What is Tawalla?
Tawalla means to love the Prophet (saww) and his family, the Ahlulbayt (as). It means to love the things that they loved, and to do things that would make them happy.
Tawalla in the Holy Quran
قُل لَّا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا إِلَّا الْمَوَدَّةَ فِي الْقُرْبَىٰ
Say, ‘I do not ask you any reward for it except the love of [my] relatives.’ (42:23)
Why do we practice Tawalla
To love someone means to do the things that will make our the person we love happy. The love of the Holy Prophet (saww) and his family, helps us to stay aligned with the their path, the true path. It helps us to keep our faith in check, but stopping us from doing anything that will make them unhappy, and anything that will take us farther away from them.
It simply does not make sense to love those who commit wrong doings, and do what makes wrong doers happy. Therefore we love those who we believe to be the best of us, and try to do what they asked us to do, in order to make Allah (swt) happy.
How to practice Tawalla
We practice Tawalla by utilising all opportunities to remember Ahlulbayt (as). Whether it is celebrating their wiladats or commemorating their shahadats, via poetry, via reciting ziayarat, dua, and salawat, and learning more about them as much as possible. By learning more about the lives of the AhlulBayt (as), and loving them and their way of life, we try our best to act as they guided us to act.
