Introduction
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, has stated that He has awliya’ (close friends or allies) and that the Shaytan has awliya’, and He differentiated between the allies of the Most Gracious and the allies of the Shaytan. Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "Verily, the allies and close friends of Allah will have no fear nor will they grieve, those who believe and guard against evil." (Yunus 10:62-63)

Ibn Jarir said, “Here Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says that helpers in Allah’s cause will have no fear in the hereafter of Allah’s punishment, because Allah is pleased with them, so He will reassure them of protection from His punishment. Nor will they grieve for what they missed out on in this world. The awliya’ are those whom Allah has described, namely those who believe and guard against evil, fearing Allah, as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): those who believe and guard against evil.”

And Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of taghut Shaytan. So fight against the allies of Shaytan; feeble indeed is the scheming of Shaytan." (al-Nisa’ 4:76)

Ibn Jarir said, “So fight O believers, against the allies of Shaytan. What is meant is those who take him as an ally and obey his commands by doing things which involve disobeying Allah and disbelieving in Him, and they support the Shaytan. feeble indeed is the scheming of Shaytan– what is meant by his scheming is what he plots against the believers by inciting his allies among those who disbelieve in Allah against Allah’s Messenger and his allies, who are those who believe in Him. So He is saying here: Do not fear the allies of the Shaytan, for they are only his party and supporters, and the party of the Shaytan are weak and feeble people.”

1.1. Definition of walayah in linguistic terms and in Islamic terminology
1.1.1. Definition of walayah and wali in linguistic terms
Walayah refers to taking allies and supporting. The wali (pl. awliya’; close friend or ally) is the opposite of an enemy. The root word waliya is indicative of closeness.

1.1.2. Definition of walayah and wali in Islamic terminology
Ibn Taymiyah said, “Walayah with regard to Allah means being in harmony with His commands and prohibitions, by loving what He loves and hating when He hates,… taking as allies those whom He takes as allies and taking as enemies those whom He takes as enemies.” Ibn al-Qayyim said, “The wali of Allah is the one who is close to Him and has a special relationship with Him.” Ibn Hajar said, “What is meant by the wali of Allah is one who knows Him, is steadfast in obeying Him and is sincere in worshipping Him.”

1.2. Conditions of being a wali (close friend) of Allah
1.2.1. One of the conditions of being a close friend of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is believing in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "Verily, the allies and close friends of Allah will have no fear nor will they grieve, those who believe and guard against evil." (Yunus 10:62-63)

Al-Shawkani said, “That is, they believe in what they are obliged to believe in, and they guard against that which they are obliged to guard against of disobedience to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.” Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "Rather righteousness is to believe in Allah and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets …" (al-Baqarah 2:177)

1.2.2. One of the conditions of attaining the close friendship of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is following the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "Say: If you love Allah then follow me; Allah will love you." (Al ‘Imran 3:31)

It was narrated that al-Hasan al-Basri said, “Allah has ordained that following His Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) should be a sign of loving Him and that punishment is inevitable for the one who goes against his teachings.”

Ibn Taymiyah said, “In this verse, Allah explains that whoever follows the Messenger, Allah will love him, and whoever claims that Allah loves him but does not follow the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is not one of the close friends (awliya’) of Allah.”

The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is the intermediary between Allah and His creation in the conveying of His commands and prohibitions, His promise and warning. So whoever believes that any of the awliya’ has a path that could lead to Allah without following Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), he is one of the close friends of the Shaytan.

Ibn Taymiyah said, “Among the different types of polytheists – Arab, Indian, Turkish, Greek and so on – there are those who strive hard in seeking knowledge, shunning worldly gain and focusing on worship, but they do not follow the Messengers, do not believe in what they brought and do not obey what they enjoined. Such people are not believers and are not close friends of Allah. They are accompanied by the devils who descend upon them and disclose to them some hidden matters, and they are able to do some extraordinary feats that are akin to magic, and they are like the soothsayers and magicians upon whom the devils descend.”

It was narrated that ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say, out loud and not secretly, 'The family of Abu Fulan (the Father of So and so) are not my friends. My friends are Allah and the righteous believers.'" (al-Bukhari, Muslim)

‘Iyad said, “This hadith indicates that according to the teachings of Islam, walayah (being a close friend of Allah) can only be attained by complying with the teachings of the religion and conducting one’s life within the framework of Islamic teachings. It has nothing to do with one’s lineage or blood ties.”

1.2.3. One of the conditions of attaining the close friendship of Allah is attaining true fear of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, and guarding against evil
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "Verily, the allies and close friends of Allah will have no fear nor will they grieve, those who believe and guard against evil." (Yunus 10:62-63)

It was narrated from Ibn Zayd that he said regarding the verse "Verily, the allies and close friends of Allah will have no fear nor will they grieve," Who are they, O Lord? He said, 'Those who believe and guard against evil.' He said: Allah does not accept faith unless it is accompanied by fear of Allah and guarding against evil (taqwa).

It was narrated from Mu‘adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “The closest of the people to me are those who fear Allah and guard against evil, whoever they are and wherever they are.” (Ahmad, Ibn Hibban, al-Tabarani; sahih)

‘Ali al-Qari said, “‘The closest of the people to me’ that is, those who are most likely to benefit from my intercession, or the closest of people to my status, ‘are those who fear Allah and guard against evil, whoever they are’ that is, whoever they are, Arab or non-Arab, white or black, noble or lowly. ‘and wherever they are’ that is, whether they are in Makkah, Madinah, Yemen, Kufah or Basrah… Look at the status of Uways al-Qarni in Yemen: he attained perfect taqwa (fear of Allah). Compare his situation to that of some prominent residents of the Haramayn (Makkah and Madinah); they were deprived of attaining closeness to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and, moreover, they tried to cause harm to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and even some of his relatives did that. To conclude, what is meant is it will not harm you if you are physically far away from me i.e., the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), if you are close to me spiritually, for what matters is fear of Allah and guarding against evil (taqwa).”

Ibn Taymiyah said, “They cannot be among the close friends of Allah unless they are believers who fear Allah and guard against evil. Whoever does not seek to draw close to Allah by doing good deeds or refraining from bad deeds is not one of the close friends of Allah.” It is not one of the conditions of being a close friend of Allah that the wali should distinguish himself from people by what he wears or otherwise. And it is not one of the conditions that he should be infallible. Ibn Taymiyah said, “The close friends of Allah (awliya’) do not have anything to distinguish them from other people outwardly with regard to things that are permissible.” He also said: “It is not a condition of being a close friend of Allah that the wali should be infallible; rather it is possible for him to be vulnerable to error and sin. … Fearing Allah and guarding against evil (taqwa) means doing obligatory duties and refraining from things that are prohibited, and at the same time there may be a minor sin that is not done persistently, or a major sin that is followed by repentance and seeking forgiveness.”

1.3. Categories of the close friends of Allah (awliya’), who vary in status and in closeness to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted,
1.3.1. Categories of the close friends of Allah
The close friends of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, are of two levels:
i. The foremost who are brought near to Him
ii. Those on the right, who are modest in their achievements.

Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, has mentioned them in several places in His holy Book:
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning), "And you are sorted into three kinds. Then there will be those on the right – how blessed will be those on the right! And there will be those on the left – how wretched will be those on the left! And the foremost are the foremost; it is they who will be brought near (to Allah), in gardens of delight, a multitude of those of old. And a few from those of later times." (al-Waqi‘ah 56:7-14)

Ibn Juzay said, “and you are sorted into three kinds this is addressed to all the people, because on the Day of Resurrection they will be divided into these three groups, namely: the foremost, those on the right, and those on the left. As for the foremost, they are those who will attain the highest levels in Paradise. As for those on the right, they are the rest of the people of Paradise. As for those on the left, they are the people of Hell.”

Ibn Taymiyah said, “The definition of the close friends (awliya’) of Allah is the believers who fear Allah and guard against evil (taqwa), but they may be divided into the ordinary believers, who are those of modest achievements, and the elite, who are the foremost. It is the foremost who will attain the highest levels, such as the prophets and the strong and true in faith (siddiqun).”

1.3.2. The awliya’ vary in how close they are to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted,
Introduction
As the close friends of Allah (awliya’) are the believers who fear Allah and guard against evil, then the individual’s status and closeness to Allah will be commensurate with his faith and fear of Allah (taqwa). The more perfect his faith and taqwa, the closer he will be to Allah. People vary in how close they are to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, commensurate with the variation in the level of their faith and taqwa.

Ibn Taymiyah said, “Paradise is of different levels which vary greatly. The close friends of Allah, the believers who fear Allah and guard against evil, will be in these various levels, commensurate with the level of their faith and taqwa.”

Ibn Qudamah said about the Prophet Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, “His nation is the best of nations, his companions are the best of the companions of any of the prophets (peace be upon them), and the best of his ummah is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq.”

1.4. Testifying that a specific individual is a wali
There are three scholarly views regarding testifying that a specific individual is a wali:
i. The first view is that that cannot be attested to for anyone other than the prophets (peace be upon them).
ii. The second view is that that may be attested to in the case of one concerning whom there is a religious text to that effect, if the text is soundly narrated, such as those who the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) testified would be in Paradise only.
iii. The third view is that that may be attested to in the case of one who is widely known among the ummah to be a righteous man, such as ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, al-Hasan al-Basri, and others.