Surah al-Ma’idah Ayah
55 says: “Verily, your guardian is (none else but) Allah, His Messenger and the
true believers, who establish prayers and pay alms, while they bow down during
the prayer, are your guardians.”
The famous Muslim
narrator, Ibn Abbas narrates in Tafsir Majma-ul-Bayan quoting the companion Abu
Zar Ghifari (r.a.) as: “One day
I was praying with the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a.s.) in the Masjid-e-Nabavi when a
needy entered the mosque and asked for charity but no one gave anything. The needy raised his hands and said: “O
Allah, be witness that I asked for help in your Prophet (s.a.w.a.s.)’s mosque
but nobody even replied to me. The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (a.s.)
was praying and was bowing (ruku) extended his right hand towards the needy.
The needy came near and pulled away
a ring from his right finger. The
Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a.s.) witnessed this and after completing his prayers
raised his head towards sky and said: “O Allah! My brother Musa requested You
to appoint Harun, his brother, as vicegerent, to help and strengthen his
prophetic mission. O Allah! I, Muhammad, Your Messenger also request You to
appoint Ali from my family, as vicegerent, to strengthen my back in the pursuit
of my prophetic mission.
The Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a.s.) had barely finished his
request to Allah, when the Arch-Angel Jibra’il descended with the above-mention
Ayah.
This Tradition had
been narrated by more than 30 Sunni Traditionalists including Suyuti, Sibt ibn
Jauzi, Razi, Tibri, Qazi Shukani, Shiblanji, Wahidi, Ibn Hajar Asqalani,Ibn
Marduya, Nisa’I, Six Sahih Books of Hadis, and Kunz-ul-Amal.
Moreover, Jabir
ibn Abdullah Ansari, Ammar ibn Yasir, Abdullah ibn Salam, Salma ibn Kuhail,
Anas ibn Malik, Atba ibn HakimAbdullah ibn Ghalib, and Ibn Abbas had also
reported it.
The Ayah starts with the word “Innama” accentuates the meaning of the Ayah as final and fixed. It
describes the decision of Allah is final about the fact that the Guardian of
the believers should be Allah, His
Messenger (Muhammad) and the believers who give away charity while praying. The
construction of the sentence and the word ‘Vali’ being kept in singular for all
the three persons means that the
‘Vilayat’ or the guardianship of all the three is essentially one in
nature as well as in effect and there is not the least difference between them.
Hence, the obedience to the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a.s.) must be, as it should be
to Allah and the obedience to the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (a.s.).
The condition
required for a person to hold the authority and the guardianship over the
believers next only to Allah and His Messenger, is the highest state of
spiritual attainment which makes the person able to, at one and the same time,
be fully absorbed in witnessing the Glory of Allah and meanwhile, be alive to
the needs of His creatures and respond to it.
As for the other meanings of the word ‘Vali’ as helper or
friend, the meaning helper cannot be attributed to this Ayah as it is well
known that Muslims are each other’s brothers and they should help each other as
stated in the following Ayah: Surah
al-Anfal Ayah 72: “…..If they ask you for help in a religious cause, you must
help them…..”
Surah al-Ma’idah
Ayah 2: “….Help one another in righteousness and piety….”
Surah al-Hujara’at
Ayah 10: “Truly, the believers are each other’s brothers…”
As for the use of plural tense in the Ayah, it is not
unusual as in many cases the plural tense was used but in reality only a
singular person was accommodated in such Ayahs. In Ayah of Mubahela, Surah al-Imran
Ayah 61: “If any one disputes after knowledge has come to you, say, “Let each
one of us bring our sons, women, selves and you bring your sons, women and
selves and invoke the curse of Allah on the liars.” In this Ayah the word
“Nisa” or “Women” was used which is a plural
but only the “Chief of the Women of the World” the Infallible Sayyida Fatima
Zahra (s.a.) was taken by the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a.s.). Similaly, the word
“Anfusana”is used in the Ayah, plural of Nafs, meaning our selves but only the
Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (a.s.) was taken by the Noble Prophet
(s.a.w.a.s.)
Imam Ali (a.s.) had earned lot of wealth but distributed
immediately among the deserving. It is also reported that Imam Ali (a.s.) had
paid for the release of 1,000 slaves in his life time. Moreover, he had
received lot of war booty which also he distributed to the deserving. He might
have paid alms on it.
Sources used:
Translation of the Glorious Qur’an (Urdu) by Ayatollah Nasir
Makaram Shirazi
Translation of the Glorious Qur’an (English) by Ayatollah Agha Pooya
Yazdi & Mir Ahmad Ali
Roshd.org
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