سورة ابراهيم

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him)- رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَذَا الْبَلَدَ آمِنًا [My Lord, make this city secure]; [here what is meant by هَذَا الْبَلَد] is Mecca.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)- Ibn Mas'ud said: The noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "I am the meaning and the fulfilment of the supplication of Ibrahim (peace be upon him)." We said: "How are you the fulfilment of the supplication of Ibrahim (peace be upon him)?" He said: "Allah informed Ibrahim (peace be upon him): إِنِّی جاعِلُکَ لِلنَّاسِ إِماماً [Indeed I have made you an Imam and leader for the people] (Baqarah/124). Ibrahim (peace be upon him), becoming joyful, said: 'O Allah! وَ مِنْ ذُرِّیَّتِی [and from my progeny too — appoint Imams].' Allah addressed him: 'I will not make with you a covenant which I will not fulfil for you.' He said: 'In what matter will You not make a covenant with me?' He said: 'I will not make with you a covenant regarding the wrongdoers among your progeny.' He said: 'O Allah! Who are the wrongdoers among my progeny who will not attain this station?' He said: 'Whoever worships an idol, I shall never make him an Imam, nor is he worthy of the imamate.' Ibrahim (peace be upon him) said: وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنامَ رَبِّ إِنَّهُنَّ أَضْلَلْنَ کَثِیراً مِنَ النَّاسِ [Keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols. My Lord! Indeed they have led astray many of the people] (Ibrahim/36)." The noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "The supplication of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) reached me and my brother Ali (peace be upon him), for neither of us ever prostrated for a moment to an idol. Allah appointed me as Prophet and Ali (peace be upon him) as successor."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)- Ibrahim Khalilullah (peace be upon him) supplicated at the court of his Lord and said: رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَذَا الْبَلَدَ آمِناً وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنامَ [My Lord! Make this city secure, and keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols]. His supplication encompassed the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and his family), and Allah honoured him with prophethood; and his supplication encompassed Amir al-Mu'minin Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), and Allah singled him out for the imamate and successorship.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): No one is worthy of the station of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) except one who is his deputy, and after him no one sits in his place unless he is like him in purity, so that at no time does the filth of disbelief creep into the one who is the immediate successor of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), and so that he does not claim entitlement to the station of the noble Messenger (peace be upon him and his family), and likewise so that those who intend to assist such a person in sin and oppression are placed in difficulty. For Allah the Exalted has forbidden anyone who has been afflicted by the filth of disbelief from taking hold of the reins of the matters which He has entrusted to His prophets, and He has said in the Quran: "My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers!" (Baqarah/124), because Allah the Exalted has counted shirk (associating partners with Allah) as oppression, and has said in the Quran: "Indeed shirk is a great injustice." (Luqman/13) So when Ibrahim (peace be upon him) understood that the covenant of Imamah from Allah the Exalted would not reach the idol-worshippers, he said: وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنام [And save me and my sons from worshipping idols].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Zuhri said: A person came to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) and asked him about a matter. The Imam (peace be upon him) did not answer him. The man said to the Imam (peace be upon him): "If you are the son of your fathers, then you are from the lineage of idol-worshippers." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "You have lied! Allah the Exalted commanded Ibrahim (peace be upon him) to settle Ismail (peace be upon him) in Makkah, and he did so. Ibrahim (peace be upon him) supplicated thus: رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَذَا الْبَلَدَ آمِنًا وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَن نَّعْبُدَ الأَصْنَامَ [My Lord! make this city secure, and save me and my sons from worshipping idols]. According to this verse, none of the sons of Ismail (peace be upon him) were idol-worshippers, but the Arabs worshipped idols. The sons of Ismail (peace be upon him) used to say: 'These idols are our intercessors with Allah.' It is true that with these words they disbelieved in Allah, but they did not worship the idols."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Amr al-Zubayri said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), "Introduce to me the ummah of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)." He said, "The ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) is exclusively the Banu Hashim." I said, "By what evidence are only the kin of the Prophet [his ummah] and not others?" He said, "By reason of the word of Allah the Exalted in the Quran where He said: [Remember] when Ibrahim was raising the foundations of the House [the Kaaba] together with Isma'il [and they were saying]: Our Lord! Accept from us, indeed You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. Our Lord! Make us submissive to Your command, and from our offspring bring forth an ummah submissive to Your command! And show us the manner of our worship, and accept our repentance, for indeed You are the Accepter of Repentance, the Merciful! (al-Baqarah/127-128). When Allah answered the supplication of Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them) and made from the progeny of the two a Muslim ummah, and raised up among them a Prophet from themselves, of whom the Quran says: He recites to them His verses, and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom (Aal Imran/164), Ibrahim (peace be upon him) followed his first supplication with another supplication. He asked Allah the Exalted to purify his children from polytheism and the worship of idols so that the command of Allah would run in them and they would not follow others. Thus he said: وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنامَ رَبِّ إِنَّهُنَّ أَضْلَلْنَ کَثِیراً مِنَ النَّاسِ فَمَنْ تَبِعَنِی فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّی وَ مَنْ عَصانِی فَإِنَّکَ غَفُورٌ رَحِیمٌ [And save me and my sons from worshipping idols. My Lord! Indeed they have led astray many of the people; so whoever follows me, he is of me, and whoever disobeys me, then indeed You are Forgiving, Merciful]. This verse is clear evidence that the Imams (and the Muslim ummah from among whom Allah raised the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) as prophet) are only from the offspring of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), by reason of this verse: وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنامَ [And save me and my sons from worshipping idols]."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): A person asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) and said, "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Inform me about the Family of Muhammad — who are they?" He said, "They are only the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet." That person said, "The Ahl al-Sunnah suppose that all Muslims are the Family of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)." Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) smiled and then said, "They have lied and they have spoken truly." The questioner asked, "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), what do you mean by 'they have lied and they have spoken truly'?" He said, "In one sense they have lied and in another sense they have spoken truly. Their lie is in this: they said that Muslims who declare Allah's oneness and affirm the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) are of the Family of Muhammad even though their religion is deficient and they fall short in it. And their truthful part is in this: that the believing Muslims are of the Family of Muhammad, even if they have no lineal relation with the Family of Muhammad — because they act upon the conditions of the Quran. But not in the sense that they are of that Family of Muhammad from whom Allah has removed all impurity and sin and whom He has completely purified; rather, whoever acts upon the conditions of the Quran and follows the Family of Muhammad, out of love for the Family of Muhammad, is of them, even though his lineage is far from Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)." The questioner said, "May I be your ransom! What are those conditions which, if a person guards and acts upon them, gives him such a relation with the Family of Muhammad?" He said, "Acting upon the conditions of the Quran and following the Family of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). So whoever loves the Family of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and gives them precedence over all creatures, just as Allah has given them precedence over the relatives of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), then he — in this sense — is of the Family of Muhammad. And Allah has ruled thus in the Quran: 'Those of you who befriend them are of them.' (al-Ma'idah/51) And He said, quoting Ibrahim (peace be upon him): فَمَنْ تَبِعَنِی فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّی وَ مَنْ عَصانِی فَإِنَّکَ غَفُورٌ رَحِیمٌ [So whoever follows me is of me, and whoever disobeys me — then indeed You are Forgiving, Merciful]. And He likewise said: 'And a believing man from the Family of Fir'awn, who concealed his faith, said: Do you want to kill a man because he says: My Lord is Allah?' This believing man was Fir'awn's cousin, and because of his lineal kinship with Fir'awn, Allah has related this believing man to Fir'awn, even though in religion and faith he did not follow Fir'awn and was opposed to him. So if all those who have believed in Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) were of that same Family of Muhammad whom Allah intended in the Quran, the Quran should not have related the believer of the Family of Fir'awn to Fir'awn even though in religion he opposed Fir'awn. [For instance] it should have said: 'A believing man from the Family of Musa (peace be upon him) said such and such,' since this man had believed in Musa (peace be upon him), and the verse should not say 'a believing man from the Family of Fir'awn'; yet Allah the Exalted did not do so in the Quran, and He related that believing man to Fir'awn because of his lineage with Fir'awn and said 'a believing man from the Family of Fir'awn'. So this verse indicates that a man's 'Family' is his Ahl al-Bayt, and whoever follows the Family of Muhammad, because of his following the Family of Muhammad, is of them — by the evidence of the saying of Ibrahim (peace be upon him): فَمَنْ تَبِعَنِی فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّی وَ مَنْ عَصانِی فَإِنَّکَ غَفُورٌ رَحِیمٌ [So whoever follows me is of me, and whoever disobeys me — then indeed You are Forgiving, Merciful]." The questioner asked, "By what proof is it that the ummah of Muhammad is specifically the Ahl al-Bayt of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) whom you have mentioned, and not others?" He said, "By the word of Allah the Blessed and Exalted, who is the most truthful of speakers, in the Quran: 'And [also remember] when Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them) were raising the foundations of the House [the Ka'bah], [saying]: Our Lord! Accept from us; indeed You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. Our Lord! Make us submitters to Your command, and from our offspring an ummah submitting to Your command; and show us our rites [of worship] and accept our repentance; indeed You are the Accepter of repentance, the Merciful!' (al-Baqarah/127–128). When Allah answered the prayer of Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them) — that He place in their offspring a Muslim ummah and raise from that very ummah a Prophet who would recite His verses to that ummah, purify them and teach them the Book and wisdom — Ibrahim (peace be upon him) followed this prayer with another prayer for his offspring. He asked for them purity from associating anything with Allah and from worshipping idols, so that the leadership of his offspring in that ummah would be sound and so that the ummah would not follow other than his offspring. So he prayed thus: وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنامَ [And keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols]; those about whom I prayed and whom You promised to make imams and a Muslim ummah, and to raise a messenger from among them, keep them away from the worship of idols. رَبِّ إِنَّهُنَّ أَضْلَلْنَ کَثِیراً مِنَ النَّاسِ فَمَنْ تَبِعَنِی فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّی وَ مَنْ عَصانِی فَإِنَّکَ غَفُورٌ رَحِیمٌ [My Lord, indeed they have led many of the people astray. So whoever follows me is of me, and whoever disobeys me — then indeed You are Forgiving, Merciful]. So that prayer of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) indicates that the imams and the Muslim ummah among whom Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) was raised are only from the offspring of Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them) who reside in the Haram and are among those who have never worshipped other than Allah — by the evidence of Allah's word: وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنامَ [And keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols]. And the proof for the place of residence and the land of Ibrahim's (peace be upon him) offspring is this saying of Ibrahim (peace be upon him): "رَبَّنا إِنِّی أَسْکَنْتُ مِنْ ذُرِّیَّتِی بِوادٍ غَیْرِ ذِی زَرْعٍ عِنْدَ بَیْتِکَ الْمُحَرَّمِ رَبَّنا لِیُقِیمُوا الصَّلاةَ فَاجْعَلْ أَفْئِدَةً مِنَ النَّاسِ تَهْوِی إِلَیْهِمْ وَ ارْزُقْهُمْ مِنَ الثَّمَراتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ یَشْکُرُونَ" [Our Lord! I have settled some of my offspring in a valley without cultivation, near Your Sacred House. Our Lord! That they may establish prayer. So make hearts among the people incline towards them, and provide them with fruits, that they may be thankful]. He did not say, "[I settled them] so that they might worship idols"; so this verse indicates that the imams and the Muslim ummah for whom Ibrahim (peace be upon him) prayed as being from his offspring have never worshipped other than Allah. Then he said: فَاجْعَلْ أَفْئِدَةً مِنَ النَّاسِ تَهْوِی إِلَیْهِمْ [So make hearts among the people incline towards them]. So Ibrahim's (peace be upon him) prayer was specific to the imams and the ummah who are from his offspring. Then, just as he prayed for them themselves, he also prayed for their Shi'ah. So those included in the prayer of Ibrahim and Isma'il are: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), Ali (peace be upon him), Fatima (peace be upon her), Hasan, Husayn and the Imams. And from among the descendants of Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them), whoever loves these ones and follows them is included in the prayer of Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them), because — apart from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), Ali (peace be upon him), Fatima (peace be upon her), Hasan and Husayn (peace be upon them) — all the descendants of Isma'il worshipped idols, and the prayer of Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them) is for these ones. And a hadith has been narrated from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) that he said: 'I am the prayer of my father Ibrahim (peace be upon him).' And whoever follows this ummah whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic described in His Book, and accepts their wilayah, will be of that ummah; and whoever opposes this ummah and does not consider them superior to himself, he is of the ummah to whom Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) was sent but who rejected his call." The questioner asked, "Why did the Imamate depart from the descendants of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) and settle in the descendants of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him)?" The Imam said, "[The proof for it is] the word of Allah the Blessed and Exalted: 'Allah only wills to remove all impurity and sin from you, O Ahl al-Bayt, and to purify you thoroughly.' (al-Ahzab/33) This verse was revealed concerning five persons and bore witness to their purification from polytheism and from worshipping idols and worshipping anything other than Allah. The origin of this verse is the prayer of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), where he says: وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنامَ [And keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols]. And the five concerning whom the verse of Tathir was revealed are: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), Ali (peace be upon him), Fatima (peace be upon her), Hasan and Husayn (peace be upon them), and they too are those whom Ibrahim's (peace be upon him) prayer intended."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Mufaddal said: "Master! We know that you are chosen by Allah, because Allah says: نَرْفَعُ دَرَجاتٍ مَنْ نَشاءُ [We raise in rank whomsoever We will (and deem worthy)]. (al-An'am/83) And He says: اللهُ أَعْلَمُ حَیْثُ یَجْعَلُ رِسالَتَهُ [Allah knows best where (and with whom) to place His messengership]. (al-An'am/124) And likewise He says: إِنَّ اللهَ اصْطَفی آدَمَ وَ نُوحاً وَ آلَ إِبْراهِیمَ وَ آلَ عِمْرانَ عَلَی الْعالَمِینَ ذُرِّیَّةً بَعْضُها مِنْ بَعْضٍ وَ اللهُ سَمِیعٌ عَلِیمٌ [Indeed Allah preferred Adam, Nuh, the family of Ibrahim and the family of Imran above all the worlds. They were offspring (and a lineage), one from another (alike in purity, piety and excellence), and Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing]. (Al-Imran/33-34)" The Imam said: "O Mufaddal! Where are we mentioned in this verse?" He said: "By Allah! The people with the greatest claim to Ibrahim are those who followed him (Al-Imran/68), and this Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and those who have believed [in him are the most deserving of all], and Allah is the guardian and protector of the believers. And this saying of Allah the Exalted: 'Follow the religion of your father Ibrahim; Allah named you Muslims in the earlier scriptures and in this heavenly Book.' (al-Hajj/78) Likewise, Allah the Exalted narrates from the tongue of Ibrahim (peace be upon him): وَ اجْنُبْنِی وَ بَنِیَّ أَنْ نَعْبُدَ الْأَصْنامَ [and save me and my sons from worshipping idols], and we know that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and Amir al-Muminin (peace be upon him) never worshipped any idol or image, and never associated anything with Allah for the blink of an eye. And in this verse: 'And [remember] when the Lord of Ibrahim tested him with various trials, and he came through the test excellently, Allah said to him: I have made you an Imam and leader for the people. Ibrahim said: And [appoint Imams] from my offspring also. Allah said: My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers [and only those of your offspring who are pure and infallible are worthy of this station].' (al-Baqarah/124) The covenant mentioned in this verse is the office of Imamate, which does not reach the oppressors." At this point Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "O Mufaddal! You have spoken the truth."