Confirmation that Tawassul by the Prophets and the Waliyys is Permissible, and not Shirk as Said by the Wahhabiyys

Know that there is no true evidence proving the lack of permissibility of tawassul by the Prophets and awliya’ in their absence or after their deaths, claiming that this is worship of other than Allah, because merely calling on one who is alive or dead is not worship of other than Allah. Nor is mere glorification of someone, nor merely seeking the help of other than Allah, nor merely seeking the grave of a Waliyy with the purpose of seeking blessings, nor merely seeking what is not usually sought from people, nor the mere expression of seeking help from other than Allah the Exalted.

This means that none of that is shirk, because that is not applicable to the definition of ^ibadah [worship] according to the linguists; for worship, according to them, is the obedience with the humility. Al-Azhariyy, who is one of the elite linguists, said in his book Tahdhibul-Lughah, copying from Az-Zajjaj, who is among their most famous, “^Ibadah in the language of the Arabs is the obedience with the humility.” Al-Farra’ said similar, as mentioned in Lisanul-^Arab by Ibn Mandhur. Some said, “The ultimate extent of fear and humility,” and others said, “The extent of humility,” as understood from the explainer of Al-Qamus, Murtada Az-Zabidiyy, the Seal of the Linguists.

This is what is correct, linguistically and normally. Mere humility is not worship of other than Allah, or else everyone who lowers themselves to the kings and high-ranking people would blaspheme. It was confirmed that when Mu^adh Ibn Jabal came from Ash-Sham, he prostrated to the Messenger of Allah, and so the Messenger said, “What is this?” He said, “O Messenger of Allah, surely I have seen the people of Ash-Sham prostrating to their generals and their priests, and you are more deserving of that.” He said, “Do not do that. Had I ordered anyone to prostrate to anyone, I would have ordered the woman to prostrate to her husband.” Ibn Hibban, Ibn Majah, and others have narrated that. The Messenger of Allah did not say to him, “You have blasphemed,” and he did not say to him, “You have committed shirk,” despite that his prostration to the Prophet is a great sign of humility.

Those who charge a person with blasphemy because he sought out the grave of the Messenger or other than him among the Waliyys for seeking blessings are ignorant about the meaning of ^ibadah. They have opposed what the Muslims are upon, because the Muslims of the Salaf and the Khalaf never ceased to visit the grave of the Prophet for seeking blessings. Traveling to seek blessings does not mean the Prophet creates the blessing for them. Rather the meaning is that they hope that Allah Creates the blessing for them by their visiting his grave.

The evidence for that is what Al-Bayhaqiyy narrated with an authentic chain of narration from Malik Ad-Dar, who was ^Umar’s treasurer, that he said:

The people were inflicted with a drought during the time of ^Umar, so a man came to the grave of the Prophet and said “O Messenger of Allah, seek the rain for your nation, for surely they are perishing.” So the man was approached in his dream [by the Prophet]. It was said to him, “Convey the salam to ^Umar, and inform them that they will be watered, and say to him, ‘Endeavor, endeavor.’” The man came to ^Umar and informed him, so ^Umar cried and said, “O my Lord, I do not fall short except in what I am unable.”

The identity of this man came as Bilal Ibnul-Harith Al-Muzaniyy, the Companion. This Companion sought the grave of the Messenger for blessings. ^Umar did not object to him, nor did anyone else. Therefore, Ibn Taymiyah’s claim that this is a travel of shirk is invalidated.

Hafidh Waliyyu-d-Din Al-^Iraqiyy said about the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that Musa said, “O my Lord, draw me as near to the Holy Land as the throw of a stone,” and that the Prophet said,

والله لَو أني عِندَهُ لأَريْتُكم قَبْرَهُ إلى جَنْبِ الطَّرِيقِ عِنْدَ الكَثِيْبِ الأحْمَرِ

[which means] “By Allah, had I been there, I surely would have shown you his grave on the side of the road at the red hill,” “In this hadith is evidence of the recommendation of knowing the graves of the pious for visiting them and doing what is rightfully done there.”

Hafidh Ad–Diya’ said:

Salim At-Tall told me: “I have not seen the supplication answered faster than a supplication made at this grave. And Shaykh ^Abdullah Ibn Yunus, who is known as Al-Armaniyy, told me that he visited this grave and that he slept, and in his dream he saw a dome there, and in it there was a man with a tawny complexion [asmar].  So he gave him salam and he said to him, ‘You are Musa, the one to whom Allah Spoke,’ or he said, ‘The Prophet of Allah.’ So he said ‘Yes.’ So [he said] ‘I said, “Say something to me.” So he signaled to me with four fingers and described their length. Then I woke up and I did not know what he said. So I informed Shaykh Dhayyal about that and he said, “Four children will be born for you.” I said, “I have married a woman and I have not approached her.”  He said, “She will be other than this one.”  And so I married another one, and she gave birth to four children for me.’”

Imam Ahmad narrated in his Musnad with a hasan chain of narration, as said by Hafidh Ibn Hajar,  that Al-Harith Ibn Hassan Al-Bakriyy said to the Messenger of Allah, “…I seek refuge with Allah and His Messenger from being like the delegate of ^Ad…”  This hadith in its entirety is evidence that invalidates the saying of the Wahhabiyys that seeking refuge with other than Allah is shirk.

It is narrated from Ibn ^Abbas that the Messenger of Allah said:

إنَّ لله مَلائِكةً في الأرضِ سِوَى الحَفَظَةِ يَكتُبونَ مَا يَسْقُطُ مِنْ وَرَقِ الشَّجَرِ فَإذَا أصَابَ أحدَكُم عَرْجَةٌ بأرْضٍ فَلاةٍ فلْيُنَادِ أعِيْنُوا عِبادَالله

[which means] “Certainly Allah Has angels who roam the earth other than the recorders.  They write the leaves that fall to the ground. So if any of you are inflicted with a hardship in a open land, then let him call out, “Help, O slaves of Allah.” Narrated by At–Tabaraniyy, and Hafidh Al-Haythamiyy said its narrators are trustworthy.

Furthermore, the Messenger of Allah said:

حَياتِي خَيْرٌ لَكُم ومَمَاتي خَيْرٌ لَكُم تُحْدِثُونَ ويُحْدَثُ لَكُم، وَوفَاتي خَيرٌ لَكُم تُعْرَضُ عَليَّ أعْمالُكُم فَما رَأيتُ مِنْ خَيْرٍ حَمِدْتُ الله علَيهِ و ما رأيتُ مِنْ شَرّ استَغْفَرْتُ لَكُم

[which means] “My life is good for you and my death is good for you. You do things, and so the Revelation occurs for you [i.e., comes in reference to what you have done], and my death is good for you; your deeds will be presented to me. So any goodness that I saw, I praised Allah for it, and any evil that I saw, then I have sought forgiveness for you.” This is narrated by Al-Bazzar and the narrators of the chain are authentic narrators.

At-Tabaraniyy narrates in his big and small Mu^jams from the route of ^Uthman Ibn Hunayf that a man used to go back and forth to ^Uthman Ibn ^Affan, and ^Uthman did not turn to him [i.e., pay him attention, because he was busy] and he would not look into the man’s need. So this man met ^Uthman Ibn Hunayf and complained about that to him, so he said: “Go to the place of wudu’ and make wudu’, then pray two rak^ahs, then say: ‘O Allah, certainly I ask you, and I direct myself to you by our Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of Mercy.  O Muhammad, certainly I direct myself by you to my Lord in my need, so that it would be fulfilled for me.’ Then come to me, so that I will go with you.”

So the man left and did what ^Uthman [Ibn Hunayf] told him to do, then he came to ^Uthman [Ibn ^Affan]’s door.  Then the doorman came and took him by the hand, and he took him in to ^Uthman Ibn ^Affan,  and he sat him on his carpet. So ^Uthman said, “What do you need?” He mentioned his need to him, then ^Uthman fulfilled his need, and he said “I did not remember your need until this moment.” He left ^Uthman Ibn ^Affan and then he met ^Uthman Ibn Hunayf and he said: “May Allah Compensate you with goodness. He would not look into my need, and he would not turn to me until you spoke to him about me.”

^Uthman Ibn Hunayf said, “I swear by Allah, I did not speak to him. However, I witnessed the Messenger of Allah when a blind man came to him and complained to him about the loss of his sight.  The Prophet said, “If you want, you will be patient; and if you want, I will make du^a’ for you.”  So he said to the Messenger of Allah, “Certainly the loss of my sight is a hardship upon me, and certainly I do not have a guide.” So the Prophet said to him, “Go to the place of wudu’ and make wudu’ and pray two rak^ahs and then say these words.” So the man did what he said, and ^Uthman Ibn Hunayf said “I swear by Allah, we had not dispersed, and the session had not been long, when the man returned to us while he was sightful as if he was never blind.”

At–Tabaraniyy said, “The hadith is sahih.”  At–Tabaraniyy’s habit is that he does not verify hadith, despite the vastness of his book Al-Mu^jamu-l-Kabir. He did not say about any hadith that he narrated, even if it were authentic, “The hadith is authentic,” except for this hadith.

In this hadith is evidence that the blind man made tawassul by the Prophet in his absence, which is proven by the saying of ^Uthman Ibn Hunayf, “Until the man returned to us.”  Also in this hadith is evidence that it is permissible to make tawassul by the Prophet in his life and after his death. So the saying of Ibn Taymiyah that it is not permissible to make tawassul, except by the present and living, is invalidated; and every condition that is not in the Book of Allah is invalid, even if it were a hundred conditions.

As for this claim of Ibn Taymiyah’s, to which some Wahhabiyys hold fast, which is At-Tirmidhiyy’s narration of the hadith, which has in it,

اللهمَّ شَفعْهُ فيَّ وشَفعني في نفسِي

[which means] “O Allah, Cure him by me and Cure me by myself,” this hadith does not prove that there is no seeking of blessings from the self of the Prophet ﷺ, rather, seeking the blessing from the self of the Prophet ﷺ is a matter of consensus. No one opposed that except Ibn Taymiyah, and the Messenger ﷺ is the one about whom someone said:

[which means] “He was fair in complexion. Rain would be sought from the clouds by the self of the Prophet ﷺ; the aid of the orphans and widows.”

As for ^Umar’s tawassul by Al-^Abbas after the Prophet’s ﷺ death, it was not because the Messenger ﷺ had died; instead, that was for the purpose of observing the right of his relation to the Prophet ﷺ, as proven by the saying of Al-^Abbas when ^Umar sent him forward to do the supplication: “Oh Allah, certainly the people have directed themselves by me to You because of my place to Your Prophet.”  So the invalidity of Ibn Taymiyah’s opinions and those of those who follow him becomes clear. This athar was narrated by Zubayr Ibn Bakkar, as said by Hafidh Ibn Hajar.

What clarifies this further is what Al-Hakim narrated in Al-Mustadrak, that ^Umar delivered a speech to the people and said: “O people, certainly the Messenger of Allah used to treat Al-^Abbas like the child treats his father; he would glorify him and give him high rank, and he would fulfill his swear. So, O people, follow the Messenger of Allah in reference to his uncle Al-^Abbas,  and take him as a means to Allah in reference to what you are inflicted with.” This clarifies the reason for ^Umar’s tawassul by Al-^Abbas.

After this, there is no consideration given to the claim of some of those demagogues that in the chain of the aforementioned hadith [of the blind man] is Abu Ja^far and he is an unknown man. The case is not as they have claimed; in fact, Abu Ja^far is Abu Ja^far Al-Khitmiyy, and he is trustworthy.  Likewise, no attention is given to the claim of some of them, which is specifically Nasiru-d-Din Al-Albaniyy, that what At–Tabaraniyy meant when he said the hadith was sound is the original amount of the hadith, which is only what the blind man did during the life of the Messenger of Allah, and he did not mean to include what the man did during the days of ^Uthman Ibn ^Affan after the death of the Messenger ﷺ.

This is rejected because the scholars of hadith terminology said that the word hadith is used in reference to what is elevated up to the Prophet ﷺ and what is stopped at the Companions.  This means that the speech of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is called a hadith and the saying of the Companion is called a hadith, and the expression “hadith” is not limited to the speech of the Prophet in their terminology. The talk of this camouflager does not comply with what is confirmed in the knowledge of hadith terminology, so whoever wants, let him look into the book Tadribu Rawiyy and Al-Ifsah[1] and other books of hadith terminology; for surely nothing dragged Al-Albaniyy to this claim except for his strong partisanship making him adhere to his desire, and his lack of concern for opposing the scholars, similar to his predecessor Ibn Taymiyah.

As for the hadith of Ibn ^Abbas that was narrated by At-Tirmidhiyy, that the Prophet ﷺ said to him:

إذَا سَألْتَ فاسْألِ الله وإذَا اسْتَعَنْتَ فاسْتَعِن بالله

[which means] “If you ask, then ask Allah, and if you sought help, then seek help from Allah,” this hadith also does not contain evidence for the prohibition of tawassul by the Prophets and the Waliyys, because the hadith means that the most deserving to be asked and for help to be sought from him is Allah the Exalted. The hadith does not mean, “Do not ask other than Allah and do not seek help from other than Allah.”

What is similar to that is the Prophet’s saying  ﷺ,

لاتُصَاحِبْ إلا مُؤْمِنًا ولا يأكُلْ طَعامَكَ إلا تَقِيٌّ

[which means] “Do not accompany except the believer, and no one eats your food except a pious person.” Just like it is not understood from this hadith the impermissibility of accompanying someone other than a believer, or feeding someone other than a pious believer, and what is understood from it is only that the best for companionship is the believer, and that the best for feeding is the pious,  likewise the hadith of Ibn ^Abbas; nothing is understood from it except what is preferred.  The prohibition that they are claiming is not in this hadith.

There is no difference between seeking the means and seeking help,  because seeking the means [tawassul] is called seeking help [istighathah], just as it came in the hadith of Al-Bukhariyy that the Prophet ﷺ said:

إنَّ الشَّمسَ تَدْنُو يَومَ القِيامةِ حَتّى يَبْلُغَ العَرَقُ نِصْفَ الأُذُنِ فبَيْنَما هُمْ كذَلكَ اسْتَغاثُوا بآدَمَ ثمَّ مُوسَى ثمَّ بمُحمَّدٍ ﷺ

[which means] “Certainly the sun will draw near on Judgment Day until the sweat reaches the mid-ear; and so when they are at that point, they seek help from Adam, then Musa, then Muhammad ﷺ.” This is ^Abdullah Ibn ^Umar’s narration of the hadith of the intercession of Judgment Day, and in the narration of Anas, the hadith is narrated with the expression, “They seek the intercession.”  Both of those narrations are in books of Sahih.  So this proves that “seeking intercession” and “seeking help” have the same meaning. So the Messenger named this seeking intercession from Adam with his Lord, “seeking help [istighathah].”

Furthermore, the Messenger ﷺ called the rain “the one who comes with help.” Abu Dawud and others narrated with an authentic chain of narration that the Messenger ﷺ said:

اللهمَّ اسقِنَا غَيْثًا مَريعًا نافِعًا غيرَ ضارّ عاجِلًا غيرَ ءاجِلٍ

[which means] “O Allah, water us with the help, the helper, the quencher, the benefitter, without it being harmful, soon and not delayed.” So the Messenger ﷺ called the rain “helper,” because it saves one from the hard situation by the Will of Allah, and likewise the Prophet and the Waliyy save one from the hard situation by the Will of Allah the Exalted.

[1] By As-Siyutiyy and Ibn Daqiq Al-^Id, respectively.