Al-Wilaya Verse

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Al-Wilaya Verse
Verse's Information
NameAl-Wilaya Verse
Suraal-Ma'ida
Verse55
Juz'6
Page117
Content Information
Cause of
Revelation		Imam Ali (a)
Place of
Revelation		Medina
TopicBeliefs
AboutImamate of Imam Ali (a)
Related Versesal-Tabligh verse, al-Ikmal verse


Al-Wilāya Verse (Arabic: آية الولاية) is the verse 55 of Qur'an 5 (Sura al-Ma'ida) which has been revealed about Imam Ali (a) and has praised him.[1] Shi'as refer to this verse as a proof for the wilayah of Imam 'Ali (a).

Imam 'Ali (a)
First Imam of Shi'a

Life
Event of Ghadir • Laylat al-Mabit • Yawm al-Dar • Caliphate • Timeline

Heritage
Nahj al-Balagha • Ghurar al-hikam • Al-Shiqshiqiyya Sermon

Excellences
Excellences of Ahl al-Bayt (a) • Al-Wilaya Verse • Ahl al-Dhikr Verse • Ulu l-Amr Verse • Al-Tathir Verse • Al-Mubahala Verse • Al-Mawadda Verse • Al-Sadiqin Verse • Hadith Madinat al-'Ilm • Hadith al-Thaqalayn • Hadith al-Raya • Hadith al-Safina • Hadith al-Kisa' • Al-Ghadir Sermon • Hadith al-Manzila • Hadith Yawm al-Dar • Hadith Sadd al-Abwab • Hadith al-Wisaya • La Fata Illa Ali • The First Muslim

Companions
'Ammar b. Yasir • Malik al-Ashtar • Abu Dhar al-Ghifari • 'Ubayd Allah b. Abi Rafi' • Hujr b. 'Adi • others

Related Topics
Holy Shrine


Text

Occasion of Revelation

This verse has been revealed about Imam 'Ali (a). This view is unanimously accepted by Shiite exegetes. It is almost the same among Sunni exegetes. In his Mawaqif, Qadi Iji has stipulated that exegetes unanimously believe that this verse has been revealed about 'Ali (a).[2] Al-Jurjani in his commentary on Mawaqif[3], Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani in his Sharh-i maqasid [4]and al-'Allama al-Hilli in commentary on Tajrid[5] have confessed to this consensus. There are also some hadiths in some Sunni exegeses that claim this verse has been revealed about 'Abd Allah b. Salam, 'Ubada b. al-Samit[6], Abu Bakr and all muslims[7], however, none of them have strong bases.

According to some hadiths:

Once, a poor man entered al-Masjid al-Nabawi and asked for help, but no one helped him. He rose his hands to the sky and said: O Allah, witness that I asked for help in the mosque of Your Prophet (s) but no one helped me. Meanwhile, Imam 'Ali (a) who was praying and was in ruku', signaled the poor with his right hand. The poor man came and took out the ring; and the verse was revealed.[8]

Narrators

The occasion of the revelation (sabab al-nuzul) mentioned above has been narrated by the companions including: 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas[9], Abu Rafi' al-Madani[10], 'Ammar b. Yasir[11], Abu Dhar al-Ghifari[12], Anas b. Malik[13], Miqdad b. al-Aswad.[14] From Tabi'un, Muslima b. Kuhayl[15], 'Utbat b. Abi Hakim[16], al-Suddi[17], and Mujahid[18] have narrated this story.

Indication of the Verse

There's no doubt for Shi'a exegetes that in the verse by "the faithful who maintain the prayer and give the zakat while bowing down" Imam 'Ali (a) is meant, and also in the view of Sunni scholars the fame of the narration about the phrase of the verse being about Imam 'Ali (a) is to the extent that 'Adud al-Din al-Iji, the famous Sunni theologian, affirms in his book al-Mawaqif that the exegetes have ijma' (consensus) that this verse was revealed about 'Ali (a). al-Jurjani in Sharh al-mawaqif, Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani in Sharh al-maqasid, al-Qushchi in Sharh tajrid al-i'tiqad also have confirmed the ijma'.

Great Sunni muhaddiths have narrated the hadith in their books, like: Hafiz 'Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani, Hafiz 'Abd b. Hamid, Hafiz Razin b. Mu'awiya, Hafiz al-Nasa'i, Hafiz Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari, Ibn Abi Hatam, Ibn 'Asakir, Abu Bakr b. Murdawayh, Abu l-Qasim al-Tabrani, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, al-Haythami, Ibn al-Jawzi, Muhibb al-Tabari, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, and al-Muttaqi al-Hindi.[19] Al-Alusi says: most of the muhaddiths believe that the verse was revealed about 'Ali (a).[20]

Indication of the Wilaya of Imam 'Ali (a)

Shi'as have concluded the wilaya of 'Ali (a) from the verse[21], and some considered the verse as the strongest reason of his Imamate[22].

The verse begins with "Innama" (Arabic: إنّما) which, according to scholars of arab, indicates the exclusivity,[23] so according to the verse, Allah, the Prophet (s) and Imam 'Ali (a) are exclusively considered as wali.

The word "wali" (Arabic:ولي) is derived from Wilaya meaning the administrator and guardian.[24]

Ibn Manzur says: "the wali of an orphan is someone who is responsible for his affairs, and the wali of a bride is her agent in concluding the marriage contract. Al-Fayyumi says: "wali of a person is someone who is responsible for his affairs".

So the very meaning of wali is the administrator and someone who is responsible for someone else. Other meanings are derived from this meaning.

It is narrated in al-Kafi from Imam al-Baqir (a):

Allah ordered his Prophet (s) about the wilayah of Imam 'Ali (a) [after the Prophet (s)] and revealed the al-Wilaya Verse and obligated the obedience of uli l-amr [in the Uli l-Amr Verse], and people did not know what is this wilaya. Allah ordered His Prophet (s) to describe them wilaya as he had described prayer, zakat, fasting, and hajj. The Prophet (s) was worried about people turn from Islam and impugn him, so he referred to His God and Allah revealed al-Tabligh Verse: "O Apostle! Communicate that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and if you do not, you will not have communicated His message, and Allah shall protect you from the people. Indeed Allah does not guide the faithless lot." So the Prophet (s) publicized the wilaya of 'Ali (a) in Ghadir Khumm and ordered the present to inform the absent.

Al-'Ayyashi narrates an identical hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a).

Notes

  1. ↑ Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-awsaṭ, vol. 6, p. 218.
  2. ↑ Iījī, al-Mawāqif, p. 405.
  3. ↑ Iījī, al-Mawāqif, p. 405.
  4. ↑ Taftāzānī, Shrḥ al-maqāṣid, vol. 5, p. 269.
  5. ↑ ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, Kashf al-murād, p. 191.
  6. ↑ Ibn al-Jawzī, Zād al-masīr, vol. 1, p. 560.
  7. ↑ Ibn al-Jawzī, Zād al-masīr, vol. 1, p. 561.
  8. ↑ Shūshtarī, Iḥqāq al-ḥaq, vol. 2, p. 400; Ḥākim al-Ḥaskānī, Shawāhid al-tanzīl, vol. 1, p. 209-239.
  9. ↑ Ḥākim al-Ḥaskānī, Shawāhid al-tanzīl, vol. 1, p. 232.
  10. ↑ Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr, vol. 1, p. 320-321.
  11. ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Durar al-manthūr, vol. 3, p. 106.
  12. ↑ Ibn Tīmīyya, Tafsīr al-kabīr, vol. 12, p. 26.
  13. ↑ Ḥākim al-Ḥaskānī, Shawāhid al-tanzīl, vol. 1, p. 225.
  14. ↑ Ḥākim al-Ḥaskānī, Shawāhid al-tanzīl, vol. 1, p. 228.
  15. ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Durar al-manthūr, vol. 3, p. 105.
  16. ↑ Ibn Abī Ḥātam, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm, vol. 4, p. 1162.
  17. ↑ Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 10, p. 425.
  18. ↑ Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 10, p. 426.
  19. ↑ Shūshtarī, Iḥqāq al-ḥaq, vol. 2, p. 399-407.
  20. ↑ Ālūsī, Rūḥ al-maʿānī, vol. 3, p. 335.
  21. ↑ Mufīd, al-Ifṣāḥ fī l-Imāma, p. 134; Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 3, p. 559.
  22. ↑ Ṭūsī, Talkhīṣ al-shāfī, vol. 2, p. 10.
  23. ↑ Ibn Hishām, Mughnī l-labīb, vol. 1, p. 39.
  24. ↑ Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, vol. 15, p. 407.

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