Explanation of the categories of permissible tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means).

Among the benefits of this noble verse is tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means) to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by His attributes, just as one seeks nearness to Him by His names. Here, the angels sought nearness to Allah by His lordship in their saying: and they sought nearness to Him by the vastness of His mercy and by the vastness of His knowledge . Seeking nearness to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by His attributes is among the causes for the acceptance of supplication, just as seeking nearness to Him by His names is.
Here, it is fitting for us to address the meaning of wasilah (means) and its ruling. A wasilah is the doing of what leads to the intended goal; it is called a wasilah. It has been said that the sin and the sad have alternated in it, and that the original meaning of wasilah is wasilah (connection), and wasilah means a connector; it is a fa'il (active participle) meaning a fa'il (doer), so a wasilah is anything that leads to the intended goal. Means must be known, either by the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) or by the senses. I said this to refute imagined means, such as those who hang things on their chests that have not been established by the Shari'ah or by the senses to be beneficial, but only by imagination; or those who hang copper or threads or the like. These are means for healing that they claim, but in reality they are not means because they are absent both by the Shari'ah and by the senses. If a wasilah is the doing of what leads to the thing, and knowledge of its leading to the intended goal comes through the Shari'ah or through the senses: the fact that honey is a cure and consuming it is a means of healing is something we know by a Shari'ah path, and perhaps also by a sensory path after experience. And the fact that senna is a mover of the belly and a laxative for it is a sensory means. Do you know senna? Good, in the colloquial language it is called sennawik. It is a known tree leaf that is fermented with water and then drunk on an empty stomach. If a person drinks it on an empty stomach, it eases him and cleanses his belly; that is it. People used to use it a lot before these medicines came. ... It is called the senna of Mecca; it has different names. We return to the definition of wasilah: it is the doing of what leads to the intended goal, and knowledge of its leading to the intended goal comes through the Shari'ah and through the senses. The means of tawassul to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) for the acceptance of supplication is that you do something that leads to the acceptance. And we have no path to knowing that it leads to the acceptance except through the Shari'ah.
So we look at tawassul to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by His names; this is the first category, and its evidence is the saying of Allah the Exalted: So you say: O Allah, O Forgiver, O Merciful, forgive me and have mercy on me. This is tawassul to Allah by His names.
The second is tawassul to Allah by His attributes, and among this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): By what did he seek nearness? By Your knowledge of the unseen; knowledge is an attribute, and Your power over creation; power is an attribute. So you say: O Allah, by Your knowledge of the unseen and Your power over creation, keep me alive as long as You know life to be good for me, until the end of it.
Good, the third category is tawassul to Allah by His actions, and among this is His saying about Moses: If we make His saying: from the category of supplication, and if we make it from the category of commitment, it would not be from this category. But from this category is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), and he is teaching us how to send blessings upon him: So he sought nearness to Allah by His action, meaning: Just as You bestowed favor first upon Ibrahim and his family, so bestow favor second upon Muhammad and his family. The names of Allah, the attributes of Allah, the actions of Allah.
The fourth category is tawassul to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by faith in Allah, and this is from your own action. And among this is the saying of Allah the Exalted: This means meaning: Because of that, forgive us This is tawassul to Allah by faith in Him.
The fifth category is tawassul to Allah by righteous deeds, because righteous deeds are a cause for reward, and from the reward comes the attainment of what you supplicated for. And its evidence is the story of the people of the cave which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) told us. The people of the cave were three who sheltered them for the night. So they took refuge in a cave and entered it. A great rock rolled down upon them from the mountain and blocked the door of the cave, and they were unable to move it, and there was no helper for them except Allah; there was no human around them. So what did they do? They sought nearness to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by their righteous deeds. One of them sought nearness to Allah by dutifulness to his parents, the second sought nearness to Allah by complete chastity, and the third sought nearness to Allah by complete trustworthiness. Good, dutifulness to parents is a righteous deed, chastity is a righteous deed, and trustworthiness and fulfilling trust is a righteous deed. So when the first of them sought nearness, the rock opened, but they could not get out. The second sought nearness, the rock opened, but they could not get out. The third sought nearness, the rock opened once, and they walked out. This is tawassul to Allah by righteous deeds.
The sixth is tawassul to Allah by the state of the person. You seek nearness to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by mentioning your state: that you are poor, in need of Allah, sick, and the like. And among this is the saying of Moses (peace be upon him); its evidence is: When he watered the two women, he turned to the shade to take shelter in it, and he said: This is what he said: Give me, and nothing else, but he sought nearness to Allah by his state, because the saying of the one who says: I am poor, I am in need, I have been afflicted with hardship, and the like, means: So give me, heal me. And Ayyub (peace be upon him) combined mentioning the state and tawassul by the names, and he said: The first: mentioning the state, and the second by the names.
The seventh of the permissible tawassul is tawassul to Allah by the supplication of one whose acceptance is hoped for. And among this is the tawassul of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to supplicate to Allah for them, such as the prayer for rain and the prayer for healing, and much else. And among this is the tawassul of people in general on the Day of Resurrection by the intercession of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to Allah to judge between them. These are seven. And our saying that tawassul to Allah by one whose acceptance is hoped for implies that tawassul to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by one whose acceptance is not hoped for is not permissible, because this is mockery of Allah. If you came with a person who takes riba (usury or interest), who eats riba and eats wealth by injustice, fraud, and lying, and you said: Supplicate to Allah for me, then this is not permissible, because you sought nearness to Allah by one whose acceptance is distant. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the man who travels a long journey, disheveled and dusty, stretching his hands to the sky: O Lord, O Lord, and his clothing is haram (forbidden), his food is haram, and he is nourished with haram. He said: And it is mockery. If you came with a person, and the example is for Allah the Most High, to turn to a king, and the king hated this person and kept him at a distance, this would be mockery of the king and disregard for him. We all know this. So it is not permissible to seek nearness to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by the supplication of one whose acceptance is not hoped for, because this is from the category of mockery of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). These are seven categories of permissible tawassul.