Master and Mastership [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Two Kinds of Wala

The Holy Qur'an has talked much of Wala,
Muwalat and Tawalla (friendship and cooperation). This Celestial Book has discussed a
number of questions under these headings. A thorough study of the Holy Qur'an indicates
that from the Islamic point of view there are two kinds of Wala; negative and positive
i.e. on the one hand the Muslims have been asked not to accept one kind of Wala and to
refrain from it, and on the other hand they have been asked to observe another kind of
Wala. The positive Wala enjoined by Islam has two forms; general and special. Again the
special form of Wala is further subdivided into several categories; Wala of Love, Wala of
Imamate, Wala of Leadership and Wala of Control. Now we take up each of them briefly.

Negative Wala

The Holy Qur'an has strictly warned the
Muslims against accepting the friendship or tutelage of the non Muslims. This does not
mean that Islam is in any way against the Muslims having good relations with the fellow
human beings or it exhorts them to be always hostile to the non-Muslims and not to do any
good to them. The Holy Qur'an expressly says "Allah does not forbid you to show
kindness or to deal justly with those who did not fight against you on account of your
religion and did not drive you out from your homes. Surely Allah does not love the unjust
people" (Mumtahina, 60: 8)

Islam does not say that good fellowship
should be exclusively confined to the Muslims or that a Muslim should not be philanthropic
to others. How could a religion, which, in the words of the Qur'an, has described its
Prophet as a blessing to all the worlds, say that?

Actually the idea is that the Muslims must
never be unmindful of the designs of the enemy despite his claim of friendship. They
should always be vigilant and should not take the pretensions of the enemy on their face
value.

A Muslim must regard himself as a member of
the Muslim body politic and a part of the whole. To be a member of a particular society
automatically imposes certain conditions and limits. The non-Muslims being members of a
different society, the relations of the Muslims with them must be such as may not be
incompatible with their being members of their own society. They should in no way
jeopardize their own independence and integrity. Hence the relations of a Muslim with the
non-Muslims cannot be similar to those which he has with the fellow Muslims.

The Muslims should have as close and
cordial relations with one another as the members of the same body politic should normally
have. According to Islam the negative aspect of this friendship demands that a Muslim,
while dealing with a non-Muslim, should always be alive to the fact that he is facing a
member of an alien body; and the relations of a Muslim with a non-Muslim should not be
similar to those with a Muslim, in the sense that Muslim should not practically become a
member of the non- Muslim society or assume such a shape that his membership of the Muslim
society should in no way be unrecognizable. He should at no time ignore that he is a
member of the Muslim body politic.

A Muslim may be nice and friendly to a
non-Muslim but at the same time he should not take him as a member of the same body to
which he himself belongs. There is no contradiction between these two attitudes.

Thus there is no contradiction between
negative Wala and the principles of fellow-feeling and philanthropy. Fellow-feeling
requires a man to be concerned with the destiny, welfare and happiness of all human
beings. As such a Muslim is naturally concerned with the salvation of all other human
beings and is interested in their becoming Muslims. But so long as this target is not
achieved those who have embraced Islam cannot be sacrificed for the sake of those who have
not come under the fold of Islam.

Suppose certain people are afflicted with a
certain disease. The fellow-feeling requires us to do everything possible to see that they
are cured and to treat them with tenderness and sympathy so long as they are ill. But that
does not mean that those who are suffering from a contagious disease should not be
segregated from those who are sound in health. That is why Islam allows a Muslim to be
benevolent to the non-Muslims but it does not permit him to undertake allegiance to them.

Islam is a religion of love towards
mankind. It loves even a polytheist, not because of his polytheism, but because of his
being a creation of Allah. At the same time it feels concerned because he has gone astray.
Had it not loved him, it would have been indifferent to his bad- luck.

In Islam there exists love and hatred both.
But both are logical and reasonable, not emotional and haphazard. The friendship and
enmity produced by pure emotions are blind feelings and have no logical basis. On the
other hand, rational friendship and enmity produced by a sort of consciousness, stem from
a concern in the destiny of a fellow being.

Let us take an example. The parents have
two kinds of attachment to their child, one logical and the other sentimental. Logical
attachment sometimes may impel them to take an action, which may apparently cause pain and
distress to their child. For instance they may submit him to a surgeon. In such a case
they may weep and shed tears, but they ask the surgeon to perform the operation as early
as possible and amputate the festering limb, if necessary. They shed tears out of their
emotional attachment, and ask for surgical operation and amputation out of their logical
attachment.

In case they give preference to their
emotional attachment and do not agree to amputation, they virtually acquiesce in giving
their child in the pale of death. But because of their intellectual logic and keen
interest in his welfare, they ignore their emotions and agree to the pain and
inconvenience to their child.

To get himself cured any sensible person
may occasionally submit himself to the surgeon and ask him, for example, to amputate one
of his fingers. He does not like to suffer the pain of amputation. He knows that the loss
of a finger will cause him much inconvenience. Still his reason and logic require him to
bear the pain and agree to this organic defect. In such cases it is reason and logic, and
not emotions, which induce a person to ask for a surgical operation.

In order to eliminate corruption from a
society in which infidelity and ignorance prevail, Islam gives instruction for armed
struggle, "Fight them until revolt is rooted out" (al-Baqarah, 2:193).

At the same time for the security of the
society it warns the Muslims against opening their heart to the infidels. There is no
contradiction between this policy and the principle of entertaining goodwill towards
all.

Imitating is human nature. Man-often
unconsciously adopts the ideas and notions of others. The Qur'an says

O you who believe! Take not My
enemies and your enemies for friends. Would you offer them strong love while they have
rejected the Truth which has come to you" (al-Mumtahina, 60: 1).

It continues to say

If they have the upper hand of you,
they will be your enemies and will stretch out their hands and tongues towards you with
evil intent. They love to see you turn away from your faith". (al-Mumtahina, 60: 2)

Here the Holy Qur'an gives the reason why
the Muslims should be cautious and vigilant while dealing with the non-Muslims. It says
that they like to persuade others to adopt their customs, their way of thinking and
religion. Had it been merely a question of their wish and liking, there was not much
danger in it. The Holy Qur'an points out that they earnestly strive for misleading the
Muslims.

This position makes it essential that the
Muslims should be prudent about their relations with the non-Muslims. They should always
remember that they belong to a Unitarian society totally different from that of the
non-Muslims. Anyhow, that does not mean that the Muslims should have no social, economic
or political contact with them. The point to be kept in mind is that all such relations
must be in keeping with the overall interests of the Muslim society.

General Form of Positive Wala

Islam wants the Muslims to live an
independent life as a militarily coordinated and socially homogeneous unit. To enable the
Muslim society to grow strong and vigorous every Muslim is expected to consider himself to
be a member of it. The Holy Qur'an wants the Muslim society to be superior to all others.
It says

Don't be discouraged or grieved. You
alone will have true dignity if you are true believers". (Ale Imran, 3:139)

Faith is the criterion of the superiority
of the Muslim society. It is its motivating force, the sanction for its independence, the
mainstay of its personality and the essential pre-requisite of its unity. The Holy Qur'an
says

Don't dispute with one another lest
you falter and your strength departs from you: But be steadfast! "(al-Anfal, 8: 46)

Internal discord and dissension pull down
the structure and personality of the society. Faith is the basis of mutual friendship,
love and loyalty among the Muslims.

The Holy Qur'an says:

The believers, men and women are the
Waly (guide) of each other; they enjoin the right and forbid the wrong. They keep up
prayers and pay zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger". (al-Tauba,9:71)

The Muslims are closely linked together and
as such they support one another. They are interested in one another's fate, in reality in
their own fate, for they, all together form one compact unit. That is why they exhort one
another to do the good and abstain from doing the evil.

This exhortation and this restraint stem
from mutual Wala. That is why in the Holy Qur'an the sentence "They enjoin the right
and forbid the wrong", has been placed immediately after the statement that the
Muslims are Waly of one another.

Interest in the fate of another person
originates from the interest in that person himself. A father who is interested in his
children automatically feels himself concerned with their future. But he may not feel
interested in the children of others, and because of his not being interested in them, he
is not likely to be concerned about their fate. Hence their good or bad behavior is not
likely to produce positive or negative feelings in him.

The exhortation to do the right and to
restrain others from doing the wrong are the outcome of these very positive and negative
feelings. Such feelings do not arise without the existence of love and attachment.

If a man is disinterested in a particular
person, he will be indifferent to his behavior and conduct. But if he is interested, his
attachment will not allow him to remain unconcerned. That is why the Holy Qur'an has
connected the exhortation for the good and the restraint from the wrong under the head of
Wala.

The Holy Qur'an has mentioned two other
things which follow this exhortation and restraint. It says: "They offer prayers and
pay zakat". Prayer represents the relation between the Creator and man and zakat
represents the goodwill among the Muslims who support one another because of their mutual
affection and sympathy. Then the Qur'an says "As for these, Allah will have mercy on
them; and they will have lasting happiness ". Later we will elucidate this passage
further and will show that not only this but many other verses of the Holy Qur'an which
mention general Wala, imply a sort of responsibility of the Muslims in respect of the
mutual goodwill among them.

The Holy Prophet has said "The Muslims
in their mutual affection and sympathy are like the human body. If one part of it suffers,
all other parts feel uneasy".

In respect of the Holy Prophet and those
who received training under him the Holy Qur'an says

Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
and those with him are hard to the disbelievers yet kind among themselves". (al-Fath
48: 29).

This verse refers both to the special form
of positive Wala and the negative Wala. As we have said above many verses of the Holy
Qur'an point out that the enemies of Islam have always been trying to turn the negative
Wala into a positive one and the positive Wala into a negative one. In other words they do
their utmost to make the relations between the Muslims and the non-Muslims cordial and
between the Muslims themselves hostile on one pretext or another. For this purpose they
fan the sectarian differences. In our own time these aliens have become more active in
this respect.[1] They have been spending huge sums of money to sow the seeds of discord
among the Muslims. Unfortunately they have been able to produce certain elements among the
Muslims whose only concern is to convert the positive Islamic Wala into a negative one and
the negative Islamic Wala into a positive one and this is the most severe blow which these
wicked persons deal to the Holy Prophet.

This is the most deplorable tragedy with
which Islam is faced today. Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib has said "It is really disturbing
and most surprising that the enemies, despite their being in the wrong, are united, and
you despite your being in the right, are divided".

We pray to Allah to protect the Muslims
from the machinations of these wicked people.

[1] "Muslims should be awake, Muslims
should be alert that if a dispute takes place among Sunni and Shi'ah brothers, it is
harmful to Muslim ummah . Those who want to sow discord are neither Sunni nor Shi'ah; they
are agents of the superpowers and work for them. Those who attempt to cause discord among
Muslims are people who conspire for the enemies of Islam and want them to triumph over
Muslims. They are the supporters of America and Russia." (Imam Khumayni) .