The Cult of the Haba’ib

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

In some parts of the Muslim world, too many Muslims are enamoured with the cult of the haba’ib.  Just because someone claims to be a descendant of the Prophet (s.a.w.), dresses appropriately, and says the right things, they are automatically beacons and whatever they say must be followed.  If they can claim to have studied in Tarim and mix with the right people, they must automatically be awliya’.  If they are all like Habib ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Jifri, that may be plausible.  But they are not. 

After the Battle of Khandaq, the Muhajirin and the Answar both approached the Prophet (s.a.w.) and both laid claim to Sayyidina Abu ‘Abdullah Salman al-Farisi (r.a.).  The Muhajirin said he was one of them since he was born in Persia and emigrated  to Madina.  The Answar said he was one of them because he was in Madina before the hijrah of the Prophet (s.a.w.). 

Rasulullah (s.a.w.) said, “Salman baytihi,” “Salman is from my house.”   We do not have to be born of the lineage of the Prophet (s.a.w.) to be Ahl al-Bayt.  Only Allah (s.w.t.) and His Prophet (s.a.w.) know the real Ahl al-Bayt. 

In the same vein, there are people who revel in all the accolades of the lottery of birth as Ahl al-Bayt but they reflect nothing of what our Prophet (s.a.w.) brought.  For example, there are “Ahl al-Bayt” who are the most racist people one could ever meet, except that they cloak it in religion, as if this is what Islam brought.  How many of us know one of these descendants of the Prophet (s.a.w.) who say, “You cannot marry into my family because you are not a sayyid”?  When I first came to Islam, I met such a person.  He sat next to me, and unsolicited, proceeded to give this convert a khuthbah about how in the last sermon, the Prophet (s.a.w.) said that there is no difference between an Arab and a non-Arab, a black man and a white man.  And then I found out that he disowned his daughter because she dared to marry an Indian.  I do not associate with such people.