Welayah or Walaya (, meaning "guardianship" or "governance") is a general concept of the

Islamic faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, includ ...

and a key word in

Shia Islam Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

that refers, among other things, to the nature and function of the

Imamate The term imamate or ''imamah'' (, ''imāmah'') means "leadership" and refers to the office of an ''imam'' or a Muslim theocratic state ruled by an ''imam''. Theology *Imamate in Shia doctrine, the doctrine of the leadership of the Muslim commu ...

. Welayah is something that can be granted to a person, community, or country that confers authority/guardianship to the

wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

(a person who has ''welayah'') that they can exercise on behalf of someone else. For example, in

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

, a father is ''wali'' of his children. The term wali holds a special importance in Islamic spiritual life and it is used with various meanings that relate to its different functions, including: * Next of kin * Ally * Friend * Helper * Guardian * Patron * Saint In Islam, the phrase ''walīyu l-Lāh'' can denote one vested with the "authority of God":

" In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate: Only God is your ''wali'' and his messenger and those who believe, establish worship, and pay the poor due while bowing down (in prayer)."

Terminology

Two nouns are derived from the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

W-L-Y ''—walayah'' and ''wilayah''—which means to be near to something, to be a friend of someone, or to have power. The term welayah is also related to the word ''awlia'', a term for people who are "beloved of Allah." The term wali is derived the W-L-Y root based on the principles of Arabic morphology. Accordingly, walayah sometimes represent the sense of assistance, alliance or ''nusrah'', while wilayah invariably denotes the idea of power, authority, or

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

Wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

in the most literal form of the word means "a person, community, or country that is under the direction and rule of another." The word holds a special importance in Islamic spiritual life and it is used with various meanings, which relate to its different functions, which include: "next of kin, ally, friend, helper, guardian, patron, and saint." The eternal prophetic reality has two aspects:

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