Comparative Commentary of the Verse of "Warning" (Enzar) from the View of Shia and Sunni

Abstract

The verse "warn your closest relatives" (26:214) is one of the most important verses explaining Holy Prophet's mission on Islam, warning his closest relatives and designating his successor in order to found Islam in its first center at the onset of his mission. It is the first verse which commands Holy Prophet to warn his own closest relatives at early days of his mission. Although the warning addresses general public, it starts with Holy Prophet's closest relatives for some reasons. Correct interpretation of the verse and knowing aftermath of its revelation has a significant role in understanding the process of designating Imam in Islam, because it is a strong document of rightfulness of Shia views on Imamate and Imams of Islamic nation, given the conclusive and widely transmitted hadiths which are discussed in the works of Shia and Sunny works. These hadiths clearly show that Imam Ali (Commander of the Faithful) was the only person who accepted Holy Prophet's request to be his successor. There are, however, different inconsistent hadiths and commentaries in general commentary works caused by political grudges and counterfeited to confront with 'Alavi (followers of Imam Ali) Shia, which should be reviewed and criticized and the correct commentary of the verse and its relevant hadiths should be explained. Therefore, the present paper carefully studies the horizons of revelation of the verse "warning" and its epistemology, criticizes commentary views of Shia and Sunni and hadiths related to the occasions of its revelation, reviews the commonalities and differences and provides the researchers of commentary with the results.

Keywords

• the verse of "warning"
• comparative commentary of shia and sunni
• commentary concepts
• occasion of revelation
• warning closest relatives