and then, when they reached maturity, the [legal restraint] (1) of custody was lifted from them, and each became responsible for himself. If what was intended by this was that the Muslim community should protect and guard them, then Allah is the best guardian, and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy. How could any member of the Muslim community possibly ward calamities off from them?

If what he meant was that people must prevent them from being harmed through aggression and support them against anyone who wrongs them, there is no doubt that this is obligatory even toward those of lesser standing than they; [how then] (2) could it not be obligatory toward them? This is among the rights one Muslim owes another, and the right owed to them is even more binding than that owed to others.

As for his statement:

“Allah revealed concerning them: ‘Say, “I ask no reward of you for it except affection for near kin.”’ [Surah al-Shūrā: 23].”

This is a manifest lie (3), for this verse occurs in Surah al-Shūrā, and Surah [al-Shūrā] is unquestionably Meccan (4). It was revealed before Alī married Fātima—may Allah be pleased with them both—and before al-Hasan and al-Husayn were born [to him] (5). Indeed, it was only in Medina, after the Hijra, in the second year, that Alī married Fātima (6), and he did not consummate the marriage with her until after the Battle of Badr. Badr took place in Ramadan of the second year. The [noble] (7) verse has already been discussed, as has the fact that what it means is what Ibn Abbās—may Allah be pleased with him and his father—explained: that there was no