Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

'Ali ibn Abi Tcilib 229
address, and there is nothing in the verse to suggest that the
Prophet a) is necessarily one of those who are addressed
here.65 he Prophet (g) is not to be compared to any other
human being, because he is closer to the believers than their own
selves and because Allah (&) has forbidden to him charity, both
obligatory and voluntary. There are things that apply exclusively
to him (g)? for which AUah has singled him out. He and his
fellow prophets (peace he upon them) are not to be inherited
from, and this is protection from Allah so that there will be no
reason for anyone to criticise them on the grounds that they only
sought worldly gains for themselves and their heirs. As for the
rest of mankind, they do not have that position of prophethood
that could he undermined by the issue of inheritance. In a similar
way, Allah (B) also protected our Prophet (g) from being
literate or a poet, so as to eliminate any doubt about his
prophethood, but others did not need this type of protection.66
Ibn Katheer said, refuting the RSfi@s' use of this verse as
evidence: "The Messenger of Allah (g) had special mlings that
applied only to him, which the other Prophets did not share. If
we assume that other prophets could be inherited from, which is
not the case, then what was narrated by the Companions,
especially Abu Bakr (&), demonstrates that this ding applies
only to him to the exclusion of the others."67 Thus it is clear that
their claim is false and con- to the hadith.
3. They claim that the prohibition on inheritance and quoting of
this hadith as evidence is contrary to the words of AUah,'@And
Sulaymin [Solomon] inherited [the knowledge ofl Dzwood
pavid],) (Qur'an 27: 16) and that it is contrary to what Allah
(&) said concerning His Prophet Zakariya (M):(And verily, I
fear my relatives after me, and my wife is barren. So give me
from Yourself an heir, who shall inherit me, and inherit [also] the