In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the
Merciful
Awliya
Extract from QUR’AANIC
STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:
107. Alam taAAlam anna Allaha
lahu mulku alssamawati waal-ardi wama lakum min dooni Allahi
min waliyyin wala naseerin
2:107. 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! A majority among the 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 worshippers as awliya? ..." [Q: 18:102]
Friday, the 21st of June 2019.
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