Friendship with God (wilaya)

ولاية الله

Friendship with God in the thirty-eighth sacred hadith of the Forty: 'whoever is hostile to a friend of Mine, I have declared war on him; My servant draws near to Me by nothing dearer to Me than what I have made obligatory on him; and My servant keeps drawing near to Me through supererogatory works until I love him' — the wali, on the commentary's account, is the one upright upon the obligations who then ascends through supererogatory works until he becomes beloved of God, his hearing, sight, hand and foot then acting by Him; the drawing near that founds wilaya has two ranks — the obligations first, dearest of all approaches, then the supererogatory after them — while enmity to a friend occasions God's own declaration of war, the gravest of threats in defence of His beloveds (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 770–771).