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(30) يَا نِسَآءَ النَّبِيّ‌ِ مَن يَأْتِ مِنكُنَّ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُّبَيّـِنَةٍ يُضَاعَفْ لَهَا الْعَذَابُ ضِعْفَيْنِ وَكَانَ ذَلِكَ عَلَي اللَّهِ يَسِيرًا

30. "O wives of the Prophet! Whoever of you commits an open indecency, the punishment for her will be doubled, and that is easy for Allah."

Commentary:

In Divine retribution and reward personal merit and noble descent have no effect and every offender must be punished.

Those who have a religious feature and a social situation and whose manner is considered as a model for others, will deserve a greater retribution than that of others if they commit a sin.

This holy verse through some clear statements refers to the situation of the wives of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) concerning their good and evil actions as well as their prominence and their heavy responsibility. It says:

You are living in the house of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.), the centre of revelation and prophecy. Regarding to your constant nearness to the Messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h.) your awareness about the Islamic affairs is more than the common people, in addition that others look at you and your deeds are as models for them. Therefore, your sin is more grievous than theirs with Allah, since both reward and retribution are given according to the one's knowledge and level of cognizance, and its effect in the environment. You have both a heavier portion of information

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and a more sensitive situation from the point of having an affect of the society.

Besides them all, your wrong actions, from one side, annoy the holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.), and, on the other side, damage his honour, and this is counted another sin which deserves another punishment.

The objective meaning of the Qur'ānic phrase: /fāhišatan mubayyinah/ is the open lewdnesses; and we know that the harm of the sins that some known personalities commit will often be more effective when they are done manifestly.

The Qur'ānic sentence that says: "That is easy for Allah" refers to this fact that they should never imagine that their punishment causes any difficulty for Allah and that their relation with the Prophet of Islam (p.b.u.h.) may hinder it, as it is customary among people that they ignore, or consider the sins of their friends and relatives small. No, it is not such. This ordinance will decisively be executed upon them. The above mentioned verses are about the wives of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.), saying that if they obey Allah they will have a double reward, and if they commit a manifest sin their retribution will also be doubled. But in view of the fact that the main criterion of judgment is one's social position, personality and rank, this ordinance is also true about other persons who have a social position.

Such persons do not belong only to them, but their existence consists of two dimensions: one dimension belongs to their own selves, and the other belongs to the society. So, their life programs can guide a group or mislead another group. Thus, their deeds have two effects: a personal effect and a social effect, and from this point of view, each of them has a reward or retribution.

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A tradition narrated from Imam Sādiq (a.s.) indicates that he said: "An ignorant person's seventy sins will be forgiven before that a single sin of a learned one can be forgiven."[1]

It is narrated that: "Once someone came to Imam Sajjād, Ali-ibn-il-Husayn (a.s.), and said: 'Verily you are the family whom Allah has forgiven.' The Imam (a.s.) became angry and said: "We are more deserving that what Allah has appointed about the wives of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) to be appointed to us, not as you say. We consider two rewards for our righteous (ones) and two retributions for our evil (ones), then, he recited the two abovementioned verses."[2]

The messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h.) said: "The stroke of Ali (a.s.) on the day of the ditch is better than the worship of Jinn and human beings."[3]

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The End of Part 21