''Mawlā'' (, plural ''mawālī'' ), is a polysemous

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, the term applied to any form of tribal association. In the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

and

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

s it is used in multiple senses, including 'lord', 'guardian', and 'trustee'. After Muhammad's death, the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

dynasty accepted new converts to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

into Arab-Muslim society and the word ''mawali'' gained currency as an appellation for converted non-Arab

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

in the early Islamic caliphates.

Etymology

The word ''mawla'', which was used by the Islamic prophet

about Ali in the Ghadir Khumm speech, is derived from the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

''w-l-y'', meaning "to be close to" or "to have power over". ''Mawla'' can have reciprocal meanings, depending on whether it is used in the active or passive voice: "master" Originally, ''mawāli'' were clients of an Arab people, but with the advent of Islam, the term came to refer to non-Arab Muslims and other allies. Under the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

rulers of the 9th century, the non-Arab converts comprised an important part of the army. The institution of wala' as a requirement to enter Muslim society ceased to exist after the fall of the Umayyads, as the Abbasids favoured a universal interpretation of Islam that was not the exclusive religion of the Arab elite. However, throughout the centuries, the rise of political power of regional Arab dynasties and non-Arab ethnic groups eventually restricted the power of the Abbasid

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, as Persian, Turkic and Berber Muslims began to form independent and autonomous sultanates. Abu Hanifa was the founder of the Hanafi school of

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

within

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

and lived through the Abbasid Revolution. He famously stated in one of his sayings: "The belief of a newly converted Turk is the same as that of an Arab from Hejaz." This institution continued in the Abbasid period on a much smaller scale when the 8th Abbasid Caliph, al-Mu'tasim, formed private corps entirely composed of non-Arabs in the service of the Caliph. These men were the mawali of the Caliph and were thus considered to be more loyal to the Caliph. This practice persisted throughout Islamic history through to the Ottoman period.

Ghadir Khumm

The word "Moula" is regarded as a considerable word in the Ghadir Khumm event (regarding the sentence which was declared by the Islamic prophet

Muhammad in Islam In Islam, Muhammad () is venerated as the Seal of the Prophets who transmitted the Quran, eternal word of God () from the Angels in Islam, angel Gabriel () to humans and jinn. Muslims believe that the Quran, the central religious text of Isl ...

about Ali, when he said: "For whoever I am his ''moula'', 'Ali is his ''moula''."). There have been mentioned meanings for this use of the word "moula", including leader, administrator, Lord, owner, master, follower, one who has more right in something, wali, an ally, etc."wali"and "Mawla"
al-islam.org Retrieved 8 Dec 2018 Shias argue that in the context of the sermon (Ghadir Khumm), intended that the word "moula" to be taken as "leader". They therefore see this to be the official designation of Ali as the prophet's successor.

Notes

References

* Hourani, Albert. ''A History of the Arab People''. Chapter 1. * Mas'udi. ''The Meadows of Gold''. Trans. and eds. Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. *{{cite book , last1=Pipes , first1=Daniel , title=Slave Soldiers and Islam The Genesis of a Military System , date=1981 , publisher=

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, isbn=9780300024470 , page=120 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ByLG-2hZX-MC , access-date=28 December 2021 , language=en, format=hardcover

Etymology

Ghadir Khumm

See also

Notes

References

Further reading