The ruling on imagining the Prophet and the awliya (close friends of Allah) during the tashahhud
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. In our country, Sufi paths have been introduced into the minds of Muslims. They tell them that when you sit for the tashahhud during the prayer, and when you say “and upon the righteous servants of Allah,” you should imagine the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the righteous ones, and the awliya (close friends of Allah) in your hearts. And they attribute this saying to Ibn Hajar in his commentary on al-Shama’il, from Ibn ‘Abbas, that this occurred when he said “and upon the righteous servants of Allah”: “Imagine the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in your heart.” Is it true that this saying came from Ibn ‘Abbas and Imam al-Ghazali? And is this action permissible?
Answer:
Al-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali dozed off. So it is true that this saying came from Ibn ‘Abbas and Imam al-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali is not among the scholars of athar (reports from the Companions or successors), and he has no expertise in hadith or athar. And even if we assume that this saying is transmitted from al-Lihah, al-Lihah contains errors and fabricated hadiths, because he is not one of the people of this field, and the scholars have refuted him. As for the imagining, even if we assume that Ibn ‘Abbas said it—and may he be far from saying it—but if we assume he said it, his saying is not accepted in this matter. Who clears Ibn ‘Abbas of this thing? But if we assume this, it contradicts the evidence. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not tell us to imagine when he said “Peace be upon you, O Prophet,” “Imagine me,” or “Peace be upon the righteous servants of Allah,” “Imagine the servants of Allah.” This is the speech of an innovator, not the speech of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And whatever is not from the speech of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has no consideration and is not accepted, whether it came from Ibn ‘Abbas or from anyone else, even though I purify and clear the scholar of the Ummah from this saying. And Allah the Exalted knows best, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. In our country, Sufi paths have been introduced into the minds of Muslims. They tell them that when you sit for the tashahhud during the prayer, and when you say “and upon the righteous servants of Allah,” you should imagine the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the righteous ones, and the awliya (close friends of Allah) in your hearts. And they attribute this saying to Ibn Hajar in his commentary on al-Shama’il, from Ibn ‘Abbas, that this occurred when he said “and upon the righteous servants of Allah”: “Imagine the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in your heart.” Is it true that this saying came from Ibn ‘Abbas and Imam al-Ghazali? And is this action permissible?
Answer:
Al-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali dozed off. So it is true that this saying came from Ibn ‘Abbas and Imam al-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali is not among the scholars of athar (reports from the Companions or successors), and he has no expertise in hadith or athar. And even if we assume that this saying is transmitted from al-Lihah, al-Lihah contains errors and fabricated hadiths, because he is not one of the people of this field, and the scholars have refuted him. As for the imagining, even if we assume that Ibn ‘Abbas said it—and may he be far from saying it—but if we assume he said it, his saying is not accepted in this matter. Who clears Ibn ‘Abbas of this thing? But if we assume this, it contradicts the evidence. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not tell us to imagine when he said “Peace be upon you, O Prophet,” “Imagine me,” or “Peace be upon the righteous servants of Allah,” “Imagine the servants of Allah.” This is the speech of an innovator, not the speech of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And whatever is not from the speech of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has no consideration and is not accepted, whether it came from Ibn ‘Abbas or from anyone else, even though I purify and clear the scholar of the Ummah from this saying. And Allah the Exalted knows best, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad.
Source
تخيل النبي عليه الصلاة والسلام والصالحين في التشهد — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.