What is tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means) and what are its categories?

The questioner : The second question: What is tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means)? Mention its categories and the ruling on each category, along with the evidence.

The Shaykh : This is long, in reality. First, what is tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means)? Who knows it? Tabarruk (seeking blessing from a thing or person), tabarru' (generosity), taqarrub (drawing near). No, yes. This is insufficient. Tawassul is doing what leads to the intended goal. This is the expansion. Doing what leads to the intended goal, this is tawassul. And this is in the general sense. As for tawassul to Allah the Exalted, it is drawing near to Him, Blessed and Exalted is He, by what leads to Him and to the abode of His honor. Yes, after that? As for its ruling, it has categories: permissible and prohibited. The prohibited is to seek tawassul to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, by what Allah has not prescribed. To seek tawassul to Allah by what Allah the Exalted has not prescribed, this is prohibited. Because the means must be known by the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law). And the permissible is tawassul to Allah by what He has prescribed. Its categories. Like that in the question? Hmm? Yes. Tawassul to Allah the Exalted by His names in general, this is one. Tawassul to Allah the Exalted by His specific names. Tawassul to Allah by His attributes in general. Tawassul to Allah the Exalted by a specific attribute. Tawassul to Allah the Exalted by faith. Tawassul to Allah the Exalted by obedience, by doing obedience and leaving sin. Tawassul to Allah by mentioning one's state. The one seeking tawassul. Tawassul to Allah the Exalted by the supplication of one whose response is hoped for.
All of these are permissible. For example, if you say, "O Allah, I ask You by Your beautiful names to forgive me," what is the means of seeking nearness (tawassul) here? It is by the beautiful names of Allah in general. Among the evidence for this is the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud: . "You have named yourself with it, or revealed it in Your Book, or taught it , or You have kept it secret in Your knowledge of the unseen." Is making the great Qur'an the spring of your heart a tawassul by a specific name, or by all the names? It is by all the names. Tawassul by a specific name is to seek nearness to Allah the Exalted by what corresponds to your request, so you say, "O Forgiver, what? Forgive me," or "O Allah, forgive me, for You are the Forgiver." This is tawassul by the attributes in general, such as saying, "O Allah, I ask You by Your beautiful names and Your exalted attributes." And tawassul to Allah the Exalted by a specific attribute is to seek nearness to Allah the Exalted by what suits your request, such as , and like the supplication for guidance (istikharah), where a person says in the istikharah, "O Allah, I seek Your guidance by Your knowledge." Good, and a little more? This is tawassul by faith in Allah the Glorious and Exalted, such as His saying , and he is the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) . So they sought nearness by faith in Allah so that He would forgive their sins. This is tawassul by righteous deeds, and by leaving sin, as in the story of the three men. Three men. They were overtaken by night in a cave and entered it. Do you know what a cave is? What is it? A cave, a burrow, a gopher's burrow or a rabbit's burrow? I am holding a charger. Fine, may Allah bless you. It is a hole in the mountain and is called a cave. They were overtaken by night in the cave and entered it. Then Allah the Exalted sent down upon them a large rock that blocked the entrance of the cave. And they were unable to move it. So they sought nearness to Allah by their righteous deeds. One of them sought nearness by kindness (birr), the second by fulfilling a promise, and the third by chastity. The one who sought nearness by kindness did so by being extremely kind to his parents. He would graze his sheep, and when night came, he would return to his family and milk the sheep. He would give the first portion to his parents. One day, the search for wood, meaning pasture, took him far away and he was delayed. When he returned, he found his parents asleep and his children crying beside them, asking for milk. But he refused to give his children any until he had given his parents their share. And his kindness prevented him from waking his parents from their sleep. When dawn broke, the parents woke up, and he gave them their evening drink, then he gave his children theirs. This is the height of kindness, is it not? He sought nearness to Allah with this, and the rock moved slightly. As for the second, he sought nearness by fulfilling a promise. He had hired workers, and one of them was owed his wage. Then the man came to ask for his wage, and he said, "Take all the camels, sheep, and other things you see." The man said, "Fear Allah and do not mock me. Is all of this my wage?" He said, "I am not mocking you." And it turned out that his wage had grown until it became this large amount of wealth. He said, "O Allah, if I did that for His sake, then relieve us of what we are in." The rock moved. But they could not get out. The third sought nearness by the height of chastity. He had a cousin whom he loved intensely, and he tried to seduce her, but she refused. One day, in one of the years, she was in dire need. So she came to him to ask for help. He refused to help her unless she allowed him to have relations with her, but she refused. However, the need was pressing, so she came to him and allowed him to have relations with her out of necessity. When he sat with her as a man sits with his wife, she said to him, "Fear Allah and do not break the seal except with its right." This is a great word. So he left her, not out of disdain for her, for she was one of the most beloved people to him, but out of fear of Allah the Glorious and Exalted. He said, "O Allah, if I did that for Your sake, then relieve us of what we are in." The rock moved until they came out. Allahu Akbar. Who moved it? Allah, who sent it. It is thus established that a person is permitted to seek nearness by righteous deeds. The fifth is tawassul by the state of the supplicant, and among this is the saying of Musa (peace be upon him) . He sought nearness to Allah by mentioning his state and that he was in need of his Lord, so Allah made the matter easy for him. The fifth is tawassul to Allah by the supplication of one whose response is hoped for, and among this is the story of the man who entered on Friday while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the sermon, and he said, "O Messenger of Allah, call upon Allah to send us relief, for the roads have been cut off." So he prayed. My job. This tawassul is by what? It is by asking for supplication from one whose response is hoped for. But is it better for a person to ask others for supplication? The answer is: if it is for the public interest, then yes. If a person whose response is hoped for comes and people are in a fitnah, and they say, "Call upon Allah to remove this fitnah from us," then that is good and there is no harm in it. Or if people are in severe drought, the rain has been delayed, and the land has become barren, and they say, "Call upon Allah," that is good. But if he asks for supplication for himself specifically, then that is not recommended (makruh), but it is not forbidden (haram). However, it is not recommended because of the humiliation of the supplicant. Because if you say, "Call upon Allah for me," that is a type of asking, and it contains some humiliation. It also contains the possibility that the one asked to supplicate may become arrogant, proud, and inflated until he becomes greater than his status four times over, because he has become a refuge for people who ask him to supplicate for them. And this is actually breaking his back. For this reason, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) heard a man praising another, he said, "Woe to you, or woe to you, you have cut off the neck of your companion," because this leads to arrogance. And among the consequences is that a person, if he relies on others for supplication, becomes lazy about supplicating to his Lord. He says, "Praise be to Allah, I have so-and-so who supplicates for me, and so-and-so is closer to being answered than I am." And among the consequences is that he misses a worship that is among the greatest of worships, which is supplication, for supplication is worship. Allah the Exalted said: .