Do the Imams of the Dawah declare a disbeliever one who seeks nearness to Allah through the person of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his status?

The questioner: All right, Shaykh, let us move from this issue to the other issue.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner: Which is: the issue of whether, for example, they were...

The Shaykh: Has the time not ended?

Another questioner: Yes, it has ended, and a quarter of an hour has passed.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.
... ... ...

The questioner: Do they declare a disbeliever one who seeks nearness to Allah through the person of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his status...

The Shaykh: All right; give me the summary from your side, and you... as you say...

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: ... All right, please go ahead.

The questioner: ... SpeechThe Shaykh- (may Allah have mercy on him) Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, in some of his letters to some people, mentioned when this issue was raised and his opponents raised it against him, he said: "And it is not the case that the discussion between us and these people and our disagreement is over the issue of seeking nearness to Allah through the person of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his status, but rather the discussion is over other matters, and he mentioned issues in which there is major shirk (associating partners with Allah), and he said: 'Indeed, this is one of the issues of the branches (furu')'—so he said. As for the majority of the other letters of his and of his followers and his descendants, the utmost I have seen of them, and I have followed up this issue in their books, is that they said: it is a bid'ah (religious innovation).

The Shaykh: All right; do you allow it?

The questioner: Go ahead.

The Shaykh: No, we do not move to another issue until we stand a little while on the issue of tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means). This speech you quoted from Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, do you accept it in its entirety?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner: That it is a bid'ah (religious innovation)?

The Shaykh: That it is from the branches (furu')?

The questioner: I do not see that this is from the issues of the branches (furu'), and the answer in it is not considered.

The Shaykh: Then he was correctThe Shaykh : and I was wrong.

The questioner: I see that his speech in this is not correct, but I gave this as an example to refute the shubhah (doubtful matter); and that is whether there is ghuluww (exaggeration) or I do not say there is, it may be understood from this that there is tasahul (leniency), and there are no branches (furu').

The Shaykh: No, it is not understood from this that there is tasahul (leniency), but it is possible that he dealt with a type of tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means), so if he dealt with a type of tawassul, he is correct, but he overlooked the other type which is kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating partners with Allah); so why did he mention this and not mention that? Here the policy of the Dawah (call) intervenes, so the policy of the Dawah does not give the idea of this da'i (caller) or this caretaker, so standing at this phrase and using it as evidence that he is lenient, this evidence you are saying is not valid.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: Yes, are we satisfied?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You...