Ahl al-Qibla
Ahl al-qibla (Arabic: أهل القبلة) or people of the qibla refers to all Muslims who believe in the Ka'ba as their qibla. The term is used to prevent the excommunication of Muslims. According to the majority of Shi'a and Sunni scholars, Ahl al-qibla's life, property, and reputation should be respected. Moreover, it is not legitimate or permissible to excommunicate them and kill them when they are imprisoned in a war. Also, it is obligatory to perform funeral prayers for the deceased among them.
Definition
Ahl al-qibla is a person to whom the belief in Islam is attributed.[1] Hence, all Islamic denominations and sects who believe in the Ka'ba as their qibla count as people of the qibla.[2] According to Muhammad Jawad Mughniya, a Shi'a exegete of the twentieth century, the term "ahl al-qibla" is synonymous with the terms "ahl al-Qur'an" (people of the Quran), "ahl al-shahadatayn" (people of the two testimonies), and "Muslim," all of which refer to those who believe in God, the Prophet (s), and his tradition, and perform prayers toward the direction of the qibla; that is, the Ka'ba.[3] Moreover, Mulla ʿAli Qari, a Sunni Hanafi scholar, believes that ahl al-qibla is a person who does not deny any essential doctrines of the religion. Thus, in his words, for Sunni scholars, a person who denies an essential doctrine such as the eternity of the world and resurrection does not count as Ahl al-qibla, even if he worships God throughout his life.[4]
Jurisprudential Rulings
According to the majority of Shi'a and Sunni scholars, Ahl al-qibla's life, property, and reputation should be respected.[5] Moreover, it is not legitimate or permissible to excommunicate them[6] and kill them when they are imprisoned in a war.[7] Also, it is obligatory to perform funeral prayers for the deceased among them.[8] As noted by Mulla 'Ali Qari, Abu Hanifa, and Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi'i did not excommunicate Ahl al-qibla.[9] He also notes that Sunni jurists do not excommunicate Ahl al-qibla.[10]
Nevertheless, there are Islamic sects that excommunicate the followers of other sects and permit their murder or execution.[11] Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabism, believed that it was obligatory to kill those who seek the intercession of prophets, angels, and divine saints when praying to God, even though they admit the unity of God as the Lord (or lordship monotheism).[12]
Furthermore, rulings of ex-communication[13] and impurity[14] have been issued about Nawasib, Khawarij, and Muslims who have denied the essential doctrines of Islam, even though they believe in the Ka'ba as their qibla.
Jurisprudential Applications
The term "ahl al-qibla" appears in the jurisprudential rulings of the dead[15] and jihad.[16] It is said that Muslims did not know the rulings of the war with Ahl al-qibla before the Battle of Jamal. Indeed, they only learned these rulings from Imam 'Ali (a) in this battle.[17]
Notes
- ↑ Narāqī, Rasāʾil wa masāʾil, vol. 2, p. 335.
- ↑ Dihkhudā, Lughatnāma, under the word "Ahl-i qibla".
- ↑ Mughnīya, Tafsīr al-Kāshif, vol. 1, p. 231.
- ↑ Qārī, Sharḥ kitāb al-fiqh al-akbar, p. 258.
- ↑ Rustamī, Mamnūʿīyyat-i takfīr-i ahl-i qibla az nigāh-i faqīhān wa mutakallimān-i Tashayyuʿ wa Tasannun, p. 71.
- ↑ See: Qārī, Sharḥ kitāb al-fiqh al-akbar, p. 258; Taftāzānī, Sharḥ al-maqāṣid, vol. 5, p. 228.
- ↑ Muntaẓirī, Dirāsāt fī wilayat al-faqīh wa fiqh al-dawla l-Islāmīyya, vol. 3, p. 296.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 3, p. 328.
- ↑ Qārī, Sharḥ kitāb al-fiqh al-akbar, p. 257.
- ↑ Qārī, Sharḥ kitāb al-fiqh al-akbar, p. 258.
- ↑ Rustamī, Mamnūʿīyyat-i takfīr-i ahl-i qibla az nigāh-i faqīhān wa mutakallimān-i Tashayyuʿ wa Tasannun, p. 71.
- ↑ Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, Kashf al-shubahāt, p. 7.
- ↑ Narāqī, Rasāʾil wa masāʾil, vol. 2, p. 336.
- ↑ Muḥaqqiq al-Karakī, Jāmiʿ al-maqāṣid, vol. 1, p. 164.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Istibṣār, vol. 1, p. 468.
- ↑ Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, vol. 11, p. 55.
- ↑ Group of authors, Jahād dar āʾīna-yi riwāyāt, vol. 1, p. 188.
References
- Group of authors. Jahād dar āʾīna-yi riwāyāt. Qom: Zamzam-i Hidāyat, 1428 AH.
- Mughnīya, Muḥammad Jawād al-. Tafsīr al-Kāshif, Qom: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1424 AH.
- Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. Kashf al-shubahāt. Saudi Arabia: Wizārat al-Shuʾūn al-Islamīyya, 1418 AH.
- Muḥaqqiq al-Karakī, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Jāmiʿ al-maqāṣid fī sharh al-qawāʿid. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt, 1414 AH.
- Muntaẓirī, Ḥusayn Alī. Dirāsāt fī wilayat al-faqīh wa fiqh al-dawla l-Islāmīyya. Qom: Nashr-i Tafakkur, 1409 AH.
- Narāqī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Mahdī. Rasāʾil wa masāʾil. Qom: Kungira-yi Buzurgdāsht-i Mullā Mahdī Wa Mullā Aḥmad Narāqī, 1422 AH.
- Qārī, Mullā ʿAlī b. Sulṭān al-. Sharḥ kitāb al-fiqh al-akbar. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1428/2007.
- Taftāzānī, Masʿūd b. ʿUmar al-. Sharḥ al-maqāṣid. Edited by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿUmayra. Qom: al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, 1409 AH.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Istibṣār fīmā ikhtalafa min al-akhbār. Edited by Sayyid Ḥasan al-Khirsān. 1st edition. Tehran: Dar al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1390 AH.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Tahdhīb al-aḥkām. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1407 AH.
- Rustamī, ʿAbbās ʿAlī. Mamnūʿīyyat-i takfīr-i ahl-i qibla az nigāh-i faqīhān wa mutakallimān-i Tashayyuʿ wa Tasannun. In Pazhūhish-hā-yi iʿtiqādāī kalāmī 30 (1397 Sh).