Love of Awliyah

The saint (waliyy) is at once close (qarib) to Allah, the Most High, and drawn near (muqarrab). He comes closer to Allah through his own efforts in observing the Shari’ah, and Allah, the Most High, in turn, assists, protects and draws the saint close to Him. Abu Hurairah, may Allah be satisfied with him, narrates that the Messenger, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, Allah says:

I am with the thought of my slave, if he remembers Me by himself, I remember him by Myself, and if he remembers Me in a group I remember him in a better group (than his), and if he comes close to Me the length of an out-stretched hand I draw close to him the length of a fore-arm, and if he draws close to me the length of a fore-arm I draw near to him the length an arm, and if he comes to me walking I come to him like a wind,

and in another narration "I am with him if he remembers Me".

This hadith is full of meaning. There is great encouragement here for people who want to enter the path of inner knowledge and closeness to Allah. " I am with the thought of my slave" and in the other narration " I am with him if he remembers Me" implies two basic and important adaab. Firstly, when we perform our ‘ibadah we ought to do so with the utmost purity of thought (husn dhann) and good faith towards Allah. Indeed purity of thought itself is an ‘ibadah. Pure thought towards Allah (husn dhann) also implies complete acceptance of His Will. The aspirant has to work hard to remove all traces of sublimated anger towards Him. Allah gives to others and He withholds from us. 

Dissatisfaction with the Will of Allah and indeed seething anger towards Him is the essence of envy. And secondly, since we are sitting in the Presence of Allah and He is with us, we have to observe the adab of maximum concentration on Him. If this is difficult or we cannot focus and concentrate with our whole being on Allah during our ‘ibadah we are required either to train ourselves or seek out someone who can train us to achieve that. The station of nearness (qurb) and the station of sainthood (wilayah) are inextricably connected. Both of which should be the desire and objective of every Muslim. According to this tradition, Allah comes to us "faster" and with greater ‘vigour" than we to Him. 

The elevated status of the awliyah is alluded to in the tradition known as the hadith al-awliyah. Allah takes them into His care and assists them. The one who loves the awliyah loves Allah. And conversely the one who injures them, "…Allah declares war against him" [Cited by Bukhari from Abu Hurairah] and in another version of this tradition Allah says, "… he (the person who commits the injury) has declared it halal for him to make war against Me" [Cited by Imam Ahmad and Imam Qushairi from ‘Aishah]. The versions of this hadith cited by Tabarani differ mainly in the wording. Tabarani’s narrations also include some very interesting additions not mentioned by the other narrators. A thorough analysis of these texts will have to be left for another time and place. Here we need to comment on some of the points raised by this tradition.

One important conclusion we can deduce from this tradition is that love and respect for the awliyah is obligatory (wajib). And it is prohibited (haram) to dislike or injure the awliyah. There is no heavier punishment than Divine War. A punishment of this magnitude is clear evidence of obligation and prohibition. Allah declares war against the one who injures the awliyah either by word or deed. Therefore injury to them is prohibited and the converse, respect and love for them, is an obligation. They represent the best of Islam and they embody the Shari’ah in all its fullness. And consequently they are the beloved of Allah and His chosen slaves.

Abu Turab Nakhshabi expressed a very important point when he said, " If the heart turns against Allah it is accompanied by criticism and dislike of the awliyah" [Narrated by Imam Qushairi]. Every Muslim who fears Allah and cares for his din should be wary of this. The criticism and sometimes open hostility against the great scholars and spiritual masters and above all the against the Sahabah, may Allah be pleased with all of them, one hears from certain quarters is cause for concern.

Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Shafi’i, Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jailani, Imam Ghazali and many others, if they are not awliyah of Allah, who is? Scholarly critique of their opinions is one thing, but begrudging and belittling them is an entirely different thing. The often inexplicable aggression and hatred against some of our own local scholars and awliyah falls into the exact same category. According to Abu Turab these are symptoms of a deeper and more dangerous tendency. The reason for this hate and hostility has to be looked for in the hearts of the critics rather than in the people they are criticizing.