“Ahl” in Arabic is used for various meanings such as “Ahle”, “Family” and “belongs to.” Hence, ‘Ahl al-Makka’ means those who belongs to Mecca, ‘Ahl al-Medina’ those belongs to Medina, ‘Ahl al-Ilm’ the knowledgeable and so on. The word ‘Bait’ in Arabic stands for house or household. Therefore, meaning of Ahl al-Bait is, who belongs to the Household. Commonly, the word Ahl al-Bait denotes to the Household of Allah’s Messenger.
Ahl al-Bait and Sahaba (The Companions):
However, the Messenger of Allah honored and dignified his Companions by calling them “My Companions”. No one in Ummah can claim to be as honorable as the Companions. Similarly, the Messenger of Allah endorsed a very specific and exalted position to his family besides their companionship. Here a question arises, the people who were blessed to be in the company of the Messenger of Allah were
titled as “Companions” and Ahl al-Bait were also of course blessed with the company. Then what is the need of calling them with
a different title i.e Ahl al-Bait? It must be known that every member from the family of Allah’s Messenger holds the dignified status of Companionship, but not every Companion is from the Household of Allah’s Messenger. Moulana Mufti Khaleel Ahmed (Vice Chancellor Jamia Nizamia) and other esteem religious scholars hold that the Household of Allah’s Messenger is entitled with all the virtues of the Companionship and also have some other numerous exclusive virtues that cannot be enjoyed by anyone except them. Now we will discuss some of them.
The Best Household among all:
According to A’ysha The Messenger of Allah said that Gabriel said: ‘I have searched and scrutinized the eastern and western regions of the earth, and I have not discovered any man more excellent than Muhammad, nor I have seen any house more excellent than the Household of Banu Hashim.”
The Holy Prophet (pbuh&hp) said: “Verily, Ali and I are inseparable, and he is the master (wali) of every believer after me.”
Sunni Refernces:
● Al Tirmidhi, in his Sahih, ii, 297, Ahmad ibn Hanbal in his Musnad, iv, 437, v, 356; Abu Dawud al Tayalisi in his Musnad, iii, 111, xi, 360; al Haythami, Majma al Zawaid, ix, 109, 127, 128, 19⁹9; al Khatib al Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, iv, 339; al Muhibb al Tabari, al Riyad al Nadirah, ii, 203, 171; al Muttaqi al Hindi, Kanz al Ummal, vi, 154, 155, 396, 401; Ibn al Athir in Usd al Ghabah, v, 94; Abu Nuaym in Hilyat al Awliya, vi, 294; al Nasa’i, Khasais, 19, 23; as well as Ibn Abi Shaybah, al Tabari, al Tabarani, al ?Daylami, Ibn Mardawayh, Ibn al Jawzi, al Rafii, and Ibn Hajar
Three men shared a camel equally. One of them tied his forelegs and went away for some work. In the meantime, the other two returned to their place of stay and untied one leg aru
they also went away together. The camel in their absence, walked with one untied leg off the place where the first man had tied him and fell in a well and wounded himself by the fall. The two men returned again, saw the camel fallen in the well, got him out some-how or other, and butchered him and sold the meat for collecting some money in view of a little compensation for the loss.
When the first partner returned, he saw the skin of the camel. On enquiry, the two other partners told him what had happened. He took an objection to it, and rather complained against their untying the camel which resulted in the heavy loss to him.
He then took the case to Hazrat Ali (A), who ordered for payment of 1/3 of the actual price of the camel to him. When the cash which was collected by selling the meat of the camel was counted it was one third of the cost price of the camel.
This amount was paid in full to the first partner of the camel and the other two went away empty handed.
While they were about to leave, Hazrat Ali (A) told them that as they had not taken proper care for the safety of the camel and the safe-guard of their shares, whereas their first partner had by tying his two legs, hence their loss. (Manaqib, vol. 11, p. 201).
2. Decision in the Case of a Cow and a Camel
A man catching hold of the opening of the shirt of another man came to Hazrat Omar, (RA) and told him that the other man’s cow had torn off the belly of the camel of the appellant which resulted in its death. Saying this he requested Hat Omar (RA) for ordering the accused to pay ‘full penalty of his camel to him. Hazrat Omar (RA) said:
“No penalty on the quadrupeds.”
Hearing this order Hazrat Ali (A) said to Hazrat Omar(RA): “I have heard the Holy Prophet saying:
“No man can put another man “If the accused person had tied his cow on the way of the camel, he has to pay the penalty, otherwise not.”
to loss.” He then added:On enquiry it was revealed that the owner of the cow had actually tied his cow on the way of the camel.
Hazrat Omar (RA) then ordered the accused to pay full penalty of the camel to his owner. (Qazaand Tehas: p. 80; Qaza p. 158;, Abu Turab’ (Urdu translation) vol. 2. by Allama Jazaeri, p. 244).
3. Decision About a Donkey and a Cow
Once a man came to the Holy Prophet (SA) with the complaint that the cow of another man, who had also accompanied him, had killed his donkey. The Holy Prophet (SA) sent both of them to Hazrat Abu Bakr. (RA)
Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) asked them as to why they had not gone to the Holy Prophet (SA). They replied that the Holy Prophet (SA) had himself sent them to him and that th case was in the first instance was duly taken to the Prophet of Allah (SA).
Having heard the initial reportHazrat Abu Bakr (RA) said: “If an animal kills another animal there is no penalty on the animal or his owner.”
Saying thiso Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) told the parties to go to the Holy Prophet (SA) again and inform him of his decision. In compliance of the orders of Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA)
both the men went back to the Holy Prophet (SA) and informed him of Hazrat Abu Bakr’s (RA) decision in their case.
The Holy Prophet (A) then sent them to Hazrat Omar (RA). He also gave the same decision as was previously given by Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA). When they appraised the Holy Prophet (SA) of the decision by Hazrat Omar, (RA) the Holy Prophet (SA) finall)
sent them to Hazrat Ali (A) for a decision.
When the two men went to Hazrat Ali (A), he put a few questions to them.
The first question was: “Were both the animals united at the time of occurrence of the incident?
“No”, said both of them.
Hazrat Ali (A) then put a second question to them: “Were both of them tied”?
“No”, replied they.
Then Hazrat Ali (A) put a third question to them: “Was the cow tied and the donkey untied”? “No”, replied the twb men again.
The fourth and the last question of Hazrat Ali (A) was: “Was the donkey tied and the cow untied”?
“Yes”, came the reply from both the parties.
“Then”, Hazrat Ali (A) said, “the owner of the cow has to pay the penalty to the owner of the donkey whom the cow has killed.”
When the report of the decision by Hazrat Ali (A) in the above case reached, the Holy Prophet (SA), he exclaimed: “Lo!
Ali has given the same decision as Allah Himself would have given in this case.” (Matalibus Soul: p. 85; Irshad Mufid, Manaqib, vol. 2, p. 177; Nasikhut Tawarikh: vol. 2, p.731).
4. A Game BirdA man saw some g’dme bird and followed her till she flew from the ground and sat on a tree. Meanwhile, another hunter came on the scene and hunted the bird.
The first man protesting to his action said: As I had seen the bird first, I must get it.
the case was taken to Amir ul-Momineen Hazrat Ali (A), he said to the first man.
“It was your luck only to see the bird and you have been successful thelein in seeing. The man who has hunted it has the right to possess it. Therefore, your claim to the hunted
bird is quite invalid.”
The first man accepted this decision of Hazrat Ali (A), and went away without any grumble and even murmur. (Qaza and Teha: p. 181).
One Day a person came to Ali (A.S.), thinking that since Ali thinks he is too smart, I’ll ask him such a tough question that he won’t be able to answer it and I’ll have the chance to embarrass him in front of all the Arabs.
He asked “Ali, tell me a number, that if we divide it by any number from 1-10 the answer will always come in the form of a whole number and not as a fraction.”
Hazrat Ali Looked back at him and said, “Take the number of days in a year and multiply it with the number of days in a week and you will have your answer.”
The person got astonished but as he was a Mushrik he still didn’t believe Ali (A.S.). He calculated the answer Ali (AS) gave him. To his amazement he came across the following results:
The number of Days in a Year = 360 (in Arabic Calendar) The Number of Days in a Week = 7
One day a person came to Ali (A.S.). He was planning to ask Ali (A.S.) such a question which would take Ali (A.S.) a long time to answer and because of that his Maghrib Prayers would be
delayed. He asked, “Ali you say you know everything in the world, then tell me which animals
lay eggs and which animals give birth to their young ones”
Hazrat Ali (A.S.) looked back at him smiled and said, “The animals who
have their ‘EARS’ outside their body give birth to their young ones and the animals who have their ‘EARS’ inside their body lay eggs.”
A person was about to die, and before dying he wrote his Will which went as follows:
“I have 17 Camels, and I have three sons. Divide my Camels in such a way that My eldest son gets half of them, the second one gets 1/3rd of the total and my youngest son gets 1/9th of the total number of Camels”
After his death when the relatives read his will they got extremely perplexed and said to each other that how can we divide 17 camels like this? So after a long hard thought they decided that there was only one man in Arabia who could help them: “Ali Ibne Abi Taalib.” So they all came to the door of Ali (A.S.)
and put forward their problem.
Hazrat Ali (A.S.) said, “Ok. I will divide the camels as per the man’s will.”
He said, “I will lend one of my camels to the total which makes it 18
(17+1=18), now lets divide as per his will” The Eldest gets 1/2 of 18 = 9 The second one gets 1/3 of 18 = 6 and The Youngest gets 1/9 of 18 = 2 Now the total number of camels = 17 Then Hazrat Ali (A.S.) said, “Now I will take my Camel back.” This was the genius that Hazrat Ali was in his time.
INCIDENT AT MUNSHI TAFAZZUL HUSSEIN WARISI’S PLACE
Once our Saint was the guest of Munshi Tafazzul Hussein Warisi and Vakil of Unnao, Moulvi Abdul Mannan a resident of the suburbs of Saharanpur visited and enquired our Saint’s opinion about some question beyond the day of Resurrection: “Can elevated God’s sight be visible?” Our Saint looked at Maulvi sahib with smiling eyes and asked whether he knew the Quranic verse, “one who is blind here will be blind there also”. In his replying words there was a streak of intuition. Perhaps he started at his questioner. One might assert that it was a miraculous dart of his eyes that on hearing this concise sentence Maulvi sahib was enraptured and becoming absent minded, began to dance repeating in an ecstatic state, “Eyes full of magic have struck me. “In this state he was taken to the neighbouring room. After three hours he regained his senses and when asked the reason of his uneasiness he said, “How can I explain what I have noticed in those eyes.” He again reverted to the same condition repeating his former outpouring, the burden of his song.
The next day the Maulvi sahib was taken before our Saint by Munshi Tafazzul Hussein who stated that the poor Maulvi had not touched a single morsel of food nor a drop of water; since the previous day. Our Saint smilingly enquired of the Maulvi, how he was feeling. Thanking God he requested our Saint to admit him amongst the circle of his slaves. Our saint advised him not to utter blasphemous words to which the Maulvi said, “Whether my talk is religious or Islamic just admit me in your fold.” He took the oath of allegiance (Baiyat), and was allowed to depart. He was asked by Sarkar waris to meet at Saidanpur (district Barabanki) on ninth of Ziljhaj.
THE ENCHANTING EYES OF SARKAR WARIS
Sarkar waris eyes stained with antimony were exceptionally beautiful, unique and nonpareil, but at the same time modest, unassuming, truth knowing and beaming with spiritual bestowing rays. Apart from this he was very modest. He never viewed the world with lust and avarice to the extent he never wore transparent clothes at the time of bathing so much so after his bath he would ask his attendants to depart while he changed and no one ever saw him reveal his legs which is a tradition of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon Him).
One of the striking qualities of Prophet Muhammad is his leniency in his treatment of others. God praises Prophet Muhammad in the Qur’an by emphasising his leniency and declaring it His favour. God says: (O My Esteemed Beloved!) What a mercy of God that you are lenient with them! Had you been stern and hard-hearted, people would have deserted, scattering away from around you. So, pardon them, and pray for their forgiveness, and consult them in (important) matters. [Q.3:159.]
Such was the Prophet’s leniency that once a Bedouin (Desert Arab) urinated in the mosque. The Prophet’s Companions were incensed by this disrespectful act and were about to rough him up. But the Prophet Muhammad stopped them and calmed the situation down by commanding his Companions to clean the place by placing a bucket of water over the urine. He then counselled his Companions by teaching them the principle of leniency saying: “You have been sent to facilitate ease and not to cause difficulty and hardship.”I
I Set forth by al-Bukhārī in al-Ṣaḥīḥ, 1:89 $217. •Aḥmad b. Hanbal in al-Musnad, 2:282 $7786.
Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 