C ontents

Publisher’s Note ix

About This Book xi

Transliteration and Footnotes xi

PART ONE 1
Brief Introduction to Part One 1

Foreword by Dr Mostafa al-Badawi 2

Preface 9
The Shīʿa Perspective 10
The Khawārij Perspective 11
About Faḍāʾil Literature 13
Who are Ahl al-Bayt? 14
Etymology and Definition of Some Important Terms 14
Ahl al-Bayt in the Qurʾān 16
Ḥadīth Ahl al-Kisāʾ – People of the Cloak 19
The Ṣaḥāba Making Tawassul through the Ahl al-Bayt and the
Recommendation for Doing So 23

PART TWO – Virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt 26

Brief Introduction to Part Two 26
Biographies of Principle ḥadīth Scholars Used in this Work 27
Virtues of the Prophetic Lineage 35

Al-Suyūṭī’s Iḥyāʾ al-Mayt bi-Faḍāʾil Ahl al-B ayt – ‘R eviving the Dead: the
Virtues of the Prophetic Household’ 37

Faḍāʾil of the R elatives of the Messenger of Allah a 53

The Virtues of Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Hāshimī g 53
The Virtues of the Relatives of the Messenger of Allah a and of Fāṭima, the
Daughter of the Prophet a, of whom He Said, ‘Fāṭima is the Leader of the
Women of Paradise’ 56
Concerning Ḥamza ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib by Ibn Kathīr 59

v
 Th e P e r f e c t Fa m i ly

Imam al-Shāfiʿī’s Poetry on the Ahl al-Bayt 61

PART THREE – The Virtues of Lady Fāṭima h 63

Brief Introduction to Part Three 63

Al-Suyūṭī’s Al-Thughūr al-B āsima fī Manāqib Sayyidatinā Fāṭima

‘The R adiant Smile On the Virtues of Our Lady Fāṭima’ 64
The Unique Distinctions and Virtues of Fāṭima 68
Concerning Her Age and Her Death 71
Fāṭima’s h Funeral Washing, Prayer and Burial 72
Fāṭima’s h Funeral Bier 73
On the Continuance of the Messenger of Allah’s a Line
Through Fāṭima h 73
The Narrations of Fāṭima, Daughter of the Messenger of Allah a 73
Poetry Attributed to Fāṭima h 75

Ibn Shahīn’s Faḍāʾil Fāṭima – ‘The Virtues of Lady Fāṭima j’ 76

The Leader of All Women after Maryam, and the Daughter of the Messenger
of Allah a 76
Fāṭima’s immediacy in obeying Allah and his Rasūl s and her unparalleled
generosity 76
Journeys of the Prophet s started and finished with Fāṭima and the Unique
Prophetic declaration to Sayyidah Fāṭima ‘may my mother and father be
your ransom’ 77
The Prophet’s s sharing secrets with Fāṭima and Fāṭima’s sharing secrets
with ʿĀʾisha 77
The Prophet’s sharing secrets with Fāṭima and Fāṭima’s sharing secrets with
Umm Salama 78
Allah has forbidden the hellfire to Fāṭima and her progeny 79
Fāṭima is the leader of all women 79
The household of Fāṭima blessed with Divine provision 80
The Prophet’s s special exhortation for Fāṭima and ʿAlī 82
The Prophet’s s war and peace for Fāṭima 82
Fāṭima is a part of the Prophet and Fāṭima’s hurt is the Prophet’s hurt 82
The Prophet’s s naming of ʿAlī as Abū Turāb 82

The Virtues of Fāṭima from the Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ of Imam al-Bukhārī with
the Commentary of Sheikh al-Islam Imam Ibn Ḥ ajar al-ʿAsqalānī 83
The Virtues of Fāṭima h of Whom the Prophet a Said, ‘Fāṭima is the
Leader of the Women of Paradise’ 83

vi
 Contents

The Virtues of Fāṭima from the Ṣaḥīḥ of Imam Muslim with the
Commentary of Sheikh al-Islam Imam Z akariyyā al-Nawawī 85
The Virtues of Fāṭima h, Daughter of the Prophet s 85
The Injuries the Prophet a Received At Uḥud [the Bravery of and the Role
of Lady Fāṭima in Nursing him)] 89
Hadiths About the Marriage of Fāṭima j 92
ʿAlī not allowed to marry again during the lifetime of Fāṭima 95
The Prophet married his daughter to the best of people 97
ʿAlī selling his armour to make arrangements for his marriage 97
Divine instructions for the marriage of ʿAlī to Fāṭima 99

PART FOUR – The Virtues of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib g 100

Brief Introduction to Part Four 100
Biography of Imām ʿAlī g 101
His lineage, birth and his embrace of Islam 101
His knowledge and virtue 102
His asceticism and piety 102
His caliphate and assassination 102
Definition of the Important Term ‘Mawlā’ 103

Al-Nasāʾī’s Khaṣāʾiṣ Imam ʿAlī – The Unique Distinctions of Imam ʿAlī ibn Abī
Ṭālib g 106

The Virtues of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Qurashī al-H āshimī, Abū al-Ḥasan g 181

The Virtues of ʿAlī g 191

Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ’s Response to the Shīʿa 191
The Ḥadīth al-Thaqalayn of Two Weighty Matters and the Wives of the
Prophet as Ahl al-Bayt 197

The Incident at Ghadīr K humm by Ibn K athīr 201

PART FIVE – The Virtues of Imams al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn 215

Brief Introduction to Part Five 215

The Virtues of al-Ḥasan g and al-Ḥusayn g 216

On Those That Resembled the Messenger of Allah a 219

Further Virtues From Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī with Ibn Ḥajar’s Commentary from
Fatḥ al-B ārī 225
Imam al-Ḥasan’s Role in Reconciling the Umma 225
The Relationship Between ʿAlī and Abū Bakr 238

vii
 Th e P e r f e c t Fa m i ly

The Virtues of al-Ḥasan g and al-Ḥusayn from Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim g 241

The Ṣaḥāba Crying on Seeing Imam al-Ḥasan g 243

PART SIX – The Virtues of the Awaited Imam al-Mahdī 244

Brief Introduction to Part Six – The Virtues of the Awaited Imam al-Mahdī 244

Ḥ adīth about the M ahdī from Ṣ aḥīḥ al-Bukhārī with commentary by Ibn
Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī 246
Virtues of the Mahdī g 247
The Imams and Scholars Who Declared That the Hadiths of the Mahdī Are
Mass-Transmitted 251
The Sunnis’ Position on the Mahdī 254
The Importance Given by Scholars Past and Present to the Issue of the
Mahdī 255
Prophetic Hadiths About the Mahdī 257
Sayings of the Salaf al-Ṣāliḥ about the Mahdī 259

viii