بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
و الصلاة و السلام على أشرف المرسلين
و على اله و اصحابه أجمعين
We will attempt in this modest article to address the question of the bay’a, pact or also called “Pledge of allegiance”. This subject is little known to the whole of the oummah and its importance is,wrongly, underestimated.
In order to place the importance of bay’a for the Muslim, we can quote the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ more than explicit: “Everyone who dies without having contracted a Pact (bay’a) dies from a pre-Islamic (jâhiliya) death” [Muslim].
These words are enough to demonstrate the importance of bay’a in the life of the Muslim. It is also surprising to see how much this duty is neglected by a majority of the oummah and on the contrary, constitutes a foundation among the taçawwuf people.
It is at first legitimate to ask why such importance is placed in the bay’a. And then, ask what are the characteristics that make up the genuine pact. Indeed, it goes without saying that if the Prophet ﷺ warns us of such importance of this pact, ﷺ also warns us of how to recognize the authentic pact.
First of all, why is bay’a so important?
To answer this question, we need to refer to the Quran in which Allah ﷻ says: “Those who pledge allegiance to you are pledging allegiance to Allah: Allah’s hand is above their hands. Whoever violates the oath, violates it only to his own detriment; And whoever fulfills his pledge to Allah, He will soon bring him a great reward.” [S48.v10].
Let us stop for a moment on this verse … First of all, the verse does not mention the Prophet ﷺ in order to emphasize his complete timelessness. Then, this verse shows the weight of this pact in the balance, whoever takes the pact, will take it directly with Allah.
But how does the pact contracted with a person can be a pact contracted with Allah?
To understand this, we must refer to the hadith of the Waliy. This Hadîth of extreme importance was chosen by the Imam an-Nawawiy (rahimahuLah) in his collection of the 40 Hadîths, which regrouped the essential foundations of religion, just as the Imam ach-Shawkâniy (rahimahuLah) devoted a book to it that he called “qatru l-waliy bicharhi hadîthi l-waliy”, as well as Imam as-Suyoûtiy (rahimahuLah) in his book “al-qawlu l-jaliy fī hadîthi l-waliy”.
The part of the hadith that interests us in order to understand the verse is this: “(…). And My servant will not cease to draw near to Me by the supererogatory acts until I love Him; And when I love him, I will be his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes and his foot with which he walks. (…)” [Saheeh al-Bukhâriy].
After reading this, it becomes more clear about how it is possible to take a pact with man and, at the same time, take a pact with Allah ﷻ. The waliy being the one that has been brought closer to the point that Allah has become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes and his foot with which he walks.
It is obvious that our Beloved Prophet ﷺ had reached this degree because every Prophets is necessarily a Saint (Waliy), the reverse is not always true … This degree of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is described in the Qur’an, in particular, when Allah ﷻ says: “…And when you launched, it was not you who launched: but Allah launched…” [S8 V17].
In other words, the bay’a, the pact will be passed with Allah only if this man is a Waliy completely realized according to the aforementioned hadith. If the shaykh in question is not a waliy, it will be only a pact with a man like any other and in no case can it be considered as a pact with Allah.
What we have just stated is also confirmed in the Qur’an word for word when Allah ﷻ says: “Allah is the waliy of those who have faith: He brings them out of the darkness to the Light.” [Surat al-Baqara, verse 257].
And the verse in Arabic says “الله ولي” or “Allāhu Walīy”. There is no word (veil) between the Ism “Allah” and the word “Waliy” which is an indication of the rapprochement between the Waliy and Allah as it is also mentioned in the hadith. After these few explanations, it is easier for us to understand the importance of the bay’a and the conditions of the taking of the pact with Allah ta’ala. In this same reading, we can more easily understand this warning of Allah in this verse and this, of course, without houloûl or ittihâd (without reunion or unification or mixture of the Creator with His creation!): “Say:Who is the Lord of heavens and earth? Answer: “Allah! Say again:”Will you take apart from Him awliya which can not by themselves be useful or harmful? “. Adds: “Is the blind one is like the one who sees? Or is the darkness equal the Light? Or may it be that they give to God associates capable of create like Him, so that for them their creation is confused with His? Say: “God is the Creator of all things; He is the One, the supreme Dominator! “[S13 V 16].
In these two verses, the characteristics of the Waliy are clearly described: “He brings them out of darkness to the Light.”
It’s following this that we can now adress the second question; what are the characteristics that make up the genuine pact?
For this we must, as always, refer to the Qur’an, in which Allah ﷻ says: “Allah certainly accepted the believers when they took the oath of allegiance under the tree. He knew what was in their hearts, and sent down peace on them, and rewarded them with a near Fath. “[Surat al-Fath, verse 18].
We see in this verse that the approval of the pact of the believers by Allah under the Tree of the silsila is conjoined to the descent of as sakina in the heart and a “near (fast) Fath”. The Fath is described by our Beloved Prophet ﷺ in this hadith: “The Prophet ﷺ was asked” how does the breast open to Islam? He said, “When the Light enter the heart, the breast widens and opens (infataha!)” They asked, “Is there a sign to recognize this?” He said, “This sign is the languor of the abode of eternity, the diversion of the abode of illusion and the preparation to meet death before death.” [Reported by al-Hakim in his mustadrak, by al Bayhaqiy in Al asma ‘was sifat with a mursal chain].
Again, here we see the link between Allah, Waliy, Light and the pact. This may seem surprising at first and one may wonder why this Light is recurrent when it comes to the Waliy and the pact. The answer to this is simply that this Light is the Iman itself, in accordance with the words of the Prophet ﷺ: “The Iman is a Light which Allah places in the heart of His believing servant;increases and diminishes according to the performance of good works” [reported by ibn ‘Abbas].
The confirmation that this pact was indeed taken with a Waliy under the Tree of the Silsila and thus taken with Allah is the Vision of that Light of the Iman whose description is made in the Qur’an:“His light is like a niche in which a lamp is placed, the lamp is in a crystal vessel, and this one is like a star of great brightness, and its fuel comes from a blessed tree.” It should be noted that this verse of the Tree is also mentioned as if to well signify the link between the two verses, for those who reason …
The importance of this pact is now even better understood. It is through this pact that the muslim will receive the Iman, the deposit. Receiving the iman in a handshake with a Waliy, here is the authentic pact! This is clearly explained by the Prophet (sws) that the deposit, al-iman is transmitted following the bay’a (to the pact): “(…) Man sleeps deep, and then The deposit is removed from his heart, leaving in it a trace like a cloud. Then he falls asleep again, and this trace is withdrawn, leaving only a mark that an embers would have made by falling on your leg, a kind of blister that you believe prominent although in truth it is empty … People will then take bay’a (commitments) towards each other, but praticaly none of them will transmit the deposit. It will be said then: there is undoubtedly in the tribe such a man amin (word sharing the root of amana … that is to say a man capable of transmitting the deposit). It will be said about this man: How sensible and knowing what he does! Who is more perfectly honest than he is! Who has endured and waited for so many trials! … while there is not in his heart even a single atom of faith …”[al-Bukhariy and Muslim].
In conclusion, we can say that the pact with a Waliy is essential for the Muslim because this one will allow him to reach the degree of the Iman. As a sincere Muslim he should refer to the Quran and the Sunnah to determine the terms of the authentic pact which are explained in detail as we have just shown in this modest article. Without these modalities fulfilled, he will have to consider this pact as invalid and in any case he can consider it as an oath of allegiance with Allah.
Al-Wartajabiy (radiAllahu ‘anhu) says of the verse: “They want to extinguish with their mouths the Allah’s Light, whereas Allah only wants to complete His Light, whatever repulsion the disbelievers may have.” “It was said of this verse that it was dealing with those who relied on beings who were like them, and who would have asked for knowledge of the True by other means than those established. The Allah’s Paths are however clear, for those whose eyes have been made up by the Light of the tawfiq, and who have thus been able to perceive the paths leading to the spiritual realization (tahqîq).
As for the one who has been blinded from it, he will be rejected from the Way of the Haqq and will follow the perdition ways of the creatures. These people are reprimanded and sermonized for their ignorance of the people of the Haqiqa. They rely on the people of the blind follow-up (taqlîd) and have fallen far from the ranks of the Tawhîd. Such is the status of those who follow and imitate the adepts of the make-up among the people of as-salous, those people who dress themselves up with machaykh and spiritually realized Knowers (arifin moutahaqqiqin) appearances.
Such is the status of those who place themselves behind people that this world reunite, those who say, “We are sons of Machaykh and we are the leaders of the Tariqa! ”
In reality, Allah make laughing the time for their ignorance, they who imagine that Holiness is inherited by kinship.Unpleasant to Allah that he who has never tasted the flavor of the Arrival in His Presence (wisal), given that his heart remains hanging on other than Him, be considered of the number of saints! ”
Al-Juneyd (radiAllahu ‘anhu) also says in this connection: “If Allah wants good for the murid, He guides him to the companionship of the Sufis and shelters him from the companionship of the people who study the books.
With regard to the latter, if they content themselves with highlighting their status (of scientist) and devote their time to gathering the things of this world, without relying entirely on the Saints nor trying to make collapse their reputation and fame … this would be enough for them as misfortune (in the afterlife).
But if, on top of that, they allow themselves to denigrate the sincere Knowers (arifin), know that Allah said to them: “They want to extinguish with their mouths the Light of Allah, while Allah Only wishes to complete His light, whatever repulsion the unbelievers may have.”
How could the dust of their presumptions extinguish the Lights of the Sun of the Divine Attributes? Lights emanating from the front of their faces and their radiant cheeks. Their foundation is firmly anchored in the cosmos of the Uniqueness and in the heavens of the persistence by Him.
Their Light is added to the Light, because Allah ﷻ is unlimited, and His Attributes are also unlimited.”
[Al-bahr al-madid fi tafsir al-Qur’an al-majid – ibn ‘Ajiba]
It is therefore after having contracted the authentic pact with a Waliy of Allah that the person can claim to have realized the injunction of Allah “And follow the way of those who return to Me” [Surah Luqman, v15]. This return referred to here refers to the return to Allah and to the Shouyoukhs of tarbiya Muhammadiya having reached the noblest degrees of this return to Allah by the exiting of the darkness of the ego and of that which is nothing but nothingness for return to the original Light.
May Allah keep us in the Love of His Awliya, forgive us our failures and save us from ourselves.
