The Foundations of Islamic Society as Expressed by the Qur'anic Term mawlā / ‫أسس‬

‫المجتمع الإسلامي كما تعبر عنها كلمة "مولى" في القرآن‬

Author(s): Elizabeth Urban and ‫اليزاببث أوربان‬
Source: Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 2013, Vol. 15, No. 1, IN MEMORIAM: Professor
Tammam Hassan 1918–2011 / ‫&تمام حسان‬lrm; 2011-1918 (2013), pp. 23-45
Published by: Edinburgh University Press on behalf of the Centre for Islamic Studies
at SOAS

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24280405

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Edinburgh University Press and are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Journal of Qur'anic Studies

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society as
Expressed by the Qur'anic Term mawlâ
Elizabeth Urban

University of Chicago

Introduction

The mawâlï - freed slaves, foreign converts and other outsiders who joined the
Islamic community by becoming the clients of Arabian tribal patrons - were key
players in the first few centuries of Islamic history. Scholars have long noted that the
mawâlï participated in political revolts, religious movements, Islamic scholarship,
translation projects and other activities that influenced Islamic society in direct and
active ways.1 Yet, the term mawlà itself remains difficult to define: the term is usually
translated as 'client' or 'freedman', but it can also mean 'patron', 'kinsman', 'ally',
'friend', 'convert', 'non-Arab Muslim' or several of these things at once. Because
of this range and flexibility of meaning, I suggest that by looking at how the term
mawlâ/mawâlï is deployed in different settings, we can better understand the dynamic
expressions of belonging, group affiliation and self-identification in early Islamic
history.2 In this article, I examine how the Qur'an uses the term mawlâ/mawâlï, in
order to reveal two things: (i) how the Qur'an uses the term to express a particular
vision of society and its salient social identities, and (ii) how this Qur'anic elaboration
of the term mawlâ lays the foundations for early Islamic walâ3 ('clientage'); not only
does it transform the Arabian tribal concept of walâ3 into an Islamic concept, but it
also introduces some of the complexities, ambiguities and competing social identities
that the early Islamic mawâlï would navigate as they attempted find their place within
the Islamic umma.

Understanding the meaning of mawlâ in the Qur'an is a difficult task, for the text
never explicitly defines the term, and it clearly means different things in different
contexts. To reveal the contours of the Qur'anic term mawlâ, this article takes two
distinct methodological approaches. The first tactic is to investigate how the word
mawlâ relates to other variations of its Arabic root w-l-y. This task will provide an
overall picture of the semantic network created by the root w-l-y and will demonstrate

Journal of Qur'anic Studies 15.1 (2013): 23-45

Edinburgh University Press
DOI: 10.3366/jqs.2013.0076
© Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS
www.euppublishing.com/jqs

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 24 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

how the word mawlâ fits into that network.3 The second t
co-textual reading of the Qur'an, using the surrounding verses
the meaning of the term mawlâ.4 I argue that the Qur'an gener
mawlâ/mawâlï as a designation of the bonds of help, support an
the Islamic umma as a truly functional faith community. How
within the Islamic umma are not necessarily equal; Q. 33:5
simultaneously to affirm the bonds between all Muslims a
possibility of different social categories and identities within t
analysis on Q. 33:5 particularly, for I view it as foundational for
walâ° and the position of the early Islamic mawâlï (although I
term mawâlï in Q. 33:5 refers to clients per se, as it is sometim
By connecting the term mawâlï to the creation of the umma's s
that the Qur'an - and Q. 33:5 in particuar - establishes both th
ambivalence of the term mawlâ as a designation of social iden
history.

In pursuing these two forms of analysis, I build on previous scholarship on the word
mawlâ/mawâlï in the Qur'an. The best scholarly sources on Qur'anic mawâlï are
A.J. Wensinck's article 'Mawlâ' in the second edition Encyclopaedia of Islam,6
Sebastian Giinther's article 'Clients and Clientage' in the Encyclopaedia of the
Qur°ân, and Elsaid Badawi and Muhammad Abdel Haleem's treatment of the root
w-l-y in their Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur'anic Usage.7 Yet, these encyclopaedia
and dictionary entries are quite brief and do not tie the Qur'anic treatment of the term
mawlâ to broader concepts such as genealogy and law, nor do they investigate the
term's importance as an expression of social identity or link the Qur'anic text to later
Islamic history. In fact, despite the Qur'an's value as a historical source, scholarship
on the early Islamic mawâlï has largely overlooked the Qur'an. No major work of
scholarship on the mawâlï - including Goldziher's Muslim Studies, Crone's Roman
Provincial and Islamic Law and Juda's 'Die sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Askpekte
der Mawâlï in frirhislamischer Zeit' - presents an extended discussion of mawâlï in
the Qur'an or discusses the Qur'an's influence on later developments of the concept.8
This state of affairs is perhaps due to the controversies over the dating and structural
integrity of the Qur'anic text raised by John Wansbrough in 1977 and adopted
by members of the so-called 'sceptical' school. However, the field of Qur'anic
studies has lately turned back towards the Qur'an as a historical document, arguing
convincingly for its early provenance and its coherence as a text.10 Thus, this article
aims to integrate the Qur'anic text into the historical study of the early Islamic mawâlï.
While the ultimate goal of this analysis is to understand how the Qur'anic term
mawâlï reveals the social contours of the earliest Islamic umma - thus laying the
conceptual foundations for the social class known as the mawâlï - it also sheds new
light on some of the semantic, literary and thematic features of the Qur'anic text itself.

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 25

Setting the Semantic Stage: The Arabic Root w-l-y in the Qur'an

To understand the term mawlâ in the Qur'an, it must be viewed in contex

of a coherent discourse, rather than as a heap of unconnected attestations.
this section will first give some general information on the root w-l-y as
the Qur'an, providing a sense of overarching semantic context. It will th
the word mawlà, in specific, fits into this context. This exercise is not
mere intellectual curiosity, but is rather fuelled by the Qur'an's language
exist certain sentence constructions that seem to use various w-l-y
interchangeably, and other areas where several variations of a w-l-y root w
in close proximity to one another.11 That is, variations of the root seem
together to create a coherent semantic network. I argue that, taken as a who
w-l-y connotes the most fundamental bonds of mutual aid and support
a functional community; I call such social bonds 'w-l-y bonds' throughout
Thus, the root as a whole helps reveal the true importance for the term
expression of communal identity based on shared social bonds.

Previous scholars have rightly pointed out that mawlà theoretically deriv
verb waliya, which means 'to be near'.12 However, this Form I verb only
in the Qur'an and is never found in direct relation to the word mawlà}3 R
verb forms that are connected with mawlà in the Qur'an are Forms II an
and tawallâ - which mean literally 'to turn (toward or away from)'.14 F
literal meanings come the more figurative ideas of offering and accept
allegiance and friendship (turning toward), and shunning or refusing supp
away). For instance, the positive aspect of the word tawallâ is expressed
Ο you who believe, do not turn in friendship and support (là tatawallaw
people with whom God is angry ... Alternatively, the negative aspect is
Q. 64:6, That is because their messengers came to them with clear [mess
they said, 'will a human lead us?' and they disbelieved and withdrew th
(fa-kafarû wa-tawallaw) ... Unlike the verbal forms, nominal forms such
and wall (pl. awliyâ') always express the positive, supportive aspect o
Moreover, all variations of the w-l-y root are often accompanied by word
aid or benefit, derived from such roots as n-s-r, gh-n-y and z-f-r.is Thu
basic characteristics of the w-l-y root in the Qur'an indicate that there is an
unbreakable connection between the root and the concept of help and sup

Furthermore, the Qur'an provides evidence about the specific types

support indicated by the root w-l-y, the verbs walla and tawallâ (here in t
sense of 'to turn away and withdraw support') are connected to a whole
social interactions and support types. First, these verbs are often associ
military aid, as in Q. 8:15, Ο you who believe, when you meet those who
[military] ranks, do not turn your backs to them (fa-là tuwalluhum

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 26 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

Secondly, the word tawallâ seems to indicate a renunciation of

and charity that should cement a community together. For in
the Children of Israel for turning back (tawallaytum) on thei
This covenant stipulated not only that they should believe in God
be kind to parents, relatives, orphans and the needy; speak kin
uphold the prayer and pay the zakât-alms. Thus, by turning awa
only their faith, but also their ties to their family and communit
tawallâ is sometimes associated with the phrase 'to wreak havo
fi'l-ard or similar variations), as in Q. 3:63, If they turn away
is aware of the havoc-wreakers (al-mufsidin). This conjunction
'wreaking havoc' paints a picture of social disorder, including th
and livestock (Q. 2:205) and the severing of ties of kinship (Q. 4
to maintain positive w-l-y ties within the umma is to maintai
destroy w-l-y ties is to destroy social order.

In addition to the types of social support indicated by the roo

seems to have an important connection to the idea of kinship. In
Qur'an defines w-l-y ties most clearly in passages that rewrite th
w-l-y ties, kinship ties and religious ties.18 When it comes to t
of the Islamic umma - leaving aside for the moment the quest
structure of the community - the Qur'an breaks the connecti
kinship ties and social w-l-y ties. In three verses, the Qur'an c
cut off w-l-y ties with unbelieving relatives and instead create w-
believers alone. In doing so, the Qur'an implies that kinship ties,
have no particular social importance; while one cannot deny the
relationship (for its objective reality always remains) one can de
namely its w-l-y bond.

The first of these verses is Q. 9:23, Ο you who believe, do not t

brothers as friends (awliyâ0) if they love unbelief more than b
turns to them in support (yatawallahum) is among the unjust.19
is expressed differently in a second verse, Q. 4:135, Ο you wh
guardians of justice, as witnesses to God, even against your tribe
your parents, or your kin. Be one rich or poor, God is a better s
Most people translate anfusikum in this verse as 'yoursel
necessarily incorrect, but I argue that anfus here is a tribal conc
'true' or 'full-blooded' members of a tribe, as opposed to
neighbours. This indication of anfus can be found in the Cons
which says, for instance: 'The mawâlï of Thaclaba are like them
Thadaba ka-anfusihim),21 meaning that the contents of the Con
the 'actual' members of Tha°laba as well as their allies or clients. Likewise, the
Constitution says: 'The Jews of Aws - their mawâlï and themselves - have similar

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 27

[terms] as the members of this contract (inna Yahùd al-Aws mawâl

anfusahum calà mithli mâ li-ahl hâdihi'l-sahïfa).'22 From these attestation
Constitution, it seems that anfusahum does not simply refer to the ind
or soul, but to the full-born members of a particular Arabic tribe. Q. 4:13
tribal dichotomy on its head by claiming that God's mawlâ-hood trump
protection of one's tribal kin; that is, the word awlâ is used here to descr
better supporter, helper, and protector than parents and kinsmen. This ve
that the Qur'an has redrawn social bonds of help and support (w-l-y ties)
lines rather than bloodlines.

Finally, there is an oblique expression of how w-l-y ties supersede kinsh

Q. 47:22, one of the 'havoc-wreaking' verses mentioned above: Would yo
you turned away (in tawallaytum), wreak havoc in the land and sever ki
When viewed in light of the wider w-l-y context of the Qur'an, it
tawallaytum here means 'turn away', namely to give up on Muhammad's
and withdraw support.23 Though the expression here is different than in
two verses, this verse nevertheless corroborates the idea that w-l-y ties
divorced from kinship ties and associated with belief alone. For in this
'turning away' from Islam, one destroys the meaning of his or her kinsh
other believers and thus wreaks social and religious mayhem. The verse is
rhetorical question, forcing the audience to acknowledge the dire social co
that accompany turning away from Islam. In the end, these three verses,
actually using the term mawlâ, expand our understanding of the relations
w-l-y ties and genetic ties in the Qur'an. All three verses emphasise that
kinship - is the ultimate source of mutual support, friendship and social

The discussion thus far has centred on the meaning and usage of the w-l-
whole: its literal and figurative meanings, the negative relationship betwe
kinship bonds, and the new position of belief as the locus of w-l-y bonds.
this background of community building and social support that the term
be understood. Indeed, the word mawlâ is often found in similar or identi

structures to other w-l-y variations, indicating that mawlâ is intimately wov

wider fabric of its root. In particular, the word mawlâ appears to be closel
to other w-l-y variants when it comes to two topics: God, and the Islamic
As I will now demonstrate, this linguistic parallelism shows us that maw
rest of its w-l-y root, can be used to emphasise the communal ties of the Isla

First and foremost, God is often described interchangeably as mawlâ an

close proximity to words denoting help and assistance.24 The most strikin
parallel in the use of the w-l-y root to describe God is found in Q. 8:40
Q. 8:40 reads: If they turn away (wa-in tawallaw), be sure that God is yo
what a good mawlâ, what a good helper!, while Q. 9:74 reads, If they

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
28 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

(in yatawallaw), God will punish them painfully in this world a

they will have no wall and no helper in the land. Both verses u
V verb tawallâ, 'to turn away', to indicate the renunciation of
(in Q. 8) or one's wall (in Q. 9). Such verses indicate that
sometimes have an identical or near-identical usage, that both
same relationship to the verb tawallâ, and that all three word
indicate God as the ultimate source of help and support.

It is a short step from the idea that God is the source of all tru
the idea that believers should have worldly ties of help and su
another. Indeed, the root w-l-y clearly expresses communal ident
construction bacd ... bacd ('one another'), in which wall and th
are used interchangeably; additionally, evidence from the Con
suggests that mawlâ can be used in this same construct to the
Qur'anic constructions, the believers are described as having w-l
and likewise non-believers are described as having w-l-y bonds
instance, Q. 9:71 reads: And the male and female believers are
another...25 Conversely, Q. 6:129 reads: We have caused th
(nuwalll) one another, and Q. 5:51 describes the Jews and Christ
one another.26 Although the Qur'an itself does not use the wo
another' construction, this usage is attested in the Constit
Constitution states: 'the believers are the mawâlï of one another
other people'. Scholars of the Constitution of Medina have
'mawâlï' in this phrase as 'clients'.27 However, I argue that thi
mawâlï in the Constitution does not refer to the legal idea of cli
tribal idea of alliance found elsewhere in the Constitution,28 bu
Qur'anic context of w-l-y ties. That is, it means that the believ
help to - and receive help from - other believers. Whether it is f
the Constitution, this combination of the w-l-y root and the 'one
creates an important expression of communal identity.

In the end, this section has shown that mawlâ and its wider A
important expressions of the social aspects of the Islamic umma
been noted that the Qur'an delineates a community based not
belief but also on social action,30 the root w-l-y has been larg
key to the umma's social cohesion and functionality. Witho
and support that inhere between believers, the umma would me
individuals who believe in the same message. With w-l-y bonds, o
umma transforms into a group of people who not only believe i
but who work together to achieve security, stability, and event
message. It is against this conceptual background that the individ
word mawlâ in the Qur'an acquire a sense of coherence and im

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 29

Attestations of mawlà in the Qur'an: Conceptual Layers

There are 21 attestations of the word mawlâ or its plural in the Qur'an. I
these attestations can be divided into three conceptual layers: (i) pre-Isl
Antique usages; (ii) descriptions of God as the mawlâ of the believers and
as the mawlâ of unbelievers; and (iii) mawlâ as defining and clarifying t
workings of the Islamic community. The pivotal Q. 33:5 is included in this
and it will receive the most attention below. I do not necessarily argue that
represent a linear chronological development of the term mawlâ. After al
rule that says new ideas must totally eclipse old ideas, or that new rhetor
utter abandonment of old rhetoric. However, I do suggest that the Qur'an
whole text, serves to transform the term mawlâ from a pre-Islamic tribal A
into a fully Islamic term with important ramifications for the structure of
society.

The First Layer: Speaking to a Pre-Islamic Audience

Walâ' existed in the tribal world of pre-Islamic Arabia, where it referred to any
relationship 'characterised by mutual support, advice, assistance, and cooperation'.31
The word mawlâ could refer to a blood relative, ally (halïf), protégé (jâr), or anyone
else who entered into an Arabian tribe's network of aid and protection.32 In several
instances, the Qur'an seems to use the word mawlâ in this broad way when addressing
pre-Islamic idol-worshipers or when describing pre-Islamic prophets. For instance,
Q. 16:76 presents a parable highlighting the difference between the true God and a
false idol, which is likened to a man who is deaf and mute, who has no power over
anything, and who is a burden upon his mawlâ.33 Mawlâ here appears to refer to
some kind of caretaker who was responsible for the behaviour and wellbeing of an
incapacitated ward. A second example from this layer is Q. 19:4-6, which depicts the
Biblical figure Zecharia (Zakariyyâ), father of John the Baptist and guardian of Mary,
asking God for an heir claming to fear the mawâlï behind [him] (Q. 19:5).34 Without
relying upon later exegetical material, the word mawâlï here is rather opaque,35 but it
seems to refer to relatives or others who might hope to inherit from Zakariyyâ.

The third and final attestation of mawlâ in this conceptual layer occurs in the midst of
a terrifying description of the Day of Judgement (Q. 44:40-42):36

40Certainly, the Day of separation is their deadline, all of them.

41 It is a Day when no mawlâ can benefit his mawlâ at all, and they
cannot be helped,
42Except for those who receive the mercy of God, for He is the Mighty
and Merciful.

These verses fit together with other descriptions of the cataclysmic Day of Judgement,
in which everything that was assumed to be fundamental and stable (such as

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 30 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

mountains) will be destroyed or overturned.37 In Q. 44:41, it is

that will be torn asunder on Judgement Day, as all social bonds
benefit (yughnï and yunsarUn from this verse) will be rendered
is, a mawlâ in Q. 44:41 is anyone that a person would be able to
under normal social circumstances, including friends, spouses,
as well as clients and patrons. This meaning corresponds to th
significance of the term mawlâ, and it is a potent illustration o
of all pre-Islamic social bonds. However, in the place of th
pre-Islamic bonds of walâ0, other verses of the Qur'an pre
conception of walâ1. Indeed, the remaining attestations of
Qur'an all emphasise that the truly consequential bonds of walâ1
community of believers.

The Second Layer: God as mawlâ

While the previous three verses used the word mawlâ to

pre-Islamic society, the main body of Qur'anic rhetoric uses m
Islamic umma. First and foremost, the term mawlâ in the
description of God. When viewed out of context, these 'God as
might be taken as exclusively theological descriptions. How
situated in context - both in the context of the surrounding ver
of the root w-l-y - one finds that this 'God-as-maw/â' theme is
statement, but also creates socio-religious boundaries. For instan
10 preach to polytheists and unbelievers that on the Day of Jud
returned to God, their true mawlâ'. This phrase evokes the apoc
the Day of Judgement that we saw in Q. 44:41, but this time th
changed: rather than emphasising that no human can help any
day, these verses explicitly set up God as the only source of hel
warning previously expressed in terms of an apocalyptic breakd
order is transformed into a positive expression of an ultimate
order.

The social implications of the 'God as mawlâ' theme develop further in Suras 3, 8, 9
and 47. These suras exhort believers to take action - to help one another, to fight, to
sever social ties with unbelievers. That is, the community of believers is presented not
merely as a community of faith but a community joined together by mutual action. For
instance Q. 47:7-11 tell the believers that if they help God, He will help them by
utterly destroying the unbelievers, for God is the mawlâ of the believers, while the
unbelievers have no mawlâ. Similarly, Q. 8:39—40 reads, And fight them until there is
no more dissention (fitna) and all religion is for God. If they desist, God perceives
what they do, but if they turn away (wa-in tawallaw), be sure that God is your
mawlâ - what a good mawlâ, what a good helper! Thus, these verses use the word

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 31

mawlâ not simply to describe a theological attribute of God, but to exhort

to break ties with unbelievers and to work together with other believers in
the faith.39

Finally, Suras 2, 22 and 57 add sectarian overtones to God's role as m

attestations use the word mawlâ to separate the believers not just from
and unbelievers in general, but from other established religious groups
Christians) and from the Hypocrites. The clearest example of this phenom
Q. 22:78, It is the religion of your father Abraham. He named you Musl
and in this [Qur'an], so that the Messenger could be a witness to you, an
could be witnesses to the people. So perform the prayer, pay the alms,
to God, for He is your mawlà-how good the mawlâ, and how good the h
primary focus of Q. 22 is the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Thus, here the Go
trope is a firm ending to a sura that outlines some defining charac
the Islamic community: the hajj, lineage traced back to Abraham, the pra
zakât-alms. All of these features define the Muslim community, not just i
in ritual action that would distinguish them both from polytheists (i.e. s
zakât) and other religious groups (i.e. the hajj, claiming the legacy of Abra
Islamic umma).40

The Third Layer: The Internal Workings of the umma

Finally, several attestations of the word mawlâ use the term to explicate
social and legal structure of the umma. More specifically, these verses imb
mawlâ with legal connotations, setting the Qur'anic foundations for the in
walâD in Islamic law. For instance, Q. 4:33 uses the term mawâlï in conn
Islamic inheritance laws: To everyone, We have appointed mawâlï for the p
by parents and relatives and those whom your right hands possess [i.e.
give them their due portion. For truly God is witness to all things.41 No
wording of this verse indicates that the mawâlï must be genetic relativ
deceased; the only thing that explicitly defines the mawâlï here is t
of inheritance, whether it be from relatives or (non-relative) slaves. Al
Q. 66:2, which is addressed to the Prophet Muhammad, reads: God has im
you the dissolution of your oaths - God is your mawlâ, and He is Knowin
This connection between God's mawlâ-hood and the dissolution of Muhammad's oath

implies that God is the sole source of the Law in this new umma - that God is the
supreme legal authority even in cases that seem to contravene previous customs and
norms.

Finally, I argue that the single most important Qur'anic verse for the study
mawlâ is Q. 33:5. While the term mawlâ in this verse is commonly und
referring to clients and clientage,42 I argue the term here is much mo
it serves to elaborate the internal social structure of the Islamic c

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
32 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

To understand fully what Q. 33:5 says, it must be viewed

surrounding verses, Q. 33:4—6:

4God has not given man two hearts in his body. Nor has
wives whom you have divorced by declaring them to be 'a
your mothers' [actually] your mothers. Nor has He made
sons [actually] your sons. This is what you say with your
God tells the truth, and He shows the right path.
5Call them by [the names of] their fathers: that is mor
God. But if you do not know their fathers, [they are] you
religion and your mawâlï. There is no blame upon you if
a mistake, but [there is blame] if the heart intends [wro
forgiving and merciful.
6The Prophet is closer (awlâ) to the believers than memb
own tribe (anfusihim), and his wives are their mothers.
closer (awlâ) to one another in the Book of God tha
and Emigrants; but you should treat your awliyâ0 we
awliyà 'ikum macrûfan), for this is decreed in the Book.

A perusal of these verses reveals a common theme of kinship

mothers and sons, Q. 33:5 mentions fathers, and Q. 33:6 ment
relatives (dhû'l-arhâm). Moreover, Q. 33:5 and 6 together con
the w-l-y root, indicating a linguistic connection between the t
I argue that Q. 33:4-6 must be taken together as a conceptual a
they are usually not). Taken together, these verses reveal that
in Q. 33:5 is connected to a whole host of important ideas, in
concept of law, the proper use of language, the boundaries o
and the role of genealogy in structuring the umma. These la
communal belonging and genealogy - are particularly importan
social developments involving the mawâlï.

Because I take these particular verses to be so important, it is

and problematising their traditional interpretations. Verses 4
treated together because they both deal with the institution
adopted son was named the 'son of his adopted father. Both a
Muhammad's adopted son Zayd, who had previously been call
but was renamed Zayd b. Hàritha after the revelation of this
for the name change is that the Prophet wanted to marry Z
bt Jahsh. According to previous Qur'anic revelations, a fathe
son's wife, nor may a son marry his father's wife;43 thus, c
Muhammad of not practicing what he preached. However, a re

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 33

support of Muhammad's marriage to Zaynab, stating that adopted sons are no

sons and that the marriage should not be prohibited in this case.

Thus far, the interpretation is not particularly problematic, for a later verse,
mentions Zayd by name and clearly explains that the issue at stake is the perm
of marrying the wife of one's adopted son.44 However, an interpretive problem
when the specific phrase they are your brothers in religion and your mawâ
Q. 33:5 is thought to refer to Zayd. The phrase mawâlïkum here must
understood as a reference to Zayd, for the phrase they are your brothers in r
and your mawâlï is preceded by the conditional phrase if you do not know t
fathers. In fact, Zayd's father was known to be the Kalbl tribesman,
b. Shurahll,45 and thus Zayd would not have fit the condition of being someon
father was not known.

As for Q. 33:6, it is seen primarily as an abrogation of the 'brotherhood' (mu'àkha)

agreement that Muhammad had instituted between the inhabitants of Medina and the
newly-arrived emigrants from Mecca after the Hijra 46 The 'brothers' of this tiny core
of believers inherited from, and bequeathed to, one another as heirs, since they had cut
off their ties with their unbelieving relatives. However, by the end of Muhammad's
career, the umma had grown so that there were enough actual biological relatives
among the believers that the 'brotherhood' agreement could be done away with. The
old kinship-based inheritance practices were reinstituted. However, the interpretation
of this verse is also problematic, as the term awlâ ('closer') must be inconsistently
interpreted in order to make the verse fit the framework of the brotherhood agreement.
For the very same turn of phrase that is understood as reinstituting inheritance
practices among blood relations relatives are closer (awlâ) to one another
than believers and Emigrants47 is also used to describe Muhammad's relationship
to the believers (Muhammad is closer (awlâ) to the believers than their fellow
tribesmen) - and yet no one argues that this verse institutes a tradition of inheritance
between the believers and Muhammad.

In short, parts of these verses appear to have been squashed into ill-fitting historical
frameworks like puzzle pieces jammed into the wrong spaces. Even more importantly,
the fact that the first two verses are associated with Zayd while the third is connected
with the 'brotherhood' agreement effectively shatters the semantic and conceptual
coherence of these verses. And yet, it is only when the three verses are taken together
and are understood to inform one another that the full ramifications of the term

mawâlïkum in Q. 33:5 become evident. One of those ramifications of Q. 33:4-6 is that

the relationship between w-l-y bonds and genetic bonds in the umma is explicated.
We have already seen that the Qur'an sets up belief as the sole criterion for w-l-y
bonds, while breaking the previously inherent connection between w-l-y and kinship.
Yet, I argue that Q. 33:4-6 add a new layer of complexity by sanctioning genetic

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
34 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

relationship as an additional source of w-l-y ties within the Is

is, those with genetic ties within the umma itself have strong
another than to unrelated believers. To understand this new connection between

kinship and social structure, the new legal role that the Qur'an prescribes for genetic
kinship must be explicated.

In the pre-Islamic period, there did naturally exist a conception of law: there were
rules about whom you could marry, to whom you could bequeath your property, and
for whom you had to pay blood money.48 But this was law with a lower-case T,
customary law, the idea that people followed the sunna of their forefathers. The law
was not something that was above society, a higher principle that was decreed from
the heavens; rather, it was a practical thing, bound up with the proper working of
society. Likewise, genetic kinship - pre-Islamic Arabia's most important tool for
social organisation - was largely a functional institution. Arabian tribes shifted their
genealogical histories to accord with political realities.49 Fathers could disavow the
children born of their female slaves, and then acknowledge them if they proved
themselves worthy or valuable.50 And according to Q. 33:4-5, there were two other
familiar pre-Islamic practices in which genealogical language was manipulated to
perform a social function: (i) the zihàr oath, in which a husband divorced his wife by
uttering the formula: 'you are to me as the back of my mother'; and (ii) dicwa, in
which an adopted son was named the 'son of his adopted father. In the case of dicwa,
it seems that a man was allowed - perhaps even expected - to use the language of
genealogy to authenticate and authorise his relationship with his adopted son.51 After
all, an adoptive father acted as the true guardian of his adopted son, much more
so than the biological father did in such a situation. This is not to say that the
understanding of biological parentage or genetic relationship was any looser or more
fluid in the pre-Islamic period - pre-Islamic people did not think their adopted sons
miraculously became their biological sons.52 Rather, the expression of genealogy was
more flexible: the language of genealogy and genetic kinship was used as a speech act
that could create one's social and legal identity, not merely as a description of one's
biological background.

The Qur'an changes this situation entirely. First, Q. 33:4 points out the misleading
nature of 7,ihar and dicwa. It explicitly links these two practices together because they
both use the language of genealogy to describe a situation lacking in a deeper truth
(this is what you say with your mouths, but God tells the truth). Q. 33:5 follows up by
commanding believers to call adoptees by the name of their biological fathers rather
than their adoptive fathers, for that is more just in God's eyes.53 Thus, the crux of the
matter in Q. 33:5 is not what it says about adoption exclusively, or even about
adoption per se - as it is traditionally interpreted - but what it says about the proper
use of language.54 The verse dictates that the language of genealogy should be used
only to reflect biological reality, rather than to create or express some social

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 35

relationship. I argue that the reason for this new emphasis on 'true' genealog
language is that genealogy itself receives a new role in the Qur'an: it become
for following the divinely-revealed Law (with a capital 'L'), especially tho
concerning marriage.

This argument is based on other Qur'anic pronouncements about kinsh

marriage, for instance the saying in Q. 25:54, He has made for him relation by
and relation by marriage - for your Lord is Omnipotent. That is, blood relation
part of the glory and mercy of God's creation; genetic identity is a God
principle, not a man-made one. Moreover, genealogy and marriage are intimat
together, here and elsewhere in the Qur'an, because genealogy is a primary m
through which one establishes whom one can marry. For instance, Q. 4:23 lays
a host of 'prohibited degrees' of marriage, wherein one is forbidden from ma
one's child, one's parent, one's step-child, etc. A later verse in this sura, Q. 33
makes it clear that the reason genealogical language must reflect the truth is ..
there would be no prohibition for the Muslims against [marrying] the wives o
adopted sons. Thus, Q. 33:4-5, taken together with other Qur'anic evid
emphasise the new legal function for genealogy and the language of gen
genealogy becomes a fixed legal tool for following God's law, rather than a ut
socio-political tool.55

It is against this background of genealogy as a legal tool that one must underst
phrase if you do not know their fathers, they are your brothers in religion an
mawàlï in Q. 33:5. People such as Zayd b. Hàritha, who had been using geneal
a utilitarian, pre-Islamic way when they were named after their adoptive fa
would have had absolutely no identity crisis at this juncture. They were fully
of their God-given gift of genealogy because they knew who their fathers we
they simply had to start using language correctly. But for people who d
know their fathers, the Qur'anic standpoint toward genealogy might have c
dire socio-religious problem: if they did not know their fathers, could they
God's law as laid down in the Qur'an, especially marriage laws? And if they co
follow God's law, could they belong to the umma at all? Q. 33:5 imme
alleviates these worries: even if a person does not know his genealogy, he still
to the Islamic community and shares in the w-l-y bonds that exist betw
believers. That is, mawàlï here is an inclusive and community-affirming
designating those same social bonds that were examined above in Sectio
Regardless of one's genealogical status, all believers are still 'the mawàlï
another' because of their shared faith.

However, in some sense, this verse can be seen as the conceptual foundation for the
early Islamic mawàlï as a distinct social and legal sub-section. For even though this
verse does not explicitly set up a clearly defined group called mawàlï, as distinguished

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 36 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

from 'those who know their genealogy' (and certainly not as

'Arabs'), we do find here for the first time the word mawâlï u
concept of genealogy. Moreover, we shall see that the word anf
verse, hearkening back to the tribal dichotomy between full-bl
{anfus) and attachés (mawâlï). Thus, it is easy to see how, take
removed from the wider network of w-l-y in the Qur'an, this
constituting an entire new section of society and a 'replaceme
those without a known genealogy. Additionally, it is easy to see
of this verse to the historical person of Zayd b. Hàritha
see any adoptee, outsider or freed slave as a mawlâ accordin
yet, such readings miss out on the deeper meaning of maw
community-defining designation.

While the word mawlâ in Q. 33:5 is an inclusive and possibly e

the addition of verse 6 colours the entire picture differently. Alth
been divorced from the context of the surrounding verses, it in
complex questions about the nature of hierarchy in Islamic soci
as a continuation of the ideas raised in verses 4-5. For the mawâlïkum at the end of

Q. 33:5 is echoed and elaborated by three other w-l-y root words in Q. 33:6, including
two attestations of the term awlâ (the elative form that means essentially 'having
stronger w-l-y bonds'). I argue that this use of the word awlâ sets up a hierarchy of
w-l-y ties, or at least varying degrees of w-l-y ties, within the umma. The two different
awlâ attestations create two different types of social hierarchy, and each deserves
closer attention.

First, Q. 33:6 describes the Prophet Muhammad as awlâ to the believers than 'their
selves' (anfusihim). I have already suggested that the term anfus can refer not only to
an individual spiritual concept of the self or soul, but to a tribal self-identification as
a full-blooded member of a tribe, i.e. a form of personal identity based on belonging to
a broader kinship group. This is crucial to note, for the old tribal use of the term
mawlâ in contrast to anfus is largely absent from the Qur'an.56 Here, however, it is
telling that the word mawâlï is found in such close proximity to the word anfus - an
indication that matters of genealogy and tribe were not erased by the Qur'an, but
rather recast into a new Islamic framework.

Despite the echoes of the tribal dichotomy between mawâlï and anfus here, the point
of the phrase the Prophet is awlâ to the believers than their own tribesmen is to affirm
the fact that belief - not genealogy - constitutes the Islamic community. In a sense,
in this verse Prophet becomes a symbol of the entire community and its concomitant
w-l-y ties. The believers owe their allegiance and their support to the Prophet first
and foremost, and will in turn receive the most effective aid from him. Indeed, this
description of Muhammad as awlâ to the believers can be seen as deeply egalitarian;

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 37

if the Prophet is the primary locus of w-l-y bonds, then everyone else cou
essentially equal, sharing the same status as the Prophet's 'mawâlÎ.57 As
awlâ statement here is more profound than a mere reaffirmation of th
relationship with Zayd b. Hâritha, as it is often understood - it is an affirm
Prophet's relationship with the entire community, and an expression of h
a symbol of that community.

Moreover, Muhammad is not the first prophet in the Qur'an whose pro
united an umma and trumped genealogical ties. The Qur'an describes Abra
way in Q. 3:68, Indeed, the closest (awlâ) of people to Abraham are s
who followed him, and this Prophet (i.e. Muhammad), and those who be
God is the wall of the believers. Abraham, too, had valued ties of belief
genealogy - he had broken the strongest social bond there is, the bond be
and son, in the name of right belief. Thus, the ones who constitute the true
community are not Abraham's relatives, but the believers. Abraham and
are twin symbols of the umma and its constituent w-l-y bonds, which
belief rather than kinship.

As for the second awlâ statement in Q. 33:6, it has more complicate

concretely social ramifications. This statement gives genealogy a role to
just in following the Law, but in the internal structuring the commun
are awlâ in the Book of God than Emigrants and believers. This stateme
parallel in Q. 8:75, Those who believe afterwards, and emigrate, and str
you, they are of you (fa-ulâ 'ika minkum). But relatives are closer to on
in the Book of God. God is aware of everything,58 Q. 8:75 and Q. 33
one another and should be understood together. First and most obv
Q. 8:75 and Q. 33:6 share the identical phrase relatives are closer to one
the Book of God, which emphasises social differentiation based on geneti
On the other hand, the verses also have elements that emphasise
belonging:

Q. 8:75, Those who believe afterwards, and emigrate, and strive

alongside you, they are of you.
Q. 33:5, They are your brothers in religion and your mawâlï
Q. 33:6, You should treat your awliyâD well.

This correspondence emphasises that awliya\ mawâlï and 'they are of you' all
express the shared communal identity of believers; it also appears that mawâlï in
Q. 33:5 and awliyâD in Q. 33:6 are synonyms or near-synonyms, a linguistic feature
we have seen before. Thus, rather than reading Q. 33:6 as abrogating the mu 'âkhâh
brotherhood agreement, we should read it as one of the Qur'an's most explicit and
highly developed statements about the complicated relationship between religious
bonds, genealogical bonds, and social bonds in Islamic society.

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 38 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

The forms of social differentiation conveyed in Q. 33:6 do n

that the Qur'an's vision of society is inherently unegalita
seen that the idea of the Prophet as awlâ can have highly ega
Moreover, as far as genealogical bonds are concerned, the
emphasised in the Qur'an as a special relationship,59 but it wou
that the Qur'an is hierarchical or unegalitarian because it val
However, for those parties hoping to find a justification for thei
tribes and even certain ethnicities over others, Q. 33:6 could p
a justification.60 And especially when coupled with the word
blood relatives are awlâ statement in Q. 33:6 could be seen as
social status of the early Islamic socio-legal class of mawâlï v
tribal patrons. In the end, the social ramifications of Q. 33:5
can be read as either profoundly egalitarian or profound
ambiguity lays at the heart of the historical debates about th
mawâlï throughout the early Islamic period.

Conclusion

Throughout this analysis, I have attempted to uncover the significance of the Qur'anic
term mawâlï as an expression of the social contours of the earliest Islamic umma.
Particularly, I have revealed how the Qur'an uses the word mawâlï to express its
vision of society, transforming the pre-Islamic idea of walâ ' into a new Islamic
concept of a community bound by faith and cemented by social bonds of mutual help
and support. In order to reveal the semantic coherence and conceptual development of
the term mawlâtmawâlï in the Qur'an, I situated the term within its Arabic root w-l-y
and then analysed the individual attestations of the term. This analysis led me
to several new observations about how to read the Qur'an, such as the idea that
Q. 33:4-6 should be read together as a literary unit, and the suggestion that we can use
the Constitution of Medina understand the significance of the word anfus (and its
contrast with the word mawâlï). This latter observation in particular offers a new
interpretation of the historical concept of the 'self that the Qur'an might be invoking,
namely a tribal/collective concept of the self rather than an individual/spiritual concept
of the self.

More importantly, my analysis provides the earliest historical example of how the
term mawlâ can shed light on the social boundaries, structures, and identities
operating in early Islamic society. For although I argue that the term mawlâ in the
Qur'an serves to emphasise the belonging of all Muslims to the umma, I also argue
that the term reveals a vision of society that is neither straightforward nor simple. In
particular, verses 5-6 create a complicated relationship between genetic identity and
religious identity, and they seem to affirm an Islamic social structure based not just on
faith but also on blood relationships. This complex connection between genetic

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 39

identity and religious identity would persist into the early Islamic period
known as the mawâlï continued to navigate their simultaneous identitie
and foreigners, as insiders and outsiders. Thus, my analysis provides a con
between Qur'anic rhetoric and later debates about the role and status of
early Islamic society, and it provides a launch point for viewing later for
identity expressed by the word mawlâ.

NOTES

1 See for instance Ignâz Goldziher, Muslim Studies, ed. S.M. Stern, tr. C.R. Barber
S.M. Stern (London: Allen & Unwin, 1967-71); Harald Motzki, 'The Role of Non-A
Converts in the Development of Early Islamic Law', Islamic Law and Society 6:3 (1
pp. 293-317; and Monique Bernards and John Nawas (eds), Patronate and Patronage in E
and Classical Islam (Leiden: Brill, 2005).
2 See Elizabeth Urban, 'The Early Islamic Mawâlï: A Window onto Processes of Iden
Formation and Social Change' (Unpublished PhD dissertation, The University of Chic
2012).
3 I derived this idea of semantic networks from Toshihiko Izutsu's masterful work God and
Man in the Koran: Semantics of the Koranic Weltanschauung (Tokyo: Keio Institute of
Cultural and Linguistics Studies, 1964). While Izutsu's aims and methodologies are completely
different than mine, he does highlight that Qur'anic concepts must not be viewed in isolation
from one another, but rather as creating networks of meaning. Although there are examples
of tracing Arabic roots in the Qur'an (see B. Stowasser, 'Die Wurtzel j-h-1 im Koran' in
Ulug igdemir (ed), Necati Lugal armagam (Ankara: Tiirk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1968),
pp. 571-5), the approach I have taken here seems largely unprecedented.
4 Although I consulted the Islamic exegetical literature (sïra, tafslr or asbdb al-nuzul) to gain a
better understanding of these verses, I do not rely on this literature to construct my argument
about the meaning of maw la in the Qur'an. Rather, I rely on what the Qur'anic text itself says,
supplemented by some information from the so-called 'Constitution of Medina', which is
largely accepted as authentic and contemporary with the early Medinan suras of the Qur'an.
The most recent and comprehensive work on the Constitution of Medina is Michael Lecker,
The 'Constitution of Medina': Muhammad's First Legal Document (Princeton: Darwin, 2004).
See also (among other works): Uri Rubin, 'The "Constitution of Medina": Some Notes', Studia
Islamica 62 (1985), pp. 5-23; R.B. Serjeant, 'The Sunnah Jâmicah, Pacts with the Yathrib Jews
and the Tahrlm of Yathrib: Analysis and Translation Comprised in the So-Called "Constitution
of Medina" ', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 41:1 (1978), pp. 1-42; and
Frederick M. Denny, 'Ummah in the Constitution of Medina', Journal of Near East Studies
36:1 (1977), pp. 39-47.
5 Other scholars have noted that the term mawld rarely means client/freedman in the Qur'an,
but some do take Q. 33:5 as referring to clients. See Elsaid M. Badawi and Muhammad Abdel
Haleem, Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur'anic Usage (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2008),
p. 1,049, #4 under the entry 'mawld'; Sebastian Giinther, art. 'Clients and Clientage' in
Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an.
6 Most of this article was written by Patricia Crone and is an invaluable starting point for
understanding early Islamic wald'. However, it was Wensinck who wrote the preliminary
paragraphs about the term's Qur'anic usage.
7 Elsaid M. Badawi and Muhammad Abdel Haleem, Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur'anic
Usage (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2008).

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 40 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

8 Many works on the mawâlï mention a few pertinent Qur'anic ver

and Q. 4:33), but they do not look at the Qur'an as a whole text or
meaning of the term. For the most thorough works on Islamic clien
'Mawlà' in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn; Patricia Cron
Islamic Law: The Origins of the Islamic Patronate (Cambridge: Ca
1987); Patricia Crone, Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of the I
Cambridge University Press, 1980); Jamal Juda 'Die sozialen und wir
Mawâlï in friihislamischer Zeit' (unpublished PhD dissertation, E
Tiibingen, 1983); Mahmud Miqdâd, al-Mawâli wa-nizâm al-walàJ m
al-casr al-umawî (Damascus: Dâr al-Fikr, 1988) and Ulrike Mit
Patronat: Eine Studie zu den Anfàngen des islamischen Rechts
Crone and Mitter pay special attention to the origins and developm
finding its origins in late Roman law (Crone) and in pre-Islamic
I suggest that when searching for the 'origins' of early Islamic w
pre-Islamic Arabian or late Roman custom alone, but also at th
conceptual foundation for the later elaboration of the institution.
9 There are many discussions of Wansbrough's work, ranging fr
dismissive. For a brief overview of these discussions and notes for f
Berg, 'The Scepticism and Literary Analysis of J. Wansbrough,
Turner (ed), The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam: The Authen
from the Formative Period (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2000
'sceptical' school, see the introduction of Fred Donner, Narrativ
Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing (Princeton: Darwin, 1998
10 See for instance Angelika Neuwirth, 'Qur'an and History - A D
Reflections on Qur'anic History and History in the Qur'an', Jour
(2003), pp. 1-18; Angelika Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai and Michael
Context: Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qur'anic
Brill, 2010); and Neal Robinson, Discovering the Qur'an: A Con
Veiled Text, 2nd edn (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Pr
11 I realise that by focusing on those parts of the root that show
I might be skewing my findings to show greater interconnected
ultimately exists. Yet, I do not argue that the variations of this root ar
wish to present evidence that mawlà is closely related to other w-l-
and should be understood in the light of that finding.
12 As Badawi and Abdel Haleem say, 'adjacency is the central mea
(Arabic-English Dictionary, p. 1,047). See also Wensinck/Crone, a
art. 'Clients and Clientage'.
13 Q. 9:123: Ο you who believe! Fight those who are near to
the unbelievers, and let them find ruthlessness in you, and know th
verse numbers refer to the standard Egyptian numbering; all Qur'a
unless otherwise noted.

14 Badawi and Abdel Haleem have laid out the variations of this root, and the frequency of
these variations, in a handy list: 'Of this root 12 forms occur 233 times in the Qur'an: yalï once;
walla 30 times; tawallâ 79 times; wall once; muwalll once; waliyy 44 times; awliyâ'' 42 times;
awlâyatun twice; aw la 11 times; awlayân once; mawlâ 18 times and mawâlï three times'
(Arabic-English Dictionary, p. 1,047). As can be seen from this list, the Form II verb wallâ,
Form V verb tawallâ, and the noun waliyy (pl. awliyâD) make up the majority of attestations of
this root.

15 As Badawi and Abdel Haleem indicate, the root n-s-r can mean 'to aid, to assist in repelling
an attack, helpers, disciples' (Arabic-English Dictionary, pp, 942-3); aghnâ can mean

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 41

'to enrich, enable, avail, or protect' (p. 677); and azfra means 'to cause to b
(p. 583). The examples of this are numerous. See for instance Q. 2:286, Q. 3
Q. 44:41, Q. 48:22, Q. 59:12, Q. 66:4, among many others.
16 See also Q. 2:246, Q. 3:155, Q. 48:22, Q. 48:16, which chastise the unruly
Q. 59:12, which condemns the reluctance of the Hypocrites to fight.
17 Likewise, Q. 9:76 associates 'turning away' with hoarding God's wealth, wh
indicates a refusal to give charity to orphans and the needy, or possibly a ref
monetary support to military campaigns.
18 The relationship between walâ" and kinship will emerge again in the discuss
below.

19 A similar sentiment is expressed in Q. 58:22, though it uses a word from the root w-d-d
rather than w-l-y: You will not find a people who believe in God and in the Last Day sharing
mutual friendship (yuwâddûn) with those who oppose God and His messenger, even if they
were their fathers, sons, brothers, or tribe ...
20 See for instance the translations of Yusuf Ali, M.M. Pickthall and M.H. Shakir, available at
the University of Southern California's Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement website, http://
www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/ (last accessed on
8 August 2011).
21 Lecker, The 'Constitution of Medina', p. 8 (Ibn Ishâq's version). In the Constitution, it
seems that mawlâ is sometimes synonymous with other words such as bitâna ('associate') and
jàr ('neighbour'), which are also said to be 'like the nafs/anfus'.
22 Lecker, The 'Constitution of Medina', p. 9. Abu "Ubayd's version of the constitution reads
instead: 'The Jews of the Banu cAwf and their mawâlï and themselves are a community among
the Believers (inna YahUd Banï cAwf wa-mawâlïhim wa-anfusihim umma min al-mu'minln)'
(Lecker, The 'Constitution of Medina ', p. 20).
23 Many translations interpret tawallaytum as meaning something like 'if you held command/
authority' (see Yusuf Ali, Pickthall and Shakir at the website listed above; Badawi and Abdel
Haleem, pp. 1,047-8). Yet, this translation obscures the wider meaning of the w-l-y root in the
Qur'an. It seems that these commentators are back-projecting the political use of the word wall
as 'governor/political authority' onto the Qur'anic text. However, nowhere else in the Qur'an is
the root w-l-y used in this way, and even when the word wall is used to describe God, it is
connected with the idea of protection and help, rather than authority (Q. 13:11). Other
translators, such as Rudi Paret, translate in tawallaytum here as 'if you turn away (and want to
hear nothing of the revelation)' (Rudi Paret, Der Koran: Ûbersetzung von Rudi Paret (Stuttgart:
W. Kohlhammer, 1979), p. 359). The classical mufassirun give both readings. For instance,
al-Tabari cites one tradition that interprets this phrase to mean: 'in tawallaytum can tanzll Allah
wa-faraqtum ahkàm kitâbihi wa-adbartum can Muhammad', and another tradition that
interprets it to mean: 'in tawallaytum umur al-nàs' (al-Tabari, Tafslr al-Tabarl: Jâmi" al-bayân
'an ta'wll ây al-Qur'an (30 vols in 12. Cairo: Mustafa al-Bâbï al-Halabï, 1968), vol. 26, p. 56).
24 For instance, Q. 22:78, ... what a good mawlâ and what a good helper [God is]!
corresponds to Q. 4:45, ... God is sufficient as a wall and sufficient as a helper. Conversely,
the Qur'an insists that people without God are also without any mawlâ or wall, as in Q. 47:11,
... the unbelievers will have no mawlâ, and Q. 42:8,... the unjust will have no wall or helper.
See also Q. 2:120, Q. 4:45, Q. 13:11, Q. 29:22, Q. 33:17, Q. 42:31 and Q. 48:22 for God as the
mawlâ/wali of the believers; See Q. 4:76, Q. 7:27, Q. 19:45, Q. 22:4 and Q. 22:13, among
others, for descriptions of evil or Hell as the mawlâ/wall of the unbelievers.
25 The same sentiment is conveyed in Q. 8:72, Indeed, those who believed and emigrated and
strove with their property and their persons in God's path, and those who sheltered and
helped - these are the awliyâ' of one another.

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 42 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

26 See also Q. 2:257, Q. 3:28, Q. 5:80, Q. 45:19, Q. 60:1, Q. 60:9,

example.
27 See Lecker, The 'Constitution of Medina', p. 8, article 17 (Ibn Ishâq's version) and p. 19
(Abu 'Ubayd's version). R.B. Serjeant notices the parallel between this phrase and the Qur'anic
verse 9:71; nevertheless, he translates this article of the Constitution as: 'The Mu 'minûn some
are allies/clients of others ...' (Seargent, The Sunna Jâmi'ah, p. 19).
28 See for instance Lecker, The 'Constitution of Medina', p. 7, article 13, where mawlâ is
directly related to the idea of alliance (hilf); and p. 8, articles 28 and 38, where the two
components that make up a tribe are the anfus ('full members') and the mawâlï ('allies',
'satellites', 'attachés').
29 Much work has been done on Qur'anic concepts of community - focusing especially on
such as the terms umma and din - but these concepts are never connected to the social idea of
w-l-y. See, for instance, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, 'Conception of the Term Din in the QurJan',
The Muslim World 64 (1974), pp. 114—23 (reprinted in Colin Turner (ed.), The Koran: Critical
Concepts in Islamic Studies (4 vols. New York: Routledge, 2004), vol. 2, pp. 54-62); Frederick
M. Denny, 'The Meaning of Ummah in the Qur 'an', History of Religions 15 (1975), pp. 34—70
(reprinted in Colin Turner (ed.), The Koran: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies (4 vols. New
York: Routledge, 2004), vol. 2, pp. 19-53); Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes of the QurJan
(Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1980), pp. 132—49; and Maysam J. al-Faruqi, 'Umma:
The Orientalists and the Qur'anic Concept of Identity', Journal of Islamic Studies 16:1 (2005),
pp. 1-34.
30 See for instance Rahman, Major Themes, ch. 3, 'Man in Society'.
31 Juda, 'Die sozialen und wirtschaltlichen Aspekte', p. iv.
32 For details of the pre-Islamic tribal usage of the term mawld, see Juda, 'Die sozialen und
wirtschaftlichen Aspekte', pp. i-xii, pp. 1-52; and Patricia Crone, Roman Provincial and
Islamic Law, ch. 4.
33 The word abkam is often translated simply as 'dumb' or 'mute,' but as Lane shows, this
word can also indicate deafness and blindness, as well as a complete inability to understand.
Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, vol. 1, pp. 278-9. In my view, the idea that idols are not only
silent but also completely deaf to the prayers of supplicants captures the essence of the
metaphor.
34 Verses 19:4—6 read: 4 He said: My Lord! My bones are surely becoming feeble and my head
blazes with white [hair], but I have never been disappointed in my prayer to You, my Lord.
51 surely fear the mawâlï behind me while my wife is barren. So grant me from Your Grace a
wall. 6Who will inherit from me and will inherit from the Children of Jacob. Make him well
pleasing, my Lord!
35 It is clear that these verses contain a reworking of some elements from Luke 1:5-20,
wherein God promises a son to the aged Zecharia, but the Bible contains no clear parallel to the
term mawâlï here.

36 I count this verse as part of the 'pre-Islamic/Late Antique' layer precisely because of its
energetic warnings about the Day of Judgement, which I interpret as an early attempt to reach
out to an audience of unbelievers. While my interpretation is not ironclad, it remains the case
that this verse does not use the word mawlâ to elucidate the role of God or to define the internal
workings of the Islamic umma. As such, it best fits into this first category.
37 Other verses that describe Judgement Day as a day on which the heavens will be rent
asunder, the stars will go dark, the earth will tremble and shake, and the mountains will be
erased are too many to list here. See for example the powerful descriptions of the Day in Suras
81 and 82.

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 43

38 This social breakdown is expressed in different terms in Q. 70:8-15: On

heavens will be like molten brass. 9And mountains will be like tufts of wool. 10A
(hamïm) will not ask [anything] from his dear friend. "They will be made to s
sinner will want, if it would save him from the punishment of that Day, to sacr
children, nHis wife and his brother, 13His kinsmen who gave him shelter, 14And
earth, all of them, so that they should save him. 15But no - surely, it is hellfire!
39 For a similar sentiment, see also Q. 3:150 and Q. 9:51.
40 See also Q. 2:286, in which the 'God as mawlâ' trope seems to be directed aga
and Christians. As for Q. 57:15, it turns the 'God as mawlâ' phrase on its head
mentions the 'evil mawlâ' of the Hypocrites: So, that Day no ransom will be tak
[Hypocrites] or from those who disbelieved. Your abode is Hell - it is your ma
evil outcome! A similar sentiment is conveyed in Q. 22:10-12, which describe t
and evil companion of a people who worship God on the verge, content with G
times are good, but returning in desperation to polytheistic ways when times ar
41 It is possible that Q. 4:33 represents a reworking of Q. 19:5 - the verse in whic
tells God that he fears his mawâlï and asks for a watt to inherit from him - for that verse also

connects the word mawlâ to the idea of inheritance. However, we saw above that the meaning
of Q. 19:5 is obscure, and that it was unclear whether mawâlï in that verse referred specifically
to heirs. In other words, is just as likely that the word mawâlï in Q. 4:33 was used to understand
the obscure reference in Q. 19:5 as the idea that Q. 19:5 prefigures the wording of Q. 4:33.
42 See for instance Giinther, art. 'Clients and Clientage' ; David Powers, Muhammad is Not the
Father of Any of Your Men (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), pp. 62-3;
and Ella Landau-Tasseron, 'Adoption, Acknowledgment of Paternity, and False Genealogical
Claims', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 66:2 (2003), pp. 169-92, at
pp. 171-3.
43 These edicts are found in Q. 4:23.
44 I do not suggest that we must accept that this verse is definitely about Zayd and Zaynab. I
am not interested in the individual identities of the actors indicated here; rather, it underlying
concepts present in these Qur'anic verses that are important for my analysis, and other Qur'anic
verses indicate that Q. 33:5 is indeed about such topics as marriage, genealogy, adoption and
the Law.

45 Muqàtil b. Sulaymân acknowledges this fact but still tries to apply the phrase to Zayd: 'If
they had not known a father for Zayd to be traced back to, then he still would have been your
brother in religion and your mawlâ, as it is said "so-and-so the mawlâ of so-and-so" ' (Muqâtil
b. Sulaymân, Tafsïr Muqâtil ibn Sulaymân, ed. °Abd Allah Mahmûd Shihàtah (5 vols. Cairo:
al-Hay 'a al-Misriyya al-cÂmma li'1-Kitàb, 1979-89), vol. 3, p. 473).
46 For a discussion of the 'brotherhood' agreement, see I. Lichtenstaedter, 'Fraternization
(Mu3âkhât) in early Islamic society', Islamic Culture 16 (1942), pp. 47-52. See also Juda, 'Die
sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Aspekte', pp. 55-7.
47 This expression is found almost verbatim in Q. 8:75, as will be discussed below.
48 See the discussions of pre-Islamic tribal obligations discussed in Crone, Roman Provincial
and Islamic Law, pp. 51-63; and Juda, 'Die sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Aspekte', ch. 1. On
pre-Islamic kinship ties, and the rights and responsibilities associated with them, see Robertson
Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1903).
Although the latter work is outdated in some respects, and some of its central tenets have
been widely disputed, its overall presentation of pre-Islamic kinship arrangements is useful. On
the concept of retaliation for crime, the payment of blood money, and other obligations of the
pre-Islamic tribe and family, see Otto Proksch, Liber die Blutrache bei den vorislamischen
Arabern und Mohammeds Stellung zu ihr (Leipzig: Teubner, 1899).

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 44 Journal of Qur'anic Studies

49 That is, to paraphrase Pierre Bordieu, the pre-Islamic tribe did no

but in fact created its own reality (see Bordieu, The Logic of Pra
1990), p. 172). There is an extensive literature on the nature of tribali
times to the present day. For some perceptive recent studies, see
Illusions: The Element of Choice in Arab Kinship' in Faleh Abdul-
(eds), Tribes and Power: Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Middle
2001); Daniel Martin Varisco, 'Metaphors and Sacred History: The
and the Arab Tribe', Anthropological Quarterly 68:3 (1995), p
Szombathy, The Roots of Arabic Genealogy: A Study in Historical
The Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, 2003), and the so
50 The most famous example of this phenomenon is the poet a
Shaddâd, who was only acknowledged by his father when he distin
(see R. Blachère, art. 'cAntara' in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn). A
the case of the Companion Abu Bakra and his older brother Nafic: bo
mother, but Nâfic was acknowledged as the son of al-Hârith b. Ka
disavowed (see Elizabeth Urban, 'The Identity Crisis of Abu Bakra
or Polemical Tool?' in Paul M. Cobb (ed), Festschrift for Fred M. D
Brill, forthcoming)).
51 On the practice of adoption before the advent of Islam, see Lan
Acknowledgment of Paternity, and False Genealogical Claims', pp.
Roman Provincial and Islamic Law, pp. 49-50; Robertson Smith
pp. 52-4.
52 Ella Landau-Tasseron makes this point in 'Adoption, Acknowledgment of Paternity, and
False Genealogical Claims'. This excellent article clears up the rampant confusion about the
difference between adoption (in which 'true' paternity is not claimed) and paternity claims in
pre-Islamic society, and Landau-Tasseron convincingly argues that these two practices were
purposefully conflated in the Qur'an and thus in later Islamic society. However, she does not
address the reason for the Qur'an's conflation and condemnation of these two practices, namely
that the language of nasab had played a functional role in pre-Islamic society but a legal role in
Islamic society.
53 The prohibition of dicwa is often taken as an abolition of adoption in Islam; see for instance
Powers, Muhammad is not the Father, ch 3, 'The Abolition of Adoption in Islam'. However,
the actual prohibition here is no adoption per se but the attribution of the adoptive father's
nasab to the son. For a description of actual adoption practices in Islamic society, see Amira
Azhary Sonbol, 'Adoption in Islamic Society: A Historical Survey' in Elizabeth Warnock
Fernea (ed.), Children in the Muslim Middle East (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995);
and Conte, 'Agnatic Illusions', pp. 21-7.
54 W. Montgomery Watt hinted at this interpretation of the verse, which he views as a 'general
attack on fictitious - or should we say "merely social"? - relationships which placed
constraints on the individual' (W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Medina (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1956), p. 283).
55 There is one example where metaphorical nasab language is allowed, but even this case
emphasises the importance of the legal reality of genealogy. In Q. 33:6, the wives of the
Prophet are described as the mothers of the believers, even though just two verses earlier
the Qur'an prohibited using the language of motherhood to divorce one's wives. It seems
contradictory that the Qur'an calls the Prophet's wives 'mothers' while also prohibiting men
from divorcing their own wives with the zihâr oath. However, when one sees the most
fundamental 'truth' expressed by genealogy as not biological reality but legal reality, this
contradiction subsides. For while the wives of the Prophet are not the mothers of the believers in
a biological way, they are in a legal way: none of the believers may marry the Prophet's wives,

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 The Foundations of Islamic Society 45

not after the Prophet's death, not ever. This is in fact the traditional way of unde
verse. David Powers does not accept this traditional understanding of the 'Prop
mothers' statement, for he believes that Muhammad was originally considered as
the believers (Powers, Muhammad is not the Father, pp. 64-6). However, this met
of genealogical language makes sense in the context I have described here.
56 Indeed, I argued above that Q. 4:135 turns this tribal dichotomy on its head
57 While it is beyond the scope of this article, the egalitarian implications of thi
similar to the early ShfT conception of wala', in which all believers were thoug
mawâlï of the Imam, based on the hadith 'whoever I am the mawla of, CA1T is al
See Maria Massi Dakake, The Charismatic Community: Shi'he Identity in Early I
State University of New York Press, 2007); Robert Gleave, 'Patronate in Shïcî law'
Bernards and John Nawas (eds), Patronate and Patronage in Early and Classical
& Boston: Brill, 2005), pp. 134-66; Patricia Crone, 'Mawâlï and the Prophet's
Early Shfi View' in Bernards and Nawas (eds) Patronate and Patronage in
Classical Islam, pp. 167-94. The use and meaning of the word mawlâ among th
deserves further study.

58 It is also worth noting that Q. 8:75 uses the familiar 'ha'd ... ha'd' ('on
construction. As shown above, the 'one another' construction was previously on
expression of external communal boundaries - i.e., believers are awliyd3 of one an
unbelievers are awliyd3 of one another. Here, however, the construction is used t
social structure within the umma.

59 See Q. 6:151 and Q. 17:23-24, among others.

60 An investigation into the connection between this verse and justificatio
inequality in later Islamic societies might yield interesting results.

This content downloaded from

5.169.173.0 on Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:11:26 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms