In the Name of Allah, the
Gracious, the Merciful
No
Wali except Allah
Excerpts from QUR’AANIC
STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:
107.
Alam taAAlam anna Allaha lahu mulku alssamawati waal-ardi wama lakum min dooni Allahi min waliyyin wala
naseerin
107.
Are you not aware that, certainly, it is Allah who has absolute sovereignty
over the heavens and the earth? And none is there for you, other than Allah, as
a wali154 nor anyone who can help! 155
154. I find it difficult
to find an appropriate English word for this Qur'aanic word, wali
(plural: awliya). Some translators have rendered it as 'guardian' or
'protector'. But in Verse 10:62, the Qur'aan has called some good human beings
as awliya of Allah. Surely it would be preposterous to call human beings
as 'guardians' or 'protectors' of Allah! Let us therefore go to the literal
meaning of the three-letter Arabic root word wali, which is to be close
or near. It is used in the Qur'aan in that very sense. So when the Qur'aan says
that good Allah-fearing persons are awliya of Allah, it means that Allah
is so pleased with such persons that He has kept them spiritually close to
Himself. In Verse 2:257 we are told that Allah is the wali of the
believers. In other words, Allah is so very close to the believers that He
protects and guides them at every step they take in their worldly lives. In
Verse 60:9 Allah forbids the believers from being close to (tawallaw)
only those who fight with them on religion, etc. It is in this sense that in
Verse 5:51, Allah asks believers not to take Jews and Christians as awliya.
Otherwise, Allah makes it clear in Verse 60:8, that He does not forbid
the believers to have normal good relations with them if they do not fight with
them (the believers) in religious matters, etc.
155. In the Qur'aanic
light delineated in the preceding Note, the obvious meaning of the latter part
of this Verse is that if anyone were not to accept Allah as his/her wali,
there could be no one else who could be that person's wali or helper. If
one accepts, without any reservations whatsoever, Allah as one's wali,
then there could be one's other awliya among living believers, by
way of being one's confidants, advisors and helpers in worldly and spiritual
matters. But there could be no question of any person, dead or martyred – or of
any unseen being (jinn) – becoming a wali or helper of a living
person. If one takes such a being as one's wali or helper, besides
Allah, one is committing the sin of shirk (polytheism). Alas! most
Muslims today are openly indulging in this unpardonable sin. Allah asks,
"Do then those who suppress the Truth think that, other than Me, they can
take My worshipers as awliya? ..." [Q: 18:102]
Guide us to Your Straight
Path, Allah, and save us from ignominy in this world, and in the Hereafter!
Mohammad
Shafi
Friday,
the 2nd of December, 2016.
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