Appearance
Al-Manār and the Ḥadīth of Ghadīr
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ ۖ وَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُۥ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ
O Apostle! Communicate that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and if you do not, you will not have communicated His message, and Allah shall protect you from the people. Indeed Allah does not guide the faithless lot. (5:67)
The question
Does “Of whomever I am the master, ʿAlī is his master” mean the guardianship of authority, the imāmah, or only the guardianship of help and affection, as the author of al-Manār holds?
Views answered: Tafsīr al-Manār · Sunni exegeses (Jāmiʿ al-Bayān, Rūḥ al-Maʿānī, Tafsīr al-Manār) · With: ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī holds that the wilāyah of Ghadīr is the wilāyah of disposal (wilāyat al-taṣarruf): before saying it, the Prophet recited “The Prophet is closer to the faithful than their own souls” and took the people’s acknowledgement of it; had he meant help and love, he would have recited “the faithful, men and women, are comrades of one another”. The Infallibles say the same, and the sermon of Ghadīr reads 5:55 and 5:67 by the verse of al-Aḥzāb. The question of the Imam’s knowledge, which al-Manār brings in, is foreign to this place. Most Sunni exegetes did not mention the ḥadīth here, or raised objections to it; yet it is mutawātir, with more than a hundred routes, and ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī answered the problems those exegeses raise.
Views compared
The views are given as al-Tasnim reports them. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
Help or authority? Read →
Tafsīr al-Manār
The ḥadīth does not mean the wilāyah of authority, the imāmah or succession; the Qur’an does not use the word so; it means help and affection.Jawādī Āmulī
The Prophet first recited “The Prophet is closer to the faithful than their own souls” and took their acknowledgement; so it is the wilāyah of disposal. For help and love he would have recited 9:71.What the Household said Read →
Tafsīr al-Manār
Help and love.Jawādī Āmulī
No one knew the revelation better than the Prophet, and no one was nearer him than the Household; all the Infallibles said the wilāyah here is the wilāyah of disposal.The verse of al-Aḥzāb Read →
Tafsīr al-Manār
Wilāyah is the believers’ befriending of one another.Jawādī Āmulī
The sermon of Ghadīr reads 33:6 to explain 5:55 and 5:67, so the verse of wilāyah and the verse of al-Aḥzāb are one in meaning.The Imam’s knowledge Read →
Tafsīr al-Manār
Brings the question of the knowledge of ʿAlī and the Imams into this verse.Jawādī Āmulī
The question is foreign here. The infallible human being who holds fast to the Qur’an, a reality that reaches through every world, has knowledge others lack; and this has no connection with the Bāṭinīs.Passing over the ḥadīth Read →
Sunni exegeses (Jāmiʿ al-Bayān, Rūḥ al-Maʿānī, Tafsīr al-Manār)
Most do not mention the ḥadīth of Ghadīr here and cite unrelated reports; some cite it and then raise objections to explain it away.Jawādī Āmulī, with ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī
ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī answered the problems these exegeses raise. The ḥadīth is mutawātir, with more than a hundred Sunni and Shia routes and many Companions, and ʿAlī had thirteen men bear witness to it at the Raḥbah.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.