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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Master and Mastership Chapter 2: Two Kinds of Wala’ The Holy Qur'an has talked much of Wala’ , Muwalat and Tawalla (friendship and cooperation). This Celestial Book has discussed a number of questions under these headings. A thorough study of the Holy Qur'an indicates that from the Islamic point of view there are two kinds of Wala’ ; negative and positive i.e.

on the one hand the Muslims have been asked not to accept one kind of Wala’ and to refrain from it, and on the other hand they have been asked to observe another kind of Wala’ . The positive Wala’ enjoined by Islam has two forms; general and special. Again the special form of Wala’ is further subdivided into several categories; Wala’ of Love, Wala’ of Imamate, Wala’ of Leadership and Wala’ of Control. Now we take up each of them briefly.

Negative Wala’ The Holy Qur'an has strictly warned the Muslims against accepting the friendship or tutelage of the non-Muslims. This does not mean that Islam is in any way against the Muslims having good relations with the fellow human beings or it exhorts them to be always hostile to the non-Muslims and not to do any good to them.

The Holy Qur'an expressly says: " Allah does not forbid you to show kindness or to deal justly with those who did not fight against you on account of your religion and did not drive you out from your homes. Surely Allah does not love the unjust people " (Mumtahina, 60: 8) Islam does not say that good fellowship should be exclusively confined to the Muslims or that a Muslim should not be philanthropic to others.

How could a religion, which, in the words of the Qur'an, has described its Prophet as a blessing to all the worlds, say that? Actually the idea is that the Muslims must never be unmindful of the designs of the enemy despite his claim of friendship. They should always be vigilant and should not take the pretensions of the enemy on their face value. A Muslim must regard himself as a member of the Muslim body politic and a part of the whole.

To be a member of a particular society automatically imposes certain conditions and limits. The non-Muslims being members of a different society, the relations of the Muslims with them must be such as may not be incompatible with their being members of their own society. They should in no way jeopardize their own independence and integrity. Hence the relations of a Muslim with the non-Muslims cannot be similar to those which he has with the fellow Muslims.