Day: June 17, 2024

THE GREAT CONTROVERSY

Differing Interpretations of the Word “Moula”

For the past thirteen hundred and fifty years an endless controversy has been carried on over the meaning of the word “Moula” as used by the Holy Prophet at Khum Ghadir in 632 A.D. The “Sunnis” or traditionalists hold that “Moula” was meant to connote a “Friend” or “Guide”, while the Shias maintain that it implies the meaning of “Lord” or “Master”, or even “Sovereign”. If interpreted according to the Shi’ite conception, then little doubt can remain that the Holy Prophet’s declaration expressly designated Ali as his successor and that Ali should have become the first Caliph of Islam. The controversy is all the more acute because of the strong emotions which, over the centuries, it has engendered.

The Shi’ite Arguments

The Shi’ites advance the following reasons for interpreting “Moula” as “lord” or “sovereign”:- (i) When the Holy Prophet invited his kinsmen to a banquet and asked that one of the assembly should come forward and become his Vizier in the cause of the propagation of Islam, none came forward except Ali, who was a lad under teens at that time. The Holy Prophet, at this juncture, took Ali’s hand and said, “O Ali! You are my brother, Vizier, adviser and successor: The mob laughed at Ali whom they considered at that timeto be of no importance, but subsequent events were to prove that the Holy Prophet meant what he said on that occasion.

(2) When hard-pressed by the persecution of the Meccans it was Ali whom the Holy Prophet chose to lic on his bed so that he might make his escape safely to Medina. It was Ali who then risked his life to save the Apostle of God and Ali who was left behind as the representative of the Holy Prophet to perform the duty of returning to the Muslims still in Mecca whatever property they had deposited with Muhammad (may) peace be upon d

(3) After the or “Emigration” to Medina, when the Holy Prophet organised a fraternity in which cach Meccan refugee was joined with a local Medinite Ansar, the Apostle of God made Ali his co-sharer in this. newly created brotherhood-an act symbolic of Ali’s appointment as successor.

(4) The Holy Prophet’s declaration at the time of the marriage of his daughter Fatima that, had there been no Ali he would have never wedded her to any one else, was an assertion symbolic of Ali’s unqualified merit. Virtuous above all other men, only he could be considered as a successor to the Holy Prophet.

(5) When the Holy Prophet built the first Mosque at Medina, his companions were allowed to build their own residential quarters around it but it was only Ali who was allowed to open the door of his house towards the Mosque; the Holy Prophet declaring that all the others should close the doors which opened towards it. That Ali was singled out for this favour shows the piety and esteem in which the Holy Prophet held him.” Did this not show” says the Shi’ite tradition,” how worthy Ali was for succession to the Caliphate?”

(6) Ali’s participation in all save one of the wars of the Holy Prophet, his heroic stand in duels, his love of Islam and his enthusiasm for its propagation clearly showed that no one else was as worthy to succeed the Holy Prophet.(7) Ali’s purge of the idols from the walls of the Kab’ah was significant in that the Holy Prophet made Ali his co-sharer in the divinely ordained task of the effacement of polytheism. The Holy Prophet’s significant move in making Ali stand on his shoulders with the seal of prophethood under his feet, was intended to show to the world at large that he designated him as his successor in the very House of God.

(8) The Holy Prophet’s injunction to Ali to go to Mecca at the time of pilgrimage and read out the contents of the “Declaration of Immunity” show that the Holy Prophet held him in greater esteem than he did Abu Bakr. Surah “al-Barat” was a divine command of God to Muhammad, who was expressly warned in it, either to go himself to the pilgrimage, or to depute a man who was his equal in rank to officiate in his place. This clearly showed that Ali was the only man chosen. for the successorship of Muhammad.

(9) In the “Mubahila” with the Christian of Najran, the Holy Prophet’s selection of Ali, his wife and two sons clearly proved that the Holy Prophet could not select a better man than Ali.

(10) Above all, the famous declaration at the valley of Khum now confirmed in plain words that which had, so far only been pointed out indirectly. The Shi’ite traditions dwell at length on this remarkably eloquent and enthusiastic address and assert that, after Muham- mad had appointed Ali as the “Moula” of the “Ummah” (Lord of the community), the question of the appointment of Muhammad’s successor by plebiscite of the people ought never to have arisen.

(11) The Shi’ite traditions further allege that to convene the assemblage of pilgrims in the burning heat of the midday sun, in the heart of a desert at Khum, merely to tell them that Ali was a friend of the Apostle of God, would have been an absurdity. The Holy Prophet’s friendship and relationship with Ali was well known to all and sundry. Hence the Holy Prophet’s words must have had a deeper meaning and the logicaldeduction is that the word “Moula” meant a “ruler”. Ever since the Declaration of Khum Ghadir, the Shias all the world over have celebrated its annual anniversary with the “Feast of Ghadir”, the most important of all the festivals of their creed. They commemorate the day by whitewashing their houses, illuminating them, holding banquets, and distributing alms to the poor, and sanctify it by holding “Majlis” in which their theologians deliver soul-stirring addresses. The extent of their religious enthusiasm and fervour may be deduced from the fact that for them the observance of the festival of “Khum Ghadir” is held to be superior to that of the Id-ul-Fitter, (the Id that falls after the month of Ramadan or Fasting).

The Sunnite Interpretation of “Khum Ghadir”

The Sunni or Traditionalists of Islam do not attach much importance to the “Oration of Khum Ghadir”. They hold that a major portion of this address is un- authentic, unreliable and a Fabrication of the Shi’ites. They even go so far as to say that it had its origins in a scandal associated with Ali’s missionary period in Ye- men and that the Holy Prophet was obliged to make these enthusiastic references to Ali in order to restore his much-damaged prestige. The Sunnis see the word “Moula” as no more than a re-assertion of Muham- mad’s friendship with Ali and maintain that the Holy Prophet never, at any time, indicated that the Caliphate should be confined to his line. On the contrary, they believe that the Holy Prophet left everything to the “Ummah” or community after his death, including the right of the community to determine the Caliphate by elective means.