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Verses 55–56
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ ٥٥ وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَإِنَّ حِزْبَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْغَالِبُونَ ٥٦
(5:55-56) Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the zakāt while they bow. And whoever takes Allah and His Messenger and those who believe for a Guardian, then surely the party of Allah are they that shall be triumphant.
Key Debate: The Verse of Guardianship →
The two verses, as you see, are placed between the verses that prohibit taking the People of the Book and the unbelievers for a helper or guardian. That is why a group of Sunnī exegetes has tried to join these two with the preceding and following verses in a single context; they have taken the whole group in one connotation, aiming to describe the believers’ responsibility regarding people’s wilāyah (in the meaning of helping), and prohibition of taking the Jews, the Christians and the unbelievers as a helper. It confines the wilāyah to God, His Messenger, and those believers who establish prayers and pay the zakāt while they are bowing—they indeed are true believers. Thus it excludes the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease; leaving the true believers whose wilāyah is incumbent. The verse gives the same import that is shown by a collection of such verses as: … and Allah is the Guardian of the believers (); The Prophet has a greater claim on the believers than they have on themselves, … (); (and about the believers that) … these are guardians of each other … (); And (as for) the believing men and the believing women, they are guardians of each other … ().
(According to these exegetes) the verse under discussion makes God, His Messenger and the believers awliyā’ (here meaning ‘helpers’) of the believers.
However, there remains the difficulty of the circumstantial clause, while they bow, which is attached to the clause, and pay zakāt. They have tried to remove this difficulty by taking the bowing in a metaphorical sense, that is, they submit themselves to God; or they are financially in a low position, etc. The verse then would mean: The Jews, the Christians and the hypocrites are not your guardian; rather your Guardians are God, His Messenger and those believers who keep up prayers and pay zakāt, and they in all this surrender themselves to God with total obedience—or, they pay zakāt while they themselves are poor and in straitened condition.
This was the explanation given by them. But if you ponder on, and look minutely at the two verses and the ones surrounding them, and then at the general position of this chapter, you will reach at a conclusion different from what they have said.
The first thing which goes out of the window is their claim that all these verses were in a single context, and that their aim was to describe the wilāyah of helping and to differentiate between genuine and false help.
Yet, although it is accepted that the chapter was revealed during the last days of the Messenger of God in the Last Pilgrimage; but it is also accepted that all its verses were not revealed together in one go; the chapter contains verses which were doubtlessly revealed before that time, and their meanings clearly show it; also their narrated reasons of revelation support their earlier revelation. If a verse is placed before or after a verse it does not give an indication that their context is one; nor does some affinity between one verse and another show that they were revealed together or in one context.
Moreover, the preceding verses (O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends …) forbid the believers to befriend the Jews and the Christians, and put to shame the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease for hastening to them and looking after their interests, without addressing the Jews and the Christians or talking to them. And the following ones (O you who believe! Do not take for guardians those who take your religion for a mockery and a joke, from among those who were given the Book before you and the unbelievers … Say: “O People of the Book! Do you find fault with us (for aught) except that we believe in Allah , and that most of you are transgressors?”), prohibit taking them for guardians and expose their condition by ordering to talk to them and put them to shame for hypocrisy and transgression. Thus the aims in the two sets of verses are quite different from each other. So, how the context can be the same?
Apart from that you have seen in the commentary of preceding verses (O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends) that the wilāyah in the meaning of help is not suitable in that context, and the particularities of those verses and especially the words, they are friends of each other, and the words, and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them, are not appropriate for such interpretation. Establishing the wilāyah of help and its undertaking between two nations does not make the two into one nation nor does it attach one to the other. Also such prohibition cannot be justified by saying that, they are friends of each other. Such expressions can only be used when the aim is to prohibit wilāyah of love, because love creates psychological and spiritual blending of both parties, and permits each to affect psychological and spiritual management in the other’s life affairs; it brings two groups near each other in character and activities in a way that obliterates national characteristics.
Not only that. It is not correct to count the Prophet as a waliyy (in the meaning of helper) of the believers, while its opposite is correct. This help which is given by God, and the Qur’an mentions it in many of its verses, is the help in religion. Accordingly, it is proper to say that the religion belongs to God—in the meaning that He has established it and laid down its sharīʾah. Thus the Prophet or the believers or both together are exhorted to help it, or some helpers are invited to help God regarding the laid down religion, as He says: The disciples said: “We are helpers of Allah” … (); if you help Allah, He will help you … ().
And when God made a covenant with the prophets: “… you must believe in him, and you must aid him.” (); apart from other many such verses.
Also, it is proper to say that the religion belongs to the Prophet—in the meaning that it is he who has called to it and conveyed it to us, for example. Or that the religion belongs to God and His Messenger—in the meaning of legislation and guidance, and so they call people to help it or praise the believers for helping it; as God says: … so those who believe in him and honor him and help him, … (); … seeking grace of Allah and (His) pleasure, and assisting Allah and His Messenger … (); … and those who gave shelter and helped … (); and other such verses.
Likewise, it is proper to say that the religion belongs to the Prophet and the believers—in the meaning that they are obligated to follow its laws and act on it, so it is said that God is their Guardian and Helper; as He says: … and surely Allah will help him who helps Him … (); Most surely We help Our messengers, and those who believe in this world’s life and on the day when the witnesses shall stand up (); … and helping the believers is ever incumbent on Us (), apart from other such verses.
However, it is not correct to ascribe the religion to the believers alone, thus making them as principal and putting the Prophet aside, and then to count the Prophet as their helper in their affairs; because whatever religious dignity there is, the Prophet has the lion’s share in it. That is why we do not find a single example in the Qur’an where the Prophet has been mentioned as the believer’s helper. Far be it from the divine speech to neglect the noble divine decorum in any instance.
This is one of the strongest proofs that wherever the Qur’an ascribes wilāyah to the Prophet, it means the wilāyah of Guardianship and authority or that of love and affection, as God says: The Prophet has a greater claim on the believers than they have on themselves, … (); Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, … (); note that the verse is addressed to the believers, and as you have been told earlier, there is no meaning in counting the Prophet their waliyy in the meaning of helper.
It is now clear that these two verses are different in the context from the preceding ones, even if we take the wilāyah in the meaning of helping; do not be confused by the clause: the party of Allah are they that shall be triumphant, because triumph and prevailing points to the connotation of helping as much as it does to that of management and authority, and to that of love and affinity. Triumph of religion—the topmost desire of the people of religion—takes place when the believers attach themselves to God and His Messenger with any possible means. God has clearly announced it to them in His words: Allah has written down: “I will most certainly prevail, I and My Messengers” (); And certainly Our word has already gone forth in respect of Our servants, the messengers: most surely they shall be the assisted ones, and most surely Our host alone shall be the victorious ones (37:171–3).
On top of all, there are a lot of traditions declaring that these two verses were revealed about ʿAlī when he gave his ring in charity while he was praying. Thus these verses are reserved for him and are not general. God willing, many of those traditions will be quoted under “Traditions.”
If such numerous and so many accumulated traditions pointing to the reason of revelation can be ignored while explaining a verse, then obviously not a single verse could be explained with the help of the narrated reasons of revelation in the whole Qur’an. Therefore, there is no justification for generalizing the two verses and claiming that they point to the believers’ friendship with one another.
However, the exegetes have objected to these traditions—although they should not have done so in view of their overwhelming numbers—as follows:
First: These traditions are against the context of the verses that apparently point to the wilāyah of help, as mentioned above.
Second: They want us to use plural and mean singular; because according to them, the clauses: those who believe and those, refer to ʿAlī, but language does not support it.
Third: According to these traditions, zakāt would mean giving the ring in charity, and it is not called zakāt.
Based on these objections, they say that the verses are general, and restrict the wilāyah to the group mentioned therein. The hypocrites were hastening to the help of the People of the Book and emphasizing its importance; so God forbade it and said that their only helpers are God, His Messenger and the true believers, rather than the People of the Book and the hypocrites. There would remain only one difficulty: that this explanation did not agree with the apparent meaning of the conditional clause: while they bow. But, it could easily be removed if we took it in its metaphorical meaning, that is while they are humble before God; or even when they are themselves in need, in wretched condition.
This was the gist of their objections. But if you meditate on this and other similar verses, you will see that none of these stands on its legs. As for the verse’s position in the context of the ones denoting wilāyah of help: You have seen that those verses do not give the meaning of help; and even if we suppose that the previous verses denote that meaning, this verse is not compatible with it.
As for the problem of using plural and meaning singular: You have seen the detailed reply to it under the verse of Mubāhalah () in volume three of this book. Also, it was explained there that there were two ways of speaking:
(1) To use a plural word and mean a singular, a single entity.
(2) To describe a general proposition, using a plural word, in order that it may be applied to all suitable candidates, even if at present there be only one person or thing to which it could be applied.
The language rejects the first style; but the second one is very common in use.
Would that I knew what they would say about the verse: O you who believe! Do not take My enemy and your enemy for friends: would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth, … would you manifest love to them? … (). It is undoubtedly known that the verse refers to one man, Ḥāṭib b. Abī Baltaʾah, when he corresponded with the Quraysh.
Or about the verse: They say: “If we return to Medina, the mighty will surely drive out the meaner therefrom …” (). It is well known that the speaker one man, was ʿAbdullāh b. Ubayy b. Salūl.
Or about the verse: They ask you as to what they should spend … (), and the questioner was one man.
Or about the verse: (As for) those who spend their wealth by night and by day, secretly and openly, they shall have their reward … (). It is narrated that the spender was ʿAlī or Abū Bakr.
There are a lot of such verses in the Qur’an.
A very strange phenomenon appears before our eyes when we look at the clause: (they say), “We fear lest a calamity should befall us;” … (). The speaker was ʿAbdullāh b. Ubayy, according to the narrated reason of revelation, which the objectors themselves do accept; and it is in between the verses under discussion. (They find no difficulty in applying the plurals to one man in this clause!)
It could be said that in the above mentioned verses there were many people who agreed with that one person’s views, or were pleased with their action; therefore God has used plurals in order that it may cover the doer together with those who agreed with him. However, it would show that using a plural for a single person was justified if there was a good reason for it. The verse under discussion too would come into this category; as it would prove that the religious nobilities—including the said wilāyah—is not confined to one person to the exclusion of the others; rather it only depends on priority in sincerity and deeds.
Moreover, all the narrators of these traditions were the companions of the Prophet and their disciples who were with them in that very era. All of them were pure Arabs whose language was not perverted and whose tongues were not mixed up. If such usage was not allowed in the speech and people were not familiar with such expressions, they would not have accepted these narrations, rather they would have been the first to put forward this objection; but none of them is on record to speak against it on this ground.
As for the saying that charity of a ring is not called zakāt: It should be kept in mind that the use of the word, zakāt, specifically in its terminological meaning took place in the Muslim’s expressions after the Qur’an laid it down as an obligatory act of religion; but in its literal sense it covers that terminological meaning and other spending altogether. When it is used without any restriction or joined with keeping up prayer, it indicates spending the property for the sake of God. See, for example, what God has mentioned regarding the previous prophets: He says about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: … and We revealed to them the doing of good and the keeping up of prayer and the giving of zakāt, (); and He says about Ishmael: And he enjoined on his family prayer and zakāt, and was one in whom his Lord was well pleased. (); and He quotes Jesus saying in the cradle: … and He has enjoined on me prayer and zakāt so long as I live (). And it is known that their sharīʾah did not have the zakāt of wealth as we understand it in Islam.
Likewise, look at the following verses, which were revealed in Mecca in the early days of prophethood when the zakāt (as we know it) was not legislated yet: He indeed shall be successful who pays zakāt, and remembers the name of his Lord and prays (); (He) who gives away his wealth for zakāt (); Those who do not give zakāt and they are unbelievers in the hereafter. (); And who are givers of zakāt (). Would that I knew what the Muslims understood from the word, zakāt, in these verses!
Even the verse of zakāt itself: Take alms out of their wealth, you would cleanse them and purify them thereby, and pray for them; surely your prayer is a relief to them … (), shows that zakāt is a sort of alms and charity, and it has been named zakāt (lit: purification) only because charity cleanses and purifies in general; and then its was predominantly used for that particular alms.
All of it clearly shows that there is no hindrance in calling general alms and spending in the way of God as zakāt. Also it is evident that there is no reason for interpreting the word, bowing, in metaphorical sense. Similarly, there is no reason to look for far-fetched justifications as to why God used in the beginning of the verse the word: your Guardian, in singular and brought in its predicate: those who believe, in plural. Think over it.
Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe: al-Rāghib has said: “al-Walāʾ and al-Tawālī denote that two or more things are so positioned as nothing extraneous comes between them. Metaphorically it is used to indicate proximity in place, or affinity, or friendship, and in help, or in belief. al-Wilāyah is help, and/or management of affairs. It has been said that al-walāyah and al-wilāyah both are one like al-dalālah and al-dilālah denote this meaning, and both are used as nomen agentis, that is guardian /manager; and as nomen patientis, that is, one whose affairs are managed. A believer is called waliyy of God, but nowhere is he referred to as mawlā of God; while God is called waliyy of the believers, as well as their mawlā.”
Further he says: “They say, tawallī when used without any preposition, gives the meaning of wilāyah, indicating that it is related to the nearest objective; they say, ‘I turned my ears/eyes/face to so-and-so’. God says: … so We shall surely turn thee to a qiblah which thou shalt be pleased with; turn then thy face towards the Sacred Mosque; and wherever you are, turn your faces towards it … (); but when it is followed by preposition min (from) clearly or implied, it means turning away and leaving the proximity.”
Apparently, man perceived the proximity (pointed to by wilāyah) first of all physically in bodies and their places and times; then it was borrowed for immaterial nearness, opposite to the above mentioned idea. We know that primitive man began his perceptive journey with the material things perceived through the five senses and was involved with them long before thinking about rational propositions and immaterial ideas and their related things.
When wilāyah—a special proximity—is affected in spiritual/immaterial affairs, it follows that waliyy has a right and an authority over the mawlā which others do not have (except through him). All such managemental aspects that may be delegated to another will automatically be taken over by the waliyy, e.g. the waliyy of a deceased person. The estate, which the deceased used to manage by right of ownership, his heir, has the right to manage it by wilāyah of inheritance. Likewise, the guardian of a minor manages that minor’s financial affairs by wilāyah of guardianship; and the helper manages the affairs of the helped one strengthening him in his defence; and God is the Guardian (Waliyy) of His servants and manages their affairs in this world and the hereafter—there is no guardian except Him. So God is the Guardian of the believers, inasmuch as He manages the affairs of their religion through guiding, calling, and helping them and so on. And the Prophet is the Guardian of the believers inasmuch as he has the authority to decide between them, for them and against them through legislation and judgement. Likewise, the ḥākim (ruler, judge) is the guardian of the people over whom he rules within his jurisdiction. The same is the case with other examples of wilāyah, like that of emancipation, covenant, protection, neighborhood and divorce; similarly, the wilāyah of a cousin, of love and of a designated successor, and so on.
Also, His word: they shall turn (their) backs to you (), that is, they shall turn their backs towards the war and ignore its demands.
And His word: you turned back (), that is, you turned away from accepting it; you faced its opposite direction by turning away from it.
In short, looking at wilāyah in its different usages, we get the meaning of a sort of proximity that gives its subject some authority of management and possession of planning.
Looking at the context of the verse under discussion: “Only God is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe,” we find that the meaning of wilāyah (guardianship) for all the guardians is the same, because “God, His Messenger and the believers,” have all been ascribed to one word: “your Guardian,” and clearly guardianship of each has the same meaning. This is also supported by the clause at the end of the second verse: then surely the party of Allah are they that shall be triumphant, as it indicates or clearly shows that all the guardians are the party of God, because they are under His Guardianship; thus the guardianship of the Messenger and of those who believe sprout from the root of God’s Guardianship.
God has ascribed to Himself the following aspects of wilāyah:
The Authority Over Creation: (al-Wilāyah al-Takwīniyyah) Through this authority, He manages everything and disposes the creatures’ affairs as He pleases and in whatever way He pleases. He says: Or have they taken guardians besides Him? But Allah is the Guardian, … (); … you have not besides Him any guardian or any intercessor; will you not then mind? (); … Thou art my guardian in this world and the hereafter … (); … he has no guardian after Him … (). The same is the implication of the verses: … and We are nearer to Him than his life-vein. (); … and know that Allah intervenes between man and his heart, … ().
Possibly related to it is the wilāyah of help which God ascribes to Himself: That is because Allah is the Protector of those who believe, and because the unbelievers shall have no protector for them (); … then surely Allah it is Who is his Guardian, … (); and the same connotation is seen in the verse: … and helping the believers is ever incumbent on Us ().
The Authority Over Legislation: (al-Wilāyah al-Tashrīʾiyyah) God has ascribed to Himself this wilāyah, which concerns the believers’ religious affairs: Legislation of the laws, guidance, advice, help and so on. He says: Allah is the Guardian of those who believe; He brings them out of the darkness into light … (); … and Allah is the Guardian of the believers (); and Allah is the Guardian of the pious … () The same is the theme of the verse: And it is not for a believing man nor for a believing woman to have any choice in their affairs when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he surely strays off a manifest straying ().
This is what God has described related to His wilāyah, and it concerns the authority over creation and authority over legislation. You may also call them the real wilāyah and the wilāyah from a subjective point of view.
Then God has mentioned for His Prophet the wilāyah which is reserved for him, and it is al-Wilāyah al-Tashrīʾiyyah: The Prophet has the right and authority to legislate the laws, call people to it, train the ummah accordingly, rule over them and decide in their affairs. God says: The Prophet has a greater claim on the believers than they have on themselves, (). The same is the connotation of the verses: Surely We have revealed the Book to you with the truth that you may judge between people by means of that which Allah has taught you … (); and most surely you guide to the right path (); … a Messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His communications and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom, … (); that you may make clear to men what has been revealed to them, … (); … obey Allah and obey the Messenger … (); And it is not for a believing man nor for a believing woman to have any choice in their affairs when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter; (); And that you should judge between them by what Allah has revealed, and do not follow their low desires, and be cautious of them, lest they seduce you from part of what Allah has revealed to you … (). It has been mentioned that God has not ascribed to the Prophet the wilāyah of help for the ummah.
In short, the Prophet has the wilāyah over the ummah, inasmuch as he leads them to God, rules over them, judges and decides in all their affairs. It is incumbent on them to obey him unconditionally. In this way, his wilāyah springs from God’s wilāyah, in the meaning of the authority of legislation. In other words, the Prophet has precedence over them as they are bound to obey him, because his obedience is God’s obedience. Thus, his wilāyah is the wilāyah of God, as some previously quoted verses prove, for example: obey Allah and obey the Messenger (); And it is not for a believing man, nor for a believing woman to have any choice in their affairs when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter … (), apart from other such verses.
It is this meaning of wilāyah as ascribed to God and His Messenger, which is bestowed on the believers in the verse under discussion, when it says: “Only God is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe.” You have seen that the context proves that it is only one wilāyah, and it belongs to God directly and to the Messenger and to those who believe indirectly by permission of God.
Had the wilāyah ascribed to God in this verse, been different from that ascribed to those who believe, it was more appropriate, in order to avoid any confusion, to bring another word of wilāyah before mentioning “those who believe,” as God has done in similar situations. For example, He says: Say: “A hearer of good for you (who) believes in Allah and believes the faithful …” (). The word: “believes”, has been repeated because its connotations in the two clauses are different. A similar style was used in the verse: … obey Allah and obey the Messenger … (), as was explained in volume five of this book.
Moreover, the word: “Your Guardian”, is singular and is ascribed to, “those who believe”, that is plural. According to the exegetes, it is because wilāyah here has a single meaning, and it directly belongs to God and as for the Messenger and the believers, it is indirectly, through God.
It is clear from above that the restriction in “Only” aims at confining the wilāyah to those mentioned in the verse. It removes the possible misunderstanding that it might cover those who are mentioned and also the others. There is another possibility that this restriction negates the wilāyah of all persons other than those mentioned therein.
Qur’an: those who keep up prayers and pay the zakāt while they bow: It gives further particulars of “those who believe”; “while they bow“ is the conditional clause attached to the subject hidden in the verb “pay.” al-Rukūʾ is a particular position of body which is found in human beings only. An old man with bent back is called al-Rākiʾ (one who bows down). In the language of sharīʾah it is the name of a special position in worship. God says: … (those) who bow down, who prostrate … (). Symbolically it represents humility and submission (to God); but in Islam it is not allowed except in prayer, contrary to prostration.
And because it shows humility and submission, the word is sometimes used to allude to general humbleness, or to poverty and need, because a man in straitened circumstances usually shows humility before others.
And whoever takes God and His Messenger and those who believe for guardian, then surely the party of God are they that shall be triumphant: al-Tawallī (to take as a friend); “those who believe” points to the preceding: those who believe, together with their attributes: those who keep up prayers and pay the zakāt while they bow; the clause: “then surely the party of God are they that shall be triumphant,” is put in the place of the complement for the preceding conditional clause, although it is not the complement. Rather, the speech has put the major premise in place of the conclusion, in order to show the reason of the proposition. In effect it says: Whoever takes God and His Messenger and those who believe for guardian, shall be triumphant, because he belongs to the party of God and the party of God are they that are triumphant. It is an allusion that they are the party of God.
al-ḥizb, according to al-Rāghib, is a group having coarseness, ruthlessness, and harshness. God has described His party in another place in the Qur’an, with a nearly similar theme and has ascribed success to them. He says: You shall not find a people who believe in Allah and the latter day befriending those who act in opposition to Allah and His Messenger, even though they were their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers or their kinsfolk; these are they into whose hearts He has impressed faith, and whom He has strengthened with a spirit from Him: and He will cause them to enter gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein; Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him; they are Allah’s party: now surely the party of Allah are the successful ones ().
al-Falāḥ means victory and acquisition of the object of desire, that is, triumph. It is this triumph and success, which God has promised to bestow on the believers—this being His best promise to them. He says: successful indeed are the believers (). Many verses have this theme; and in all of them the promise is without any condition; obviously it denotes unrestricted victory and unconditional success. Gaining felicity, adhering to truth, vanquishing infelicity and refuting falsity in this world and the hereafter: In this world through good life which is found in virtuous society made up of the friends of God, in an earth cleansed from the friends of Satan, based on piety; and in the hereafter, in neighborhood of the Lord of the worlds.
Examining Narrations
- (al-Kulaynī) narrates from ʿAlī b. Abraham, from his father, from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr from ʿUmar b. Udhaynah, from Zurārah, al-Fuḍayl b. Yasār, Bakīr b. Aʾyan, Muḥammad b. Muslim, Barīd b. Muʾāwiyah and Abu al-Jārūd, all together from Abū Jaʾfar that he said, “God, the Mighty, the Great, ordered His Messenger (to have) wilāyah of ʿAlī, and revealed to him: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the zakāt while they bow; and the wilāyah of ulu al-amr (was made) incumbent; and they did not know what it was. So God ordered Muḥammad that he should explain the wilāyah to them as he had explained prayer, zakāt, fast and ḥajj.
“When this (order) came to him from God, the Messenger of God, felt uneasy and he was afraid lest they turn away from their religion and call him a liar; so his breast was straitened and he appealed to his Lord, the Mighty, the Great. Then God, the Mighty, the Great, revealed to him: O Messenger! Deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from the people. So he complied with the order of God, Mighty is His remembrance! He stood up (to announce) the wilāyah of ʿAlī on the day of Ghadīr Khumm; so he called out: The Prayer of Congregation; and (then) ordered the people that those present should convey (this message) to those who were not there.”
- ʿUmar b. Udhaynah said, “All (the above-mentioned narrators) except Abu al-Jārūd (further) said, Abū Jaʾfar said, “This was another duty, and the wilāyah was the last of the obligations. Then God, the Mighty, the Great, revealed: This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as religion.” Abū Jaʾfar said, “God, the Mighty, the Great, says, ‘I shall not send to you any duty after this; I have perfected for you all the duties.’”’” (al-Kāfī)
- al-Burhān and Ghāyat al-marām narrate from al-Ṣadūq through his chain, from Abu al-Jārūd, from Abū Jaʾfar that he said about the word of God, the Mighty, the Great: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, “A group of the Jews accepted Islam; there were among them ʿAbdullāh b. Salām, Asad, Tha’labah, Ibn Yāmīn and Ibn Ṣūriyā. So they came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Prophet of God! Verily Moses had made Yūshaʾ b. Nūn his waṣiyy (successor); so who is your waṣiyy? O Messenger of God! And who is our Guardian after you?’ Then this verse was revealed: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow.
“The Messenger of God, said (to the companions): ‘Stand you up.’ They stood up and came to the mosque, and lo! A beggar was coming out. The (Prophet), said, ‘O beggar! Has anyone given you anything?’ He said, ‘Yes. ‘This ring.’ (The Prophet) said, ‘Who gave it to you?’ He said, ‘Gave it to me that man who is praying.’ He (the Prophet) said, ‘In which position had he given it to you?’ He said, ‘He was bowing.’ So the Prophet, said, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ and the people in the mosque said, ‘Allahu Akbar.’
“Then the Prophet, said, ‘ʿAlī is your waliyy (Guardian) after me.’ They said, ‘We are pleased with God as the Lord, and with Muḥammad as the Prophet, and with ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib as the Guardian.’ So God, the Mighty, the Great, revealed: And whoever takes Allah and His Messenger and those who believe for a guardian, then surely the party of Allah are they that shall be triumphant.”
- al-Qummī narrates from his father, from Ṣafwān, from Abān b. ʿUthmān from Abū Ḥamzah al-Thumālī, from Abū Jaʾfar that he said, “While the Messenger of God, was sitting with a group of the Jews including ʿAbdullāh b. Salām, this verse was revealed to him. So the Messenger of God went out to the mosque, and a beggar came before him. Then (the Messenger) said, ‘Has anyone given you something?’ He said, ‘Yes. That one who is praying.’ So the Messenger of God came there and lo! It was ʿAlī.” (al-Tafsīr)
Author’s comment: al-ʿAyyāshī also has narrated it in his al-Tafsīr from the same Imam.
- al-Shaykh writes: Narrated to us Muḥammad b. Muḥammad, that is, al-Mufīd; he said: narrated to us Abu al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Kātib; he said: narrated to us al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Za’farānī; he said: narrated to us Abū Isḥāq Abraham b. Muḥammad al-Thaqafī; he said: narrated to us Muḥammad b. ʿAlī; he said: narrated to us al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAbdillāh al-ʿAnbārī, from ʿAbdu al-Raḥmān b. al-Aswad al-Kindī al-Yashkurī, from ʿAwn b. ʿUbaydillāh, from his father, from his grandfather Abū Rāfiʾ, that he said, “I went, one day, to the Messenger of God, while he was asleep and a snake was in, a side of the house; but I did not like to kill it lest I awake the Prophet, and I thought that (probably) revelation was being sent to him, so I laid between him and the snake, and said (to myself): ‘If there was any evil from it (the snake), it would come to me, not to him.’
“So I was (there) a little while, and the Prophet woke up, and he was reciting: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe until he came to the end of the verse. Then he said, ‘Praise be to God Who completed for ʿAlī His favor, and congratulations to him for the grace of God which He has bestowed on him.’ Then he said to me, ‘What are you doing here?’ So I informed him about the snake, he said to me, ‘Kill it.’ So I killed it. Then he said to me, ‘O (Abū) Rāfiʾ! What will be your position when a group will fight against ʿAlī and he will be on right and they on wrong? To fight them, is a right of God (on His creatures), Mighty is His name! So whoever could not (fight, he should hate them) by his heart; there is nothing beyond God.’ So I said, ‘O Messenger of God! Pray to God for me that if I find them He should strengthen me to fight them.’” (Abū Rāfiʾ) said, “Then the Prophet, prayed for me; and said, ‘Verily, every prophet had a trustee, and verily, my trustee is Abū Rāfi.ʾ ’”
He said, “When people did bayʾah of ʿAlī after ʿUthmān, and Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr proceeded (against him), I remembered the saying of the Prophet. So I sold my house at Medina and a piece of land (I had) at Khaybar; and I came out my sons—and –myself with the Leader of the Faithful in order to be martyred in his army. But I could not reach him until he returned from Baṣrah. And I went with him to Ṣiffīn; I fought in his presence in Ṣiffīn and also in Nahrawān. I remained with him constantly until ʿAlī was martyred. I returned to Medina, and I had neither any house there nor any land. So al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī gave me a land in Yanbū’, and divided for me a part of the house of the Leader of the Faithful; and I lived in it with my dependents.” (al-Amālī)
- al-ʿAyyashī narrates through his chain from al-Ḥasan b. Zayd, from his father Zayd b. al-Ḥasan, from his grand father that he said,”I heard ʿAmmār b. Yāsir saying, ‘A beggar stood near ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, while he was bowing in a supererogatory prayer; so he pulled out his ring and gave it to the beggar. Then the Messenger of God came and was informed of it. Then this verse was revealed to the Prophet: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow (to the end of the verse). So the Messenger of God recited it before us, then said, “Anyone whose mawlā (guardian) am I, ʿAlī is his mawlā; O God! Be friend of him who is his friend, and be enemy of him who is his enemy.”’” (al-Tafsīr)
- Also, al-ʿAyyāshī narrates from al-Mufaḍḍal b. Ṣāliḥ, from some of his companions, from the Fifth or Sixth Imam that he said, “When this verse was revealed: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, it proved troublesome to the Prophet as he was afraid that the Quraysh would accuse him of lying. So, God revealed: O Messenger! Deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord (to the end of the verse). So he carried it out on the day of Ghadīr Khumm.” (ibid.)
- Also, he narrates from Abū Jamīlah, from some of his companions, from either of the two Imams that he said, “Indeed the Messenger of God, said, ‘Verily God revealed to me to love four: ʿAlī, Abū Dharr, Salmān and al-Miqdād.’” (The narrator says:) “I said, ‘Well, with all that multitude of the people, was not there anyone who knew this matter?’ (The Imam) said, ‘Certainly; (there were) three.’ I said, ‘(When) these verses were revealed: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, and: Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those vested with authority from among you: was there no one to ask about whom they were revealed?’ He said, ‘For that reason (perdition) came to them, they were not asking.’” (ibid.)
- al-Ṣadūq narrates through his chain from Abū Saʾīd al-Warrāq, from his father, from Jaʾfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his grandfather, in the ḥadīth of adjuration of ʿAlī against Abū Bakr when Abū Bakr acquired caliphate; and ʿAlī mentioned his excellent virtues to Abū Bakr, and described the clear wordings of the Messenger of God concerning his appointment; so he said inter alia, “I adjure you by God; is it I who have the wilāyah from God, (joined) with the wilāyah of the Messenger of God, in the verse of the zakāt of the ring, or you?“ (Abū Bakr) said, “Nay! It is for you.” (Ghāyāt al-marām)
- al-Shaykh narrates through his chain from Abū Dharr, the ḥadīth of adjuration of the Leader of the Faithful against ʿUthmān, al-Zubayr, ʿAbdu al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf and Saʾd b. Abī Waqqāṣ, on the day of consultation, and his arguments against them with the clear declarations of the Messenger of God—and everyone of them was confirming what he was saying. And he had said inter alia, “Is there anyone among you—except me—who had paid zakāt while he bowed; and the verse was revealed about him: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow?“ They said, “No.” (al-Majālis)
- Abu al-Ḥasan al-Thālith ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Hādī wrote an epistle to the people of Ahwāz when they had asked him about Compulsion and Delegation. He wrote in it, inter alia:
“The ummah unanimously agrees, without any difference at all, that the Qur’an is truth, there is no doubt in it, according to the belief of all sects. Therefore, when they unite on it they are on the right, and they are guided aright to confirm what God has revealed, because the Prophet has said, ‘My ummah shall not unite on error.’ He has thus told us that what the (whole) ummah agrees upon and some of them are not in discord with others on it, is the truth. This is the (true) connotation of this ḥadīth; not what the ignorant ones say in its interpretation; nor that which the enemies have said: negation of the order of the Book, following the commands of forged traditions and vain narrations, and following the perilous and ruinous desires which go against the clear verdict of the Book and confirmed meanings of clear and brilliant verses. And we pray to God that He should help us for ṣalāt and guide us to good conduct.”
Then he said:
“Therefore, when the Book testifies for the truth and actuality of news, then a group of the ummah refutes it and argues against it by one of those forged narrations, they become lost in error because of its rejection and refutation. The most correct ḥadīth is that whose truth is known from the Book. For example, the hadīth of the Messenger of God which is unanimously agreed upon by all, that he said, ‘Indeed I am leaving behind among you two caliphs: the Book of God and my Progeny, as long as you adhere to them both you shall never go astray after me, and they shall never separate from each other until they come to me on the ḥawḍ (reservoir)’. And there is another wording narrated from him in the same meaning, ‘Indeed I am leaving among you two precious (or weighty) things: the Book of God and my Progeny (who are) people of my house, and they shall never separate from each other until they come to me on the reservoir, as long as you adhere to them both you shall never go astray.’
“We find evidence of this ḥadīth in clear words in the Book of God, like His word: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow. Then the traditions of the scholars in this respect unanimously point to the Leader of the Faithful that he gave his ring in alms while he was in rukūʾ; so God appreciated it from him and revealed the verse about him.
“Then we find that the Messenger of God, distinguished him from his companions by (saying) this word: ‘He whose guardian am I, ʿAlī is his guardian; O God! Be friend of him who is his friend, and be enemy of him who is his enemy’; and by his word: ‘ ʿAlī shall repay my debt and fulfil my promise; and he is my successor over you after me’; and by his word when he appointed him as his successor in Medina and he said, ‘O Messenger of God! Are you leaving me (to look after) women and children?’ So he, said, ‘Are you not pleased that you have the same position with me as Aaron had with Moses, except that there is no prophet after me?’
“Thus we know that the Book testifies verifying these traditions and confirming this evidence; therefore the ummah is bound to acknowledge them, because these traditions agree with the Qur’an. So when we find them in agreement with the Qur’an, and find the Qur’an in agreement with these traditions, and proving them, then to follow them becomes a duty which no one will transgress except the people of enmity and mischief.” (al-Ṭabrisī, al-Iḥtijāj)
- The Leader of the Faithful said, inter alia, in a ḥadīth:
“The hypocrites said to the Messenger of God, ‘Is there any duty pending which your Lord intends to impose on us after all that has already been laid down? So you (better) tell (it to us) so our souls may be at rest that now nothing else is pending.’ So God revealed in this respect: Say: ‘I exhort you only to one thing’ (), that is, the wilāyah. Then God revealed: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow; and there is no difference in the ummah that on that day no one gave zakāt while bowing, except one man.” (ibid.)
- al-Mufīd narrates from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Jesus, from al-Qāsim b. Muḥammad al-Jawharī, from al-Ḥasan b. Abi al-ʿAlāʾ that he said, “I said to Abū ʿAbdillāh, ‘The successors, is their obedience incumbent?’ He said, ‘Yes. They are those (about whom) God has said: Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those vested with authority from among you; and they are those (about whom) God has said: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow.’” (al-Ikhtiṣāṣ)
Author’s comment: (al-Kulaynī) has narrated it in al-Kāfī from al-Ḥusayn b. Abi al-ʿAlāʾ from the same Imam; and has also narrated another tradition of the same meaning from Aḥmad b. ʿĪsā, from the same Imam.
The chain of various narrations of what was revealed about ʿAlī ends at all the Imams, because they are the people of one house, and their affair is one.
- al-Thaʾlabī has written in his al-Tafsīr: Informed us Abu al-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. al-Qāsim al-Faqīh; he said: narrated to us ʿAbdullāh b. Aḥmad al-Shaʾrānī; he said: informed us Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Razīn; he said: narrated to us al-Muẓaffar b. al-Ḥasan al-Anṣārī; he said: narrated to us al-Sariyy b. ʿAlī al-Warrāq; he said: narrated to us Yaḥyā b. ʿAbdi al-Ḥamīd al-Jummānī, from Qays b. al-Rabīʾ, from al-Aʾmash, from ʿAbāyah b. al-Rabʾī; he said: narrated to us ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAbbās (may God be pleased with him), while he was sitting at the rim of Zamzam, saying: “The Messenger of God said”—when a man wearing a turban came there. Now, whenever Ibn ʿAbbās said, “The Messenger of God said,” that man also said, “The Messenger of God said.”
So, Ibn ʿAbbās said to him, “I ask you by God! Who are you?” (The narrator) said, “Then he removed the turban from his face and said, ‘O people! Whoever knows me, he knows me; and whoever does not know me, then I am Jundab b. Junādah al-Badrī Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī. I heard the Messenger of God by these two (ears), else they should become deaf, and I saw him by these two (eyes), else they should become blind, (while) he was saying, “ʿAlī is the leader of the righteous ones and the killer of the unbelievers; helped is he who helps him and forsaken is he who forsakes him.” Indeed I prayed one day the prayer of ẓuhr with the Messenger of God. A beggar asked in the mosque but no one gave him anything. So the beggar raised his hand to the heavens and said, “O God! Be (my) witness that I asked in the mosque of the Messenger of God, but nobody gave me anything”; and ʿAlī was in rukūʾ, so he pointed out to him with his right little finger, and he had a ring in it. So the beggar came forward till he took the ring from his little finger; and all this was in the sight of the Prophet. When he finished his prayer, he raised his head towards the heavens and said, “O God! Moses had asked You saying: ‘O my Lord! Expand my breast for me, and make my affairs easy to me, and loose the knot from my tongue, (that) they may understand my word, and give to me an aider from my family, Aaron, my brother, strengthen my back by him, and associate him (with me) in my affair’ (). So You revealed for him a speaking Qur’an: We will surely strengthen your arm with your brother, and We will give you both a power, so that they shall not reach you; with Our signs; (). O God! And I am Muḥammad, Your Prophet, and Your chosen one. O God! So expand my breast for me, and make my affairs easy to me, and give to me an aider, ʿAlī; strengthen my back by him.”’”
Abū Dharr said, “The Messenger of God, had not finished his words when Jibrīl came to him from near God, the High, and said, ‘O Muḥammad! Recite.’ He, said, ‘What should I recite?’ He said, ‘Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow.’”
- The book al-Jamʾ Bayna al-Ṣiḥāḥi al-Sittah (by Zarīn, vol.3, tafsīr of the chapter of “The Table”) quotes under the verse: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger, from Ṣaḥīh al-Nasāʾī, from Ibn Salām that he said, “I came to the Messenger of God, and we said, ‘Verily our people became our enemy when we accepted the truth of God and His Messenger, and they swore that they would not talk to us.’ Then God revealed: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow.
“Then Bilāl called ādhān for ẓuhr prayer, and people stood up praying; some were prostrating and some bowing, some asking God; when a beggar (came there) begging; and ʿAlī gave (him) his ring while he was bowing. So the beggar informed the Messenger of God. Then the Messenger of God recited before us: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow. And whoever takes Allah and His Messenger and those who believe for a guardian, then surely the party of Allah are they that shall be triumphant.”
- Ibn al-Maghāzilī al-Shāfiʾī narrates explaining the words of God, Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger: “Informed us Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿUthmān; he said: ‘informed us Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. Abraham b. Shādhān al-Bazzāz by permission; he said: narrated to us al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-ʿAdawī; he said: narrated to us Salamah b. Shabīb; he said: narrated to us ʿAbd al-Razzāq; he said: informed us Mujāhid from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said about the word of God: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow, that it was revealed about ʿAlī. (al-Manāqib)’”
- Also, he narrates: “Informed us Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ṭāwān; he said: ‘informed us Abū Aḥmad ʿUmar b. ʿAbdillāh b. Shawdhab; he said: narrated to us Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-ʿAskarī al-Daqqāq; he said: narrated to us Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān; he said: narrated to us Abraham b. Muḥammad b. Maymūn; he said: narrated to us ʿAlī b. ʿĀbis; he said: Abū Maryam and I called on ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAṭāʾ. Abū Maryam said (to him): “Narrate to ʿAlī the ḥadīth which you had narrated to me from Abū Jaʾfar.” He said, “I was sitting near Abū Jaʾfar, when passed by him the son of ʿAbdullāh b. Salām. I said, ‘May God make me your ransom! Is he the son of him who had knowledge of the Book?’ He said, ‘No. Rather it is your companion, ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib about whom were revealed verses of the Book of God, the Mighty, the Great: and he who has knowledge of the Book (); Is he then who has with him clear proof from his Lord, and a witness from Him recites it (); Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe.’” (). (ibid.)
- al-Khaṭīb al-Khwārazmī has narrated the correspondence between Muʾāwiyah and ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ, in which the latter writes inter alia: “You certainly know, O Muʾāwiyah! What (God) has revealed in His Book, of the verses, which are recited regarding (ʿAlī’s) excellent virtues, which no one shares with him. For example, the word of Allah, the High: They fulfil vows (); Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow (); Is he then who has with him clear proof from his Lord, and a witness from Him recites it (); and God, the High, has said: … men who are true to the covenant which they made with Allah (); and God, the High, has said to His Messenger: Say: ‘I do not ask of you any recompense for it except the love of (my) near relatives’ ().”
- al-Khaṭīb narrates through his chain, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said, “ʿAbdullāh b. Salām came with some of his people who had believed in the Prophet, and they said, ‘O Messenger of God! Our houses are far away, indeed; and we do not have any place for assembly or discussion except this place (of yours); and when our people saw that we had believed in God and His Messenger and had accepted his veracity, they abandoned us and swore to themselves that they would not sit with us, nor enter into a marriage-tie with us or talk with us; and it has proved very hard for us.’ So the Prophet said to them: ‘Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow.’
“Then the Prophet, went out to the mosque and some people were standing (in prayer) and others bowing. (The Prophet) saw a beggar; and he said to him, ‘Has anyone given you anything?’ He said, ‘Yes, a golden ring.’ The Prophet said to him, ‘Who has given it to you?’ He said, ‘That one standing (in prayer)’—and he pointed with his hand to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. Then the Prophet said, ‘In which position he gave (it) to you?’ He said, ‘He gave to me while he was in rukūʾ ’ Then the Prophet said: ‘Allahu Akbar’, and then recited: And whoever takes Allah and His Messenger and those who believe for a guardian, then surely the party of Allah are they that shall be triumphant.”
Then Ḥassān b. Thābit composed and recited (the following poem):
O Abu al-Ḥasan! May my soul be your ransom, and my life-blood! As well as every slow and fast in (the way of) guidance!
Will my praise and of (your) lovers go in vain? But praise for God’s sake is never lost.
So it is you, who gave while bowing,
The souls of the people are your ransom! O the best bowing one! Your blessed ring; O the best Master,
And the best buyer and the best seller!
So God revealed about you, the best wilāyah,
And made it clear in decisive sharīʾah. (ibid.)
- al-Ḥamawaynī (al-Ḥamūʾī) narrates through his chain from Abū Hadbah Abraham b. Hadbah that he said, “Informed us Anas b. Mālik that a beggar came into the Mosque and he was saying, ‘Who will lend to the Rich, the Trustworthy (God)?’ And ʿAlī was bowing, indicating by his hand to the beggar to take off the ring from his hand. (Anas) said, ‘Then the Prophet said, “O ʿUmar! It became incumbent.” (ʿUmar) said, “May my father and mother be your ransom! O Messenger of God! What became incumbent?“ He said, “The Garden became incumbent for him. By God! He (the beggar) did not take it off from his hand, but he removed him from every sin and every fault.”’”
- al-Ḥamawaynī narrates through his chain from Zayd b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn, from his father, from his grandfather that he said, “I heard ʿAmmar b. Yāsir—may God be pleased with him—saying, ‘A beggar stood near ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and he was in rukūʾ of a supererogatory prayer; so he removed his ring and gave it to the beggar. Then he came to the Messenger of God and informed him of it. Then this verse was revealed to the Prophet: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay zakāt while they bow. So the Messenger of God recited it; then said, “Anyone whose mawlā am I, ʿAlī is his mawlā.”’”
- al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʾaym narrates from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jābir (may God be pleased with him) that he said, “ ʿAbdullāh b. Salām came (to the Prophet) with a group, complaining that people have avoided them since they have entered into Islam. So the Messenger of God said, ‘Find for me a beggar.’ We entered the Mosque and a beggar came near him. (The Prophet) said to him, ‘Has anyone given you anything?’ He said, ‘Yes, I passed by a man who was bowing, so he gave me his ring.’ (The Prophet) said, ‘Come along and show me.’” (Jābir said) “So we proceeded and lo! ʿAlī was in standing position, so (the beggar) said, ‘This.’ Then was revealed: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger …”
Also, al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʾaym narrates from ʿAwf b. ʿUbayd b. Abū Rāfiʾ, from his father, from his grandfather that he said, “I went to the Messenger of God while he was asleep, and a snake was in a side of the house; but I did not like to kill it lest I awake the Prophet. So I lay between him and the snake, so that if there was anything (that is, snake-bite) it would be in me, not him. Then (the Prophet) woke up and he was reciting this verse: Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger. He said, ‘All praise is for God!’ Then he came to my side and said, ‘Why do you lie here?’ I said, ‘Because of the presence of this snake.’ He said, ‘Go to it and kill it.’ So I killed it.
“Then he took my hand and said, ‘O Abū Rāfi’! There shall soon be after me some people who would fight ʿAlī; to fight them will be a right of God; so whoever could not fight them by his hand, he should do so by his tongue, and whoever could not do so, then by his heart; there is nothing beyond that.”
Author’s comment: The traditions showing that the two verses were revealed concerning the alms of the ring are very numerous. We have quoted some of them here from al-Baḥrānī’s book, Ghāyat al-marām; and it has been ascertained that they are found in the books al-Baḥrānī has copied from. We have quoted only as much as was necessary to show various versions of the story.
Many companions have narrated this event, like Abū Dharr, Ibn ʿAbbās, Anas b. Mālik, ʿAmmār, Jābir, Salamah b. Kuhayl, Abū Rāfiʾ, ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ and ʿAlī and al-Ḥusayn; and likewise al-Sajjād, al-Bāqir, al-Ṣādiq, al-Hādī and other Imams of Ahl al-Bayt.
Also, Aimmat al-Tafsīr (those who explain the verses with the help of traditions) unanimously agree on this tradition, without any objection, like Aḥmad, al-Nasāʾī, al-Ṭabarī, al-Ṭabarānī, ʿAbd b. Ḥamīd and many other ḥuffāẓ (memorizers) and Imams (masters) of ḥadīth. The scholars of ʿilmu al-kalām (Islamic Theology) have accepted the tradition. The jurisprudents have used it as their proof in the question of a great many actions during prayer, and in the discussion whether supererogatory alms is called zakāt.
And the outstanding luminaries of language and literature from among the exegetes, like al-Zamakhsharī in his al-Kashshāf and Abū Ḥayyān in his al-Tafsīr have not disputed regarding the application of this verse on this tradition; nor has any narrator showed any reluctance in it—and they were the people of this language.
Therefore, no attention should be paid to someone’s claim that the tradition of the revelation of this verse in connection with the story of the ring is forged and fabricated. Some of them, like Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, have transgressed the limit and claimed ijmāʾ, unanimity, that this tradition was forged. It is really an astonishing claim. You have, however, seen in the preceding commentary, what is the truth and reality of this matter.