People who say that Tawassul [to draw near to what one seeks after and to approach that which one desires] is allowed, use the following two verses to prove their argument.

Allah says, "... seek the means of approach [tawassul] unto Him,..." [maidah 5: 35]

Allah says, " Those whom they call upon do desire (for themselves) means of access [tawassul] to their Lord, - even those who are nearest: they hope for His Mercy and fear His Wrath: for the Wrath of thy Lord is something to take heed of." [isra 17: 57]

Tawassul is definitely allowed, but to seek to get close to Allah through saints and by visiting saintly graves as in the given fatwa is equal to shirk [associating with Allah].

Tawassul is allowed in only three ways!

1. Seeking to approach Allah through His beautiful names .

Allah says, "The most beautiful names belong to Allah: so call on him by them..." [a'raf 7: 180]

You could try saying, "O Allah, I ask you by your being the Most Merciful, the Bestower of mercy, the Most Gracious, knower of all that is hidden.

2. Seeking to approach Allah by our righteous deeds.

Allah says, "Our Lord! we believe in what Thou hast revealed, and we follow the Apostle; then write us down among those who bear witness." [aal imran 3: 53]

The Prophet [s] told the story of the people in the cave who used their deeds as a means to reach Allah.

3. Seeking a means of nearness to Allah by the supplication of a righteous man.

If a Muslim falls into great difficulty or a great misfortune befalls him, and he knows that he has been very negligent with regard to Allah, he goes to a man whom he believes to be righteous and to be one who fears Allah and asks the man to pray to Allah for him.

Narrated Anas bin Malik, "A man came to Allah"s Apostle and said, "O Allah"s Apostle! Livestock are destroyed and the roads are cut off; so please invoke Allah." So Allah"s Apostle prayed for rain and it rained from that Friday till the next Friday. Then a man came to the Prophet (p.b.u.h) and said, "O Allah"s Apostle! The houses have collapsed, roads are cut off and the livestock are destroyed." So Allah"s Apostle said, "O Allah ! (Let it rain) on the tops of the mountains, on the plateaus, in the valleys and over the places where trees grow." So the clouds cleared away from Medina as clothes are taken off." [bukhari Volume 2, Book 17, Number 132]

But the above is the Prophet [s] who is asked to pray for the people, the Prophet [s] was alive then. It is not right to ask him [s] to pray for us now that he [s] is not among us.

Narrated Anas [ra], "Whenever drought threatened them, Umar [ra] used to ask Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib to invoke Allah for rain. He used to say, "O Allah! We used to ask our Prophet [s] to invoke You for rain, and You would bless us with rain, and now we ask his [s] uncle to invoke You for rain. O Allah! Bless us with rain." And so it would rain." [bukhari vol. 2 chapter 3 h # 1010]

Imam Bukhari says about the above hadith, "It is of great importance to notice that it is permissible for one to request living person to invoke Allah on his behalf; but if you ask Allah through a dead or an absent [person, etc.] then it is not allowed. But it is absolutely forbidden to ask or request the dead for anything, it is regarded as shirk."

Parts of the above message are taken from Tawassul by Shaikh Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani.

- Rukaiah (Posted to YahooGroups on Sat Mar 17, 2001)

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