This book is a study of the concept of wil¿ya and its developments among Sh¿¿¿ scholars from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Leila Chamankhah addresses a number of issues by delving into the conceptualizations of wil¿ya through the examination and interpretation of key texts. She focuses on the influence of ibn ¿Arab¿¿s mysticism, with regard to the conception of wil¿ya, on his Sh¿¿a successors and expositors in later centuries. She also discusses the development and transformation of the conception of wil¿ya over two hundred years, from the esoteric school of Shaykh¿sm to the politicization of wil¿ya in the theory of wil¿yat al-faq¿h.