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The Glorious Qur’an and the Household of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.)
Compiled by: Ahmad Ahmadi Birjandi
A hadith has been related from the Prophet (S) as follows: “I leave two great and precious things among you; as long as you hold on to them, you will never be led astray: the Book of Allah and my ‘Itrat (Household).”
The Qur’an
The Qur’an consists of verses which gradually descended on Prophet Muhammad (S) within 23 years. It includes 114 short and long suras and about 6400 verses. All suras of the Qur’an begin in the name of Allah (Bismi’Allah al-Rahman al-Rahim) except Surat al-Tawbah (Repentance).
The verses of the Qur’an are arranged as ordered by the Prophet (S) himself.
The suras revealed in Mecca are called Makki and the ones revealed in Medina are called Madani. Each sura has a name which is taken from within the sura text such as: al-Nahl, al-Baqara, al-‘Alaq, etc. As soon as a sura, a verse, or several verses were revealed to the Prophet (S) some trusted people, called “Writers of Revelation”, would write them down. The most famous among these writers were ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (as), ‘Abdullah b. Mas‘ud, Zayd b. Thabit, Mu‘adh b. Jabal, Ubayy b. Ka‘b, etc. The advantage of the Qur’an over other scriptures is that in the Qur’an not the slightest distortion or change has occurred.
The Qur’an is a perpetual and durable miracle of the Prophet (S). It is explicitly pointed out in some parts of the Qur’an that if you are in doubt of the Qur'an, then produce some suras, or even a single sura consisting of three verses like these; of course, the Qur’an itself has pointed out that the imposters will never be able to do so.
The Qur’an is a miracle not only in wording and eloquence, but also in meaning and in containing consistent decrees and ordinances and eternal laws. The more human knowledge develops and the more the world's secrets are unveiled, the mystery of the eternality of Islam and the Qur’an will be further clarified. The Qur’an has so far been translated into over one hundred world languages and several times into Persian, English, and French.
In the Qur’an attention is, above all, drawn to worshipping of the One God; Divine attributes of Beauty and Majesty; greatness of the creation order; going through quarters of the world and nature; studying the states and lives of the past; devotional, social, and legal ordinances laws; the Resurrection; great Divine Prophets’ biographies; and taking lessons from the past folks and generations.
In order to be able to comprehend the deep inner and outer aspects of the Qur’an, we should, first of all, get familiar with the eloquent and rhetorical language of the Qur’an, which is a benevolent, everlasting, and truthful guide.
‘Itrat or Ahl-al Bayt (as)
It includes ‘Ali (as), his children, and Fatimah al-Zahra (as), most dear and devoted daughter of the Holy Prophet (S), who was called by the latter as Umm Abiha, i.e, the mother of her father. ‘Ali (as) was several times introduced by the Prophet as his executor of will, successor, and an Imam, as was Aaron to Moses.
The children who were born to ‘Ali (as) and Fatimah (as), of whom the last one was the promised Mahdi (as), are all Infallible and far from impurity and sins. Other children from this noble tree are many and have always been sources of benevolence, blessedness, and virtue everywhere and at all times.
The Holy Messenger's Wives
The Holy Prophet (S) married nine wives throughout his life. It was, of course, due to the circumstances of the society then as well as the situation of the Prophet (S) himself. Before the advent of Islam, polygamy was widely common among various tribes. Later on, Islam allowed having up to four wives, provided that justice is maintained among them.
We know that the Prophet (S) did not get married until the age of 25, at which he married Khadija who was 15 years his senior and lived with her along for about 25 years. When she died, he married another widow called Suda. Afterwards he got married to ‘A’isha. Other wives that he married, were all after ‘A’isha; and except Suda, all were widows and not very young. The Prophet (S) would grant them their rights, do them justice, keep their due turns, and treat them all very kindly.
The women that the Prophet (S) married were either among the unattended widows whose husbands had been martyred in war, or of the war captives who were quite respectfully living in the Prophet (S)'s house. His Marriages, particularly in the last ten years of his life, were in general socially-oriented and were for producing affection among the hearts and creating kinship with the tribes to maintain relation with those whose conversion to Islam would have reinforced Islam and Muslims.
Contrary to what has been said by some enemies of Islam or foreign orientalists, the Prophet (S) had by no means intended to seek sexual pleasure – particularly since the Prophet (S), as mentioned in the Qur’an9, would spend during daytime two thirds of the night worshipping and reading the Qur’an, and was busy engaged in social affairs and wars, and furthermore these marriages had not occurred at a young age.
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