Virtues of the Ahlul Bayt
دخل العباس على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ، فقال : يا رسول الله ، إنا لنخرج فنرى قريشا تحدث ، فإذا رأونا سكتوا ، فغضب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ، ودر عرق بين عينيه ، ثم قال : ” والله لا يدخل قلب امرئ إيمان حتى يحبكم لله ولقرابتي

‘Abbas (RA) came to Rasulullah ﷺ and said, “O Rasulullah, we come and see the Quraysh talking, when they see us they discontinue their discussion.” Rasulullah ﷺ became angry and the vein on his forehead became pronounced and then he said, “By Allah! Faith does not enter a man’s heart until he loves you for the sake of Allah, and for the sake of my relationship.” [Musnad Imam Ahmed, Hadith: 1708]

This Hadith makes it very clear that loving the Ahlul Bayt forms part of a person’s Imaan.

Misconceptions about the Ahlul Bayt
The love for the Ahlul Bayt of the Prophet ﷺ, to support them and defend them is an excellent significant fiducial from which the feelings of truthful believers surge, frequently the love remains an Islamic and faithful love undisturbed by the distortion of liars. But when the love exceeds the limits of the Sharia then indeed it turns without fail to hatred and enmity to Ahlul Bayt of the Prophet ﷺ. This is due to the fact that to fabricate lies against the devout and righteous people and to ascribe that which contradicts their religion and morals to them, cannot be considered under any circumstances to be love and allegiance.

The most despised people to the Ahlul Bayt are not the nawasib who declared enmity against them publicly and cheated them, for these are clear enemies who are disgraced and abandoned. The fear should mostly be from those who wore the clothes of Ahlul Bayt and spoke on their behalf, were excessive towards them, attributed to them the characteristics of divinity and misconstrued their mission, which is taken from the source of their master Muhammad ﷺ.

In relation to this, Ja‘far al-Sadiq R said:
“There is no one more of an enemy to us than him who claims our love for himself”. [Rijal al-Kashshi, p. 373 – Report No 555]
The Ahlul Bayt of the Prophet ﷺ are not to be held to account for that which the people produced in their times and afterwards in terms of creeds and thoughts that have nothing to do with their faith, religion and morals, but rather the ghulah (those who transgressed the limits) are the only ones to held responsible. The position of Ahlul Bayt was very severe against the ghulah, expressing their clear disapproval and annoyance at what has been said of them or attributed to them.

Al-Humairi reported from al-Fudail ibn ‘Uthman, he said: I heard Abu ‘Abd Allah (Ja‘far al-Sadiq) saying:
“Fear Allah; glorify Allah and honour His Messenger; do not give preference to anyone over the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, indeed Allah, the Exalted favoured him. Love the Ahlul Bayt of your Prophet in the right manner and do not exaggerate, do not separate and say that which we are not saying”. [Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 25, p. 269]

This warning was about the following thoughts and persons:
Those who ascribe to the Imams of Ahlul Bayt the tafwid (give authorization)

The tafwid in connection to Ahlul Bayt can mean many things, for example:
The tafwid in the creation, subsistence, putting to death and to giving life, with the meaning that Allah, the Almighty created the Prophet ﷺ and the Imams of Ahlul Bayt then He authorized them the matter of the creation, that they create, provide with the means of subsistence, put to death and give life. This is clear disbelief, traditional and intellectual evidences indicate that it is impossible to happen and no rational doubts the one who states that, to be a disbeliever.

Those who ascribe to the Imams of Ahlul Bayt inerrancy and that they forget not:

The One who forgets not is Allah, the Almighty, but as for human beings their nature is to forget. Nevertheless, if forgetfulness and inerrancy are affirmed within the most significant people to Allah, the Prophets (AS), then what is the case in connection to those who are lesser in rank and honour than them such as the Companions and the Ahlul Bayt (RA)? Allah said about His Prophet Musa (AS):
قَالَ لَا تُؤَاخِذْنِى بِمَا نَسِيتُ وَلَا تُرْهِقْنِى مِنْ أَمْرِى عُسْرًا
In his dialogue with al-Khidar, Musa (AS) said: “Call me not to account for what I forgot, and be not hard on me on account of what I have done!” [Al Kahf 18:73]
My colleague Mufti Yusuf Moosagie will take a look at other misconceptions this afternoon iA.