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QA LXII [62] Sūrat al-Awliya' (The Surah of the Intimates) on Qur'an 12:61.

QAYYŪM AL-ASMĀ' 

 Part LXII

 [62]

  سورة الاولياء

Sūrat al-Awliya' (The Surah of the Intimates)

on Qur'an 12:61.  

 

Translation Stephen N. Lambden

1982-2016

[1]

بسم اللّه الرّحمن الرّحيم

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

[2]َ

"They said, 'We will solicit him of our father; that we will do.'" (Q. 12:59, trans. Arberry). 

[3]

كهيل

K-H-Y-L

[Abjad  30+5+10+40 = 86]

[4]  God  is He  who, no God is there except Him. And He is God who hath ever been All-knowing about everything (bi-kulli shay')

[5] 

O people of the earth!

Be ye powerfully upright/ supportive of the Religion of Justice (al-din al-qist). Testifying [as martyrs] (shuhada') before God unto the Dhikr (messianic Remembrance). Do not forbid yourselves of the Bounty of the Book (fadl al-kitab) for God hath indeed sent down therein all of whatsoever was in the greatest sacred scrolls [literatures] (suhuf al-akbar). Then ask of the Dhikr (messianic Remembrance) regarding his knowledge to the end that thou be, through the Bounty of God, the True One (al-haqq), knowledheable regarding the Dhikr.  

[6] 

O Thou Believers!

Fear ye God! and be supremely elevated by God, thy Lord. Be sincere about the Covenant (mithaq) and before the Greatest Remembrance (al-dhikr al-akbar). God hath indeed raised up [commissioned] on the part of the (messianic) Proof (al-hujjaj) twelve Wali (Intmates) for Himself! The people have no idea about their Bounty save whatsoever the (messianic) Dhikt hath bestowed upon them through this Bab (Gate). And God is well-informed about everything.   

[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [16] [17] [19] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]

The Bāb made fairly numerous uses of the terms walāya and walī. Central to his exegesis of various qiṣaṣ al‑anbiyā’ (Stories of the Prophets) episodes is his wilāya related treatment of the story of Adam and the angels in his early, highly imamologically oriented Tafsīr Sūrat al-Baqāra (Q. 2). The word walāya occurs about seven times in the Qayyūm al-asmā’. The Bāb titled Surah LXII (62) of his important Qayyūm al-asmā’, the Surah of the Chosen Authorities (al-awliyā’, sing. walī).Therein he states:

O thou believers!

Fear ye God and trust in God thy Lord! Be ye faithful regarding the Covenant (al-mīthaq) of the Greatest Dhikr [Remembrance] (a-dhikr al-akbar). God indeed commissioned as evidential proofs (min al-ḥujaj) twelver walīs [Imams] for His own Logos-Self. The people have no comprehension of their benevolence (faḍl) save what has been generated by the [messianic, occulted] Dhikr (Remembrance) by means of whatsoever this Gate (al-bāb) hath taught them. God hath forever been aware of all things (bikulli shay)."

Here the Bāb explicitly refers to himself as the locus of the benovelence of the twelve walīs or twelver Imams through the eschatological authority of the messianic Dhikr.

The Bāb and walāya theology and imamology concepts central within his Tafsir on the Surah `By the Declining Day’ (wa’l-asr) Qur’an 103, and elsewhere. The opening letter of this latter qur’anic Sūrah is the letter “w” (wāw), is, for the Bāb, the first letter of walāya. For the Bāb this letter “w” can represent key dimensions of walāya. Thus, commenting upon the letter “w” (al-wāw) in this Tafsīr Sūrat wa'l-`Aṣr he writes:
ADD

Among the further wilāya related concepts of the Bāb in the Tafsīr wa’l-aṣr are his imamological and alphabetical interpretations of the letter wāw (= walāya) ADD

 

(T.`Asr 69: 33ff on the 1st wāw = wilāyat al‑kulliyya...etc; 36f, 55f on letter 35 (=
wāw), etc).

In this important Arabic commentary the walāya phenomenon is also related to a hierarchy of its human embodiments, including eschatological worthies and the enlightened `ulamā’, the Shī`ī divines

… Now regrding the thirty-fifth letter [of this Sūrah, 103], the letter “W” (alwāw). It signifies the wilāya which was shattered by means of a trace of this walāya and which God [consequently] allotted unto the Nuqaba (Shī`ī Notables/ Nobles)

Bahā’-Allāh likewise made use of concepts of wilāya though these have yet to be investigated (e.g. L. Ḥurūfat, 74). Commenting upon the word "moon" in Q. 91:2 in his Tafsīr Sūrat al-shams (Commentary on the Sūrah of the Sun, Q. 91), Bahā’-Allāh has it indicate walāya.

 

Ultimately Bahā’ī wilāya was focussed in the its embodiment Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (1896-1957) as the (Per.) Valī‑ yi amr Allāh (Guardian of the [Bahā’ī] Cause of God’).For Bahā’īs the Walī / Valī is the title of the `Guardian of the Cause of God’ (Persian, valī-yi amr Allāh), the head of the Bahā’ī religion between 1921 and 1957 He was succeeded by the internationally elected Universal House of Justice (bayt al-`adl al-a`ẓam).