Aal Rasul Allah wa Awliya'uhu
- Author died
- 1421 AH
- Editions
- Aal Rasul Allah wa Awliya'uhu
Aal Rasul Allah wa Awliya'uhu (The Family of the Messenger of Allah and His Allies) is a theological treatise compiled and arranged by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Qasim (d. 1421 AH / 2000 CE), abridging material from Ibn Taymiyyah's polemical work Minhaj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah on the Prophet's household, his allies, and the respective positions of Sunni and Shi'i scholarship .
Background and Purpose
The full subtitle of the work is Mawqif Ahl al-Sunnah wa-al-Shi'ah min 'Aqa'idihim wa-Fada'ilihim wa-Fiqhihim wa-Fuqaha'ihim; Usul Fiqh al-Shi'ah wa-Fiqhuhum (The Stance of Ahl al-Sunnah and the Shi'ah Regarding Their Creeds, Virtues, Jurisprudence, and Jurists; The Principles of Shi'i Jurisprudence and Their Fiqh) . The author completed the preface of the book in 1407 AH (1986/1987 CE) . Ibn Qasim stated that he undertook this compilation from Ibn Taymiyyah's Minhaj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah fi Naqd Kalam al-Shi'ah wa-al-Qadariyyah to clarify the realities of Islamic creed, guide readers to what he described as the safest path, and provide Shi'i youth with arguments delineating truth from falsehood, acting out of religious counsel (nasihah) .
Scope and Contents
The book focuses on defining the Prophet's family (Aal) and his spiritual allies (Awliya'), contrasting theological and jurisprudential stances:
- Definition of the Prophet's Household (Aal Muhammad): The text articulates that the Prophet's Aal are his household (Ahl al-Bayt), encompassing all of Banu Hashim (such as al-Abbas and his descendants, al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib, and the Prophet's daughters), as well as Banu al-Muttalib according to one of two legal opinions . It argues on Quranic and hadith grounds that the Prophet's wives are included among his Ahl al-Bayt, while highlighting that Ali ibn Abi Talib, Fatimah, al-Hasan, and al-Husayn hold a particularly specific distinction within the household .
- The Allies of the Prophet (Awliya' Muhammad): The treatise explains that lineage alone does not determine divine favor, as relatives of the Prophet included both believers and non-believers . Rather, the Prophet's true allies are the pious believers (al-atqiya' and salih al-mu'minin), with spiritual kinship in faith and piety being greater than mere biological kinship .
- Creed of the Companions and the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt: The work asserts that the Companions did not dispute over foundational articles of faith such as divine attributes, predestination (Qadar), or the caliphate . It further maintains that early Imams of the Prophet's family—such as Ali ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, Muhammad al-Baqir, and Ja'far al-Sadiq—shared the creed of the general body of the Companions and Successors, affirming the divine attributes and Qadar, while rejecting doctrines of divine creation of the Quran, explicit textual designation (nass) of the twelve Imams, their infallibility ('ismah), or the disparagement of Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab .
- Monotheism (Tawhid): The treatise outlines the three categories of monotheism: Lordship (Tawhid al-Rububiyyah), Names and Attributes (Tawhid al-Asma' wa-al-Sifat), and Divinity (Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah) .
Method and Sources
In structuring the abridgment, Ibn Qasim reorganized the source material thematically and introduced clarifying section headings . He added chapter and verse numbers for Quranic citations and provided hadith source verifications (takhrij), adopting the Istanbul Islamic Library edition for citations from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim .
For the text of Minhaj al-Sunnah, he relied primarily on two printed versions: the Maktabat al-Riyadh al-Hadithah edition for its first two volumes and the 1322 AH Bulaq Amiri Press edition of Cairo, while cross-checking difficult readings against the academic edition edited by Dr. Muhammad Rashad Salim and published by Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University .
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