means that "God's Noble Messenger (PBUH) wants no reward for carrying out the duty of messenger-ship; he wants only love for his family."

If it is asked: From this, it seems that advantages were gained from the family relationship, whereas according to the meaning of:

The most honoured of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you,⁶

6.Qur'an,49:13.

prophethood functions in regard to nearness to God, not in regard to family relationships?

The Answer: With his vision that penetrated the Unseen, God's Most Noble Messenger (PBUH) saw that his Family would be a light-giving tree in the world of Islam. The overwhelming majority of the persons who would perform the duty of guides instructing every level of the world of Islam in human attainment and perfection would emerge from his Family. He divined that his community's prayer for his Family in the final section of the pre­scribed prayers: "O God, grant blessings to our mas­ter Muhammad and to the Family of our master Muhammad, as You granted blessings to Abraham and to the Family of Abraham; indeed. You are Worthy of Praise, Most Exalted" would be accepted. That is to say, just as the vast majority of the lumi­nous guides of the people of Abraham were prophets from his family and line, so he saw in his commu­nity the spiritual poles of his Family performing the momentous duties of Islam, and in most of the paths and Sufi orders, like the prophets of Israel. There­fore, being commanded to say: "Say: I ask of you no recompense save love of close kin," he wanted his community to love his Family.

There are numerous narrations corroborating this fact. He repeatedly decreed: "/ leave you two things. If you adhere to them, you will find salvation: one is God's Book, the other is my Family."⁷

7. Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 31; Musnad, iii, 14, 17,26.