Does al-walaa mean love and support?

By Saeed Ismaeel 

The core meaning of al-walaa and its derivations is for someone to have authority over another i.e. guardianship. It is pronounced mawla or wali for either party: the person providing guardianship and the one receiving it. Furthermore, concerning the essence of the meaning there is no difference between wilaayah and walaayah. (1) In general we can distinguish between the following major categories of walaa: 1. The wilaayah for Allah alone, which means the sovereignty of Allah over his creatures and the universe. He is the Master, without his permission none can help or harm another. This mastership can be accompanied with care when the context indicates that. 

2. The wilaayah between the creatures, which could be voluntary and mutual, where two parties have taken each other as guardians, or it could be a one-sided trust.(1) 3. Non-voluntary wilaayah between creatures, which exists without the direct choice of the parties involved. It could be imposed by an inherited quality as the one between father and son, or by an acquired quality as the one between husband and wife.

The word wilaayah, certainly does not include love املحبة or support صرة�ن .Allah says: {Those who believed and adopted exile and fought for the Faith, with their property and their person, in the cause of Allah as well as those who gave asylum and aid, these are guardians and trustees of each other. As to those who believed but did not come into exile you owe them nothing of the rights of guardianship until they come into exile. 

But if they seek your aid in religion, it is your duty to help them except against people with whom you have a treaty and Allah sees all that you do.}(3) The verse verifies the existence of a situation between two groups of believers where no rights of guardianship are due between them. i.e. between the independent Muslim majority and a Muslim minority living with a non-Muslim majority. 

However, if the minority requests help, the independent group should extend their help, within the prescribed provisions. This means that wilaayah (guardianship) and support are completely independent things. Love between Believers is a must, all the time. So, if love is a part of wilaayah then denial of wilaayah completely means denial of love completely which does not make sense. 

All verses in the Holy Quraan, perceived within their proper contexts assure that the forbidden wilaayah is confined to the non-Muslims who are hostile to Islam or Muslims because of their religion. Furthermore, absence of walaa does not mean hatred or hostility. It, also, does not mean absence of all kinds of love, or cooperation. Islam encourages any effort to build friendly relations between human beings and any form of legal cooperation to secure mutual interests. Islam permits Muslims to help and to seek help from the others, which include exchanging useful knowledge and experience as long as it does not negatively affect the destiny of the Muslims in the eternal life.