Verse of purification

Template:Short description Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists Template:Sidebar with collapsible listsTemplate:Sidebar with collapsible lists The verse of purification (Arabic:آية التطهير) refers to verse 33:33 of the Quran, the central religious text in Islam. The verse concerns the status of purity of the Ahl al-Bayt (Template:Lit), the last passage of which reads,

God only desires () to remove defilement () from you, O Ahl al-Bayt, and to purify you completely.Template:Sfn

Muslims disagree as to who belongs to the Ahl al-Bayt and what political privileges or responsibilities they have.Template:Sfn Shia Islam limits the Ahl al-Bayt to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali, and their two sons, Hasan and Husayn.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn There are various views in Sunni Islam, though a typical compromise is to include also Muhammad's wives in the Ahl al-Bayt.Template:Sfn The verse of purification is regarded by the Shia as evidence of the infallibility of the Ahl al-Bayt.Template:Sfn

The Islamic philosopher Hossein Nasr and his coauthors define spiritual defilement () as all evil deeds and false beliefs that arise from the 'sickness of the heart', another Quranic expression that appears for instance in verse 9:125. In their view, the verse of purification can thus be interpreted as God’s wanting to remove any incorrect action or belief from the Ahl al-Bayt (Template:Lit) and to bestow upon them infallibility (), that is, the innate protection against all false beliefs or evil deeds. They define as a God-given consciousness that overrides all other human faculties, so that a person endowed with is completely protected from going astray and committing sins.Template:Sfn

Shia view

The Twelver exegete Shaykh Tusi (Template:Died in) notes that the article in the verse of purification grammatically limits the verse to the Ahl al-Bayt. He then argues that here cannot be limited to disobedience because God expects obedience from every responsible person (Template:Langx) and not just the Ahl al-Bayt. The verse must therefore refer to the infallibility of the Ahl al-Bayt, he concludes.Template:Sfn The argument of the Shia theologian Sharif al-Murtaza (Template:Died in) is similar. He contends that God's desire in the verse of purification cannot be a mere desire because God desires the spiritual purification of every responsible person. Therefore, God's desire in this verse must have been followed by action, that is, the action of purifying the Ahl al-Bayt and ensuring their infallibility.Template:Sfn Another argument in this vein is presented by the contemporary Twelver jurist Ja'far Sobhani.Template:Sfn

Ahl al-Bayt

Inclusion of the Ahl al-Kisa

File:کتیبه پنج تن.jpg

Names of the Ahl al-Kisa, inscribed in the shrine of Abbas ibn Ali, located in Karbala, Iraq

The majority of the traditions quoted by the Sunni exegete al-Tabari (Template:Died in) identify the Ahl al-Bayt with the Ahl al-Kisa, namely, Muhammad, his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali, and their two sons, Hasan and Husayn.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Such reports are also cited in , , ,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn all canonical Sunni collections of hadith, and by some other Sunni authorities, including al-Suyuti (Template:Died in), al-Hafiz al-Kabir,Template:Sfn al-Hakim al-Nishapuri (Template:Died in),Template:Sfn and Ibn Kathir (Template:Died in).Template:Sfn

In possibly the earliest version of the hadith of the ,Template:Sfn Muhammad's wife Umm Salama relates that he gathered Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn under his cloak and prayed, "O God, these are my and my closest family members; remove defilement from them and purify them completely."Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Some accounts continue that Umm Salama then asked Muhammad, "Am I with thee, O Messenger of God?" but received the negative response, "Thou shalt obtain good. Thou shalt obtain good." Among others, such reports are given in , ,Template:Sfn and by Ibn Kathir, al-Suyuti, and the Shia exegete Muhammad H. Tabatabai (Template:Died in).Template:Sfn Yet another Sunni version of this hadith appends Umm Salama to the Ahl al-Bayt.Template:Sfn In another Sunni version, Muhammad's servant Wathila bint al-Asqa' is also counted in the Ahl al-Bayt.Template:Sfn

Elsewhere in , Muhammad is said to have recited the last passage in the verse of purification every morning when he passed by Fatima's house to remind her household of the morning prayer.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In his (Template:Lit) with a delegation of Najrani Christians, Muhammad is also believed to have gathered the above four under his cloak and referred to them as his , according to Shia and some Sunni sources,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn including and .Template:Sfn This makeup of the Ahl al-Bayt is echoed by the Islamicist Laura Veccia Vaglieri (Template:Died in),Template:Sfn and also reported unanimously in Shia sources.Template:Sfn In Shia theology works, the Ahl al-Bayt often also includes the remaining Shia imams.Template:Sfn The term is sometimes loosely applied in Shia writings to all descendants of Ali and Fatima.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Inclusion of Muhammad's wives

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Verse of purification in a folio of the Quran, dating to the late Safavid period

Perhaps because the earlier injunctions in the verse of purification are addressed at Muhammad's wives,Template:Sfn some Sunni authors, such as al-Wahidi (Template:Died in), have exclusively interpreted the Ahl al-Bayt as Muhammad's wives.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Others have noted that the last passage of this verse is grammatically inconsistent with the previous injunctions (masculine plural versus feminine plural pronouns).Template:Sfn Thus the Ahl al-Bayt is not or is not limited to Muhammad's wives.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ibn Kathir, for instance, includes Ali, Fatima, and their two sons in the Ahl al-Bayt, in addition to Muhammad's wives.Template:Sfn Indeed, certain Sunni hadiths support the inclusion of Muhammad's wives in the Ahl al-Bayt, including some reports on the authority of Ibn Abbas and Ikrima, two early Muslim figures.Template:Sfn

Alternatively, the Islamicist Oliver Leaman proposes that marriage to a prophet does not guarantee inclusion in his . He argues that, in verse 11:73,Template:Sfn Sara is included in Abraham's only after receiving the news of her imminent motherhood to two prophets, Isaac and Jacob. Likewise, Leaman suggests that Moses' mother is counted as a member of in verse 28:12, not for being married to Imran, but for being the mother of Moses.Template:Sfn Similarly, in their bid for inclusion in the Ahl al-Bayt, the Abbasids argued that women, noble and holy as they may be, could not be considered a source of pedigree (). As the descendants of Muhammad's paternal uncle Abbas, they claimed that he was equal to Muhammad's father after the latter died.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Broader interpretations

As hinted above, some Sunni authors have broadened its application to include in the Ahl al-Bayt the clan of Muhammad (Banu Hashim),Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn the Banu Muttalib,Template:Sfn the Abbasids,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and even the Umayyads, who had descended from Hashim's nephew Umayya.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Indeed, another Sunni version of the Hadith al-Kisa is evidently intended to append the Abbasids to the Ahl al-Bayt.Template:Sfn This Abbasid claim was in turn the cornerstone of their bid for legitimacy.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Similarly, a Sunni version of the hadith of the defines the Ahl al-Bayt as the descendants of Ali and his brothers (Aqil and Jafar), and Muhammad's uncle Abbas.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The first two Rashidun caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar, have also been included in the Ahl al-Bayt in some Sunni reports, as they were both fathers-in-law of Muhammad. Nevertheless, these and the accounts about the inclusion of the Umayyads in the Ahl al-Bayt might have been later reactions to the Abbasid claims to inclusion in the Ahl al-Bayt and their own bid for legitimacy.Template:Sfn The term has also been interpreted as the Meccan tribe of Quraysh,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn or the whole Muslim community.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn For instance, the Islamicist Rudi Paret (Template:Died in) identifies (Template:Lit) in the verse of purification with the Kaaba, located in the holiest site in Islam. However, his theory has only found few supporters, notably Moshe Sharon, another expert.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Conclusion

A typical Sunni compromise is to define the Ahl al-Bayt as the Ahl al-Kisa (Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan, Husayn) together with Muhammad's wives,Template:Sfn which might also reflect the majority opinion of medieval Sunni exegetes.Template:Sfn Among modern Islamicists, this view is shared by Ignác Goldziher (Template:Died in) and his coauthors,Template:Sfn and mentioned by Sharon,Template:Sfn while Wilferd Madelung (Template:Died in) also includes the Banu Hashim in the Ahl al-Bayt in view of their blood relation to Muhammad.Template:Sfn In contrast, Shia limits the Ahl al-Bayt to Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn, pointing to authentic traditions in Sunni and Shia sources.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Their view is supported by Veccia Vaglieri and Husain M. Jafri (Template:Died in), another expert.Template:Sfn

Significance in Shia Islam

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Verse of purification, inscribed in the shrine of Husayn in Karbala, Iraq

The verse of purification has long been regarded by the Shia as evidence for the infallibility of the Ahl al-Bayt.Template:Sfn Ali cited this verse when he introduced Hasan as his successor from his deathbed in 661, according to the Shia-leaning historian al-Ma'sudi (Template:Died in) in his .Template:Sfn Among others, the Sunni historian al-Baladhuri (Template:Died in) quotes Hasan in his as referring to this verse in his inaugural speech as the new caliph,

I am of the family of the prophet () from whom God has removed filth and whom He has purified, whose love He has made obligatory in His Book (Quran) when He said: "Whosoever performs a good act, We shall increase the good in it." Performing a good act is love for us, the family of the prophet.Template:Sfn

— Template:Comma separated entries

In Twelver Shia, infallibility () is considered a necessary trait for their imams as the divine guides after the prophet, lest their followers would be led astray.Template:Sfn In addition to logical arguments, the textual basis for the infallibility of their imams includes the Quranic verse, "My covenant embraceth not the evildoers."Template:Sfn This notion was included in Shia teachings as early as the Shia imam Muhammad al-Baqir (Template:Died in).Template:Sfn

References

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