Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

A. TheWila ' of Love (mahabbah ) or TheWila ' of Nearness (qarabah )

Thewila ' of love, or thewila ' of nearness, signifies that the Household are the nearrela -tives of the noble Prophet, and that people are recommended to cultivate affection for them and to love them in a special way, over and above the necessity forwila ' in its ordinary positive sense. This is in the Qur'an, and manyahadith have also been recorded throughShi'ah and Sunni schools about this subject, that love of the Household, and, among them, of `Ali (a.s .), is one of the basic precepts of Islam; and in this connection two problems immediately crop up.

Firstly, why, with special reference to the Household, has all this been recommended: that people should cultivate devotion to them? And is this love and devotion a means of approach-ing near to God? Suppose that everyone is acquainted with the Household of the Prophet, and that they truly have love and devotion towards them, what is the result and benefit of this? All Islamic precepts have aphilosophi - cal and metaphysical reason behind them. If a certain precept turns up in the context of Islam, The Kinds ofWila in Its Positive Sense it absolutely must have its own philosophy and metaphysics.

The answer to this problem is that the exhortation to love the Household and other expressions of thewila ' of love of the House hold do have a special metaphysics; it is not an extravagance or a foolishness, it is not (merely) a reward for the noble Prophet or for them- selves. The noble Qur'an makes it clear through the mouth of the Prophet that the benefit of the recompense that he is asking from us, in other words love of his near relatives, accrues to us ourselves.

Thewila ' of loveis an introduction and a way to other kinds ofwila ' which we want to explain. The bond of love is what really joins people to the Household so that they canbene - fit from their existence, from what they have left behind, from what they have said and what they have taught, and from theirbehaviour and their manner.

In our bookJadhibah wa dafi`ah -e Ali (alayhi 's -salam ) , we have discussed at length the virtues of love and devotion towards the pure ones, and the ones near to Allah (al -Haqq ), which fashion man and are precious agents in training and stimulating his spirit and trans- Wilayah - The Station of the Master forming his state of mind, and here we shall not repeat ourselves.

Secondly, is thewila ' of love a peculiarity of theShi`ahs , or is it also believed in by other Islamic groups? In answer, it must be said that thewila ' of love is not a peculiarity of Shi `ites . OtherMus -lim groups also give importance to it.al-Imam ash-Shafi'i , who is one of the Imams of the Sunni schools, wrote in his famous poems: O rider, standing on the stony ground of Mind: Cry at dawn to those stopped atKhif 8 and those bestirring, When the pilgrims are leaving for Mind, Moving like the rolling of the waves of the surging Euphrates:

The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense If love of the Household of Muhammad is a heresy (rafd ) Then, jinn and men, bear witness that I am a heretic (Rafidite ) !9 He also wrote O Household of the Messenger of Allah, love for youIs an obligation from Allah, revealed in the Qur'an.

It suffices as the greatesthonour bestowed on you,That his prayer is as nothing who does not include in it praises to you. Again, he wrote When I saw people being taken Through theirmadhahib 10 into seas of erring and ignorance, I set sail in the name of Allah in the ship of deliverance Which is the Household of Mustafa, the Seal of the Prophets; I grasped the rope of Allah which is theirwila ', As we were commanded to grasp the rope.11 az-Zamakhshari andFakhru 'd -Dinar-Razi , who, in the matter of the succession to the caliphate, come down against the Shi `ahs, are themselves narrators ofhadith on the subject of thewila ' of love.ar-Razi quotes fromaz -Zamakhshari that the Prophet said The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense Whosoever died in love of the Household of Muhammad has died a martyr;

Whosoever died in love of the Household of Muhammad has died in forgiveness;Whosoever died in love of the Household of Muhammad has died a believer and in the perfection of his faith."Amiru 'l-mu'minin (a. s.) has also said inNahju 'l-balaghah , Sermon 232: Whosoever from among you dies in his bed in knowledge of the truth of his own Lord and the truth of His Messenger and his House- hold, has died a martyr and his reward is with Allah. He will deserve the reward for the intention of his righteous actions, and the intention will take place oftheunsheath -ing of the sword.Ibnu l-Farid , the famous Egyptian Sufi and poet (in Arabic literature, he is theequival -ent of Hafiz in the Persian language), has said in his famousghazal which begins with the couplet "Driver of the caravans, passing through the desert: With the measured pace of thy goodness, ascend the dunes ofTayy ."

Life dwindles away wastefully and ends in futilityIf I do not attain union with you. Apart from this one thing I hold nothing, but connectionTo thewila ' of the family (of the Prophet) who was appointed from the descendents ofQusayy . Here, perhaps, his meaning iswila ' in a most sublime sense, but it is indisputable that he mentionswila ' in the sense of love. `Abdu'r -Rahman Jami13 , about whom al-Qadi Nurullah 14 said "two `Abdu'r-Rahmans have injured `Ali - `Abdu 'r-Rahman ibn Muljam al-Muradi 15 and `Abdu 'r-Rahman Jami", arranged in Persian the famous poem of al-Farazdaq l6 in praise of The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense al-ImamZaynu'l-`Abidin (a.s .). It is said that someone reported from a dream that after the death of al-Farazdaq they had asked him in the dream: "What did Allah do with you?" He replied: "He forgave me on account of that poem I recited in praise of `Aliibn al-Husayn ." Jami himself adds to this and says:

"If God forgave all men for the sake of this poem, it would not be surprising!" Jami says ofHisham ibn `Abdu'1-Malik who imprisoned al-Farazdaq and tortured himIf he had had right-seeking eyes, Had done goodness and had had true din. He would not have opened his hand to in- justice and oppression - Instead of imprisonment he would have given his robe ofhonour . Therefore theShi'ah and the Sunni do not have different views aboutwila ' meaning love, except for theNaasibi who hated the Household Wilayah - The Station of the Master of the Prophet, were excluded from Islamic society, and were, like the unbelievers, con-demned to vileness, and from the defilement of whose existence, praise be to Allah, the world has become cleaned in this age. Only a few people are now occasionally seen who write the odd book stillendeavouring to increase the gaps between Muslims; andthereare few among ourselves. And this is the best evidence that they have no authenticity, and that, like their associates from amongst us, they are the tools of the infernal colonialists.

az-Zamakhshari andar-Razi , in a foot- note to the previoushadith , narrate from the Prophet that he said: Whosoever dies in enmity to the family of Muhammad, dies an unbeliever. Whosoever dies in enmity of the family of Muhammad, will not smell the scent of Paradise. And al-ImamJa'far as-Sadiq (a.s .) said: The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense Allah has not created anything more unclean than the dog; and those who oppose us, the Household, are more unclean than that. We must call this kind ofwila ', if it isattri -buted to the Household of the Prophet (we call them those who are `entrusted withwila '), thewila ' of nearness; and if we attribute it to Muslims, from the point of view of an obligation that they have concerning affection for the Household, then we should saywila ' of love. This is obviously not the place to go into how the root-wordwila ' has come to be used in the sense of love . but two more aspects should be considered. One is whether the wordwali has been used in the sense of friend or not? The other concerns which meaning is intended when the wordwali is used in connection with the ayah of the Qur'an: "Surely Allah is yourwali . ." (5:55) which established thewilayah ofAmiru 'l-mu'minin .

Some believe that in the Qur'an, every- where this word is used (and it does at first seem as if this is the case), that it has the meaning of `friend'. But with attention it is realized that it does not mean this. For example, the meaning of Allah is the wall of those who believe, He brings them out of darkness into light (2:257), is not that Allah is the friend of the believers; rather that Allah, through His own special providence, has the ranks of the believers in His hands. Similarly, the meaning of Now surely theawliya ' of Allah - they shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve (10:62) is not that there is no fear for the friends of Allah. Here the wordwali is in the form of "fa`il " (subject) with the meaning of "maf'u1" (object)17 . So the meaning thus becomes: "Those whoseguardian, and the master of whose affairs is Allah are not subject to fear and apprehension" (10:62). Simi-larly , the meaning of the ayah: "And the be-lievers , the men and the women, areawliya ' one to the other" (9:71), is not that the believers are eachothers friends; rather that the believers are under a mutual obligation to one another, and are occupied with each other's affairs, and considerate of each other's future. So afterwards it says:

"Bidding to good and forbidding evil." From here the answer to the secondques -tion becomes clear. In the ayah under discussion, the meaning is not that Allah and the Prophet and `Ali are your friends; rather that they are the holders of authority and the ones with the right to be the masters of your affairs. So, although the idea that the wordwali is used with the meaning of friend is correct, it is inconceivable that it should be restrictively used to mean that Allah, the Prophet and `Ali are nothing but your friends.

From this it becomes obvious that the explanation by some of the Sunni commentators is wrong when they say that the substance of this ayah is not something important, rather that it just means that `Ali is your friend, and that `Ali must be loved by you and be the object of your affections (because it is in the form `fa`il ' with the meaning of `maf`ul ') . According to this proof, the ayah: "And Allah is yourwali . ."(5:55) which useswali in the positive special sense, is not justwali in the sense of love. It is greater than this. So what kind ofwila ' is it? The explanation that will be given now will clarify this matter.

B.Wila ' - Imamate

Wila ' meaning Imamate and leadership; or, in other words, the position of authority in the din (to which matters are referred for decision), that is, a position which others should follow, should take as an example for their actions andbehaviour , from whom they should learn the precepts of the din; or yet again,su -premacy (za`amah ) Such a position isnecess -arily one of immunity from sin (`ismah ), and the speech and actions of such a person are a guarantee and a proof for others. It is this same position about which the noble Qur'an, when talking of the Prophet, says:

The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah a good example for whosoever hopes for Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much (33:21).

Say: if you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins (3:31). In this ayah, the Messenger of Allah is intro-duced as anexamplar to whosebehaviour and morality people shouldconform their ownbehaviour and morality, and whom they should take as their precedent. And this in itself is a proof of the Prophet's immunity from sin and error, because, if it were possible for sin and error to proceed from him, there would be no purpose in Allah, the Sublime, introducing him as a leader and a precedent.

This position then, after the Prophet, passed to the Household, and, according to ahadith which many Sunni scholars have narrated Wilayah - The Station of the Master in books on the life of the Prophet, in histories, and in their own books onhadith from nearly thirty companions of theProphet18 , theProph - et chose his Household for the leadership and Imamate. He said:

I leave among you two precious things: the Book of Allah and my Household. These two will not be separated until they encounter me at the pool ofKawthar (in Paradise). Do not run ahead of them, for you will be ruined; do not neglect them, for you will be ruined. And do not seek to instruct them, for they are wiser than you. Allah appoints, and Allah says about His Book:

The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense Falsehood shall not come to it from before it nor from behind it (41:42). So, if the Household were associates of falseness and unrighteousness and ignorance, and thus ceased to be the complement and twin of the Book, and if they were not, like the Prophet, preserved and free from sin and error, they would not have become the leaders andexamplars in his place. The subject matter of thehadith shows that those mentioned in it must be individuals preserved from sin, and, asKhwajah Nasiru 'd -Din at-Tusi said, the others (i.e., the non- Shi 'ahs) neither have anyone who is pro-tected from sin, nor do they claim thisprotec -tion for anybody, and so, apart from the pure Imams, thehadith has no applicability.

Ibn Hajar (al-Haytami ) says:

"This saying of the Prophet - `Do not run ahead of them, for you will be ruined; do not neglect them, for you will be ruined; and do not seek to instruct them, for they are wiser than you' - is a proof that whoever from the House- hold reaches the highest degree of knowledge, and merits the taking on of religious duties, is to be preferred before others."19 al-Hafiz AbuNu'aym narrates ahadith fromIbn `Abbas that the Prophet said: .

Wilayah - The Station of the Master " Whoever wishes that his life and death be like mine, and that he rest in eternal Paradise, should choose `Ali aswali after me, and take hiswali aswali , and should follow the Imams after me for they are my descendants and were created from my clay. They are gifted with understanding and knowledge. Woe unto those who deny their virtues and who alienate them in kinship from me, for my intercession will never include them."20 Imamate and leadership in din, in such a sense that whatever the leader says and what- ever he does is taken as a Divine guarantee and a proof, is a kind ofwilayah , because it is an example of the right to govern, direct and con-trol the affairs of man.

Anyway, every teacher and mentor, in so far as he is a teacher and mentor, is awali , an authority and a master of the affairs of the learner and student. Whatdoes the teacher and the mentor have, that this right should not be given to someone sent by Allah? The glorious ayah: "Only Allah is yourWali and His Messenger, and those who believe, who keep up prayer and payzakat while they bow inruku ' " (5:55), is a witness to this kind ofwilayah . Of course, this does not mean that The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense this ayah does not contain some other meaning ofwilayah which we shall mention later on. It means that this ayah encompasseswila ' in the sense of Imamate, leadership and mastery over the din. This wordwali , was also used in some of theahadith that have been quoted in the sense ofwali - Imamate.

This kind ofwila ', then, if it is used in con-nection with the Imam, means the right to leadership and mastery in the din, but if it is used in connection with an ordinary individual, it means acceptance of and compliance with this right.

C.Wila ' -Za'amah .

Wila ', in the sense ofza`amah , is the right to social and political leadership. Society needs a leader. That person who takes the reins of the government of a society and directs the social affairs of man, carries the destinies of thepeo -ple , and is the ruler (waliyyu 'l-amr ) of the Muslims. The Prophet, during his lifetime, was thewaliyyu 'l-amr of the Muslims, and Allah granted him this position; and after him, accord-ing to a great deal of irrefutable evidence, it passed to the Household. Wilayah - The Station of the Master Obey Allah, obey the Messenger, and those in authority over you (4:59). Similarly, the first ayah ofsurah al-Ma'idah and thehadith ofGhadir , together with the whole of the ayah: "Certainly Allah is yourWali . ." (5:55) , and the whole of the ayah :

The Prophet has a greater claim on the believersthant they have on themselves (33:6), concern the same kind ofwilayah . In so far as the Prophet did have such a rank, and in so far as this unique rank was a Divine one, that it to say, it was a Divine ob ligation with which Allah hadfavoured the Prophet, and it was not conferred on him by the people, thus far there is no argument be-tween theShi`ahs and Sunnis;upto this point our Sunni brothers are with us. The problem now arises as to what, after the Prophet, was The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense the commandment concerningwilayah-za ` amah. In order that there should be no socialinsta -bility , and that chaos should not intervene, individual people must submit to someone who is worthy to be called the ruler, thewaliyyu 'l -amr . What is the commandment concerning such a position? Did Islam make a specific command-ment about this matter, or did it choose to remain completely silent? And if it did make a specific commandment, what was it? Or did it leave the choice to the people to elect after the Prophet anyone they wanted to, and is obedience to him then an obligation to others (who did not elect him)? Or did the Prophet nominate a specific person before his death to take his place in this great and importantposition ?

Here we shall go into the Prophet's social dealings among hisummah according to what can be inferred from the Qur'an. From the Qur'an, and from thesunnah as well and the life of the Prophet, it can be shown that in this matter the Prophet held together in his person three positions among the Muslims.

First, he was the Imam, the leader and the authority in the din; he held thewilayah of the Wilayah - The Station of the Master Imamate, and his speech and actions were his guarantee and his proof. Whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, keep back (59:7).

Second, he held juridicalwilayah ; in other words, hisjudgement was binding in legal differ-ences and internal disputes. But no, by Thy Lord!they will not believe until they make you a judge of thedis - agreement between them, then they shall find in themselves no impediment touch-ing thy verdict, but shall surrender in full submission (4:65). Of course, it is true that in this case, it is also an example of the previous instance of the use of the termwilayah , but we have not yet The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense seen this term actually used in the meaning of juridicalwilayah ..

Third, he had social and politicalwilayah . That is, apart from being the explainer and propagator of the commands, and apart from being the judge for the Muslims, he was the statesman and the ruler of the Muslim com- munity, he was thewaliyyu 'l-amr of theMus -lims and the holder of authority in the Muslim community, as we have said before; The Prophet has a greater claim on the believers than they have on themselves (33:6).

Obey Allah, obey the Messenger and those in authority over you (4:59), are relevant here. Of course, the Prophet held a fourth rank also, which we shall mention later. The Prophet formally governed the people, and he was the leader of the policies of the Islamic community. According to this ayah:

Take of their wealth a freewill offering,clense them and purify them thereby (9:103), he took taxes from the people; he administered the financial and economic affairs of the Islamic community.

This situation, from the three kinds of positions that the Prophet held, is a basis for the discussion of the caliphate.

It is necessary to say here that the word 'Imamate', as well as having the meaning of leadership, is also used to mean a leader in reaching the ways of the din; that is to say, the word "Imam" is said and understood as `someone from whom one should obtain the ways of the din', and the Sunni Muslims generally apply the word `Imam' to AbuHanifah , ash-Shafi'i ,Malik and Ahmadibn Hanbal . It is also much used in the sense of social and political leader- ship.

The Prophet said The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense In connection with three things, the heart of a Muslim will never permit treachery and doubt. Purity of intention before Allah, wish-ing good for a leader (Imam) of the Muslims in the way of leading the Muslims, (and) support for the community of Muslims. `Ali, peacebe upon him, in one of his letters which are recorded inNahju 'l-balaghah says:

The greatest treachery is treachery to the community, and the most abominable deceit is deceit with the leaders (Imams) of the community; because the result of this deceit is against the Muslims. If the captain of a ship steers the ship on a good course, and then someone comes who misleads the captain and involves the ship in some danger, he has not only beentreacher -ous to the captain,he has betrayed all those on board the ship. In this sentence, then, the word `Imam' is used in the sense of social leader.

In the history of Islam we read that the Muslims, even those who acknowledged the true Imams, addressed the caliphs of their time using the word Imam. The problem is that an Imam in this meaning is sometimes an Imam of justice and sometimes an Imam ofoppression, and the Muslims have (different) obligations when faced by each one of these. The Prophet said, in an authentichadith reported by both schools:

The most excellent jihad is (to utter) a word of justice in front of an oppressor. And, similarly, the .Prophet saidThe blight of the din is three things.An op-pressive leader (Imam), and ignorant worship- per of Allah, and a sinful `alim (scholar). More important than this, in the Qur'an itself leaders are mentioned who invite people to the Fire ofGehenna , and they are also designated by the word of Imam.

The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive SenseAnd we made them Imams who call to the Fire (28:41). Of course, there is no doubt that usually the word `Imam' or `Imams' is applied to just and pious leaders, and inShi'ite parlance, the word is applied to those who lead to Allah who are immune from sin -and these are only twelve.

D.Wila'-Tasarruf

Wila '-tasarruf (free universaldetermina -tion ), or spiritualwila ', is the highest of the stages ofwilayah . The other kinds ofwilayah are either connected to the degree of nearness to the Prophet, to the abundance of the loftiness of the degree of purity, or to the stature of an individual of the Household, or else they are connected to their social or cognitive knowledge.

That which has been designated by the wordwilayah in the two last sections did not stretch beyond the limits of legislation andadminis -tration , although the originan d foundation of the philosophy behind this administration is social and cognitive authority. However,wila ' -tasarruf , or spiritualwila ' is a kind of extra- ordinary creative ability and mastery. First we must see what the meaning and semantics ofwilayah-tasarruf are, and what the ideas of those who believe in it are.

The concept of creativewilayah , from one angle, is connected with hidden faculties in this creature who appeared on the face of the earth with the name of man, and with accomplish-ments which this amazing creature is potentially capable of, and which he can bring up to the level of action. From another angle, it is con-nected with the relationship of this creature to Allah. The purpose of creativewilayah is that man, as a result of travelling on the way of sub- mission, achieves the station of Divine nearness,any the result of his arrival at the station of nearness, naturally to the higher stages of it, that is, human spirituality, which is itself truth and reality, becomes the leader of the caravan of spirituality, the commander of the hearts, the testifier of actions and the Proof of the Age (Hujjatu 'z-zaman ). The earth is never void of awali , who is the bearer of this spiritual-ity ; or, using a different expression, of theThe Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense Perfect Man (al-Insanu l-kamil ).

Wilayah in this meaning is different fromprophethood , different from the caliphate, different from guardianship (wilayah ), and different from the Imamate when it has the meaning of an authority in the commandments of the din. Its difference fromprophethood , the caliphate and guardianship is an absolute one, but from Imamate it has a conceptual and mentally creative difference.

The meaning of its difference from prophet- hood, the caliphate and guardianship beingabso - lute is not that everyone who became a prophet, a caliph or guardian was not awali , rather, it means thatprophethood , and also the caliphate and guardianship are realities different fromwilayah . Notwithstanding this, the greatproph -ets , and especially their Seal, were possessors of universal Divinewilayah .

And the meaning of its difference from Imamate being mentally-created is that there is only one station. Considering it from one direction it is called Imamate, and from another direction it is calledwilayah . But the meaning of Imamate is a wide one. Imamate means leadership, but an authority in the command-ments of the din is a leader; a political and social Wilayah - The Station of the Master leader is also a leader; and a teacher of the inner self, a spiritual guide, is also a leader for the innermost heart.

From theShi`ite point of view, from which the question ofwilayah is under consideration, it can be viewed from three aspects; and in each of the three aspects the word Imamate has been used.

Firstly, from the political point of view, who was the person who most merited and was fittest to assume the place of the Prophet in social and political leadership of the Muslims? And who had to be the leader (za`im ) of the Muslims after the Prophet? There is also the fact that the Prophet, on behalf of Allah, appointed `Ali to that social position. This point of view, in the present instance, has a historical and dogmatic aspect, and is not being looked at from the point of view of pure knowledge. Secondly, as far as the commandments of the din are concerned, on whom does the authority for reference fall? And in which way has this person acquired his knowledge? And is this person incapable of erring as far as the commandments are concerned, or not? This aspect has a dogmatic side to it as well as being a question of knowledge.

Thirdly, from the point of view of the spirit and the inner self, theShi`ite view is that at all times there is no Perfect Man who has the power of penetrating what is hidden, and he is a witness for the spirits, the souls and the hearts, and he has a kind of creative control over the world and over man. He is always in existence, and for this reason he is calledhujjah - proof, guarantee. As was said, the ayah: "The Prophet has a greater claim on the believers than they have on themselves" (33:6) is not very far from this subject, and it also bears witness to this meaning ofwilayah . The meaning ofwilayah-tasarruf or creativewilayah is not what some ignoramuses have supposed, namely, that one man from humanity obtained the position of guardianship andprotectorship with regard to the world in such a way that he becomes the turner of the earth and the heavens, the creator, the sustainer, the life -giver, and the bringer of death on behalf of Allah.

Although Allah arranged the world accord-ing to the regularity of cause and effect, and although creatures which the Qur'an calls angels were, by Allah's permission, "those whoregu - late the affair" (79:5) and "thepartitioners " Wilayah -The Station of the Master (51:4), this consideration is in no way contra-dictory with Allah's not taking a partner in His supreme authority and creative power: and, similarly, it does not contradict the fact that no being can ever be deemed awali in the sense of a companion or an assistant to Allah or even a tool or instrument of Allah.

Who has not any associate in the Kingdom, nor any protector to save Him fromdis - grace; and magnify Him with repeatedmagnificats (17 : 111) The relationship of the created to the Creator is not anything other thancreatedness , absolute dependence and nothingness. The Qur'an, in the same way as it makes Allah known to the highest limit of self-sufficiency, and in the same way as it says, for examples; Allah takes the souls at the time of their death (39:42).

The Kinds ofWila in Its Positive Sense also proclaims: Say: `Death's angel, who has been charged with you, shall gather you" ( 32 :11) Those whom the angels take while still they are wronging themselves (16 : 28). The Qur'an, at the same time as it says; My Lord is Guardian over everything (11:57).

He sends recorders over you till, when anyone of you is visited by death, Our messenger takes him (6:61) .

In this ayah, He distinguishes the prophets both as guardians and also as takers of souls. So, from the point of view oftawhid (Divine Unity), there is nothing preventing the existence of means, or the ascribing of the carrying out of commands to other than Allah, but by the permission of Allah and by the will of Allah, in such a way that those who carry out and execute are themselves the very command and will of the Lord.

At the same time, good Islamic thinking first of all requires that we do not associate the creation, and giving and taking of life, and instances of these, to other than Allah; because the Qur'an forces us to pierce through the ways and the means and to gain access to the original source, to turn our attention to Him Who ac-complishes thelabour of the whole world, to see that the means are His creation, theexecu -tion of His command, and the manifestation of His wisdom. Secondly, the order of the universe is, from the point of view of means, a special order which Allah created, and man will never, as the result of his ownevolution, take the place of any of the means of Divine bounty. Rather, he himself will take the bounty through these very means; that is to say, an angel will inspire The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense him, and an angel will become an agent of his preservation, and an agent of the taking away of his soul. And yet at the same time it isposs -ible that the station of nearness and freedom of existence of that man be sometimes higher and greater than that of the angel who is an agent for him.

Another matter is that we cannot exactly determine the limits of thewilayah-tasarruf , or creativewilayah of a perfect or comparatively perfect man. That is to say that all theindica -tions of the Qur'an and the knowledge that we have verified, in short, the arrival of man at a level at which his will has a determining control over the universe; but to what extent? Is there no limit, or is there a restriction to the extent? This is a matter which is outside our present undertaking.

The third matter which it is necessary to mention is thatwilayah-tasarruf is a question of a degree of obedience which has become entirely cleared of material thoughts. This power is not a power which we call a desire of the heart, or a function of the mind, or someone's willful desire. Basically, a man who is still con-demned to the thoughts and desires of his fancy is deprived of such wonders. In a man who is pure to this extent, his will is never excited by the beginning and preliminaries that excite our will; his will is excited by inward stimulation andbeckonings from the unseen. But how and what is the nature of this stimulation and beckoning we do not know, and so such a man "sometimes sits in the highest heaven" and "sometimes does not see as far as his instep. ,21 However, according to what was revealed in the ayah of the Qur'an;

Say: I have no power to profit for myself, or hurt (7: 188).it is clear that this means that the original power for all profit and hurt is Allah, and that my ability to profit and hurt myself is also from Allah, not from myself. Anyway, how could it be possible for other men to be, within limits, the masters of their profit and hurt, and for the Prophet to be even less so than other men. It was necessary to raise these three points in the introduction to the discussion of creativewilayah . Since there has been less discussion on this subject, and, moreover, since there are a The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense number of assertions which stimulate interest and which we shall put forward on this topic, we shall extend the discussion about this matter a little further.

We confess that the acceptance ofwilayah in this meaning is a little difficult; believing in it is not without its problems, especially since, for our level of understanding, so manyexpla - nations for such problems are not satisfying. From time to time people expose thediffi -culties of the problem and the way in which it is rejected in this manner: "At present, with all the urgent and pressing problems that there are for Muslims, what is the necessity of intro-ducing such difficulties as to whether the Prophet and the Imams havewilayah-tasarruf or not?" Some others bring forth theirobjec -tions and difficulty in another manner which has a religiouscolouring , and they say that this is an exaggeration, and it is believed to be a super-human, semi-divine degree for a man to have: it associates the work of Allah with what is other than Allah, so it is shirk (associ -ating with Allah) and is in opposition to the first Islamic fundamental which istawhid .

The fact of the matter is that we cannot either accept or refute a matter just by our- selves; whether a concept entails shirk or con- forms totawhid is not a matter for our desire or free-will, so that anything we want to stick the wordtawhid onto we can. There are many precise criteria in the Qur'an and from the proofs of reason. Islamic teachings on matters concerned with shirk andtawhid emanate from the summit and the highest-degree of self- mastery, beyond the conceptualization of the ordinary individual. The question of whether one matter is more urgent and more pressing than another is also a fundamental matter, but it is not the only criterion of necessity that one matter in one epoch is discussed more, and so more people have the impression of its necessity. It is a mistake if we always imagine that the impressions of necessity are the same as the necessities themselves.

To what extent the Qur'an emphasizes a matter in the presentation of a problem and in its teaching is in itself a criterion which must at all timesbe something to be made use of. The problem of creativewilayah is one of the problems associated with man and human powers. The Qur'an lends great importance to man, human powers and the extraordinary aspects of his nature, and, in discussions which The Kinds ofWila ' in Its Positive Sense we shall,insha ' Allah, set forth in our book Man in the Qur'an22 , we shall deal with this subject.

Here, it is sufficient that we give a sum-mary indication of this problem and make clear the foundations of this idea, with attention to the meaning and understanding of the Qur'an; so that the ordinary person should not imagine that this is, so to speak, an "occult " subject. With this kind of problem, which may sometimes seem irrelevant to our understanding, we get nearer to the truth if we find fault with- in ourselves rather than if we reject the matter.

There is no doubt that the subject ofwila - yah in its fourth meaning belongs to gnosis (`irfan ) , but it has not been proved that since something belongs to gnosis, it must be declared null and void. This matter belongs to gnosis, which, from the point of view ofShi`ism , is also an Islamic matter.Shi'ism is a school of Islam, and `irfan is a way; at this point this school and this way (irresective of the super-stitions with which the latter is cluttered) coin-cide with one another. And if, necessarily, it is agreed that it be said that one of these two was derived from the other, by the verdict of indisputable historical circumstances it isdefi - nicely `irfan which produced an adaptation ofShi`ism and not the other way round. In any case, we shall explain the foundations and bases of this consideration in an abridged form.

The most important problem which must be dealt with in this area is the problem of nearness and approach to Allah. We know that in Islam, perhaps in every revealed religion, the spirit of the precepts which must be carried out is a determination to `approach near', and the extreme result which can be attained through action is proximity to the essence of Oneness. So we shall begin the discussion itself with the meaning and understanding of `nearness'.