Hajj, the Symbol of Walāyah
The Hajj is one of the pillars of Islam whose importance and centrality becomes apparent upon even a little deliberation. For instance, a part of the first verse quoted above read, “And it is the duty of mankind toward God to make pilgrimage to the House”. For no other pillar or commandment of the Law are the words “duty…toward God” used and this manner of speaking is unique to the Hajj.
The remainder of the verse implies that those who do not take up this duty – while having the ability to do so – have disbelieved in some manner!
So among the exoteric pillars of Islam, the Hajj stands out and God has called the people to perform the Hajj in this serious tone. But there is another pillar, more esoteric than the others, which demands even greater attention.
In a tradition from the grandson of the Prophet (S), Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin (‘a) it is said:
بُنِيَّ الاسلام على خَمسْ على الصلاة و الزكاة و الصوم و الحج و الولاية و لم يناد بشيء كما نودي بالولاية
Islam has been founded on five [pillars]: on Salah, zakah, Sawm, Hajj, and walayah; and nothing has been called to like walayah has been called to.[4]
What is this walayah that is so important and how is it related to Hajj?
The word walayah, in its root meaning, means “nearness” and proximity – both in its physical and figurative senses. As such it is a relative concept. When it is said “waliyahu” (i.e. he/it became close to him/it), the meaning is reciprocal in that just as one thing became close to and attained proximity to the second – the other thing, in an equal and similar manner became close to the first.
This is very much like brotherhood and opposed to fatherhood. In this meaning if someone becomes close to Allah, He becomes near to him. But in the Qur’an, the concept of nearness is not usually used in this simple “horizontal” sense – especially when the nearness that is intended is not of a material and physical nature.
This “vertical” nearness in the Qur’an is such that it is obtained on one side and ,not obtained for the other. For example, Allah is equally close to both a believer and a disbeliever:
وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ
We are nearer to him (man) than his jugular vein. (Qur’an 50:16)
But on the other hand, the disbeliever, due to his not performing good actions (acts of qurb), is “far” from the Divine Presence.
أُولَٰئِكَ يُنَادَوْنَ مِنْ مَكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ
Those (kuffar), they are called to from a far-off place.(Qur’an 41:44)
The nearness or farness then is from the human perspective.
So to recap, the walayah that is usually used in the Qur’an is not a relative term that is equal on both sides; rather it is of a type that the Muslim philosophers have termed as ishraqi. In an ishraqi relation the second term is dependent upon the first and can be said to be a manifestation of it.
In the Arabic language, especially as used by the ‘ulama, the first case of the two-sided nearness is termed wilayah and the second case – one-sided or ishraqi is termed walayah.
Now the Qur’an says:
…فَاللَّهُ هُوَ الْوَلِيُّ …
But it is Allah Who is the (real) Wali. (Qur’an 42:9)
So absolute walayah (and implicitly wilayah) belongs only to Allah. He most perfectly and supremely encompasses all creation and is infinitely close to all things and hence has command over them. His servants become close to Him and hence gain walayah only by approaching Him through correct intellection and willpower.
They must know the truth and do good acts to gain this nearness and become one of the awliya. The widening of the circle of walayah for a person and its ability to encompass more and more of reality is a tendency pointing towards the Absolute walayah of Allah and hence is divine in nature and essence. What is God-like is liked by God and is the cause of our becoming near to Him and His friends.
And Allah in turn becomes the Friend of these believers.
اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ….
Allah is the Wali of those who believe. (Qur’an 2:257)
In this sense walayah can be seen to be the great chain of being and becoming – the principle in existence and of existence that ties all existents together and unifies them in their Source and Origin. As such the wali al-mutlaq is the raison d’être of walayah – infinitely close to all things but yet the cause of their gradation and farness from Him and the cause of their becoming towards Him.
To phrase again, the principle of walayah is known by its peak – that is by the Wali – Allah. This very same principle in both its horizontal aspect (implying connectedness and relevance) and its vertical aspect (implying goal and example) requires the existence of a relative peak in all realms and conditioned by the limitations of that realm.
Hence the necessity of a human wali in the human realm – a centre – an insan al-kamil – exemplifying the way of overcoming the particular limitations of that realm for the purpose of salvation and eternal becoming – to be more and more.
Now just as the Ka’bah is the centre and the House of God or the House of al-Wali, it is also the symbol of the human wali.
The human wali in his turn is the living example and standard of this symbol, mediating between it and God. The wali par excellence after the Prophet (S) was Amir al-Mu’minin Imam ‘Ali (‘a). In defending himself against the attacks and accusations of the Khawarij he said:
قد قال الله عزوجل : (ولله على الناس حج البيت من استطاع إليه سبيلا(ولو ترك الناس الحج لم يكن البيت ليكفر بتركهم إياه ولكن كانوا يكفرون بتركهم ايّاه ، لأنّ الله قد نصبه لكم علما، وكذلك نصبني علما حيث قال رسول الله (صلى اله عليه وآله وسلم ) : يا علي ، أنت مني بمنزلة الكعبة تؤتى ولا تأتي.
Surely God has said, “And it is the duty of mankind toward God to make pilgrimage to the House – for those who are able to find a way to go to it”. So if the people do not perform the Hajj, it is not for the Ka’bah to be (accused) of unbelief due to their keeping away from it, rather it is the people who disbelieve (i.e. become kafir) by staying away from the Ka’bah.
This is because it is surely Allah who has set the Ka’bah for you as a standard (or point of reference); and similarly He has appointed me as a standard, as the Prophet (S) said: “O’ ‘Ali, you are like the Ka’bah – you are approached and you don’t approach.”[5]
Hence the man born in the Ka’bah and the first holder of the station of walayah after the Prophet (S) is the inner reality and substance of the Hajj.
Through the mediation of the Imam – the holder of the station of walayah – the Ka’bah plays its fundamental role as the channel of Divine grace and the sustainer of religion and livelihood of the people; for in one of its most significant meanings walayah is nothing other than the Divine channel of grace.
The Wali, the Kabah of Tawhid
Just as the batin and esoteric aspect of prophethood (nubuwah) is the tradition of initiation (imamah), the inner reality of tawhid is walayah. This itself can be seen from two perspectives. Looking inwardly more emphasis is put on the “vertical” walayah in its aspect of truth. As al-Wali, is also al-Haqq, the Truth permeates and hence unites – walayah being the dynamic principle of the Truth. The human Wali symbolizes this and acts as the “Pole” and “Ka’bah” around which and through which humanity can unite, in their journey to the One.
The second perspective is more outward and more importance is paid to the “horizontal” wilayah – the one that human beings have with one another through love, assistance, brotherhood and the other valid and true human relations.
To begin with the second, it can be said that the clearest and most obvious manifestation of this idea in the context of Islam is the Ummah. The political and practical unity of the community of Muslims is of paramount importance.
Was it not for this very reason that Imam ‘Ali (‘a) refused to fight for his right after the death of the Prophet (S). Only the person who truly understands and is the possessor of the station of walayah could forgo his rights – in practice if not in principle – so as to meet the demands of the wilayah and its logic of unity.
For the Qur’an says:
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ….
The believers are surely brothers. (Qur’an 49:10)
It also says:
وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ
And the believing men and the believing women are the friends of one another. (Qur’an 9:71)
The meaning of both these verses is imperative – a command from Allah. As such it is the duty of Allah’s trustee and guardian to enforce this law. Hence the great and overwhelming task that is at hand for the Imam (‘a) and his representatives and followers to try to unite the Muslim Ummah, with all its many divisions and differences.
The outward symbol of this coming together of all Muslims, with their various schools of thought, races, tongues and cultures, is the Hajj. It is the focal point of the unity of the Ummah.
Now to return to the fist perspective – the one in which the vertical walayah in its aspect of truth and connection to the Truth predominates – it can be said that this is the essence of the other perspective.
The truth, by its very nature unites, and unites in a real and true sense. But the quintessential point here is to know and realize that the truth qua truth – in its totality – is unfathomable by any and all human minds. One can never claim to know all of the truth; hence one cannot absolve oneself totally from its many possible manifestations, in all their variegated degrees and archetypes.
In fact the closer a person is to the Truth, the more he can see these various manifestations and help to perfect their “light”, as it were. This is precisely what the Imams (‘a) would do and in particular the foremost of them. Hence it is no accident that all Sufi orders, without exception, trace their chain of authority and grace back to Imam ‘Ali (‘a).[6]
And it is also not coincidental that it was these very orders that played such an important part in the spread and subsistence of Islam in the world. The logic of the above can be found in the saying of the Prophet (S), in which he said that:
علي مع الحق و الحق مع علي يدور حيث ما دار
‘Ali is with the truth and the truth is with ‘Ali – he goes wheresoever it goes.[7]
The truth and right was with the Imam (‘a) as is so clearly and graphically portrayed in Ghadir at the time of the last Hajj of the Prophet (S). The consequence of this is that the truth proceeded through his progeny and we now have access to it through mainly their sayings – to whatever extent that they were recorded and correctly transmitted to us.[8]
But ‘Ali is with the truth. This is a much greater claim. So, where ever the truth is to be found, irrespective of whether there is documented proof of it or not, know that the reality of the Imam (‘a) – in his role as the initiator of the station of walayah and partaker of the Muhammadan Light – is also there.
It is precisely because of this that such great figures of Islamic history as Mawlana Rumi and Ibn ‘Arabi, inspite of the differences in their exoteric perspectives and madhabi affiliations, were great. They partook of the Muhammadan spirituality through the grace and connection that they had with Mawla ‘Ali (‘a) – the Ka’bah of faith.
To deny this would be to limit and belittle the greatness of the Imam (‘a). It is through this – through reference to the esoteric reality of Islam (which principally unites and gives grace to exoteric partialities) and its initial channel that the first Imam (‘a) represents – that we can conceive of a unity that is truly becoming of him and his Beloved, the One.
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References
[4] al-Kafi, vol. 2, p. 19
[5] Wasa’il, vol. 11, p. 33
[6] It is also important to note that the ultimate teacher of the founders of the four schools of jurisprudence in the Sunni world was his grandson, Imam al-Sadiq (‘a). In fact, many of the Imam’s thousands of students were from different schools of thought in the Islamic world.
[7] Ibn Qutaybah, al-Imamah wa al-Siyasah, Vol. I, p. 68; al-Hamawini, Fara’id al-simtayn, Chapter 37. al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, Vol. IV, p. 21; Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Fusul al-Muhimmah
[8] This line of the truth is represented by the ‘ulama and the muhaddithūn.
