سورة الأنفال

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا وَ لَمْ یُهاجِرُوا ما لَکُمْ مِنْ وَلایَتِهِمْ مِنْ شَیْءٍ حَتَّی یُهاجِرُوا وَ إِنِ اسْتَنْصَرُوکُمْ فِی الدِّینِ فَعَلَیْکُمُ النَّصْرُ إِلَّا عَلی قَوْمٍ بَیْنَکُمْ وَ بَیْنَهُمْ مِیثاقٌ [And those who believed and did not migrate — you have no guardianship over them until they migrate; but if they seek your help in the matter of religion, then help is incumbent upon you, except against a people between whom and you there is a treaty]. This verse was revealed concerning the A'rab [the desert-dwelling Arabs]. That is, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) made peace with them on the condition that they would remain in their lands and not migrate to Medina, on the condition that whenever the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) wished to wage war, he would summon them, and they would have no share in the spoils; and they laid down as a condition upon the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) that whenever the desert Arabs attacked them, or their enemies harmed them, he would help them — except against a people between whom and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) there was a covenant and treaty for a set period.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): In the book Tafsir al-Nu'mani, it is narrated from Imam Ali (peace be upon him), in explaining the abrogating and abrogated verses, that he said: "When the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) migrated to Medina, he established a pact of brotherhood among his companions, both the Muhajirin and the Ansar, and confined inheritance to religious brotherhood (meaning that when someone passed away, his property went to his religious brother and not to his relatives), as Allah says: إِنَّ الَّذینَ آمَنُوا وَ هاجَرُوا وَ جاهَدُوا بِأَمْوالِهِمْ وَ أَنْفُسِهِمْ فی سَبیلِ اللهِ وَ الَّذینَ آوَوْا وَ نَصَرُوا أُولئِکَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِیاءُ بَعْضٍ وَ الَّذینَ آمَنُوا وَ لَمْ یُهاجِرُوا ما لَکُمْ مِنْ وَلایَتِهِمْ مِنْ شَیْءٍ حَتَّی یُهاجِرُوا [Indeed those who believed and migrated and struggled with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah, and those who gave shelter and helped — these are guardians of one another; and as for those who believed and did not migrate, you have no guardianship over them until they migrate]. Thus He excluded relatives from the law of inheritance and restricted it to the emigrants and co-religionists. But when the power of Islam grew, Allah revealed this verse: The Prophet is more entitled to the believers than they are to themselves, and his wives are their [the believers'] mothers, and relatives are more entitled to one another, in what Allah has prescribed, than the believers and the emigrants — unless you wish to do a kindness to your friends [and give them a share of your wealth] (al-Ahzab/6). And this is the meaning of abrogation in the law of inheritance."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): إِنَّ الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا وَ هاجَرُوا وَ جاهَدُوا بِأَمْوالِهِمْ وَ أَنْفُسِهِمْ فِی سَبِیلِ اللهِ وَ الَّذِینَ آوَوْا وَ نَصَرُوا أُولئِکَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِیاءُ بَعْضٍ [Indeed those who believed and migrated and struggled with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah, and those who gave shelter and helped — these are guardians of one another]. The ruling at the beginning of the prophethood was that inheritance was distributed on the basis of [the pact of] brotherhood, not on the basis of birth. When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) migrated to Medina, he established a pact of brotherhood between the Muhajirin and the Ansar. Whenever one of them died, his religious brother would inherit from him and take his property, and what he left did not pass to his heirs. Then Allah revealed this verse: النَّبِیُّ أَوْلَی بِالْمؤْمِنِینَ مِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَ أَزْوَاجُهُ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ وَ أُوْلُو الْأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَی بِبَعْضٍ فِی کِتَابِ اللهِ مِنَ الْمؤْمِنِینَ وَ الْمهَاجِرِینَ إِلَّا أَن تَفْعَلُوا إِلَی أَوْلِیَائِکُم مَّعْرُوفًا [The Prophet is more entitled to the believers than they are to themselves, and his wives are their mothers, and relatives are more entitled to one another, in what Allah has prescribed, than the believers and the emigrants — unless you do a kindness to your friends]. So this verse abrogated the verse of brotherhood.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Mu'attib and Musadif, two freedmen of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), said in a report: When Hisham ibn al-Walid arrived in Medina, the sons of Abbas came to him and complained about Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), that he had taken for himself the inheritance of Mahir al-Khasi (his slave) during the period of his imamate, and had left nothing for them. Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) delivered a sermon, and among the things he said was: "Indeed, when Allah the Mighty and Majestic chose the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) for prophethood, our father Abu Talib gave of himself for him and aided him, while your father Abbas and Abu Lahab denied him and set the devils of disbelief upon him to harm him. Your father tried to bring calamities down upon him and led the tribes at Badr against him, and he was in the vanguard of their army and the leader of their horsemen and infantry. He supplied provisions for the army of disbelief and kindled war against him. Your father was our freed one and embraced Islam under the compulsion of the sword, while he was averse to Islam, and he never migrated for the sake of Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family), and Allah severed his walayah from us, and this is the meaning of the words of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: وَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُواْ وَ لَمْ یُهَاجِرُواْ مَا لَکُم مِّن وَلاَیَتِهِم مِّن شَیْءٍ [And those who believed and did not migrate — you have no walayah over them at all]." In some of his words: "He was one of our slaves and has now passed away, and his inheritance has come to us, because he was our slave and we are the children of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and his inheritance has come to our mother Fatimah (peace be upon her)."

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): When I came before Harun al-Rashid, I greeted him with salam. He returned my salam and said, "O Musa ibn Ja'far (peace be upon him)! Is it possible for kharaj (land-tax) to be collected for two caliphs at one and the same time?" I said, "O Commander of the Believers! Take refuge with Allah from bearing both my sin and your own, and from believing the false words of our enemies against us. For you know that our enemies have lied against us from the time the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) departed to meet Allah, and you are aware of this. If it is possible, by the right of your kinship with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), grant me permission to relate to you a hadith which my father narrated from his fathers from his grandfather the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)." He said, "I permit you." I said, "My father, from his fathers, from his grandfather the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), informed me thus: he said, 'Whenever two kinsmen draw near to one another, kinship is stirred and set in motion. If you see fit, give me your hand.'" He stretched out his hand toward me, then said, "Come closer." I moved forward, he shook hands with me and embraced me for a long while, then let me go while his eyes were filled with tears, and said to me, "Sit, O Musa (peace be upon him)! There is no blame upon you. You have spoken truly, and your grandfather (peace be upon him and his family) spoke truly, and the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) spoke truly. My blood truly did surge and my veins were stirred, and I realized that you are of the same lineage and blood as me and that the hadith you narrated is sound. I wish to ask you a question; if you answer me and I know that you have spoken truly, I shall let you go and give you a gift, and I shall not accept what others say about you." I said, "I shall answer whatever I know." He said, "If you tell me the truth and abandon the taqiyya (dissimulation) for which you children of Fatima (peace be upon her) are known, you are safe." I said, "Commander of the Believers, ask whatever you wish." He said, "Tell me why Allah has preferred you over us, when we and you are from a single tree and are all the descendants of Abd al-Muttalib? We are the children of Abbas and you are the children of Abu Talib, and both were paternal uncles of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and their kinship with him is equal." I said, "We are closer." He said, "How so?" I said, "Because Abdullah and Abu Talib were from a single father and mother, whereas your father Abbas is not from the mother of Abdullah nor from the mother of Abu Talib." He said, "Then why have you claimed that you inherit from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), when the paternal uncle blocks the son of the paternal uncle from inheritance, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) passed away while Abu Talib had died before him and his uncle Abbas was alive?" I said to him, "If the Commander of the Believers would see fit to excuse me from this question and to ask me about any other matter he wishes." He said, "No, you must answer me." I said, "Then grant me safety." He said, "I granted you safety before you spoke." I said, "Indeed Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) said: none of the direct offspring, whether male or female, has any share of the inheritance withheld from them, except for the [share of] parents, husband, and wife [of the deceased]; and [likewise] the paternal uncle has no established share of inheritance when there is direct offspring, whether male or female, and no inheritance for the paternal uncle in the presence of direct offspring has been established, nor has the Book made any explicit mention of it. But Taym, Adi, and Bani Umayya, by way of ijtihad by opinion, said, 'The paternal uncle is in the position of the father,' without this statement having any truth to it and without any hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) confirming it. The scholars who accept the statement of Ali (peace be upon him) in this matter — their rulings are contrary to the rulings of these people. Nuh ibn Darraj holds the statement of Ali (peace be upon him) in this matter and has judged by it, when the Commander of the Believers appointed him over the two garrison-cities (Kufa and Basra). This report reached the Commander of the Believers, and he ordered him to be brought forth along with those who expressed a view opposed to his — among them Sufyan al-Thawri, Ibrahim al-Madani, and Fudayl ibn Iyad. They testified that his statement is indeed the statement of Ali (peace be upon him) in this matter. As some of the scholars of the Hijaz informed me, he then said to them, 'Then why do you not issue a fatwa in accordance with it, when Nuh ibn Darraj has judged by it?' They said, 'Nuh had the boldness for this, but we did not.' The Commander of the Believers passed this matter with reference to what the early men of the general community narrate from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), that he said, 'Ali (peace be upon him) is the most skilled of you in judgment.' Likewise Umar ibn al-Khattab said, 'Ali (peace be upon him) is the most skilled of us in judgment,' and it is a comprehensive name (attribute), because everything the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) praised his companions for — recitation, ordinances, and knowledge — is included within judgment." He said, "Continue, O Musa (peace be upon him)." I said, "Trust in gatherings must be preserved, and especially in your gathering." He said, "There is no fear upon you [do not worry]." I said, "Indeed the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did not grant inheritance to those who did not emigrate, nor did he affirm any wilaya (guardianship) for them until they emigrated." He said, "What is your proof for this?" I said, "The word of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: وَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُوا وَ لَمْ یُهَاجِرُوا مَا لَکُمْ مِنْ وَلَایَتِهِمْ مِنْ شَیْءٍ حَتَّی یُهَاجِرُوا [And those who believed and did not emigrate — you have no guardianship over them until they emigrate], and there is no doubt that my uncle Abbas did not emigrate." He said to me, "I ask you, O Musa (peace be upon him): have you given this fatwa to any of our enemies? Or have you told any of the jurists anything about this matter?" I said, "By Allah, no. And no one has asked me about it except the Commander of the Believers." Then he said, "Why have you allowed the common people and the elite to attribute you to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and to call you 'O children of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family),' when you are the children of Ali (peace be upon him)? The correct view is that a person is attributed to his father, and Fatima (peace be upon her) is nothing more than a vessel, and the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is your maternal grandfather." I said, "O Commander of the Believers! If we were to suppose that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) were raised up and sought your noble daughter's hand in marriage, would you consent?" He said, "Glory be to Allah! Why would I not consent? Rather I would boast of it over the Arabs, the non-Arabs, and Quraysh." I said to him, "But he (peace be upon him and his family) cannot seek any of my daughters in marriage, nor can I give them to him in marriage." He said, "Why?" I said, "Because he (peace be upon him and his family) begot me, and did not beget you." He said, "Bravo, O Musa (peace be upon him)!" Then he said, "How do you say, 'We are the children of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family),' when the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) left no male heir, and offspring are attributed to the man, not to the woman, and you are the children of his daughter, and these children of a daughter do not inherit lineage?" I said, "I ask you by the right of kinship, by the right of the grave and the one who lies in it, that you not ask me this question." He said, "No, you, O son of Ali (peace be upon him), must give me your proof concerning this. And you, O Musa (peace be upon him), as it has come to my knowledge, are their chief and the imam of their age, and I will not excuse you from anything I ask you about until you bring me a proof for it from the Book of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. You, O children of Ali (peace be upon him), claim that you know all of it, and that the ta'wil (interpretation) of every matter, from alif to waw, is with you, and you have taken as your proof this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: مَا فَرَّطْنَا فِی الْکِتَابِ مِنْ شَیْءٍ [We have not neglected anything in the Book], and you have dispensed with the opinion of the scholars and their qiyas (analogy)." I said, "Do you permit me to answer?" He said, "Give it." I said, "I take refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. '…And of his offspring, Dawud and Sulayman and Ayyub and Yusuf and Musa and Harun; thus do We reward the doers of good. And Zakariyya and Yahya and Isa and Ilyas.' (al-An'am/84-85) O Commander of the Believers! Who is the father of Isa (peace be upon him)?" He said, "Isa (peace be upon him) has no father." I said, "Allah joined him to the descendants of the prophets (peace be upon them) by way of Maryam (peace be upon her), and likewise we have been joined to the descendants of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) by way of our mother Fatima (peace be upon her). Shall I say more, O Commander of the Believers?" He said, "Speak." I said, "This word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: 'Whoever disputes with you concerning it after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then let us pray earnestly and invoke the curse of Allah upon the liars.' (Al Imran/61). And no one has claimed that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) brought under the cloak at the time of the mubahala (mutual imprecation) with the Christians anyone other than Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), Fatima (peace be upon her), Hasan and Husayn (peace be upon them). So the ta'wil of the words of the Exalted 'أَبْنَاءَنَا [our sons]' is Hasan and Husayn (peace be upon them), 'نِسَاءَنَا [our women]' is Fatima (peace be upon her), and 'أَنْفُسَنَا [ourselves]' is Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him). In addition to this, the scholars have reached ijma (consensus) that Jibrail (peace be upon him) said on the day of Uhud, 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Indeed the true muwasat (self-sacrificing brotherhood) is what has come forth from Ali (peace be upon him).' The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said, 'Indeed he is from me and I am from him,' and then Jibrail (peace be upon him) said, 'O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and I am from you both!' Likewise he said, 'There is no sword but Dhu al-Fiqar, and no youth but Ali (peace be upon him),' just as Allah the Mighty and Majestic praised His khalil (intimate friend, peace be upon him) where He says: 'A youth spoke of them [in opposition to the idols], who is called Ibrahim.' (al-Anbiya/60). We, that is all the children of your uncle, take pride in this saying of Jibrail (peace be upon him) that he is from us." Harun said, "Bravo to you, O Musa (peace be upon him)! Present to us your needs." I said to him, "My first need is that you give leave to the son of your uncle to return to the sanctuary of his grandfather (peace be upon him and his family) and to his family." He said, "Allah willing, we shall see."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Zurarah, Humran and Muhammad ibn Muslim said: We asked the two of them about this word of Allah the Exalted: وَ الَّذِینَ آمَنُواْ وَ لَمْ یُهَاجِرُواْ مَا لَکُم مِّن وَلاَیَتِهِم مِّن شَیْءٍ حَتَّی یُهَاجِرُواْ [And those who believed and did not migrate — you have no walayah over them at all until they migrate]. He said: "The people of Mecca do not inherit from the people of Medina."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): They used to inherit from one another through the pact of brotherhood.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): The Muslims used to inherit from one another by means of that first pact of brotherhood.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Allah ordained thus: "The Muhajirin and the Ansar [who by the arrangement of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) had bound themselves to one another in a pact of brotherhood] inherit from one another, and not the blood-relatives from one another; and whoever had believed but not migrated did not inherit, because he had not migrated and had not aided [the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)]. The Muslims continued to act upon this instruction until Allah revealed this verse: وَ أُولُوا الْأَرْحامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلی بِبَعْضٍ [And blood-relatives are more entitled to one another (than others)] (al-Anfal/75). As a result, the earlier ruling was abrogated by this verse and inheritance became for those believers who had ties of kinship with one another."