Mawaali and Molaa'ee

[Dr_Sufi]

Re: Mawaali and Molaa’ee

@muqawwee123

Another historical perspective of the word Mawali:

Mawali or mawālá (Arabic: موالي‎) is a term in Classical Arabic used to address non-Arab Muslims. The term gained prominence during the Umayyad Caliphate (c. 661-750 CE/41–132 AH), as many non-Arabs such as Persians, Turks and Kurds converted to Islam. The influx of non-Arab converts to Islam created a new difficulty in incorporating them into tribal Arab society.[SUP][1][/SUP]](Mawla - Wikipedia) The solution appeared to be the contract of wala’, through which the non-Arab Muslims acquired an Arab patron.

Mawali - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for the nice input Sir. With your kind permission I would also like to add some bits.

According to some Indian Ahle Hadith theologists of previous century, the word Mawaali is the plural of the word Moula which means Slave This is stated by Moulana Shaheed-u-Din Banarsi. He in 1319 Hijri, in his book, Aasaan Lughat-e-Quran, wrote that the Mawaali is the plural of Moula & means the Slaves who have been freed.

This translation in my humble opinion is probably inappropriate on account of the agreed upon Hadith of Holy Prophet (SAW) referred to in post no 25 above. In that Hadith, Holy Prophet (SAW) is telling his companions that, Whoever considers Him (Holy Prophet SAW) as his master, should consider Ali (KAW) as his master. Na’ooz-o Billah, neither Holy Prophet (SAW) nor Hazrat Ali (KAW) were the slaves of companions. They were actually their Masters. On this pretext, the word Mawaali, if considered to be the plural of Moula as Master could have a word for more than one masters like Holy Prophet (SAW) and Hazrat Ali (KAW) combined.

On the other hand, the Umayyads probably started using the word Moula or Mawaali in a derogatory sense, just to belittle Hazrat Ali (KAW). Definitely, they could never accept Hazrat Ali (KAW) as a Master, so the meaning of the word Moula was changed from Master to Slave and Mawaali became its plural i.e. Slaves. On this presumption, there may be a remote possibility that since, Sindh was occupied during the Umayyad Caliphate, therefore the word Mawaali was probably used for the slaves. By the way, some historians say that the Qambarani tribe of Sindh were actually freed slaves. Again the name Qambarani itself might have been coined either for the descendants of Hazrat Qanbar (RA) a freed slave of Hazrat Ali (KAW), on simply for the slaves.

However, the word Wala is not derived from Moula. It is actually derived from Waal’in or Waali which means Ruler (not to be confused with Wali meaning friend). In this context Wala could mean anybody living under a Waali in a Walayat and perhaps the Wikipedias account does not seem to be in line. To me the word Mawaali as slaves seems more in tune.