Ibn al-Uthaymeen’s Method in Opposing the Verses of Qur’an That Refer to the Virtue of Ahlulbait (Peace Be upon Them)

There are some verses in the Qur’an that, as asserted by many Shiite and Sunnite scholars, refer to the station and virtues of Ahlulbayt (Peace Be upon Them), verses such as the Verse of Mubahala, the Verse of Wilayah, the Verse of Mawadda, the Verse of Tabligh and the Verse of Shara. Ibn al-Uthaymeen has adopted different ways to oppose these kinds of verses. He has discussed several verses which are confirmed by Sunnite scholars to be referring to Ahlulbayt’s virtuous traits. He has either denied the verses’ cause of revelation or haven’t mentioned it at all; or, if he has, he has undermined its validity. He treats the traditions narrated about Ahlulbayt’s virtues the same way. As such, he has either saved himself the burden of mentioning traditions narrated to confirm these kind of verses or has denounced them as being forged. In other cases, Ibn al-Uthaymeen has tried to generalize the virtue and by pretending that the scholars have given too many comments on the given verse, he attempts to divest the virtue of its exclusive quality. The present article explores Ibn al-Uthaymeen’s methods of treating Quranic verses referring to the virtues of Ahlulbayt.