Commentary

قُل لَّا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرً‌ا إِلَّا الْمَوَدَّةَ فِي الْقُرْ‌بَىٰ (Say, "I do not ask you any fee for it, except the love of kinship - 42:23 ). The explanation of this verse that has been adopted by most of the exegetes is that the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been directed to say the following to the infidels of Quraish, "My real right over all of you is that I am the Messenger of Allah, and you should admit it and obey me for your reformation and betterment; but even if you do not accept my prophethood and messenger-ship, there is still one more right I have over you which you cannot deny; and that is the right of relationship which I have with most of your tribes. You also do not deny the right of relatives and the need of behaving kindly towards them. Therefore, I am not asking you for any compensation for my preaching; all I want is that you should consider my right of being you relative, and refrain from animosity and hostility, irrespective of whether you accept what I am saying or you do not."

Now it is obvious that consideration of the rights of kinship was their own obligation, and could not be taken as compensation for preaching services. Hence the use of the word ` except' in this verse is in its idiomatic sense meaning that although, in reality, it is no compensation, and if you consider it to be so, it is your own mistake. In fact, I do not charge any fee at all. However, I ask you to refrain from the hostile behavior, and to fulfill the rights of kinship which you should do any way.

This explanation of this verse is reported from Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ in the Sahih of Bukhari and Sahib of Muslim; Mujahid, Qatadah and a very large group of leading exegetes have also adopted this explanation. All prophets (علیہم السلام) in every age have openly told their people that they never asked any compensation or payment in lieu of the efforts that they were making for their betterment and well-being; their compensation would be given by Allah Almighty only. This being so, how could the chief of all the prophets (علیہم السلام) who is the most honoured and exalted of all of them, ask for compensation from his people.

Said Ibn Mansur, Ibn Sa'd, ` Abd Ibn Humaid, Hakim and Baihaqi have related an incident of Imam Sha` bi, which has been certified by Hakim to be correct, that Imam Sha` bi was questioned by people regarding the explanation of this verse, and thereupon he wrote to Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ for the correct explanation. The reply he got was the same as explained above. Those interested may consult Tafsir Ruh-ul-Ma'ani for the full text of the reply given by Ibn ` Abbas ؓ . Some words of his reply are added in the report of Ibn Jarir which may be found in the same book.

There is, however, another narration reported with a weak chain of reporters, according to which Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ says that when this verse was revealed, people asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ as to who are his kinsfolk, and he replied that Sayyidna Ali ؓ ، Sayyidah Fatimah ؓ and their offspring's. The authenticity of this narration has been considered weak by Suyuti in Ad-Dur-ul-Manthur and by Hafiz Ibn Hajar in Takhrij of the Ahadith of Kashshaf. According to this narration, the meaning would be that the only compensation the Holy Prophet ﷺ asks from the ummah for his services is that they should take care of his progeny. Obviously, this proposition does not befit the high stature of prophets (علیہم السلام) and specially that of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Therefore the correct and preferred explanation which is generally favoured by the ummah is the one given above. But the Shiites have not only adopted this doubtful narration, but have also made up a huge stock of baseless presumptions on its basis.

Respect and Love for the Holy Prophet's ﷺ family and progeny

The explanation given above is to clarify that the Holy Prophet ﷺ did not ask his people to respect and love his progeny in exchange of his services. But it does not mean that the respect and love for the Holy Prophet's ﷺ progeny has no importance. Only an ill-fated, misguided person can think of such a thing. The fact is that one's being a Muslim depends on having reverence and love for the Holy Prophet ﷺ much more than any other person in the whole universe. Naturally, the logical consequence of this reverence and love is to have reverence and love for his close relatives according to the degree of their closeness to the Holy Prophet ﷺ which is obligatory for every Muslim. Since one's children are the closest relations, hence the reverence and love for the children of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is undoubtedly a necessary element of faith. But it does not mean that one should ignore or forget the pure wives ؓ or other noble Companions ؓ who had manifold associations, closeness and relationships with the Holy Prophet ﷺ .

The gist is that love for the progeny and for the family members of the Holy Prophet ﷺ has never been a matter of controversy in the ummah. It has been taken by the entire ummah unanimously as an essential requirement of faith. Controversies arise when the reverence of others is attacked, otherwise reverence and love for even common descendents of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، known as sadat, no matter how distantly related to him, is an honour for a Muslim and is a source of reward in the Hereafter. Since many people started neglecting it, Imam Shafi` i (رح) denounced this attitude in a few couplets reproduced below:

یا راکباً قف بالمحصّب من منیً واھتف بساکن خیفھا والناھض

سِحراً اِذا فاضَ الحجیج الیٰ منیً فیضاً کملتطم الفرات الفایٔض

إن کان رفضاً حُبُّ اٰلِ محَمَّد ﷺ فلیشھد الثقلان انّی رافضی

"0 rider! Halt near the valley of Muhassab in Mina, and when the sea of Hajj pilgrims advances in quick waves towards Mina in the morning, announce to every passer-by and inhabitant of the area that if only the love of the progeny of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is rifd (extreme Shi'ism), then I ask all the jins and humans of this universe to witness that I am also a rafidi (staunch Shi` ah) "

This statement of Imam Shafi` i, in fact, is the standpoint of the whole ummah.