The Difference Between Tawassul Through an Attribute of Allah and Supplicating to the Attribute Itself?

Question : May Allah reward you. The questioner asks: What is the ruling on supplicating to an attribute, such as saying, "O Mercy of Allah, have mercy on us"? And is it permissible to seek aid through an attribute, as in saying, "O Allah, I seek refuge in Your Majesty"?

Answer : Supplicating to an attribute is shirk (associating partners with Allah). Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah stated that it is kufr (disbelief) by consensus, because the one who supplicates to an attribute makes the attribute a god. The attribute subsists in the one who possesses it; it is not a rival to the one who possesses it. For example, if a person says, "O Power of Allah, come to such and such," or "O Power of Allah, provide for me," or "O Forgiveness of Allah, forgive me," then by this wording and this formulation, you believe that the attribute itself is what brings you good or repels evil from you. By doing so, you have supplicated to other than Allah, and supplicating to other than Allah is shirk. However, if one seeks nearness to Allah through His attribute...
...and says, "O Most Merciful of this world and the Hereafter, I seek aid through Your mercy," the meaning is not that he is asking for the mercy itself to aid him, but rather that he is asking for the Most Merciful to aid him because He is described with what? With mercy. Likewise, his saying, "I seek refuge in the Majesty and Power of Allah from the evil of what I find and what I fear." This is a supplication that a person recites when pain strikes him; he places his hand on the place of pain and says seven times, "I seek refuge in the Majesty and Power of Allah from the evil of what I find and what I fear." If he does that, Allah removes the pain from him.
Here, "I seek refuge in the Majesty and Power of Allah" does not mean that he wants the Majesty itself to protect him, but rather that he wants Allah Himself to protect him with what? With His Majesty, meaning with the Majesty by which He is described. We must know the difference between tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means) through an attribute and what? And what? And between supplicating to the attribute. The second is major shirk, and the person must repent from it and renew his Islam. As for the first, which is tawassul through an attribute, this is permissible and is part of the prescribed tawassul. The second paragraph.