The Role of Embracing the Authority of Ahl al-Bayt (a) in the Formation of Righteous Actions in al-Mīzān

It is crucial for individuals to learn about the factors contributing to their salvation. Quranic verses refer to “righteous actions” among such factors. Many hadiths in the exegesis of these verses state that true instances of righteous believers are the followers or Shīʿas of Imam ʿAlī, the first Shiite Imam.

This raises the idea that there is an inextricable tie between embracing the Imamate and wilāya (authority) of Ahl al-Bayt (Prophet Muḥammad’s Household) and righteous actions. In this article, we scrutinize the semantics of “righteous actions” (al-ʿamal al-ṣāliḥ) and the common effects of such actions and embracement of the authority of Ahl al-Bayt to establish the above connection: a necessary condition for an action to be characterized as righteous is that its agent embraces the authority of Ahl al-Bayt. The method of this research is descriptive- analytic and library-based, and given the significance of the Quranic exegesis al-Mīzān, it is taken as our source for interpreting the verses in question. It is the ultimate dream of all free-spirited individuals to attain happiness and salvation. Human actions are the most essential factors that contribute to their deliverance.

However, it goes without saying that not all actions can be salvific, only those that satisfy certain conditions to conduce individuals to happiness. Like “faith,” which is a general concept in need of explanation, “righteous action” also requires semantic analysis. On the face of it, any good deed could be described as a righteous action, but this seems doubtful in terms of Quranic verses.

According to hadiths, for an action to be accepted by God, certain conditions should be fulfilled, including the embracement of the authority (wilāya) of Ahl al-Bayt (Prophet Muḥammad’s Household). Books and articles concerning righteous actions have considered factors such as intentions, sincerity (ikhlāṣ), and faith as factors contributing to righteous actions, without providing an adequate treatment of embracing Ahl al- Bayt’s authority as an essential component of such actions. Examples of such works are: “A study of the semantics of ‘righteous actions’ in the Quran” by Hossein Khoshdel Mofrad, and “Righteous actions from the perspective of the noble Quran” by Kamran Izadi Mobarakeh. In this article, we provide an account of this relationship through a consideration of the semantic link between “righteous actions” and the relevant concepts as well as the factors contributing to righteous actions and their effects in exegeses of the relevant Quranic verses and hadiths, comparing the effects of righteous actions and Ahl al-Bayt’s authority….

Bibliographic Information

Title: The Role of Embracing the Authority of Ahl al-Bayt (a) in the Formation of Righteous Actions in al-Mīzān

Author(s): Fatemeh Ajamein & Alireza Imani Moghaddam

Published in: Islamic Inquiries (2023), 2(1):

 Language: English

Length: 14 Pages

The Role of Embracing the Authority of Ahl al-Bayt (a) in the Formation of Righteous Actions in al-Mīzān