Seeking Nearness to Allah Through the Deeds of the Righteous

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Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is it prescribed to seek nearness to Allah through the deeds of the righteous, not through one's own deeds, such as saying, "I ask You by the deed of so-and-so"?

Answer:
O, Glorified is Allah! We have repeated this in the lesson. We said: You do not ask Allah by the deeds of others; you ask Allah by your own deeds. The deeds of others are for them and have nothing to do with you. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) said:

That was a nation which has passed on. It will have [the consequence of] what it earned, and you will have what you have earned. And you will not be asked about what they used to do.

تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ وَلَا تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

[Al-Baqarah 2:134]

When the Jews boasted about the prophets, saying, "We are the sons of the prophets, and we are such and such," Allah responded to them by saying, "That is a nation that has passed away."

It will have [the consequence of] what it earned, and you will have what you have earned. And you will not be asked about what they used to do.

لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُم مَّا كَسَبْتُمْ وَلَا تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

[Al-Baqarah 2:134]

So a person is not benefited except by his own deed, and he is not benefited by the deed of another in which he has no part.

Source شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب قول الله - تعالى - : { وَلِلَّهِ الأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَى فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا وَذَرُوا الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي أَسْمَائِهِ } — islamhouse.com (1:10:20)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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