The Sharia has tied certain rulings to lineage—such as the caliphate belonging to Quraysh, the Prophet’s close relatives being entitled to the fifth, and the family of Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—being forbidden to receive charity, and similar rulings—only because noble lineage provides grounds for expecting those who possess it to be better than others. As the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“People are like mines of gold and silver. The best of them in the days of pre-Islamic ignorance are the best of them in Islam, provided they gain understanding of the religion.”

A ruling is tied to such a presumption when [the underlying reality] (*) is hidden or diffuse. But when a man’s religious condition, upon which rulings depend, becomes apparent, and its nature and degree are known, religious rulings are not determined by his lineage. Thus, Abū Lahab had no advantage over others: once his disbelief was known, he was more deserving of blame than others. Likewise, any of the Prophet’s wives who commits a flagrant sin is assigned a double punishment, just as any of them who devoutly obeys Allah and His Messenger is assigned a double reward.

When people of noble lineage do wrong, their wrongdoing is graver than that of others, and their punishment is more severe. Thus, if the disbelief of those among the Children of Israel who disbelieve is not worse than that of others, and their punishment not more severe, then at the very least they are equal. Hence, no scholar has said that anyone among Quraysh or the Arabs who disbelieves and acts wickedly will have his punishment reduced in this world or the Hereafter. Rather, their punishment is either more severe than that of others, according to the better-known of the two views, or harsher, according to the other view. For someone whom Allah has honored with His blessings and raised in standing, but who responds to His rights with disobedience and to His blessings with disbelief, is more deserving of punishment than someone upon whom He has not bestowed the same blessings.