Seeking aid from the living is permissible, but does this contradict the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “And when you seek help, seek help from Allah”?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, says: Seeking aid from the living is permissible.
The Shaykh:
If they are capable, it is permissible. But if they are not capable of what is being asked of them, then it is not permissible. This is worship. Seeking aid from a creation in what only Allah is capable of is worship.
The questioner:
He says: And does this contradict the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “And when you seek help, seek help from Allah”?
The Shaykh:
Seeking help is not the same as seeking aid. Seeking aid is seeking help in times of distress, whereas seeking help occurs in times of ease. You seek help from someone in times of ease. Seeking aid is more specific than seeking help.
The Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, says: Seeking aid from the living is permissible.
The Shaykh:
If they are capable, it is permissible. But if they are not capable of what is being asked of them, then it is not permissible. This is worship. Seeking aid from a creation in what only Allah is capable of is worship.
The questioner:
He says: And does this contradict the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “And when you seek help, seek help from Allah”?
The Shaykh:
Seeking help is not the same as seeking aid. Seeking aid is seeking help in times of distress, whereas seeking help occurs in times of ease. You seek help from someone in times of ease. Seeking aid is more specific than seeking help.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [363 -939] الاستغاثة بالأحياء جائز، فهل هذا يخالف قول النبي ﷺ "وإذا استعنت فاستعن بالله"؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.