Appearance
The Faith of Abū Ṭālib
وَهُمْ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ وَيَنْـَٔوْنَ عَنْهُ ۖ وَإِن يُهْلِكُونَ إِلَّآ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ
(6:26) They dissuade [others] from [following] him, and [themselves] avoid him; yet they destroy no one except themselves, but they are not aware.
The question
Does the verse “And they prohibit (others) from it and go far away from it” refer to Abū Ṭālib, who protected the Prophet, as some reports claim — and did Abū Ṭālib die a believer?
Views answered: the reports from ʿAṭāʾ and Muqātil, those who say Abū Ṭālib did not accept Islam
Al-Mizan's argument
Al-Mizan explains the verse as describing the polytheists who kept people from the Qur'an and kept away from it themselves. In the narrations it rejects the reports that apply the verse to Abū Ṭālib: the context does not agree with them, since “from it” refers to the Qur'an, not to the Prophet, and the traditions from the Ahl al-Bayt on Abū Ṭālib's faith are very numerous. It then sets out the evidence for his faith — the consensus of the Ahl al-Bayt (quoted from Majmaʿ al-Bayān), the report of Abū Bakr's words about Abū Ṭālib's Islam, and Abū Ṭālib's own poems — and notes that those who deny his Islam rely on some reports narrated through Sunnī chains.
Reading guide
Each part opens the commentary at that point.