Virtues of the Prophet’s Household and the Obligation to Adhere to Them

Among what God revealed to His Prophet ﷺ and which he made known to his nation through his legatee, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (peace be upon him), is his saying:

“O people! Know that the knowledge which God sent down upon the prophets before you is found among the progeny of your Prophet. So where are you going, being diverted from knowledge that has been transmitted from the loins of the people of the Ark? They are its likeness among you. They are like the Cave to the People of the Cave; they are the Gate of Peace — so enter through peace, all of you. They are the Gate of Forgiveness; whoever enters it shall be forgiven.
Take it from me — from the Seal of the Messengers — who proclaimed it during the Farewell Pilgrimage:
‘Indeed, I am leaving among you that which, if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray after me: the Book of God and my progeny, my Household. The All-Subtle, the All-Aware informed me that they shall never separate until they return to me at the Pool (of Kawthar).’”

God also unveiled to him what his family would suffer from the harshness of the people and the deviation of the nation from them — except those whom God’s protection embraces. He showed him the places of their martyrdom, and how the tyrants of Banū Umayya would usurp his pulpit, until the Prophet ﷺ once named them one by one.

And he said to his nation — peace and blessings be upon him and his family — when he returned from one of his journeys, his face pale with sorrow:

“O people! I am leaving among you the two weighty things: the Book of God, and my progeny — my family tree. They will never separate until they return to me at the Pool. Verily, I shall await them there, and I shall question you about them on the Day of Resurrection.

On that Day three banners from this nation will come to me:

The first banner, black in color, will halt before me. I will say: ‘Who are you?’ They will forget my name and say: ‘We are the people of monotheism from among the Arabs.’ I will say: ‘I am Muhammad, the Prophet of the Arabs and non-Arabs.’ They will say: ‘We are of your community.’
I will ask: ‘How did you treat my Book and my family after me?’
They will reply: ‘As for Your Book — we neglected it. As for your family — we strove to annihilate them.’
So I will turn away from them, and they will depart thirsty, their faces blackened.

Then another banner, even darker than the first, will approach. I will ask them: ‘Who are you?’ They will answer as the first did, claiming to be of my community. I will ask: ‘What did you do regarding the Two Weighty Things — the Book of God and my progeny?’
They will reply: ‘As for the Book — we opposed it. As for the family — we abandoned and scattered them utterly.’
I will say: ‘Away from me!’ and they will depart, thirsty and dark-faced.

Then a third banner, gleaming with light, will come forward. I will ask: ‘Who are you?’ They will answer:
‘We are the people of the word of monotheism and piety. We are the nation of Muhammad. We are the remnant of the people of truth. We upheld the Book of our Lord — made lawful what it made lawful, and forbade what it forbade. We loved the progeny of Muhammad and supported them as we supported ourselves, and we fought alongside them against those who opposed them.’
I will say to them: ‘Rejoice! I am your Prophet Muhammad. Indeed you are as you have described.’ Then I will give them drink from my Pool, and they will depart quenched.

Verily Gabriel has informed me that my nation will kill my son al-Ḥusayn in a land of grief and affliction — Karb and Balā’ (Karbala). Indeed, may God’s curse be upon his killer and his betrayer — forever and ever.”

This noble prophetic narration was reported by al-Ḥākim al-Jushamī, may God have mercy on him, in Kitāb al-Safīnah from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with them both). It has corroborating reports.

The Prophet ﷺ also said, as narrated by Imām al-Manṣūr bi-Allāh (ʿalayhi al-salām):

“Whoever wishes to live my life, die my death, and enter the Garden of Eden which my Lord has planted with His own hand — let him take ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his guardian, and follow his successors after him.
They are the friends of God and the Imams after me. God has granted them my knowledge and my understanding. They are my progeny — of my flesh and my blood.
I complain to God of the wrongdoers from my nation who will wrong them. By God, my nation will kill them — may God deny them my intercession!”

This narration has multiple chains in the books of the Sunnah. We have collected the soundest of them in our book Lawāmiʿ al-Anwār, may God make it beneficial. In the final section of this present book there will appear what suffices for those who worship.

In the narration transmitted by Imām Abū Ṭālib, through the chain of the People of the House, up to the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī (peace be upon him), he said:

“The Messenger of God ﷺ visited us, and we prepared for him a dish of stew (khazīrah)…”

He continued the report until he said — quoting the Prophet ﷺ:

“Then he faced the qiblah, and prayed to God Almighty for as long as he wished. Then he bowed down to the ground, weeping copiously like rain, and repeated this three times.
We were too awed to ask him. Then al-Ḥusayn approached, threw himself upon the Messenger of God ﷺ, and wept. The Prophet embraced him and said: ‘May my father and mother be your ransom, my child — what makes you weep?’
Al-Ḥusayn replied: ‘Father, I saw you do what you have never done before.’
The Prophet said: ‘My son, today I rejoiced in you with a joy greater than ever before. My beloved Gabriel came to me and informed me that you all shall be slain, and your resting places will be scattered. That grieved me, so I prayed to God for you.’
Al-Ḥusayn asked: ‘O Messenger of God, who will visit us when our graves are far apart and our bodies dispersed?’
The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘A group from my nation will visit you, seeking thereby my nearness and kinship. On the Day of Resurrection I will visit them at the gathering, take them by their arms, and deliver them from its terrors and hardships.’”

As for what has been narrated regarding the People of the Prophet’s House from their grandfather ﷺ, it cannot be encompassed — it is beyond counting. To detail the chains of even one report would exceed the limits of this book. We therefore include here only what this context permits, seeking blessing through the words of the Messenger concerning his family — peace and blessings be upon him and upon them all.

With them stood the blessed band of the righteous, the pure remnant of the saved, steadfast under the strokes of swords and the taste of death. They stood beneath the banners of their Imams, obeying their commands, avoiding their prohibitions, preserving the covenant of their Prophet. Their blood was shed before their leaders’ eyes as they upheld the obligations of God among the nations, answering the Book of God in all that it required and judged. They followed the path of clarity and attained what was promised them in the Clear Revelation.

The legatee Imam Ali described them and their Imams, saying:

“Indeed, the earth is never without one who stands for God with His proof, lest the proofs of God and His evidences be nullified. They are few in number, yet great in rank before God. Through them God defends His proofs until they deliver them to those like themselves, planting them in hearts akin to theirs.
Knowledge has assaulted them with the reality of the matter. They find easy what the pampered find hard, and they find comfort in what the sinners find strange.
They live in this world with their bodies while their souls are attached to the highest abode. They are God’s vicegerents upon His earth, and the callers to His religion.”

How many helpers we have among the Shīʿa — those who were true to what they pledged to God! Among them are the Zaydī Shīʿa and the Muʿtazila of the Shīʿa, the people of speculative theology, though they differ on whether the textual designation (naṣṣ) for ʿAlī’s Imamate is explicit or implicit, and in their views on the Imamate of the earlier caliphs. They are many groups.
But as for the Zaydīs — they are the elite of the Shīʿa, the inner circle of the Prophet’s Household, those whom Abū Jaʿfar al-Dawānīqī (al-Manṣūr) meant in his testament when he said:

Thus, the Zaydīs are the defenders of religion and the protectors of truth. It is said in Kāshif al-Ghumma: “Among the transmitted sayings: The hosts of heaven are the angels, and the hosts of earth are the Zaydiyya.”

And al-Ṣādiq (Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad) said:

“If a banner of truth were to descend from heaven, it would not be planted except among the Zaydiyya.”

And it is related from some of them (the scholars):

“I examined the scholars of every sect, and found none like the scholars of the Zaydiyya. If there were angels on earth in the form of men, I would think them none other than the scholars of the Zaydiyya.”

May God increase their love for the family of Muḥammad ﷺ, strengthen their support for the religion, and gather them in the company of the Master of the Messengers — with his pure, righteous family.
For indeed, a man is with those he loves.