Appearance
The Verse of Guardianship
إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُۥ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَهُمْ رَٰكِعُونَ
(5:55) Your guardian is only Allah, His Apostle, and the faithful who maintain the prayer and give the zakat while bowing down.
The question
Who are “those who believe, who keep up prayer and pay the zakāt while they bow”, named with God and the Messenger as the believers' guardian (walī)?
Views answered: the majority of exegetes, exegetes who objected to the narrations
Al-Mizan's argument
Many exegetes read these two verses as part of the surrounding passage on friendship, so that wilāyah would mean mutual help among all believers. Al-Mizan shows that the context does not support this, sets out the numerous narrations that the verse was revealed about ʿAlī when he gave his ring in charity while bowing in prayer, and answers the three objections made against them: the context, the use of a plural for one person, and calling a ring given in charity “zakāt”. It then explains the meaning of wilāyah and why the guardianship given to “those who believe” is the same as that of God and His Messenger.
Reading guide
Each part opens the commentary at that point.
- The exegetes' reading: wilāyah as help and friendship
- Why the context does not support that reading
- The narrations about ʿAlī's ring
- Three objections to these narrations
- The replies: context, the plural, and the ring as zakāt
- The meaning of wilāyah
- Narrations: the companions and exegetes who reported the event