Seeking Nearness to Allah Through His Attributes, Taking Refuge in Them, and Supplicating to Them

Question:
And in the hand of Shaykh Ahmad, may Allah grant him success, is that his supplication is like, “O Messenger of Allah, the Praiseworthy,” and the question is about the prohibition of the hadiths regarding taking refuge in him (peace and blessings be upon him) by seeking Allah’s help.

Answer:
This is a night of seeking nearness to Allah through His attributes. Allah has the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them. This is a form of seeking nearness to Allah; you call upon Allah and seek nearness to Him through His names and attributes, just as Ayyub (peace be upon him) said: . He sought nearness to Allah in his state of illness, his need, and his poverty, and through the mercy of Allah for his wife.
Seeking nearness to Allah and taking refuge in the attributes of Allah: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Seeking nearness through them is a prescribed matter. As for supplicating to them, this is not permissible, because the One to be supplicated to is Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. One never supplicates to other than Allah. The attributes of Allah are not something other than Allah to be supplicated to. Rather, Allah, Exalted and Majestic is He, is supplicated to by His names and attributes. Yes. Allah the Exalted knows best, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.