Editing Saint (section)

=== Islam ===
{{Main|Wali}}

Besides prophets, according to [[Islam]], saints possess [[barakah|blessings]] (Arabic: بركة, "baraka") and can perform [[Islamic view of miracles|miracles]] (Arabic: كرامات, ''Karāmāt''). Saints rank lower than [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|prophets]]. However, they can intercede for people on the [[Day of Judgment in Islam|Day of Judgment]], but their intercession is limited compared to the intercession of the [[Muhammad|Prophet Muhammad]]. Both the tombs of prophets and saints are visited frequently ''([[Ziyarat]])'' as well as visiting modern-day living saints. People seek the advice of a saint in their quest for spiritual fulfilment. Unlike saints in Christianity, Muslim saints are said to be given their rank by God and some with public duties are officially acknowledged by their Sheikh with an ''ijaz''a, a verbal and written permission to be a spiritual guide. Unlike prophets, women like [[Rabia of Basra]] were accepted as saints.<ref>Josef W. Meri ''The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria'' OUP Oxford, 14.11.2002 ISBN 9780191554735 pp. 60-81</ref>

Saints are recognized as having specific traits they can be identified through. These include: floating lights appearing above their tomb, the body not decaying, a pleasant and miraculous odor coming from the body, appearing in the dreams of others who they pray on behalf of, appearing in two places at once, and having normally impossible knowledge.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winkler |first=Hans Alexander |title=Ghost Riders of Upper Egypt}}</ref>

Islam has had a rich history of veneration of saints (often called ''[[wali]]'', which literally means 'Friend [of God]'),<ref name="See John Renard 2008">See John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); Idem., ''Tales of God Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009)</ref> which has declined in some parts of the Islamic world in the twentieth century due to the influence of the various streams of [[Salafism]]. In [[Sunni Islam]], the veneration of saints became a very common form of devotion early on,<ref name="See John Renard 2008"/> and saints came to be defined in the eighth-century as a group of "special people chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work miracles."<ref name="ReferenceA">Radtke, B., "Saint", in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC.</ref> The classical Sunni scholars came to recognize and honor these individuals as venerable people who were both "loved by God and developed a close relationship of love to Him."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> "Belief in the miracles of saints (''karāmāt al-awliyāʾ'') ... [became a] requirement in Sunni Islam [during the classical period],"<ref>Jonathan A. C. Brown, "Faithful Dissenters: Sunni Skepticism about the Miracles of Saints", ''Journal of Sufi Studies'' 1 (2012), p. 123</ref> with even medieval critics of the ubiquitous practice of [[ziyara|grave visitation]] like [[Ibn Taymiyyah]] emphatically declaring: "The miracles of saints are absolutely true and correct, and acknowledged by all Muslim scholars. The [[Quran]] has pointed to it in different places, ''"A messenger who has instructed them in scripture and wisdom, and sanctify them." (Qur'an 2:129)'' and the [[hadith|sayings of the Prophet]] have mentioned it, and whoever denies the miraculous power of saints are innovators or following innovators."<ref>Ibn Taymiyyah, ''Mukhtasar al-Fatawa al-Masriyya'' (al-Madani Publishing House, 1980), p. 603</ref> The vast majority of saints venerated in the classical Sunni world were the [[Sufi]]s, who were all Sunni mystics who belonged to one of the [[maddhab|four orthodox legal schools of Sunni law]].<ref>John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008)</ref>

Veneration of saints eventually became one of the most widespread Sunni practices for more than a millennium, before it was opposed in the twentieth century by the [[Salafi movement]], whose various streams regard it as "being both un-Islamic and backwards ... rather than the integral part of Islam which they were for over a millennium."<ref>Juan Eduardo Campo, ''Encyclopedia of Islam'' (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009), p. 600</ref> In a manner similar to the [[Protestant Reformation]],<ref>See Jonathan A. C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'' (London: Oneworld Publications, 2015), p. 254</ref> the specific traditional practices which [[Salafism]] has tried to curtail in both [[Sunni]] and [[Shia]] contexts include those of [[wali|the veneration of saints]], [[ziyara|visiting their graves]], [[tawassul|seeking their intercession]], and [[relics|honoring their relics]]. As Christopher Taylor has remarked: "[Throughout Islamic history] a vital dimension of Islamic piety was the veneration of Muslim saints ... [Due, however to] certain strains of thought within the Islamic tradition itself, particularly pronounced in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries ... [some modern day] Muslims have either resisted acknowledging the existence of Muslim saints altogether or have viewed their presence and veneration as unacceptable deviations."<ref>Christopher Taylor, ''In the Vicinity of the Righteous'' (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 5–6</ref>

Despite attempts by the Salafis to minimise the importance of saints in Islam, there are many living saints with huge popularity, often with millions of followers, mainly found in the Sufi orders or ''[[Tariqa|tariqat]]''. They follow the teachings of the [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]] and are usually direct descendants of him. They are also scholars of the religion. Well-known modern-day saints include [[Nazim Al-Haqqani|Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani]], [[Sheikh Hisham Kabbani]], [[Mehmet Adil|Sheikh Mehmet al Rabbani]] of the [[Naqshbandi Sufi Order]], [[Umar bin Hafiz|Habib Umar bin Hafidz]] of the [[Ba'Alawi Tariqat]], [[Muhammad al-Yaqoubi|Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi]] of the [[Shadhili Tariqa]].

Famous Islamic saints in history include [[Rumi]], [[Ibn Arabi]] and [[Al-Ghazali|Al Ghazzali]].