Welcome to His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad. The Shaykh: Welcome and a warm greeting to you.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Welcome to His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad.
The Shaykh : Welcome and a warm greeting to you.
The questioner : His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad, this is the first letter before us, received from our brother in Allah, 'Imad Ibrahim Abu al-Dhahab, from the Arab Republic of Egypt. The listener listened to the episode, as he indicated, on Saturday, the twenty-second of Shawwal, 1421 AH, and asks about your response to one of the listeners who says: Is it permissible to supplicate to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and seek nearness to Him through the status of the Prophets or the status of His righteous servants, meaning that we say, "O Allah, we ask You by the status of Your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to forgive our sins," and similar supplications? He says that you indicated in your answer that if one finds a hadith that contradicts the ruling of impermissibility, he should send it to you, and that he found a hadith in *Bulugh al-Maram* which says...
The Shaykh : In *Bulugh al-Maram*.
The questioner : In *Bulugh al-Maram*, he says the hadith is narrated by Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), when they faced drought, would seek rain through al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib and saySahih al-Bukhari 3710 It was narrated by al-Bukhari. He asks: What is the opinion of our eminent professor regarding this? Is it authentic, or is it among the weak, additional hadiths? May Allah grant success.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Before I answer this question, first I thank the brother for his cooperation with his brothers, for this is part of cooperation in righteousness and piety. Indeed, a person is human; he errs and hits the mark, he forgets a thing, and it may be hidden from him. The Shari'ah is not restricted to a specific person among the people, but whoever Allah the Exalted has granted knowledge, understanding, and sincerity has the right to speak with what Allah the Exalted has granted him of knowledge, understanding, and sincerity.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And this is the obligatory duty of every Muslim in this matter and others: to be an advisor to his brothers and to be concerned with preserving the Shari'ah of Allah. If someone speaks with an error in it, he should try to correct the error with wisdom and correctness. As for his question, this hadith that he referred to is an authentic hadith narrated by al-Bukhari. However, whoever reflects on it finds that it is evidence against seeking nearness through the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or anyone else. That is because seeking nearness (tawassul) is adopting a means.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And the means is the thing that leads to the intended goal. The means mentioned in this hadithSahih al-Bukhari 1010 is intended to mean seeking nearness to Allah the Exalted through his supplication, because 'Umar said to al-'Abbas "Rise, O al-'Abbas, and supplicate to Allah", so he supplicated. If this had been from the category of seeking nearness through status, 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) would have sought nearness through the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) before seeking nearness through al-'Abbas.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Because, without a doubt, the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with Allah is greater than the status of al-'Abbas and others. If this hadith had been from the category of seeking nearness through status, it would have been more fitting for the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar, to seek nearness through the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) rather than the status of al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib. The conclusion is that seeking nearness to Allah the Exalted through the supplication of those whose supplication is hoped to be answered due to their righteousness is permissible. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to seek nearness to Allah through the supplication of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for them. Likewise, 'Umar sought nearness through the supplication of al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him). So there is no harm if you see a righteous man who is deserving of his supplication being answered because his food, drink, clothing, and dwelling are lawful, and because he is known for worship and piety; there is no harm in asking him to supplicate to Allah for you with what you wish, on the condition that this does not lead to delusion regarding this person who was asked to supplicate. If delusion arises from this, it is not permissible for you to kill or destroy him with this request, for that would harm him. I also say that this is permissible, but I do not like it, and I see that a person should supplicate to Allah the Exalted himself.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Without making a means between him and Allah, for that is stronger in hope and closer to fear. I also encourage that when a person asks his brother, whose supplication is hoped to be answered, to supplicate for him, he should intend by that to do good to him, i.e., to this supplicant, rather than to fulfill his own need. Because if he asks for the purpose of fulfilling his own need, it becomes like asking for money and similar things that are blameworthy. But if he intends to benefit his brother the supplicant by doing good to him, and doing good to a Muslim is rewarded as is well known, then this is more preferable and better.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So, the listener 'Imad Ibrahim Abu al-Dhahab misunderstood your previous answer.
The Shaykh : I do not think he misunderstood.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : But he assumed that this hadith is from the category of seeking nearness through status.
The questioner : Because in the same answer, I mentioned, and I listened to the episode again, that you had reviewed this hadith in that episode. So what is required of the listener is also to verify and to understand the entire answer that comes in the episode, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : Welcome and a warm greeting to you.
The questioner : His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad, this is the first letter before us, received from our brother in Allah, 'Imad Ibrahim Abu al-Dhahab, from the Arab Republic of Egypt. The listener listened to the episode, as he indicated, on Saturday, the twenty-second of Shawwal, 1421 AH, and asks about your response to one of the listeners who says: Is it permissible to supplicate to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and seek nearness to Him through the status of the Prophets or the status of His righteous servants, meaning that we say, "O Allah, we ask You by the status of Your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to forgive our sins," and similar supplications? He says that you indicated in your answer that if one finds a hadith that contradicts the ruling of impermissibility, he should send it to you, and that he found a hadith in *Bulugh al-Maram* which says...
The Shaykh : In *Bulugh al-Maram*.
The questioner : In *Bulugh al-Maram*, he says the hadith is narrated by Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), when they faced drought, would seek rain through al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib and say
"O Allah! We used to request our Prophet to ask You for rain, and You would give us. Now we request the uncle of our Prophet to ask You for rain, so give us rain." And they would be given rain."
اللهم إنا كنا نستسقي إليك بنينا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم فتسقينا وإننا نتوسل إليك بعم نبينا فأسقنا فيُسقونThe Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Before I answer this question, first I thank the brother for his cooperation with his brothers, for this is part of cooperation in righteousness and piety. Indeed, a person is human; he errs and hits the mark, he forgets a thing, and it may be hidden from him. The Shari'ah is not restricted to a specific person among the people, but whoever Allah the Exalted has granted knowledge, understanding, and sincerity has the right to speak with what Allah the Exalted has granted him of knowledge, understanding, and sincerity.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And this is the obligatory duty of every Muslim in this matter and others: to be an advisor to his brothers and to be concerned with preserving the Shari'ah of Allah. If someone speaks with an error in it, he should try to correct the error with wisdom and correctness. As for his question, this hadith that he referred to is an authentic hadith narrated by al-Bukhari. However, whoever reflects on it finds that it is evidence against seeking nearness through the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or anyone else. That is because seeking nearness (tawassul) is adopting a means.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And the means is the thing that leads to the intended goal. The means mentioned in this hadith
We used to ask our Prophet to invoke You for rain, and You would bless us with rain, and now we ask his uncle to invoke You for rain. O Allah ! Bless us with rain.
نتوسل إليك بنبينا فتسقينا وإنا نتوسل إليك بعمّ نبينا فأسقناThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Because, without a doubt, the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with Allah is greater than the status of al-'Abbas and others. If this hadith had been from the category of seeking nearness through status, it would have been more fitting for the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar, to seek nearness through the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) rather than the status of al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib. The conclusion is that seeking nearness to Allah the Exalted through the supplication of those whose supplication is hoped to be answered due to their righteousness is permissible. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to seek nearness to Allah through the supplication of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for them. Likewise, 'Umar sought nearness through the supplication of al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him). So there is no harm if you see a righteous man who is deserving of his supplication being answered because his food, drink, clothing, and dwelling are lawful, and because he is known for worship and piety; there is no harm in asking him to supplicate to Allah for you with what you wish, on the condition that this does not lead to delusion regarding this person who was asked to supplicate. If delusion arises from this, it is not permissible for you to kill or destroy him with this request, for that would harm him. I also say that this is permissible, but I do not like it, and I see that a person should supplicate to Allah the Exalted himself.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Without making a means between him and Allah, for that is stronger in hope and closer to fear. I also encourage that when a person asks his brother, whose supplication is hoped to be answered, to supplicate for him, he should intend by that to do good to him, i.e., to this supplicant, rather than to fulfill his own need. Because if he asks for the purpose of fulfilling his own need, it becomes like asking for money and similar things that are blameworthy. But if he intends to benefit his brother the supplicant by doing good to him, and doing good to a Muslim is rewarded as is well known, then this is more preferable and better.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So, the listener 'Imad Ibrahim Abu al-Dhahab misunderstood your previous answer.
The Shaykh : I do not think he misunderstood.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : But he assumed that this hadith is from the category of seeking nearness through status.
The questioner : Because in the same answer, I mentioned, and I listened to the episode again, that you had reviewed this hadith in that episode. So what is required of the listener is also to verify and to understand the entire answer that comes in the episode, if Allah wills.