Walayah is translated from Arabic as “guardianship” and denotes “Love and devotion for God, the Prophets, the Aimmat and Imām uz Zaman, and the Dai.” It also denotes Ta'at (following every order without protest, but with one's soul's happiness, knowing that nothing is more important than a command from God and that the command of His vicegerents is His Word). In Ismāʿīlī doctrine, God is the true desire of every soul, and He manifests himself in the forms of Prophets and Imāms; to be guided to his path, one requires a messenger or a guide: a Dai. For the true mawali of the Imam and Dai, heaven is made obligatory. And only with this crucial walayat, they believe, will all the other pillars and acts ordained by Islam be judged or even looked at by God.