"Surely, the case of 'Isa, in the sight of Allah, is like the case of 'Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him, "Be", and he came to be. [59] The truth is from your Lord. So, do not be of those who doubt. [60] So, if someone argues with you in this after what has come to you of the knowledge, say, "Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then pray and invoke the curse of Allah upon the liars." [61] This is, indeed, the true narration. And there exists no god but Allah. And Allah is surely the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. [62] So, should they turn back, Allah is all-aware of the mischievous."[63] (3:59-63)

The Event of Mubahalah and the Refutation of Heretics

The background of these verses is that the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him sent an ultimatum to the Christians of Najran which included three options in the order given below.

1. Accept Islam, or
2. Pay jizya (a levy on free non-Muslims under Muslim rule), or
3. Get ready for a war.

After mutual consultation, the Christians sent a delegation to the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon himconsisting of Shurahbil 'Abdullah b. Shurahbil and Jabbar ibn Fayd to the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him. They came and began their talks on religious issues. When they, in their effort to prove the godhood of Jesus, took their debate to the extremes of dis­pute, that was the moment this verse of Mubahala was revealed. Thereupon, the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him invited the Christians to join in the Mubahala confrontation (a form of resolving disputes by praying to Allah, the details of which shall shortly be discussed) and quite readily, he himself came out with Sayyidah Fatimah Radhi-Allahu Anha: Allah be pleased with her, Sayyidna 'Ali Radhi-Allahu Anh: Allah be pleased with him and their sons, Hasan and Husain (R.A) along with him all set for the Mubahalah. Looking at this, Shurahbil said to his two comrades: 'Look, you already know that he is a prophet of Allah and getting into a Mubahalah confrontation with a prophet means certain death and destruction for us. So find out some other way to get out of this fix.' His comrades asked him as to what he thought it could be. Shurahbil said: 'I think the best solution is to opt for a truce as advised by the prophet'. So, on this everybody agreed. As a result, the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him made peace by fixing a levy on them which was accepted by them as well. (Tafsir ibn Kathir, v. 1)

The Meaning of Mubahalah

As stated earlier, verse 61 has instructed the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him to invite his opponents (Christians) to Mubahalah which literally means 'mutual prayer' but in the terminology of Islamic Shari'ah it refers to a particular form of resolving religious disputes. When the argumentations from both sides fail to resolve a religious issue, the parties jointly pray Allah to cast His curse on whichever of the two parties is false. Since curse means 'moving someone far away from the divine mercy', -and moving far away from mercy is being close to divine wrath -- therefore, the essence of the meaning is: Wrath be on the liar. As such, whoever is the liar shall face the evil consequences whereupon the truth will become evident before the disbelievers as well. Invocation in this manner is called 'Mubahalah'.

Originally, the Mubahalah can be carried out by the disputants only; they can simply get together and pray. It is not necessary that all their family members are assembled. However, if all the family members participate in the Mubahalah, it becomes more effective. (That is why the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him was instructed to invite the family members of both sides).

'Son' Includes Grandson

In verse 61 the words 'our sons' does not mean 'our' sons as of the loins only. Instead, the sense is general. They may be sons or grandsons, because this is how the word is used in common usage. Therefore, the grandsons of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him, namely Sayyidna Hasan and Sayyidna Husain Radhi-Allahu Anh: Allah be pleased with him, as well as Sayyidna 'Ali Radhi-Allahu Anh: Allah be pleased with him the son-in-law of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him are all included in the words: 'our sons'.

Sayyidna 'Ali Radhi-Allahu Anh: Allah be pleased with him has another additional reason for being included in the 'sons' of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him, because he had grown up under the patronage of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him who had treated him like his own son.

It is, therefore, evident that Sayyidna 'Ali Radhi-Allahu Anh: Allah be pleased with him is included in the words: 'our sons'. Some Shi'ites have claimed that since he was not the son of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him, he could not be referred to by the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him as 'our son'. Through this notion the Shi'itesconclude that Sayyidna 'Ali Radhi-Allahu Anh: Allah be pleased with him was included in the words 'ourselves', therefore, he was the immediate successor of the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him.

The fallacy of this argument is evident from what has been discussed above. (Ma'ariful Qur'an)

» Posted by Seifeddine-M on 6th December 2011

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