The ruling on seeking aid through mercy and seeking nearness to Allah through His names and attributes
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The Shaykh’s statement is severe. Seeking aid, seeking aid, no.
The Shaykh:
Seeking aid through Your mercy, yes, it is permissible to seek nearness to Allah through His names and attributes. “O Merciful, have mercy on us” is seeking aid, and “O Most Merciful of the merciful, grant us relief” is seeking aid and seeking nearness to Allah through His names and attributes, yes.
The questioner:
I say the same thing.
The Shaykh:
But one does not seek aid from mercy itself. If he says, “O Mercy of Allah, grant us relief,” mercy is not invoked and mercy is not addressed, nor is the attribute addressed; rather, the one described is addressed, and He is Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He.
The Shaykh’s statement is severe. Seeking aid, seeking aid, no.
The Shaykh:
Seeking aid through Your mercy, yes, it is permissible to seek nearness to Allah through His names and attributes. “O Merciful, have mercy on us” is seeking aid, and “O Most Merciful of the merciful, grant us relief” is seeking aid and seeking nearness to Allah through His names and attributes, yes.
The questioner:
I say the same thing.
The Shaykh:
But one does not seek aid from mercy itself. If he says, “O Mercy of Allah, grant us relief,” mercy is not invoked and mercy is not addressed, nor is the attribute addressed; rather, the one described is addressed, and He is Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He.
Source
شرح العقيدة الواسطية [20] — alfawzan.live (58:09)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.