The question is relating to the interecession of a living or a deceased
person, or deeds or the names of Allah. This act is called Tawassul. The
method of Tawassul is accepted by all our pious predecessors. However, if
acts such as prostration etc are done at a saint's grave then this is
totally wrong and should not be tolerated.
The explanation is indeed a long one and is best addressed by Sheikh Nuh in
His reliance as follows;
SUPPLICATING ALLAH THROUGH AN INTERMEDIARY
From Reliance of the Traveller
by Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller
TAWASSUL (definition)
Supplicating Allah by means of an intermediary, whether it be a living
person, dead person, a good deed, or a name or Attribute of Allah Most High.
The scholar, YUSUF RIFA'I, says: I here want to convey the position,
attested to by compelling legal evidence, of the orthodox majority of Sunni
Muslims on the subject of supplicating Allah through an intermediary
(tawassul), and so I say (and Allah alone gives success) that since there is
no disagreement among scholars that supplicating Allah through an
intermediary is in principle legally valid, the discussion of its details
merely concerns derived rulings that involve interschool differences,
unrelated to questions of belief or unbelief, monotheism or associating
partners with Allah (shirk); the sphere of the question being limited to
permissibility or impermissibility, and its ruling being that it is either
lawful or unlawful. There is no difference among groups of Muslims in their
consensus on the permissibility of three types of supplicating Allah through
an intermediary (tawassul):
(1) TAWASSUL through a living righteous person to Allah Most High, as in the
hadith of the blind man with the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him
peace) as we shall explain;
(2) The TAWASSUL of a living person to Allah Most High through his own good
deeds, as in the hadith of the three people trapped in a cave by a great
stone, a hadith related by Imam Bukhari in his "Sahih;"
(3) And the TAWASSUL of a person to Allah Most High through His entity
(dhat), names, attributes, and so forth.
Since the legality of these types is agreed upon, there is no reason to
set forth the evidence for them. The only area of disagreement is
supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a righteous dead person. The majority
of the orthodox Sunni Community hold that it is lawful, and have supporting
hadith evidence , of which we will content ourselves with the Hadith of the
Blind Man, since it is the central pivot upon which the discussion turns.
THE HADITH OF THE BLIND MAN
Tirmidhi relates, through his chain of narrators from 'Uthman ibn Hunayf,
that a blind man came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
and said, "I've been afflicted in my eyesight, so please pray to Allah for
me." The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "Go make
ablution (wudu), perform two rak'as of prayer, and then say:
"Oh Allah, I ask You and turn to You through my Prophet Muhammad,
the Prophet of mercy; O Muhammad (Ya Muhammad), I seek your intercession
with my Lord for the return of my eyesight [and in another version: "for my
need, that it may be fulfilled. O Allah, grant him intercession for me"]."
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) added, "And if there is
some need, do the same."
Scholars of Sacred Law infer from this hadith the recommended character of
the "prayer of need," in which someone in need of something from Allah Most
High performs such a prayer and then turns to Allah with this supplication
together with other suitable supplications, traditional or otherwise,
according to the need and how the person feels. The express content of the
hadith proves the legal validity of "tawassul" through a living person (as
the Prophet - peace be upon him - was alive at that time). It implicitly
proves the validity of tawassul through a deceased one as well, since
tawassul through a living or dead person is not through a physical body or
through or through a life or death, but rather through the positive meaning
(ma'na tayyib) attached to the person in both life and death. The body is
but the vehicle that carries that significance, which requires that the
person be respected whether dead or alive; for the words "O Muhammad" are an
address to someone physically absent - in which state the living and dead
are alike - an address to the meaning, dear to Allah, that is connected with
his spirit, a meaning that is the ground of "tawassul," be it through a
living or dead person.
THE HADITH OF THE MAN IN NEED
Moreover, Tabarani, in his "al-Mu'jam al saghir," reports a hadith from
'Uthman ibn Hunayf that a man repeatedly visited Uthman ibn Affan (Allah be
pleased with him) concerning something he needed, but Uthman paid no
attention to him or his need. The man met Ibn Hunayf and complained to him
about the matter - this being after the death (wisal) of the Prophet (Allah
bless him and give him peace) and after the caliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar
- so Uthman ibn Hunayf, who was one of the Companions who collected hadiths
and was learned in the religion of Allah, said: "Go to the place of ablution
and perform ablution (wudu), then come to the mosque, perform two rak'as of
prayer therein, and say:
'O Allah, I ask You and turn to You through our Prophet Muhammad,
the Prophet of mercy; O Muhammad (Ya Muhammad), I turn through you to my
Lord, that He may fulfill my need,' and mention your need. Then come so that
I can go with you [to the caliph Uthman]." So the man left and did as he had
been told, then went to the door of Uthman ibn Affan (Allah be pleased with
him), and the doorman came, took him by the hand, brought him to Uthman ibn
Affan, and seated him next to him on a cushion. 'Uthman asked, "What do you
need?" and the man mentioned what he wanted, and Uthman accomplished it for
him, then he said, "I hadn't remembered your need until just now," adding,
"Whenever you need something, just mention it." Then, the man departed, met
Uthman ibn Hunayf, and said to him, "May Allah reward you! He didn't see to
my need or pay any attention to me until you spoke with him." Uthman ibn
Hunayf replied, "By Allah, I didn't speak to him, but I have seen a blind
man come to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) and
complain to him of the loss of his eyesight. The Prophet (Allah bless him
and give him peace) said, "Can you not bear it?' and the man replied, 'O
Messenger of Allah, I do not have anyone to lead me around, and it is a
great hardship for me.' The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace)
told him, 'Go to the place of ablution and perform ablution (wudu), then
pray two rak'as of prayer and make the supplications.'" Ibn Hunayf went on,
"By Allah, we didn't part company or speak long before the man returned to
us as if nothing had ever been wrong with him."
This is an explicit, unequivocal text from a prophetic Companion proving the
legal validity of tawassul through the dead. The account has been classified
as rigorously authenticated (SAHIH) by Baihaqi, Mundhiri, and Haythami.
AUTHENTICITY OF THE HADITH OF THE BLIND MAN
Tirmidhi has stated that the hadith of the blind man is "a hadith that is
well or rigorously authenticated but singular, being unknown except through
his chain of narrators, from the hadith of Abu Ja'far, who is not Abu Ja'far
Khatmi," which means that the narrators of this hadith, despite Abu Ja'far
being unknown to Tirmidhi, were acceptable to the degree of being well or
rigorously authenticated in either case.
But scholars before Tirmidhi established that Abu Ja'far, this person
unknown to Tirmidhi, was Abu Ja'far Khatmi himself. Ibn Abi Khaythama said:
"The name of this Abu Ja'far, whom Hammad ibn Salama relates from, is 'Umayr
ibn Yazid, and is the Abu Ja'far that Shu'ba relates from," and then he
related the hadith by the channel of transmission of 'Uthman from Shu'ba
from Abu Ja'far.
Ibn Taymiya, after relating the hadith of Tirmidhi, said: "All scholars say
that he is Abu Ja'far Khatmi, and this is correct."
Reflect on this.
The hadith master, Ibn Hajar, notes in "Taqrib al-tahdhib" that he is
Khatmi, and that he is reliable (saduq).
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr likewise says that he is Khatmi, in "al-Istii'ab fi ma'rifa
al-ashab." Moreover, Baihaqi related the hadith by way of Hakim and
confirmed that it was rigorously authenticated (SAHIH), Hakim having related
it by a chain of transmission meeting the standards of Bukhari and Muslim,
which the hadith master Dhahabi confirmed, and Shawkani cited as evidence.
Dhahabi and Shawkani, who are they? The meaning of this is that all the men
of the hadith's chain of transmission are known to top Imams of hadith such
as Dhahabi (and who is severer than he?), Ibn Hajar (and who is more
precise, learned, or painstaking than he?), Hakim, Baihaqi, Tabarani, Ibn
'Abd al-Barr, Shawkani, and even Ibn Taymiya.
This hadith was recorded was recorded by Bukhari in his "al-Tarikh
al-kabir", by Ibn Majah in his "Sunan", where he said it was rigorously
authenticated (SAHIH), by Nasa'i in "Amal al-yawm wa al-layla", by Abu
Nu'aym in "Ma'rifa al-Sahaba", by Baihaqi in "Dala'il al-nubuwwa", by
Mundhiri in "al-Targhib wa al-tahrib", by Haythami in "Majma' al zawa'id wa
manba' al-fawa'id", by Tabarani in "al-Mu'jam al-kabir", by Ibn Khuzayma in
his "Sahih", and by others. Nearly 15 hadith masters ("huffaz", hadith
authorities with more than 100,000 hadiths and their chains of transmission
by memory) have explicitly stated that this hadith is rigorously
authenticated (sahih). As mentioned above, it has come with a chain of
transmission meeting the standards of Bukhari and Muslim, so there is
nothing left for a critic to attack or slanderer to disparage concerning the
authenticity of the hadith. Consequently, as for the permissibility of
supplicating Allah (tawassul) through either a living or dead person, it
follows by human reason, scholarship, and sentiment, that there is
flexibility in the matter. Whoever wants to can either take tawassul or
leave it, without causing trouble or making accusations, since it has been
this thoroughly checked ("Adilla Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a , 79-83).
It is well to review some salient features of the proof that was given ,
such as:
(1) that there are 2 hadiths, Tirmidhi's hadith of the "blind man" and
Tabarani's hadith of the "man in need" to whom Uthman ibn Hunayf related the
story of the blind man, teaching him tawassul that the Prophet (Allah bless
him and grant him peace) had taught the blind man.
(2) Tirmidhi's hadith is rigorously authenticated (sahih), being the subject
of the above investigation of its chain of narrators, the authenticity of
which is established beyond a reasonable doubt and attested to by nearly 15
of the foremost hadith specialists of Islam. The hadith explicitly proves
the validity of supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a living intermediary,
as the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was alive at the time.
The author of the article holds that the hadith implicitly shows the
validity of supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a deceased intermediary as
well, since:
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) told the blind man to go
perform ablution (wudu) pray two rak'as, and then make the supplication
containing the words, "O Muhammad, I seek your intercession with my Lord for
the return of my eyesight," which is a call upon somebody physically absent,
a state of which the living and the dead are alike.
Supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a living or deceased intermediary is,
in the author's words, "not tawassul through a physical body, or through a
life or death, but rather through the positive meaning attached to the
person in both life and death, for the body is but the vehicle that carries
that significance.
And perhaps the most telling reason, though the author does not mention it,
is that everything the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordered
to be done during his lifetime was "legislation" valid for all generations
until the end of time unless proven otherwise by a subsequent indication
from the Prophet himself (Allah bless him and grant him peace), the tawassul
he taught during his lifetime not requiring anything else to be generalized
to any time thereafter.
(3) The authenticity of Tabarani's hadith of the man in need during the
caliphate of Uthman (Allah be well pleased with him) is not discussed by the
article in detail, but deserves consideration, since the hadith explicitly
proves the legal validity of supplicating Allah (tawassul) through the
deceased, for 'Uthman ibn Hunayf and indeed all the prophetic Companions, by
scholarly consensus (ijma'), were legally upright ('udul), and are above
being impugned with teaching someone an act of disobedience, much less
idolatory (shirk). The hadith is rigorously authenticated (sahih), as
Tabarani explicitly states in his "al-Mu'jam al-saghir." The translator (Nuh
Ha Mim Keller), wishing to verify the matter further, to the hadith with its
chain of narrators to hadith specialist Sheikh Shu'ayb Arna'ut, who after
examining it, agreed that it was rigorously authenticated (sahih) as
Tabarani indicated, a judgement which was also confirmed to the translator
by the Morrocan hadith specialist Sheikh 'Abdullah Muhammad Ghimari, who
characterized the hadith as "very rigorously authenticated," and noted that
hadith masters Haythami and Mundhiri had explicitly concurred with Tabarani
on its being rigorously authenticated (sahih). The upshot is that the
recommendedness of tawassul to Allah Most High - through the living or the
dead - is the position of the Shafi'i school, which is why both our author
Ibn Naqib Al-Misri, and Imam Nawawi in his "Al-Adhkar (281-282)", and
"al-Majmu" explicitly record that "tawassul" through the Prophet (Allah
bless him and grant him peace) and asking his intercession are recommended.
A final article below by a Hanafi scholar concludes the discussion.
CALLING PON THE RIGHTEOUS
The Hanafi scholar, Muhammad Hamid says: As for calling upon (nida') the
righteous (when they are physically absent, as in the words "O Muhammad" in
the above hadiths), tawassul to Allah Most High through them is permissible,
the supplication (du'a) being to Allah Most Glorious, and there is much
evidence for its permissibility.
Those who call on them intending "tawassul" cannot be blamed. As for someone
who believes that those called upon can cause effects, benefit, or harm,
which they create or cause to exist as Allah does, such a person is an
idolator who has left Islam - Allah be our refuge! This then, and a certain
person has written an article that tawassul to Allah Most High through the
righteous is unlawful, while the overwhelming majority of scholars hold it
is permissible, and the evidence the writer uses to corroborate his
viewpoint is devoid of anything that demonstrates what he is trying to
prove. In declaring tawassul permissible, we are not hovering on brink of
idolatory (shirk) or coming anywhere near it, for the conviction that Allah
Most High alone has influence over anything, outwardly or inwardly, is a
conviction that flows through us like our very lifeblood. If tawassul was
idolatory (shirk), or if there were any suspicion of idolatory in it, the
Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) would not have taught it to
the blind man when the latter asked him to supplicate Allah for him, though
in fact he did teach him to make "tawassul" to Allah through him. And the
notion that tawassul is permissible only during the lifetime of the person
through whom it is done but not after his death is unsupported by any viable
foundation from Sacred Law ["Rudud 'ala abatil wa rasa'il al-Shaykh Muhammad
al-Hamid]
