Title: Do the Prophet's Descendents Enjoy a Special Position? Question: Assalam Aleikum brothers, and congratulations on maintaining a very informative and enlightening website. I praise you on your intellectual honesty, the clarity of your responses to queries, as well as your courtesy to your readers. May the Almighty reward you for your efforts. My question pertains to the descendants of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and especially those who claim special spiritual power or religious legitimacy just because they claim to be his descendants. Is there any indication in the Qur'an or the Hadith that the Messenger's descendants will be beneficiaries of any special privileges in the Afterlife, just by the fact that they are descendants of the Prophet, irrespective of their behavior in this world? Are they to be viewed and treated specially (in this life) by other Muslims only on the merit that are descendants of the Prophet? Thank you for your clarifications. May God bless you all. Answer: The family of the Prophet (pbuh) does enjoy a special position with respect to the reverence in which the Ummah has generally held them. Nevertheless, this 'special' position is solely due to the love and respect that the Ummah has for the Prophet (pbuh) himself. However, the family of the Prophet (pbuh), with the exception of his wives, does not enjoy any special position as a matter of faith. As far as the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) are concerned, the Qur'an has placed them at a revered position of the "Mothers of the believers". This, as should be clear from the words, is also a distinct position with regard to love and respect. Thus, we may say that the family of the Prophet (pbuh) has, generally, been given a distinct position by the Muslims, not because Islam demands this special position for the family of the Prophet (pbuh), but because of their love and respect for the Prophet (pbuh) himself. 26 th December 1999