Theological Views of Shiite and Sunni Exegetes of the Quran about the Instance of Verse 54 of Sūra al-Mā’ida: “Allah will bring forth a people He will love and who will love Him…”

Shiite and Sunni exegetes of the Quran have offered different views of what is meant by the verse, “Allah will bring forth a people He will love and who will love Him…,” (verse 54 of Sūra al-Mā’ida). The majority of Shiite and a number of Sunni exegetes believe that a prominent instance of the verse is Imam ‘Alī. Some people have, nevertheless, offered other interpretations of the instance to which the verse refers, including Imam al-Mahdī and his helpers, Abū Bakr, Salmān al-Fārsī and his people, and Abū Mūsā al-Ash’arī’s tribe. Some others believe that the verse is general—it is not specific to any particular person or people. However, since the verse involves an attribute that cannot be true of anyone other than Imam ‘Alī, in this paper, written with an analytic descriptive method, we survey and analyze theological views of Shiite and Sunni exegetes, and then consider and criticize the application of the verse to people other than the imam given its context as well as relevant hadiths.