Light on the Path-187a

The questioner : This is your sister Umm 'Ubadah from Jordan, your sister in Allah. She says in this question: It is narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the narrator is Uthman ibn Hanif, that a blind man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, call upon Allah to remove my blindness.” He said, “Shall I call for you?” He said, “O Messenger of Allah, the loss of my sight has become difficult for me.” He said, “Then go, perform wudu, then pray two rak'ahs, then say: ‘O Allah, I ask You and turn to You by our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), the Prophet of Mercy. O Muhammad, I turn to You by him to my Lord so that He may fulfill my need, and mention your need. O Allah, so let him intercede for me.’” What is the authenticity of this? May you be rewarded?

The Shaykh : The scholars have differed regarding the authenticity of this hadith. Some rejected it and said that it is not authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), while others said that it is authentic. And even if it is authentic, it is not from the category of seeking nearness to Allah through the person of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but rather it is from the category of seeking nearness through his supplication, through the supplication of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as is apparent. However, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered him to pray two rak'ahs as a preparation and foundation for Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to accept the intercession of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for him, because the more faith is realized in a person, the closer he is to attaining the intercession of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). For this reason, in this hadith, he says, “O Messenger of Allah,” and he says “O Allah, I ask You and turn to You by our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), the Prophet of Mercy. O Muhammad, I turn to You by him to my Lord”. So his saying, “O Muhammad, I turn to You by him to my Lord,” is addressing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and this indicates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was present, and that this was a request from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to intercede for him with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Then he asked Allah the Exalted to accept this intercession and said , so it does not serve as evidence for seeking nearness through the person of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
And on this occasion, I would like to say that seeking nearness to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in supplication is of two types: a permissible type and a prohibited type. The permissible type is in several ways. The first way is to turn to Allah the Exalted by His names.
The second is to turn to Allah the Exalted by His attributes.
The third is to turn to Allah the Exalted by faith in Him and His Messenger.
The fourth is to turn to Allah the Exalted by righteous deeds.
The fifth is to turn to Allah the Exalted by mentioning one’s state and one’s poverty before his Lord.
The sixth is to turn to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) by the supplication of one whose response is hoped for.
As for the first, which is turning to Allah the Exalted by His names, it may be by a specific name or by the names in general. In the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), the famous hadith , this is seeking nearness by the names in the general sense.

The questioner : Very well.

The Shaykh : And the questioner’s saying “O Allah, I ask You to forgive me, for You are the Forgiving, the Merciful” is seeking nearness by the specific name appropriate to what you are asking Allah for, and it falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted .
And as for seeking nearness by the attributes, by the attributes of Allah, it may be by a specific attribute or by the attributes in general. You may say “O Allah, I ask You by Your exalted attributes to forgive me”, or it may be by a specific attribute, such as your saying “O Allah, by Your knowledge of the unseen and Your power over creation, keep me alive as long as You know life is better for me, and cause me to die as long as You know death is better for me”. So you sought nearness to Allah by His knowledge and His power, and these are two specific attributes.
And seeking nearness to Allah the Exalted by faith in Him and His Messenger is like the saying of Allah the Exalted .
An example of seeking nearness by righteous deeds is the seeking nearness of the three men who were trapped in a cave and could not move the rock that blocked the door. So one of them sought nearness to Allah the Exalted by the perfection of his dutifulness to his parents, the second by the perfection of his chastity, and the third by the perfection of his fulfillment of a contract, and the story is well known.
An example of seeking nearness by mentioning the supplicant’s state is to say “O Allah, I am poor before You and humble in Your presence” and the like. And from this is the saying of Musa .
An example of seeking nearness to Allah the Exalted by the supplication of one whose response is hoped for is the seeking nearness of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) by the supplication of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as in the hadith of Anas that a man entered on Friday while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the sermon and said, “O Messenger of Allah, the wealth has been destroyed and the roads have been cut off, so call upon Allah to relieve us.” So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his hands and said . Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said “By Allah, there was no cloud in the sky nor a wisp of cloud, meaning there was none, no wide cloud in the sky nor a piece of cloud, and between us and Sulayl there was no house or dwelling. So a cloud like a shield came out behind him, and when it reached the middle of the sky, it spread and thundered and flashed and rained. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not descend from the pulpit until the rain was dripping from his beard”.

The questioner : Allah is the Greatest.

The Shaykh : May the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him.

The questioner : May Allah send prayers and peace upon him.

The Shaykh : Then the rain continued for a full week. A man, or another man, entered during another Friday while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering the sermon. He said, "O Messenger of Allah, the buildings have collapsed and the wealth has been drowned, so call upon Allah to hold it back." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his hands and said and he was pointing toward the different directions, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him. He did not point to a direction without the clouds parting from it, and the people went out walking in the sun. This is an example of seeking nearness to Allah through a means (tawassul) by the supplication of one whose response is expected. Also in the authentic collections, from the hadith of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), he sought rain and said: "O Allah, we seek nearness to You through our Prophet, so give us rain. And we seek nearness to You through the uncle of our Prophet. Rise, O 'Abbas, and call upon Allah." So he rose and called upon Allah, and they were given rain. These are the categories of permissible seeking nearness to Allah through a means (tawassul).
As for the prohibited seeking nearness, it is to seek nearness by something that is not a means and not a cause for the attainment of the intended goal, such as seeking nearness by the person of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or by the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). For seeking nearness by his person or his status is not a cause for the attainment of the intended goal, because if you do not have a cause that leads to the attainment of the intended goal, the status of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with his Lord will not benefit you, because his status only benefits him, may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him. For this reason, Abu Lahab did not benefit from the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) nor from his person, because he did not have a means that would protect him from the punishment of Allah. And likewise, the seeking nearness of the people of idols by their idols, who said , for this seeking nearness does not benefit them in anything because they are those who associate partners with Allah.
And I advise my Muslim brothers to strive to follow the athar (reports) in what they seek nearness to Allah by. And how excellent is the compliance with the saying of Allah the Exalted . This is the best thing by which a person seeks nearness: to seek nearness to Allah the Exalted by His names that indicate His great attributes and His essence. This is the best means of seeking nearness.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.