What is the difference between seeking refuge in an attribute of Allah and supplicating to that same attribute?

The questioner : What is the difference between seeking refuge in an attribute of Allah and supplicating to that same attribute?

The Shaykh : The difference is that the one who seeks refuge in an attribute of Allah makes that attribute a means; he makes it a means, and the intended object is seeking refuge in Allah Himself. As for the one who supplicates to it, saying, "O Glory of Allah, protect me," he directs the supplication to it alone. "O Forgiveness of Allah, forgive me" is different from "I ask You by Your forgiveness to forgive me."

The questioner : ...the intention is asking Allah the Exalted.

The Shaykh : What is valid is prohibited in terms of wording. Did you understand this, people? You see that many people find it difficult. They say, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Here, the intended meaning is that because You are the Merciful, I seek Your aid, so he made mercy a means, not that he feels mercy is something independent of Allah to be called upon for aid. But if he says, "O Mercy of Allah, aid me," this is not permissible because you have made mercy independent, to be called upon apart from Allah. For this reason, Ibn al-Qayyim and Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), the Shaykh al-Islam, said: "Supplicating to an attribute is disbelief by consensus" because it entails that you have made the attribute something independent, subsisting in itself, and this is shirk (associating partners with Allah).