Evidence Of Natural Wilayat For Other Than Prophets (Anhiya) And Divine Saints (Awiiya)

So far, we have discussed different types of Wilayat, exclusivity of Divine Wilayat and its different manifestations. In addition, the explanation of Wilayat of the prophets and negation of then- delegation of Wilayat were also discussed. Now, we shall discuss whether Wilayat is proved for someone other than the prophets.

The Qur’an apparently says that legislative Wilayat in the meaning of the responsibility of conveying the laws is only restricted for prophets; whereas the jurisdiction of Natural Wilayat is broader than legislative Wilayat and all such people come within its limits who have the capacity to be effective on the outer system.

As was made clear in the previous discussions, Natural Wilayat itself is proved for all, because every man lives with Natural Wilayat only.

For example, whenever man wants, he moves his body and whenever he likes, he makes it lie down on the bed and brings down the connection of his body to vegetative life and even reduces to animal life and in this way, he goes to sleep. Then according to his capability, he sees good or bad dreams. In the same way, other actions that a man performs on his body, all are the result of the Natural Wilayat of the soul, because in external matters, if ordinary activities are performed through our physical organs, they take place as a result of thought and view, which is from the practical or theoretical intellect.

Our being so much attached to Natural Wilayat is like the attachment of fish to water in such a way that as a fish becomes oblivious of water, we are also oblivious of Natural Wilayat of the soul on the body.

Higher than this Wilayat, are those activities, which the soul performs outside the body. The Holy Qur’an has mentioned examples of such Wilayat of the prophets and along with it their secrets are also mentioned. We mention some of them below:

First Example: Lady Maryam (S)

“When a woman of Imran said: My Lord! Surely, I vow to Thee what is in my womb, to be devoted (to Thy service); accept therefore, from me, surely, Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing” (3:35).

“So, when she brought forth, she said: My Lord! Surely, I have brought it forth a female- and Allah knew best what she brought forth- and the male is not like the female, and I have named it Maryam, and I commend her and her offspring into Thy protection from the accursed Shaitan” (3:36).

“So, her Lord accepted her with a good acceptance and made her grow up a good growing, and gave her into the charge of Zakariya; whenever Zakariya entered the sanctuary to (see) her. he found with her food. He said: O Maryam! whence comes this to you? She said: It is from Allah. Surely Allah gives to whom He pleases without measure” (3:37).

When Zakariya (‘a) took Maryam under his care and this lady grew up under his guardianship, whenever Zakariya visited her, he found with her unseasonable fruits. Seeing this, Prophet Zakariya (‘a) asked: Where do you get this sustenance from? Lady Maryam (‘a) replied: From Almighty Allah. The reply so satisfied Zakariya (‘a) that he accepted it without investigation. At the end of the Verse it is hinted that:

“Surely Allah gives to whom He pleases without measure” (3:37).

This Verse does not mean that there is no accounting of divine bounties, because ‘the accountant’ (Haseeb) is one of the names of Almighty Allah and He also says in the Holy Qur’an:

“And there is a measure with Him of every tiling” (13:8).

On another occasion it is said:

“Surely We have created everything according to a measure” (54:49).

Thus, the above Verses imply that the condition of the bestowal of the Almighty Allah is such that He is without any measure; that Allah gives sustenance in such a way that it is without measure or the style of His giving the sustenance is such that others cannot keep account of it.

In any case, this is also a kind of Wilayat. That is a person, who is not a prophet, but has reached a rank that Almighty Allah bestows such noble sustenance to him, which is beyond the understanding of others.

Such great was the position of Wilayat, which became apparent in Lady Maryam (S) that Prophet Zakariya (‘a) was also motivated to pray for the birth of a righteous son like Yahya (‘a). For when Prophet Zakariya (‘a) witnessed this excellence in Lady Maryam (S) he wished that the Almighty Allah should also give him such a child:

“There did Zakariya pray to his Lord; he said: My Lord! grant me from Thee good offspring; surely Thou art the Hearer of prayer” (3:38).

So, the Almighty Allah bestowed Zakariya (‘a) with a son like Yahya (‘a) so that he may also be blessed with that noble sustenance without measure, although Yahya (‘a) reached to the rank of prophethood and scaled the rank of legislative Wilayat whereas Lady Maryam (S) was not having this position and she was only having Natural Wilayat.

Another evidence for the Natural Wilayat of Lady Maryam (S) is that she, in addition to practical discretions, was having intellectual discretions, which from the aspect of making prophecies were having the rank of miracles. For example, it is said:

“When the angels said: O Maryam, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (of one) whose name is the Messiah, Isa son of Maryam, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near (to Allah)” (3:45).

“And he shall speak to the people when in the cradle and when of old age, and (he shall be) one of the good ones” (3:46).

This prophecy, in fact, is the becoming apparent of the miracle of Prophet Isa (‘a), which took place in his respected mother. In Verse 110 of Surah al-Ma’idah, when mention is made of Isa (‘a), the Almighty Allah says:

“When Allah will say: O Isa son of Maryam! Remember My favour on you and on your mother, when I strengthened you with the holy Spirit, you spoke to the people in the cradle and maturity” (5:110).

Some commentators have concluded that there is an unseen announcement in this Verse and it is that Prophet Isa (‘a) would not be able to reach old age, because the Verse mentions speaking in childhood and maturity, whereas maturity is an age between childhood and old age (that is after 40 years).

Prophecy of a later miracle, which in fact is the expression of the miracle of Isa (‘a) in his respected mother, is also regarding connection between Isa (‘a) and Lady Maryamis) of which there are many mentions in the Holy Qur’an.

According to the Holy Qur’an, Isa (‘a) and Lady Maryam (S) are only one fact, who became apparent in the form of a mother and son, because those two are mentioned as one and the same sign. Apart from this, sometimes the name of Maryam is mentioned before the name of Isa (‘a). For example, in the following Verse:

“And made her and her son a sign for the nations” (21:91).

And sometimes it is mentioned to the contrary; for example:

“And We made the son of Maryam and his mother a sign” (23:50).

The third evidence for Lady Maryam (S) during her pregnancy was the portraying of the Holy Spirit for her. The Holy Qur’an says:

“So, she took a veil (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our spirit, and there appeared to her a well-made man” (19:17).

“She said: Surely, I fly for refuge from you to the Beneficent God, if you are one guarding (against evil)” (19:18).

“He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord: That I will give you a pure boy” (19:19).

“She said: When shall I have a boy and no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste?” (19:20).

“He said: Even so; your Lord says: It is easy to Me: and that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter, which has been decreed” (19:21).

That is when the Almighty Allah decided to make Lady Maryam (S) pregnant without a husband He sent the Holy Spirit to her and this angel came in form of a proper man to her and when she met this angel for the first time, she said that she sought the refuge of Allah from his mischief.

After this the angel gave her the glad tidings of a son. Lady Maryam (S) was amazed that a woman should become pregnant without a husband. The angel said that the Almighty Allah has decided that she should become pregnant without a husband.

Second Example: Asif Ibn Barkhiya

It is mentioned in Surah an-Naml:

“He said: O chiefs! which of you can bring to me her throne before they come to me in submission?” (27:38).

“One audacious among the jinn said: I will bring it to you before you rise up from your place; and most surely I am strong (and) trusty for it” (27:39).

“One who had the knowledge of the Book said: I will bring it to you in the twinkling of an eye. Then when he saw it settled beside him, he said: This is of the grace of my Lord that He may try me whether I am grateful or ungrateful; and whoever is grateful, he is grateful only for his own soul, and whoever is ungrateful, then surely my Lord is Self- sufficient, Honoured” (27:40).

Prophet Sulaiman (‘a) showed a miracle to the Queen of Saba so that since she had submitted in the political sense, she may bring also faith on the Lord of the worlds like Prophet Sulaiman (‘a) and say:

“I submit with Sulaiman to Allah, the Lord of the worlds” (27:44).

Therefore, Prophet Sulaiman (‘a) said to his men: “Who can get me her throne before she arrives?” Ifreet, a jinni, said: “I can bring it to you before you get up from your place; that is half a day since this gathering started or till your gathering concludes”

Since this period was too long Prophet Sulaiman (‘a) did not accept. After that a man, who had some knowledge of the book said: “I will get it in the blink of the eye” Now, this is the shortest time period which can be defined.

It is learnt from the later part of the Verse that Prophet Sulaiman (‘a) permitted him and that person displayed his power by his permission. Some commentators say that it was Prophet Sulaiman (‘a) himself, who transported the throne and through this they wish to deem the getting of throne as a miracle of Prophet Sulaiman (‘a), whereas the apparent implication of the Verse is that someone else accomplished it.

Thus, this Verse proves that someone other than a prophet can also display miracles, which may be stronger than folding up of the earth, because folding up of the earth means covering a long distance in a very short time, whereas in this act, apart from folding up of the earth, carrying something else is also included.

It is also possible that someone may object that how is it logically possible that the throne, lying at a great distance should be brought in less than the blink of the eye? Its reply is that: Normally it is impossible to accomplish this, but it is not logically impossible, since usually such transportations take a long time, there is no rational obstacle for it to be accomplished in a short time. Basically, miracles and miraculous acts are called as such, because it is normally impossible to accomplish them, although they are not impossible in the actual sense.

Some have explained the transportation of the throne as follows: Every existing being, in every moment and time, receives a new favour from Almighty Allah. Therefore, there is no obstacle for the throne of Bilquis to be in Saba some moments ago and a few moments later it should have obtained the favour of existence in the presence of Prophet Sulaiman (‘a). There is neither any rational proof nor logical evidence for this reply, because it requires numerous existences for a single thing and every moment its existence should be accidental and different from the previous stage, except that it should imply that this transportation occurred very fast by the permission of Almighty Allah. In that case, there remains no difference between this reply and the previous one. There are some noteworthy points in the above incident.

First point: The person, to whom the transportation of the throne is attributed, is not mentioned in Qur’an, but the comparison, which is present with ‘Ifreet from the jinn’ shows that he was from the human beings.

Second point: Just as in the statement of most honoured scholars, the mention of quality explains the cause of the command, in the same way, the adjective in the statement of: “One who had the knowledge of the Book” (27:40) said: shows that the source of his authority was his knowledge of the Book.

Third point: The Book, which exercises controls in creation, cannot be a human book, because a human book merely consists of nominal words and letters, whose existence is only in the book form, and bookish existence and even notional existence of things cannot exercise external control and influence.

This shows that recognition, which becomes the cause of Wilayat, is different from lessons, discussion and interpretive knowledge and it is something that is merged with reality and which always accompanies it and it is known as intuitive knowledge or effective realization.

Fourth point: A recognition, which is the aim of Wilayat, is accompanied with trust; that is why it is said:

“And most surely I am strong (and) trusty for it” (27:39).

Even if this Verse had not been there, this matter was worth proving, because the soul of the embezzler is deprived even from seeing good dreams, what can be said of his getting access to recognition, which should be a cause of Wilayat?

It is possible that the soul of the embezzler introduces itself to be trusty, but as soon as he travels to the world of unseen, his dishonesty is revealed, because when an illuminated reality is achieved by a liar in dream, many things present from before are added to it and this becomes like grass and buds, which grow around a flowery sapling and this scattering in dream proves the daily worries and mental disturbance of man. This causes whatever he sees in dream to be called as confused dreams (Asgahth ul-Ahlaani), because ‘Zagas’ is a bundle of hay and grass and ‘Asghas’ is its plural. That is many bundles. When a pure bud grows from a false person, wild grass and buds grow around it in such way the real bud is concealed; and gradually it disappears into them in such a way that its trace does not remain. Therefore, whosoever is deviated from the right path in speech and character or is false and an embezzler, he can never reach true recognition and till man does not achieve real recognition, it is definite that Wilayat resulting from that would also not be achieved by him.

Fifth point: Under the explanation of this Verse, some commentators have said that that person was having the knowledge of the great name of God; and as soon as he mentioned that name, before the blink of the eye, the throne came from Saba into the presence of Prophet Sulaiman (‘a). There is difference of opinion about that great name as well; whether it is ‘living and eternal’ (Hayyi al-Qayyuni) or it is a Hebrew word like ‘Ahaa Sharaaha’ etc.

The point worth noting is that uttering or writing any word or using its meaning is not effective externally, because the system of existence is a system of cause and effect and in this system bookish, verbal or notional existences, which are extremely weak, cannot be effective externally.

Its explanation is that verbal existence and bookish existence are both nominal and specified existences. That is the reason that in different communities, words and letters are also different and from the aspect of specification also they are opposites. Nominal and specified matters are present only in the limits of specification and are ineffective in the world of nature. If meanings, like nominal matters, are not connected to specification, but present along with notional existence; and notional existence is having very weak reality, which cannot affect the external system, because that, which is effective in the external system, for that it is necessary that firstly it should be having a real existence and secondly it should be stronger than its effect. Even though notional existence is having real existence, this existence is dependent. Thus, the great name of God, which is effective externally, should be having a reality higher than the meaning.

"Now, like Du’a Simaat, we can understand the meaning of points mentioned in other supplications as well. In those supplications, Almighty Allah is adjured by His names. For example: ‘I adjure You in the name, by which You created the earth and raised the mountains.’ In such sentences, the names imply divine favours; because the heavens and the earth were created through those favours only; whereas verbal names are from those nominal matters, which are coined for those real names. That is why those names are also called as ‘names of the names.’

Difference between ‘name’ and ‘name of names’ can also be understood well through the discussion of difference between ‘name’ and ‘named’, as this is the very point of contention, because unity and contradiction between ‘name’ and ‘named’ implies the realities of nature, which are symbols for the ‘named’ and the owner of sign. Whether they are actually ‘named’ or something different?

In the same way, ‘name’, along with special specification, implies absolute existence. As opposed to this, being is a non-specified existence and it is also opposed to the quality, which is specification only. Regarding this, we previously stated that from one aspect, ‘name’ is same as ‘named’, whereas from another aspect it is different.

The conclusion is that knowing the Great Name is not only knowing words or meaning; this knowledge implies the greatest names being inclined to soul and this occurs when that name is manifested in the soul of man. One, in whom the great name has been manifested and witnessed, he can be said to be having some knowledge of the Book. And since in this person is manifested the name, which is the cause of the creation of the time and earth and is the cause of the creation of the seas and the heavens; therefore, he can control whatever is there in the earth and the heavens before the blink of the eye.

Sixth point: The last Verse of Surah ar-Ra’ad, which is applicable for Amir al-Mu’minin (‘a), proved more than what is mentioned in the Verse of Surah an-Naml:

“And those who disbelieve say: You are not a messenger. Say: Allah is sufficient as a witness between me and you and whoever has knowledge of the Book” (13:43).

In this Verse, two witnesses are mentioned in reply to the deniers of the messengership of the Holy Prophet (S); that is the idolaters of Mecca: the first witness, who is the highest, is the Almighty Allah Himself, who after giving the Book to His prophet, witnesses his prophethood; the second witness is one having the knowledge of the Book.

The statement of ‘One having knowledge of the Book’ is stronger than ‘One having some knowledge of the Book’, because the former statement applies to Amir al-Mu’minin (‘a), which proves his mastership on the whole book, whereas the second statement present in Surah an-Nahl, does not prove that.

Seventh point: Here we again turn back to the initial point: that is the Wilayat of Waliullah is neither in the latitude nor longitude of the Wilayat of Allah; on the contrary, it is an expression of divine Wilayat and the Verses in our discussion also hint at this point, because when Sulaiman (‘a) observed this expertise from one of those who were under his training, he did not say:

“He said: I have been given this only on account of the knowledge I have” (28:78).

That is, he did not regard that power to be from his side or from others, because selfishness and unselfishness are veils; and one who cannot come out of them, cannot obtain Wilayat.

Therefore, Prophet Sulaiman (‘a) testified that it was from Almighty Allah and he said:

“This is of the grace of my Lord that He may try me whether I am grateful or ungrateful; and whoever is grateful, he is grateful only for his own soul, and whoever is ungrateful, then surely my Lord is Self-sufficient, Honoured” (27:40).

And praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.