Also 9 wali, wullee. [Arabic walī, welī friend (of God), saint.]
1. A Mohammedan saint or holy man.
1819. T. Hope, Anast. (1820), I. 341. Notes, Hafeez: holy, but in a less degree than the Wely or saint.
1840. J. B. Fraser, Trav. Koordistan, etc., I. 312. He … had on his head a magnificent turban of cashmere shawl—somewhat inconsistent in a dervish; but saints and wullees are now-a-days privileged people.
1876. Stobart, Islam, 204. Those faqirs who attain to great sanctity are called ‘Walis.’
2. The tomb or shrine of a weli.
1838. E. Robinson, Res. Palestine (1841), I. 322. Rachel’s Tomb … is merely an ordinary Muslim Wely, or tomb of a holy person.
1871. Farrar, Witn. Hist., iii. 114. The white-domed wely of an obscure Mohammedan saint.
