it is quite clear that Ali bin Abi Talib(A) was helping the begger therefore wali here means helper. as for ikramah, well, when his opinion goes against ahley bayt then as you know he was from khawarij(see asma al-rijal) so his 'opinion' is of no value.
tafsir mafatih al-ghayb by fakruddin razi: the second opinion: that this verse was revealed about a specific person and again there are different reports. `akrimah says that this verse was revealed about abu bakr as-siddiq raDiyallahu `anhu. second:`aTa from ibn `abbas that it was revealed for `ali ibn abu Talib. it has been reported from `abdullah ibn salam that he said: when this verse was revealed we said: 'ya RasulAllah, i saw `ali give away his finger-ring to a needy person whilst he was bowing down [raki`y] in prayer. we certainly love him [natawallah].' it is reported from abu dhar raDiyallahu `anhu that he said: i prayed with RasulAllah sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam once during DHuhr and a man begged in the Masjid. nobody gave him anything. the person raised his hands towards the heavens and said: 'O Allah i bear witness that i made an appeal [sa'altu] in the Messenger's mosque sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam but nobody gave me anything.' `ali was bowing down in ruku'u at that time and he gestured by offering his little finger on his right hand and there was a finger-ring thereon. the mendicant accepted [the offer] and took the ring. all this took place in the presence of RasulAllah sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam who said: "verily Allah is your Helper [or Friend] and His Messenger and the believers who establish prayer, give charity [even] whilst bowing down [in prayer]" O Allah! verily my brother Musa asked you: 'My Lord,augment my chest..' until the verse 'make him a partner in my mission' [taHa 25-32] and the answer to this prayer in the qur'an is: 'We shall strenghthen your shoulder by your brother and make you both to prevail' [al-qaSaS 35] O Allah i am MuHammad, your Prophet and the chosen one; augment my breast and make my mission easy for me and give me a vizier from my own household; who shall support me [strengthen my back]." abu dharr says: by Allah, RasulAllah had not finished these words and Jibril descended and said: 'O Muhammad, recite: "verily Allah is your Helper [or Friend] and His Messenger.." the full verse. these are all the reports concerning this specific issue.
tafsir jami`y al-bayan of at-Tabari of the ayah: [.. wa hum raki`un] the exegetes [ahl at-ta'wil] have differed upon the object of this ayah. there are some who said it is ali ibn abi Talib and some others who said that it is a general reference to all muslims. narrates muhammad ibn al-husayn, said he: ahmed ibn al-mufaDDal narrated to us, that asbaT narrated to us from suddi that he said: about those who shall help [yatawallahum] them and he said: "verily Allah is your Helper [or Friend] and His Messenger and the believers who establish prayer, give charity [even] whilst bowing down [in prayer]". this is about all believers; however ali ibn abi Talib, a mendicant passed by him asking [for charity] and [`ali] was bowing [ruku'] in prayer; he gave away his ring [in that very state]. --- hannad ibn as-sariy says: abdah narrates to us from abd al-Malik from abu ja'afar that he said: 'i asked about this verse: "verily Allah is your Helper and His Messenger and the believers who establish prayer, give charity [even] whilst bowing down [in prayer]". we asked: 'who are the believers [mentioned here]?' he said: 'those who believe'. we said: 'it has reached to us that this was revealed for ali bin abu Talib. he said: '`ali is among those who believe'. ---- narrated to us ibn al-waki`y that al-muHaribi narrated to us from `abd al-Malik that he said: i asked abu ja'afar about the verse "verily Allah is your Helper and His Messenger.." and he said similar to the report of hannad from `abdah. --- narrated to us ismayil ibn israyil ar-ramli that ayyub ibn suwayd said: utbah ibn abi Hukaym said about the verse: "verily Allah is your Helper and His Messenger and those who believe...": that is `ali ibn abu Talib. ---- Harith narrated to me that `abdu'l `Aziz said that Ghalib ibn `ubaydullah narrated to us that he said: i have heard Mujahid say regarding the verse: "verily Allah is your Helper and His Messenger.." this was revealed [describing] for ali ibn abu Talib who gave charity whilst he was bowing down [raki`y] in prayer. ----- aH: waliy is translated as helper but from other tafasir and the event of `ubadah ibn samit who shunned the jews and announced his 'friendship' to Allah and His Messenger after becoming Muslim; thus, it is derived from 'muwalaah' or 'friendship'. which is also the widespread translation waliyAllah or the 'friend of Allah'. Allah ta'ala knows best.
edit: So that the Shaykh's reputation is not sullied let me take the blame for adding the words nass qati --that was from my own understanding. if it is flawed blame me not sayyid irfan shah hafizahu allah. as for the general point he made that this is evidence that Hazrat Ali is a helper of the Muslims and that he is the 'awwaleen misdaaq' of hum raaki'uun that was Shah Sahib's point and it remains valid.
it is not nass qat`yi as far as i can see. nass is a document and qat`yi is absolute; that which 'cuts off' [from qaT`a] any doubt concerning its validity. for example, the verse about wuDu says about 'washing' among which is the reason: '...aw lamastumu'n nisa' / or when you touch women. imam shafiyi raDiyallahu `anhu concluded: 'touching a woman invalidates wuDu' and our imam raHimahullah said that 'touching' is a euphemism for something else and therefore it does not invalidate wuDu even if an ajnabiyyah [woman one can marry] touches a person. such a verse is ambiguous, and not considered as qaaTi`y even though it's wording is simple. then how can the verse in question be considered as qaaTi`y? hum raki'un. i think sunnis have a bad reputation for such sweeping statements. 100 mufassirin? ahem. Allah ta'ala knows best.
This verse is backed up by a hadith in Tirmidhi Sharif too: Ali is the wali of all Muslims after me...
:s1: Taken, paraphrased, from a lecture [youm e ali] by Shaykh Sayyid Irfan Shah: Proof from the Koran why it is permissible to believe that the Prophet and the saintly people and, in particular, Hazrat Ali, can help Muslims. The verse is: [5.55] Only Allah is your Vali and His Apostle and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow. [MH Shakir translation] -emphasis mine. This clearly shows that Allah is the helper [wali] of the believers and the Prophet is a helper and those who believe are helpers and 'pay the poor-rate while they bow' refers first of all to Hazrat Ali. This is the exegesis of ALL the classical commentators that the first object [misdaaq] of 'hum raak'uun' [while they bow] is Ali alayhisalam. This is because this verse was revealed when Hazrat Ali gave a man in the Masjid Nabvi his ring in charity whilst he was doing ruku [bowing down] in namaz when the man asked for something and no one else gave him anything. He ran to the Prophet and told him about it and the Prophet said, subhan Allah. It is Ali! This is absolute evidence [nass qati] that Ali alayhisalam is a madadgaar [wali: helper] of the Muslim till qayamat and why we can say Ya Ali madad!. The word wali has been translated with this meaning of helper by over 100 mufassireen so it is mass transmitted with this meaning.
