ভূমিকা

I am at war against whoever wages war against them, at peace with whoever is at peace with them, the enemy of whoever shows enmity towards them, and I love whoever loves them.

After the initial statement where the Prophet (SA) directly associates his AhlulBayt to himself by pronouncing the equivalence in origin symbolized in “blood” and “flesh”, he then proceeds by delivering a series of six precious statements where he conveys his position and his policy towards those who deal with his AhlulBayt whether in a positive or negative way.

It is a prophetic law and code of conduct where he not only issues these rules as his policy but moreover teaches us to follow that same policy, if we choose to follow his Sunnah (way). These six statements which complement one another and are aligned with each other are divided into two sets. The first set consists of two statements which describe the Prophet’s feelings depending on how his AhlulBayt (AS) feels.

And the second set consists of four statements which convey the Prophet’s immediate course of action to how his AhlulBayt (AS) are treated. In the first set, the Prophet declares that he feels pain whenever his AhlulBayt feels pain and he feels sadness whenever they feel sadness. It is interesting to note that this narration conveys the feelings of the Prophet first, before informing us why the prophet feels the way he does.

We typically hear of the cause first and then the effect, but in this case, the effect is provided first before the cause and this is the beauty of the Arabic language and the eloquence behind it. Also, the strength and seriousness of the Prophet’s reaction or feeling is highlighted more so by the presentation of the “effect” before the “cause”. In this case, the cause is the pain and sorrow felt by the AhlulBayt (AS) while the effect is the Prophet’s reaction of feeling their pain and sorrow.

In the second set, four declarations are presented where the positions of peace, war, opposition, and love are presented.