Why do Shi’a Add Ashhadu anna ‘aliyyan waliyyullah” in the Call to Prayer?

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In adhan {call to prayer}, why do you say, “Ashhadu anna ‘aliyyan waliyyullah” {“I bear witness that ‘Ali is Wali of Allah”} and give testimony to the wilayah {guardianship} of ‘Ali (‘a)?

Reply: In order to reply to this question, let us consider the following points:

 

1. In their books on jurisprudence, all the Shi‘ah jurists {fuqaha} stress that to say: “I bear witness to the wilayah of ‘Ali (‘a)” is not part of adhan or iqamah, and no one has the right to say that it is part of any of the two.

 

2. From the viewpoint of the Qur’an, ‘Ali (‘a) is one of the awliya’, and the following verse explicitly points to his wilayah over the Muslims:

 

ï´¿ إِنَْمَا وَلِيُْكُمُ اللْهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَْذِينَ آمَنُواْ الَْذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَْلاَةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَْكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ ï´¾

“Your guardian is only Allah, His Apostle, and the faithful who maintain the prayer and give the zakat while bowing down.”[55]

 

The Sunni Sahihs and Musnads include narrations that highlight the fact that the noble verse was revealed to praise ‘Ali (‘a) who, while doing ruku‘ {bowing down in prayer}, gave his ring to a poor person.[56] When this verse which refers to ‘Ali (‘a) was revealed, Hassan ibn Thabit versified this event in the following poem:

 

راكع أنْتَ إِذْ أعْطَيْتَ الْذي فأنْتَ

راكِع خَيرَ يا القَومِ نَفُوسُ فَدَتْكَ

وِلايَةٍ خَيرَ الله فِيكَ فَأنْزَلَ

الشَْرايِع مُحْكَماتِ في و بينها

You are the one who donated, while doing ruku‘. May the souls of the folk be sacrificed to you, O the best of those who bow down!

Thus, God has sent down the best wilayah to you, and explained it through the decrees of the Shari‘ah.

 

3. The Holy Prophet (S) said:

 

.بالنْيات الأعمال إنَْما

 

“Verily, actions are (judged) by intention.”

 

Since the wilayah of ‘Ali (‘a) is one of the principles stipulated in the Qur’an, and the said phrase is not regarded as part of the adhan (or iqamah), what is wrong about uttering it alongside the testimony to the apostleship of the Prophet (S)?

 

Here, it is necessary to mention that if due to adding a sentence to adhan, the Shi‘ah must be castigated, how could the following two cases be justified?

 

1. Authentic historical references confirm that the following phrase:

 

الْعَمَلِ خَيرِ عَلىٰ حيْ

Hayya ‘ala khayr al-‘amal

“Come to the best of deeds”

was part of adhan,[57] but during the caliphate of the second caliph, this phrase was omitted under the pretext that when people hear the words “the best of deeds” they will think that praying is better than jihad and cease taking part in jihad. And things remained as such.[58]

 

2. The sentence,

 

النْومِ مِنَ خَيْرٌ ألصْلوة

As–salatu khayrun mina ’n-nawm

“Prayer is better than sleeping”

 

was not part of the adhan during the time of the Holy Prophet (S) but has been included therein later on,[59] and as such, in the book, Al-Umm, Imam ash-Shafi‘i says:

 

“.يذكره لم مَحْذورة أبا لأنَْ النَْوم من خيرٌ الصَْلوة الاذان في أكره”

 

It is not pleasing for me that we say in the adhan: ‘as–salatu khayrun mina ’n-nawm’ because Abu Mahdhurah (one of the narrators and muhaddithun) has not included it (in his compilation of hadiths).[60]

 

— taken from the book “The Shi’ah Rebuts” by Sayyid Rida’ Husayni Nasab. Written under the supervision of Ayatullah Ja’far Subhani

Notes:

 

[55] Surah al-Ma’idah 5:55.