They therefore side with the unbelievers and oppose the Prophet’s Household, whereas Ahl al-Sunnah acknowledge the Household’s rights, love them, pledge loyalty to them, and curse whoever shows them enmity.

The verse of mutual imprecation (mubāhala) (Āl ʿImrān 3:61) is likewise not one of ʿAlī’s exclusive merits. The Prophet ﷺ summoned ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn, as related by Muslim (118), and he did so not because they were the most virtuous members of his nation but because they were the closest members of his Household. Muslim also reports from ʿĀʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—that the Prophet ﷺ wrapped ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn in his cloak and said, “O Allah, these are my Household, so remove impurity from them and purify them completely” (119). He thus offered them a supplication specific to them.

Since the mubāhala was to be conducted with “our women, our children, and ourselves,” he brought these four with him. The term “ourselves” (anfus) can denote the whole group, as in His words, “Why, when you heard it, did the believing men and believing women not think well of their own selves?” (al-Nūr 24:12)—meaning all of them; and His words, “Turn in repentance to your Maker and kill your own selves” (al-Baqarah 2:54), i.e., some of you are to kill others.

This is like the Prophet’s statement, “You are of me and I am of you”; it does not mean that ʿAlī is part of the Prophet’s very being. Beyond doubt, the relative of greatest rank is ʿAlī—may Allah honor him—for he combines kinship and faith in a way not found ⦗6/a⦘ among the rest of the relatives and Companions. That earned him a place in the mubāhala, yet it does not rule out the possibility that someone outside the family is superior to him, because the mubāhala was restricted to kin. For this reason the Prophet did not bring Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and others like them.

As for His saying, “These two adversaries have disputed concerning their Lord” (al-Ḥajj 22:19), it is authentically reported from Abū Dharr—may Allah be pleased with him—that the verse was revealed about the combatants on the Day of Badr. The first to come forward from the believers were ʿAlī, Ḥamzah, and ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith; they faced ʿUtbah, Shaybah, and al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah (120).