33 . Sura Al-Ahzab
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
النَّبِيُّ
أَوْلَى بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ
مِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ
...
33:6 [Ali]. The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves,
C3674. In spiritual relationship the Prophet is entitled to more respect and consideration than blood-relations, where there is conflict of duties. He is ever nearer – closer to our real interests – than our own selves.
In some Qira’ahs, like that of Ubayy ibn Ka’ab, occur also the words “and he is a father of them”, which imply his spiritual relationship and connect on with the words “and his wives are their mothers”.
Thus his spiritual fatherhood would be contrasted pointedly with the repudiation of the vulgar superstition of calling any one like Zayd ibn Harithah by the appellation Zayd ibn Muhammad (33:40): such an application is really disrespectful of the Prophet.
... وَأَزْوَاجُهُ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ...
and his wives are their mothers.
C3675. See last note. This Surah establishes the dignity and position of the Holy Prophet's wives, who had a special mission and responsibility as Mothers of the Believers.
They were not to be like ordinary women: they had to instruct women in religious matters visit and minister to those who were ill or in distress, and do other kindly offices in aid of the Prophet's mission.
...وَأُوْلُو الْأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَى بِبَعْضٍ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ...
Blood-relations among each other have closer personal ties, in the Decree of Allah, than (the Brotherhood of) Believers and Muhajirs:
C3676. No man should deprive his blood-relations of such rights of maintenance and property as they might have. The community of Believers, inhabitants of Madinah and those who had migrated to Madinah from Makkah, also had their mutual rights, but they were not to be put forward as an excuse to defeat the prior rights of natural relationships.
In the early Madinah days, Ansar were allowed to inherit from Muhajirs whose natural relations had not emigrated, but this practice was discontinued when normal relations were reestablished between Makkah and Madinah.
...إِلَّا أَن تَفْعَلُوا إِلَى أَوْلِيَائِكُم مَّعْرُوفًا...
nevertheless do ye what is just to your closest friends:
...كَانَ ذَلِكَ فِي الْكِتَابِ مَسْطُورًا ﴿٦﴾
such is the writing in the Decree (of Allah).
Others version:
33:6
The Prophet has a higher claim on the believers than [they have on] their own selves, [seeing that he is as a father to them] and his wives are their mothers: 8 and they who are [thus] closely related have, in accordance with God's decree, a higher claim upon one another than (was even the case between] the believers [of Yathrib] and those who had migrated [there for the sake of God].' None the less, you are to act with utmost goodness towards your [other] close friends as well: 10 this [too] is written down in God's decree.
Alnnabiyyu awla bialmu/mineena min anfusihim waazwajuhu ommahatuhum waoloo al-arhami baAAduhum awla bibaAAdin fee kitabi Allahi mina almu/mineena waalmuhajireena illa an tafAAaloo ila awliya-ikum maAAroofan kana thalika fee alkitabi mastooran |
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Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning |
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The Prophet has a higher claim on the believers than [they have on] their own selves, [seeing that he is as a father to them] and his wives are their mothers: and they who are [thus] closely related have, in accordance with God’s decree, a higher claim upon one another than [was even the case between] the believers [of Yathrib] and those who had migrated [there for the sake of God]. None the less, you are to act with utmost goodness towards your [other] close friends as well: this [too] is written down in God’s decree. |
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The Prophet is closer to the believers than their selves, and his wives are (as) their mothers. And the owners of kinship are closer one to another in the ordinance of Allah than (other) believers and the fugitives (who fled from Mecca), except that ye should do kindness to your friends. This is written in the Book (of nature). |
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The Prophet has a greater claim on the faithful than they have on themselves, and his wives are (as) their mothers; and the possessors of relationship have the better claim in the ordinance of Allah to inheritance, one with respect to another, than (other) believers, and (than) those who have fled (their homes), except that you do some good to your friends; this is written in the Book. |
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The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers. Blood-relations among each other have closer personal ties, in the Decree of Allah. Than (the Brotherhood of) Believers and Muhajirs: nevertheless do ye what is just to your closest friends: such is the writing in the Decree (of Allah). |
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The Prophet is closer to the ones who believe than their own souls. And his spouses are their mothers and those imbued through the wombs, blood relations, some of them are closer to some other in what is prescribed by God than the other ones who believe and ones who emigrate, but accomplish what you may for your protectors as ones who are honorable—that which had been inscribed in the Book. |
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The Prophet has a higher claim on the believers than [they have on] their own selves, and his wives are their mothers. Blood relatives are closer to one another in Gods Book than are believers and the Emigrants except that you want to show your friends a kindness. That is decreed in the Book. |
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The Prophet is closer to believers than even they themselves are, and his wives are [like] their mothers. Yet blood relatives are closer to one another in God´s book than are believers and the Refugees, except that you should act in a proper manner towards your wards. That has been underlined in the Book. |
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The Prophet is more closely attached to those who conformed to Islam than they are to themselves and his wives are their mothers. Those of you who are related by blood or by descent from a common ancestor take precedence of those who conformed to Islam and of those who emigrated in inheriting each other as is decreed in Allah's Book unless it be a favour you are doing to those who are unrelated or an edict that has been set forth by Allah in writing and be this so in the Quran. |
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The prophet is closer to the believers than themselves, and his wives are mothers to them. And God's decree to the believers and the emigrants is that before they help their relatives, they have taken care of their own families first. Such has been decreed in the Scripture. |
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[[Asad’s notes - 8 Thus, connecting with the preceding mention of voluntary, elective relationships (as contrasted with those by blood), this verse points to the highest manifestation of an elective, spiritual relationship: that of the God-inspired Prophet and the person who freely chooses to follow him. The Prophet himself is reported to have said: "None of you has real faith unless I am dearer unto him than his father, and his child, and all mankind" (Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Anas, with several almost identical versions in other compilations). The Companions invariably regarded the Prophet as the spiritual father of his community. Some of them - e.g., lbn Mas'ud (as quoted by Zamakhshari) or Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Ibn 'Abbas and Mu'awiyah (as quoted by Ibn Kathir) hardly ever recited the above verse without adding, by way of explanation, "seeing that he is (as] a father to them": and many of the tabi'in - including Mujahid, Qatadah, 'Ikrimah and Al-Hasan (cf Tabari and Ibn Kathir) - did the same: hence my interpolation, between brackets, of this phrase. (However, see also verse 40 of this surah and the corresponding note 50.) As regards the status of the Prophet's wives as the "mothers of the believers", this arises primarily from the fact of their having shared the life of God's Apostle in its most intimate aspect. Consequently, they could not remarry after his death (see verse 53 below), since all the believers were, spiritually, their "children".
9 See note 86 on the last but one sentence of 8:75. As explained in that note, neither of these two passages (8:75 and 33:6) can be satisfactorily interpreted as bearing on the laws of inheritance: all endeavours to interpret them in that sense only do violence to the logical build-up and inner cohesion of the Qur'anic discourse. On the other hand, it is obvious that both passages have basically a similar (namely, spiritual) import - with the difference only that whereas the concluding sentences of Al-Anfal refer to the brotherhood of all believers in general, the present passage lays stress on the yet deeper, special relationship between every true believer and God's Apostle.
10 I.e., towards all other believers, as stressed so often in the Qur'an, and particularly in 8:75 (see preceding note): in other words, a believer's exalted love for the Prophet should not blind him to the fact that "all believers are brethren" (49:10). The extremely complex term ma'ruf, rendered by me in this context as "innermost goodness", may be defined as "any act [or attitude] the goodness whereof is evident to reason" (Raghib). ]]
