Your patron is God only, and His Messenger, and the believers…[Sahl] said:The patronage (wilāya) of God is [His] choosing (ikhtiyār) for whomever He has taken under His patronage. Then He informed the Messenger that He is the Patron of the believers. Thus it became incumbent upon him to befriend those who had allied themselves to God, Exalted is He, and those who believed. Then He said: