They Venerate Them Because They Are from Ahl al-Bayt — Are They Really?

Question

May Allah bless you. The next question is from listener A.A.A., a Sudanese residing in Riyadh, who says: We have in Sudan a group of people who call themselves the family of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This group does things that have no basis in the Sharia: they claim to be righteous saints, and from time to time they tour the country and are received by the common folk with chants and welcome, and people present them with gifts and offerings — even though the people are in dire need of them — believing that these bring them blessing and goodness from this group. Does any remnant of the family of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exist in our time? And are these practices they carry out permissible, as well as the way they are received?

Answer (English translation)

The Shaykh:

Very simply, we say to these claimants of descent from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): prove it to us with decisive historical evidence. It is well known that no sons of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) survived to adulthood, married, and had children; the children attributed to him are not his own direct offspring. So we say to every one of them who claims to be of Ahl al-Bayt: prove it to us historically. If they are unable to prove it, the falsity of their claim and their lying becomes evident. And if it is proven historically, then we say: being descendants or kinsfolk of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) avails you nothing if you are not upon his Sharia. What matters is that you be upon the Sharia of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); if you truly are upon it, then you have the right of Islam and the right of kinship with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). But mere kinship with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) avails nothing: Abu Lahab was the uncle of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his father's brother, yet his closeness to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) availed him nothing; rather, Allah the Exalted revealed an entire surah of the Qur'an exposing his disgrace until the Day of Resurrection: [Perish the hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he. His wealth availed him not, nor what he earned. He will enter a blazing Fire, and his wife, the carrier of firewood, upon her neck a rope of palm fiber] (Surah Al-Masad 111:1-5).

In sum: regarding this claim, we first need it to be proven historically. Then, if it is proven, we look at the state of these people: if they are truly righteous and follow the Sharia of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) outwardly and inwardly, then they have the right of Islam and the right of kinship with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). If they are not, then they are impostors who deserve nothing — no blessing in their deeds or their conduct. And since these people roam the villages and the naive among the people making the claims they make, the apparent truth is that they are liars in what they claimed and are not upright in what Allah's Sharia requires of them. In that case they deserve none of the veneration, exaltation, or bestowal of gifts and the like.