Volume - III / CHAPTER - 1 / LESSON NO: 7
AHL-E-BAIT
Q 1: Which personages are included in "Ahl-e-Bait"?
A. Posterity of the Holy Prophet and his near relatives for whom "Sadaqa"(propitiatory gift, alms) is unlawful, his pious wives (revered mothers of believers), Hadrat Faatemah, Hadrat 'Alee, Hadrat Imaam Hasan and Hadrat Imaam Husain (may Allah be pleased with them all) are included in Ahle Bait.
Q 2: What is the status of the Holy Prophet's wives?
A. It is proved by the Holy Qur-aan that the pious wives of the Holy Prophet are superior to all women. No woman is like them in any way. Their virtues and good deeds earned them more reward than other women (i.e. twenty fold for them and ten fold for others) owing to their submission to and worship of Allah and their services and obedience to the Holy Prophet.
Q 3: Which personages are called "Panj-tan-Pak"?
A. "Panj-tan-Pak (five revered personages) means the Holy Prophet Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa(may Allah's choicest blessings & peace be upon him), Hadrat Faatemah, Hadrat 'Alee, Hadrat Imaam Hasan and Hadrat Imaam Husain (may Allah be pleased with them all).
Q 4: What are the excellences of Ahle Bait?
A. The Qur-aanic verses and sayings of the Holy Prophet concerning Ahl-e-Bait indicate that their excellences are numerous. Some of them are:
1. Allah Almighty has cleansed them of impurity and purified them well. They have been protected from such things which are
unbecoming of their status.
2. Hell-fire is Haraam (forbidden) for them.
3. Sadaqa (propitiatory gift, alms) is unlawful for them because it is dross of the property/ wealth.
4. The first group of believers for whom the Holy Prophet will intercede on the Day of Judgement is of Ahle Bait.
5. To love them is one of the obligatory duties of Islaam and to harbour ill-will or malice against them is hypocrisy.
6. The case of "Ahle Bait" is like Noah's Ark that the one who boarded it was safe and annihilated was he who avoided it.
7. Believers have been emphasised upon to hold fast to the rope of Ahle Bait.
A tradition to this effect says: I am leaving among you two things i.e. the Holy Qur-aan and my "Aal" (progeny), you will never go astray unless you abandon them. Another saying stresses the believers to equip their off-spring with three qualities i.e. love of the Holy Prophet, love of Ahle Bait and regular recitation of the Holy Qur-aan.
Q 5: What are the excellences of Hadrat Faatemah (may Allah be pleased with her)?
A. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said: (1). I have named my daughter "Faatemah" because Allah Almighty has protected her and those believers who love her, against hell-fire. (2). Hadrat Faatemah is chaste and hell is "Haraam" (forbidden) for her and for her posterity. (3).She is from me. I like what she
likes and dislike what she dislikes. (4).Addressing Hadrat Faatemah, the Holy Prophet once said: O' Faatemah! Allah's anger lies in your anger and His pleasure lies in your pleasure. (5). On another occasion, he said: O' Faatemah! Are you not pleased with the grace that Allah has made you the leader of all female believers in paradise. (6). The Holy Prophet said (Hadrat) Faatemah is dearest to me of all my family members.
Q 6: What are the excellences of Hadrat Imaam Hasan and Imaam Husain (may Allah be pleased with them)?
A. The Holy Prophet said: (1) [Hadrat]Hasan and Husain are my two flowers in the world. (2). He who loves them actually loves me and he who harbours malice against them actually harbours malice against me. (3). [Hadrat]Hasan and Husain are the leader of all youths in paradise. (4) He who loves me and loves Hasan and Husain and their parents [Hadrat 'AH and Hadrat Faatemah] will be in paradise with me. In short, the Ahle Bait are Muqtadaa (leader) of Ahle-Sunnat-wa-Jama'at (true followers of Sunnah). He who does not love them is, indeed, accursed one. Hadrat Imaam Hasan and Imaam Husain are the "martyrs of high rank". Denial of their martyrdom is misguidance and disbelief.
Q 7: Will the love of Ahle Bait be of any avail to believers without the love of Prophet's companions?
A. It is obligatory upon every believer to love and respect "Aal-o-Ashaab" (progeny and companions) of the Holy Prophet. One is not true believer unless he loves Aal-e-Rasool. Similarly one's belief is also defective until he loves the Prophet's companions. If Aal-e-Rasool is a boat for the Muslim Ummah, the companions are stars. So the help of boat and stars is must to achieve the goal of Islaamic faith. A tradition runs in this respect which says: "the love of Hadrat 'Alee and malice against Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddique and Hadrat 'Umar-e-Farooq can not stay together in the heart of a believer". It means that it is against Islaamic faith to love one companion and to hate the other.
Q 8: Who was Yazeed?
A. Yazeed belonged to Bani Umaie-yah family whose hands are stained with the blood of Hadrat Imaam Husain and his family members. His crime will keep him earning hatred and scorn of the Muslim Ummah till the end of time.
Yazeed was born to Hadrat Amir Mu'aawi-yah (may Allah be pleased with him). He was awkwardly fatty, ill-tempered, drunkard, dissolute and tyrant. He re-enforced usury and desecrated the Holy Ka'bah and Holy Madinah.
Despite all these ill and blasphemous activities at his part, believers should not call him "Kaafir" (infidel,disbeliever), as Imaam-e-Azam Abu Hanifa's (may Allah be pleased with him) creed is "Sukoot" (silence) to this effect which means that we can call him "Faasiq-o-Faajir" (transgressor and sinful) but should neither call him "Kaafir" nor Muslim.
Now-a-days some misguided people say that Hadrat Imaam Husain and Yazeed were both princes and we got no right to speak about their dispute, such people are Kharijites (those who dissented from Hadrat Ali) and render themselves liable to be cast into hell-fire.
Q 9: Who are twelve Imaams of Ahle Bait?
A. Twelve Imaams (religious leaders) of Ahle Bait are: (1)Hadrat 'Alee (2) Hadrat Imaam Hasan (3) Hadrat Imaam Husain (4) Hadrat Imaam Zain-ul-Abideen (5) Hd:Imaam Baqar (6) Hd:Imaam Jaffar Sadiq (7) Hd:Imaam Musa Kazim (8) Hd:Imaam 'Alee Musa Raza (9) Hd:Imaam Muhammad Taqi (10) Hd:Imaam Naqi (11) Hd:Imaam Hasan Askari and (12) Hd: Imaam Mehdi who will come towards the end of the world.