A criticism to Ibn Taymiyyah's opinion about revelation of the verse of Mubahila

This article expresses and criticizes the opinions of Ibn Taymiyyah about revelation of the verse of Mubahila. Ibn taymiyyah in his minhaj al-sunna has criticized the Mubahila verse as one of the characteristics of Imam Ali (pbuh). He admits that this verse reveals the dignity of ahl al-bayt and that ahl al-bayt confined to Ali, Fatima, Hassan and Husain and so he considered their presence in Mubahila as a virtue for them, However, he believes that the Prophet has no need to ahl al-bayt’s prays for Mubahila and presence of Imam Ali is not regarded as characteristics for him; because the word “nafs (myself)” in the verse does not imply equality and term “abna’na wa nisa’na wa anfosana” in this verse is a general term that could also include the others (non-Household), since there was no nobody other than them for Mubahila at that time. This article considers the claims of Ibn Taymiyya as baseless and wrong by quoting traditions and the words of some Sunni scholars, and considers this verse as a potent reason for the virtue of Imam Ali (pbuh).