The servants whom God loves best are the pious and the hidden.

There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God.
Your protecting Friend is only Allah and His Messenger and those who believe.             
                       ..We are drowned in sins. Those who disobey Allah, cannot be His Friends whilst committing sins and living a sinful life. We should make a firm resolution, now, here from today we want to become the Friends of Allah and we want to remain the Friends of Allah until our departure from this world. Allah is the best friend, because His Friendship will be beneficial, not only in this world but also in the Hereafter.
The Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi WA sallam, said:
Ibrahim (as) was given the title of Khalilullah-Friend of Allah.....so why couldn’t we try to be friends with Allah (swt)?
And who wouldn’t want a friend who is the Most Merciful and Compassionate, and Loving, the best of Protectors and closer to us than our jugular veins?
Allah Almighty Loves to come closer to His Servants:
Narrated Anas:  "The Prophet said, 'My Lord says, 'If My slave comes nearer to me for a span, I go nearer to him for a cubit; and if he comes nearer to Me for a cubit, I go nearer to him for the span of outstretched arms; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running.' ' 
Almighty Allah says, ‘I am as my servant thinks I am, and I am with him when he remembers me.
If he remembers me to himself, I remember him to myself; and if he remembers me in a gathering,
I remember him in a gathering better than it. If he draws near to Me a hand’s span, I draw near to him an arm’s length; if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length;
and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him with haste.’” (Al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)

Your protecting Friend is only Allah and His Messenger and those who believe.
Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded.
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 38

“The servants whom God loves best are the pious and the hidden. When they are away no-one misses them, and when they are present they are ignored. They are the imams of good guidance and the torches of knowledge.”

Our Holy Prophet (saw) said:

‘O people! Listen, understand and know it well. Allah has servants who are neither Prophets nor martyrs and whom the Prophets and martyrs yearn to be like, due to their seat and proximity in relation to Allah....

Our Holy Prophet (saw) then described these people and then read the following Ayah in which Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an:

For the believers' (al-Mu_min) orientation proofs from the Quran, the hadith and other scriptural sources concerning the wonderful and decisive issue of the Saints or awliyâ' of Allah will be presented. The words Wali, plural awliyâ' and walâya are all of Quranic origin with the root wry meaning: to be close, to be a friend, to govern. They appear in the Quran in different forms over 200 times.

For those in the community (ummah) who unwittingly deny the science of Tasawwuf (spiritual excellence) or neglect the believer's inner jihad (spiritual struggle) restrict the understanding of the 'friends of Allah' as being 'pious worshippers', which is what every believer should be anyway. Thus they risk to degrade their rank - at least in the eyes of the uninformed and to diminish their importance for the believers and the whole of the Ummah.

But what are the qualities and favour of the "friends of Allah" (Wali) and what is their function in the ummah?

It would be useful to start at the beginning:

At first, Allah is the Lord and Protector (Wali) of man; man is the one being tested as he is searching for meaning in life, for fulfillment and purpose. When the believer understands and accepts that truth, light and meaning derive from Allah and His  Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi WA sallam, he will turn away from the distractions of the lower world (dunya), the favors of other than God and will turn to Allah in everything he intends and does, because:
“He (Allah, may His Majesty be exalted) is their Friend (Wali) and they are His friends (awliyâ').”

"Behold! Verily on the Friends of Allah there is no fear nor shall they grieve"
Quran (Surah10: Verse 62)

Abu Huraira (r.a) also reports a Hadith Qudsi in which our Holy Prophet (saw) informs us that Allah (swt) said:

'Whosoever acts with enmity towards a Friend of Mine, I will indeed declare war against him"
[Hadith Qudsi: Bukhari]

In the Holy Quran, Allah says:
ALLAH is the Friend (Wali) of those who believe; HE brings them out of all kinds of darkness into light...
2-257

Surely those who believed and fled (their homes, emigrated) and struggled hard in Allah's way with their property and their souls, and those who gave shelter (asylum) and helped - these are guardians, allies (awliyâ) of each other ...
8-72

Here is protection (walâyah) only Allah's, the True One; He is best in (the giving of) reward and best in requiting.
18-44

Now surely the friends (awliyâ'u-LLâhi) of Allah - they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve...
10-62

There is a comment on this last mentioned Quranic verse in the famous hadith (Qudsi) where Allah through the mouth of His Messenger states why they shall have neither fear nor sorrow:

"Allah said, 'I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper (Wali) of mine. And the most beloved things with which my slave comes nearer to me, is what I have enjoined (fard) upon him;

and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing nawafil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love him, so I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he grips, and his leg with which he walks; and if he asks Me, I will give him,

and if he asks My protection (Refuge), I will protect him; (i.e. give him My Refuge) and I do not hesitate to do anything as I hesitate to take the soul of the believer, for he hates death, and I hate to disappoint him."
Narrated by Abu Huraira in Bukhari, hadith 509


So it is clear that the awliyâ' are under the loving care and protection of Allah Almighty. They are those who are 'no longer subject to natural appetites, nor to desires of the soul. Freed from the entanglements of the world and their own souls they can devote themselves to their original function.
Walâya does not involve spectacular manifestations and no Wali would strive for those either. Far from it - the awliyâ are concealed in a way that the “saint of Allah has no feature by which he is distinguished, nor any name by which he can be named.”
As 'Imams of good guidance and the torches of knowledge' their function is very important. In this respect, walâya is 'the shadow of the prophetic function,' just as the prophetic function is 'the shadow of the divine function.'

This also means that walâya is about the appropriation of the divine character. This is possible because man still possesses a shadow of some of Allah's qualities, such as 'life', 'mercy', or 'knowledge'. Wali is also a shared concept as expressed (stated) in Sura Al-Maidah, the Table Spread (5), and verse 55:
Certainly, your protecting Friend is only Allah and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow.
5-55

This then is the channel of the believer to his spiritual goal and therefore the direction in which he has to turn when embarking on the greatest of travels, which is the Way towards Allah
Certainly our Leader and Doctor of hearts, the Messenger of Allah, Sayidina Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi WA sallam,)on our level or station in relation to Allah or in relation to creation. So what then is the station of the awliyâ' when we remember that every prophet is a wail, but not every Wali a prophet?

“It has been given to the awliyâ' by Allah in advance to enjoy His dhikr and to have access to His proximity. The life of their body is that of earthly beings and the life of their spirit is that of heavenly beings.”

We can therefore clearly conclude that the Friends of Allah (swt) are envied by, but are neither, Prophets or martyrs, who have no fear or grief and are loved & protected by Allah (swt).

Narrated Mu`adh ibn Jabal I said to Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him): Inform me about an act which would entitle me to get into Paradise, and remove me away from Hell-Fire. He (the Prophet) said: You have asked me about a matter (which ostensibly appears to be) difficult but it is easy to those for whom Allah, the Exalted, has made it easy. Worship Allah and do not associate anything with him, establish prayer, pay the Zakat, observe the fast of Ramadan and perform Hajj to the (sacred) House (Ka’ba). He again said: Should I not direct you to the gateways of good?

Listen to me: The fasting is a shield against evil; the charity extinguishes (the fire of sin) just as water extinguishes fire, the prayer of a person during the middle of the night. Then he recited: 'Who forsake their beds... (Up to)....they used to do.' Then he said: Should I not direct you to the highest level of this matter, to the pillar on which (it rests) and it’s top?
I said: Allah's Messenger yes, (do tell me). He said: The uppermost level of the matter is Islam. Its pillar is the prayer and its top is Jihad. He then said: Should I not inform you of the sheet anchor of all this? I said: Allah's Apostle (of course do it). He took hold of his tongue and said: Exercise restraint on it. I said: Apostle of Allah, would we be held responsible for what we say with it? Thereupon he said: Muadh, may your mother be bereaved. Will anything else besides (irresponsible) talk cause the people to be thrown into the Hell-Fire upon their faces or on their nostrils?

Hadith No. 2 Ahmad,

‘Allahumma inni as’aluka huda, wattuqa, walafafa wal ghina’

(Oh Allah, I ask you for guidance, fear, piety and freedom from need)

May Allah swt give us the guidance and Hedayah to seek out the Truth and Practice Islam as it was meant to be practiced?

I pray Allah SWT make our efforts sincere and keep us all on the straight path...........

Feel free to Share the information here with everyone you know,
And earn Sawab-e-Jariya...May Allah swt make it a source of Sawab-e-Jariya for u and me .Ameen

P.S.: "Have fun praying don’t forget to make dua for me...