Meaning of the word – ولایت (Wilayat)

The word ولایة is derived from the root word و ۔ ل ۔ ی . Few meanings of this root word as per the Arabic dictionary of Cowan are - to be near, to adjoin, to follow, to be a friend, to lie next to, etc.

The word ولایة  is derived from this root word and as per the same dictionary this word can be pronounced in two ways – وَلایة  or as وِلایة. The difference is the sign of Fatha (َ) or Kasra (ِ) on the alphabet و. The meaning for both these recitation as per Cowan is, to be incharge, manage, govern, rule, have power, have authority.

Similarly, the scholars of Arabic literature have discussed the meaning of the word ولایة as well. We present one such example below.

Ibn Abil Hadeed says, وَلایة with Fatha on و is مصدر and وِلایة with Kasra is اسم. He further says, وَلایة with Fatha means mohabbat (love) or nusrat (helping) or obedience and the meaning of وِلایة  with Kasra follows the meaning of ولایة  with Fatha except that one is مصدر and other is اسم.[1]

It is evident from the above examples that the meanings of the word ولایة are in the context of love, obedience, helping and having authority.

After this brief discussion on the word ولایة itself, let us now examine the meaning of this word when it is used in the context of Wilayat (ولایة) of Ahle Bait (a.s.) or Wilayat of Ameerul Momieen (a.s.).

We refer to our esteemed scholars and see what they have said about the meaning of the term Wilayat of Ahle Bait (a.s.) or Wilayat of Ameerul Momineen (a.s.). We will see  what it means and what are its implications.

 For the purpose of convenience of our respected readers, we quote from a very popular book, which is widely available in English and Urdu language as well, this book is Greater Sins or Gunah e Kabira written by Shaheed e Mehraab Ayatullah Dastagaib Shirazi (r.a.).

In Part 2 of the first volume (English) before listing the Greater Sins, the respected scholar has brought three topics related to Wilayat. One such topic is ‘The meaning of Wilayat’ where he has explained the meaning of Wilayat of Ahle Bait (a.s.) and he has given reference of Majmaul Bahraeen which is authored by another great scholar Aqa Turahi.

While discussing this topic Ayatullah Dastagaib Shirazi (r.a.) says in Greater Sins,

“It is written in the book Majmaul Bahraen regarding the meaning of the word ‘Wilayat’:

“Wilayat is the love for Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), the natural consequence of which is to follow them in religious matters, to fulfil the obligations laid down on us and to abstain from the things prohibited. Wilayat is to walk in the footsteps of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) following their ways in deeds, behaviour and manner of speech.”

Wilayat therefore means love and obedience. This idea is supported by a tradition from Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) wherein the Holy Imam (a.s.) has related love with obedience.”[2]

As we can conclusively say from the above explanation that Wilayat of Ahle Bait (a.s.) means possessing or having love for Ahle Bait (a.s.), obedience of Ahle Bait (a.s.) and submission to Ahle Bait (a.s.).

To conclude, we can say Wilayat means ‘love and obedience’.

Also, Wilayat is an Arabic word and most translators well versed with both the languages (Arabic and English) have translated Wilayat as ‘Mastership’.

Even if we look at traditions of Ahle Bait (a.s.) or duas which have been taught to us by Ahle Bait (a.s.) the same meaning of Wilayat (Mastership) is conveyed in these narrations, that is – Wilayat of Ahle Bait (a.s.) means love and obedience of Ahle Bait (a.s.).

Let us look at the below narrations.

1. It is narrated that Hazrat Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) said to Imam Husain (a.s.),

يَا حُسَيْنُ أَنَا أَمِيرُ الْمُؤْمِنِين‏… فَمَنْ تَمَسَّكَ بِوَلَايَتِي‏ وَ مَحَبَّتِي أَمِنَ مِنَ النَّارِ

“O Husain (a.s.)! I am the master of believers… then one who clings to my mastership and my love is saved from fire”[3]

As we can see above my mastership (Wilayat) and my love is used by Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) in the same context. Although as mentioned above the word Wilayat has a wider domain which includes obedience, submission, helping and love.

Therefore we can say, the one who submits to Ameerul Momineen (a.s.), obeys him, strives to help him and loves him unconditionally will be saved from fire.

2. Meaning of the word Wilayat in the below dua narrated by Sayyed ibn Taus in his book Iqbal al Amaal.

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَدِينُكَ بِطَاعَتِكَ وَ وَلَايَتِكَ‏ وَ وَلَايَةِ مُحَمَّدٍ نَبِيِّكَ وَ وَلَايَةِ أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ حَبِيبِ نَبِيِّكَ وَ وَلَايَةِ الْحَسَنِ وَ الْحُسَيْنِ سِبْطَيْ نَبِيِّكَ وَ سَيِّدَيْ شَبَابِ أَهْلِ جَنَّتِكَ وَ أَدِينُكَ يَا رَبِّ بِوَلَايَةِ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ وَ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ وَ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ مُوسَى بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ وَ عَلِيِّ بْنِ مُوسَى وَ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ وَ عَلِيِّ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ والْحَسَنِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ وَ سَيِّدِي وَ مَوْلَايَ صَاحِبِ الزَّمَانِ أَدِينُكَ يَا رَبِّ بِطَاعَتِهِمْ وَ وَلَايَتِهِمْ وَ بِالتَّسْلِيمِ بِمَا فَضَّلْتَهُمْ رَاضِياً غَيْرَ مُنْكِرٍ وَ لَا مُسْتَكْبِرٍ [مُتَكَبِّرٍ] عَلَى مَا [معنى‏] أَنْزَلْتَ فِي كِتَابِكَ اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ

“O Allah! I implore you through your obedience and your mastership and the mastership of Mohammed (s.a.w.a) Your Prophet and through the mastership of Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) the beloved of Your Prophet and the mastership of Hasan and Husain (a.s.) sons of Your Prophet and the master of the youths of the Paradise and I impore you O my Lord! Through the mastership of Ali ibn Husain (a.s.) and Mohammed ibn Ali (a.s.) and Jafar ibn Mohammed (a.s.) and Musa ibn Jafar (a.s.) and Ali ibn Musa (a.s.) and Mohammed ibn Ali (a.s.) and Ali ibn Mohammed (a.s.) and Hasan ibn Ali (a.s.) and my leader and my master – the master of the time. I implore You O my Lord! Through their obedience and their mastership and submitting to their excellence (bestowed by you), satisfied and not rejecting (them) and not being arrogant upon what you revealed in Your book. O Allah! Send your salutations on Mohammed (s.a.w.a.) and the progeny of Mohammed (a.s.).[4]

As we can see in the above dua as well, the word mastership (Wilayat) has been used along with words like obedience and submitting. Therefore, this further indicates and emphasises that Wilayat means obedience, submitting and love.

Today, we also see few people translating the word Wilayat or using it in the meaning of kingdom, government or hukumat. While we mentioned in the beginning of our discussion that the word ولایت is derived from the root word و ۔ ل ۔ ی  which has many meanings depending upon its context of usage. One of the meaning of the word wilayat is indeed government or kingdom but when wilayat is used in context of Wilayat of Ahle Bait (a.s.) or Wilayat of Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) it does not mean their kingdom or their government rather it implies their mastership which means their obedience, their love and submitting to them.

We even saw our great scholar of recent times Ayatullah Dastagaib e Shirazi explaining that Wialyat means love and obedience. He did not indicate that it means government or kingdom of Ahle Bait (a.s.).

If we pay attention to the narration of Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) to Hazrat Imam Husain (a.s.) where he says one who clings to my Wilayat and my love is saved from fire, if we translate the word Wilayat as government or hukumat it would mean, one who clings to my government and my love, then the word government or humukat looks misrepresented. Also the (apparent) government of Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) was for only four odd years. Does it mean only those who were present in those four years will be saved from fire and other Shias who died before his apparent government or were born after his apparent government will not be saved from fire! No, this is not the case. The word Wilayat used is in the context of love, obedience and submission to Ameerul Momineen (a.s.).

Similarly, if we pay attention to the above dua narrated from Iqbal al Amaal, the dua says, O Allah! I implore you through the Wilayat of Ameerul Momieen (a.s.), Imam Hasan (a.s.) and Imam Husain (a.s) and goes on to mention Wilayat of every Imam till the twelfth Imam – Hazrat Imam Mahdi (a.t.f.s.). Again here, if we take the meaning of Wilayat as government or hukumat then there is a conflict in meaning since only 2 Imams who had an apparent government or hukumat i.e. Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) and Hazrat Imam Hasan (a.s.) and after him there was no Imam who had an apparent government for even a single day. Therefore, again, we can conclude that when the Wilayat of Ahle Bait (a.s.) or Wilayat of any Imam (a.s.) is used it means their love, their obedience and submission to them and does not refer to government or hukumat.

To summarize and conclude the word ولایت when used in the traditions in the context of Wilayat of Ahle Bait (a.s.) means love, obedience and submission to them and can be translated as ‘mastership’ in English to convey the same meaning.

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[1] See Behar al Anwaar, Vol. 65, Page 339 or Behar al Anwaar, Vol. 66, Page 314.

[2] Greater Sins, English, Volume 1, Part 2, Page 25

[3] Al-Fazail of ibn Shazaan Qummi, Page 83, book published by Radhi in 1984 in Qum, Iran

[4] Iqbal al Amaal, Vol. 1, Page 144, Behar al Anwaar, Vol. 95, Page 37

Marefat of Imam and Imamat

With the passing of month of Shabaan we heard many times the word Marefat of Imam. Specially the famous tradition of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.)

 من مات ولم يعرف امام زمانه مات ميتة جاهلية 

This tradition is such repetitively narrated in our books that just Allama Majlisi (r.a.) in his book Behaar al Anwaar has brought it from 40 different sources and it is narrated in more than 80 different sources in the books of Ahle Sunnat. Thus, there remains not an iota of doubt for someone to object to this tradition. As for someone who is away from Imam e Zamana (a.t.f.s.), it is necessary to recognize him and become close to him as this is the aim of our lives for which Allah has created us, without his recognition our death will be that of disbelief, hypocrisy and deviation.

Let us today in this small article try and delve deeper on the meaning of the word معرفة. It is very clear to us that معرفة does not imply just knowing the name and lineage and place of birth and martyrdom of the Imams. Let us ask the Holy infallibles (a.s), what is معرفة?

In a tradition from Muawiya bin wahab from Imam Sadiq (a.s) it is narrated that

وأدنى معرفة الامام أنه عدل النبي إلا درجة النبوة، ووارثه، وأن طاعته طاعة الله وطاعة رسول الله، والتسليم له في كل أمر، والرد إليه، والاخذ بقوله، ويعلم أن الامام بعد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله علي ابن أبي طالب، وبعده الحسن، ثم الحسين، ثم علي بن الحسين، ثم محمد بن علي، ثم أنا، ثم بعدي موسى ابني، وبعده علي ابنه، وبعد علي محمد ابنه، وبعد محمد علي ابنه وبعد علي الحسن ابنه، والحجة من ولد الحسن 

"...and the minimum Marefat of Imam is that he is equal to Prophet (s.a.w.s.) except that he does not have the position of Prophethood, and that his obedience is the obedience of Allah and the obedience of the messenger of Allah and it is necessary to submit in front of him in all the affairs and to turn towards him and to take his words and to know that Imam after Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) is Ali ibne Abi Talib, and after him Hassan then Hussain then Ali ibne Hussain then Muhammad ibne Ali then I then after me Musa my son, and after him his son Ali and after Ali his son Muhammad and after Muhammad, Ali his son and after Ali, hassan his son, and The Hujjat from the son of Hassan…(peace be on all of them)"

From the above tradition we can conclude that to qualify with minimum معرفة of Imam e Zaman (a.t.f.s.) we should have the following attributes:

1.   Believe that he is equal to the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) in status (Hujjat of Allah)

2.   Consider his obedience as the obedience of Allah & His messenger (whatever he says is Haq)

3.   Submit to his orders (without any excuse)

4.   To turn towards him (a slave has no place to turn except to of his master)

5.   To take (life instructions) from his words (traditions)

6.   And to know all the 12 Imams (a.s) who are from the progeny of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.)

 In yet another tradition Hazrat Amir (a.s) indicates to the believers the right of their معرفة thus:

عن أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام) في حديث معرفته بالنورانية ، مخاطباً سلمان وأبا ذرّ عليهما الرحمة ، فقال (عليه السلام) : إعلم يا أبا ذرّ أنا عبد اللّه عزّ وجلّ وخليفته على عباده ، لا تجعلونا أرباباً ، وقولوا في فضلنا ما شئتم ، فإنّكم لا تبلغوا كنه ما فينا ولا نهايته ، فإنّ اللّه عزّ وجلّ قد أعطانا أكبر وأعظم ممّا يصفه واصفكم أو يخطر على قلب أحدكم ، فإذا عرفتمونا هكذا فأنتم المؤمنون.

"Know oh Aba Zar! I am the servant of Allah and His Caliph upon His servants, do not appoint for us Divinity and then say in our praise whatever you wish, then for surely you shall not reach the essence of our reality and neither shall you reach to its peak. For surely Allah has certainly bestowed us with much greater and higher position than what you characterize us with or even think concerning us, If you recognize us in this manner, you would be considered as true believer."

We can conclude from this tradition following points:

1.   It is incorrect to ascribe Ahle Bayt (a.s) to Divinity

2.   Whatever praise we do for Ahlebayt (a.s) is less than what their position is

3.   It is not possible even for our thoughts to reach the essence and peak of the معرفة of Ahle Bayt (a.s.)

4.   To be qualified as believers, we should recognize Ahle Bayt (a.s) thus.

Thus, if it is said that the whole universe which includes seven heavens, whose first heaven comprises of more than 100 billion galaxies, each of which have more than 100 billion solar systems in it, is like a walnut in the hands of our master, one should not doubt in it.

أنّ الدنيا ممثّلة للإمام كفلقة الجوزة 

"...certainly this world for Imam is like one half of the walnut…"

 For surely their affairs are difficult to understand and they themselves have affirmed it thus:

ان أمرنا صعب مستصعب لا يحمله إلا عبد مؤمن امتحن الله قلبه للايمان

Surely our affairs (recongnition & marefat) are extremely difficult. None can understand it except a believing servant whose heart Allah has examined for faith…

At times even for the likes of Qambar it became difficult to comprehend the lofty status of Ahle Bait (a.s.), as marefat has different levels. Let us conclude our discussion on معرفة with this final incident of Janabe Qambar (a.r.) and Janabe Fizza (a.r.):

In a tradition from Marhoom Qazi Saeed Qummi in the book Share Arbaeen, narrates from Sayyed Murtaza that once Qambar who was the slave of Hazrat Amir (a.s) came to the house of Hazrat Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) and did not find Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) in the house, he enquired from Janabe Fizza (s.a.) about Ameerul Momineen (a.s.), she replied to Qambar that

 إن المولى عرَجَ إلى السماء ذات البروج لتقْسيم أرْزاق العباد 

Surely my master has gone to the heavens for distributing sustenance…

Janabe Qambar got astonished on hearing this and thought that Janabe Fizza was joking or had made a mistake, and he departed towards the palm groves. He saw Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) there and with a sigh of relief complained to him about the statement of Janabe Fizza (s.a.), upon which Imam replied:

                                                                           

مَهْ يا قَنْبرُ. ولعلّك لمْ تُؤْمِن بولايتنا حقَّ الإيمان 

"Keep quite oh Qambar as if you have not believed in our Wilayat as it aught to be believed"

Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) then passed his hand over the eyes of Janabe Qambar and asked, what do you see O Qambar?

He said:

رأيت السماوات والأرض كجوزة في يد المولى 

I see the heavens and the earth like a walnut in the hand of my master

(Sharhe Arbaeen page 566, narrated from Hablul Mateen of Ayatullah Ziyabadi volume 2 page 176)

We conclude from this incident that the marefat of Janabe Fizza (s.a.) was greater than the marefat of Janabe Qambar, and why would it not be as Janabe Fizza (s.a.) was the internal khadema of Ahle Bayt (inside the house) and Qambar was an external Khadim (outside the house), and thus Janabe Fizza (s.a.) benefitted from two sources of noor while Qambar was limited to just one. As Hazrat Amir (a.s.) made Qambar see the position of wilayat of the proof of Allah we request Allah that He also by His infinite Lutf make us see the position of wilayat of Hazrat Hujjat ibne Hassan (a.s) and enumerate us amongst his true servants.