Draft:Bab (Bab Allah)
Bab (Bab Allah) is a title for the Prophet (s) and the Imams (a) in some hadiths. The words "sirat", "sabab", "tariq", and "sabil", which are expressions similar to "Bab Allah", have also been used for the Imams (a). The meaning of Bab Allah is that to receive spiritual and divine guidance, one must resort to these individuals, and they are like the gates of entry to the presence of God.
Al-Husayn b. Hamdan al-Khasibi (d. 358/968-969) in al-Hidaya al-kubra fi tarikh al-a'imma, names individuals as "abwab" (gates) who were "the bearers of the secrets and knowledge of the Imams (a)", and at the same time introduces deputies for each Imam (a) who were the intermediaries between the Imam (a) and the Shi'as in financial and other affairs. There have also been those who claimed to be the bab of the Imams (a) but were rejected and subjected to their curses and imprecations.
In the Qur'an
Some exegetes have considered the meaning of "abwab" (doors) in Qur'an 2:189, "It is not righteousness that you should enter houses from their rears; rather, righteousness is [the conduct of] one who is Godwary. Enter houses from their doors," to be the Imams (a), meaning that they are the path and gate to access the city of knowledge of the Prophet (s).[1][2]
Qur'an 67:30
In a hadith[3], it is mentioned that Imam al-Rida (a) was asked about the meaning of "ma'" (water) in the verse "If your water were to sink down [in the earth], who would bring you running water?"[4] and he replied: "Your water [means] your doors. That is, the Imams, and the Imams are the doors of Allah." In this exegesis, "ma'" is used in a metaphorical sense, meaning water is the means of life, and if the waters dry up, the path of life is closed. The Imams (a) are like water upon which the spiritual life of the people depends, and in truth, they are the doors of reaching spiritual and real life. If there were no Imam and proof in the world, the door of spiritual life would be closed, and no one would give the "ma' ma'in" or the sweet water of spiritual life to human beings.
Qur'an 2:58
Bab Hitta is a title used for the Imams (a) in some Sunni and Shi'a hadiths. This title is taken from Qur'an 2:58 ("And when We said, 'Enter this town, and eat thereof freely whencesoever you wish, and enter prostrating at the gate, and say, "Relieve [us of the burden of our sins]," so that We may forgive you your iniquities'"). According to this verse, God told the Children of Israel to enter the "door" of the town prostrating and say "hitta" (relieve us) so that God may forgive their mistakes. Much has been said in the exegesis of this verse, and most have written that the town means Jerusalem, one of the gates of which was named "Bab Hitta".[5]
Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, and Ibn 'Abbas have narrated from the Prophet (s) that my Ahl al-Bayt (a) among this Ummah are like "Bab Hitta" for the Children of Israel; God forgives sins through them ("The parable of my Ahl al-Bayt among you ... is like the door of Hitta; whoever enters it is saved, and whoever does not enter it perishes").
Al-Shaykh al-Saduq has narrated that Imam 'Ali (a), quoting the Prophet (s), called himself "Bab Hitta", just as he called the Ahl al-Bayt (a) of the Prophet (s) the Bab Hitta of the Islamic Ummah, and he says: The Bab Hitta of the Islamic Ummah is superior to the Bab Hitta of the Children of Israel, because that one was made of wood, and we Imams are speaking, truthful, and believers.
Imam al-Baqir (a) calls himself and the Ahl al-Bayt (a) the Bab Hitta of the Muslims, "We are your Bab Hitta," and the meaning of "prostrating" in Qur'an 2:58 is that one should behave towards the Imams (a) with humility and submissiveness.[6]
In Hadiths
The Holy Prophet (s)
In a hadith from Imam al-Baqir (a), it is stated: "Indeed, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his progeny, is the door of Allah through which alone He is approached, and His path, which whoever traverses reaches Allah."[7]
The Imams (a)
Amir al-Mu'minin (a)
In hadiths, Imam 'Ali (a) has been referred to with these expressions:
- Bab; "Indeed, 'Ali is a door that Allah has opened, so whoever enters it is a believer."[8]
- Bab al-Huda (Door of Guidance); "Indeed, 'Ali is a door among the doors of guidance, so whoever enters through the door of 'Ali is a believer."
- Bab al-Janna (Door of Paradise); it has been expressed: "Indeed, 'Ali is a door among the doors of Paradise, so whoever enters his door is a believer."[9]
- Bab al-Nabi (Door of the Prophet (s)); in a famous hadith transmitted with various narrations in the hadith books of Sunnis and Shi'as to the level of tawatur, the Prophet (s) has called himself the city of knowledge ("Madinat al-'Ilm" and also "Madinat al-Hikma", "Madinat al-Fiqh", "Madinat al-Janna", "Dar al-'Ilm", "Khizanat al-'Ilm", "Dar al-Hikma") and Imam 'Ali (a) its "door".[10]
- Bab Allah; in another hadith narrated by al-Karajuki, the Messenger of Allah (s) called 'Ali (a) "the door of Allah and my door".[11]
Other Imams (a)
In some hadiths, the Ahl al-Bayt (a) have been referred to as "Abwab Allah" (Doors of Allah), "Tariq" (Way), "Sabil" (Path), "Sabab" (Means), and "Sirat" (Path). Imam al-Sajjad (a): "We are the doors of Allah, and we are the straight path, and we are the repository of His knowledge."[12] In sermon 154 of Nahj al-balagha it is stated: "We are the close associates, the companions, the treasurers, and the doors, and houses are not entered except from their doors."
Notes
- ↑ See: Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, Publisher: Dār al-Maʿrifa, vol. 2, p. 509; Tafsīr al-ṣāfī, Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, 1416 AH, vol. 1, p. 228.
- ↑ Abū Jaʿfar (a) said: "The family of Muḥammad are the doors of Allāh, His paths, the callers to Paradise, the leaders to it, and the guides to it until the Day of Judgment." Tafsīr majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 509.
- ↑ Majlisī, vol. 24, p. 100.
- ↑ Qurʾān 67:30.
- ↑ See: Majmaʿ al-tafāsīr; Ṭabrisī; Fakhr al-Rāzī; Suyūṭī, under the verse.
- ↑ Marʿashī Najafī, vol. 9, pp. 270-280; Suyūṭī, vol. 1, p. 71; Majlisī, vol. 23, pp. 119-120, 122-123, 125; Ḥuwayzī, vol. 1, pp. 82-83.
- ↑ Ṣaffār al-Qummī, p. 199.
- ↑ Kulaynī, vol. 1, p. 437.
- ↑ Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 388-389.
- ↑ For more information about this hadith see: Amīnī, vol. 6, pp. 61-81; and also Shūshtarī, vol. 5, pp. 468-515; Majlisī, vol. 40, pp. 200-207.
- ↑ Majlisī, vol. 26, p. 263.
- ↑ Majlisī, vol. 24, p. 12.
References
- Qurʾān.
- Ibn Athīr, Al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh, Beirut 1385-1386/1965-1966.
- Ibn Shahrāshūb, Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, edited by Hāshim Rasūl Maḥallātī, Qom, 1379 Sh.
- Ibn Ṣabbāgh, Al-Fuṣūl al-muhimma fī maʿrifat aḥwāl al-aʾimma ʿalayhim al-salām, Beirut 1408/1988.
- Amīn, Muḥsin, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, Beirut 1403/1983, under the names mentioned in the article.
- Amīnī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn, Al-Ghadīr fī l-kitāb wa l-sunna wa l-adab, vol. 6, Beirut 1387/1967.
- Ḥuwayzī, ʿAbd ʿAlī b. Jumʿa, Kitāb tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn, edited by Hāshim Rasūlī Maḥallātī, offset print Qom 1383-1385 Sh.
- Khaṣībī, Ḥusayn b. Ḥamdān, Al-Hidāya al-kubrā fī tārīkh al-aʾimma, manuscript in the Library of Ayatollah Marʿashī, no. 2973.
- Khūʾī, Abū l-Qāsim, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, Beirut 1403/1983, under the names mentioned in the article.
- Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr, Al-Durr al-manthūr fī l-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr, Qom 1404 AH.
- Shūshtarī, Nūr Allāh b. Sharīf al-Dīn, Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq wa izhāq al-bāṭil, Qom 1404 AH.
- Ṣaffār al-Qummī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan, Baṣāʾir al-darajāt fī faḍāʾil Āl Muḥammad (ṣ), edited by Muḥsin Kūcha Bāghī Tabrīzī, Qom 1404 AH.
- Ṭabrisī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī, Al-Iḥtijāj, edited by Muḥammad Bāqir Mūsawī Kharsān, Beirut 1401/1981.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan, Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, edited by Aḥmad ʿĀrif Zayn, Sidon 1333-1356/1914-1937.
- Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar, Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, Cairo, n.d.
- Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Muḥammad b. Shāh Murtaḍā, Tafsīr al-ṣāfī, vol. 1, edited by Ḥusayn Aʿlamī, Beirut, date of introduction 1399 AH.
- Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Muḥammad b. Shāh Murtaḍā, Tafsīr al-ṣāfī, correction and annotation by Muḥammad Ḥusayn Aʿlamī, Qom, second edition, 1416 AH.
- Kashshī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar, Ikhtiyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, abridged by Muḥammad b. Ḥasan Ṭūsī, edited by Ḥasan Muṣṭafawī, Mashhad 1348 Sh.
- Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb, Al-Kāfī, edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī, Beirut 1401 AH.
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- Marʿashī Najafī, Shihāb al-Dīn, Mulḥaqāt Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq, in Nūr Allāh b. Sharīf al-Dīn Shūshtarī, Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq wa izhāq al-bāṭil, vol. 7, Qom 1404 AH.
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