Tafsir Qawlihi Taala: "Wa ma atakum al-Rasul fakhudhuhu" wa Mana "Ahl al-Bayt
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dār ‘Ālam al-Fawā’id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Tafsir Qawlihi Taala: "Wa ma atakum al-Rasul fakhudhuhu" wa Mana "Ahl al-Bayt" (Arabic: تفسير قوله تعالى: ﴿وما آتاكم الرسول فخذوه﴾ ومعنى «أهل البيت», lit. 'Interpretation of the Almighty’s Saying: "And Whatever the Messenger Gives You, Take It" and the Meaning of "Ahl al-Bayt"') is an exegetical treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1895–1966 CE) . The short work records a scholarly debate concerning the textual context of two Quranic verses and clarifies the definition of the Prophet's household (Ahl al-Bayt) and family (Al) in both scripture and hadith literature .
Background and Composition
The treatise documents the text of a debate (mudhākara) that took place between al-Muallimi and the scholar Salih ibn Muhsin al-Saylami (d. 1349 AH) . Al-Saylami had cited the Quranic phrase وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا ("And whatever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it" [al-Hashr: 7]) as a general proof-text for obedience to the Prophet ﷺ in all matters . Al-Muallimi affirmed the general obligation of obeying the Prophet ﷺ based on other verses such as مَنْ يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَ ("He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah" [al-Nisa: 80]), but argued that this particular verse in Surat al-Hashr addresses the distribution of war-spoils and tribute (fayʾ) within its immediate textual context . When their discussion transitioned to the authority of textual context (dalālat al-siyāq), the debate turned to the Purification Verse in Surat al-Ahzab regarding the identity of Ahl al-Bayt .
The complete treatise occupies twelve manuscript pages and was published within the collection of al-Muallimi's exegetical works (Majmūʿ Rasāʾil al-Tafsīr) .
Key Arguments and Method
Context of Surat al-Hashr
Al-Muallimi examines the linguistic usage of "giving" (ītāʾ) and "taking" (akhdh), demonstrating that their primary, literal meanings denote physical distributions such as fayʾ and booty . Drawing upon Ahmad al-Sawi's commentary on Tafsir al-Jalalayn and works of legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh), he reconciles the primary context of property division with broader legal deductions, explaining how the verse can encompass obedience generally through shared meaning or figurative extension without abandoning the surrounding textual context .
The Meaning of Ahl al-Bayt
Responding to his interlocutor's dismissal of textual context regarding the verse إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمْ تَطْهِيرًا ("Allah only intends to remove evil from you, O people of the household, and purify you thoroughly" [al-Ahzab: 33]), al-Muallimi argues that the Prophet's wives are definitively included in the address because the verses immediately preceding and succeeding it address them directly . He addresses the masculine plural pronoun ( عَنْكُمُ ) by comparing it to the verse in Surat Hud regarding the wife of Abraham: رَحْمَتُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ عَلَيْكُمْ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ ("The mercy of Allah and His blessings be upon you, O people of the household" [Hud: 73]), where the masculine form is used by way of grammatical predominance (taghlīb) .
Al-Muallimi further analyzes the Abrahamic prayers (al-Ṣalāt al-Ibrāhīmiyyah) narrated in the canonical hadith collections from Abu Humayd al-Sa'idi, Ka'b ibn 'Ujra, and Abu Hurayra, concluding that the term Ahl al-Bayt carries two distinct usages across the sources :
- The Household of Dwelling (Ahl Bayt al-Suknā): Refers to the physical residents of the Prophet's household, including his wives, his daughter Fatimah, his son-in-law Ali, and their children .
- The Lineage of Kinship (Ahl al-Qarābah): Refers to the Prophet's kin and agnates to whom obligatory charity (ṣadaqah) was forbidden, namely the families of Ali, Aqil, Ja'far, and al-Abbas, as defined by Zayd ibn Arqam in Sahih Muslim and Sunan al-Tirmidhi .
Through this semantic distinction, al-Muallimi critiques the harmonization proposed by al-Turbishti and resolves apparent contradictions between narrations that include the Prophet's wives among Ahl al-Bayt and those that restrict the term in the context of charity prohibition .
Reception and Related Works
The contemporary judge Abd Allah ibn Ali al-Amudi (d. 1398 AH) penned an independent treatise supporting al-Muallimi's position and presented it to the ruler of Asir, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Idrisi; al-Amudi's autograph manuscript is preserved in the Library of the Holy Mosque in Mecca (MS 4708) .
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