The Ruling on Supplicating to the Attributes of Allah
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If supplicating to an attribute of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is forbidden, how do we understand the following supplications from the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as his saying: (I seek refuge in Allah and His power from the evil I find and fear) and his saying: (I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created)?
And his statement: (I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your anger, and in Your well-being from Your punishment) All of this is seeking refuge by an attribute of Allah, and the intended meaning is the One who possesses the attribute.Because the prohibited supplication is to say: O Power of Allah, forgive me; O Mercy of Allah, have mercy on me.This is what the Shaykh al-Islam said about it: This is disbelief by consensus.Because if you say: O Power of Allah, forgive me.Or: O Mercy of Allah, have mercy on me. It is as if you have made this attribute an independent thing separate from the One who possesses it, such that it forgives and shows mercy and enriches.But if you say: I seek refuge in the majesty of Allah. This falls under the category of seeking nearness to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) through His majesty to be saved from the feared thing from which I sought refuge through the majesty.And likewise: In Your pleasure from Your anger.And likewise his saying: (O Ever-Living, O Sustainer, I seek help through Your mercy) The meaning is not that a person seeks help through mercy separated from Allah, but this falls under the category of seeking nearness to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) through His attributes that are appropriate to the thing from which one seeks refuge or to the one being supplicated to, and it is not supplication to an attribute.Supplication to an attribute is to say: O Mercy of Allah, have mercy on me; O Power of Allah, give to me, and the like of that.
And his statement: (I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your anger, and in Your well-being from Your punishment) All of this is seeking refuge by an attribute of Allah, and the intended meaning is the One who possesses the attribute.Because the prohibited supplication is to say: O Power of Allah, forgive me; O Mercy of Allah, have mercy on me.This is what the Shaykh al-Islam said about it: This is disbelief by consensus.Because if you say: O Power of Allah, forgive me.Or: O Mercy of Allah, have mercy on me. It is as if you have made this attribute an independent thing separate from the One who possesses it, such that it forgives and shows mercy and enriches.But if you say: I seek refuge in the majesty of Allah. This falls under the category of seeking nearness to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) through His majesty to be saved from the feared thing from which I sought refuge through the majesty.And likewise: In Your pleasure from Your anger.And likewise his saying: (O Ever-Living, O Sustainer, I seek help through Your mercy) The meaning is not that a person seeks help through mercy separated from Allah, but this falls under the category of seeking nearness to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) through His attributes that are appropriate to the thing from which one seeks refuge or to the one being supplicated to, and it is not supplication to an attribute.Supplication to an attribute is to say: O Mercy of Allah, have mercy on me; O Power of Allah, give to me, and the like of that.