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One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Subject: Re: Answer to your question: Sadaqah haraam on the Ahl'ul bayt

Actually "Anyone who understands even basic Arabic will confirm to you,  that in the context of the above aayahs of the Quran,   Allah includes the wives of the Prophet (saws) in the 'Ahle-Bayt'." If you did understand basic arabic, you would know that after verse 32 the nouns switch from female to male in gender, thus no longer speaking just of females (the wives).  You would also know that the verses were revealed at different times for different purposes.  Obliviously you did not know that.  According to sunni hadiths in Muslim, Zayd bin Arqam clearly describes who is the "ahlul bayt" being purified.

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Answer:

Prophets (saws) wives included in the Ahle-bayt

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Comment: If you did understand basic arabic, you would know that after verse 32 the nouns switch from female to male in gender, thus no longer speaking just of females (the wives). 

Lets do an exercise in Arabic grammar! If you read verse 33 of Chapter 33 Surah Ahzaab, you will learn that the whole verse is directed towards the feminine gender (and specifically to the wives of the Prophet (saws)). Only the last sentence of verse 33 changes its gender; but not to masculine as you claim…. But rather to the plural; thus including both, the males and the females of the ahle-bayt! Subhan Allah! How Perfect is Allah, and how Perfect are His Revelations!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah Ahzaab verse 33:All in feminine gender}: (O wives of the Prophet), stay in your houses, and do not go about displaying your fineries as women used to do in the Days of Ignorance. Establish the salaat, pay the zakaat, and obey Allah and His Messenger. {Now in plural gender:} Allah only intends to remove uncleanness from you, O Ahle-Bayt, and purify you completely.

Verse 34: {again feminine gender}

Remember the Revelations of Allah and the wise sayings which are recited in your houses….

Please note that the verses preceding verse 33, from verse 28 onwards are all directed towards the Wives of the Prophet and are all in the feminine gender:

Verse 28 starts: “O Prophet, tell your wives…..

Verse 29 starts: “But if you (the wives) seek Allah and His Messenger….

Verse 30 starts: “O wives of the Prophet, whoever among you…..

Verse 31 starts: “And whoever among you (the wives) obeys Allah and His Messenger….

Verse 32 starts: “O wives of the Prophet, you are not like other women…..

Thus the whole topic of Revelation here is directed to the wives of the Prophet. The whole verse 33 is in feminine gender, save the last sentence, which is the plural and not masculine, as you have claimed!!!

Read verse 33 in Arabic again, and see for yourselves whether these words are revealed in feminine, masculine, or plural:

Karna {v. feminine}

Boyootekunna {n. feminine}

Tabarrajjna {v. feminine}

Aqimna {v. feminine}

Aatinna {v. feminine}

Ate’na {v. feminine}

These words are all immediately after verse 32 which you claim are masculine! The last sentence then is revealed in plural, and not masculine!

Thus, the clear aayah of the Quran proves, without an iota of a doubt, that the wives of the Prophet are included in the ‘ahle-bayt’ of the Prophet (saws), along with his family and descendants.

But for some misguided people, Hadrat Aisha, the wife of the Prophet and the mother of the believers, would just not qualify to be included in the ‘ahle-bayt’; even if it is proved irrefutably from the Holy Quran!

We are commanded by Allah to believe and follow the Holy Quran; not make the Quran follow our false beliefs!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah Bani Israel verse 81:And declare, “The Truth has come and falsehood has vanished. And falsehood is a thing that must by its nature, vanish!”

Your Comment: You would also know that the verses were revealed at different times for different purposes.  Obliviously you did not know that.

Yes, indeed, some verses of the Holy Quran were revealed at different times for specific purposes or to answer a specific question or objection of the disbelievers. But mostly, the Quran was revealed in complete Surahs.

But brother, nowhere was half the sentence revealed at one time, and the other half of the verse revealed later! It would be like saying about the first verse of Surah Fateha was revealed in two phases: First the words ‘Alhamdo lillahe’ were revealed, and at a later date the words ‘Rabb il Aalameen’ were revealed for a different purpose; and then these two phrases were joined together in Surah Fateha to make verse number one!

Even if we were to take your ridiculous argument, that verses 28-34 of Surah Ahzaab were revealed at different times for different purposes; it is evident that each verse was revealed in completion at one time! Thus verse 33 itself was revealed at one time, and that includes the wives of the Prophets in the ‘ahle-bayt’! It is not possible, that the first part of verse 33 was revealed at one time, and the last sentence of the same verse 33 was revealed at another time for another purpose!!!!! To believe thus, would be to make a mockery of the clear aayahs and Revelations of the Holy Quran.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 18 Surah Kahf verses 103-106:Tell them (O Mohamed), “Should We tell you who are the most unsuccessful people and miserable failures in regard to their deeds? They are those, all whose endeavors in the worldly life, had gone astray from the Right Way, but all along they were under the delusion that everything they were doing, was rightly directed! Those are the people who rejected the Revelations of their Lord and did not believe that they would ever go before Him. Therefore all their deeds were lost, for We shall assign no weight to them on the Day of Resurrection. Their recompense is Hell for the disbelief they showed, and for the mockery they adopted in regard to My Aayahs and My Messengers!”

Your Comment: According to sunni hadiths in Muslim, Zayd bin Arqam clearly describes who is the "ahlul bayt" being purified.

Brother, please read the hadith again, and you will realize that this hadith 5920 of Sahih Muslim is not talking about the purification of the ‘ahle-bayt’, but rather on whom is zaqat and sadaqa forbidden. In the same hadith, Zayd bin Arqam himself confirms that the wives are included in the ‘ahle-bayt’, along with the family and descendants of the Prophet (saws).

Secondly, the names and descendants on whom Zayd thinks zakat is forbidden, is his opinion and not the words of the Messenger of Allah (saws).

Thirdly, it would suffice to say that there are many authentic narrations whereby the Messenger of Allah (saws) time and again said that zakat and sadaqa were haraam on all of Banu Hashim. The names that Zayd mentions are inclusive in Bani Hashim, but he has not named all of them.

And last but not the least, it is pointless to prove something wrong from the opinion of one hadith, which Allah Himself has confirmed in the Glorious Quran; and that is the wives of the Prophet are included in the ‘ahle-bayt’!

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan