Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

فيكم ثقلين أولهما كتاب الله فيه الهدى والنور فخذوا بكتاب الله واستمسكوا به فحث على كتاب الله
ورغب فيه ثم قال وأهل بيتي أذكركم الله في أهل بيتي أذكركم الله في أهل بيتي أذكركم الله في أهل
بيتي فقال له حصين ومن أهل بيته يا زيد أليس نساؤه من أهل بيته قال نساؤه من أهل بيته ولكن أهل بيته
من حرم الصدقة بعده قال ومن هم قال هم آل علي وآل عقيل وآل جعفر وآل عباس قال كل هؤلء حرم
الصدقة قال نعم
Rasūl Allāh H stood amongst us at a pond called Khum, between
Makkah and Madīnah, to deliver a sermon. He praised Allah E, advised
and reminded us and then said, “Behold oh people! I am merely a human;
very soon the messenger of my lord will call to whom I will respond. I am
leaving amidst you the two weighty things. The first is the Book of Allah,
wherein is contained light and guidance. So practice upon the Book of Allah
and hold onto it firmly. Hence he exhorted regarding the Book of Allah and
encouraged regarding it. Thereafter he said, “And my Ahl al-Bayt. I remind
you of Allah regarding my Ahl al-Bayt, I remind you of Allah regarding my
Ahl al-Bayt; I remind you of Allah regarding my Ahl al-Bayt.” Al-Ḥusayn
thus said to him (the narrator), “Who is his Ahl al-Bayt, O Zayd? Are not
his wives from his Ahl al-Bayt?” He replied, “His wives are certainly from
his Ahl al-Bayt, but his Ahl al-Bayt (those intended here) are those for who
charity is forbidden.” Thereupon he asked, “And who are they?” To which
he replied, “The family of ʿAlī, the family of ʿAqīl, the family of Jaʿfar and
the family of ʿAbbās.” He further asked, “Is charity forbidden for all these
people?” He replied, “Yes.” 1
The proponents of this view aver that a Ṣaḥābī knows better the meaning
intended by Nabī H than anyone else, hence his explanation supports the
specification of the aforementioned families. 2
The answer to this is as follows:
1 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: chapter regarding the merits of the Ṣaḥābah: sub-chapter regarding the merits of ʿAlī
ibn Abī Ṭālib: ḥadīth no. 2408.
2 Nayl al-Awṭār 2/327.
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