Habl Allah
Ḥabl Allah, (Arabic: حبل الله) or Allah's Cord or the divine rope, is a Quranic expression in which God commands Muslims in the I'tisam Verse to hold fast to Allah's cord and not to become divided into sects.[1]
Tafsir al-'Ayyashi (d. 320 AH/932) cites hadiths identifying the Ahl al-Bayt (a) or Imam 'Ali (a) as the examples of Habl Allah.[2] 'Allama Tabataba'i asserts that the term Habl Allah in the verse "Hold fast, all together, to Allah's cord" refers to the Quran and the Prophet (s). He also interprets the phrase "Whoever takes recourse in [or holds fast to] Allah" in Quran 3:101 as clinging to divine verses and the Prophet (s) (the Quran and Sunnah).[3] In Tafsir al-Durr al-manthur by al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH/1505-6), a Sunni scholar, hadiths are cited to the effect that the Muslim community, the Quran, the Prophet's household ('Itra), divine covenant, and obedience to God as manifestations of Habl Allah.[4] Tafsir al-manar, another Sunni exegesis, interprets Habl Allah as enjoining good and forbidding evil.[5]
According to Fadl b. al-Hasan al-Tabrisi (d. 548 AH/1153-4), Quranic exegetes have varied opinions regarding Habl Allah. Some consider it the Quran, others the religion of Islam, and certain hadiths identify it as the Ahl al-Bayt (a) (the Prophet's household). Al-Tabrisi deems it preferable to interpret Habl Allah as encompassing all these meanings. To support this view, he cites the Hadith of Thaqalayn, which refers to the Quran and the Ahl al-Bayt (a) as two ropes or cords (hablayn). In his narration of the hadith, the term hablayn is used instead of thaqalayn (the two weighty things).[6]
According to Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi, the various interpretations of Habl Allah are not contradictory, as it refers to any means of connection with God. This connection may be established through the Quran, the Prophet (s), the Ahl al-Bayt (a), or other means.[7] He further believes that Habl Allah signifies the need for a guide or rope that, by holding fast to it, a person can escape the darkness of ignorance and emerge from the well of heedlessness.[8]
Notes
- ↑ Quran 3:103.
- ↑ ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, vol. 1. p. 194.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 3, p. 369.
- ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 2, p. 284-288.
- ↑ Rashīd Riḍā, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ḥakīm, vol. 4, p. 39.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 805.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 29.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 32.
References
- ʿAyyāshī, Muḥammad b. Masʿūd al-. Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī. Edited by Rasūlī Maḥallātī. 1st edition. Tehran: al-Maṭbaʿat al-ʿIlmiyya al-Islāmiyya, 1380 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1374 Sh.
- Rashīd Riḍā, Muḥammad. Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ḥakīm al-mushtahir bi ʾism tafsīr al-manār. Cairo: al-Hayʾat al-Misrīyya al-ʿĀmma li l-Kitāb, 1990.
- Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr al-. Al-Durr al-manthūr fī tafsīr al-maʾthūr. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, [n.d].
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. 3rd edition. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1393 AH.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, [n.d].