Al-Tathir Verse: Difference between revisions

'''Al-Taṭhīr verse''' (Arabic: {{iarabic|آيَةُ التَّطهير}}) is a part of verse 33 of [[Sura al-Ahzab]] in which God has repelled all the impurities from the [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]] and Shi'a theologians and scholars refer to this verse as a proof for the [[Infallibility|infallibility of Imams (a)]].

== Occasion of Revelation ==

{{see also|Hadith al-Kisa'}}

It is reported in some narrations that the above verse was revealed in the house of [[Umm Salama]], wife of the [[Holy Prophet (s)]]; and [['Ali (a)]], [[Fatima (a)]], [[al-Hasan (a)]], and [[al-Husayn (a)]] were there at the time of [[revelation]] of the verse. Then, the Holy Prophet (s) covered 'Ali (a), Fatima (a), al-Hasan (a), and al-Husayn (a) with his Kisa' (cloak) on which he was sitting and then stretched his hands towards the sky and said, "O God! These four are my [[Ahl al-Bayt]]; clean them of any impurities!" Umm Salama asked the Holy Prophet (s) if she was included in the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and the Holy Prophet (s) answered her, "you are among the Holy Prophet's (s) wives and you are on a good path."<ref>Tirmidhī, ''Sunan al-Tirmidhī'', vol. 5, p. 699; Ṣadūq, ''Maʿānī l-akhbār'', vol. 2, p. 403.</ref>

With regard to how Aya al-Tathir implies the purity of [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]], it is said that the word, "innamā" (Arabic: {{ia|إِنَّما}}), denotes exclusiveness, as lexicographers have stipulated. Thus, the verse shows that God exclusively wills to purify Ahl al-Bayt (a). Given Arabic grammar, the verse involves some other emphases as well. Moreover, "al-rijs" (Arabic: {{ia|الرِجسَ}}) or impurity is used with a definite article (al-) and thus it connotes any type of impurity, be it mental or practical, such as [[polytheism]], [[kufr]] (infidelity), [[nifaq]] (hypocrisy), ignorance, and sins. Thus, the verse rejects the existence of all these kinds of impurity in Ahl al-Bayt (a).<ref>Rāḍī, ''Sabīl al-nijāt'', p. 7.</ref>

Commentators have different opinions on to whom the term [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]] refer. Many companions of the [[Holy Prophet (s)]] such as [[Anas b. Malik]], [[Abu Sa'id al-Khudri]], [[Umm Salama]], [[Aisha]], [[Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas]], [['Abd Allah b. Ja'far]], and [['Abd Allah b. al-'Abbas]] have considered [['Ali (a)]], [[Fatima (a)]], [[al-Hasan (a)]], and [[al-Husayn (a)]] the only members of the Ahl al-Bayt (a). There are narrations from other [[Shi'a Imams (a)]] confirming this opinion.<ref>Ibn ʿAṭīyya, ''al-Muḥarrar al-wajīz'', vol. 13, p. 72; Ibn Kathīr, ''Tafsīr al-Qurʾān'', vol. 3, p. 799.</ref>

A third opinion attributed to [[Zayd b. Arqam]], the companion of the Holy Prophet (s), suggests that the Ahl al-Bayt (a) are those whom are prohibited by [[God]] to receive [[zakat]] and they are relatives of the Holy Prophet (s) including Al 'Ali, Al 'Aqil and Al Ja'far and by Tathir in the verse under discussion, clearing them from reception of [[sadaqa]] [charity] and zakat is meant.<ref>Ibn Kathīr, ''Tafsīr al-Qurʾān'', vol. 3, p. 799; Shukānī, ''Fatḥ al-Qadīr'', vol. 4, p. 278; Muslim, ''Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim'', vol. 2, p. 1874.</ref>

There are different traditions in the ''Musnad Ahmad b. Hanbal'', all of which refer to the fact that the Holy Prophet (s) had mentioned Fatima (a), her husband (a), and her two sons as the reference for al-Tathir verse.<ref>Ibn Ḥanbal, ''Musnad Ibn Ḥanbal'', vol. 1, p. 331; vol. 4, p. 107; vol. 6, p. 292.</ref> He also narrates in ''Fada'il al-sahaba''  

that for six months, when the Holy Prophet (s) was passing by the house of Fatima (a) while going to the mosque for [[Fajr prayer]], he (s) used to call them saying, "O the Ahl al-Bayt (a), Prayer! Prayer! O Ahl al-Bayt (a)! Surely God wants to repel any impurities from you and cleanse you."<ref>Ibn Ḥanbal, ''Faḍāʾil al-ṣaḥāba'', vol. 2, p. 761</ref>

The wording of the verse is in agreement with the first opinion above saying that 'Ali (a), Fatimah (s), al-Hasan (a), and al-Husayn (a) are the Ahl al-Bayt (a), because if the Ahl al-Bayt (a) were the wives of the Holy Prophet (s), then the pronouns in the verse had to be feminine ('ankunna, {{iarabic|عنکُنَّ}}; and yutahhirakunna, {{iarabic|یُطَهِّرَکُنَّ}}) instead of masculine ('ankum, {{iarabic|عنکم}}; and yutahhirakum, {{iarabic|یُطَهِّرَکُم}}).<ref>Qurṭubī, ''al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān'', vol. 14, p. 183; Husaynī Ṭihrānī, ''Mihr-i tābān'', p. 290-292.</ref>

There would be a question why there is something said among the duties of the wives of the Holy Prophet (s) which does not relate to them, and the answer is that such style of speaking has been practiced by eloquent Arabs and we find numerous cases in the [[Holy Qur'an]] where some sequential verses talk about different issues, also there are hadiths that such verses had been revealed in different times, but have been put beside each other at the time of compiling the Holy Qur'an.<ref>Ṭabrisī, ''Majmaʿ al-bayān'', vol. 8, p. 560; Ṭabāṭabāyī, ''al-Mīzān'', vol. 16, p. 311.</ref>

In his commentary on the al-Tathir verse, [[Ibn Kathir]], a Sunni scholar, mentions a narration from Imam al-Hasan (a) who has been saying on the pulpit, "we are the Ahl al-Bayt (a) about whom God has revealed this verse [al-Tathir verse]." He also narrates that [[Imam al-Sajjad (a)]] answered a man from Syria, "We are meant by the Ahl al-Bayt (a) [in this verse]."<ref>Ibn Kathīr, ''Tafsīr al-Qurʾān'',1419 AH, vol. 6, p. 371.</ref>