Wali al-Ahd: Difference between revisions

The title emerged in the early [[caliphate]]s, and can be traced to at least {{circa|715}}.{{sfn|Marsham|2009|p=114}} The title itself is ambiguous, as the term {{transl|ar|[[wali|walī]]}} can mean both 'possessor of' or 'successor to', and the exact scope of {{transl|ar|ʿahd}}, 'covenant, testament', is left unclear: it can be interpreted as the covenant of God with humanity as a whole, of the previous caliph, or of the Muslim community.{{sfn|Marsham|2009|pp=114–115}} The [[Umayyad]] caliphs certainly favoured a more absolutist interpretation, by which they claimed a mandate deriving directly from God, via their position as heirs to [[Muhammad]]. By the 740s, the term '''{{transl|ar|walī ʿahd al-muslimīn}}''' ({{lang|ar|ولي عهد المسلمين|}}, {{lit.|successor to the covenant of the Muslims}}), or even the variant '''{{transl|ar|walī ʿahd al-muslimīn wa'l muslimāt}}''' ('successor to the covenant of the Muslim men and Muslim women') appears in use, either in the sense of the Muslim community pledging allegiance ({{transl|ar|[[bay'ah|bayʿa]]}}) to the heir-designate, or the heir being the successor to the covenant with the Muslim community.{{sfn|Marsham|2009|pp=115–116}} The term was established as the usual title of the caliphal heir-apparent by the time of the first [[Abbasid caliphs]].{{sfn|Ayalon|2002|p=126}}