(In answer to them) he says...

(In answer to them) he says, “There are reasons to believe that what these people say is far from reality first, on the basis of their claim the word صلاه “blessing” must have various meanings, and this opposes the linguistic principle so that some have denied (such possibility) and those who have not, prefer to consider it a figurative usage.

Firoozabadi, a lexicographer, has written in a book on “calling for (divine) blessing on the Prophet”, and investigated the Qur’anic verse, citing what ibn Hisham has said in this regard.[^9] “ Surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet… ” Accordingly, as regards the meaning of the word wilayah , which has several meanings, it definitely means “guardianship” and “authority” whereas “friendship” and “helper” are excluded from the province of the meaning.

Thus, whenever the word “ wali ” is used without a contextual clue, it denotes “guardian” and “authority”. B) Some lexicographers assume that the root “ w-l-i ” means closeness and some commentators take the lexicographers’ view for granted. It should, however, be noticed that: Such view is based merely on guessing; not on reasoning. What contributes to understanding the real meaning of a lexical item is the time in which it is used.

There is no doubt that most often the word “ wali ” does not mean “closeness”, but in some cases when there is a contextual clue, it does as in the phrase المطر الولی. This phrase means: a second rain close in time to the first one. Even if we assume that the word “ wali ” formerly meant “ closeness ”, but now it does not because it is obsolete.

C) Certain lexicographers, for instance, ibn al–Atheer in his al–Nihayah , and ibn Manzur in his Lisan al–Arab , say at the outset of their discussion of the meaning of wali that it is one of the names of God, and it means “ helper ”, and it can mean “ Administrator of the universe ” . This, however, is not true because the word wali comes from the root which is pronounced like fa – eel.

Were it mean “ helper ”, it would convey this idea both when it is a root and derivative provided that it gives the meaning of a subject. It should be added that neither of the two has a proof, besides, the word that is pronounced like fa–eel is a verb–like adjective , implying a constancy (in the attributes it refers to**),** whereas fa-eel , denotes an occurrence, and each of them oppose the other.