Criticism of the Sunni Opinion Regarding the Issue of Faith and Purity of Fathers of the Prophet (SAWA) on the Basis of Verses Related to Abraham’s Father (AS)

One of the disagreement between the Sunni and Shiʿa sects in the field of Kalām and beliefs is the issue of belief or disbelief of the parents of the Prophet of Islam (SAWA). While the Shiites firmly believe in the faith and belief of all the fathers and mothers of the Holy Prophet in monotheism, the majority of the Sunnis believe that some of them were infected with disbelief and polytheism, and a few of the Sunnis believe that the fathers of the Prophet were faithful. With an analytical, descriptive and critical method and by referring to the exegetical and hadith sources of some great scholars of the Sunnis, in this essay we explore the issue of belief or disbelief of the father of prophet Abraham (SA), which is one of the disputed Qur'anic positions between the two sects regarding this doctrine, is in three categories: A) Āzar is Abraham's father and a polytheist, and B) Āzar is the name of an idol or it means curse, and C) Abraham's father is a monotheist person and Āzar is a person other than Abraham's father. The most important finding of the present article is that some of the great Sunni scholars such as Shaʿrāwī, Fakhr al-Rāzī and Ālūsī have in some cases gone as far as admitting the validity of the Shiʿa point of view, although the final confession cannot be deduced from their collection of words.