The Response to Those Who Argue for the Permissibility of Seeking Nearness to Allah through the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by Citing the Story

The questioner: That another incident occurred ... in the era of the Companions, and that is "that a man came to Madinah during the caliphate of 'Uthman - may Allah be pleased with him - and spent days trying to gain an audience with him but was unable to do so."

The Shaykh: How did you say that a man...

The questioner: "came to Madinah."

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner: During the caliphate of our master 'Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: "And he tried to gain an audience with 'Uthman for a need he had with him, but he was unable to ... he complained of his situation to a Companion who mentioned him, mentioning his name ... "

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: "That great Companion said to him: I will teach you a hadith, I will teach you a supplication, which is the supplication of the blind man."

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: "So you go ... and seek nearness to Allah through Muhammad - peace and blessings be upon him - and your matter will be resolved. That man said: So I went, I prayed, and I sought nearness to Allah with the supplication of the blind man."

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: The only difference is that the issue of sight was replaced by the issue of fulfilling a need.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner: "And suddenly, the messenger of the caliph came to him immediately and summoned him."

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner: "And he entered upon him to fulfill his need." I do not know the extent of the authenticity of this narration, but he ...

The Shaykh: Yes.

The Shaykh: The answer to your question is from two angles: The first is that this story is not authentic in its chain of narration according to the methodology of the people of hadith. This story is, as its narrator mentions, 'Uthman ibn Hanif himself, who narrated the hadith of the blind man. And this story is an addition to all the authentic narrations of the hadith of the blind man that we cited earlier. The hadith of the blind man came in al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Saghir with this story, with this very same story.

The questioner: Meaning it is not ...

The Shaykh: It is from the books of hadith. Al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir and al-Kabir are books of hadith, but books of hadith are of two types. One section, which is the smaller, is dedicated to mentioning established hadiths, such as Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim. The other section, which is broader, is not dedicated to narrating only authentic hadiths, but rather narrates ... for them, especially in the four books of Sunan, such as al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, al-Saghir, and al-Muttawwital, and other musnads, books, and parts and benefits. This addition came in al-Tabarani's Mu'jam, as we mentioned, through the route of 'Uthman ibn Hanif himself, who narrated the authentic story that we mentioned earlier. But the chain of narration to 'Uthman in this addition contains weakness, as I have mentioned in my commentary on al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir. This is the first angle that clarifies for the people of knowledge that this addition is not authentic in its chain. The second angle is that this addition did not come in the authentic routes of the hadith. That is, all the trustworthy narrators narrated the hadith without the addition. And the addition is, as I mentioned ... that 'Uthman ibn Hanif, after he mentions the hadith, mentions that a man came to him during the time of 'Uthman and complained to him that whenever he came to 'Uthman, 'Uthman did not pay attention to him or look at him, until he complained of his situation to 'Uthman ibn Hanif - and peace be upon you - so he taught him this supplication and seeking nearness, so he did it, and the caliph sent for him, was kind to him, and fulfilled his need. This story, which is an addition to the story of the blind man with the Messenger - peace and blessings be upon him - is in reality weak in its chain, but it is invalid in both chain and text. And I mentioned and pointed to the reason for its weakness in terms of the chain. So I will now say the reason for its weakness in terms of the text ... it is deniable in terms of the chain.

The questioner: In terms of the chain.

The Shaykh: Yes, but it is invalid in terms of meaning. So if we recall the meaning of the hadith: , Muhammad is in front of the blind man, he hears him. So where is Muhammad in front of the man with the need with 'Uthman ibn 'Affan? Is it permissible to call him - peace and blessings be upon him - without Allah? Of course, it is not permissible. So how can 'Uthman ibn Hanif or Hanif teach a man to call the Messenger of Allah where the Messenger of Allah does not hear him? This is the first difference between the actual reality in the era of the Prophet between him and the blind man, and the alleged story that occurred between 'Uthman ibn Hanif and the man with the need at 'Uthman ibn 'Affan. There, it is correct for the blind man, or rather it is correct for the Messenger to say to the blind man: Call me, O Muhammad, so that I participate with you; you supplicate and I supplicate. So the teaching of the Messenger to the blind man to call him "O Muhammad" is in accordance with the Shari'ah, because it is from the category of taking means. But how can 'Uthman ibn Hanif teach a man after the death of the Messenger, in the era of 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, to say "O Muhammad"? This is shirk (associating partners with Allah), This is the greatest difference. Yes.

The questioner : .

The Shaykh: , so this is the greatest difference between calling the living to the living, like the calling of the blind man to the Messenger of Allah: "O Muhammad, I have sought nearness to Allah through you to my Lord to heal me, so supplicate for me with what you promised me." This is permissible and acceptable. But for a man from the distinguished Companions to teach a man with a need to call the Messenger where the Messenger does not hear him and where the supplication does not benefit him, would a Companion do this? Far be it from Allah. A third point, , did you understand how the blind man sought nearness to Allah through the Messenger of Allah, meaning through his supplication? How does 'Uthman ibn Hanif say to this man: , and he is a liar, he did not seek nearness to Allah through him, and where did he seek nearness to Allah through the Messenger of Allah? If we understand that the intended meaning of seeking nearness to Allah through the Messenger of Allah is his supplication, then this is not present in this second alleged incident. , he did not direct himself to the Messenger, the blind man directed himself with the supplication, so with what does he direct himself? By the name of the Messenger, by the status of the Messenger, by his rank? So this became another issue different from the first issue that actually occurred between the blind man and the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings be upon him. That was seeking nearness to Allah through the supplication of the Messenger - peace and blessings be upon him. And here ... the man with the need sought nearness to Allah, say what you want, except that you distance yourself from seeking nearness to Allah through his supplication. You say he sought nearness to Allah through his rank, through his status with his Lord, and so on. But this seeking nearness is not of the type of the blind man's seeking nearness to Allah through the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings be upon him. I think this is clear.
The student : Is that clear?

The Shaykh: Yes, so we continue, for the matter afterwards is even more astonishing and more astonishing. "I have sought nearness to Allah through you to my Lord to heal me, O Allah, so make him an intercessor for me." What does "make him an intercessor for me" mean?
The student : The supplication.

The Shaykh: There is no supplication here, there is no supplication. its meaning in Arabic is "accept his intercession for me." And the meaning of intercession, as we said, is supplication. Here there is no supplication. How can he say , and the strangest and most pitiful is , how can he say , is it reasonable? There, it is possible for the blind man, as we mentioned, to say "make me an intercessor for the Messenger of Allah," because the meaning is "accept my intercession for you, that you accept the intercession of the Messenger for me." But as for the Messenger being in the highest company and not having supplicated for this man with the need, how can this supplicant say: "And make me an intercessor for him"? Its meaning here is that the issue is reversed. "Make me an intercessor for him" means the Messenger - peace and blessings be upon him - became the one in need, and the Prophet became in need of him. All of this comes first from the poor narration. A story comes with a weak chain, and some people find in it a desire and purpose to support an innovation or a superstition or something else, and then they do not pay attention to the weakness in its chain, and finally they do not think about the meanings of these Arabic phrases and say, "Yes, this is seeking nearness to Allah, so we also seek nearness to Allah." So this story is a story that is weak in its chain, deniable in its text, and invalid in its meaning. Is it permissible to argue with a story that has these three calamities?
The student : ... .

The Shaykh: ... in it there is weakness.
The student : ... .

The Shaykh: ... and the best one who spoke about this addition and clarified its weakness and deniability is Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in his great book: "A Glorious Principle in Seeking Nearness to Allah and the Means of Intercession." Do you have anyone else ...