Ahl al-Bayt
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Ahl al-Bayt Sahaba |
| Arabic |
| أهل البيت |
| Transliteration |
| Ahl al-Bayt |
| Translation |
| "People of the House" |
Ahl al-Bayt (Arabic: أهل البيت) is a phrase meaning People of the House, or family. In the Islamic tradition it refers to the household of Muhammad.
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[edit] Difference in interpretation of the scope of Ahl al-Bayt
[edit] Sunni
The Sunnis believe that the Shi'a opinion of who is Ahl al-Bayt is biased and ethically wrong. Sunnis hold that the Ahl al-Bayt does indeed refer to Ali's family, but that the Prophet's family includes all pious Muslims, since relations are based on Taqwa (Piety) in the Islamic belief, not on blood. The Sunnis believe that anyone who is pious is part of the Ahl al-Bayt.
Some Sunnis are of the opinion that the Ahl al-Bayt of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad are:
- Fatima Al-Zahra
- Ali ibn Abu Talib
- Hassan ibn Ali
- Hussain ibn Ali
- Wives of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad
Many Sunnis goes further to add all Banu Hashim and Banu Abdul-Muttalib and their descendants until today. No Zakat can be given for these people.
[edit] Twelvers Shi'a
The Shi'a interpret the Ahl al-Bayt as "people of the house" and believe that it refers to five people: Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan ibn Ali, and Husayn ibn Ali. The Shi'a believe that Ali and Fatima and their children were singled out because they were free from sin and showed perfect faith in Islam. They cite the hadith of the Event of the Cloak as proof that Muhammad claimed his daughter's family as his own and excluded his wives. Followers of Shi'a believe that the Shi'a Imamate descended through the progeny of Ali and Fatima, who are also part of Ahl al-Bayt. Included in the Ahl al-Bayt of the Shia are the 12 Infallible Imams, the first three of which are Ali, Hasan, and Husayn.
The Shi'a belief in the supremacy of the Ahl al-Bayt is one of the basic reasons why they believe that Ali, and not Abu Bakr, was the rightful successor to Muhammad and should have been Caliph. According to this belief, Abu Bakr was unsuitable to lead the Muslims as he was not a member of the Ahl al-Bayt. This distinction marks the primary difference between Sunni and Shi'a belief. The Shi'a believe that the leadership of the Muslims was kept within the Prophet's biological bloodline, since it is they who were purified from sin (33:33 - Quran), and only somebody infallible can be the leader, whereas the Sunnis believe that piety and selection by the community was correctly applied as the main factors in determining who was to lead Muslims. See also Succession to Muhammad.
The Shia's disagree with the Sunni claim that wives can also be part of Ahl al-Bayt. This, they say, is due to the Event of the Cloak, which they claim clearly shows that the wives of Muhammad are not part of the Ahl al-Bayt. In this event, Muhammad made the clear distinction that Ahl al-Bayt included, in addition to him, Ali, Fatima, Hassan, and Hussein, when he invited them to sit with him under a cloak, and when one of his wives attempted to join him he specifically told her not to. Although there are many contradictory narrations in which she asks if she too is 'Ahl al-Bayt', Shi'as believe that he replied no, as Ahl al-Bayt literally means members of the family and the only family he had was with his wife Khadija - the 'members'of the family therefore being only their children.
To the Twelver Shi’as, the Ahl al-Bayt of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad consist of the following individuals ONLY:
- Fatima Al-Zahra (the daughter of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad)
- Ali ibn Abu Talib (first Shi’a Imam)
- Hassan ibn Ali (second Shi’a Imam)
- Hussain ibn Ali (third Shi’a Imam)
- Ali ibn Hussain (fourth Shi’a Imam)
- Muhammad al-Baqir (fifth Shi’a Imam)
- Jafar as-Sadiq (sixth Shi’a Imam)
- Musa al-Kazim (seventh Shi’a Imam)
- Ali Ar-Reza (eighth Shi’a Imam)
- Muhammad At-Taqi (ninth Shi’a Imam)
- Ali An-Naqi (tenth Shi’a Imam)
- Hassan Al-Askari (eleventh Shi’a Imam)
- Muhammad Al-Mehdi (twelfth Shi’a Imam)
[edit] Ismaili Shi'a
Ismaili Shia have different views depends on their branch.
[edit] Zaidi Shi'a
Zaidi Shia believe that Ahl al-Bayt consists of:
[edit] See also
- Sherif
- Sayyid
- Hashemite
- Muhammad's marriages
- Salaf
- 14 infallible
[edit] External links
Sunni Links:
Shi'a Links:
