A Response to Those Who Cite the Hadith of the Blind Man, in Which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) Taught Him to Say, as Evidence for the Permissibility of Seeking Nearness to Allah Through the Status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

The Shaykh: So we understand, then, that he came to the Messenger (peace be upon him) to seek nearness to Allah through him, meaning through his supplication: “O Allah, ask for my healing.” So we derived the meaning of “I ask You and turn to You by the supplication of Your Prophet” from the beginning of the hadith , and we derived this understanding of the supplication from the completion of the hadith, which is the promise of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to him that he would supplicate for him if he chose supplication over patience with his affliction. And indeed, as we saw, he chose the supplication of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) over patience. So the supplication of the Messenger will occur as a promise the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had previously made to him. So from here and there, we derived the meaning of the supplication in the phrase... ; that is: by the supplication of Your Prophet; because this is the reality, and we confirmed this from the end of the hadith , where one sees this man having carried out his command: he performed ablution, prayed, and turned after the prayer to supplicating to his Lord with this supplication that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him. So he said: ; meaning, you promised me that you would supplicate for me, so this is the time for the supplication. I have carried out your command with the ablution, the prayer, and this supplication... the supplication you promised me . What does “so make him an intercessor for me” mean? Make him an intercessor, accept his intercession for me. What is his intercession? His supplication. The entire hadith revolves around supplication from its beginning to its end. Accept his supplication for me. And more strange than all of this is the end of the hadith: Your guidance is accepted. But how do we accept the last part, that he interceded for me with Muhammad... that Muhammad interceded for me? This is accepted because the intended meaning is: accept the supplication of the Messenger for me. And “intercede for me in him”—how did that become? The meaning of intercession is that it makes the matter easy for you. Just as we said there: Accept his supplication for me, and intercede for me in him—accept my supplication for Muhammad, meaning in the acceptance of his supplication for me. So the core of the hadith... is supplication.
The student : The supplication.

The Shaykh: Regarding supplication. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated for this blind man, and Allah accepted his supplication, so he returned with his sight. And what confirms to you that the matter returns to the supplication of the Messenger for this blind man are many things, among which is: if the blind people of the world from the day Allah sent Muhammad until the Hour supplicated with this seeking of nearness that the blind man used to the end, would they return with their sight? Why did that one return with his sight and these others will not? If the cause of the seeking of nearness was seeking nearness through the person of the Messenger and his status, this would be the greatest proof that the cause is not the person of the Messenger, but rather the action of the Messenger and his accepted supplication before his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). This confirms to you that the secret in the healing of this man is the supplication of the Messenger, not the seeking of nearness of the blind man through the person of the Messenger, but rather through the supplication of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And also... yes.