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political islam 471we (Muslim-Believers) are the lowest ÈanÊfiyya community in theentire world and, hence, closer to committing shirk than any othercommunity on earth. It is a truism to say that the more ÈanÊfiyyareligiosity there is the less is there the possibility of shirk, but thereality is that in the Arab-Muslim world there is very little ÈanÊfiyyaand a great deal of shirk.If al-wal§" expresses a social relationship based on a personal senseof likeness to someone who is both your guide and teacher, we needto establish the identity of such a guide or teacher and the role heor she fulfils. A direct instruction in this respect can be found in thefollowing verse:Your guardian [walÊyukum] can be only Allah; and His messenger andthose who believe, who establish worship and pay the poor-due, andbow down (in prayer). ( Al-M§"ida 5:55; MP) 138This verse demands adherence firstly to Allah, secondly to His messenger,and thirdly to those who believe. As for Allah, adherence isexpressed by obedience to the Lord, by doing what He has ordered,and by refraining from what He has forbidden. As for adherence toHis messenger, this is expressed by confirming MuÈammad’s messengerhood,by following what it prescribes as model behaviour—inthe same way as MuÈammad (ß) once took Abraham as a model hewanted to follow—and by adhering to what was revealed to him byhis Lord. As for adherence to ‘those who believe’, this means supportfor a group of people whose behaviour is characterised by threethings: a) they believe in God and bow down (in prayer), b) theyestablish worship, and c) they pay zak§h. Adherence requires acquiescence,and acquiescence requires obedience. Obedience is undoubtedlyone fundamental aspect of al-wal§", which is shown in the formof both a positive affirmation (of what has been prescribed) and anegative refraining (from what has been proscribed). This is confirmedby the following verse:O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger and those ofyou who are in authority [ålÊ al-amr]… ( Al-Nis§" 4:59, MP)138MF, AhA: ‘Your only friends’; AH: ‘Your true allies’; AB: ‘Your only friend’;YA: ‘Your (real) friends’; AA: ‘Your friend is only God’ are all not capturing MS’sunderstanding of walÊ as signalling a position of authority (of a guide/teacher vis-àvisa pupil/novice), while ‘friend’ or #ally’ indicate a relationship of equality (even iftheologically that is not what the translators wanted to state).