Meaning: allies · Also translated as: protector, a Protector, any protector, Protecting Guardian
Forms in the Quran
أَوْلِيَآءَ×34
وَلِىٍّ×20
وَلِيًّا×13
أَوْلِيَآؤُهُمُ×2
أَوْلِيَآءَهُۥ×2
وَلِيُّهُم×2
وَلِيُّنَا×2
لِوَلِيِّهِۦ×2
Its root in the classical dictionaries
الولاء والتوالي: أن يحصل شيئان فصاعدا حصولا ليس بينهما ما ليس منهما، ويستعار ذلك للقرب من حيث المكان، ومن حيث النسبة، ومن حيث الدين، ومن حيث الصداقة والنصرة والاعتقاد، والولاية النصرة ، والولاية: تولي الأمر، وقيل: الولاية والولاية نحو: الدلالة والدلالة، وحقيقته: تولي الأمر. والولي والمولى يستعملان في ذلك كل واحد منهما…
الواو واللام والياء: أصل صحيح يدل على قرب. من ذلك الولي: القرب. يقال: تباعد بعد ولي، أي قرب. وجلس مما يليني، أي يقاربني. والولي: المطر يجيء بعد الوسمي، سمي بذلك لأنه يلي الوسمي.
The Prophet is closer
To the Believers than
Their own selves,
And his wives are
Their mothers. Blood-relations
Among each other have
Closer personal ties,
In the Decree of God.
Than (the Brotherhood of)
Believers and Muhājirs:
Nevertheless do ye
What is just to your
Closest friends: such is
The writing in the Decree
(Of God).
Say: "Who is it that can
Screen you from God
If it be His wish
To give you Punishment
Or to give you Mercy?"
Nor will they find for themselves,
Besides God, any protector
Or helper.
Is it not to God
That sincere devotion
Is due? But those who
Take for protectors others
Than God (say): "We only
Serve them in order that
They may bring us nearer
To God." Truly God
Will judge between them
In that wherein they differ.
But God guides not
Such as are false
And ungrateful.
"We are your protectors
In this life and
In the Hereafter:
Therein shall ye have
All that your souls
Shall desire; therein
Shall ye have all
That ye ask for!—
Nor can Goodness and Evil
Be equal. Repel (Evil)
With what is better:
Then will he between whom
And thee was hatred
Become as it were
Thy friend and intimate!
If God had so willed,
He could have made them
A single people; but He
Admits whom He will
To His Mercy;
And the wrong-doers
Will have no protector
Nor helper.
What! Have they taken
(For worship) protectors
Besides Him? But it is
God,—He is the Protector,
And it is He Who
Gives life to the dead:
It is He Who has power
Over all things.
He is the One that sends down
Rain (even) after (men) have
Given up all hope,
And scatters His Mercy
(Far and wide). And He
Is the Protector, Worthy
Of all Praise.
For any whom God
Leaves astray, there is
No protector thereafter.
And thou wilt see
The wrong-doers, when
In sight of the Penalty,
Say: "Is there any way
(To effect) a return?"
In front of them is
Hell: and of no profit
To them is anything
They may have earned,
Nor any protectors they
May have taken to themselves
Besides God: for them
Is a tremendous Penalty.
They will be of no
Use to thee in the sight
Of God: it is only
Wrong-doers (that stand as)
Protectors, one to another:
But God is the Protector
Of the Righteous.
"If any does not hearken
To the one who invites
(Us) to God, he cannot
Frustrate (God's Plan) on earth,
And no protectors can he have
Besides God: such men
(Wander) in manifest error."
O ye who believe!
Take not My enemies
And yours as friends
(Or protectors),—offering them
(Your) love, even though
They have rejected the Truth
That has come to you,
And have (on the contrary)
Driven out the Prophet
And yourselves (from your homes),
(Simply) because ye believe
In God your Lord!
If ye have come out
To strive in My Way
And to seek My Good Pleasure,
(Take them not as friends),
Holding secret converse
Of love (and friendship)
With them: for I know
Full well all that ye
Conceal and all that ye
Reveal. And any of you
That does this has strayed
From the Straight Path.
Say: "O ye that
Stand on Judaism!
If ye think that ye
Are friends to God,
To the exclusion of
(Other) men, then express
Your desire for Death,
If ye are truthful!"