Verses 28–35
These verses are about the wives of the Prophet. They first (a) command the Prophet to tell them that they are not to enjoy worldly adornments and instead must enjoy restraint and abstemiousness, if they choose to remain married to the Prophet. Then, they speak directly to the wives and tell them (b) their esteem and standing makes their position difficult. If they revere God, they will be gifted a double reward, but if they commit a flagrant indecency, they shall endure a double punishment. The verses then (c) enjoin them to be virtuous and to remain in their homes rather than parading themselves about, and to pray, give charity, and call to mind the verses and wisdom which is recited in their homes. Then the verses (d) promise all goodly man and women forgiveness and a great reward.
Commentary
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ إِنْ كُنْتُنَّ تُرِدْنَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا فَتَعَالَيْنَ أُمَتِّعْكُنَّ وَأُسَرِّحْكُنَّ سَرَاحًا جَمِيلًا ٢٨ وَإِنْ كُنْتُنَّ تُرِدْنَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ أَعَدَّ لِلْمُحْسِنَاتِ مِنْكُنَّ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا٢٩
(33:28-29) O Prophet! Say to your wives, If you desire the life of this world and its ornaments, then come; I shall provide for you and release you fairly. And if you desire Allah and His Messenger and the abode of the hereafter—Allah has prepared a great reward for the virtuous among you.
These verses indicate that the wives of the Prophet, or at least some of them, were unhappy with their standard of living in the Prophet’s house. They were enduring poverty and need, and so they complained about that to him. These verses submit that they can actually enjoy a better standard of living and the joys that the world has to offer. Therefore, God commands his Prophet to give them a choice: either they can leave him and have what they want, or remain with him in their current circumstances.
The way that these verses are phrased shows that there are two possibilities. Either they long for the life of this world and its adornments, or else they long for God, His messenger, and the hereafter. They cannot have both—that is, they cannot enjoy luxury and finery and amusement while being married to the Prophet and living in his house. Furthermore, these two choices are opposites; they can only have one through rejecting the other. “Desiring the worldly life and its adornments” means setting their hearts staunchly on that priority, whether or not they also desire the afterlife. Similarly, “desiring the hereafter” means setting their hearts on the afterlife—regardless of whether they, in practice, enjoy some of the goodness of this world and a more comfortable life, or not.
Thus, they can choose, and each choice comes with its own reward. However, they must choose one or the other; they cannot choose both. They can choose the worldly life and its beguilements. For this, they must divorce the Prophet, and he will gift them each a sum of wealth. Otherwise, they can choose to remain married to the Prophet and choose the hereafter over the worldly life and its beguilements. In exchange, they will receive a great reward from God. However, this is not automatically awarded to them; rather, it is on the condition that they act righteously and virtuously.
This makes it clear that simply being married to the Prophet is not enough to grant them honour before God. Rather, being married to the Prophet becomes an honour if and only if they act righteously and revere God. For that reason, when the verses speak again about their high status, they make it contingent on their reverence: O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women. If you be reverent… ().
This is similar to how the Qur’an speaks about the Prophet and his companions:
Muḥammad is the messenger of Allah, and those with him are firm of heart against the unbelievers, compassionate among themselves; you will see them bowing down, prostrating themselves, seeking grace from Allah and pleasure; their marks are in their faces because of the effect of prostration… Allah has promised forgiveness and a great reward to those among them who believe and do good. ()
That is, it praises them all for their outward good deeds but makes the great reward contingent on both faith and righteous actions.
In short, honour is not contingent on any other thing, such as nobility or ancestry, as is expressed in the verse the most honourable of you [all people] is the most reverent towards Allah ().
O Prophet! Say to your wives…: This verse commands the Prophet to tell these to verses to his wives. They oblige him to divorce them and grant them a settlement of wealth if they choose this. Conversely, they may remain married to him if they choose God, His Messenger, and the eternal abode.
If you desire the life of this world and its ornaments…: “Desiring the life of this world and its ornaments” is a figure of speech indicating one of the two opposing choices. It conveys that their hearts cling to the worldly life, and hence turn away from the hereafter.
Come (taʿālayna); I shall provide for you (umattiʿkunna) and release you (usarriḥkunna sarāḥan jamīlan) fairly: Tafsīr al-Kashshāf says:
The verb taʿāl (“come”) originally was used when a person at a higher level called down to a person at a lower level to tell that person to come up. Eventually, it began to be used for people regardless of their elevation [that is, to mean “come here” not “come up”]. Taʿālayna in this verse means “present your choice”, and is not literally telling them to physically move towards the Prophet or to ascend something. This is similar to the expressions “he approached me with a conflict” (aqbala yukhāṣimanī), “he went to speak to me (dhahaba yukallimanī)”, and “he began to threaten me (qāma yuhaddidunī)”.
Umattiʿkunna means giving them a sum of money or wealth upon divorce. Usarriḥkunna means “divorce”, and sarāḥan jamīlan means to separate amicably without fighting or ill-feelings between the ex-spouses.
Some exegetes hold that these verses are applicable to the study of Islamic law (fiqh). However, the truth of the matter is that the rulings in these verses only apply to the Prophet, and there is no textual evidence in the verses indicating that they apply to anyone else. Further discussion on this matter can be found in books of fiqh.
And if you desire Allah and His Messenger and the abode of the hereafter—Allah has prepared a great reward for the virtuous (muḥsināt) among you: As discussed above, this clause offers a wholly opposite choice from the first choice. It means: “If you wish and choose to obey God and His Messenger, and yearn for happiness in the eternal abode while patiently enduring your constricted standard of living and deprivation from the glitter of worldly goods.” This clause implies that they choose to remain married to the Prophet and to patiently endure their constricted standard of living. Otherwise, it would not be correct to associate virtuousness or good-doing (for the virtuous among you) with the promised reward; this is clear.
It means: “If you wish and choose to remain married to the Prophet and to patiently endure a constricted standard of living, then God has prepared a great reward for you—on the condition that you act goodly and virtuously, in addition to yearning for God, His Messenger, and the eternal abode. If you are not righteous, you will only lose out on this world and the hereafter.”
يَا نِسَاءَ النَّبِيِّ مَنْ يَأْتِ مِنْكُنَّ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُبَيِّنَةٍ يُضَاعَفْ لَهَا الْعَذَابُ ضِعْفَيْنِ ۚ وَكَانَ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرًا ٣٠
(33:30) O wives of the Prophet! If any of you commits a flagrant indecency, her punishment shall be doubled, and this is easy for Allah.
This verse shifts from speaking to the Prophet about his wives to addressing his wives directly in order to outline their responsibilities and for emphasis. This and the next verse clarify specifically what is meant by Allah has prepared a great reward for the virtuous among you, both with respect to what they must and mustn’t do.
If any of you commits a flagrant indecency (fāḥishatin mubayyinatin): Fāḥishah (“indecency”) bespeaks of an unsightly, ugly, atrocious, grave act, such as harming, defaming, or slandering the Prophet. Mubayyinah means “clear” or “obvious”.
Her punishment shall be doubled (ḍiʿfayn): Doubled means two of the same thing; this understanding is reinforced by the phrasing in the next verse—We shall reward her twice [marratayn, or two times]. Therefore, pay no heed to those exegetes who say that doubled means burning longer in or closer to the flames of hell, or that altogether they shall receive a threefold share of punishment.
And this is easy for Allah: The verse wraps up with this to show that the honour or status accrued by being married to the Prophet does not interfere with God’s ability to punish them in the slightest, for the only true honour arises from reverence (taqwā). Being married to the Prophet can lead to a beautiful outcome, if it is paired with reverence. However, if it is paired with sinfulness, it will spawn nothing but desolation and misery.
وَمَنْ يَقْنُتْ مِنْكُنَّ لِلَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَتَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا نُؤْتِهَا أَجْرَهَا مَرَّتَيْنِ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهَا رِزْقًا كَرِيمًا ٣١
(33:31) And if any of you obeys (yaqnut) Allah and His messenger and works righteous deeds, We shall reward her twice, and We have prepared (aʿtadnā) for her a generous provision (rizqan karīman).
The verb yaqnut means “being submissive”; some say it means “being obedient” or “being submissive and obedient”. The verb aʿtadnā means “prepare” or “make ready”. A generous provision here is a metaphor for Paradise.
It means: “Whoever among you submits to and obeys God and His Messenger and acts righteously shall be granted twice the reward and a generous provision—meaning a place in the garden.”
The previous verse ended in the third person [this is easy for Allah]. Here, the verse shifts to the first person plural [We shall reward, We have prepared] to convey a sense of nearness and honour, in contrast to the sense of desolation and misery understood from her punishment shall be doubled.
يَا نِسَاءَ النَّبِيِّ لَسْتُنَّ كَأَحَدٍ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ ۚ إِنِ اتَّقَيْتُنَّ فَلَا تَخْضَعْنَ بِالْقَوْلِ فَيَطْمَعَ الَّذِي فِي قَلْبِهِ مَرَضٌ وَقُلْنَ قَوْلًا مَعْرُوفًا ٣٢ وَقَرْنَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّجْنَ تَبَرُّجَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ الْأُولَىٰ ۖ وَأَقِمْنَ الصَّلَاةَ وَآتِينَ الزَّكَاةَ وَأَطِعْنَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ۚ إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمْ تَطْهِيرًا ٣٣
(33:32-33) O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women. If you be reverent, then be not soft in your speech, lest a man with a diseased heart desire [you]; and speak in a plain and ordinary manner. And stay in your houses, and do not flaunt your charms as was done in the first Age of Ignorance. And establish the prayer and give charity, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully.
These verses establish that the wives of the Prophet are not the same as other women. If they fear God, they will have a higher status than other women. Then they outline specific commands and prohibitions due to them because they are married to the Prophet; these are introduced with the grammatical conjunction fa- and include refraining from speaking alluringly, staying at home, and not putting themselves on display. These traits are equally desirable for other women, not just the wives of the Prophet.
By prefacing the verse with you are not like any other women, the verse emphasized that these commands and prohibitions are particularly vital for them, even if they are also applicable to other women. It is as if it is saying: “Since you are not like other women, it is absolutely incumbent upon you to meet these expectations and to keep to the boundaries of the religion of God, even more so than other women.” This is further emphasized by the threat of double punishment and the promise of double reward [for each of them], depending on whether they [individually] act rightly or wrongly; this is in keeping with the emphasis on the obligations put upon them here.
Be not soft in your speech, lest a man with a diseased heart desire [you]: The first part of the verse established their unique position as wives of the Prophet. It conditionally offered them a lofty status if they are reverent towards and mindful of God. This section reiterates that this status arises only from reverence towards and mindfulness of God (taqwā) and cannot be accrued solely through their link to the Prophet. It forbids them from being soft in speech. This means that they should not speak pleasantly and softly with men in a way that might attract suspicion or inflame the passions of a man with a sick heart. This [disease of the heart] is the absence of the faculty of faith, which dissuades a person from inclining towards unsightly deeds.
Speak in a plain and ordinary manner (qawlan maʿrūfan): This means to speak in a normal, straightforward way—neither melodiously nor suggestively, neither hinting at any impropriety nor kindling suspicion. They should speak in a way endorsed by Islamic law (shariah) and Islamic custom (ʿurf)
And stay (qarna) in your homes, and do not flaunt your charms as was done in the first Age of Ignorance (wa lā tabarrajnā tabarruj al-jāhiliyat al-ūlā): If the imperative qarna is from the verb qarra, yaqirru (“to be settled in”, “to reside in”), the imperative form qarna is a shortened form of the imperative iqrirna (“stay in”, “remain in”) with one of the r’s dropped. Alternatively, it could be from the verb qāra, yuqāru (“to gather”, to “join”, “to muster”) and be a figure of speech meaning “stay affixed to your homes”.
Tabarruj means to flaunt or display one’s self before the people, just as the related word burj (“tower”, “castle”, “constellation”, “sign of the zodiac”) also describes something visible to an onlooker.
The first Age of Ignorance (al-jāhiliyyah al-ūlā) refers to the time before the Prophet received the first revelation of the Qur’an. By it is meant the customs of the ancients. Exegetes have put forward other views; namely that it refers to (a) the 800 years which elapsed between Adam and Noah, (b) the time between Idrīs and Noah, (c) the era of David and Solomon, (d) the era of Abraham’s birth, and (e) the centuries between Jesus and Muḥammad, in which there was a gap between prophets. However, there is no evidence for any of these views.
And establish the prayer and give charity, and obey Allah and His Messenger: This section commands them to fulfil their religious obligations. Prayer and charity have been singled out because prayer is a foundational act of worship (ʿibādāt) and charity is a foundational act of social interchange (muʿāmalāt). Then, all religious duties are included in the expression and obey Allah and His messenger. “Obeying God” means fulfilling their religious duties and obeying His messenger in what he commands and forbids, as per the authority granted to the Prophet in the verse: The Prophet is more entitled to the faithful than their own souls ().
Key Debate: The Verse of Purification (Āyat al-Taṭhīr) →
Allah wills (innamā yurīdu) to remove any impurity from you (ʿankum), O People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt), and purify you fully: The grammatical particle innamā [which introduces this sentence] restricts the meaning of this sentence in two ways. First, it restricts God’s will [in this sentence] to “removing impurity” and “purification”. Second, it restricts these acts to the People of the House, who are addressed and specified by the second person plural pronoun from you (ʿankum). This is regardless of whether the phrase Ahl al-Bayt is understood as a specifier [that is, indicating that this sentence applies only to the People of the House and no one else], as an honorific [praising them], or as a vocative [addressing the People of the House directly].
People of the House does not refer specifically to the wives of the Prophet, because the People of the House are addressed by the pronoun ʿankum (“you”, second person plural, including both men and women) as opposed to the pronoun ʿankunna (“you”, second person plural, feminine only). Either these words are addressed to the wives of the Prophet in addition to other people, or else they are addressed to a different group of people. [In either case, the group must include one or more males.]
Views which the Author Rejects:
Part 1:
Some possibilities for the meaning of People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt) include:
- People of the House refers to the people of the Sacred House [al-bayt al-ḥarām, the Kaʿbah]. This is because they are spoken of as the pious in the verse: Its [the Sacred House’s] guardians are only the pious (). [And this section of the sūrah also emphasizes piety.]
- It refers to the people of the Prophet’s Mosque.
- It refers to the Prophet’s household. Here, “household” would include whoever would be commonly understood (through ʿurf) as members a household, including wives and kin. The Prophet’s kin would be the family of ʿAbbās, the family of ʿAqīl, the family of Jaʿfar, and the family of ʿAlī.
- It refers to the Prophet and his wives. Perhaps this interpretation is what is meant in a narration ascribed to ʿIkrimah and ʿUrwah which says that this sentence refers specifically to the wives of the Prophet.
- It refers to others entirely, not involving the wives at all. For instance, it could refer to the kin of the Prophet; namely, the family of ʿAbbās, the family of ʿAqīl, the family of Jaʿfar, and the family of ʿAlī.
- In any case, [it seems that] the intent [or one of the intents] behind “removing impurity” and “purifying” is “being mindful, pious, and cautious in religion” (taqwā dīnī) through abstaining from what is forbidden and doing what is required. Therefore, it means that God Himself does not benefit from carrying out religious responsibilities; rather, God wills to remove any impurity and to purify. This is similar to what is said in this verse: Allah does not wish to place you in difficulty, but purify you, and to complete His favour upon you, that you may be grateful ().
However, if this meaning is what is intended, then none of the above possible interpretations work, since verse is specific to only the People of the House, whereas verse is general and addressed to all Muslims who are tasked with adhering to religious law.
Part 2:
Another possibility is that “removing impurity” and “purifying” refer to strict, severe piety, and that this sentence emphasizes the religious duties of the wives of the Prophet and their doubled recompense. This too would not benefit God but rather would be a means for God to divest them of any impurity and to purify them. Then, it is extended to others beyond them after they have been specified. However, the same problem arises here: namely, other people do not share the strict responsibilities assigned to the Prophet’s wives, or their doubled punishment or reward.
Question: But why can’t this verse address the wives of the Prophet and the Prophet himself? After all, like his wives, the Prophet also bears a heavy weight of duty.
Reply: The Prophet is different from his wives, for he has been protected from sin (he has ʿiṣmah). This is a divine gift not earned through one’s acts. It would make no sense to emphasize his duty, to threaten him with a double punishment, or to promise him a double reward in order to inspire a strict sense of reverence (taqwā) inside him. Therefore, this sentence cannot be addressed solely to him and his wives. We mention this possibility only because it is something plausible that someone might ask about, and because it is a more correct way of evaluating the exegetical view that these words address only his wives [which, as has been explained above, is grammatically incorrect], not because exegetes actually hold this view.
Part 3:
God’s will in “removing impurity” and “purifying” could be taken in an absolute and unconditional sense rather than specifically to mean strict observance of religious duties. That is, it could mean that God is divesting them of any sort of impurity and cleansing them simply because they are the Prophet’s household or kin. However, this would conflict with the emphasis on reverence (taqwā) as a condition for the wives of the Prophet to enjoy an honourable status; this conflict persists whether one interprets God’s will here as a legislative obligation [that is, God commanding and forbidding actions] or a creational act [God willing something to be, and it is].
The Author’s View
The foregoing reinforces the narrations about why the verse was revealed. [That is, the fact that the foregoing interpretations intrinsically do not work reinforces the view in the narrations.] These narrations indicate that People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt) specifically refers to the Prophet, ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, Ḥasan, and Ḥusayn, and do not include anyone else.
Many narrations—more than 70—say this. There are more Sunni than Shiʿi narrations saying this, since the Sunni narrations have been related through many chains, such as from Um Salamah, ʿĀʾishah, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Saʿd, Wāʾilah ibn al-Asqaʿ, Abu al-Ḥamrāʾ, Ibn ʿAbbās, Thawbān (the mawlā or freedman of the Prophet), ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar, ʿAlī, and al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī via nearly 40 chains of narration. Shiʿi narrations on this are related from ʿAlī, al-Sajjād, al-Bāqir, al-Ṣādiq, and al-Riḍā, as well as Um Salamah, Abū Dharr, Abu Laylā, Abu al-Aswad al-Duʾalī, ʿAmr ibn Maymūn al-Awdī, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ via over 30 chains.
Objection: Some might argue that although these narrations specify ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, Ḥasan, and Ḥusayn as the People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt), they do not preclude the possibility of including the wives of the Prophet in the People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt), especially since the previous section of the verse addresses them.
Reply: Many of these narrations, especially the ones related from Um Salamah—in whose house the verse was revealed—specify that the People of the House (Ahl al-Bayt) refers specifically to these individuals and do not include any of the wives of the Prophet, and some of these narrations are graded as “authentic (ṣaḥīḥ)”. They will be discussed later in the section on narrations.
Another Objection: Some might argue that these narrations are in opposition to the Qur’an [and hence should be discarded] since the Qur’an itself addresses the wives of the Prophet in the first part of the verse [and hence the wives of the Prophet should be included in the Ahl al-Bayt].
Reply: The real question here is whether or not this verse was revealed all at once. That is, was this part of the verse pertaining to purification (known as āyat al-taṭhīr) revealed at the same time and under the same circumstances as the previous sections addressing the wives of the Prophet?
While many ḥadīth describe the revelation of this part of the verse, they all portray it as having been revealed alone. That is, the sentence Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully was not revealed at the same time as the previous parts of the same verse or the previous/succeeding verses. Not a single one of these 70 hadith claims that this part of the verse was revealed as a conclusion to the address to the wives of the Prophet, and no one claims this—not even those who say that People of the House refers to the wives of the Prophet, such as ʿIkrimah and ʿUrwah.
Simply put, this part of the verse (Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully) is fully separate from the segment about the wives of the Prophet, and is not linked to it. Either this part of the verse was placed here at the command of the Prophet, or it was done during the compilation of the Qur’an after the Prophet left this world.
The previous and succeeding text (which is all addressed to the wives of the Prophet), supports the idea that this part of the verse (which is not addressed to the wives of the Prophet) is an outlier. That is, this section is preceded by and stay in your homes… () and followed by and remember the signs [verses of Allah]… (), both of which are addressed to the wives of the Prophet in the second person feminine plural. It is only this phrase—Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully ()—that interrupts the flow. Therefore, it does not come across as part of the original address to the wives of the Prophet. This phrase also comes across as being of loftier import than the commands specific to the wives of the Prophet.
This is similar to verse , in which the sentence today, the disbelievers despair () appears among a list of prohibited foods although unrelated and of different import. [Hence, it was likely placed in that verse later rather than being revealed at the same time as the rest of the verse.] This matter was discussed in Volume 5 of this work.
With that in mind, “Ahl al-Bayt” as used here in the Qur’an is a technical term with a specific meaning. It refers specifically to these five people—the Prophet, ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, Ḥasan, and Ḥusayn—and may not be applied to anyone else, even the Prophet’s nearest kin, and even if customary usage might include such people in the general expression ahl al-bayt.
Allah wills to remove any impurity (rijs) from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully: Rijs comes from the noun rajāsah (“dirt”, “filth”, “shamefulness”) and means “filthiness” or “impurity”. Filth is something that a person avoids and shies away from, and can be used either in a physical or a metaphorical sense. It is used in a physical sense for pork in [forbidden to you is] the meat of pigs, for it is filthy (rijs) (). Here, in , it is used in a metaphorical sense, speaking of spiritual dirt (not physical dirt), like associating partners with God (shirk), denial or ingratitude (kufr), or the aftereffects of committing vile deeds. God says:
As for those in whose hearts is a disease, they pile up dirt onto dirt [in their hearts] (rijsan ilā rijsihim), and they die disbelieving. ()
Allah quashes and tightens the chests of those whom He wills to leave wandering, as if they are climbing up towards the sky. Thus, Allah heaps dirt [or shame] (rijs) upon those who disbelieve. ()
However the word rijs is used, it is something which the human being perceives with their inner faculties. This inner sort of rijs arises through setting one’s heart on false beliefs or as the result of committing vile deeds.
Verse speaks of the removal of rijs. The al- in al-rijs in this verse is for generality, meaning that it encompasses any and all forms of impurity. This verse speaks of removing any impurity in any shape or form that might misguide a person from true beliefs or correct acts. Therefore, what naturally follows from this is divinely granted ʿiṣmah (divine protection from error or sin), which is a mental faculty that protects a person from false beliefs or ugly deeds.
In our previous discussion above [on the views which ʿAllāmah rejects], we made clear that the idea that this verse means that God intends for the People of the House to be reverent or to strictly observe their religious duties does not fit with the text. This is because these things are not limited to the People of the House; rather, all people should be reverent and observe their religious duties. Furthermore, it does not fit with the status of the Prophet. [That is, assuming that the Prophet is one of the People of the House, it would be meaningless to tell him to be reverent or to observe his religious duties since he is already divinely protected from sin.]
Therefore, “removing impurity” and “purification” must be understood with the Prophet’s sinlessness in mind. “Purifying” is emphasized by repeating the verbal noun after the verb [that is, it literally says “purify you with a purification”, or yuṭahhirakum taṭhīran, where both words come from the root ṭ-h-r, meaning to be pure]. “Purification” means removing the aftereffects of uncleanliness after removing an original impurity. It is commonly agreed that the opposite of “false beliefs” is “true beliefs”. Therefore, purifying a person of false beliefs involves equipping them with the capacity to perceive truth in beliefs and deeds. Here, Allah wills does not mean that God is passing a law to be acted upon or that God is imposing a religious obligation, since it has already been shown that this possibility does not suit the status [of the Prophet] at all.
It means: God continuously wills to single you, Ahl al-Bayt, out for the divine gift of protection from error or sin by keeping you away from any false beliefs or the impact of vile deeds. This continuous divine will results in you being protected from error or sin. [That is, it results in them being maʿṣūm.]
وَاذْكُرْنَ مَا يُتْلَىٰ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ مِنْ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَالْحِكْمَةِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ لَطِيفًا خَبِيرًا ٣٤
(33:34) And remember (wadhkurna) the signs [verses] of Allah and wisdom that is recited in your homes. Allah has always been subtle, aware.
Remember here comes across as having been intended to mean the opposite of “forget”. This emphasizes the strict commandments given to the wives of the Prophets. This verse embarks upon a second exhortation to the wives of the Prophet, just as the previous verses conveyed the first exhortation outlining their duties. In your homes also adds emphasis.
It means: “Keep in mind the verses and wisdom recited in your homes so that you do not lapse or slip off of the path set out for you.”
Some exegetes say that it means, “Be grateful to God that He has located you in houses where the Qur’an and Sunnah are recited.” However, this interpretation is rather distant from what the text actually says, especially since the verse wraps up with Allah has always been subtle, aware.
إِنَّ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَالْمُسْلِمَاتِ وَالْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالْقَانِتِينَ وَالْقَانِتَاتِ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالصَّادِقَاتِ وَالصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّابِرَاتِ وَالْخَاشِعِينَ وَالْخَاشِعَاتِ وَالْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ وَالْمُتَصَدِّقَاتِ وَالصَّائِمِينَ وَالصَّائِمَاتِ وَالْحَافِظِينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ وَالْحَافِظَاتِ وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ أَعَدَّ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا ٣٥
(33:35) The submitting [Muslim] men and women, and the faithful men and women, and the obedient men and women, and the truthful men and women, and the patient men and women, and the men and women who fear [Allah], and the men and women who give charity, and the men and women who fast, and the men and women who guard their private parts, and the men and women who remember [Allah]—Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great recompense.
Men and women are honoured equally in the eyes of Islam. God illustrates this generally in verses such as:
O people! We created you from a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. The most honourable of you before Allah is the most reverent. ()
This principle is further clarified in verses such as:
I will not waste the work of a worker among you, whether male or female. ()
Then, this principle is further clarified in this verse.
The submitting [Muslim] men and women (al-muslimīna wa al-muslimāt), and the faithful men and women (al-muʾminīna wa al-muʾmināt): This phrase implies a difference between a Muslim and a believer (muʾmin). It is similar to this verse:
The Arabs say, We have believed. Say, You do not have faith; rather, say, ‘We submit’ [or ‘We are Muslims’], for faith has not yet entered your hearts … The faithful are those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, then doubt not, and they strive with their wealth and their persons in the way of Allah. ()
This demonstrates that, firstly, being merely a Muslim pertains to the actions performed externally with one’s limbs [such as going through the motions of religious observances], whereas faith pertains to the heart. Secondly, as a matter pertaining to the heart, faith relates to inner beliefs and inner surrender [to God, or to the faith]; however, these inner beliefs then percolate out into the actions performed by one’s limbs [such as the sincere and selfless deeds mentioned in the above verse].
Therefore, islām [as a verb meaning “to submit” or “to become Muslim”] can be defined as “submission through one’s actions to the religion through carrying out its main commandments”, and a muslim and muslimah [the masculine and feminine form of “one who submits” or “a Muslim”] can be defined as those who do that.
Faith (īmān) pertains to those who cherish the religion in their hearts in such a way that it then inspires the acts of their limbs. A muʾmin and muʾminah [male and female person with faith] is therefore one who cherishes the religion in his or her heart in such a way that it inspires the acts of his or her limbs. All of the faithful are Muslim, but not all Muslims are faithful.
The obedient men and women (al-qānitīna wa al-qānitāt): Obedience (qunūt) is said to mean obeying submissively.
The truthful men and women (al-ṣādiqīna wa al-ṣādiqāt): Truthfulness pertains to whether or not what a person says or shows concords with reality. The truthful are truthful in their claims, speech, and promises.
The patient men and women (al-ṣābirīna wa al-ṣābirāt): They are the ones who are patient in times of trial and difficulty, as well as patient in performing their religious obligations and patient in abstaining from sin.
The men and women who fear [Allah] (al-khāshiʿīna wa al-khāshiʿāt): Fear (khushūʿ) is an inner feeling of humility in the heart, just as khuḍūʿ (“being submissive”, “being humbled”) is an outer expression of humility with the limbs.
The men and women who give charity (al-mutaṣaddiqīna wa al-mutaṣaddiqāt): Charity (ṣadaqah) is spending one’s wealth in the way of God, and it includes the required zakāt (alms-tax).
The men and women who fast (al-ṣāʾimīna wa al-ṣāʾimāt): This refers to both the required and recommended fasting.
The men and women who guard their private parts (al-ḥāfiẓīna furūjahum wa al-ḥāfiẓāt): Meaning, they keep them away from people who are not lawful to them. Furūjahunna is implied at the end of the phrase.
The men and women who remember [Allah] (al-dhākirīna Allāha kathīran wa al-dhākirāt): The word Allāh (God) is omitted and left implied at the end of the phrase because it is obvious. They are those who abundantly remember God with their tongues and when lying on their sides, and this includes the ritual prayers and the hajj.
Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great recompense: Forgiveness and a great recompense are left in the indefinite form in order to signify how expansive they are.
Examining Narrations
- Regarding O Prophet! Say to your wives… (), Tafsīr al-Qummī says:
This verse was revealed when the Prophet returned from the Battle of Khaybar with war booty from the people of Abū al-Ḥuqayq, and his wives told him, “Give us some of what you have acquired.”
The Messenger of God said, “I have distributed it among the Muslims at the command of God, the Mighty and Glorious.”
Angry, they said, “Maybe you have realized that if you divorce us, none of us will find a match among our peoples to remarry?”
God, the Mighty and Glorious, chafed at they were saying to His Prophet, so He commanded him to separate from them for a while. So the Messenger of God kept away from them and stayed in the garden of Um Ibrāhīm (mashrabat Um Ibrāhīm) for 29 days until their monthly cycles had run their courses and they had become pure.
Then God, the Mighty and Glorious, sent down this verse offering them a choice: O Prophet! Say to your wives, If you desire the life of this world and its ornaments, then come; I shall provide for you and release you fairly ().
So Um Salamah got up—and she was the first to get up—and said, “I choose God and His Messenger.” So, all of them got up and embraced him and said something similar.
Author’s comments: A similar narration is also related via Sunni chains, although some of them say that first to choose God and His Messenger was ʿĀʾishah.
- In al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration from Dāwūd ibn Sarḥān from Abū ʿAbdillāh [Imām al-Ṣādiq]:
Zaynab bint Jaḥsh said: “The Messenger of God knows that if he lets us go, we will not find husbands other than him.”
When she said that, he had already spent 29 nights away from his wives. So God sent Jibrāʾīl to tell Muḥammad, “O Prophet! Say to your wives, ‘If you desire the life of this world and its ornaments, then come; I shall provide for you and release you fairly. And if you desire Allah and His Messenger and the abode of the hereafter—Allah has prepared a great reward for the virtuous among you.’” ().
Then they [his wives] said, “Nay, we choose God and His Messenger and the hereafter.”
- In al-Kāfī, it is related via a chain of narration from ʿĪṣ ibn al-Qāsim from Abī ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣadiq]:
I [ʿĪṣ ibn al-Qāsim] asked him [Imām al-Ṣādiq], “What happens when a man gives his wife a choice [to stay or leave], and she decides on divorce?”
He [Imām al-Ṣādiq] said, “No. This was only for the Messenger of God. He was commanded to do that, and he did that. If they had chosen divorce [then they would have been divorced]. God says: O Prophet! Say to your wives, If you desire the life of this world and its ornaments, then come; I shall provide for you and release you fairly. And if you desire Allah and His Messenger and the abode of the hereafter—Allah has prepared a great reward for the virtuous among you. ().
- It is related in Majmaʿ al-Bayān from al-Wāḥidī via a chain of narration from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr that Ibn ʿAbbās said:
The Messenger of God was sitting with Ḥafṣah, and they fell into a quarrel. So he told her, “Should I ask a man to come [arbitrate] between us?”
She said, “Yes.”
So he sent for ʿUmar. When ʿUmar came, he told her, “Speak to me.”
She said, “O Messenger of God, speak, and do not say anything but the truth.”
ʿUmar slapped her hard twice.
The Prophet told him, “Enough.”
ʿUmar said, “O she-enemy of God, the Prophet never says anything but the truth! By the One who sent him in truth, were he not sitting here, I would not have stayed my hand until you were dead.”
Then the Prophet got up and climbed up to a room and stayed in it for a month. He did not come near any of his wives to eat or sleep. Then God revealed these verses.
- In al-Khiṣāl, it is related from Imām al-Ṣādiq:
The Prophet married 15 wives, and 13 of the marriages were consummated. When he died, he left behind 9 widows. The 2 marriages that were not consummated were with ʿUmrah and Sanā. Of the 13 marriages that were consummated, the first was with Khadījah bint al-Khuwaylid. Then [his later wives were] Sawdah bint Zamʿah; Um Salamah, whose name was Hind bint Abī Umayyah); Um ʿAbdullah ʿĀʾishah bint Abī Bakr; Ḥafṣah bint ʿUmar; Zaynab bint Khuzaymah ibn al-Ḥarīth, [known as] the Mother of the Poor (Um al-Masākīn); Zaynab bint Jaḥsh; Um Ḥabīb Ramlah bint Abī Sufyān; Maymūnah bint al-Ḥārith; Zaynab bint ʿUmays; Juwayriah bint al-Ḥārith, Ṣafiyyah bint Ḥuyay ibn Akhṭab; and the one who gifted herself to the Prophet, Khawlah bint Ḥakīm al-Sulamī. He also had two slave-girls whom he divided his time between the same way as he did with his other wives: Māriyah al-Qibṭiyyah and Rayḥānah al-Khandafiyya h. [That is, he treated his free wives and slave wives the same with respect to how he scheduled his time with them.] The nine whom he left behind as widows were ʿĀʾishah, Ḥafṣah, Um Salamah, Zaynab bint Jaḥsh, Maymūnah bint al-Ḥārith, Um Ḥabīb bint Abi Sufyān, Juwayriyah, Sawdah, and Ṣafiyyah. The best of them was Khadījah bint Khuwaylid, then Um Salamah, then Maymūnah.
- Regarding verses (O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women…Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully), Majmaʿ al-Bayān relates:
A man told [Imām al-Sajjād], “You, Ahl al-Bayt, have been forgiven.”
This made [Imām al-Sajjād] angry, and he replied, “It is more appropriate to say about us what was said regarding the wives of the Prophet: we see that those who do good among us are rewarded doubly, and those who do wrong among us are punished doubly.”
- Regarding And do not flaunt your charms as was done in the first Age of Ignorance (), Tafsīr al-Qummī relates (without a chain of narration) from Abī ʿAbd Allah [Imām al-Ṣādiq] that his father [Imām al-Bāqir] said:
Yes, there shall be another Age of Ignorance (jāhiliyyah).
Author’s comments: This is a subtle, sophisticated way of deriving meaning from the verse.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, al-Ṭabarānī relates from Um Salmah:
The Messenger of God told Fāṭimah, “Bring me your husband and two sons.”
She brought them to him, and the Messenger of God cast a cloak (kisāʾ) from Fadak over them. Then he placed his hand over them and said, “O God! These are the ahl (family)”—or, according to another version, “the āl (family)”—“of Muḥammad. So send Your blessings (ṣalawātak) and grace (barakātak) upon the family (āl) of Muḥammad just as you sent them upon Abraham; You are praiseworthy, glorious.”
I [Um Salamah] lifted the cloak so I could join them under it, but he tugged it away from my hand and said, “You are upon goodness.” [That is, he prevented her from joining them.]
Author’s comments: This is narrated in Ghāyat al-Marām from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal from his father with a chain of narration from Um Salamah.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn Mardawayh relates that Um Salamah said:
This verse—Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully ()—descended in my house while seven were in the house: Jibrīl, Mīkāʾīl, ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn [as well as the Prophet], while I was at the door of the house. I said, “O Messenger of God! Am I not from the Ahl al-Bayt?”
He said, “You are upon goodness. You are one of the wives of the Prophet.”
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is related from Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Ṭabarānī, and Ibn Mardawayh regarding Um Salamah, the wife of the Prophet:
The Messenger of God was in her house and was asleep under a cloak from Khaybar. Fāṭimah brought a stone cooking-pot (burmah) of stew (khazīrah), and the Messenger of God told her, “Call your husband and two children, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn.” She went and got them, and they were eating when revelation descended to the Messenger of God: Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully ().
So the Prophet covered them with the extra cloth from his waist-wrap. Then he took his hand out from under the cloak, gestured to the heavens, and said, “O God! These are my Ahl al-Bayt and my special ones, so remove from them any impurity and purify them completely.” He said that three times.
I [Um Salamah] stuck my head beneath the cloth and said, “O Messenger of God! Am I with you?”
He said, “You are upon goodness. You are upon goodness.”
Author’s comments: This ḥadīth is narrated in Ghāyat al-Marām from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal via three chains of narration from Um Salamah, and similarly in Tafsīr al-Thaʿlabī.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is related from Ibn Mardawayh and al-Khaṭīb from Abu Saʿīḍ al-Khudrī:
It was the day of Um Salamah, the Mother of the Faithful [that is, the day that the Prophet would stay in her house] when Jibrīl brought this verse to the Messenger of God: Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully ().
So the Prophet called for Ḥasan, Ḥusayn, Fāṭimah, and ʿAlī, and embraced them. Then he covered them with a thobe, while Um Salmah was hidden behind a curtain. He said, “O God! These are my Ahl al-Bayt. O God, remove from them any impurity, and purify them completely.”
Um Salamah said, “I am among them, O Prophet of God?”
He said, “You have your own position, and you are upon goodness.”
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is related from Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and al-Ṭabarānī from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī that the Messenger of God said:
This verse was sent down about five—myself, ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, Ḥasan, and Ḥusayn—Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully ().
Author’s comments: This is also narrated in Ghāyat al-Marām from Tafsīr al-Thaʿlabī.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is related that Um Salamah said:
It was in my house that Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully () was revealed. At that time, Fāṭimah, ʿAlī, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn were in the house.
The Messenger of God covered them with a cloak had been upon himself. Then he said, “These are my Ahl al-Bayt, so remove from them any impurity and purify them completely.”
- In Ghāyat al-Marām, it is related from al-Ḥamīdī:
64 of the agreed-upon authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) narrations from ʿĀʾishah in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (transmitted from Muṣʿab ibn Shaybah from Ṣafiyyah bint Shaybah from ʿĀʾishah) relate she said:
One morning, the Prophet went out wearing a striped cloak made of black hair. Then al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī came, and the Prophet wrapped him beneath it. Then [the same happened with] al-Ḥusayn, then Fāṭimah, then ʿAlī. Then he said, “Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully” ().
Author’s comments: This ḥadīth is also related through other chains of narration.
- It is related in al-Durr al-Manthūr from Ibn Mardawayh from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī:
After ʿAlī married Fāṭimah, the Prophet came to their door for 40 days in the morning and said, “Peace be upon you, Ahl al-Bayt, and the mercy of God and His blessings! Prayer [time], may God have mercy upon you! Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully (). I am an enemy to whoever is your enemy, and I am at peace with whoever is at peace with you.”
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, it is related from Ibn Mardawayh from Ibn ʿAbbās:
We saw the Messenger of God for nine months coming every day to the door of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib at each time for prayer and saying, “Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God and His blessings, Ahl al-Bayt. Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully ().”
Author’s comments: This is also related from al-Ṭabarānī from Abū al-Ḥamrāʾ with the wording: “I saw the Messenger of God come to the door of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah for six months saying, ‘God wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully’ ().”
It is also related by Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Mardawayh from Abū al-Ḥamrāʾ in the following words:
I saw that, for 8 months in Medina, the Messenger of God never once went to the morning prayer without first going to the door of ʿAlī, placing his hand on the two sides of the door, and saying, “Prayer! Prayer! Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully ().”
This is also related in al-Durr al-Manthūr from Ibn Abī Shaybah; Aḥmad; al-Tirmidhī ,who considers it acceptable (ḥasan); Ibn Jarīr; Ibn Mundhir; al-Ṭabarānī; al-Ḥākim, who considers it authentic (ṣaḥīḥ); Ibn Mardawayh; and Anas in the following wording:
The Messenger of God used to go to the door of Fāṭimah whenever he went for the morning prayer and say, “Prayer, O Ahl al-Bayt! Allah wills to remove any impurity from you, O People of the House, and purify you fully ().”
Author’s comments: There are many narrations with this meaning related through Sunni and Shiʿi chains. Whoever wishes to know more about them should consult Ghāyat al-Marām by al-Baḥrānī and al-ʿAbaqāt.
- In Ghāyat al-Marām, it is related from al-Ḥamawaynī with a chain of narration from Yazīd ibn Ḥayyān, who said:
We came to Zayd ibn Arqam, and he said, “The Messenger of God gave a sermon to us and said, ‘Beware! I have left behind among you two things. One of them is the Book of God, the Mighty, the Glorious. Whoever follows it shall be guided, and whoever abandons it shall be misguided. The other is my Ahl al-Bayt. I urge you to remember God regarding my Ahl al-Bayt. I urge you to remember God regarding my Ahl al-Bayt. I urge you to remember God regarding my Ahl al-Bayt.”
We said, “Are his wives from his Ahl al-Bayt?”
He said, “No, his Ahl al-Bayt are the ones who are forbidden from accepting charity after him, and they are the descendants (āl) of ʿAlī, the descendants of ʿAbbās, the descendants of Jaʿfar and the descendants of ʿAqīl.”
- In Ghāyat al-Marām, it is related from Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim via a chain of narration from Yazīd ibn Ḥayyan from Zayd ibn Arqam:
The Messenger of God said: “I am leaving behind among you two weighty things. One of them is the Book of God. It is the rope of God. Whoever follows it shall be guided, and whoever abandons it shall be misguided. [And the second of which is my Ahl al-Bayt.]”
We said: “Are his wives included in his Ahl al-Bayt?”
He said: “No, by God. A woman may stay with a man some time, but then he divorces her, and she returns to her kith and kin. His Ahl al-Bayt are his blood relatives for whom charity is forbidden after him.”
Author’s comments: This narration interprets the term bayt (“house”) as meaning “lineage” or “pedigree”; it is also used this way conventionally. For instance, the phrase buyūtāt al-ʿarab means “the Arab aristocracies” or “the noble houses of the Arabs”. However, the previous narrations from Um Salamah and others refute the idea that this is the correct meaning of bayt here, and instead specify that the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt are ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, and their two sons.
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, it is related from Maqātil ibn Ḥayyān:
When Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays returned from al-Ḥabasha with her husband Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib, she went to the wives of the Messenger of God and said, “Was any of the Qur’an revealed about us?”
They said, “No.”
So she went to the Messenger of God and said, “O Messenger of God, women are in disappointment and loss.”
He said, “How so?”
She said, “Because they are not mentioned in the same good way that men are.”
So God revealed the verse The submitting [Muslim] men and women… ().
Author’s comments: In other narrations, the person saying this is Um Salamah.
In all of these expressions, the verb is not taken literally to involve motion but rather is understood as a figure of speech. Similar expressions in English include the casual use of the phrases “come on” or “come off it”. (Trans.) ↩︎
A similarly styled English expression would be “to hold down the fort”. (Trans.) ↩︎
Headers in this section added by translator for ease of reading. (Pub.) ↩︎
The word mawlā was often used for a freed slave who maintained a relationship with or continued to serve his former master, oftentimes out of personal loyalty or to ally himself with one of the Arab tribes due to being a foreigner. It is said in Usd al-Ghābah that Thawbān was originally from Yemen but was captured and sold on the slave market. The Prophet bought him in order to release him. However, Thawbān did not want to leave the Prophet, so the Prophet told Thawbān that he could choose either to return home to his kinsmen or to stay on with the household of the Prophet. Thawbān elected to stay with the Prophet and outlived the Prophet. Ibn Athīr, Usd al-Ghābah, vol. 1 (Tehran: Nāṣir Khawrso, n.d.), p. 249. As indicated by ʿAllāmah here, Thawbān appears as a narrator of ḥadīth.
This is different from the use of mawlā to mean “master” or “guardian”; for instance, as the Prophet said on the day of Ghadīr, “ʿAlī is the master (mawlā) of whomever I am the master (mawlā) of.” (Trans.) ↩︎
See the exegesis of . (Trans.) ↩︎
Perhaps this is because in your homes was in the previous verse, or perhaps it is because it would be particularly inappropriate for the wives of the Prophet to neglect the revelation that comes down in their very homes. (Trans.) ↩︎
That is, the phrase literally says al-ḥāfiẓīna furūjahum wa al-ḥāfiẓāt, literally meaning “the men who protect their private parts, and the women”. The omission of private parts after “women” could be for the sake of modesty, or it could be intended to place greater emphasis on a man’s responsibility in this matter. Or it could simply be because the meaning is apparent, and there is no need to repeat it, as is done in the subsequent phrase. (Trans.) ↩︎
Literally, this phrase says “the men who remember God abundantly, and the women.” ↩︎
A reference to Qur’an which speaks of those who remember God when standing, sitting, or lying on their sides. (Trans.) ↩︎
The questioner is putting forward a question about Islamic law based on what he perceives as a precedent in this verse. His implied question is along the lines of “if she decides on divorce, is he obliged to divorce her?” or “if she decides on divorce, does this result in divorce without regard to the other procedures involved in divorce?” (Trans.) ↩︎
ʿUmar was her father. (Trans.) ↩︎
ʿUmrah bint Yazīd al-Kilābiyyah, whom the Prophet divorced before the marriage was consummated. (Trans.) ↩︎
Sanā bint Asmāʾ al-Sulamiyyah, who died before the marriage was consummated. (Trans.) ↩︎
This is related from Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUmayr from Ibrāhīm from ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd from ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn from his father from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn [Imām al-Sajjād]. ↩︎
While both āl and ahl share the meaning of “family”, ahl typically has the connotation of one’s household, or spouse and children, as well as kinsfolk, whereas āl often has a broader connotation of “clan”, “lineage”, “descendants”, or “kinsfolk”. Ahl is also frequently used for people who are not kin but who are linked in other ways, such as the people of a certain region or who share a certain ideology. (Trans.) ↩︎
An honorific for the wives of the Prophet. (Trans.) ↩︎
It is related from al-Tirmidhī, who considers it authentic (ṣaḥīḥ); Ibn Jarīr; Ibn al-Mundhir; al-Ḥākim, who considers it authentic (ṣaḥīḥ); Ibn Mardawayh; and al-Bayhaqī in his Sunan via chains of narration from Um Salamah. ↩︎
This second clause is not mentioned in the text of this specific ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim although it is implied in their discussion. (Trans.) ↩︎