Hajj Dr. Nor‘Ali Tabandeh
(Majzoub ‘Alishah)
Bay’at literally means buying and selling, and
comes from the word bay‘, although it pertains to a specific type of
buying and selling. In the Qur’an, the following verse is specifically about bay’at,
in which God says:
(Verily, Allah has purchased from the
faithful their selves and their properties, and in return for them is the
Garden) (9:111).
This is itself a
transaction. In other verses of the Qur’an this transaction and commitment is
referred to as trade (Tejaraht). For example in verses 10 and 11 of Surah
al-Saff it says: (O you who believe! Shall I guide you to a trade
that will save you from a painful chastisement?/ Believe in Allah and His
Apostle, and strive in the way of Allah). Also in Surah Fatir verse 29 God
says: (Verily those who recite the Book of Allah and establish prayer and
spend out of what We have provided them with, secretly and openly, hope for a
trade that will never perish).
Types
of Bay’at
This
method of analogy has many instances in the Qur’an, but it should also be
observed that when an analogy is made, or something is used as a metaphor for
something else, these two things (vehicle and target) must not be similar in
every respect, but the general aspect is what is intended. For example, in the
Qur’an, Taqhva (piety) is likened to clothing, and it says: (and the
clothing of piety, that is the best) (7:26). Likewise, the wife has been
mentioned as clothing for her husband, and the husband as clothing for his
wife; and it says: (they are clothing for you and you are clothing for them)
(2:187).
In another place, (What? Does one of
you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? But you abhor it.) (49:12).
Therefore, this style is common in the Qur’an, and one cannot say that since it
makes no sense to consider bay’at as trade or a transaction, it should
be interpreted or defined as swearing allegiance (as will be discussed later).
In the beginning of Islam, since the
Prophet had not yet established a government in Mecca, and it was only the
spiritual doctrines of Islam that had been revealed, the Muslims there who
visited the Prophet and converted to the faith submitted to the prophecy of
Muhammad. Therefore, most of the verses of the Qur’an that were revealed in
Mecca refer to them as Muslims and believers. But when the Messenger went to
Medina, since he established a government there, many of the people, like the
hypocrites, apparently submitted to the government, but in their hearts they
were not Muslims. In reality, the bay’at obtained by the Prophet in
Medina differed from the bay’at of Mecca. So, there were two kinds of bay’at.
A.
Prophetic Bay’at
This was a bay’at by means of
which one submitted to the rules of the government, even if he had no firm
faith in Islam. For example, one might not have prayed or fasted, yet he could
submit to the government. In contemporary language, this was really a request
for citizenship. The acceptance of the bay’at by the Prophet was a sort
of granting of citizenship in the government of Islam to the new Muslim who
requested it. In reality, this was prophetic bay’at, and with its performance
and acceptance of Islam one was allowed to marry another Muslim and to inherit
[from a Muslim]. In the time of the Messenger, nobody’s Islam was accepted
without bay’at. After the liberation of Mecca, even Hind the Liver-eater made bay’at.
B.
Bay’at Walawiyyah
The other bay’at was the bay’at
of faith, which was considered different from the bay’at of Islam.
In fact, this bay’at was made with the aspect of the walayat of
the Prophet. Those who submitted to the prophecy of the Messenger in Mecca or
afterward (and submission in Medina implied submission to the government of the
Prophet), entered among the people of faith by this bay’at walawiyyah.
Of course, there was a group at that time who considered the prophecy of the
Messenger to be a criterion, and they imagined that the bay’at of Islam
was the same as acquiring faith. Hence, in the Surah Hujrat it says: (The
dwellers of the desert say: We believe. Say: You do not believe, but say: We
submit; and faith has not yet entered into your hearts).
From this, the
differentiation of Islam from faith becomes clear. Islam means submission to
the government, which is obtained by the verbal declaration of the two
testimonies, but faith pertains to the heart.
Following this matter, the Prophet is addressed by God: (They count it as a favor
to you that they have submitted. Say: Do not count your submission as a favor
to me, nay, rather God confers a favor on you, in that He guided you to faith,
if it be that you are truthful.) From this verse it is clear that Islam precedes faith, that is, there
can be no faith without Islam, while Islam without faith is possible. Of
course, at the end of this verse it says, (if it be that you are truthful).
In another place, (What? Does one of
you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? But you abhor it.) (49:12).
Therefore, this style is common in the Qur’an, and one cannot say that since it
makes no sense to consider bay’at as trade or a transaction, it should
be interpreted or defined as swearing allegiance (as will be discussed later).
In the beginning of Islam, since the
Prophet had not yet established a government in Mecca, and it was only the
spiritual doctrines of Islam that had been revealed, the Muslims there who
visited the Prophet and converted to the faith submitted to the prophecy of
Muhammad. Therefore, most of the verses of the Qur’an that were revealed in
Mecca refer to them as Muslims and believers. But when the Messenger went to
Medina, since he established a government there, many of the people, like the
hypocrites, apparently submitted to the government, but in their hearts they
were not Muslims. In reality, the bay’at obtained by the Prophet in
Medina differed from the bay’at of Mecca. So, there were two kinds of bay’at.
A.
Prophetic Bay’at
This was a bay’at by means of
which one submitted to the rules of the government, even if he had no firm
faith in Islam. For example, one might not have prayed or fasted, yet he could
submit to the government. In contemporary language, this was really a request
for citizenship. The acceptance of the bay’at by the Prophet was a sort
of granting of citizenship in the government of Islam to the new Muslim who
requested it. In reality, this was prophetic bay’at, and with its performance
and acceptance of Islam one was allowed to marry another Muslim and to inherit
[from a Muslim]. In the time of the Messenger, nobody’s Islam was accepted
without bay’at. After the liberation of Mecca, even Hind the Liver-eater
made bay’at.
B.
Bay’at Walawiyyah
The other bay’at
was the bay’at of faith, which was considered different from the bay’at
of Islam. In fact, this bay’at was made with the aspect of the walayat
of the Prophet. Those who submitted to the prophecy of the Messenger in
Mecca or afterward (and submission in Medina implied submission to the
government of the Prophet), entered among the people of faith by this bay’at
walawiyyah. Of course, there was a group at that time who considered the
prophecy of the Messenger to be a criterion, and they imagined that the bay’at
of Islam was the same as acquiring faith. Hence, in the Surah Hujrat
it says: (The dwellers of the desert say: We believe. Say: You do not
believe, but say: We submit; and faith has not yet entered into your hearts). From this, the differentiation of Islam
from faith becomes clear. Islam means submission to the government, which is
obtained by the verbal declaration of the two testimonies,
but faith pertains to the heart.
Following this matter, the Prophet is addressed by God: (They count it as a favor
to you that they have submitted. Say: Do not count your submission as a favor to
me, nay, rather God confers a favor on you, in that He guided you to faith, if
it be that you are truthful.) From this verse it is clear that Islam precedes faith, that is, there
can be no faith without Islam, while Islam without faith is possible. Of course,
at the end of this verse it says, (if it be that you are truthful).
That is, if you are
truthful in becoming Muslims, not that you have become Muslims because of fear
of the government. Considering these observations, one should note that in the time
of the Prophet, the bay’at of faith was separate from the bay’at to
the government, but after the passing away of the Prophet, the bay’at of
faith was due to the walayat of ‘Ali, and none of the other ‘rightly
guided caliphs’ claimed to take such a bay’at.
However, during the Ummayid and Abbasid periods, since for the most part they
did not believe from the depths of their hearts, they did not differentiate
these two important kinds of bay’at from one another, and hence, they
imagined that bay’at was only for the sake of governing. Therefore, if they had noticed that our Imams were taking bay’at,
the lives of the Imams would have been in danger.
The Continuation of the
bay’at of Faith in the Time of the Pure Imams (‘a)
The Imams (‘a) appointed
some people to take bay’ at
for them. For example, Hazrat Sajjad (‘a) gave license to his uncle,
Muhammad Hanafiyyah, to take bay’at for him. This practice continued
throughout the period of the Shi’ia Imams, and the Imams, who considered bay’at
to be obligatory for the believers, usually took bay’at in secret
through their representatives.
In this way we see how bay’at
became legitimated in Islam. As appears from the verse of the bay’at of
women, (O Prophet! When believing women come to you making bay’at on
the terms that they will not associate anything with God and will not steal,
neither commit adultery, nor slay their children nor bring a calumny they forge
between their hands and their feet, nor disobey you in anything honorable,...)
(60:12), and from the previously mentioned verse, (Verily, Allah has
purchased from the faithful...)(9:111), in these bay’ats one commits
oneself to religious affairs and selling one’s life and property. It is not
merely, as some have imagined, for
jihad and war, for jihad was prohibited for women even though the practice of bay’at
for women continued.
In the history of Islam, even those who
neglected the bay’at of faith took the bay’at of Islam or
governmental bay’at, and no abrogation of bay’at has been
narrated. Hence, the precept of bay’at must also be practiced now.
It has already been said that in the time
of the Imams (‘a), they themselves or their representatives took bay’at.
In the time of the twelfth Imam, the duty of the four deputies (nuwwab
arba‘ah)
was only that
they were intermediaries for the exoteric relations between the Shi’ia and the
Imam. For example, since they had been told and knew the place of residence of
the Imam, they took letters that the Shi’ia wrote and delivered them to him,
obtained his replies and returned these to them. These four individuals
themselves never claimed to take bay’at, nor has it been written in any
book that they took it. The responsibility for the practice of taking bay’at
in this period for the Imam was given to Sheikh Junayd Baghdadi.
The Continuation of the
bay’at of Faith in the Time of the Pure Imams (‘a)
The Imams (‘a)
appointed some people to take bay’ at for them. For example, Hazrat Sajjad (‘a)
gave license to his uncle, Muhammad Hanafiyyah, to take bay’at for him.
This practice continued throughout the period of the Shi’ia Imams, and the
Imams, who considered bay’at
to be obligatory for the believers, usually took bay’at in secret
through their representatives.
In this way we see how bay’at
became legitimated in Islam. As appears from the verse of the bay’at of
women, (O Prophet! When believing women come to you making bay’at on
the terms that they will not associate anything with God and will not steal,
neither commit adultery, nor slay their children nor bring a calumny they forge
between their hands and their feet, nor disobey you in anything honorable,...)
(60:12), and from the previously mentioned verse, (Verily, Allah has
purchased from the faithful...)(9:111), in these bay’ats one commits
oneself to religious affairs and selling one’s life and property. It is not
merely, as some have imagined, for
jihad and war, for jihad was prohibited for women even though the practice of bay’at for women continued.
In the history of Islam, even those who
neglected the bay’at
of faith took the bay’at of Islam or governmental bay’at, and no abrogation of bay’at has been narrated. Hence, the precept of bay’at must also be practiced now.
It has already been said that in the time
of the Imams (‘a), they themselves or their representatives took bay’at. In the time of the twelfth Imam, the
duty of the four deputies (nuwwab arba‘ah) was only that they were intermediaries
for the exoteric relations between the Shi’ia and the Imam. For example, since
they had been told and knew the place of residence of the Imam, they took
letters that the Shi’ia wrote and delivered them to him, obtained his replies
and returned these to them. These four individuals themselves never claimed to
take bay’at,
nor has it been written in any book that they took it. The responsibility for
the practice of taking bay’at in
this period for the Imam was given to Sheikh Junayd Baghdadi.
The explanation of the
matter is that after the time of Hazrat Reza (the eighth Shi’ia Imam) the
strangulation of the Shi’ia intensified.
Hazrat Reza
himself gave permission for taking bay’at to his doorkeeper, Ma‘ruf
Karkhi. He also allowed him to appoint whoever he saw fit to succeed him
(Ma‘ruf) after informing and being granted the permission of the Imam.
Ma‘ruf Karkhi appointed
Sari Saqati who was thus given approval by the Imam. Sari Saqati also was given
the same permission, and he appointed Junayd Baghdadi. The latter also had this
license. After the occultation, the twelfth Imam gave Junayd permission to
appoint his (Junayd’s) successor. He exercised this permission. Hence, the bay’at
of faith was not abrogated, and the successors of Junayd, in fact, are the
indirect representatives of the Imam, who take bay’at. Of course, all
the chains of permission are technically termed ‘chains of the saints’ or
‘chains of Sufism’ [Sufi orders], and there are various orders, which claim to
be connected to the Imams. However, the soundness of these connections—in the
view of us Shi’ia—must be investigated and researched, for orders that do not
go back to the Imams have gaps in their chains of permission.
Since it is not clear that all the orders
that claim to go back to the Imams are not without gaps in their chains of
permission, one who has accepted these premises and the above mentioned theory
is obliged to investigate and research the different orders, and those who
consider themselves to be heads of the orders, to discover which chain of
permission goes back to the Imams (‘a) without interruption. Then he should
acknowledge the order or orders that probably are connected to the Imams.
Of course, in the bay’at
of faith, this contact of hands has taken place in a special fashion. Where
God says (the hand of Allah is over their hands) (48:11), it is addressed to
the Prophet, that (those who make bay’at with you really make bay’at with
God) (48:11). However, since God is not corporeal or material—so that one could
make bay’at with Him directly—He obtains bay’at through His Messenger,
namely, the Prophet and his successors. In fact He wants to say that in the two
hands that touch, the hand of God also is among them. This is what is intended
by the expression (the hand of Allah is over their hands).
The Misunderstanding of Some
Orientalists
Before Islam, the
practice of bay’at of faith was customary in all the divine religions,
although in every epoch it had a particular form. For example, when Jesus (‘a)
went to John (‘a) to be baptized, John—who was aware of the future status of
Jesus (‘a)—said, ‘I am the one who should be baptized by you, because this is
the requirement of the present time. After being baptized, according to the
instructions of John (‘a), he started ascetic practices and became a prophet.
According to what has
been explained, those who do not believe in the bay’at of faith,
consider bay’at to be only political, and since the latter is held to be
presently precluded, they take it to be completely invalid.
Another point is that
since the Orientalists and Islamicists cannot easily understand the word bay’at,
which originally meant buying and selling, in the sense of a faith
commitment in which one sells his soul and property to God to attain heaven,
some of the translators of the
Qur’an avoid taking bay’at in this sense. They have translated this
term with other words, which usually mean taking an oath or promising to do
something. For example, in the translations of the Qur’an into French by Regis
Blachere and Edward Montet it has been translated into serment d’allegeance and
jurer allegeance, meaning to pledge allegiance; however, pledging
allegiance is the action of a single party while bay’at requires two
parties. Accordingly, God says to the Prophet (s), (O Prophet! When believing
women come to you to make bay’at...) (60:12), at the end of the verse He
says, (make bay’at with them and ask forgiveness for them...). It
appears from this verse that bay’at also has a party that accepts it,
and it is not like a pledge that only requires a single agent.
Negligence of the true meaning of bay’at has given rise to the
same sort of mistake, even on the part of those who are expert in Islamic
issues, but who are not aware of their spiritual subtleties, such as Professor
Hamidullah, who has translated the Qur’an into French. He translated the word bay’at
as jurer fidelite, meaning a pledge of fidelity.
Apparently, the English translators of the Qur’an have fallen into the
same trap. Arberry has used the expression ‘to swear fealty’, Pikthall ‘to
swear allegiance’, and finally, in the translation of Yusuf Ali the expression
‘plight one’s fealty’ is used. All these expressions more or less have the
sense of promising loyalty.
Recently, I
have seen that in some books the word ‘initiation’ is used for bay’at. Although this word is similar to ‘ceremonies’ and
‘customs’, such as purity of the body or clothes, etc., which may be observed
along with bay’at, nevertheless ‘initiation’ differs from bay’at. In
general, it may be said that the word bay’at, like the word walayat, has no synonym
in European languages, and the word bay’at itself should be employed.
Recently, I
have seen that in some books the word ‘initiation’ is used for bay’at. Although this word is similar to ‘ceremonies’ and ‘customs’,
such as purity of the body or clothes, etc., which may be observed along with bay’at,
nevertheless ‘initiation’ differs from bay’at. In general, it may be
said that the word bay’at, like the word walayat, has no
synonym in European languages, and the word bay’at itself should be
employed.
