Chapter Four – The pure monotheistic lineage of Prophets and Imams (as)

 

Ibn al Hashimi al Nasibi’s insult of the blessed parents of the Prophet (s), Ibrahim (as) and Ali (as) as a means of rejecting the doctrine of divine Imamah

 

Ibn al Hashimi states:

Historical ExamplesThe Prophet (s) himself was born to a family of Mushriks (polytheists) who worshipped idols. Indeed, his own parents were Kaffir (infidels). So how can we use lineage as a litmus test for piety or greatness? Our own Prophet (s) would then be in a lowly position, but we know this is not the case! There is nobody greater than Prophet Muhammad (s) because of his great deal of Taqwa .

Ibn al Hashimi also states:

And what of Prophet Ibrahim (as) whose own father was a Kaffir, and the Prophet’s parents and Ali’s parents were Kufaar as well.

Reply One – All the ancestors of the Prophet (s) were believers

If this evidences anything then it is the Ahlelbayt.com team are blashphemers of the highest order. Even the blessed parents of the Prophet (s) cannot evade their takfeer fatwas. They have resorted to heaping insults on the blessed ancestors of the Prophet (s) just to protect the doctrine of man made khilafath, this is indeed shameful! But if we analyze we will come to know that its not their fault rather their ancestors having unknown parentage during the era of ignorance and who were occupied with all sorts of evils came into the fold of Islam and unfortunately were successful to grasp key positions after Holy Prophet (s), and thus they made sure that they insert such a text which equates the parents of Holy Prophet (s) and Ali bin Abi Talib (as) with theirs.

It is unanimously accepted by the Shi’as, the Shafi’is and many other learned Sunnis that the ancestors of the Holy Prophet (SAW) from Abdullah to Qidar ibn Isma’il and from there upto Adam (a.s) were true believers. They believed in the One and the Only God, and faithfully followed the divine religion of their times. From Qidar to Abdullah, all of them followed the shari’ah of Prophet Ibrahim (a.s), which was the religion prescribed by Allah for them. As a starting point consider the Du’a of Ibrahim (as) –

002.127- 129
YUSUFALI: And remember Abraham and Isma’il raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): “Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing.
“Our Lord! make of us Muslims, bowing to Thy (Will), and of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy (will); and show us our place for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.
“Our Lord! send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall rehearse Thy Signs to them and instruct them in scripture and wisdom, and sanctify them: For Thou art the Exalted in Might, the Wise.”

Here we have the du’a of Ibrahim and Ismaeel (as) that their descendants be Muslims and Muhammad (s) come from that lineage. That should suffice as evidence that all the descendants of Ismaeel i.e. the forefathers of Muhammad (s) were believers, and to utter anything contrary to it proves that these Nasibi have rejected the Qur’an. There were Arabs, prior to the Prophet Muhammad (s) who were the adherents of the religion of Ibrahim and if we read Quran 2:132 & 6:161, it becomes clear that the religion of Ibrahim was nothing but Islam, hence Sunni scholar Abdulrazaq Muhammad Aswad in his book ‘Mousoat al-Adyaan wa al-Madahib’ Volume 1 page 103 records different forms of beliefs that were held by the people prior to Prophet Muhammad (s):

“1- some of them believed in God and believed in oneness
2- some of them believed in God and worshiped idols
3- some of them worshiped idols
4- some of them believed in Judaism or Christianity
5- some of them believed in Zoroastrian
6- some of them believed in nothing
7- some of them become heretic
8- some of them believed that God controls the human in life and they rejected every thing after death.

The historian say that the Arabs were on Ibrahim’s religion, the religion of Hanifia and Tawheed”

The second clear proof that comes right from Holy Book regarding the fact that the Holy Prophet’s ancestors were not polytheists and infidels is verse 219 of Surah Shu’ara (The Poets) which says,

“And your turning over and over among those who prostrate themselves to Allah.” (26:219)

Relevantly, under the commentary of this verse, a number of Sunni scholars have testified that the ancestors of Prophet (s) were believers. Imam Qurtubi records in his Tafseer, Volume 13 page 144:

Ibn Abbas said: ‘In loins of the fathers Adam, Noh, Ibrahim, till he brought you as a prophet’

Shaykh Ez uldeen Abdulaziz bin Abdulsalam al-Selami al-Shafyiee (d. 660 H) explains the words of the verse in the following way in his book ‘Tafsir al-Ez bin Salam’ Volume 2 page 452:

{who prostrate } from a prophet to a prophet till he brought you as a prophet”

We read in ‘Tafsir al-Nukat wa Aluyon’ by al-Mawardi, Volume 3 page 234:

His almighty say {your turning over and over among those who prostrate } there are six interpretations for it:
One of which is: ‘From a prophet to a prophet till you brought as a prophet, ibn Abbas said that.’

Shaykh Abdur Rehman al-Jazri records in ‘Al Fiqh ala Madahib al-Arba’ Volume 4 page 101:

His refutation regarding the forefathers of the prophet Muhammad were Muslims not idolaters because they used to worship Allah according to Ibrahim’s religion and that narration is not restricted to Rafidha only, as some scholars narrated from Abi Hayan in his tafsir for Allah’s statement ’{ your turning over and over among those who prostrate }’

Imam Jalaluddin Suyuti under the commentary of Surah Taubah verse 128 in his authority work Tafseer Dur al-Manthur, Volume 3 page 294 records:

Abu Naeem narrated in al-Dalael from ibn Abbas that he said that the messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: ‘My fathers were never met on adultery, Allah was transferring me from the good loins to the pure wombs purify and elegance, there wasn’t any separation between two branches without I am in the best one.’

Now just consider this tradition from Sahih al Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 56, Number 757:

Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been sent (as an Apostle) in the best of all the generations of Adam’s offspring since their Creation.”

How could Rasulullah (s) refer to his ancestors as the best of generations if they were mushrik?

Imam of Ahle Sunnah Jalaluddin Suyuti (d. 911 A.H), authored nine books on this subject, and has proved beyond any doubt that all the ancestors of the Holy Prophet (as) were true believers.
At this juncture let us stop and consider this matter from a rational perspective, by asking our readers to consider this example:

“You are invited by a good friend to spend the weekend at his house. You arrive there on Saturday evening. After general conversation, he invites you to take a seat at the dinner table. You get there and are greeted by vast array of dishes to choose from. The plates are of beautiful design as is the accompanying cutlery. You are spoilt by the vast choice of culinary delights, and enjoy a wonderful meal, making sure that you savour all the wonderful dishes on offer. The meal finishes, you chat with your host for a little while longer and then head off to bed. The next morning you come downstairs for breakfast. You arrive at the dinner table and notice that all the dishes on which you dined on the night before remain on the table in an unwashed state. Your host comes in and greets you. He then brings out a delightful breakfast dish and proceeds to place this food into the same dirty dishes that you had fed on the previous night. We ask those with rational minds, would you feed off that dish? The answer is no, not only would the thought of placing the food into an unclean plate seem unappealing, it also carries an inherent health and safety risk, after all the dirty plates remained out overnight, they may have been contaminated by dust, mice or rats. No rational person would agree to satiate his stomach by feeding off this dirty plate. We appeal to justice, no rational person would agree to eating a perfect dish on a plate contaminated by filth and impurity, so are we believe that Allah (swt) would be content with delivering the greatest, most perfect of his creations on a dish (loins) that have been contaminated by the unclean pollution of Kufr and Shirk?”

The above example is corroborated by the famous Sunni muhaddith, Shaykh Abdul Haq Dehlawi wrote in Madarij al Nubuwwa, Volume 1 page 6:

“All the ancestors of the Holy Prophet from Adam up to ‘Abdullah were pure and clean from the impurity of disbelief and paganism. It was not possible for Allah to put that Holy Light (of the Holy prophet) into any dark and dirty place, that is, in the loin of a pagan man or the womb of a pagan woman. Also, how could it be possible for Allah to punish the ancestors of the Holy Prophet on the day of judgment and thus humiliate him before the eyes of the world.”

Whilst that should suffice for those with open minds, we shall strengthen our contention further by citing the pen of Mufti Ghulam Rasul al-Hanafi (d. October 2010) who whilst discussing the excellence of Imam Baqir (as), cited his excellence through lineage:

“Imam Baqir has countless, unlimited merits and virtues. Every merit is of a massive scale, and the major merits is that he is from the family of the Prophet (s), and the family lineage possessed by Rasulullah (s) is also possessed by Imam Baqir and family lineage possessed by Rasulullah is greater than all other lineages of the world.

Every nation in which a Prophet is sent, his lineage is greater than all other lineages of the nation

When Allah (swt) sends a prophet to a nation, his lineage is greatest than the lineages of his nation, so that no one can raise questions and argue on the lineage of a prophet. Thus, Allamah Abu Hasan al Mawardi writes in ‘Alam al Nabuwat’ that since Allah choose his prophets from amongst all of His (swt) people and are best as compared to all of His (swt) creations, thus they have been chosen from the elements that are Kareem and they have been made strong through relationships that are firm, ‘preserve their dynasty from slander and their position from being attacked’ so that their lineage can be protected from all kinds of objections and their station is protected from every error, so that the souls of the people can submit towards them and the people can seriously listen to their words, so people adhere to their orders, and obey them.

All of the forefathers and mothers of the Prophet (s) were adherents of Tauheed and were Momin

The lineage of our Prophet is superior to the lineages of the word, similarly his lineage from his father Abdullah (as) to Adam (as) is pure and clean. Allamah Sayyid Mahmud al-Shakri Alusi stated in ‘Balogh al Arab fee Marifat al Ahwal al-Arab’:
‘It is the opinion of the majority of scholars that all ‘Usool’ the Prophet (s) i.e. his forefathers and mothers were the adherents of tauheed (oneness) of Allah, believed in Qayamah and questioning, they were the adherents of the teachings of Deen al-Hanifiyah’ and Hadhrath Ali (k) narrated that Holy Prophet (s) said: ‘Verily I was born through Nikah, I was not born through an illegal union, from Adam till the time that my parents conceived me, nothing from the things of the time of Jaahiliyah ever touched me’. The chain of this hadeeth is Hasan, which is why Allamah Suyuti in ‘Jami al Sagheer’ records that Ibn Adi recorded it in Kamil and Tabrani in Awsat and has pointed out towards the notion that this hadith is Hasan.
Moreover Akramah narrated from Ibn Abbas that the verse ‘And your turning over and over among those who prostrate themselves before Allah’ (26:219) means that the Holy Prophet (s) said:

‘The particles of my (Prophet (s)’) being were kept transferred from a loin of a prophet to another until I appeared as a prophet.’

All narrators of the Hadeeth narrated by Akramah from Ibn Abbas are Thiqa

Bazaar and Tabrani narrated this hadeeth and all narrators in the chain are Thiqa.
There is another tradition in which Atta narrated from Ibn Abbas who told the following meaning of the aforesaid verse: ‘The Holy Prophet (s) was kept transferring from the loin of a prophet to another till His (s) mother gave birth to him, this has been narrated by Abu Naeem’.

Jawahir al Uloom, pages 210-213

We should elaborate that the hadith Mufti Ghulam Rasool cited in the end, can be read in al-Mujam al-Kabir by al-Tabarani, v11, p287 while Imam Abi Bakar al-Haythami in Majm’a al-Zawaed, v7, p86 stated about this tradition: ‘The narrators are the narrators of Sahih, except Shabib bin Beshr but he is Thiqah’and also Allamah Muhammad bin Yusuf al-Salehi al-Shami (d. 942 H) stated in his book ‘Subul al-Huda wa al-Reshad’ v1, p235: ‘The narrators are Thiqa’.

Allamah Burhanuddin Halabi while quoting Imam Mawardi in his famed book Seerat al-Halabiyah, Volume 1 page 6 records:

وقال الماوردي في كتاب (أعلام النبوة): وإذا اختبرت حال نسبه وعرفت طهارة مولده علمت أنه سلالة آباء كرام ليس فيهم مستزل، بل كلهم سادة قادة، وشرف النسب وطهارة المولد من شروط النبوة

Al-Mawardi said in A’lam al-Nubuwa: ‘If you examine His genealogy, you would come to know about the purity of His birth, you will realize that he is a descendant of noble fathers, there was no one among them deviated, nay all of them were masters and leaders. The honorable genealogy and pure birth is a condition for prophethood.’

Reply Two – The parents of Maula Ali (as) were believers

As for the parents of Maula Ali (as), we will let Allamah Saaim Chisthi al Hanafi evidence the truth in this regards, in his book ‘Mushkil kusha’ Volume 2 page 36-37 under the chapter ‘the pure tree’ who has also relied on the works of Allamah Abdul Rahman al Safoori:

Sayyidina Haider Karar (ra) father was Hadhrath Abu Talib and his mother was Fatima bint Asad and the grandfather of both of them was Hadhrath Hashim bin Abd Manaf, means Ali’s father was the grandson of Hadhrath Hashim while Ali’s mother was grand daughter of Hadrath Hashim and if Hadrath Hashim was the grandfather Hadhrath Ali then he was also the father of the Imam of the Porphets- Muhammad al Mustafa (s), while the ancestry of the Prophet (s) requires no introduction, his descendants were all pure, whilst traditions do exists leading to people suggesting they were mushrik (polytheist), but the majority of the Ulema have deemed this wrong, and the ulema have deemed the words of the Prophet: “We were kept transferring from one pure loins and womb from another’ as an abrogation of the former text that portrays something contrary to this. And at the top of this, Allah (swt) has made His (swt) statement as a testimony that: ‘And your turning over and over among those who prostrate themselves before Allah’ .

Anyhow, even if this topic has been controversial in past, then it is not the case today since many of the Wahabi scholars too agree that the ancestors of Prophet (s) were clean of the impurity of kufr and Shirk…

How did the Nur transfer?

“Hadhrath Jabir bin Abdullah narrates that the Prophet (s) said ‘Allah (swt) created me and Ali from a nur before the Arsh, we used to perform tasbih and taqdees of Allah (swt) two thousand years before the creation of Adam. When Allah (swt) created Adam (as), He (swt) placed our Nur into his loin, which transferred through a pure lineage, till it went into the loins of Hadhrath Ibrahim (as) and then through his pure lineage it went to the loin of Abdul Muttalib from where , two third went to Abdullah while one third to Abu Talib. Mine and Ali’s Nur then rejoined through Fatima, thus Hasan and Hussain are the two Nur of Allah (swt)”. [Majlis, Volume 2 page 230 (printed Egypt) by Allamah Abdul Rahman al Safoori].

Mushkil Kusha, Volume 2 pages 36-37

Before we substantiate our position with texts we would ask those with rational minds to consider the following points issues:

  1. Can Ibn al Hashimi produce a single reference (even weak one) to prove that Hadharat Abu Talib participated in idol worship?
  2. When the Prophet asked the Makkan Kuffar to embrace the doctrine of Tauheed, what immediately followed was vigorous opposition and persecution. Can Ibn al Hashimi cite any instance of Abu Talib (as) voicing his opposition to the doctrine of Tauheed advocated by his nephew?
  3. Differences of opinion are not uncommon, they can occur between a father and son, when they are over religious beliefs this is an emotional matter that will inevitably lead to debate and conflict.
  4. The Makkan Kuffar had no personal grudge with Muhammad (s), he (s) was not after their properties, nor did he want to harm them. Their opposition was solely on a difference of beliefs. Why did Abu Talib (as) likewise, not side with Makkans and oppose the Prophet (s) who was leading a movement that was against his beliefs? There would have been no reason for him to maintain silence. On the contrary the duty to be a vocal opponent was all the more necessary when one considers Abu Talib was a tribal chieftain of Makka, and custodian of the Kaaba. If Abu Talib was opposed to this doctrine, is it not inevitable that he would have come into direct conflict with his nephew over this belief system?
  5. History testifies that when Hadhrath Muhammad (saaws) declared his Prophethood (s), the Quraysh subjected the Bani Hashim to a boycott. Hadhrath Abu Talib (as) took the tribe to an area called Shaeb Abi Talib where they remained for three years, suffering from immense hardship. This boycott that sought to suffocate the tribe by prohibiting trade went on with them went on for 1000 days. If Abu Talib was a mushrik what was the sense in him suffering such hardship? The pressure placed on him was not of his own doing, so why was he suffering? Could Pharaoh have tolerated a son growing up in the same house as him, but holding a diametrically different belief system than his own? Surely he would have cracked under the pressure. How could he tolerate persecution as a consequence of his nephew that had a belief that he didn’t share? How could a muhrik tolerate a man attacking his idol worship? Yet we see no textual evidence of him remonstrating with his nephew or joining the Makkan Kuffar.
  6. Is there any textual proof that Abu Talib (as) participated in any form of idol worship whilst as the Shaeb Abi Talib? People always call upon the Supreme Authority during times of worship. Is there any evidence of Abu Talib supplicating through the medium of any form of idol? Did he ever call upon an idol to free him of these hardships? Crucially can Ibn al Hashimi show us any evidence that the man that he deems a mushrik took idols with him to the Shaeb Abi Talib? Had he done so, then Rasulullah (s) would have responded in the same form manner that Prophet Ibrahim (as) had done with his uncle. Yet we see no evidence of Abu Talib taking an idol, or calling upon one for help.
  7. If Abu Talib (as) was a kaafir, would the Prophet (s) truly have had the deep level of love and devotion for him? Can we see from the Qur’an or Sunnah evidence of the Prophet (s) having the same level of love for any other Mushrik, or for that matter any other Muslim?
  8. Whilst as Shi’a we believe that the lineage of Muhammad (s) were believers, the Sunnis believe that Imam Ali (as) embraced the faith that Muhammad (s) had brought. Let us for arguments sake accept this. If Abu Talib (as) was a Mushrik would he have allowed his son to adhere to a faith that he deemed incorrect? Unusually we see no evidence of Abu Talib ever preventing his son from following a belief system that he was opposed to. Ali (as) was a child at the time, and age when a child shall not opposed the decision of his father. Would any father tolerate that his son was following a belief system that he opposed, and infact deemed wrong? Would Ibn al Hashimi for example not seek to prevent his young son from converting to Hinduism? Would you not threat the person misleading your son, to keep away and not indoctrinate him with his deviant beliefs? Could Ibn al Hashimi show us any argument wherein Abu Talib (as) told his nephew (s) not to perform dawah on him and convert to his religion?
  9. Rasulullah (s) remained with Abu Talib (as) until he died. He dined with him. Common Arab cuisine of that time (as today) was meat. How could Rasulullah (s) eat the food from the table of his uncle if he was a mushrik, an idol worshipper? We should keep in mind that Rasulullah (s) never ate the meat slaughtered by mushriks. To this effect, we have this tradition in Sahih Bukhari Volume 5, Book 58, Number 169:
    Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar:
    The Prophet met Zaid bin ‘Amr bin Nufail in the bottom of (the valley of) Baldah before any Divine Inspiration came to the Prophet. A meal was presented to the Prophet but he refused to eat from it. (Then it was presented to Zaid) who said, “I do not eat anything which you slaughter in the name of your stone idols. I eat none but those things on which Allah’s Name has been mentioned at the time of slaughtering.” Zaid bin ‘Amr used to criticize the way Quraish used to slaughter their animals, and used to say, “Allah has created the sheep and He has sent the water for it from the sky, and He has grown the grass for it from the earth; yet you slaughter it in other than the Name of Allah. He used to say so, for he rejected that practice and considered it as something abominable.

We may inshallah write a separate article on this great man, but since Ibn al-Hashimi is one such blasphemer let us inform him that Rasulullah (s) himself was proud that he was the product of legal union, and when it came to his own Nikah this was recited by Hadhrath Abu Talib (as), and the sermon that Abu Talib (as) gave to the men of Quraysh who were present at the marriage, he made clear references to Tauheed (ones of Allah) and the lineage of Ibrahim (as). Sunni scholar Halabi records the sermon:

“Praise be to Allah Who made us from the seed of Abraham and progeny of Ismaeel. He granted as a Sacred house and a place of pilgrimage. He made us to dwell in a secure sanctuary (haram), to which the fruits of everything are brought. He made us, moreover, arbiters in men’s affairs, and blessed for us this land in which we dwell.”

Seerah al-Halabiyyah, volume 1 page 439, Urdu translation by Maulana Aslam Qasmi Deobandi

Nawasib should be ashamed to suggest that the Nikah of Muhammad (s) was recited by a kaafir, if it was what should we say of the children born of that union?

The History of Tabari Volume 6 page 96 also informs us that when Abu Jahal approached Abu Talib, remonstrating as follows:

“Your nephew is reviling our gods and doing all sorts of things. Why do you not send for him and forbid him to do this? He sent for him, and the Prophet came and entered the room…Abu Talib said to him, ‘Nephew how is it that your tribe are complaining of you and are complaining that you are reviling their gods and saying this, that and the other”.

Just consider his words here ‘you are reviling their gods’ if Abu Talib was a mushrik as Ibn al Hashimi suggest, why did he not say ‘you are reviling our gods’? Abu Talib was making it clear that he did not ascribe to the same beliefs as the complainants, and this destroys the claim of Ibn al Hasihmi.

Nasibi such as Ibn al Hashimi take great enjoyment relying on a tradition wherein Abu Talib kept on insisting on his deathbed “I am on the religion of ‘Abdul Muttalib” (Sahih al Bukhari Volume 5, Book 58, Number 223) but since when was Abdul Muttalib a Mushrik? We have already proven that the pre lineage of Muhammad (s) was that of believers, that of course incorporates Abdul Muttalib, his (s) grandfather. If this Nasibi rejects this then perhaps he could explain why we read in Surah Fil how Allah (swt) protected the Kaaba from attack, following the supplication of none other than Abdul Muttalib. Was the protection on account of the supplication of a mushrik? If it is argued it was natural that Allah (swt) would protect His House, then we will ask why this protection was not afforded when the same house was catapulted with fireballs during the Caliphate of Ibn al Hashmi’s sixth Imam Yazeed? Why did Allah (SWT) protect the Kaaba at that time and not at any other? To us, it is simple:

  1. to prove that Abdul Muttalib was divinely inspired (he predicted that Allah would protect it) knowing that in the future some people would lower that status of the prophet’s ancestors
  2. it was the year the prophet was born so Allah wished to honor him
  3. the Qur’an: says:
    {106:1} For the protection of the Qureaish–
    {106:2} Their protection during their trading caravans in the winter and the summer–
    {106:3} So let them serve the Lord of this House
    {106:4} Who feeds them against hunger and gives them security against fear.

We will also counter such absurd narrations with this one from Khasais al Kubra Volume 1 page 215:

“When the time of death of Abu Talib neared, he summoned the children of Abdul Muttalib and said ‘You will in remain in a good situation, as long as you listen to the words of Muhammad (s), and adhered on his orders, . Follow him and support him”

A mushrik would never provide this form of advice to his children. Being a mushrik, how could he advise his descendants to adhere to the teachings of Muhammad (s) who was preaching belief in Tauheed? How could one that allegedly spent his life in Kufr, be advising his descendants to remain is a good stead by following another religion? He would view these as deviants beliefs, why would he encourage his descendants to adhere to this deviant path? Supporting him is one thing but to advocate adhering to his teachings to attain success, can only be the case if he likewise affirmed these beliefs.

Further traditions from Khasais al-Kubra prove that Abu Talib (as) died as a believer.

وفيها : ان ابا طالب لما حضرته الوفاة دعا بني عبد المطلب فقال : لن تزالوا بخير ما سمعتم من محمد ، وما اتبعتم أمره ، فاتبعوه واعينوه ترشدوا.

When death came to Abu Talib, he called the children of Abdulmutalib and said: ‘You will remain in good as long you listen to Muhammad and follow his instructions, therefore follow him and support him to be guided.

we further read:

روي بأسانيد كثيرة بعضها عن العباس بن عبد المطلب ، وبعضها عن أبي بكر بن أبي قحافة : أن أبا طالب ما مات حتى قال : لا إله إلا الله ، محمد رسول الله.

It has been narrated by many chains some of them from al-Abbas bin Abdulmutalib and some of them from Abu Bakr bin Abi Quhafa that Aba Talib before he his death said: ‘No God but Allah and Muhammad is Allah’s messenger.’

We also read:

وروي عن علي انه قال : ما مات أبو طالب حتى أعطى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله من نفسه الرضا

It is narrated from Ali that he said: ‘Abu Talib didn’t die before he gave the Prophet (pbuh) what made Him pleased’.
 al-Khasais Ali by Imam Nesai, page 37

Moreover it is interesting that Allamah Saaim Chishti al-Hanafi on the death of Abu Talib (as) cited two esteemed Sunni sources:

“About the book from which we are now going to cite reference, the Qutb al-Iqtab, the moon of Wilayah, Hadhrat Mian Sher Muhammad in one of his works wrote that it is extremely necessary to read that book in order to give survival to one’s faith….Syed al-Muhaqaqeen (master of researchers) and crown of Muhadatheen Hadhrat Allamah Shah Abdul Haq Muhadith Dehalwi [ra] in his book Madarij al Nubuwwat has quoted various references from that very book being talked about, thus at many places he stated “Taken from Ma’arij”. He himself stated: “The opinion of Ahlulbayt is that Abu Talib [ra] died as a believer” [Madarij al Nubuwwat, Volume 2 page 546]

Ma’arij al Nabuwwat

“It has been narrated from Ahlulbayt that they all agree and have Ijma on the fact that Abu Talib [ra] died as a believer.” [Ma’arij al Nabuwwat, part 2 page 69].”

Ayon al-Matalib fi Athbat Iman e Abi Talib, page 367 (Published in Chishti Kutub Khana, Faisalabad, Pakistan)

Ibn Hashimi, don’t you suggest that the Ahl’ul Sunnah are the true followers of the Ahl’ul bayt (as)? Why on earth have you ignored the ijmaa of the Ahl’ul bayt in this regards? Will you go on record and declare that the Ahl’ul bayt (as) were wrong on this matter?

These are the names of some of the books written by the scholars of Ahle Sunnah to prove that Abu Talib (as) died as a Muslim:

  1. Bughyat al-Talib le Iman Abi Talib by Imam Suyuti
  2. Asna al-Matalib fi Najat Abi Talib by Ahmad bin Zaini Dahlan al-Shafiyee (d. 1304 H)
  3. Ithbat Islam Abi Talib by Muhammad Mueen al-Hindi al-Hanafi (d. 1161 H)
  4. Al-Sahm al-Saeb le Kabed men aza Abi Talib, by Muhammad Afandi al-Sayadi al-Shafiyee (d. 1327 H)
  5. Ghayat al-Matalib fi bahth Iman Abi Talib, by Ali Kabir al-Hindi (d. 1284 H)
  6. Faydh al-Waheb fi Najat Abi Talib by Ahmad Faydhi al-Rumi al-Hanafi. (d. 1327 H) 

Reply Three – The father of Prophet Ibrahim (as) was a believer

Although the traditions we have cited up till now to prove that the forefathers of Holy Prophet (s) were all monotheist caters the lineage back to Adam (as) which include Ibrahim’s (as) father as well, thus we do not see any need to specifically prove the belief of Ibrahim’s (as) father but since Ibn al-Hashimi al-Nasibi has specifically declared Ibrahim’s (as) father as Kaafir, we shall point out that only those pathetic people reach to that conclusion who deem Azar (Ibrahim’s uncle who was Kaafir) to be the father of Ibrahim’s (as) while in reality his biological father was Tarakh who was a believer. We shall cite two Sunni sources in this regard. Allamah Sayed Mahmud Alusi states in Tafseer Ruh al Ma’ani, Volume 7 pages 194-195 under the commentary of (Quran: 6:74):

A great number of Ahlulsuunah relied on that is Azar was not the father of Ibrahim (as) and they claimed that there has been no one among the forefathers of the Prophet (s) who was a disbeliever at all, according to His (s) statement: ‘I was transferred from the pure loins to the pure wombs, and the mushrik is impure.’

Allamah Muhammad bin Yusuf al-Salehi al-Shami (d. 942 H) records in ‘Subu al-Huda wa al-Rashad’ Volume 1 page 256:

‘Among those who inclined to that path is Imam Fakhruddin al-Razi (may Allah’s mercy be upon him). He added that all of His (s) forefather up till Adam were on the belief of Tawheed. As he said in his book ‘Asrar al-Tanzil’: ‘It has been said that Azar wasn’t the father of Ibrahim, but he was his uncle.’

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