Hadith al-Wilaya: Difference between revisions

[[Ja'far b. Sulayman]] quoted [['Imran b. Husayn]] that the Prophet Muhammad (s) sent a group of people to an expedition under the commandership of 'Ali b. Abi Talib (a). They gained some booties and 'Ali (a) distributed the booties among them in a way that they did not like. Four of them decided to report the story to the Prophet (s) and complain about 'Ali's (a) action as soon as they saw him. When they met the Prophet (s), they all told him: "O the messenger of God! Do you know what 'Ali did?" The Prophet (s) angrily said: "what do you want from 'Ali? What do you want from 'Ali? 'Ali is from me and I am from 'Ali, and 'Ali is the wali of every believer after me".<ref>Ibn Abī Shayba, ''Al-Muṣannaf'', vol. 8, p. 58; Tiālasī, ''Musnad Abī Dāwūd'', p. 111.</ref>

The hadith has been cited in Shiite and Sunni sources in different ways. For example, "'Ali is the wali of every believer after me ({{ia|علی ولی کل مؤمن بعدی}})"<ref>Ibn Abī Shayba, ''Al-Muṣannaf'', vol. 8, p. 504; Nisāʾī, ''Al-Sunan al-Kubrā'', vol. 5, p. 132.</ref>, "he is the wali of every believer after me ({{ia|هو ولی کل مؤمن بعدی}})"<ref>Tiālasī, ''Musnad Abī Dāwūd'', p. 111;Ibn Ḥanbal, ''Masnad'', vol. 4, p. 437.</ref>, "you are the wali of every believer after me ({{ia|أنت ولی کل مؤمن بعدی}})"<ref>Tiālasī, ''Musnad Abī Dāwūd'', p. 360; Nisāʾī, ''Khaṣāʾiṣ Amīr al-Muʾminīn'', p. 98.</ref>, "you are the wali of every of every male and female believer after me ({{ia|أنت ولی کل مؤمن بعدی و مؤمنة}})",<ref>Ibn Ḥanbal, ''Faḍāʾil al-Ṣaḥāba'', vol. 2, p. 684; Ḥakim Nayshābūrī, ''Al-Mustadrak'', vol. 3, p. 134; Amīnī, ''Al-Ghadīr'', vol. 1, p. 51.</ref> "you are my wali in every believer after me ({{ia|أنت ولیی فی کل مؤمن بعدی}})"<ref>Ibn Ḥanbal, ''Masnad'', vol. 1, p. 330.</ref>, "so he is your wali after me ({{ia|فإنه ولیکم بعدی}})"<ref>Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, ''Al-Iṣāba'', vol. 6, p. 488.</ref>, "truly 'Ali is your wali after me ({{ia|إن علیاً ولیکم بعدی}})"<ref>Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, ''Al-Iṣāba'', vol. 6, p. 488; Ibn Kathīr. ''Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'', vol. 7, p. 345; Ibn ʿAsākir, ''Tārīkh Madīna Dimashq'', vol. 42, p. 191.</ref>, "this is your wali after me ({{ia|هذا ولیکم بعدی}})"<ref>Nisāʾī, ''Al-Sunan al-Kubrā'', vol. 5, p. 133.</ref>, "truly you are the wali of the believers after me ({{ia|إنک ولی المؤمنین من بعدی}})"<ref>Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, ''Tārīkh Baghdād'', vol. 4, p. 338.</ref>, "and you are my successor (caliph) in every believer after me ({{ia|و أنت خلیفتی فی کل مؤمن من بعدی}})"<ref>Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim, ''Al-Sunna'', vol. 2, p. 550; Ṭabarānī, ''Al-Muʿjam al-kabīr'', vol. 12, p. 78.</ref>, and "so he is the most foremost of all people to you after me ({{ia|فهو أولی الناس بکم بعدی}})".<ref>Ṭabarānī, ''Al-Muʿjam al-kabīr'', vol. 22, p. 135.</ref>

The Shi'a believe that the hadith concerns the issue of 'Ali's (a) [[imamate]] and [[wilaya]].<ref>Mīlānī, ''Tashyīd al-murājiʿāt'', vol. 3, p. 164.</ref> They take the word, "wali", to mean a supervisor, an [[Imam]], a leader, and a [[caliph]].<ref>Raḥīmī Iṣfahānī, ''Wilāyat wa rahbarī'', vol. 3, p. 119-121.</ref> However, Sunni Muslims believe that the hadith has no implications regarding the caliphate of 'Ali b. Abi Talib, because they claim that the word, "wali", literally means a friend and a helper.<ref>Ījī, ''Sharḥ al-mawāqif'', vol. 8, p. 365.</ref> To establish their claim, the Shi'a say that the word, "wali", literally means a guardian, a leader, a caliph, an authority, and an Imam, and the word was used in this way in the early years of Islam and after that. They also appeal to uses of the word, "wali", by the [[Abu Bakr b. Abi Quhafa|First Caliph]],<ref>Muslim, ''Saḥīḥ Muslim'', vol. 3, p. 1378; Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 1, p. 590; Ibn Kathīr. ''Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'', vol. 5, p. 248.</ref> the [['Umar b. Khattab|Second Caliph]],<ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 1, p. 590; Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 4, p. 214; Ibn Kathīr. ''Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'', vol. 7, p. 79.</ref> the [[Sahaba]],<ref>Ibn Abī Shayba, ''Al-Muṣannaf'', vol. 8, p. 58; Ibn Tiymīyya, ''Minhāj al-Sunna'', vol. 7, p. 461.</ref> the [[Tabi'un]],<ref>Masʿūdī, ''Murūj al-Dhahab'', vol. 3, p. 122.</ref> and some Sunni scholars<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 5, p. 245.</ref> to mean a caliph and a guardian.

According to 'Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi and Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, the hadith was cited by al-Tirmidhi with a reliable chain of transmitters leading to 'Imran b. Husayn.<ref>Baghdādī, ''Khazānat al-adab'', vol. 6, p. 69; Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, ''Al-Iṣāba'', vol. 4, p. 468.</ref> Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi said that the hadith is reliable.<ref>Hindī, ''Kanz al-ʿummal'', vol. 11, p. 279.</ref> According to al-Hakim al-Nishaburi, the hadith has a reliable chain of transmitters which was not cited by [[Muslim b Hajjaj al-Nayshaburi|Muslim]] and [[al-Bukhari]] in [[Sahihayn]].<ref>Ḥakim Nayshābūrī, ''Al-Mustadrak'', vol. 3, p. 134;</ref> Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi and Nasir al-Din al-Albani have also considered the hadith to be reliable.<ref>Al-Bānī, ''Al-Silsilat al-Ṣaḥīḥa'', vol. 5, p. 263.</ref>

Al-Mubarakfuri also claims that the hadith was only transmitted by Ja'far b. Sulayman and Ibn Ajlah al-Kindi, and since they both were Shi'as, their hadiths cannot be accepted. He takes the Shi'a to be heretics, and believes that hadiths transmitted by heretics should be rejected.<ref>Al-Mubārakfurī, ''Tuḥfat al-aḥwadhī'', vol. 10, p. 166-167.</ref> However, according to al-Albani, the only criterion for the evaluation of hadiths for Sunni scholars is truthfulness and carefulness in the transmission of hadiths, and a transmitter's religious tendency has nothing to do with accepting or rejecting his hadiths. Thus, al-Bukhari and Muslim have transmitted hadiths from people who were opposed to the Sunni denomination, such as [[Khawarij]] and the Shi'a.<ref>Al-Bānī, ''Al-Silsilat al-Ṣaḥīḥa'', vol. 5, p. 262.</ref>

According to al-Albani, the hadith was also transmitted through different chains of transmitters none of whom were Shi'as.<ref>Al-Bānī, ''Al-Silsilat al-Ṣaḥīḥa'', vol. 5, p. 263.</ref> [[Sayyid 'Ali Milani]] claims that the hadith was transmitted by 12 [[Sahaba]], including [[Imam 'Ali (a)]], [[Imam al-Hasan (a)]], [[Abu Dhar]], [[Abu Sa'id al-Khidri]], and [[Bara' b. 'Azib]] most of which were transmitted by [['Imran b. Husayn]], [[Ibn 'Abbas]], and [[Burayda b. Husayb]].<ref>Mīlānī, ''Tashyīd al-murājiʿāt'', vol. 3, p. 238.</ref> The hadith was transmitted by Ibn 'Abbas with phrases such as "you are the wali of every believer after me",<ref>Tiālasī, ''Musnad Abī Dāwūd'', p. 360.</ref> "you are the wali of every male and female believer after me",<ref>Ḥakim Nayshābūrī, ''Al-Mustadrak'', vol. 3, p. 134.</ref> and "you are my wali in every believer after me",<ref>Ibn Ḥanbal, ''Masnad'', vol. 1, p. 330.</ref> and with the phrase, "'Ali is the wali of every believer after me", from 'Imran b. Husayn.<ref>Ibn Abī Shayba, ''Al-Muṣannaf'', vol. 6, p. 372; Tiālasī, ''Musnad Abī Dāwūd'', p. 111.</ref> Burayda b. Husayb transmitted the hadith with phrases, "truly 'Ali is your wali after me"<ref>Hindī, ''Kanz al-ʿummal'', vol. 11, p. 612.</ref> and "this is your wali after me".<ref>Nisāʾī, ''Al-Sunan al-Kubrā'', vol. 5, p. 133.</ref>

Moreover, Ja'far b. Sulayman is a transmitter of hadiths in ''[[Sahih Muslim]]''.<ref>Dhahabī, ''Siyar iʿlām al-nubalāʾ'', vol. 8, p. 200.</ref> Al-Dhahabi referred to him as an "imam" (a leader)<ref>Dhahabī, ''Tārīkh al-Islām'', vol 3, p. 631.</ref> and quoted Yahya b. Mu'in as saying that Ja'far was reliable.<ref>Dhahabī, ''Siyar iʿlām al-nubalāʾ'', vol. 8, p. 198.</ref> Al-Albani believed that Ja'far was a reliable transmitter of hadiths who transmitted reliable hadiths and tended towards [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]] without calling other people to his own tendency. He said that the leaders of the religion agreed that if a truthful person was a heretic without calling other people to his views, it will be correct to appeal to his hadiths.<ref>Al-Bānī, ''Al-Silsilat al-Ṣaḥīḥa'', vol. 5, p. 263.</ref>

According to some Sunni scholars, Ibn Ajlah was reliable as well, taking his hadiths to be [[types of Hadith|hasan]].<ref>Al-Manāwī, ''Fayḍ al-qadīr'', vol. 4, p. 471.</ref> Al-Albani considered Ajlah's hadiths to be evidence for the reliability of Ja'far b. Sulayman's hadiths.<ref>Al-Bānī, ''Al-Silsilat al-Ṣaḥīḥa'', vol. 5, p. 263.</ref>

According to al-Mubarakfuri, [[Ibn Taymiyya]] claimed that the hadith was a lie attributed to [[the Prophet Muhammad (s)]].<ref>Al-Mubārakfurī, ''Tuḥfat al-aḥwadhī'', vol. 10, p. 147.</ref> Al-Albani, a Sunni scholar, expressed his surprise at Ibn Taymiyya's denial of the hadith.<ref>Al-Bānī, ''Al-Silsilat al-Ṣaḥīḥa'', vol. 5, p. 263.</ref>

*Abū Yaʿlā Mūṣilī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. ''Musnad abī Yaʿlā''. Edited by Ḥasan Salīm Asad. Damascus: Dār al-Maʾmūn li-l-Turāth, n.d.

*Amīnī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. ''Al-Ghadīr''. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabī, 1397 AH.

*Nisāʾī, Aḥmad b. Shuʿayb al-. ''Khaṣāʾiṣ Amīr al-Muʾminīn''. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb, 1383 Sh.