The Ruling on Seeking Nearness to Allah Through the Status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

Question : The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah keep you safe. I hope you will clarify the correctness of the statement of the one who seeks nearness (tawassul) saying, "O Allah, I ask You by the status of Your Prophet," because I read in the book *Concepts That Must Be Corrected* that this is permissible, and that its meaning is, "O Allah, I ask You by the position and elevation of Your Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and by Your love for this Prophet." I hope you will clarify the correctness of this statement, and the correctness of Adam seeking nearness through the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? The questioner also says: The hadith is mentioned in the book *Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihayah* by Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him).

Answer : I think we have spoken in some of the episodes about the types of seeking nearness (tawassul), so let the questioner refer to that. As for Adam seeking nearness through Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), it has no validity, because Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was only created after Adam by many long periods of time. As for seeking nearness through the love of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as saying, "O Allah, I ask You by my love for Your Messenger that You grant me the ability to follow him," there is nothing wrong with that, because the love of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is part of faith. In fact, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: