Auliya is plural of Wali.
Wali means a friend. Many times it is reserved for friends of Allah.
Waliullah means friend of Allah.
Auliya Allah means friends of Allah.
Now the question comes to mind as to how one can become a friend of Allah. Where is the office where we can apply? Where do we get the application form? Which office? Which site on the internet?
None of this is required. To be a friend of Allah is simple. Just give up sins.
It is really that simple. If you give up sins you become a friend of Allah(SWT).
Now every sin is voluntary-we do them out of our own volition. So giving up sins too is voluntary. Nobody is forcing us to do them. We indulge in them on our own.
Even after so much of beating around the topic one doubt remains in the hearts of some people.
In spite of your firm decision to give up sins you might end up doing them-that is a fact of nature as created by our Lord Most High. The trick is to indulge in repentance in such cases and to resolve not commit the mistake again.
Thus giving up sins means that you do not insist upon sins.
The glory of our Scholars of Deoband is that they not only gave an explanation of Islam but also acted upon it. These two things are different-to have knowledge and to act upon it. Our Elders excelled in both.
And all Praise is due to Allah (SWT) for that.
Brother Ibn Aurangzeb is compiling the list of 89 Auliya of Deoband at Sunni Forum from a book called Tadhkirah Awliyah-e-Deoband written by Mawlana Hafiz Syed Muhammad Akbar Shah Bukhari. Her has kindly consented for inclusion of that list for our benefit. Here it is.
1: Hadhrat Miyan Jee Noor Muhammad Jhinjhanwi (rh) (1787-1843)
2: Hadhrat Haji Imadadullah Thanwi Muhajir Makki (rh) (1817-1899)
3: Hadhrat Hafiz Dhamin shaheed (rh) (1810/1815-1857)
4: Hadhrat Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Muhaddith Thanwi (rh) (1815-1879)
5: Hadhrat Mawlana Muzaffar Hussain (rh) (?-1866)
6: Hujjat-Ul-Islam Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanotwi (rh) (1833-1880)
7: Qutb-Ul-Irshad Maulana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi (rh) (1829-1905)
8: Hadhrat Maulana Yaqoob Nanotwi Siddeeqi (rh) (1834-1886)
9: Hadhrat Shah Rafi'-ud-Deen Deobandi (rh) (1836-1891)
10: Hadhrat Haji Syed Muhammad Abid Hussain Deobandi (rh) (1834-1912)
11: Hadhrat Hafiz Muhammad Siddeeq Bharchundwi (rh) (?-1891)
12: Hadhrat Sheikh-Ul-Hind Mawlana Mehmood-Ul-Hassan (rh) (1851-1920)
13: Hadhrat Mawlana Khalil Ahmed Saharanpuri (rh) (1852-1927)
14: Hadhrat Mawlana 'Abdur Raheem Raipuri (rh) (?-1919)
15: Hadhrat Mawlana Mufti 'Aziz-ur-Rehman 'Usmani (rh) (1859-1928)
16: Hadhrat Hakeem-Ul-Ummat Mawlana Ashraf 'Ali Thanwi (rh) (1863-1943)
17: Hadhrat 'Allama Muhammad Anwar Shah Kashmiri (rh) (1875-1933)
18: Hadhrat Mawlana Habib-ur-Rehman 'Usmani (rh) (?-?)
19: Hadhrat Mawlana Muhammad Yahya Kandhelwi (rh) (1870-1916)
20: Hadhrat Mawlana Muhammad 'Ali Mongeri (rh) (1846-1927)
21: Hadhrat Miya Sher Muhammad Thargapuri (rh) (?-1929)
22: Hadhrat Mawlana Mufti Ghulam Mustafa Qasmi Amritsari (rh) (?-1932)
23: Hadhrat Mawlana Muhammad Salih Jalandhri (rh) (1863-1921)
24: Hadhrat Mawlana Syed Taj Mehmood Amrothi (rh) (1859-1929)
25: Hadhrat Mawlana Khalifa Ghulam Muhammad Deenpuri (rh) (1835-1936)
26: Hadhrat Mawlana Hafiz Muhammad Yaseen Deobandi (rh) (1865-1936)
27: Hadhrat Mawlana Syed Asghar Hussain Deobandi (rh) (1877-1945)
28: Hadhrat Mawlana Ilyas Kandhalwi (rh) (1886-1944)
29: Hadhrat Mawlana Syed Murtadha Hassan Chandpuri (rh) (1868-1951)
30: Hadhrat Sheikh-ul-Islam Mawlana Syed Hussain Ahmed Madani (rh) (1879-1957)
31: Hadhrat Mawlana Pir Fadhal 'Ali Qureshi Naqshbandi (rh) (1853-1935)
32: Hadhrat Mawlana Pir Mehr 'Ali Shah Gholrawi (rh) (1859-1937)
33: Hadhrat Mawlana Hussain 'Ali Naqshbandi Miyanwali (rh) (1866-1944)
34: Hadhrat Mawlana Abul Sa'ad Ahmed Khan Naqshbandi (rh) (1879-1941)
35: Hadhrat Mawlana 'Ashiq Ilahi Miruthi (rh) (1881-1941)
36: Hadhrat Mawlana Muhammad 'Abdullah Saleempuri (rh) (1904-1956)
37: Hadhrat Mawlana Mufti Muhammad Hassan Amritsari (rh) (?-1961)
38: Hadhrat Mawlana Ahmed 'Ali Lahori (rh) (1887-1963)
39: Hadhrat Mawlana Shah 'Abdul Qadir Raipuri (rh) (1878-1962)
40: Hadhrat Hakeem Muhammad Mustafa Bijnoori (rh) (?-?)
41: Hadhrat Khawajah 'Azeez-Ul-Hassan Majzoob (rh) (1884-1944)
42: Hadhrat Mawlana Jaleel Ahmed Sherwani (rh) (1898-1955)
43: Hadhrat Mawlana Syed 'Ataa-Ullah Shah Bukhari (rh) (1892-1961)
44: Hadhrat Mawlana Shah 'Abdul Ghani Phulpuri (rh) (1876-1963)
45: Hadhrat Mawlana Hamaad-Ullah Halejwi (rh) (1884-1962)
46: Hadhrat Mawlana 'Abdul Jabbar Hisarwi (rh) (1893-1951)
46: Hadhrat Hafiz Habib-Ullah A'zamgarhi (rh) (?-1960)
47: Hadhrat Mawlana Sher Muhammad Ghautwi (rh) (1883-1966)
48: Hadhrat Mawlana 'Abdur Rehman Kamilpuri (rh) (1882-1965)
49: Hadhrat Mawlana Shah Wasi-Ullah Fathpuri (rh) (1893-1967)
50: Hadhrat Mawlana 'Abdul Ghafoor Madani (rh) (1894-1969)
51: Hadhrat Mawlana Syed Badr-e-'Alam Meruthi Muhajir Madni (rh) (1898-1965)
52: Hadhrat Mawlana Khayr Muhammad Jalandhri (rh) (1895-1970)
53: Hadhrat Mawlana Zafar Ahmed 'Usmani (rh) (1892-1974)
54: Hadhrat Mawlana Muhammad Idris Kandhalwi (rh) (1900-1974)
55: Hadhrat Mawlana Mufti Muhammad Shaf'i 'Usmani (rh) (1897-1976)
56: Hadhrat Mawlana Athar 'Ali Silheti (rh) (1891-1976)
57: Hadhrat Mawlana Mufti 'Abdul Kareem Ghamthalwi (rh) (1897-1948)
58: Hadhrat Mawlana Shah Muhammad As'ad-Ullah Saharanpuri (rh) (1897-1979)
59: Hadhrat Haji Muhammad Sharif Hawshiyarpuri (rh) (1901-1985)
60: Hadhrat Mawlana Ghulam Siddiqee Hajipuri (rh) (?-1936)