Reminder

Our discussion is regarding Wilayat of human being in the Holy Qur’an. In the third chapter, which was about the method of proving Wilayat, it became clear that every act, which brings human being near to Allah, is a means of proving Wilayat. Since the discussion is intellectual, therefore, whatever implies proximity would be included in the limits of this discussion; whether it is the word of Wilayat or the word of nearness and proximity.

Since the Almighty Allah has made worship acts to be the means of proximity, therefore, the best medium of obtaining Wilayat and the external existence of Wilayat is performance of worship acts with the intention of seeking divine proximity. Verbal beauty is found in this as well as beauty of acts, whereas performance of prohibited and detestable acts or to do something to show off etc is a hurdle in acceptance of Wilayat.

Love Of The World Is Also An Obstacle

When the Almighty Allah mentions the most important way of proximity, He makes the ‘pure word’, which is monotheism only, along with righteous deeds as basis of proximity to God, and He says:

“To Him do ascend the good words; and the good deeds, lift them up” (35:10).

On the contrary, He considers the world of nature and inclination to the world of dust, to be among the great obstacles on the path of Wilayat. Therefore, He says thus regarding some people who were bearers of divine signs, but were unable to gain from that divine favour:

“And recite to them the narrative of him to whom We give Our communications, but he withdraws himself from them, so the Shaitan overtakes him, so he is of those who go astray” (7:175).

That is: We gave our signs to that person, but he was having worldly inclinations, therefore, he went out of the shade of our signs. The term of “he withdraws” shows that the inner part of human being is dark, and it is only some rays of divine light, which has concealed his black inside, in such a way that if someone goes out of that veil of effulgence, his inner darkness would become clear. In Surah Yasin, the term of Naslakh (We draw forth) is noteworthy.

“And a sign to them is the night: We draw forth from it the day, then lo! they are in the dark” (36:37).

That is We have made the body of atmosphere an illuminated garment in the name of the day, in such a way that if we remove this garment from over the atmosphere, its darkness would be exposed. In the same way, He says regarding a religious man of Bani Israel: That We dressed the body of that Israeli man in an illuminated dress, but he came out of it and became a creature of darkness. That is he did not possess his own effulgence.

“And if We had pleased, We would certainly have exalted him thereby; but he clung to the earth and followed his low desire” (7:176).

That is, if We wanted We could have raised him to a high rank, but everyone should reach up to perfection on the basis of personal faith and freewill and not in "a compulsive manner, therefore, in the perfection of the Israeli, ‘he clung to the earth’ was the obstacle.

In the blessed Surah al-Humazah also the most important obstacle of divine proximity is deemed to be inclination to wealth and material things:

“Woe to every slanderer, defamer” (104:1).

“Who amasses wealth and considers it a provision (against mishap)” (104:2).

“He thinks that his wealth will make him immortal” (104:3).

This false notion is an obstacle in his development and perfection.

In other words, on the basis of this holy Verse, the condition of Wilayat of monotheism and good acts is:

“To Him do ascend the good words; and the good deeds, lift them up” (35:10).

Whereas the obstacle in that is inclination of the world, which is described in such different words:

“O you who believe! What (excuse) have you that when it is said to you: Go forth in Allah’s way, you should incline heavily to earth” (9:38).

Or:

“He clung to the earth” (7:176).

Or:

“But he withdraws himself from them” (7:175).

Restriction Of Wilayat In The Verses

In any case, continuing the discussion, we mention those Verses, in which either bil Mutaabiqat or bil iltizaam1 Wilayat is restricted only in the being of the Almighty Allah, and it is negated for others. The Verses, which prove that Wilayat is restricted in the Almighty Allah, are of two kinds: One is those which prove that anyone other than Allah cannot do anything. Secondly the Verses whose meaning is that inclination to anyone other than Allah is not only useless and ineffective, on the contrary, it is also meaningless.

Therefore, these Verses clearly threaten human beings from Wilayat of someone other than Allah. And it proves Wilayat and determination for the divine being of God. It is mentioned in the 45th Verse of the blessed Surah an-Nisa’:

“And Allah best knows your enemies; and Allah suffices as a Guardian, and Allah suffices as a Helper” (4:45).

Difference between Wilayat and help had been explained in the past discussion; where the charge cannot do anything like a child. That is the position of Wilayat, but where he can do something, although there might be some deficiency. Yes, it is a position of help. The Almighty Allah deems himself sufficient for both help and Wilayat; but here the tone is not of warning, on the contrary, it is a language of sufficiency; that the Almighty Allah is sufficient and there is no need to refer to someone other than Allah and not: Beware of referring to someone other than Allah.

He says in the blessed Surah al-’Ankabut that anyone other than the Almighty Allah does not have any power. It is from the Verses, which say that if someone wants to worship due to fear or eagerness, he should not go near anyone other than God, because there is no benefit or harm in the hand of other than God, but those whose basis of worship is divine love, they are pure of idol worship, because they have been released from their fury and sensuality and have got attached to their God. It is mentioned in the 41st Verse of the blessed Surah al-’Ankabut:

“The parable of those who take guardians besides Allah is as the parable of the spider that makes for itself a house; and most surely the frailest of the houses is the spider’s house - did they but know” (29:41).

Those who adopted someone other than God as Wali, their condition is compared to the condition of that person who took the support of the strand of a spider web. Here the comparison is not made with the spider. Like a man has a house and he remains safe from heat and cold in that house. The spider also spins the web with its saliva and makes for itself a shelter and a place of safety and it lives in that house. Its house is beneficial to it. Therefore, if in the blessed Verse, the comparison had been about the spider, it would necessitate that as a spider benefits from its house, and those who make someone other than God as Wali, also would benefit from their act and this matter is against that aim, which the Holy Qur’an wants to describe, thus, house of the spider is said to be weak and shaky; just as the spider web is of no use to man, in the same way, he would not gain anything from someone other than Allah.

The second kind of Verses is those, in which someone other than God can neither do anything on their own nor through partnership or intercession. Except for the Almighty Allah they have no guardian, who might take up their responsibility and they have no intercessor as well who might compensate for their deficiency. It is mentioned in the 62nd Verse of the same blessed Surah al-An’am after the mention of divine Wilayat that:

“Then are they sent back to Allah, their Master, the True one; now, surely His is the judgment and He is swiftest in taking account” (6:62).

That is command and rulership is only for the Almighty Allah, whether they be legislative matters or commands of nature; they all are under His control. And these people are under the Wilayat of the Almighty Allah, who is their real master and other than the Almighty Allah they have no master. Explaining the divine Wilayat. it is mentioned in the 30th Verse of the blessed Surah Yunus:

“There shall every soul become acquainted with what it sent before, and they shall be brought back to Allah, their true Patron, and what they devised shall escape from them” (10:30).

Whatever falsehood the polytheists attributed was destroyed. It does not imply that they were having deities who disappeared later on. Deviation means something else and the lost and disappearance means something else. The ‘lost’ is an independent being, which has to be destroyed, but deviation means getting lost.

Regarding wisdom, Amir al-Mu’minin (‘a) has said: “Wisdom is the lost property of the believer”2

That is wisdom and divine recognition is a real existing matter and the believer is in search of his lost property, but deviation is in the meaning of being lost, which is not an existing matter. He says: The falsehood that people used to attribute to us, it was deviation, which they thought to be guidance and this deviation will appear on Judgment Day. Idol worship is deviation. On Judgment Day the idolaters will not be able to see anything called as idol, and whatever they see is stone and wood and it has no appearance there in the form of an idol, because it was falsehood and deviation (as if it has been destroyed). It is mentioned in another manner in the 12th and 13th Verses of the blessed Surah al-Hajj. The Holy Qur’an says:

“He calls besides Allah upon that, which does not harm him and that, which does not profit him, that is the great straying” (22:12).

“He calls upon him whose harm is nearer than his profit…” (22:13).

The aim and conclusion of these Verses is that since the worship of most people is due to the fear of Hell or in greed of Paradise, therefore, the Almighty' Allah says: These idols and everyone other than the Almighty' Allah neither remove your fear nor give a practical shape to your greed and hope, because neither are they beneficial nor harmful. Whereas the beneficially and harmfulness is among the beautiful names of the Almighty Allah as is mentioned in supplications. After that He says:

“He calls upon him whose harm is nearer than his profit; evil certainly is the guardian and evil certainly is the associate” (22:13).

It is not that worship of other than Allah should be useless and ineffective; on the contrary, such a worship act is infidelity and harmful, because the result of proximity of other than Allah is nothing but fire. Therefore, they have not only selected a master who is not beneficial, on the contrary, it is harmful and evil.

These two Verses have come together even though each of them is related to different groups. The meaning of the first Verse is that there is no power with those other than the Almighty Allah; whereas the other Verse proves that proximity of anyone or anything other than Allah is not only not beneficial; on the contrary, it is harmful as well. The Verses mentioned so far prove the necessary condition that Wilayat is restricted only to Allah, the Mighty and the High; whereas the other type of Verses are those, which prove conformity; that Wilayat is restricted to the Almighty Allah and no one other than the Almighty Allah has anything at their discretion. There are many Verses about Wilayat in the blessed Surah ash-Shura. The Almighty Allah says in the 8th Verse as follows:

“…And the unjust it is that shall have no guardian or helper” (42:8).

That is: there is no Wali of the unjust who might be able to take up the responsibility of all his affairs and neither he has any helper who might assist him. This blessed Verse disproves Wilayat and help on the basis of conformity of proof and it proves the Wilayat of Allah on the basis of necessary conditions of proving. The 9th Verse, which is our evidence, is as follows:

“Or have they taken guardians besides Him? But Allah is the Guardian…” (42:9).

This blessed Verse is like the following:

“That is because Allah is the Truth” (22:62).

[It is so because only Allah is the truth.] This Verse proves the restriction of Wilayat in the being of the Almighty Allah, because being the proper noun of the predicate shows restriction, especially when before such a predicate the pronoun of distance is present.

The connotation of the Verse is that whoever might be other than God, he is false and he has no share in Wilayat. After that the absolute power of Almighty Allah is mentioned by way of reasoning:

“He gives life to the dead, and He has power over all things” (42:9).

In the same way, it is mentioned in the 28th Verse of the same blessed Surah:

“And He it is Who sends down the rain after they have despaired, and He unfolds His mercy” (42:28).

Allah it is, Who sends rain after people have despaired and He scatters His favours and He is a Wali, Who is the absolute praised one. Every praiser who praises is regarding the Almighty Allah only, because praise is in the response of bounty.

“And whatever favour is (bestowed) on you it is from Allah” (16:53).

Except for the Almighty Allah, there is no one who bestows favours, therefore, other than Him, there cannot be any praised one as well. That is why He said: Praised be to Allah. That is praise is restricted only to the Almighty Allah. Here also it is said: And He is the Wali and the praised one; and this style of expression also proves restriction.

Thus, these Verses either restrict Wilayat Bil Mutabiqat [with compatibility] in Allah and negates it from other than Allah Bil Ihizaam [by deeming as necessary] or it negates Wilayat Bil Mutabiqat [with compatibility] from anyone or anything other than Allah and as a result of this proves it for the Almighty Allah Bil Ihizaam [by deeming as necessary].

Wali Is A Beautiful Name Of The Almighty Allah

The last point is that our discussion is regarding piety and worship etc., because Wilayat in comparison to other issues is more important. Since Wali is a beautiful name of Allah, if human being gets a part of Wilayat, he would become an expression of: He is the Wali. Then if he prays, rain would fall or he would be able to get sustenance without ordinary causes, as the Holy Qur’an says regarding Lady Maryam (‘a):

“Whenever Zakariya entered the sanctuary to (see) her, he found with her food” (3:37).

Whereas, pious persons and worshippers etc. have no share in divine qualities and beautiful names. One who can revive the dead and affect the matter of universe, is an expression of ‘He is the Wali’ even though till human being does not cover the path of recognition and sincerity, he cannot become the expression of ‘He is the Wali’ and in that case he cannot do anything, on the contrary, he is only a worshipper or a pious human being and only Allah is his helper. Even though all these matters are necessary for the position of Wilayat, but they are not sufficient. The basis of Wilayat is placed on recognition and love. As much perfect is recognition and love, as high a position of expression of Wilayat he will get. It is obvious that the difference of Wilayat with piety and worship etc is related to the first part, in which the connotation of Wilayat was discussed.

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

• 1. Although Mutabiqat [compatibility] and Iltizaam [to deem something as necessary] are used as terms of logic, here the implication of Bil Mutabiqat [with compatibility] implies that some Verses clearly deem Wilayat to be restricted to the Almighty Allah. And Bil Iltizaam [by deeming as necessary] shows that the implication of some Verses is that Wilayat is restricted in the Almighty Allah. (Translator)
• 2. Nahj al-Balagha, Short Sayings: 77.