stated above that it was not just compassion but also humility that flows from an understanding of true Selfhood. Returning to the verses in the Sura Maryam with which this discussion began, it is important to note that the first words of Jesus in the cradle were "Truly I am the slave of God" (XIX:30). Now it might seem at first sight that creaturely slavehood and divine Selfhood are diametrically opposed, yet in Ibn 'Arabi's perspective, as we have observed above,only he who knows that he is a slave of God will come to know that God is the only true Self of all. In his description of the climax of his own spiritual ascension, Ibn 'Arabi makes clear the relationship between slavehood and Selfhood:

God removed from me my contingent dimension (imkani). Thus I attained in this nocturnal journey the inner realities of all the Names, and I saw them all returning to One Subject (musamma wahid) and One Entity ('ayn wahida):that Subject was what I witnessed and that Entity was my being. For my voyage was only in myself and pointed to myself, and through this I came to know that I was a pure 'slave' without a trace of lordship in me at all.

Again, let us note that the first thing that he says after this remarkable experience of tawhid in subjective mode, that is, the realization of the oneness of true Selfhood, is that he came to know his own slavehood. What this shows clearly is that self-effacement is the consequence of true Self-realization. When the subjective core of individuality is effaced, there can be nothing to which pride can attach itself: with the effacement of individuality, there is the uprooting of pride, and the consummation of a humility that is as ineradicable as the knowledge upon which it is based is indubitable.

To complete our reflections on the relationship between Selfhood, slavehood and compassion, let us consider the following remarkable commentary by Kashani on verses in the Sura al-Insan. Here, self-extinction is seen as inextricably tied to self-giving. In the verses in question we are presented with a distinction between the righteous (al-abrar) and the slaves of God ('ibad Allah):

Truly the righteous shall drink from a filled cup [containing a drink] flavoured with Kafur - A fountain from which the slaves of God drink, making it flow with greater abundance (LXXIV:5-6).

Kashani interprets this fountain as a symbol of the divine Essence, beyond the divine qualities. The righteous, he writes,

are the joyous ones who have gone beyond the veils of traces and actions, and are now veiled by the veils of the divine qualities. But they do not completely stop at this level, rather, their orientation is towards the Fountain of the Essence... they are midway along the Path.

The slaves, on the other hand, who drink directly from the fountain itself, without diluting the drink at all, are distinguished by their exclusive devotion to the unity of the Essence:

Their love is for the Fountain of the Essence beyond the Qualities, not differentiating between compulsion and kindness, gentleness and harshness... Their love abides in the midst of contraries, their joy remains in the face of graces and trials, compassion and distress...

The important point comes now. It shows the clear relationship between slavehood, selfhood, and self-giving: for these slaves not only love the Fountain of the Essence, they are submerged in it, totally and indistinguishably one with it. The words of the Qur'an powerfully evoke this identity, yufajjirunaha tafjiran, they make the fountain flow all the more abundantly, the more they drink from it. Why is this? Because,the slaves, according to Kashani,

are [themselves] the sources of this Fountain; there is no duality or otherness... were it otherwise, it would not be the Fountain of Kafur, because of the darkness of the veil of egoity (ana'iyya) and duality.

There is no ego-consciousness in the Essence, for there are no distinct egos, although all are nonetheless mysteriously contained by the Essence, in absolute non-differentiation; there is but the one Self, the Nafs al-Haqq, the self of the Real, and there are no distinctions, no tafadul, therein. It is only in the Paradises that one finds such ranking in the degrees between the prophets, saints, martyrs and righteous ones. In the Futuhat one finds Ibn 'Arabi making this point by means of distinguishing between "essential (dhati) perfection" and "accidental ('aradi) perfection", the first pertaining to pure "slavehood" ('ubudiyya), the second to "manliness" (rajuliyya):

The degree of the essential perfection is in the Self of the Real (Nafs al-Haqq), while the degrees of accidental perfection are in the Gardens... Ranking according to excellence (tafadul) takes place in accidental perfection, but not in essential perfection.

In other words, "accidental perfection" pertains to the individual, whether in the world or in the heavens - this mode of unavoidable self-affirmation is thus "manly", in contrast to the ontological effacement of the individual in the highest realization, such effacement being evoked by the term "slave". Thus, to return to Kashani's ta'wil,the drinking of the "slaves of God" at the fountain of the Essence - together with the fact that such drinking only increases the flow of the fountain -symbolises their inner identity with the Essence, but as persons they remain distinct in the various levels of Paradise. And, one might venture to add, in the spirit of this perspective, this is not just the case in the Hereafter, it is also the situation here-below: the prophets and saints are inwardly at one with the Essence, while outwardly, as slaves, they imbibe from this fountain, the source of essential identity, the one and only Self of the Real; and this is why they are not just slaves, but veritable streams of grace by which the infinite compassion of Al-Rahman flows through the veins of the entire cosmos:

And We sent you not save as a mercy to all the worlds. (XXI:107)

Ahlulbayt in the Quran..

//quran.al-shia.org

Ahlul-bayt in the glurious Qur'an

The Glorious Qur'an, the revealed word of Almighty Allah to His last and greatest Prophet, Muhammad (s.a.w.), is the source of all divine laws and has given humanity a perfect system of life and a code of well-defined ethical values. Every Muslim knows that he is obliged to apply Qur'anic instructions in his daily life and refer to them for guidance. Numerous verses of the Holy Qur'an spotlight the lofty position of the Ahlul-Bait, directing and exhorting the Muslims to adhere to their path. Broadly speaking these verses could be classified as follows:

1. There are instances of direct references by virtue of special ephithets such as Ahlu1-Bait in the verse of purification ayat al-Tathir, or al-Qurba as in ayat al-Mawadda. Sometimes the verses make indirect references which the Prophet expounded to his companions.

2. The Qur'an also records certain incidents and events relating to the AhIuI-Bait, focussing on their merits and virtue, and therey solving the leadership issue for the Muslim community. It either refers to them collectively as in the Mubaha/a verse and the eighth verse of Dahr sura, or individually as in the Wilaya verse which is quoted below:

"Only Allah is your (Wali) and His Apostle and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-due while they bow'.

Holy Qur'an (5:55)

We shall now study in detail some of the verses - out of the many which throw light on the lofty merits and greatness of Prophet Muhammad's immediate family.

1. The Verse of Purity (Tathir).

"...Allah desires to keep any uncleanness from you people of the House and make you pure as pure can be"

Qur'an(33:33)

All exegists of the Holy Qur'an and narrators of the Prophet's traditions, unanimously agree that the word AhIuI-Bait, or the Household of the Prophet as used by Almighty Allah in the Qur'an, refers only to four persons: The Prophet's daughter Fatima (a.s.), her husband Ali (a.s.) and their two children Hasan (a.s.) and Husain (a.s.).

The famous exegist Suyuti in his renowned commentary Dur al-Manthur' cites Tabarani's narration from Umm Salama that the Prophet once told his beloved daughter Fatima to call her husband Ali and their two sons Hasan and Husain. When they came, the Prophet covered them with a Fadak (1) cloak and putting his hand on them, said: O Allah! these are the ahl of Muhammad (another version says aal i.e. family), so, shower your blessings and favours on aal Muhammad as you showered them on aal Abraham; You are the Praiseworthy, the Glorious.. Umm Salama said that she raised the cloak to join them, but the Prophet pulled it out of her hand and said: You are (also) on the right'.

Another narration from Umm Salama says that once theProphet was in her house lying on a mattress, covered with a cloak from Khaitiar when his beloved daughter Fatima (a.s.) entered with a dish called aI-Khazira (a kind of food). The Prophet asked her to call her husband (All) and her two sons, Hasan and Husain. She called them and as they all sat together to eat, Allah revealed the following verse to the Prophet.

"...Allah desires to keep any uncleanness from you, o' people of the House and make you pure as pure can be .

Qur'an(33:33)

Upon this the Prophet covered them all with his cloak and lifting his hands towards the sky said:

"O Allah! this is my family and the nearest of my kin, keep away from them uncleanness and keep them pure as pure can be .

Umm Salama adds that thrice the Prophet repeated these words and when she poked her head under the cloak and asked him Am I with you? In a refraining gesture, he said twice:

"You are (also) among the righteoust".

On many an occasion the Prophet explained the meaning of this verse to the Muslims and drew their attention to its significance. Abi Sa'id Khidri quotes the Prophet as saying:

"This verse was revealed concerning five persons): Myself, All, Fatima, Hasan and Husain."

"…Allah desires to keep away undeanness from you, people of the House and make you pure as pure can be ".

Qur'an(33:33)

A Tradition from A'isha who was a wife of the Prophet, also confirms the five persons meant in this verse. She says: once the Prophet came wrapped up in a cloak of black hair. After a while Hasan entered and he took him inside the cloak, then Husain came and joined them inside the cloak. Soon his daughter Fatima came and he took her inside also;

then Ali entered and he was also taken inside the cloak. When all five of them were assembled under the cloak, Aa'isha says the Prophet recited (the purification verse) as a further confirmation of the A hlul-Bait's dignity, as the verse had already been revealcd earlier concerning these five infallible:

"Allah desires to keep away uncleanness from you, People of the House and make you pure as pun can be. "

Another famous narration found in Islamic works, says that after the revelation of this verse the Prophet while passing his daughter Fatima's (a.s.) house on his way to the mosque for the dawn prayers, used to call:

"To prayer, O Ahlul-Bait, to prayer; Allah desires to keep away uncleanness from you, People of the House and make you pure as pure can be. "

This is how the Holy Qur'an refers to the Ahlu1-Bait (a.s.), and makes clear their infallible personalities, which are far from uncleanness, disobedience eror, sin and personal whim.

Their character and ettiquete are models of perfection to be emulated by the Muslims. The Our' an's emphasis on their noble status and lofty position, was to urge the Muslim nation to follow their bright examples and refer to them after the Prophet for information and guidance concerning divine laws and its decisions. They are the one towards whom the Muslim nation looks fot a practical criterion of Islam, and refers in matters relating td differences of ideas, opinions and thinking.

Numerous verses of the Qur'an prove these facts and leave no one in doubt as to the leadership of the Ahlul-Bait after the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.)

The prophet's daily morning habit of stopping at his daughter Fatima's house and addressing her Household as Ahlul-Bait meant that he was practically explaining the purification verse for the Muslims. The Prophet was drawing the attention of the Muslim nation, towards the significance of his Ahlul-Bait, so they could love, obey and follow them, and be prevented from going astray.

Tabrani, quotes the following from Abi Hamra who was a witness to the Prophet's daily habit: "For six months I regularly saw the Messenger of Allah who on approaching the door of Ali and Fatima, used to recite this verse:

"Allah desires to keep away uncleanness from you, People of the House and make you pure as pure can be ".

Holy Our'an (33:33)

The famous scholar Fakhruddin Razi, in his renowned commentary al-Tafsir al-Kabir', commenting on the verse:

"And enjoin prayer on your followers and steadily adhere to it...,

(20:132) says that after its revelation the Prophet used to go to Ali and Fatima every morning and call them to prayer. And He did this for months.

Hammad ibn Salama, quoting Ali ibn Zaid, on the authority of Anas has also given an identical narration .

Thus it is clear from the above discussions that the Prophet's daily habit of stopping at his daughter Fatima's (a.s.) house and addressing her Household as Ahlul-Bait, was not without reason. In fact he was expounding the meaning of the term Ahlul-Bait and practicallu explaining to the Muslims the purification verse and the particular persons meant by it. To be more precise, he was drawing the attention of the Muslim nation towards the significance of his Ahlul-Bait and their leadership after him so that the Muslims should love, obey and follow them.

Before proceeding any further, it is necessary to clear any doubts that may arise in the minds of our readers, that this verse may also include the wives of the Prophet - as some are bound to misinterpret. The fact is, it absolutely does not, as is crystal clear from our above discussion which has proved that it is exclusively addressed to the five persons already mentioned, four of whom are males, with the exception of the Prophet's daughter Fatima (a.s.).

Moreover it is obvious from the use of the masculine gender in this verse - clear for those acquainted with the Arabic language - the words ankum

( عنكم)

and yutah-hirakum

( يطهركم)

meaning from you' and purify you' used in the Our'an are masculine terms and refer to the said persons collectively, the majority of whom are males. If Allah had addressed the Prophet's wives - as some misconstrue - then the Our'an, the finest masterpiece of Arabic language would surely have used the feminine gender ankunna)

( عنكن

and yutah-hirakunna

( يطهركن)

instead of the masculine, because they numbered more.

Thus it is evident that this verse draws a clear picture in the minds about the true objectives of the Book of Allah. By emphasizing the purity and infallible leadership on the unwavering axis called Ahlul-Bait , it endeavours to build the edifice of the Muslim society on the solid base of cleanliness and virtue.

2- The Verse of Affection (Mawadda).

"...say (O' Muhammad unto mankind): I do not ask of you any reward for it (preaching the message), but love for my near relatives Ahlul-Bait'; and whoever earns good, we give him more of good therein,.."

Qur'an 42:23,)

The Prophet (s.a.w.) explicitly told the Muslims that this verse refers to his Ahlul-Bait that is Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husain and urged them to obey and follow these illustrious personalities after him.

All commentators, traditionists and biographers are unanimous that the Prophet while explaining this verse, said that the word near relatives' as used here refers exclusively to his AhIuI-Bait that is Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husatn.

The renowned Scholar, Zamakhshari, in his commentary Kashshaf', says ... it is narrated that the idolators gathered at a meeting and said to each other: Will Muhammad ask us for a reward for what he is preaching?' It was then that Allah revealed this verse to the Prophet as an answer

"Say (O Muhammad, unto mankind): I do not ask of you any reward for it (for preaching the message), but Jove for my near relatives (Ahlul-Bait); and whoever earns good, we give him more of good therein..."

Zamakhshari adds: "It is also narrated that on the revelation of the said verse, the Messenger of Allah was asked: Who are your near relatives whom we must love? He said: Ali. Fatima and their two sons (Hasan and Husain) .

Allama Bahrani, refers to Lmam Ahmad ihn Hanhal's Musnad'. who - through a chain of narrators - on the authority of Said ibn Jubair quotes ibn Ahhas: "When Allah's words were revealed:

"Say (O' Muhammad) I do not ask of you any' reward for it (preaching the message), but love for my near relatives Ahlul- Bait'..."

The Messenger of Allah was asked as to who his nearrelatives were whose love has been made obligatory for the Muslims? The Prophet replied :

"A Ii, Fatima and their two sons (Hasan and Husain).

Fakhruddin Razi in his al-Tafsir al-Kabir' after citing Zamakhshari's above narration says:

"I state aal' Muhammad (s.a. w.) are those whose affairs are completely interwined with his the (Prophet's)... And without doubt no one was so near to the Prophet than Fatima, Ali, Hasan and Husain. This is a well-known fact of all chains of narrations, and these are they who are his'aal'.(2)

Thus it is an undisputed fact that the words Ahlul-Bait or aal Muhammad (s.a.w.) refer only to the immediate family of the Prophet; his daughter Fatima. son-in-law All and grandsons Hasan and Husain and no one else besides.

We have already cited some instances of the Prophet's love for his family. No doubt being his only surviving child. Fatima was intensely loved by her father. The Prophet's famous words are a testimony to this fact.

"Fatima is a part of me and whoever hurts Fatima, hurts me.

Fatima was so dear to him that the Prophet spurned offers for her hand from many wealthy Arabs and gave her in marriage to his own cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib. whom he himself had brought up.

On several occasions the Prophet singled out All's preeminence as well as the position of his grand-children l-lasan and Husain.

The traditions also confirm this and also confirm his natural inclination towards Au who and his grand-children Hasan and Husain.

Therefore it becomes a duty for all those who claim to be part of the Prophet's nation to follow the Prophet's traditions in respect to his AhIu 1-Bait. Moreover Allah Himself has commanded the Muslims to do so, as is evident by the following verses:

"Say O' Muhammad say unto mankind) if you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you...

Qur'an(3:31)

and follow him (the Prophet) so that you may be guided.

Qur'an(7:158)

..therefore let those beware who go against his (Prophet's) instructions...

Qur'an(24:63)

" Certainly you have in the Apostle of Allah an excellent examplar…"(3).

Holy Quran (31:21)

Besides the above mentioned verses another proof of the superiority of the AhIul-Bait over the rest of the Muslims are the blessings, a Muslim invokes on Muhammad (s.a.w.) and his aal (family) when he recites the Tashahud in each of the five daily prayers:

"O Allah, shower Your blessings upon Muhammad and aal' Muhammad .

No less a personality than Imam Shafi'i regarded as a founding father of a school of jurisprudence in Islam, in a famous ode in praise of the Ablul-Bait has not only stressed their love to be a synonym for faith but has categorically rebuked those who deny their pre-'eminence: O rider stand on the stony ground of Mina.

And cry to those stopped at Khif and those bestirring.

When the pilgrims come at dawn to Mina.

Moving like the rolling of the waves of the surging Euphrates.

If love for Muhammad's aal' is Rafdh (heresy).

Then Jinn and Men bear witness I am a Rafidhi(heretic)

Muhibuddin Tabari in his book Dhakhai'r aI-Uqba fi Manaqib Dhawi aI-Ourba' quoting lbn Abbas, the Prophet's cousin and corn panion says:

" On the revelation of ayat al-Mawadda people asked the Prophet as to who were his relatives whom they were required to love. The Prophet replied:Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain. (This is also stated by Ahmad in alManaqib)

Ibn Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatam, Ibn Mardawaya and Taharani in Mu'jam al-Kabir', have also quoted the same words from Ibn Abbas, regarding this verse.

Jalaluddin Suyuti relates that the Prophet's elder grandson Imam Hasan ibn Ali (a.s.) said in one of his sermons:

"I am of the Ahlul-Bait' whose love Allah has made obligatory for every Muslim .

And then he recited this same verse:

'Say (O' Muhammamd) I do not ask of you any reward for it (preaching the message), but love for my near relatives(Ahlul-Bait)…"

Holy Qur'an (33:33)

It should however be noted that the Qur'an does not mean mere sentimental ties of the Muslim communities with the Prophet's Household but stresses a deep and heartfelt love, the true expres

sion of love by the Muslims can best be displayed by following the high examples set by the AhIu/-Bait, applying their teachings and guidlines in our daily behaviour anf acknowledging them as leaders after the Holy Prophet.

By placing this verse on the Prophet's tongue, and enjoining him to inform the Muslims that he does not want any fee or reward for communicating the divine Message, except the love for his immediate relatives, Allah was making clear to the Muslims that loyality towards the Ahlul-Bait and acceptance of their leadership is the only way for their progress and development in this world and their salvation in the hereafter.

The very emphasis on the word near relatives' by Almighty Allah in the Holy Qur'an and the subsequent command to the Muslims, is a concrete proof of the Ahlul-Bait's right to leadership; otherwise Allah would not have revealed the verse at all and neither would the Prophet had stressed its significance.

Thus how beautifully the Qur'an reminds us of our gratitude towards the Prophet's task of enlightening us with the message of Islam. In other words it means that we will be considered ingrateful wretches, not deserving to be called Muslims, if we do not adhere to the path of the Ahlu1-Bait. The Qur'an also tells us that we must adhere to the path of the Ahlul-Bait and take them as models, so as to mould our own lives and characters in accordance with such attributes as purity and cleanliness.

Thus it is clear from the various interpretations, narrations and traditions cited from scholars of different doctrinal leanings that the Prophet minced no words when interpreting this blessed verse.

3. The Verse of Malediction (Mubahala).

"But whoever disputes with you (O' Muhammad) in this matter after what has come to you of knowledge, then say: Come let us call our sons and your sons and our women and your women and our selves (anfus)(4) and your selves, then let us beseech Allah and invoke His curse upon the liars"

Our'an(3:61)

This verse points towards an epoch-making event, narrated by all historians and commentators; an event which revealed to the Muslims how near and dear the progeny of the Prophet are to Allah the Exalted.

This event which clearly marked out the distinct status of the AhIul-Bait, is known in the annals of Islamic history as Mubahala, that is invoking Allah's malediction on the liars. Historians and exegists have narrated the event as follows:

A deputation (5) from the Christians of Najran came to the Prophet of Islam to argue the merits of their faith. The Holy Prophet advanced to them arguments showing that Jesus the son of Mary was a human-being and a Prophet, and it was blasphemy to regard him as a son of God, because Allah the Exalted is high above all such human characteristics. It was, when the Prophet having argued to the point fully and convincingly, found them still deliberately persisting in their false belief in the deity of Prophet Jesus. that Allah revealed this verse. It was a challenge to the Christians, to pray and invoke Allah that the curse may overtake the party that insisted upon falsehood.

Early the next morning on the 24th of the lunar month of Dhilhijja, the Prophet in accordance with Allah's command came out to the meeting grounds, carrying Husain in his arms and leading Hasan (our sons) by his hand, followed by his beloved daughter Fatima (our women), behind whom came Ali (our selves) carrying the banner of Islam. Seeing the Prophet was accompanied by his immediate family and convinced that Muhammad (s.a.w.) was truthful, otherwise he would not have dared to bring his dearest of kin along, the Christians hacked away from the maledictory confrontation and agreed to pay Jizya instead.

Zamakhshari says in his book Al-Kashshaf:

That (when this verse was revealed) the Prophet asked the Christians to a Mubahala (malediction) to invoke the curse of Allah on the liars. The Christians held a discourse among themselves that night. in which their leader Abdul Massih stated his views as follows: "By God, O Christians, you know that Muhammad is a God-sent Prophet, who has brought to you the final message from your Lord. By God, no nation ever dared to challenge a Prophet for malediction, but woe befell them. Not only will they perish hut their children will also be afflicted with the curse". Saying that it is better to reach a compromise with the Prophet. rather than challenge his truth and perish, Abdul Massih advised his party to stop hostilities and retain their religion, by submitting to the Prophet's terms. "So if you persist (for a confrontation), we will all perish. But if you want to keep your faith you should refuse (to have a showdown) and remain as you are. Therefore make peace with the man (the Prophet) and return to your land'.

Zamakhshari continues: "the next day the Prophet. carrying Husain in his arms, leading Hasan by the hand; followed by his daughter Fatima, behind whom came Ali, entered the appointed place and was heard saying (to his AhluI-Bait):

"When I invoke Allah, you all say: Amen.

The pontiff of Najran on seeing the Prophet and his AhluI-Bait, addressed the Christians:

"O' Christians, I am beholding such faces that if God wishes (for their sake), He would move mountains from their places. Do not accept their challenge for Mubahala for if you do you would all perish and there would remain no Christian on the face of the earth till the Day of Resurrection.' Heeding his advice the Christians said to the Prophet: "O Abul Qasim, we decided not to hold Mubahala with you. You keep your religion and we will keep ours.

The Prophet told them:

"If you refuse to hold (Mubahala), then submit, (accept Islam) and you will receive what the Muslims receive, and contribute what the Muslims contribute. .

The Christians saying they had no desire to fight the Arabs. proposed a treaty asking for peace, and freedom from forced compulsion to make them forsake their religion. In return they agreed to pay the Muslims an annual tribute of two thousand suits; one thousand of which in the month of Safar and the remaining one thousand in Rajab, besides thirty coats of iron mail.

Accepting the proposal the Prophet remarked:

"By the One Who has my soul in His hand, death was looming large over the people of Najran. (Had they dared to accept the challenge of Mubahala'). They would have been transformed into apes and swines, and the valley would have been set ablaze. Allah would have destroyed Najran with its people, sparing not even the birds on the treetops, and before the passing of the year the Christians would have all been dead."

Continuing his comments on the Mubahala verse', Zamakhshari lays emphasis on the position of the AhluI-Bait by quoting the following narration from the Prophet's wife Aa'isha: He mentioned them Ahllul -Bait before mentioning the word selves in order to highlight their position and their proximity (to Allah), and to stress their preference to selves', which could be sacrificed for them. ..There is no stronger evidence than this regarding the merits of the Ahl aI-Kisa(6). It is the proof of the truthfulness of the Prophet's mission, because nobody however biased has narrated that they(the Christians) dared to accept that (the challenge for Mubahala) .

Fakhruddin Razi in his al-Tafsir al-Kabir', gives an identical narration and after having stated what Zamakhshari has said; adds: Mind, that all interpreters (of the Qur'an) and narrators (of the Prophet's traditions) are unanimous about the authenticity of this narration .

Allama Muhammad Husain Tabataba'i the renowned modern day exegist, in his momunental commentary on the Holy Qur'an, Tafsir al-Mizan', referring to the verse those through whom Allah has cursed their enemies', says that these are none other than the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain. He adds ...this narration has been related by all traditionists and recorded by all compilers (of traditions) in their collections, such as Muslim in his Sahih' and Tirmidhi in his Sahih', besides historians have confirmed it as well.

Eversince the interpreters have related it without any objection or doubt, including such famous traditionists and historians as Tabari, Abul Fida, Ibn Kathir, Suyuti and others.'

Thus in the light of the above discussions it is clear that all interpreters have unanimously defined the Ahlul-Bait as Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain.

The very mention of them in the Mubahala verse, which makes them the means for invoking Allah is a clear pointer to their lofty and sanctified stature. The fact that Allah asked His Messenger to bring these pure personalities along with him to the malediction grounds is once again a clear proof of their purity. The challenge for invoking Allah's curse on His enemies, discloses in what high esteem they were held by the Almighty.

Since the confrontation was between truth and falsehood, two directly opposite currents, the situation demanded that faith be represented by its very best, upon whom the whole edifice of Islam stood. And no one was more qualified to accompany the Prophet to Mubahala, on whose outcome hung the fate of Islam, than his Ahlul-Bait: the torch of guidance and virtue. The Almighty -bearers Allah, Who Himself had bestowed on them the mantle of purity earlier in the Holy Qur'an, once again made them the cynosure of all eyes, proving the truth of Islam through them. In fact, He, the All-wise was indicating to the faint-hearted Muslims that the continuation of divine mission will not stop with the Seal of the Prophets, but will continue through his infallible progeny. No invocation of theirs would be ignored and no word of theirs could be belied; even mountains would move, by their mere utterances as was well understood by the Christians.

This itself is sufficient to remove the last lingering doubts from the minds of certain segments about these immaculate personalities; the result of centuries of hypocrisy, which misled many simple souls. With the clearing of the mist, the picture gradually emerges all the more vivid that what we have received from the Ahlul-Bait; of teachings, thoughts, interpretations, narrations, jurisprudence etc... .is the pure unpolluted nectar of Islam, bequeathed by the Prophet and sincerely preserved and conveyed to the Muslims by his Household. Through them the Qur'an challenged the enemies of Islam, and made it clear for all time that those who oppose them are nothing but liars, deserving to be cursed and punished: ...invoke the curse of Allah upon those who lie.'

Had it not been for their eternal truth and unwavering steadfastness, Allah would never have bestowed upon them such an honour, and the Qur'an would not have spoken of them in such glowing terms.

There are some minute linguistic points in this verse which are worthy of note. This group (Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain) is used as the adjunct, and the Prophet as the possessor, in a genetive term, as is seen in our sons', our women' and ourselves'.

Had not the Prophet taken Fatima along with him, people would have thought that our women' means the Prophet's wives and our sons' refers to Fatima though she was a female and ourselves' indicates his sacred self alone.

But by taking along only these four and no one else besides the Prophet was showing the Muslims, that the best example for women is Fatima and the best example for boys are Hasan and Husain, according to the Qur'an's wordings, which also delicately used the word our selves for Ali, thereby pointing to his close proximity with the Prophet, and solving the question of succession once and for all.

4- The Verse of Prayer (Salat).

"Surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet; 0 you who believe! call for (divine) blessings on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation.

Qur'an(33:56)

The previous verses of the Holy Qur'an revealed to us as to who are the Prophets' Ahlul-Bait, their purity of character and the command for Muslims to love and obey them. This verse refers to the salutations salawat, which a Muslim is obliged to send on the Prophet and his progeny during the five daily prayers.

In this verse, the Muslims are ordered here to send blessings on the Prophet and his aal (progeny), a term exclusively reserved for Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain and their righteous descendants. The emphasis on the Prophet's aal in salutations is yet another indication of their pivotol position after the Prophet. By asking the Muslims to exalt them, Allah the Exalted was reminding the Muslim communities that He had chosen the Ahlul-Bait, for the role of leading the Muslim nation.

In his Tafsir al-Kabir', Fakhruddin Razi, commenting on the above verse narrates the following quotation from the Prophet, who was asked by some of his companions on how to send blessing upon him. The Prophet replied:

"Say: O Allah, send blessings on Muhammad and on Muhammad's progeny as You sent blessings on Abraham and on Abraham's progeny; and send grace on Muhammad and on Muhammad's progeny, as You sent grace on Abraham and on Abraham's progeny, You are the Praised, the Glorious!'''

Before giving this narration, Razi, interprets the verse and comments: This is a proof of the Shafi'i school, because order means an obligation(7); so, to send blessings on the Prophet (s.a.w.) is obligatory, at least in the Tashahhud (Testimony during the prayers) if not elsewhere'

Razi further argues: If Allah and His angels send their blessings on him (the Prophet), then what need is there for our blessings?' He himself provides the answer: When we send blessings on him, it is not because he is in need of them, because already having Allah's blessings, he does not even require the blessings of the angels. But when we send, we send to glorify Allah, and also it (sending blessings) reveals our gratitude towards Allah, so that He may have compas sion on us and reward us. That is why the Prophet said:

"Whoever sends blessings on me once, Allah will send blessings on him ten times.

It will be not out of context here to cite Imam Shafi'i's famous quatrain on this subject.

"O' Household of the Messenger of Allah love for you.

Is an obligation from Allal,, revealed in the Qur'an.

It suffices as the greatest honour bestowed on you.

That his prayer is as nothing who does not salute you

Suyuti, in his Dur al-Manthur', citing Abdul-Razzaq, Ibn Abi Shaiba, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abd ibn Hamid, Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nisa'i, Ibn Maja, Ibn Mardawaya, who have all narrated from Ka'b ibn Ujra, says, a man once asked the Prophet that greeting you is clear to everybody, but how does one sends blessings on you. The Prophet replied, say:

" O Allah, send blessing on Muhammad and on Muhammad's progeny, as You sent blessings on Abraham and on Abraham's rogeny, You are the Praised, the Glorious".

Suyuti has cited eighteen different narrations other than this, with slight variations stressing that the blessings on the Prophet should include his progeny also The same has been narrated by compilers of all Sunan' and Jawami', books quoting a number of the Prophet's companions, such as Abdulla Ibn Abbas, Talha, Abu Sa'id Khidhri, Abu Huraira, Abu Mas'ud Ansari, Buraida, Ibn Mas'ud, Ka'b ibn Amra, and last but not the least, Ali ibn Abi Talib himself. Similarly it has been narrated by Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Tirmidhi who have quoted Imam Hasan ibn Ali from the Prophet as follows:

"He is a miser who, on the mention of my name to him, does not

send blessings on me."

Thus all jurisprudents agree that it is obligatory for Muslims to send blessings on Muhammad (s.a.w.) and his progeny during the Tashahhud (Testimony)(8) in the five daily prayers.

By analysing this verse we easily discover the real objective behind this obligatory command; which is to revere Muhammad's (s.a.w.) pure progeny, from whom Allah has kept away all uncleanness and error, and made them pure as pure can be. The emphasis on his aal by the Prophet is yet another indication to the Muslims of their pivotal position after him. By commanding Muslims to send their blessings on them, Allah the Exalted was reminding Muslims of the AhIul-Bait eventual's leadership. In other words by taking them as examplars and accepting their leadership, the Muslims would be spared from trials and Controversies.

So it is clear that Allah has not mentioned them in the Prayers for nought. Had it not been for their probity that was proved time and again and for their magnanimity of character as well as their deep knowledge, Allah would not have ordered the Muslims to adhere to their straight course and seek blessings for them in every prayer. The very fact that this blessing should be invoked every day in each prayer a Muslim performs was but to draw the attention of the Muslim communities towards the significance of the Ahlul-Bait; which should serve as a constant reminder that it is they who are Muhammad's (s.a.w.) rightful heirs. Or to put it more clearly, anyone ignoring their status deliberately or otherwise, has no excuses whatsoever and is decieving his own self to be led astray from the Allah's command.

5. The Verse of Guardianship (Wilaya):

"Only Allah is your Guardian and His Apostle and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while in (Ruku'). And whoever takes Allah and His Apostle and those who believe as his guardian, then surely the party of Allah are they that shall be triumphant.

Qur'an(5:55-56)

Zamakhshari, in his 'Al-Kashshaf', says the following about this verse:

"It was revealed in favour of Ali (May Allah enlighten his face) when a beggar asked him (for alms) while he was in the position of Ruku' during prayer, and he gave away his ring (in the some position). It seems it was loose on his little finger, for he did not exert any effort in taking it off, which would have nullified his prayer. If you ask; How could it be in favour of Ali (May Allah be pleased with him), when the wordings are in the collective form?' I say: The form is collective, though its instigator is a single-man, because this is to encourage people to follow his example and earn a similar reward, and also to draw attention (to the fact that) the believers must be extremely mindful and benevolent, towards the poor, in as much as, if a situation could not be postponed to after the prayer, it may not be delayed till having finished it .

Wahidi, in Asbab al-Nuzul', citing Kalbi's narration concerning the cause for the revelation of this verse says:

"The latter part of this verse is in favour of Ali ibn Abi Talib' (May Allah be gracious to him) because he gave a ring to a beggar while in Ruku' during prayer ."

Besides the above mentioned scholars many other exegists and compilers of the Prophet's traditions have stated that this verse is in favour of Imam Ali and records an important event.

6. The Verse of Proclamation (Tabligh).

"O Prophet proclaim what has been revealed to you from your Lord, for if you do it not you have not conveyed His message, and Allah will protect you from the (evil designs of) people…"

Our'an(5:67)

Perhaps the most clear portent of Imam Ali's excellence over the Muslims after the Prophet, is the above aya, which marks a decisive phase in the history of divine revelation. After creating this wide and wonderful world, the Almighty had sent an unbroken chain of prophets to guide mankind towards divine bliss. The last and the greatest link in this eternal chain was Muhammad al-Mustapha (s.a.w.), who was entrusted with the most comprehensive code of laws, capable of solving mankind's needs till doomsday. Now, there no longer was need of any new messenger. But nonetheless, the Wise Creater cannot leave mankind's struggle of thousands of years to the whims and fancies of fallible Arabs, who had spent the greater part of their lives in idolatary and sin. Therefore to ensure the safety of Islam and Muslims, Allah sent down this verse, appointing Imam Ali as the Prophet's vicegerent. Narrators and historians have testified to that great event.

After performing the farewell pilgrimage as the seal of the Prophets was heading towards Madina, the Archangel Gabriel suddenly appeared, at a place where the routes parted for the different parts of Arabia. Learning the Almighty's command, the Prophet at once stopped at the pool Ghadir of Khum, and ordered all those who had gone ahead, and those that lagged behind to hasten to his station. When the great gathering of companions was assembled in the midday sun, the Prophet said he had a most important message to deliver.

A pulpit made of camel saddles was hastily set-up. Ascending it, he delivered a sermon asking the people to be witness that he had faithfully performed the task of prophethood entrusted to him by the Almighty.

The multitude cried in one voice: "We bear witness O Messenger of Allah."

He asked, who in their opinion was more worthy of obedience than their souls, to which they replied that Allah and His Prophet know better.

Then he said:

"O people Allah is my Master (Maula) and I am the master (Maula) of believers."

Muhammad (s.a.w.) then bent down and lifting up Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) in his hands, showed him to the vast crowd and proclaimed those famous words, which guaranteed the continuation of divine leadership:

"For whomsoever I am master (Maula), this All is his master …"

Thrice he proclaimed these words before descending the pulpit, relieved of having performed the great task which would save the Muslims from going astray.

The great multitude of Muslims surged towards Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.), felicitating him on his divine appointment. According to such famous scholars as Zamakhshari and Nasai, the first one to congratulate and swear allegiance ( bai'a) to Imam Ali (a.s.) was Umar Ibn Khattab, who later became the second caliph.

Gabriel descended again with another revelation, showing that the Almighty was pleased with His Prophet for having excellently performed the great final mission to mankind.

"... today have I perfected unto you your religion and completed upon you My blessings and approved for you Islam as your religion..."

Qur'an(5:3)

This most important task ensured the continuity of divine guidance. Since the Prophets were divinely appointed, so should be the successors or trustees of the Prophets, especially so in the /case of Islam, which is the final message to the human race.

All scholars and historians have testified that the event of Ghadir Khum did take place, and moreover books of hadith are witness that on many an occasion, the Prophet had emphasized his cousins pre-eminence, over all other Muslims.

7. Iusan (Dahr) Chapter (Sura).

"… they fulfil vows and fear .a day the evil of which shall be spreading far and wide. And they give food out of love for Him to the poor and the orphan and the captive: We only feed you for Allah's sake; we desire from you neither reward nor thanks: Surely we fear from our Lord a stern, distressful day. Therefore Allah will guard them from the evil of that day and cause them to meet with ease and happiness;..."

Qur'an(76:7-11)

These verses of the Holy Qur'an speak of the Ahlul-Bait, eulogising their selflessness and piety. The historical occasion to which these blessed verses refer was, when Ali, Fatima and their two sons Hasan and Husain fasted for three consecutive days, and each day at the time of breaking the fact some needy person as verse number eight indicates appeared and the AhluI-Bait gladly fed him, and themselves passed the nights without food. Allah was so pleased by the generosity of the Prophet's Household that He converted their actions into verses of the Glorious Qur'an to serve as guidance for the Muslims. These verses not only portray the AhluI-Bait's total submission to Allah's Will but also reveal them as pure and spotless personalities, promised esteem and admiration among the dwellers of Paradise. They are shown as immaculate models of emulation so that whoever among the Muslim communities follows their glowing path will achieve salvation and will be assembled in their illustrious company on the Resurrection Day.

Zamakhshari, in his Kashshaf commenting on this verse, narrates from Abdulla Ibn Abbas - that once Hasan and Husain fell sick and the Prophet together with some of his companions visited his sick grandsons. He suggested that Ali should make a vow to Allah for his sons' health. Heeding the Prophet's suggestion Ali, Fatima along with their maid, Fidha, took a vow that if the boys recovered, they would fast for three consecutive days. Eventually Hasan and Husain recovered and to fulfill the vow they also fasted alongwith their parents and maid. Since there was nothing in the house to eat, Ali borrowed from Sham'un, a Khaibarian Jew, three measures of barley. Fatima grounded one measure into flour and baked it into five loaves (of bread) equal to their number, and placed before them for breaking the fast. Just then a beggar stopped at their door and said: al-Salaam Alaikum (peace be upon you), O Ahlul-Bait of Muhammad (s.a.w.), (I am) one of the poorest of Muslims (so), feed me, may Allah feed you of the food of Paradise"! So they gladly gave him all the food and slept that night, tasting nothing but water.

They fasted again the next day and at sunset as they placed the bread before them to break the fast, an orphan knocked on the door asking for food and they cheerfully fed him, themselves going without food for yet another day. On the third day of the fast, as the breaking time approached, and the food was spread, a prisoner (of war) suddenly appeared at their door and the same scenario was repeated, with the Prophet's Ahlul-Bait passing the third successive night without tasting a morsel of food. Zamakhshari dontinues that when dawn broke Ali holding the hands of Hasan and Husain came to the Prophet's house. The Prophet seeing their pale countenances and noting that they were trembling from hunger, expressed dismay and at once accompanied them to their house'. On entering the house he was shocked to see the sight of his daughter Fatima, sitting hollow-eyed on her prayer mat, her back stuck to her stomach. It was then that the angel Gabriel came down with this Sura, saying:

"O Muhammad, Allah congratulates you for (the sacrifice of) your household. Then he recited the (sura)."

Another famous scholar Sheikh Fadhl ibn Hasan Tabarsi, in his Majma' al-Bayan' after citing the same narration, adds: Ali ibn Ibrahim' narrates from his father who quotes Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq on the authority of Abdulla ibn Maimun that Fatima had (some) barley from which porridge was made and placed before thent (for breaking the fast). Just then a beggar came and said, I am a poor man, may Allah have mercy upon you. Ali (a.s.) got up and gave him one third of the food. Then came an orphan and said, I am an orphan, may Allah have mercy upon you. Au (a.s.) got up and gave him another third (of the food) Then came a pns~ oner (of war) and said, may Allah have mercy upon you. Ali gave him the remaining one-third, without, they, the Ahlul- Bait tasting anything and going without meals. Thereby Allah the Exalted revealed the said verses. It is clear that this sura was revealed in Madina, and as a scholar of the stature Abu Harnza Thamali testifies, the whole sura was revealed in favour of Ali and Fatima.

(1) Fadak is a place near Madina.

(2) Anyone well-versed in the Arahic Ianguage will vouch that Aal cannot he misinterpreted for the umrna or people naas as some later misinformed writers have suggested.

(3) To copy and follow

(4) There is no English equivalent for the Arabic word Nafs which is the singular form of anfus, the nearest meaning of which is like oneself or nearest and dearest of people.

(5) The deputation comprised three prominant Christian leaders of Arabia, Abdul Masih', the Political leader: al-Ayham', in-charge of their Agro-Pastoral affairs; and Abu Hatamibn Alqama, who was a Bishop or Pontiff .

(6) Ahl aI-Kisa is a term denoting those who gathered with the Prophet under his Kisa (cloak) whereupon the verse of purity was revealed: They are AU, Fatima, Hasan, and Husain, as had been already discussed eariler.

(7) The famous Jurist Imam Shafi'i had concluded that when there is an order' in the Qur'an or the traditions, then its carrying out is obligatory; unless the context tells clearly that it is a recommendation.

(8) Muhaqqiq Hilli, one of the great Shi'ite jurisprudents, who lived in the seventh century of the Hijra': The Testimony. It is obligatory to recite it once in a two-Rak'at prayer, and twice in three and four and four-Rak'at prayers. If one or the two of them were dropped intentionally, the prayer is regarded as null and void. In each, five things are compulsory; sitting during the Testimony, reciting the two testimonies, sending blessings of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and his progeny.