Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Burhan bhai;

salamalikum, long time havenot rec'd. any copies of your Q & A e-mails. Especially after the sep. 11 incident.

Well any way, want to wish you a very healthy , happy & spiritually uplifting ramadan. I don't know where are you located, I am here temporarily in Saudi arabia and we here started fasting from nov. 16th friday. In U.S also my wife and daughter said they started on 16th. The world has changed since sep 11 atleast for the muslim community, and changed not for the better. God help us all and keep us on the right path away from extremism and misguidance from the self interested mullahs, amin.

Recently a friend of mine forwarded an e-mail to me, this is an Q & A kind of communication, in which a famous shia scholar residing in London answered a question with regards to Muharam and the way they observe it. He says " weeping is a sign of love and love of ahlebait is oblogatory on all muslims". Allah says in the Quran "say : I (Muhammad) do not ask of you any reward for it but love for my near relatives" (Chap.42 / verse 23) a group of companions asked " O Prophet of Allah , who are those of your relatives whose love has been made obligatory on us by Allah ?" The Prophet replied, " They are Ali, Fatima, Hassan and Hussain [Ref. Bukhari & Muslim] also quotes Imam Shafi; wherin he says, " O ahelu bait of the Prophat of Allah, love for you has been made obligatory for us by Allah, refering to the above quoted verse . It is sufficient for your dignity that if one does not send salutations(Durood) to you in the ritual prayers, his prayers will not be accepted. with this he tries to prove that all the weeping and grief and matam are justified and must be done to express our love for them (ahkle bait). I usually read Mohd. Asad's commentary, in fact I like it very much, he explained that verse in a different meaning that the Prophet is not asking for the love of His family but this is in broad meaning of covering all the believers, this makes sense to me but also on the other hand , we are streching the mweaning of the word " khuraba" . Like to know your thoughts on the subject. Once again greetings for month of ramadan and wish you all the best, as for me your commentc were a big eye opener and I pray to Allah to give you good health, give you the understanding & wisdom and strength to continue the great work of educating the misguided bohra group, inshallah , amin. with best regards

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Love of Ahle-Bayt

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

May Allah reward you with the best of ajr for your kind words and supplications to our Merciful Lord. May Allah accept yours and our humble and weak efforts, and forgive us our sins in this Holy and Blessed month of Ramadan.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 42 Surah Ash-Shura verse 23 (part):(O Prophet) say to them (the disbelievers): "I do not ask of you any reward for this work; except the love of those near of kin."

The above verse is from a Surah which was revealed in Makkah and the whole discourse is addressed to the disbelievers of Quraish, most of whom were related to the Prophet (saws) through his father, or mother, or his wife Khadijah. What the Prophet (saws) is commanded to tell the disbelievers of the Quraish is that he is not asking them for any reward for the Message he has brought to them from Allah. However, the disbelievers are urged to at least show some decency and regard for the kinship that exists between the Prophet (saws) and some of them. The Prophet (saws) tells them that if they do not honor the Message or his Mission, the least they could do is show some respect and restraint because he is related to them, rather than they themselves become his staunchest enemies!

But if some misguided people try to interpret the above verse and say that the near of kin or 'kurba' means Hadrat Ali and his descendants; they are absolutely wrong!! Because they cannot find anything to support their beliefs from the Quran, they hang on to such interpretations. Rather than follow the guidance and teachings of the Holy Quran, these misguided people have tried to use and make the Quran follow their false beliefs.

Now, lets see the reasons why the near of kin or kurba mentioned in the above aayah could not mean Hadrat Ali and his descendants.

When Surah Ash-Shura was sent down at Makkah, Hadrat Ali and Hadrat Fatimah had not been married, and therefore there could be no question of their children or descendants being mentioned at this time in the Holy Quran!!!!!!

The kin or kurba of the Prophet (saws) were not only the children of Hadrat Ali and Fatimah, but the Prophet (saws) had kindred among almost all the families of the Quraish through his mother, his father and his beloved wife, Khadijah. In all these clans, he had his best supporters as well as his staunchest enemies. Thus it would be incorrect and misguidance to just narrow down the Prophet's kindred to the children of one of his daughters.

In view of the high position of a Prophet of Allah from which Prophet Mohamed (saws) starts his mission of inviting the people towards Allah, it does not seem fitting that he would ask the people to love his kindred in return for his services. That would be like asking a favor of the people and taking a reward from them for his services, whereas the first thing Allah commands Prophet Mohamed (saws) to say in the aayah is that he is not asking them for any reward for his services!!!!

And it seems all the more irrelevant when the addressees of the verse here are the disbelievers, and not the believers! The whole discourse, from the beginning to the end, is directed to the disbelievers among the Quraish. Therefore, there could be no question of asking the opponents for any kind of reward; because a reward can only be asked from those who show some appreciation for the services that a person has rendered for them. It just would not make common-sense for the Prophet (saws) to ask the disbelievers of the Quraish, who were his staunchest enemies, to love Hadrat Ali, and his children, who incidentally aren't even born!!!!!

Thus brother, the words of near of kin or 'kurba' in the above verse does in no way refer to the descendants of Hadrat Ali, as some misguided and agenda-minded people would have us believe! The Prophet (saws) is only being told to remind the disbelievers of the Quraish that they should at least show some respect for the blood-relationships he has with many amongst them, rather than opposing the Message of Truth.

Having said that, we must also understand that there is not a believer, who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day, and loves the Prophet (saws), who does not love and respect Hadrat Ali, Hadrat Fatimah, Hadrat Hasan, Hadrat Hussain, and their pious descendants. But it does not behove a true believer, to raise these noble and pious souls to the positions of god-incarnate, and start invoking and worshipping their names, graves, tombs, and shrines! It does not behove a believer to start wailing and weeping and beating their chests over their names and their incidents! It does not behove a believer to celebrate their birthdays, and their days of death! Yes, they are all from the family of Prophet Mohamed (saws), and we love them, respect them, and follow the righteous deeds they did. But to invoke them or worship them, or try to use them as intercessors and 'shofaas' with Allah, is absolute misguidance!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 134: They were a people who passed away. They shall receive the reward of what they earned, and you shall have the reward of what you will earn. And you will not be questioned as to what they did.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah's Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan