love ahlebyt - who are they!?

[Ahmed645]

Salam O Alikum,

Dear Imam Sahib,

MashAllah you have a great site. I am a little confused at one aspect of our faith. All of our great ulema seems to write endlessly on the merits, love and obediance to Ahl Bayet. Even some of the sufi chains include them upto Hazrat Ali Rida Radi Allahu anhu.

But when i actually started to look for some information about about these personalities of Prophet (SAW) household. I can find no information about them except that "They were great and we love them"

And sadly enough most of their teachings, life history is available only in books from Shia school, which I have heard is not a very reliable account to obtain correct information.

Can you kindly guide me to Ahl-Sunnah books which details the life and teachings, achivements of ahlebayt.

Shias refer to 12 of them which we consider great awlya's (11 in our case) as their imams and history entails that they existed even in the time of these imams as followers of these imams. What was the verdict of these imams on the claims shias have on them ?

I will be extremely thankful if you can clarify this.

Ws'Salam
Ahmed

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu


All Praise be to Allah who is the Lord of the Worlds, and may Endless Blessings be showered upon His Most Beloved, and Final Messenger of Islam, Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam

I think there has been some sort of confusion by yourself in regard to the ahl-al-Bay'ah.

Strictly speaking, the ahl-al-Bay'ah are regarded as the Prophets Noble Household, and within them are included The Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, Hadrat Fatimah-tuz-Zahra' Radi Allahu anha, Hadrat 'Ali Radi Allahu anhu, Hadrat Imam Hasan Radi Allahu anhu, and Hadrat Imam Husayn Radi Allahu anhu. These are also referred to as the 'Panj tan Pak', in the subcontinent.

Some scholars like Imam Fakhr ud Din Razi, have stated that the ahl-al-Bay'ah include all the Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam's descendants, His Ennobled Wives, and His Community. Some claim only His descendants, and His wives, and some only the main five.

Books can be found on any of the above mentioned personalities from any book shop, in any place. Since the ahl-al-Bay'ah were all haqq, and no one doubts this, nor does anyone criticise them, nor object to them, it is perfectly fine to read books from any ahl-as-Sunnah publisher. Why should we then look for a Shi'ah interpretation of the ahl-al-Bay'ah, when we have our own Sunni literarure on these personalities, their days, which we commemorate, and visitations which we visit, for our own purposes?

If you are specifically after a particular topic, like the event that took place at Karbala, then this can also be seen. There are tafsirs in the Qur'an that talk about the Ahl-al-Bay'ah, under the relevant verses, there are commentaries, marginal notes, and other texts which are relevant. It is just a matter of achieving them, and recieving them.

The reason why the Shia's have more information, and accounts of the ahl-al-Bay'ah, is because many of them do claim to be one of them. Easy access to finances, and high positions in communities allows them to propogate this, and even fabricate this, yet what the ahl-as-Sunnah have is still the love, but also the action in reception of the ahl-al-Bay'ah. Our focus is not merely on one topic or theme, but upon many themes, which also include the ahl-al-Bay'ah. If you have a shaykh, just as I, who is from the ahl-al-BVay'ah, you will be amzed by the amount of information he dicloses, and the amount of information that he doesnt disclose, in relation to the ahl-al-Bay'ah. Indeed most of the shajrahs do end at the feet of Our Beloved Master, Syedina 'Ali Radi Allahu anhu, but this still dioes not mean that we are not believing other shajrahs, to end with the rest of the 3 Khalifat.

The only main difference which is remaining now, between the Shi'ah and the Sunnis is that those 3 khalifahs, are they really accepted by the Shia's as much as Hadrat 'Ali? What about all those who hold this view from among the Sh'ias, are they referred to as Shi'as as well? What about thethose who believe in all 4, are they not doing enough to compensate for what has happened to the ahl-al-Bay'ah over the centuries, or are they ignored?

Such questions have many detailed answers, yet what we have a duty to do is to love the Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, Love His Companions also, and Love the ahl-al-Bay'ah, who are also His companions.

Much could be said in relation to this topic, and there are some very amazing beliefs regading this theme. However what I have quoted here are some of the themes from my ignorance. However, may Allah the Almighty give us all the tawfiq, for all personalities of Islam, and keep us at that level, instead of us giving more preference to some, than others. (Amin).


Jazak'allah for your question.





Wallahu A'lamu Biththawaab


M. Waseem Ashrafi