Ali married Fatima in Medina and supposing as this person says: This verse
was revealed in Mecca; we say: since there was a delay between revelation of
verse and birth of their children – if we accept that it was delayed – there is no
contradiction between revelation of verse and precedence of marriage over it is
also not necessary, because what is definite and there is no doubt it, is that those
two noble personages were from near kindred of Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.),
but Ali (a.s.) due to his cousin-ship and Fatima (a.s.) due to her being daughter,
and as for their children, in the same way, as their marriage was recorded in the
divine register, in the same way, the divine knowledge about creation of those
two was destined; and it is not necessary that all persons should be present when
a rule is framed. On the contrary, whenever and whichever of them will be
present, the command would be issued about him/her.
In addition to that, it is possible that the verse was revealed in Mecca, but during Farewell Hajj (last pilgrimage of Prophet) and at time they (Ali and
Fatima) were already married and Imam Hasan (a.s.) and Imam Husain (a.s.)
were already born; being a Meccan verse does not mean that it was revealed
before Hijrah.
وَيَرَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَّبِّكَ هُوَ الْحَقَّ
“And those to whom the knowledge has been given see that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, that is the truth.”1
17. Seventeenth objection
He says: As for the tradition of establishment of brotherhood between
Prophet and Ali, it is false and fabricated, because the Prophet neither selected
anyone for his brotherhood, nor established brotherhood between any two
members of Muhajireen or any two members of Ansar; on the contrary, what is
definite is that brotherhood was established between a member of Muhajireen and
a member of Ansar; like the oath of brotherhood between Saad bin Rabi, Abdur
Rahman bin Auf, between Salman Farsi and Abu Darda, as is proved from
authentic traditional reports.2
Reply to the seventeenth objection
Regarding as invalid the tradition of brotherhood, which is proved and
established for all Muslims without any exception, either shows his absolute
ignorance of tradition and biography, or his extreme malice and enmity to
Ameerul Momineen (a.s.); that he had not option, except to deny excellence and
precedence of His Eminence (a.s.). As if he has taken an oath that he would either
deny or weaken all merits of Ali (a.s.), even though it be through frivolous
arguments or without any reasoning. We previously clarified that the
establishment of brotherhood took place twice:
1. Between companions, before Hijrat.
2. Between Muhajireen and Ansar after Hijrat.
And both times, the Prophet established brotherhood with Ali (a.s.).
The fiery statement of Ibne Hajar Asqalani in Fathul Bari:3 is sufficient to
destroy his flimsy imaginations. He says after the mention of both oaths of
brotherhood and some traditions:
Ibne Taymiyyah, in refutation4 of Ibne Mutahhar Rafidhi (Allamah Hilli)
has denied the establishment of brotherhood between Muhajireen, especially,
between Prophet and Ali and he says:
“The wisdom behind establishment of brotherhood is that some of them should cooperate with others and that they should come close to each other; on
the basis of this, it is useless to establish brotherhood between Prophet and
someone else or a Muhajir.
But this statement of Ibne Taymiyyah is refutation of established text (Nass)
through analogy (Qiyas) and making others unmindful of the wisdom and
exigency of establishment of brotherhood, due to the fact that some Muhajireen
were stronger than others from the aspect of wealth, family and power; on the
basis of this, Prophet established brotherhood between the strong and weak so
that friendship and companionship is established between them and the weak
partner should benefit from his stronger counterpart.
With attention to this fact, he established brotherhood between himself and
Ali, because he was since childhood, present at the side of Prophet and was
reared by him.