What is the prescribed tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means)? And what is your opinion regarding tawassul through the status (Jah) of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh ، The questioner : He asks, saying: What is the prescribed tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means)? And what is your opinion regarding tawassul through the status (Jah) of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? And what is the authenticity of the hadiths that were transmitted regarding tawassul through the person of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), whether he is alive or dead?

The Shaykh : This is a new topic, and I do not think you will be patient with it; not because you have no desire for knowledge, but because of your condition that you hear the answer to what can be answered and to the remaining questions. Therefore, I will summarize the answer to this question as much as I can. If I am lengthy, there is no blame. And in advance, I refer to a book of mine for those who are eager to read and look into it, if they have not yet looked into it, which is the one I titled: "Tawassul: Its Types and Rulings." It is a book that has been printed repeatedly.
Tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means) is of two types: prescribed and not prescribed, and it is either worship or not worship. As for the prescribed tawassul: it is the servant seeking nearness to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) by one of His names, or by one of His attributes (Blessed and Exalted is He), or by his righteous deed, or by the supplication of his Muslim brother. As for this last category, seeking rain through the righteous, as 'Umar ibn al-Khattab did when they were struck by famine in the Year of the Dust. He went out to seek rain and said: . This is the prescribed tawassul: by one of the names of Allah, or by one of His attributes, or by his righteous deed, or by the supplication of the righteous man, especially if he is from the People of the House, like al-Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
It is perhaps good and beneficial to remind you, and some of you may not have heard the hadith regarding the prescription of tawassul to Allah by one's own righteous deed, and not by the righteous deed of another. It is the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: . A rock from the mountain, meaning a large mountain, blocked their way out of the cave; so they were in a predicament with no one to help them except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). When they found themselves trapped in that cave, one of them said: . I think you understand these words without explanation, because they are pure Arabic. . He remained standing, afraid to wake his parents to start with them, as was his habit. He said: Perhaps this is best, but I do not want to disturb them. So I will start with the young children, who are moaning and crying with hunger. So: I will start with them before my parents. He lived like this... until morning.
This is part of his complete reverence and appreciation for the right of parents over their young children; therefore he said: . They see the signs of Allah and the response of Allah to the supplication of His righteous servants by their deeds. But the miracle was not yet complete until the third man stood up to say: .
This is the evidence for the third type of tawassul, which is the tawassul of the one seeking nearness to Allah by a righteous deed in which the two conditions mentioned in my first words are present. It is righteous because you see the first man concerned with serving his father more than his children, and the second man was preoccupied with fornication and zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) with a strange woman, but when he was reminded of Allah, he remembered and stopped. And that rich man did not covet, despite the fact that he took advantage of that fear, and collected a lot of money from it, but he did not use this money for his own benefit, but rather returned it to the owner of the original property, which is the fear. So these are undoubtedly great righteous deeds. Then they said in their tawassul: "If You know that we did that seeking the pleasure of Allah," and this is sincerity (ikhlas); therefore Allah responded to them and saved them from that distress that befell them, and no one could relieve this hardship except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
As for tawassul other than these four: tawassul by one of the names of Allah, or by one of the attributes of Allah, or by the righteous deed of the supplicant, or tawassul by the supplication of the righteous man; anything other than these types of tawassul is all from the newly invented matters. And since you have heard the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in some of his sermons: "Beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is a religious innovation (bid'ah), and every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire." And the worst of religious innovations is what leads to associating partners with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And some of these innovated, non-prescribed tawassul often mixes with major shirk (associating partners with Allah), such as saying: "O Allah, I ask You by the right of so-and-so and the right of so-and-so, by the status of Your Prophet, or the like of that." Because this tawassul indicates that this one seeking nearness believes that the one through whom he seeks nearness has an effect on Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and that Allah does not do what He wills, as is the text of the Qur'an: Indeed, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) does what He wills: .
Rather, some of these people seeking nearness indicate to themselves that the one with status has an effect on the Creator of all people. The evidence for this, as we have experienced many times and discussed with them (i.e., the common people and some of the elite), is that when we deny to them the innovated tawassul other than these four types of tawassul, they say, giving an example, and what a bad example it is: "Is it not the case that if one of us has a need with a king or a minister or an emir, he must present an intermediary to fulfill our need?" We say: Yes, this is how people are; but is this praise for that emir or minister or king, or is it a defect? So we would say: What is your opinion of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, whom the disbelievers used as an example of a just ruler? They called him the "democratic ruler" (they claimed) for his justice with his people. Was 'Umar on a straighter path than these emirs for whom you give the example to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), saying: "Just as we seek nearness to these through intermediaries, we also seek nearness to Allah through intermediaries"? What is your opinion? Is 'Umar better, or these who do not fulfill a need except through an intermediary? Poor misguided, lost people who do not know what is befitting for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and what is not. So they have no choice but to say: "No, by Allah, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab is better than these emirs who do not reach them except through intermediation." So we say at that time: Fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic). If you likened the Lord of the worlds to the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, you would have committed disbelief (kufr); because Allah says: . How is it when you have refused to liken Allah to the just emir? And this likening is disbelief, even when you likened Him to the oppressive rulers and emirs. Do you not fear? If this meaning is coupled with tawassul, it is shirk in lordship (rububiyyah), and not just in worship, in lordship!! But if the tawassul is stripped of this likening of the Creator to the created, then it is a religious innovation (bid'ah), and that is sufficient as a warning, as you just heard from his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): to the end of the hadith.
Yes.