The scholar 'Azim al-Haqq Abadi, the author of *Awn al-Ma'bud*, cited the hadith of 'A'ishah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would use the miswak and then give it to me to wash, so I would start with it, use it, then wash it and return it to him.

The questioner : The scholar 'Azim al-Haqq Abadi, the author of "Al-Awn", cited the hadith of 'A'ishah: "The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) would use the miswak and then give it to me to wash, so I would start with it, use it, then wash it and return it to him." He cited this as evidence for the establishment of seeking blessing from the traces of the righteous and the ... with them, and using another person's miswak. Do you have any comment on that, may Allah guide you to the truth? And may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Before answering this question, I say that we do not doubt that the Companions used to seek blessing from some of the traces of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as his sweat, his hair, and his miswak. There are many hadiths on this, so many that no one, even the most extreme in their bias, can fail to believe in them and acknowledge their implications regarding seeking blessing. This is a reality we believe in. However, this specific hadith cannot be forced into the category of seeking blessing from the traces of the Messenger (peace be upon him), nor can it be used as evidence for it, because this occurred between two spouses, between a husband and his wife. As is well known, such things, and even more than this, occur between spouses. Therefore, this cannot be extended to a third party such that it can be said, for example, that it is permissible for another woman, a stranger to the Messenger (peace be upon him), to seek blessing from the saliva remaining from the saliva of the Messenger (peace be upon him) on his miswak. It is known, for example, that a husband may suck the lips of his wife or her tongue. These are matters that concern only the spouses and cannot be extended to others. Thus, this text remains specific to the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his wife. The other texts we mentioned are sufficient and adequate, making it unnecessary to cite this hadith and force it into their category. Seeking blessing from the Messenger (peace be upon him) is established. I think I discussed this in my book *Tawassul: Its Types and Rulings*, in response to this Dr. al-Bouti, who went so far as to advocate seeking blessing from his urine (peace be upon him) and the like, and tawassul through him ... tawassul. Yes, so I concluded that tawassul, or rather, seeking blessing from the traces of the Messenger that we mentioned earlier is one thing, and tawassul through them to Allah is another. Then I moved to a very important issue for the Muslims who came after the Companions: that this seeking blessing should be restricted to the Companions only, because they knew tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and knew how to stand at the limits set by the Lawgiver, such as the saying of his Prophet (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) and the like of his saying . As for those who came after them, they fell into excess in this matter until it reached the point of calling for aid and falling into major shirk (associating partners with Allah). For this reason, we say that I personally, if I were in the time of the Messenger, would have done what his Companions did in seeking blessing from him (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him). But I do not see opening this door for the later generations, from the perspective of sadd al-dhara'i' (blocking the means to harm), which is ... great in the Shari'ah. This is all I have.