Walī means friend or protégé, from the Qurʾānic saying that the friends of God have nothing to fear. Sufi theory, developed by al-Tirmidhī and Ibn ʿArabī, describes a hierarchy of saints, hidden or known, who sustain the world. Their tombs are places of pilgrimage.
Walī
A friend of God: a Muslim saint, one brought near to God.
Also: Wali, saint, awliya