The Shaykh’s warning about the invalidity of the story attributed to Ibrahim (peace be upon him) regarding Jibril (peace be upon him) when his people intended to throw him into the fire, and his clarification that this is a path of the Sufis

The Shaykh : It is also not correct that which is attributed to our father Ibrahim (peace and blessings be upon him), that when his people intended to throw him into the fire, Allah sent Jibril (peace be upon him) to him, and he said to him, “Do you have any need of your Lord?” He said, “His knowledge of my state is sufficient for me, and I do not need to ask.” This is also a Sufi narration. I say it is Sufi because some of the Sufis exaggerated in a number of matters in which they exaggerated, so they relied on abandoning this great act of worship which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) made the foundation of worship when he said: So what did some of the Sufis say? They said, “Your asking him is an accusation against him!” They say this because the explanations of the Sufis are like the Prophetic hadiths; just as the Prophetic hadiths have explanations, so too the Sufi sayings have explanations. So they said in explaining this saying, “Your asking him or inquiring of him is an accusation against him.” Why? They said, “Because He knows the secret and what is more hidden than that. So why do you ask Him? Does He not know what is in your heart?” These people were heedless of the meaning contained in the servant’s turning to his Lord in his supplication, which is the ultimate in submission and the manifestation of servitude and need for Him. So your relying only on your knowledge that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) knows what is in your heart has no relation to your servitude, but rather it has a relation to the lordship of your Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). And it is obligatory for us to affirm our servitude to Him in addition to ... His lordship and His divinity (Blessed and Exalted is He). So when that person says, “Your asking him is an accusation against him,” he has abolished the servitude related to Him and relied on the fact that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) knows the secret and what is more hidden than that. And for this reason, you find the Qur’an and the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in hundreds of texts regarding the prophets, the awliya (close friends of Allah), and the righteous, that they are always supplicating to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And how numerous are the verses regarding Ibrahim (peace be upon him) to the end of the surah, approximately, and the supplication of Nuh (peace be upon him) and the supplication of Ya’qub. In fact, a person could gather the supplications of the prophets and messengers in a treatise and would find them numerous and very numerous. And Allah the Exalted said: This is a description of whom? A description of His chosen, excellent servants. Therefore, it is a very great error for us to turn away from supplicating to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) on the pretext that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) knows the secret and what is more hidden than that, and knows the need that any one of us wants. We say, yes, but He also wants us to humble ourselves to Him, to submit to Him, and to ask Him. Therefore, there is encouragement in some of the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) for one of us to ask his Lord, even for the lace of his sandal. What do you think? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged the Muslims to ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for the most trivial thing, which is the strap of the sandal ... or the strap of the shoe. If it breaks, he asks his Lord to facilitate for him a person to mend it and untie it for him. So here, the matter of the lace is a trivial thing, but turning to Allah and asking Him to deal with this trivial matter for you is an affirmation of your need and your servitude to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So how would you not ask Him for Paradise, and not ask Him to protect you from the Fire, and not ask Him as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: