Wali

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This article is about the Islamic religious concept of Wali. For the administrative title, see Wāli. For the town and commune of Mauritania, see Waly Diantang, Mauritania. For use of Waliullah as a given name, see Waliullah (name).

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For other uses, see Wali (disambiguation).
Bektashi mirrored calligraphy "Ali is the Wali of Allah"

Walī (Arabic: ولي‎‎, plural ʾawliyāʾ أولياء), is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "helper", etc.[1] "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" (authority or guardianship) over somebody else. For example, in fiqh, a father is wali of his children especially for his daughters in marriage.

In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walī allāh can be used to denote one vested with the "authority of God":

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Only Allah is your Wali and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow.

— Quran, sura 5 (Al-Ma'ida), ayah 55[2]

However, the most common meaning of the word is that of a Muslim saint or holy person.[3] In Turkish the word has been adopted as veli.[4] In Palestine the word wali means both holy man and the tomb or mausoleum of a holy man. This is reflected in 19th- to early 20th-century Western scholarly literature, where the word is spelled "wali", "weli", "welli" etc. in English and "oualy"[5] in French.

It should not be confused with the different word wāli (والي) which is an administrative title that means magistrate[6] or governor and is still used today in some Muslim countries, such as the former Wali of Swat.

Wali as male custodian of a woman

According to Islamic law (shari'a) a woman needs a wali, that is a male custodian. In marriage, the marriage contract is signed by not by the bride and groom but by the bride's wali (typically the father or failing that a paternal grandfather or brother of the bride) and the bridegroom. After marriage the husband becomes the wali. Typically a father, brother or husband (a mahram) is a wali.

In the case of the woman's first marriage the father or paternal grandfather is wali mujbir. Her approval is necessary, but the bride's silence is considered consent as being shy.[7] If father and grandfather are deceased another male relative may function as wali. If there is no Muslim relative, a qadi may function as wali. There are only very few exceptions to this ruling, e.g. in the Hanafi school of Islamic law a woman may under certain circumstances marry without a wali, if it is not her first marriage.

At least in conservative Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, girls and women are forbidden from traveling, conducting official business, or undergoing certain medical procedures without permission from their male wali.[8]

Use in Sufism

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. A hierarchy of ʾawliyāʾ and their functions are outlined in the books of Sufi Masters. There is disagreement as to the terms used for each rank but there is a general agreement about the numbers and functions of each level. Starting from the top downwards:[9]

Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Arabi amongst others also contended that there was a Seal of the ʾawliyāʾ much in the same way that Muhammad is considered the Seal of the Prophets.[9][10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hans Wehr, p. 1289
  2. ↑ Quran 5:55
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ http://www.seslisozluk.net/man+close+to+God,+holy+man,+wali,+saint-nedir-ne-demek/tr-en-da/
  5. ↑ Guérin, 1880, p. 488
  6. ↑ Hans Wehr, p. 1290
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chodkiewicz, Michel. The Seal of the Saints: Prophethood and Sainthood in the Doctrine of Ibn 'Arabi. trans. Liadain Sherrard. Cambridge, UK: Islamic Texts Society, 1993. ISBN 978-0-946621-40-8.
  10. ↑ Radtke, Bernd, and John O'Kane. The Concept of Sainthood in Early Islamic Mysticism: Two Works by Al-Hakim Al-Tirmidhi. Richmond, Surrey, UK: Curzon Press, 1996, pp. 10, 109. ISBN 978-0-7007-0452-1, ISBN 978-0-7007-0413-2.

Sources and external links

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