Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah also proposes another word...

Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah also proposes another word: فقول القائل علي ولي كل مؤمن بعدي كلام يمتنع نسبته إلى النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم فإنه إن أراد الموالاة لم يحتج ان يقول بعدي و إن أراد الإمارة كان ينبغي أن يقول وال على كل مؤمن Therefore, the statement of the speaker “’Ali is the wali of every believer after me”, it is a statement that cannot be attributed to the Prophet, peace be upon him.

This is because if he had intended friendship, he did not need to say “after me”, and if he intended authority, he was supposed to say: walin over every believer. ^4 According to Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, the use of wali (ولي) to mean “master” is a serious linguistic blunder. Rather, the correct word is wali (والي). Alternatively, the word walin (وال) should be used, but immediately coupled with “over”.

Interestingly, Shaykh al-Albani agrees with him: فالحديث ليس فيه دليل البتة على أن عليا رضي الله عنه هو الأحق بالخلافة من الشيخين كما تزعم الشيعة لأن الموالاة غير الولاية التي هي بمعنى الإمارة، فإنما يقال فيها: والي كل مؤمن. هذا كله من بيان شيخ الإسلام وهو قوي متين كما ترى There is no proof at all in the hadith that ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, was more deserving of the khilafah (succession to the Prophet) than the two Shaykhs (i.e. Abu Bakr and ‘Umar) as the Shi’ah claim.

This is because friendship is different from the wilayah which means authority. In the latter, one only says: wali of every believer. All of this is from the explanations of Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyyah), and it is extremely strong as you can see.[^5] But, how can it be strong at all when it is only a fallacious submission? As indicated by Hans Wehr – a neutral party – wali (ولي) also means “master”! Moreover, ‘Allamah al-Albani has misrepresented the Shi’ah position.

Rather, they assert that Imam ‘Ali was the only legitimate ruler of the Muslim world immediately after the death of the Messenger of Allah, on the strength of this hadith ! This is different from saying that he was more deserving of the succession than others. In the view of the Shi’ah, others do not deserve it at all; and it was not open for competition. So, the question of comparison does not even arise!

Contrary to the absurd claims of both Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah and ‘Allamah al-Albani, the word wali (ولي) is actually the most common – of the three words – in references to authority and power. In fact, it has been used in that sense in several places in the Qur’an! The Shi’i mufassir , Shaykh al-Tabarsi (d.