“If I am someone’s mawla, Ali is his mawla too.” What is the meaning of this hadith?

- Those who interpret the word "mawla" in the hadith as "friend" should pay attention to, Hz. Ali's words in the incident of rahba. If it meant friend, would it not be as follows: "Ali is the friend of anyone of whom I am a friend"?

- Did the Prophet not say it several times related to the contract of brotherhood?

- What was the use of making thousands of people wait under the scorching sun just because of the concept of "friend"?

- I wish people approached this issue reasonably not bigotedly. Jalaluddin as-Suyuti, one of the famous tafsir scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah, explains the issue in his book called, "ad-Durrul-Mansur fit-Tafsir bi'l Ma'thur".

Dear Brother / Sister,

The summary of the answer to this question is as follows:

The Prophet (pbuh) said for Hz. Ali,

 “If I am someone’s mawla, Ali is his mawla too.” (Tirmidhi, Manaqib,19; Ibn Majah, Muqaddima,11; Ibn Hanbal, 1/84,118, 119)

Ibn Hajar states that this hadith was narrated through various ways and points out that it is sound. (see Ibn Hajar, 7/74)

On the other hand, Zaylai states that it is weak though it came through various narrations. (Tuhfatul-Ahwazi, 3/137)

Acting upon such hadiths, Ahl ash-Shi’a claim that Hz. Ali was the first caliph and that his right was grabbed. This issue has been an issue of discussion between the scholars of Shi’a and Ahl as-Sunnah for fourteen centuries. It was discussed in hundreds of books.

According to Ahl as-Sunnah scholars, the meaning of the hadith “If I am someone’s mawla, Ali is his mawla too” is as follows: “If I love someone, Ali loves him too.” According to some other scholars, the meaning is as follows: “If I take someone as a friend or if I give authority to someone, Ali takes him as a friend too or he gives authority to him too.” (Tuhfatul-Ahwazi, ibid)

If we interpret those two views, we can say that attention is attracted to two points in the hadith.

a) If we accept the word “MAWLA” in the hadith to be in the sense of tawliya/giving authority as Shi’a accept it, the meaning of the hadith will be as follows: “If I give authority to someone, Ali gives authority to him (accepts his authority) too.”

According to this interpretation, the hadith includes an important lesson for Shi’a, who regard the caliphs before Hz. Ali as cruel and unjust in order to support Hz. Ali. Ahl ash-Shi’a is wrong in this attitude since they do not accept the caliphate of the first three caliphs whose authority Hz. Ali accepted, since they nurture a grudge against them, since Hz. Ali showed respect to them during their caliphate and loved them, since he did not oppose them and since he acted as a kind of sheikh al-Islam for them. The attitude of Ahl ash-Shi’a is contrary to the indication of the hadith in question and to the attitude of Hz. Ali toward the first three caliphs. For, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi states the following regarding the issue:

“The fact that ‘Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) followed the first three Caliphs, whom he repeatedly acknowledged, and held the position of their Sheikh al-Islam, refutes these claims of the Shi‘ites. Furthermore, the victories of Islam and the struggles against its enemies in the time of the first three Caliphs and the events in ‘Ali’s time, refute the Shi‘ites’ claims, again from the point of view of the Islamic Caliphate. That is to say the Sunnis’ claim is rightful.” 

“For although they (Shi’ites) say they have tremendous love for ‘Ali (May God be pleased with him), they disparage him, and their creed necessitates accusing him of immorality. For they say that although Abu Bakr the Veracious and ‘Umar were acting unjustly, ‘Ali feigned approval for them; according to Shi’i terminology, he dissimulated. That is, he was frightened of them and behaved hypocritically."

"But it is not love to hold that someone who was such a hero of Islam, won the title ‘Lion of Allah’, and was the commander and guide of the faithful, was simulating love for people he did not love out of fear and deception, and was feigning approval for them in fear for more than twenty years, and was following wrongdoers. ‘Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) would disclaim love that sort.” (Lem'alar, p. 22, 25)

b) Against the negative propaganda of the Kharijites, who called Hz. Ali an unbeliever, the people who nurtured a grudge against him and some sinners and oppressors, the Prophet put Hz. Ali in the place that he deserved, indicated his spiritual position as the chief of saints and attracted the attention of his ummah – in order to make people have good thoughts about him. 

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi indicates this fact as follows:  

“Furthermore, the Prophet (pbuh) saw with the eye of prophethood the grievous events and internal strife to which ‘Ali would be exposed in the future, and in order to save him from despair and his community from thinking unfavorably of him, he consoled him and guided his community with significant hadiths like مَنْ كُنْتُ مَوْلاَهُ فَعَلِىٌّ مَوْلاَهُ (If I am someone’s mawla, Ali is his mawla too).” (Lem'alar, p. 23)

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