The Heart of Wilaya

Rebecca Masterton

21-11-09

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim

All Praise is due to the pure existence which brought us into existence, and salutations
and blessings to the manifestations of His Sublime Attributes, our noble Prophet and
His Purified Progeny. May their light shatter the darkness of ignorance prevailing on
the earth.

As-salaamu alaykum ya Amir al-Mu’mineen. We have come together to remember

you. After all these centuries you are still remembered. Ibn Muljam could not put out
your light. The massacre of your family could not put out your light. The
imprisonment of your descendents could not put out your light. Your followers have
been bricked up alive inside the walls of their oppressors, but still the oppressors
could not put out your light. Now people from faraway countries have invaded the
land where you are buried, trampling on the ground that still trembles with the blood
of your sons. Others have tried to destroy their shrines. Your followers have been
scattered across the world, but none of that has diminished your light. Indeed, it is
your light that has been scattered across the world.

The terms wilaya and walaya come from the same root, but have different
meanings. Wilaya refers more to authority, while walaya means friendship and
assistance. It could be said that wilaya contains walaya. It is through wilaya that
walaya is attained. Imam Muhammad al-Bāqir (as) said: ‘You can benefit from our
friendship only if you obey God’ (Tabarsī, 1422: 174). It could be said, then, that we
can only benefit from the walaya of the Imam, if we also accept his wilaya, for
accepting his wilaya is one of Allah’s commandments. Submission to the Imam is
submission to the Prophet which is submission to Allah (swt). Why? Imam Ja’far
(as) narrates that Jibril (as) brought down to Muhammad (saas) two pomegranates
from Paradise. ‘Ali met him and said ‘What are those two pomegranates in your
hand?’ The Messenger said ‘This one is prophethood, and there is no part in it for
you, but this one is Knowledge.’ Then the Messenger split the second pomegranate in
two and gave Ali one half, saying ‘You are my partner in this, I am your partner in it.’
(Al-Kafi, Vol 1, Part Two, p, 275) The Prophet and the Imam are not just brothers
symbolically, but brothers in knowledge.

The first thing that Allah (swt) created was the Intellect, which is otherwise
called the Pen (Qalam), and which is otherwise known as al-nur al-muhammadi, the
muhammadan light. It is from this light that the universe was created, and it is this
light which the Holy Prophet manifests and embodies, and it is this light from which
Imam Ali (as) also came into being. This is confirmed by the words of the Prophet
(s), in which he said, ‘I and Ali are of one light.’ (Ibn Babuye, Amali, majlis 41, in
Moezzi: 160) Imam Musa al-Kazim (as): ‘Imama is the light, and that is the meaning
of His saying ‘So have faith in Allah and his apostle and the light which we have sent
down.’ (Ref) (‘The light is the Imam’, p. 46).
The muhammadan light was transmitted through all of the Imams. They all
carry it. It is carried by Imam al-Zaman (afs) and by means of that, it continues to
pervade the universe. The muhammadan light, al-nur al-muhammadi, is also called
al-haqiqa al-muhammadiyya, the muhammadan truth. Imam Ali (as) embodied the
muhammadan truth and he transmitted it.
Those who submitted to Imam Ali’s wilaya were his Shi‘as, and among them
were, as we know, Salman, Miqdad, ‘Ammar ibn Yasir and Abu Dhar Ghifari. They
were known as the sabiqun, and as Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (as) said ‘the sabiq is the one
who annihilates his will in Allah’s will’ (Schimmel, 1975: 191). The Shi‘a, then, is
the one who annihilates his own desire, and that means that he annihilates his own
self. In annihilating his self, he assimilates to the Imam, and in assimilating to the
Imam, he assimilates to the Prophet, and in assimilating to the Prophet he assimilates
to the Attributes of Allah, and in assimilating to the attributes of Allah (swt) he
assimilates to the muhammadan truth and the muhammadan light. The Shi‘a attains
walaya without wilaya. The Shi‘a becomes a friend of Allah, a wali. This is a Shi‘a.
Of the awliyā, or awliyā’allah, as they were called in the early days of Islam,
Imām ‘Alī (as) says, in Nahj al-Balāgha: ‘The awliyā’allah are those who look at the
inward side of the world while others look at its outward side.’ (Ref). The Shi‘a of the
Imam, the one who is annihilated, sees beyond the exoteric dimensions of existence.
The exoteric, outward manifestation of existence is only a sign of its inner dimensions
and its inner meaning. The exoteric is finite; the esoteric is the door to the infinite. It
is in journeying beyond the exoteric that one may witness the esoteric; in journeying
beyond the finite, one may begin to witness the infinite. In witnessing the infinite one
realizes tawhid. Realising tawhid, which entails seeing beyond the outward side of the
world, is not something to be taken lightly, as Imam Ali himself said: ‘It would be
better for you to be blind than to lose your insight.’ (Scale of Wisdom,). The Shi‘a is
one who has insight.
It has been said by one of the scholars that the Imam is ‘the witness for the
people, the gate to God (bab Allah), and the road (sabil) and the proof (dalil) that
leads to Him.’ (Sayed Husain Jafri, 166). We can remember the famous event when
Imam Ali (as) was in the Battle of the Camel, and one of the mujahidin came to him
and asked him to explain for what it was they were fighting. Imam Ali (as) stopped in
the middle of battle to explain tawhid to the mujahid. It can be seen from this, then,
that one can only truly obey the Imam and accept his wilaya if one knows tawhid, but
at the same time one can only know tawhid if one accepts the wilaya of the Imam.
This is confirmed by the famous hadith narrated by Imam al-Ridha (as) through Imam
Ali (as), in which the Messenger of Allah conveyed from Jibril that Allah (swt) said
‘La ilaha illallah is My Fortress, and whoever utters it enters my Fortess, and
whoever enters my Fortress becomes safe from my chastisement.’ It is known that
Imam al-Ridha (as) told the people ‘It depends upon its conditions, and I am one of its
conditions.’ Thus, one of the conditions upon which our profession of unity is
accepted is our acceptance of the Imam’s wilaya; but accepting the Imam’s wilaya
requires understanding, and may Allah (swt) increase us in that.
What does the acceptance of the Imam’s wilaya entail? The exoteric aspect of
wilaya is the universal authority of the Imam; the esoteric aspect of wilaya is tawhid,
and the path to that tawhid is love − mahabba − for the Imam. Just as the masters
teach that you cannot attain haqiqa without passing through Shari‘a and tariqa, so
you cannot attain it without passing through wilaya and mahabba. The love for the
Imam is the tariqa, but what does that love mean? Many Muslims around the world
claim that they love the Imam, but what do they mean by ‘love’? Love for the Imam
is not merely a sentiment, or a feeling. Anyone can claim to have some kind of
sentiment or feeling for the Imam, especially if they have been told that loving him is
one of the obligatory aspects of Islam. Love for the Imam entails perceiving the
reality of the Imam with the eye of the heart. Love for the Imam entails cleansing
away the darkness of egoism and lower desires so that his light shines within the soul.
The Imam is light, and that light is knowledge, and this knowledge is what has been
transmitted to the Imam from the Divine source of all knowledge, and is what the
Imam embodies. Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (as) said ‘The light of the Imam in the
hearts of the faithful is more brilliant than that of the luminous sun.’ (al-Kulayni,
Usul, Vol. 1, kitab al-hujja). Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (as) said ‘the position of the heart
within the body is the same as the position of the imam among those who owe their
obedience to him.’ (Ibn Babuye, ‘Ilal, Vol. 1). When asked one day by a companion
called Dhi‘lib if he saw Allah (swt), Imam Ali (as) replied ‘in the Ascending
Stairways the wave of His power casts a wave which blinds the eye of the spirit’ and
he advised Dhi‘lib to ‘become the companion of that reliable one who is the beloved
of his Master and surrounded by the favours of his Protector/ Smiling, he became in
the earth the proof of guidance (dalil al-huda) and in Heaven the adorned and
acknowledged.’ (Tabataba‘i, A Shiite Anthology, 40). Other Imams have said ‘Our
teaching is difficult, very difficult; the only ones who can take it are a prophet sent
from God, an angel of Proximity, or a faithful believer whose heart has been tested by
God for faith.’ (al-Saffar, Basa’ir, section 1, chapter, 11, in Moezzi, 55).
Love for the Imam is not a sentiment, but it is a state attained through the
pursuit of self-perfection, and through trial. Accepting the wilaya of the Imam means
being prepared for these trials, and being prepared for a knowledge that can obliterate
the soul. Imam Ali’s knowledge is a light and that light is mahabba for the Divine.
As Imam Ali (as) says ‘Love of Allah (swt) is a fire which does not pass by anything
without burning it up; the light of Allah (swt) does not come over something without
illuminating it.’ Assimilation to the Imam means assimilation to his state, and his state
is one of burning up with love for the Divine. In loving the Imam, the Shi‘a cannot
but burn up with this love, but it is not a love of passion; as can be seen from Imam
Ali’s (as) words, it is a love that is illumination and it is a love that follows from
knowing the reality of the One Absolute Reality.
Imam Ali (as) said ‘The faith of a man accepted knowingly remains steadfast
and is of profit for him. Whoever enters the house of faith without knowledge makes
his exit from that house in the same way in which he entered it.’ (Al-Kafi, Vol. 1, Part
1, p. 15). True iman is based upon knowledge and knowledge is received through the
‘aql. Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq said ‘The ‘aql is that by which God is worshipped and a
place in Paradise earned.’ (Al-Kafi, Vol. 1, Part 1, p. 15). It could be said that in
Islamic though the aql is the eye of the heart. It is the ‘aql that perceives the reality of
what is apparent. It is not merely the intellect; rather, it is intelligence, apprehension,
the faculty of perception and discernment. Thus it is through the light of the
intelligence that the reality of the Reality is known. This is why it is said that the first
thing that Allah (swt) created was the ‘aql, and this is why it could be said that the
Imam is the embodiment the ‘aql. The authority of wilaya is the authority of the
intelligence. This means that the umma is enlightened by the lamp of intelligence that
is the Imam, and also that the Shi‘a perceives the reality of the Imam through his own
intelligence. In perceiving the reality of the Imam, the Shi‘a perceives the reality of
the Imam’s light, which is the knowledge of Allah (swt). Could we have ever known
the real meaning of tawhid, if it has not been for Imam Ali’s teaching, in which he
says ‘Eyes do not see Him through the sight’s observation, but hearts see Him through
the verities of faith (haqa’iq al-iman)’. And Imam Ali (as) said ‘if you speak truly, O
you who tries to describe your Lord, then describe Jibril, Mikail and the hosts of the
angels brought near, bowing in the sacred chambers (hujarat al-quds), their intellects
in adoring perplexity to delimit the Fairest of Creators. Surely only those are
perceived through attributes who possess form and who end in annihilation when they
reach the limit of their term’ (Tabataba’i, 37). In other words, if we cannot even
describe the angels that worship the One Absolute Reality, then how can we begin to
describe the One Absolute Reality itself? To which Imam Ali (as) says ‘There is no
god but He. He illumines with His Light every darkness and He darkens with His
Darkness every light.’ And here we see that even the intellects of the angels, through
which they worship Allah (swt), are taken in a state of adoration and of perplexity.
Imam Ali (as) has taught that it is through the ‘aql that we attain freedom, but
what kind of freedom? It is freedom from everything other than Allah (swt). We
attain freedom from the limitations and constrictions of finite reality; freedom from
desires of the self; freedom from attachment to all that is base and corrupt. It has been
said that the Imam is bab Allah, the door to Allah. The Imam is the door to the realm
of a Reality that has no limitation or constriction; in fact the realm where we
witnessed that Reality before we came here. Wilaya is the door to an ocean that has no
shore.

It is not possible to begin to convey the magnitude of the esoteric dimensions of

wilaya. This article highlights only a few points, in attempting to show that wilaya is
more than mere political authority. Wilaya is the sacred vessel by which the
knowledge of tawhid is protected and transmitted. Accepting the wilaya of the Imam
is more than assenting to his right to rule as a political leader; it is the beginning of a
journey towards the inward reality of the Imam, by means of which we are conveyed
to One, in all His Glory and Majesty