A friend of God (walī Allah) is one tied to God through piety, love, and obedience, a holy person, often a paragon of virtue and a miracle worker, memorialised in hagiography and shrine visitation. The term walī carries with it the sense of being near or intimate with another, in addition to an authority either spiritual or temporal. It appears several times in the Qurʾān, meaning, variously, friend, ally, protector, kinsman, and intercessor. The "friends of God" mentioned in Qurʾān 10:62 are clearly an elect favoured by God now