Hadith prophet ali maula
Mu'
meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam
Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and
Blessings be upon all of you)
One
of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Dear
Brother,
Asalam
Alaikum,
Is it
true that Holy Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) ever said "Man Kuntum Moula Fa
Haaza Ali-un Moula" meaning "who considers me to be his Moula should
consider Hazrat Ali his Moula as well"?
Please
do reply.
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Hadith prophet
ali maula
In the name of
Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever
Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can
guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai, nobody!) worthy of
worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His
slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Indeed, the
Messenger of Allah (saws) declared words to the effect as quoted by you, and
the exact narration is as follows:
Al-Tirmidhi
Hadith 6094 Narrated by Al-Bara'
ibn Azib and Zayd ibn Arqam
When
Allah's Messenger (saws) alighted at the pool of Khumm, he took Hadrat Ali ibn
Abi Taalib (r.a.) by the hand and asked those present, "Do you not know
that I am closer to the believers than they themselves?" They replied,
"Certainly." He (saws) then
asked, "Do you not know that I am nearer to every believer than he
himself?" They replied,
"Certainly." He (saws) then
said, " Allah, he whose ‘maula’ I am has Ali as his ‘maula’. O Allah, be friendly to those who are
friendly to him and hostile to those who are hostile to him." After that Hadrat Umar (r.a.) met him and
said, "Congratulations, O son of AbuTalib. Morning and evening you are the
‘maula’ of every believing man and woman."
Al-Tirmidhi
Hadith 6082 Narrated by Zayd ibn
Arqam
The
Prophet (saws) said, "When I am anyone's ‘maula’, Ali is his ‘maula’
also."
The term ‘Maula’ in
the Arabic language has many meanings; it could mean a patron, a friend, or
even a slave or a slave-master. Some
people or sects in Islam have taken this hadith or the term ‘maula’ mentioned
in the hadith out of context and used it as evidence that the Messenger of
Allah (saws) having bestowed the above honor on Hadrat Ali (r.a.), and by
declaring him ‘maula’ wished to announce that Hadrat Ali (r.a.) was his chosen
successor or Khalifah and Leader of the Believers after the death of the
Messenger of Allah (saws).
The Messenger of
Allah (saws) indeed termed Hadrat Ali (r.a.) as the ‘Maula’ of the believers;
but under no circumstances can this honor be taken to imply that the Messenger
of Allah (saws) was covertly trying to nominate or appoint Hadrat Ali (r.a.) as
his successor of Khalifah after his death!
Under the guidance
of Allah, the Messenger of Allah (saws) did not nominate nor appoint a
successor to be the Leader of the Believers after him; but instead trained the
believers to choose one amongst them through consensus.
There are several
authentic narrations whereby the Messenger of Allah (saws) has praised many of
his noble and closest companions, and even given some of them the good news of
the ultimate reward of
Just to relate a few
examples of the praises that the Messenger of Allah (saws) showered on some of
his noble companions:
Abu Bakr
as-Siddiq (r.a.) :
The
Messenger of Allah (saws) said, : “There are eight gates to
The
Messenger of Allah (saws) said, : “All
of you (his companions) who have done favors on me, I have repaid them, except to Abu Baqr as
Siddiq.”
Umar al Khattab
(r.a.):
The
Messenger of Allah (saws) said, : “If
there were to be a Prophet after me, it
would have been Umar.”
Uthman ibn Affan
(r.a.):
During
the preparations of the Battle of Tabuk,
when Uthman donated a lot of money for this Cause and Jihad in the name
of Allah, the Messenger of Allah (saws)
said, : “Whatever Uthman does after this day,
he will never incur a loss with Allah.”
Hadrat
Hassan ibn Thabit (r.a.):
This
noble companion was a poet and used to answer the poetry of the disbelievers
which they would make against Islam and the Messenger of Allah (saws). He was the only person whom the Messenger of
Allah (saws) honored to stand along with him on his ‘mimbar’, and recite the
answers to the disbelievers. This honor
of standing together with the Prophet (saws) on his mimbar, was not given to any of the other companions.
Abu Ubaidah ibn
Jarrah (r.a.):
The
Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Abu
Ubaidah ibn Jarrah is the ‘Ameen’ (most trustworthy) of this Ummah.”
Zubair ibn al
Awwam (r.a.):
The
Messenger of Allah said, : “Every Prophet has a ‘hawwaree’ (helper in the Cause
of Allah), and my ‘hawwaree’ is Zubair
ibn al Awwam.”
Saad ibn Abi
Waqqas (r.a.):
During
the battle of Uhud, the Messenger of
Allah (saws) told this brave fighter to shoot his arrows with the following
words which he did not use for any of the other noble companions ever. He (saws) said to Hadrat Saad, “May my father and mother be sacrificed for
you……”
Bilaal ibn Rabah
(r.a.):
When
the Messenger of Allah (saws) went to the heavens on the night of Mairaaj, he came back and told the companions that he
heard the footsteps of Hadrat Bilaal in the highest heavens.
Saad bin Muadh
(r.a.):
When
this noble companion died, the Messenger
of Allah (saws) paid a tribute to this companion and said, “On the death of
this companion of mine, the Magnificent
Throne of Allah, has been shaken!”.
It is indeed
unfortunate that some misguided people have chosen to focus on one statement of
the Prophet (saws) regarding Hadrat Ali (r.a.) and taken it out of context to
justify their false beliefs! Never ever
did Hadrat Ali (r.a.) claim to be the Leader of the Believers after the death
of the Messenger of Allah (saws), until he was chosen by consensus of the believers
as the Fourth Khalifah.
May years after the
death of the Messenger of Allah (saws) and the Rightly Guided Khalifahs, some
people in order to pursue their own political and leadership agendas started
claiming that Hadrat Abu Bakr (r.a.), Hadrat Umar (r.a.) and Hadrat Uthman
(r.a.) had unjustly taken over the Leadership of the Believers which in fact
had justly belonged to Hadrat Ali (r.a.)!
This is when they started back-tracking and taking the words of the
Messenger of Allah (saws) and the incidents of Hadrat Ali (r.a.) out of context
in their efforts to further their own political and leadership agendas!
They highlighted and
propagated whatever suited their political and leadership agendas from the
Quran and Sunnah, and whatever did not suit their agenda and mission they left
it alone! These misguided people were so
blinded by their own personal agendas that instead of following the Quran and
Sunnah, they tried to get the Quran and Sunnah to follow their agendas!
If one just compares
the words of the hadith quoted in the honor of Hadrat Ali being the ‘Maula’ of
the believers to the hadith where the Messenger of Allah (saws) said that “If there were to be a Prophet after me, it would have been Umar”, one would
clearly see the honor and status that Hadrat Umar (r.a.) was held in the sight
of the Messenger of Allah (saws). But
after the death of the Messenger of Allah (saws) it was none other than Hadrat
Umar (r.a.) himself who declined to take the responsibility of being the Leader
of the Believers and instead preferred and nominated the name of Hadrat Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r.a.) as the
Leader, and gave his allegiance to him.
Thus my dear and
beloved brother in Islam, although the hadith whereby Hadrat Ali (r.a.) was
declared the ‘Maula’ of the believers by the Messenger of Allah (saws) is
considered authentic, it is indeed unfortunate that some misguided people have
taken this term ‘maula’ and the hadith itself out of context to justify their
self-invented beliefs and further their own political agendas in preference to
the Truth.
Whatever written of
Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever
of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows
Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your
Brother in Islam,
Burhan