# Does Quran 33:40 mean the Prophet's descendants cannot rule?

*Quran 33:40, 'not the father of any of your men', is no proof against his descendants ruling*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/22/
- Date: 2021-02-16 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:15:00–1:16:17)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=4500s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/

**Topics:** Contested verses; Succession and the first civil wars

**Question as asked:** How should we understand the verse that Muhammad is not the father of any of your men? Some Sunnis use that to justify descendants not being caliph.

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says 33:40 simply states that the Prophet is not the father of their men but the seal of the prophets; it is not a proof that his descendants may not rule.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says verse 33:40 is not a proof that the Prophet's descendants are not to rule.

**Evidence, his words at 1:15:39:** “you read it it's not a proof that his descendants are not to rule but generally speaking his descendants did not rule” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=4539s)

## Longer summary

A super chat asks how to understand the verse that Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, which some Sunnis use to justify the Prophet's descendants not being caliph. Mufti Abu Layth says he does not know that it is evidence for that: it states a fact, that he is not the father of any of them but is the seal of the prophets, and can be understood as one reads it. It is not a proof that his descendants are not to rule, he says, though as a matter of fact they generally did not. He then reads another super chat about producing a chapter as a miracle and says he does not understand it.

## Sources and names cited

- Quran 33:40: https://quran.com/33/40
- khatam al-nabiyyin (seal of the prophets)

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:15:00–1:16:17)

[1:15:00] right how should we understand the verse uh that muhammad is not father of any of your men some sunnis use that to justify descendants not being caliph um i don't know if it's used to just i mean i don't know if it's an evidence for that or muhammadun you see this is just stating a fact that he is not the father of of you but he is the seal of the prophets i think it could be understood just as

[1:15:39] you read it it's not a proof that his descendants are not to rule but generally speaking his descendants did not rule so i mean factually speaking uh quran produce a quran produce a chapter is a miracle fix up i don't even know what that question means but thanks for the super chat anyway right mufti the quran is strictly speaking against the christian trinity but at the same time orders encourages us to follow the sunnah

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment --PntsaR8ck/s/22. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/22/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.