4. Examples in History
Wealso find many examples in the lives of the Holy Prophet andhis
Ahlu 'l-bayt which prove that they had lived separately from their
extended family-members.
Therewasafaminein Mecca in 35 Āmul Fil(i.e., 35 yearsafter the birthoftheProphet).AbuTalib,theProphet'suncle,hadmanychildren andhismeansoflivelihoodwerelimitedatthattime.TheHolyProphet, whohimselfhadbeenraisedbyAbuTalib,feltthathisunclewasfacing financialdifficulties.He,therefore,suggestedto hisotheruncleAbbas
(whowaswealthyatthattime)tohelpAbuTalib.Abbaswentwiththe Prophetto AbuTalib.Aftersomediscussion,theydecidedto sharethe expensesof AbuTalib's sons: ‘Alishould live with the Prophet, Jafar
with Abbas, andAqil was to remain with Abu Talib.
Thisshows that the house of the Prophet was separatefrom that of
AbuTalib. Thiswasso, inspiteof the closerelationship betweenAbu
TalibandProphetMuhammad.Thiseventalsogivesanexampleofsilatu
'r-rahm.
DuringthelastRamadhanofhislife,Imam‘Aliusedtobreakhisfast
one day at the house of Imam Hasan, nextday atthe house of Imam
Husayn,andthethirddayatthehouseofhisson-in-law,Abdullahbin Jafar.Thisshowstwothings:ourImamshadseparatehouseswiththeir
own family but, at the same time, they fulfilled the duty ofsilatu 'r-rahm.
ThesetwoexamplesaresufficienttoguideMuslimsintheirdailylife.
If any Muslim ventures to deviatefrom this straight path,he will no
longerremainonthepath ofIslam.Itis onlybyfollowingthisIslamic
codethatmankindcan obtainpeaceofmindinthislifeandeverlasting
happiness in the life hereafter.
* * *This lesson is entirely based on ‘Allamah Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi’s
The Family Life of Isam(Revised Edition, 1980) with slight modification
for this course.