In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful, before starting our main discussion today, I’d like to quote a famed Narration attributed to our holy Prophet (PBUH) which says: ‘Blessing of God upon any man who does his work attentively’. This means that in everything you do, you must be most cautious, watchful and circumspective. As an example, we should, in this mosque, think beforehand of all probabilities and incidents such as the microphone being faulty, the lights being cut off and the like; we must always think about probable events. There is a narration from our dear Imam Ali (AS), in one of his sermons recorded in Nahj-al-Balaagha; briefly it says: I am not like an unintelligent animal in deep sleep in its den, an easy prey for hunters, no, I am always watchful, I always try to foresee probable events and I always learn lessons from what goes on to constantly increase my experience to confront future events. Here we must follow our Imam to constantly increase our experience and be ready to face problems and try to solve them.
Well, let’s go back to our discussion of wilayat which I hope to bring to a satisfactory conclusion within a couple of days. I have already told you about the establishment of an Islamic society and the Islamic umma. Now when we do have an Islamic society based on divine laws and injunctions, then the most necessary factor for its continuation and progress is in Quranic wilayat, as I explained yesterday. We should not confuse this Quranic wilayat with the concept of wilayat that some ordinary people have in mind. We are now dealing with the concept of wilayat as designated in the Quran. If the Islamic umma is to respect the Quranic wilayat, they have to pay attention to all three dimensions of wilayat as I briefly explained before. The first dimension is about their internal relations, that is, relation within the Islamic community. The second covers the Islamic external relations, that is, the umma’s relations with non-Islamic society
The first dimension on internal relations will be realized only when utmost coherence, unity and solidarity is secured among all groups within the Islamic world without any adversity, enmity or harmful differences among them. In case some units or groups in the world of Islam start fighting each other for any reason, the Quranic injunction is that all other than Muslims should do their best to put an end to it by mediations and brotherly compromises, but if one party is the aggressor or fights for wrongful causes, all other Muslims should unitedly try to stop him and make it see the truth. This is the very Quranic verse in this respect: “if two parties among the faithful are at war, the one against the other, make peace between them, but if either of them transgresses against the other, then you must combat the transgressor until it submits to Allah’s order, and when it does so, make peace between them in fairness and with justice…”. As you notice the Quran tells us that if a party is the transgressor, you must unitedly oppose it and, if necessary, fight it until it returns to the peaceful path of God. This is God’s injunction about preserving the unity of the Muslim umma.
What I’ve said so far was about the intimate relationship among the Muslims umma. Now, what about the external relations with non-Islamic people? In one word, the Islamic umma should administer its relations with them in such a way that it will never be subjugated to them, never be influenced by their thoughts and doctrines and never abandon its independent policies under their influence. Being in one camp or front with them is absolutely forbidden. Here I better relate the story of minting coins in the world of Islam. I sum up the story: in early centuries of Islam currencies for business transactions were of foreign origin, specially Roman, and once the Romans had threatened to stop the flow of their currency into the Islamic world. According to certain reports, one of our Imams, either Imam Saadeq (AS) or Imam Baaqer guided the Khalifate administration how to mint Islamic coins and not to be dependent on non-Islamic governments in this important affair. The interesting aspect of this report is the fact that this case is one of the exceptional times when our Imams (AS) guided the Khalifs whose authority was usurped.
Thus we as Muslims are once again advised not to be influenced an iota by non-Islamic, specially anti-Islamic powers. Islam is not against having fair relations with such countries but Islam rejects all exploitative, colonial relations with them. You must know about the incident of Tobacco Concession given to a foreign company called Regie by Nasser-al-Dean shah; the concessions granted to this company would allow it to control many business deals as well as supervising the Iranian Customs Office. So Ayatollah Mirza Shirazi issued a fatwa against it, all people supported it and the Shah had to cancel the contract. Another significant case was that of the British East India Company allowed to operate in India by some weak-minded, Mongol, Muslim rulers that ended up in turning India into a colony of Britain for decades; in fact Britain become a real empire by this Company plundering the wealth and resources of India. Those Muslim rulers should have known better about granting such immense concessions to foreign countries but unfortunately they did not have a proper, Islamic insight. Islam never sanctions such relations with non- Islamic nations.
Of course when we cite such examples about relations between the Islamic world and other countries, we never mean that Islamic societies should live in political isolation from the rest of the world, no, not at all. We could have diplomatic, political and commercial relations with non-Islamic countries and we do exchange ambassadors with them. But we should never allow them to have wilayat over us; our relations with them are not like the kind of united, coherent and ideological relations we have with other Islamic communities. As I said earlier, these are two dimensions of wilayat: brotherly, religious s with other Muslims and prevention of any non-Islamic or domination by non-Muslims.
We have talked about Quranic wilayat. We must also explain wilayat as believed by the Shi’ites because some people think these are two different kinds of wilayat! There is a very delicate point here: the wilayat or imamat in Shi’ism derives from the Quran. We must answer the Question why we attach great importance to our relations with Imams and obey their orders, advices and injunctions with our hearts and souls. The answer, as I pointed out earlier, lies in the Quran: if an Islamic society is to move in one direction, to unite all its forces and to prevent all external, harmful influences, it must, according to Quranic wilayat, have a central authority in a pious leader so that all Muslims could be inspired by him, listen to him and be at his command; this Imam is the one who knows all about exigencies of the umma, the corrupting elements among them and is able to decide upon what’s good for the umma. It is absolutely necessary for the Islamic umma to have this central authority to lead the affairs of the Islamic society; this leader should not fear anything on the path of God, and if necessary to be ready to give up his life for the interests of the umma. What do we call such a person? We call him Imam.
Imam is the person who is ordained by God to administer the affairs of the umma. What does it mean to be chosen by God? Does God introduce him to you by name? The same way that Imam Ali (AS) chose Hassan and Husain as future Imams of the umma? Well, let’s take a glimpse at the Quran again when it says that the divine prophets are also Imams: “He (God) said ‘I am making you an Imam for the people’…”. This is what God Almighty says to Abraham; Imam means the ruler of the faithful, the leader and the sublime guide of the people.
Now this Imam is sometimes clearly mentioned by God as in the case of Imam Ali (AS), the commander of the faithful, and at other times he is shown us through his attributes and characteristics. One such case is what has been related from our 11th Imam, Al-Hassan-al-Askari (AS): ‘The person from among the theological jurisprudents who is a perfect guardian of his own self, a firm keeper of his religion, a defier of his worldly, carnal desires and an absolute obeyer of his mawla (the Prophet or Imam), then it is binding on the public to follow him.’ A person with such pious qualities could be an Imam, that is, a leader of the faithful whom all believers follow because he is himself a firm believer, a fair and just person whose actions and decisions are truly inspired by God’s injunctions.
Thus, the Quranic wilayat, as I already explained, requires the existence of such an Imam at all times because if the great mass of the Islamic umma is to remain united, coherent, strong and unshakable, it has to constantly keep its solid link with imamat, the beating heart of the living, Islamic umma. Please pay proper attention to this third dimension of wilayat: the strong practical and spiritual link with this ever-living center of Islam to manage all our deeds, activities and behaviour.
What does then the wilayat of Imam Ali (AS) mean? It means that we should, even in our thoughts, be his followers, to follow him in all our deeds and never be separated from him for a single moment; this is the real meaning of wilayat. And here is when we understand the conception of the Prophet’s narration revealed by God: ‘The wilayat of Ali-ibn-Abi-Taalib is my safe haven, and whoever enters this haven, will be immune from My retribution.’ Immune from My retribution? This is a great promise. Muslims in general and followers of Islam, if they follow Ali’s behaviour, practice and struggle will never face God’s retribution. This is absolutely true, if you and I truly recognize Ali (AS), then we could rightly claim to have embraced wilayat.
Those who claim that Quranic verses are beyond our human understanding will never faithfully be associated with Imam Ali (AS) because it is Ali (AS) who says: ‘you all should know this Quran as an adviser that never betrays, it is a guide that never makes you go astray and it is a lecturer that never lies; whoever is intimate with the Quran, will either gain something or lose something, that is, it will increase one’s guidance or decrease his ignorance.’ The Imam (AS) so emphatically encourages the people to read and understand the holy Quran and so, does a person who claims the Quran cannot be understood, is really a follower of Imam Ali’s wilayat?! Ali (AS), the Commander of the Faithful risks his own life for the sake of God on numberless occasions, but then a certain person who is not ready to give a little of his property or risk his social or business status on the path of God claims to love Ali’s wilayat! Only those people are true followers of wilayat who are inseparable from Ali, both in their thoughts and in their deeds.
Dear brothers and sisters, the way I described wilayat for you is exactly what the holy Quran says about this important subject. So now, please pay attention to the Quranic verses I read, translate and explain for you. These verses are from the Sura Al-Maa’ida which tell you about the positive dimensions of wilayat, that is, your close ties with wilayat, its negative dimension, that is, cutting off such ties with non-believers and the third dimension which says how intimately connected you should be with the wilayat centre, the Imam or the virtuous, Islamic ruler.
Well, let’s read out the verses 51 to 56 of Sura Al-maa’ida: “O You believers, you who have faithfully embraced Islam, do not take Jews, nor Christians for your guardians…”. The original Arabic word is ‘owlia’, a plural from of ‘walee’. As you see, it’s again the question of wilayat. This means that you should not have the same sort of guardianship, friendship, coherence and close ties with them as you maintain with your fellow- believers. “…they are guardians of one another…”; so don’t think that they have different names or that they are in different camps, no, against you and your religion, they are united, So “…if one of you takes them for guardians, he’ll then become one of their number…”. This means: if you connect yourselves with their ‘wilayat’, you’ll undoubtedly become like them and go out of the Quranic wilayat. And: “…God does not bless with Guidance the people who transgress.” Then you have lost your own religion and God’s Guidance.
The next verse tells us: “But you see those, who have some sickness in their hearts, running to woo them…”. The weak-minded people with their sick hearts race towards them; they do not go just to meet them to talk to them, but they run and race towards them as if they are in love with them! Now, if you ask such a person: why do you behave like this? Why do you make friends with those who are against your religion? Why don’t you oppose them? They answer: “…we worry lest a change of fortune bring us some disaster!!” how familiar are such excuses from some opportunists: ‘if I am not friendly with them, I fear some changes may cause me trouble in case Muslims are the losers’! The Quran then admonishes such people saying: “… may Allah bring about a triumph or a manifest event from His own Self to make them most ashamed…”. The Quran then promises victories for the faithful camp and ordain what God will, so that those people become sorrowful and ashamed of what they nurtured in their minds and hearts; they say to themselves: if we only knew the faithful front would be triumphant, we would not have compromised with the enemies of God and Islam!
According to the Quran, after such divine events, the believers would be amazed: “Are these the men who swore their strongest oaths by Allah that they would stand with you? Lo, all their deeds are now in vain and they will end in utter failure.” This is how the believers think about those hypocrites who always expressed their support for them and said that they shared their beliefs. Yes, orally they always expressed that they were with us, but later it was found out that they were sick in their minds and hearts and that they were only evil, opportunistic elements.
Well, so far we have fully discussed the external relations of the Islamic community or the quality of their relations with non-Muslims. But we must also pay particular attention to our internal relations and our approach to relations among Muslims and their faithfulness in their own religion. In this respect, let me cite the next verse in the Sura Al-Maa’ida: “O You who have believed, if among you some were to renounce their faith, God would soon raise another people who do love Him as they are loved by Him…”. Such people, as described in this verse, form the ideal, Islamic community: they love God and God loves them. So if there are some of us who say ‘O God’ I worship You, I love You and I always remember You, but they do not follow the path of God and His divine Prophet, they are only cheap liars because another Quranic verse tells us “Say: if you do love God, then follow Me and God will love you…”. God says if you love Me then follow My prophet; your love for Me is proved by following My prophet, that is, the one who has wilayat over you. This means that love between God (or His prophet) and the people is mutual.
What are the other characteristics of such firm believers? Verse 54 of Sura Al-Maa’ida inform us in this respect: “…they are most humble towards other believers but forcefully stern against the disbelievers, keen strivers in the Cause of God and fearless of the blaming of any blamers…”. They have the most intimate relations with other believers, they lack any arrogance or personal pride towards their fellow- believers, they think of themselves as small parts of the Islamic umma, their motto is: ‘for the people, of the people’ and they strives on the path of the believers. Yet they are most stern and firm facing the pagans, the disbelievers and the enemies of God Almighty, and never affected or influenced by their plans and plots. The other characteristic of such faithful believers is that they are constantly striving in the Cause of God, and in this struggle, they never fear any insults, blames or allegations, and all this is due to: “…this is the Grace of God, and He bestows it upon whomever He will, for God is Bounteous, the knower Infinite.”
Next the verse talks about the heart-felt, spiritual ties of the Islamic community with that centre of all Islamic attractions, the leader, the Imam, the Prophet. True deliberation in the Quranic verses, enlightens us in regard to questions that we often thought are non-Quranic! The Quran tells us about the internal and external relations of the Islamic umma, and then it tells us about the heart and centre of all these relations, the leader, the Prophet and the Imam. Who is it? The Quran says: “Your true Walee is only Allah, and His Apostle, and believers…”. Well, truly God is your only walee but God Almighty does not incarnate among the people, to sit with them and tells them what to do and what not to do. So we immediately read in the verse: “…and His Apostle…”. As there is no difference or conflict between God and His messenger; God and His messenger are the same, as far as revelations and injunctions are concerned.
Now, the prophets are not to live forever as we read in verse 30 of Sura Zumar addressed to the holy Prophet: “You shall certainly die, they too shall pass away.” So what should be done after the Prophet? In the verse we read, we have the word ‘believers’. Well the next question is who among the believers? Could anyone who has believed possess the qualities to lead the umma? No, but there are certain signs and indications. The verse continues “… those who set up salaat and pay zakat while bowing down (ruku’)…”. As you know, many Quranic commentators say that the one who paid zakaat while doing ruku’ was Ali-bin Abi Taalib (AS). There are commentators who do not interpret the verse as we do. They say that the verse does not refer to a particular person and that it refers to all true believers. Well even in such a case, do we know any truer and firmer believers than Ali (AS) after the holy Prophet. Anyway we are talking about wilayat in our Shi’a beliefs that are also supported by historical facts. And our discussion is focused on the positive aspects of imamat or wilayat because it is absolutely necessary for all Shi’ites to know themselves better and make their faith firmer and stronger, but we do not intend to defy or renounce other schools of thought in this respect.
There are some people who say that we must first talk about Islam to prove its truthfulness and that Shi’a beliefs could wait! You must know, however, that our Shi’ism is based on our understanding of Islam and the Quran and it is a fair, logical and just understanding. In fact in all our discussions we have been dealing with Islamic principles and the fundamental ideology of Islam through our Shi’ite school of thought, but we do not engage in any ideological quarrels with other schools, we extend our hand of friendship to them, for Muslims are brothers of one another and we do have common enemies. Two brothers should not quarrel when their enemy is standing outside their house. We understand Islam from a Shi’ite view-point but we never want to challenge our Sunni brothers; in our view sowing such differences is absolutely unlawful (haraam).
Let’s again read the verse we discussed and sum up what we have said in a few words: “Your true walee is Allah, and His Messenger and the believers, those who set up salaat and pay zakat while bowing down…”. We said that there were three dimensions to wilayat: the first was the maintenance of internal ties, the second was the cutting off close ties with the opposing camps and the third was the continuing, steadfast relation with the centre, the beating heart of the Islamic umma through firm adherence to wilayat. Now, if we did respect these three dimensions, what will be its end result? This question is answered in the Quran: “And those who take Allah and His Apostle and the believers as their guardians must know that the Party of God will be victors for certain.”. Those believers who submit to the wilayat of God and His Apostle and the believers will ultimately be victorious; such believers will be triumphant and will defeat all opposing forces.
