This book is a study of the concept of wilāya and its developments among Shīʿī scholars from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Leila Chamankhah addresses a number of issues by delving into the conceptualizations of through the examination and interpretation of key texts. She focuses on the influence of ibn ʿArabī’s mysticism, with regard to the conception of , on his Shīʿa successors and expositors in later centuries. She also discusses the development and transformation of the conception of over two hundred years, from the esoteric school of Shaykhīsm to the politicization of in the theory of wilāyat al-faqīh.