15. Types Of Wilayat
Negation Of Latitudinal And Longitudinal Wilayats
Before discussion on Wilayat of prophets and divine saints, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that if natural or legislative Wilayat of prophets, the Holy Imams (‘a) and other divine saints is proved; this Wilayat, in comparison to divine Wilayat will never be in latitude; on the contrary, it will also not be in its longitude as well.
No Wilayat is there in latitude or opposition of divine Wilayat; its proof is that Wilayat of no one has any originality and permanence. Therefore, such Wilayat can never be in the latitude of genuine and permanent Wilayat. In the same way, the Wilayat of others, under the topic of divine Wilayat, cannot be in the longitude as well, because Wilayat of Almighty Allah, who is One and Self-sufficient is unlimited; and since it is unlimited, it cannot be limited into a particular part that after that, turn should come for the Wilayat of some other wali.
He is self-sufficient and a self-sufficient one does not allow vacancy of anyone else, even if that one is situated in another position.
“Allah’s is the East and the West, therefore, whither you turn, thither is Allah’s purpose” (2:115)
And:
“He is with you wherever you are” (57:4)
“He it is Who is God in the heavens and God in the earth” (43:84)
Without that any colour or dust should fall on the limits of His divinity.
“He is with everything, but not in physical sense of nearness”1.
Appearance Of Divine Wilayat And Its Manifestation
When in divine Wilayat, negation was made of Wilayats in its latitude or longitude there is no option, except that we refer to the Wilayats related to others, as expressions of divine Wilayat. That: the Wilayat of every wali - whether natural or legislative - is in fact, an expression of divine Wilayat. Therefore, since that person is a target of manifestation, the Wilayat of Allah is manifested in him.
Imam ‘Ali (‘a) praises divine manifestation in the following way in Nahj al-Balagha:
“Praise be to Allah Who is Manifest before His creation because of themselves”2.
The best example of appearance and manifestation of divine Wilayat is that of a mirror: that whatever is placed before it, is reflected in it. Mirror is a manifestor of things placed before it.
When the owner of the face is compared to the face present in the mirror, and question is posed whether the function of the image in the mirror is in the latitude or longitude of the owner of the image, it is possible that initially it is said that this function is not in the latitude of the owner of image; on the contrary, it is in the longitude; but when it is viewed with concentration, it is learnt that there is nothing in the mirror that it should do anything under the direction of the owner of the face. Whatever is present in the mirror it is only a sign for the owner of the face, and it only hints about him.
On the basis of practical monotheism, this universe is an expression of God and according to the subtle comparison of the Holy Qur’an it is a sign of God. The sign does not have anything of its own, because if by way of specialty, it has something of its own. it would not be a sign of that specialty; on the contrary, it would be a veil. Whereas the world in its every glory is a divine sign and there is nothing in the universe, which can only be a veil and not a mirror of truth.
Although as was mentioned previously, mirror does not imply that it should be considered mirror in general parlance. That, which is called as mirror in general parlance is in fact made of glass, which is manufactured in various forms under special conditions. The body of glass is in fact, potentially a mirror and actually a mirror, which is the real mirror; that is same mirror image, which indicates the owner of the face. Like a mirage, the mirror image is also having no reality other than an indication, although the difference between it and mirage is that the mirage is false, whereas mirror reflects the truth and the right thing.
Whatever is mentioned under the topic of creation regarding the manifestation of Almighty Allah, it shows that in books of rational sciences, discussions are presented to clarify the system of cause and effect, are only for facility in teaching and learning, and they are only in the position of proving and not the position of proof, because in those books, in the beginning discussion begins with ordinary causes and then under their topic with the unseen cause and from there it ends at the cause of the causes, which is the original cause: but in divine sciences the beginning of discussion in its particular sense, is with initial cause and its qualities. That is why from its qualities, the quality, which is proved is its limitlessness. Along with proving that quality, the greatness of Almighty Allah becomes free and pure from all defects, which in form of being limited may be attributed to Him. Thus, Amir al-Mu’minin ‘Ali (‘a) says: “One, who considered Allah to be limited, has in fact believed in His multiplicity and one who believed in His multiplicity is as if he has considered His eternality invalid”3.
It is thus clear that the initial cause in the instance of its being unlimited is present in all systems of the stages of existences and no individual is present in latitude (opposite) of the initial cause of this system of existence and its longitude (continuity).
Judgment Day - Place Of Manifestation Of The Wilayat Of Allah
The position, up to which a wise man and philosopher reaches, and who with discipline of Self is the seeker of perfection of severing for the Almighty Allah: My God, bestow me with the perfection of severing for You. Or like one who is drowning, who is cut off from all apparent causes and calls Allah with purity of intention and becomes the implication of:
“They pray to Allah, being sincere to Him in obedience” (10:22).
That is if someone in the above two cases: that is through witnessing and seeing, has not been able to achieve the absolute Wilayat of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime it is possible that after passing worldly difficulties he may achieve this reality.
“Here is protection only Allah’s, the True One” (18:44).
In Surah al-Kahf it is said regarding one whose father is involved in danger:
“And his wealth was destroyed; so he began to wring his hands for what he had spent on it, while it lay, having fallen down upon its roofs, and he said: Ah me! would that I had not associated anyone with my Lord” (18:42).
“And he had no host to help him besides Allah nor could he defend himself” (18:43).
That is when Wilayat has been taken away from other than Almighty Allah and when he neither can take revenge from anyone and neither anyone can come for his assistance, then he understood that:
“Here is protection only Allah’s, the True One” (18:44).
If in this stage also, someone cannot find divine Wilayat, then he after the serious events of Barzakh and Judgment Day, will achieve Wilayat of Allah and understand that:
“Allah is the evident Truth” (24:25).
In any case, if this awareness is obtained through the bitter incidents of the world whose example is mentioned in Surah al-Kahf. there remains scope for obtaining of faith and making amends for infidelity; but if it is achieved as a result of the events of the hereafter, then there remains no scope for faith, in the meaning that in Judgment Day, the disbeliever sees the Wilayat of God, but he cannot bring faith upon it. That is why Judgment Day is also called as the Day of Regret.
Limitlessness Of Divine Wilayat In The Holy Qur’an
As divine Wilayat is mentioned in two ways in the Holy Qur’an, regarding Wilayat also discussion is held in two fashions: Once in the mention of divinity that Allah has restricted it; and secondly when div in it)' is negated from anyone or anything other than Allah. Regarding Wilayat also, once it is restricted to the Almighty Allah. For example, it is said in the 9"' Verse of Surah ash-Shura:
“But Allah is the Guardian” (42:9).
And:
“And He is the Guardian, the Praised One” (42:28)
Whereas another style is that Wilayat of every kind is negated from anyone or anything other than Allah. For example, it is mentioned in the 4th Verse of Surah as-Sajdah:
“Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six periods, and He mounted the throne (of authority); you have not besides Him any guardian or any intercessor” (32:4).
These Verses hint at the reasonings, in which the style of proving the Wilayat of Allah is mentioned; but even though the necessary factor of restricting Wilayat in Almighty Allah is to divest Wilayat from anyone or anything other than Allah, but from this aspect also some reasonings have come down as follows:
First Proof
It is mentioned in the 50th and 51st Verse of Surah al-Kahf:
“What! Would you then take him and his offspring for friends rather than Me, and they are your enemies? Evil is (this) change for the unjust” (18:50).
“I did not make them witnesses of the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor of the creation of their own souls…” (18:51).
The average limit of this proof is knowledge, because Wali is one, who is aware of his charge; thus one who is unaware of others, cannot be their Wali. It is said in the above Verses that those, who did not exist at the time of the creation of this universe, and are not even aware of this system, they can definitely not be its Wali and thus even if they claim Wilayat they are liars.
Second Proof
In the 51st Verse of Surah al-Kahf that proof is also hinted at. Thus, He says:
“…Nor could I take those who lead (others) astray for aiders” (18:51).
The average limit of the second proof is power, because Wali is one having the power to run the system of Wilayat. Since the false guardians (Awliya) were not helpers of Almighty Allah in creation and did not have any role in creation; that is why they can never be Wali.
Two proofs are exhausted for all those who have submitted before false saints; those who have taken the Satans as their guardians and those who worship stars and angels as miscellaneous deities. These two proofs are comprehensive reasonings of Almighty Allah. Therefore, before the above-mentioned Verse of Surah al-Kahf and in the later Verse, it is said that man should either understand through reasoning or be severed from other than Allah and witness that Wilayat is only for the Almighty Allah.
“Here is protection only Allah’s, the True One” (18:44).
Or this reality should become clear as a result of worldly or purgatorial hardships.
Third And Fourth Proofs
Sometimes man hands over his discretion to idols and sometimes he considers himself to be the absolute authority and thinks that he is having the power to run his system. In that case also, he is an idol worshipper whose system runs under his selfish desires, which have filled up his idol house. All those who have entrusted the system of life to other than Allah and think that by relying on others, they can benefit themselves or can remove harm from themselves. Reasoning against them, the Holy Qur’an says in the 16th Verse of Surah ar-Ra’ad:
“Say: Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth? Say: Allah” (13:16).
Since they do not have any satisfactory reply to this, you only say: Allah. And this is the same reply, which their nature selects. They are involved in miscellaneous lords, even though they regard Almighty Allah as the Lord of the lords and the creator, but they attribute partial lordship to others than Allah. It is mentioned in Surah Luqman regarding the idolaters of Mecca that they admit to the creatorship of the Almighty Allah:
“And if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will certainly say: Allah” (31:25).
However, that Verse of Surah ar-Ra’ad, which is the topic of our discussion, explains the lordship of Almighty Allah, because it is lordship, which becomes the cause of responsibility.
In die captioned Verse, the Holy Qur’an presents the reasoning of divesting of Wilayat from other than Allah in the following manner:
“Say: Do you take then besides Him guardians who do not control any profit or harm for themselves?” (13:16).
Its explanation is that those who worship false deities do so because of fear, as a past time, or in an independent manner. That is then- worship is free from fear and eagerness and they definitely do get involved in the degradation of the worship of outward or inner idols. Since the worship of these groups is due to fear or eagerness, the Holy Qur’an reasons against them and says: You are engrossed in the worship of one whom you expect to be beneficial to you or that he can remove harm from you, although he is not capable of any of these things.
These two evidences are explained in the second of the four cases of logical analogies and it is in such a way that: Idols are not beneficial or harmful and Almighty Allah can only be beneficial or harmful. Thus, idols are not gods.
These two reasonings are made to negate inward idols; because the Holy Qur’an on another occasion, tells the Prophet to say to those who think that they run their affairs according to their discretion:
“I do not control any benefit or harm for my own soul” (7:188).
In the 16th Verse of Surah ar-Ra’ad, after the above two reasonings, turning back to the basis of reasoning, Allah says:
“Say: Are the blind and the seeing alike? Or can the darkness and the light be equal? Or have they set up with Allah associates who have created creation like His, so that what is created became confused to them? Say: Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Supreme” (13:16).
That is: the simile of a believer and a disbeliever is the blind and the seeing or darkness and light. Is there any creator other than Almighty Allah? Or is anyone other than Him capable of anything that should raise a doubt and one should get the impression that someone else is capable of nurturing the creatures and running their system? O Messenger, tell them that the Almighty Allah is the creator of everything. The idolaters have also accepted the principle that Allah is the creator; what they were denying is mentioned in the sentence after that and this denial caused confusion to them:
“He is the One, the Supreme” (13:16).
That is the Almighty Allah is having a powerful oneness. If his oneness is supreme oneness, there cannot be anyone else, whose Wilayat a man can accept mistakenly for removing a harm or for getting a benefit.
And praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
