Wrong claims about Tawassul

[Kowneyn]

In defense of Tawhid

and Ahl at-Tawhid

 

Part 3

 

by al-faqir Zubeir Ashari-Maturidi

 

 

 

 

First and foremost, congratulations to Shaykh Abdul Hadi on the birth of his son Omar. I am glad being informed about the the delivery. May Allah bless you and your family. Amin. You and your family are in my prayers.

 

This is part 3, dealing with TAWASSUL. Please read it in your spare time and tell me what you think. I literally spent more than 15 hours on it! Al-hamdu Lillah. Please pray for me.

 

Brother Jamaal, please save all of these refutations in a separate file. I have copies of these refutations, but it’s better if we save them incase anything goes wrong. Barak-Allahu fik wa-s-salamu ‘alaykum.

 

I am glad that someone from the so-called Ahlu Sunnah Foundation of America has finally responded to me. I am going to ask him “specific†questions about Nazim’s books. I’m curious to hear what he says. I’ll send “CC†to all of you.

 

As-salamu ‘alaykum wa-Rahmatullah.

 

 

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A Refutation of Wrong Opinions about Tawassul

as Expressed in the So-called "Fundamentals of Tawheed"

 

 

Bilal Philips, in his “Evolution of Fiqh,†page 130, says:

 

“Furthermore, in opposing tawassul...the twentieth century descendants and followers of Ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhaab were attacking unislamic practices.†(emphasis added).

 

The above statement from Bilal Philips tells the readers two things about him. First, he acknowledges to be a supporter of wahhabees and hence becomes a wahhabee himself. Second, he claims that tawassul is an unIslamic practice. The false claims of Bilal Philips opposes the perspectives of Ahl al-Sunna wa’al Jama’ah, whom make up the majority of the best of Ummahs. To read a refutation of the wahhabee movement, one can read plenty of books by Ahl al-Sunna scholars. “Al-Fitnatul- Wahhabiyya,†by the Mufti of Mecca, Ahmad ibn Zayni Dahlan ash-Shafi’i and “The Beacon of Humanity and the Clarification of Ignorance,†by the great Shaykh Ibn Alawi Al-Haddad. There are hundreds of other books written by other ulema although the aforementioned refutations are sufficient to expose wahhabee deviance. For your reference, here are a few more sources of refutation against the wahhabees: Shaykh Muhammad Sa‘id Ramadan Al-Buti’s “Al-salafiyyatu marhalatun zamaniyyatun mubarakatun la madhhabun islami†[â€The Salafiyya is a blessed historical period not an Islamic school of lawâ€], Al-muhaddith Muhammad al-Hasan ibn ‘Alawi Al-Maliki al-Husayni’s “Mafahimu yajibu an tusahhah†[â€Notions that should be correctedâ€], and al-Sayyid Mustafa ibn Ahmad ibn Hasan Al-Shatti al-Athari al-Hanbali’s “al-Nuqul al-shar’iyyah fi al-radd ‘ala al-Wahhabiyya†[â€The Legal Proofs in Answering the Wahhabisâ€]. One will have ample evidence from these sources to prove that Bilal Philips’ defense of wahhabees is tantamount to defending ignorance and reprehensible innovations. Claims that seeking an intermediary between Allah and man is unIslamic are also made by other wahhabee “scholars.†For example: Muhammad bin Suleiman At-Tamimi, in his article, “What Negates One’s Islam,†says:

 

“Whoever sets up an intermediary between himself and Allah, whom he prays to, seeks intercession from and puts his reliance in, has blasphemed according to the consensus of the scholars.†(emphasis added).

 

Al-Tamimi is lying in behalf of the majority of scholars because you will read below that the majority of scholars have considered setting up an intermediary between oneself and Allah and seeking intercession a permissible and meritorious act. Al-Tamimi only speaks in behalf of the wahhabees who are in opposition to the Sunni majority. A similar statement is made by the so-called Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdl-Aziz bin Abdullah Bin Baaz. Bin Baaz, in his article “Ten Things Which Nullify One’s Islam,†says:

 

“Setting up intermediaries between oneself and Allah, making supplication to them, asking their intercession with Allah, and placing ones trust in them is unbelief (kufr).†(emphasis added).

 

What Bin Baaz and al-Tamimi call “kufr,†i.e. setting up intermediaries when asking Allah, is in fact a practice of the noble Sahaba and their pious followers. This will be explained in more detail below. Bilal Philips’ claim that tawassul is an “unIslamic practice†opposes the Qur’an, Sunnah, and consensus of our beloved orthodox Sunni ulema. You will see very clearly how wahhabees mix truth with falsehood, by equating pagan practices with practices of the noble and pious Sahaba, Tabi’een, Tabi al-Tabi’een, and the khalaf whom adhered to their footsteps. This will be explained in more detail below. The defintion of Tawassul is: Supplicating Allahu Ta’ala by means of anintermediary, whether it be a living person, dead person, a good deed, or a name or attribute of Allahu Ta’ala. Tawassul is a “means†Muslims seek, using an intermediary, when asking Allahu Ta’ala for something. One of the many verses in the noble Qur’an which permit Tawassul is: “Allah the Blessed and the Exalted said:

 

“O ye who believe, fear Allah and seek ye the means to Him†(al-Ma’ida, 34)

 

Shaykh ul-Islam Yusuf ibn al-Sayyid Hashim al-Rifa’i, a Shafi’i scholar, former minister of state, educator, Sufi, and author explains the issue of tawassul very clearly in his “Adilla Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama’ah.†The following is a translation of part of this book by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller, a Shafi’i scholar, who added this as a section in his translation of “Al-‘Umdat al- salik†(The Reliance of the Traveller) by Shaykh Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, a student of the famous Shafi’i mujtahid Taqi al- Din al-Subki. Shaykh Yusuf al-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...â€

 

Shaykh Yusuf al-Rifa’i goes on to present the dalail (proof) of the hadeeth of the blind man, who asked the Prophet (Salla- Allahu-‘alayhi-wasallam) to ask Allah to restore his eyesight afterwhich the Prophet (‘alayhi salatu wassalam) taught him a du’a and instructed him to say it after completing ablution (wudu) and two rak’as of prayer:

 

“Oh Allah, I ask You and turn to You through Your 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 meâ€].â€

 

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) added,

 

“And if there is some need, do the same.†(Related by Tirmidhi and 15 other ahadeeth masters and classified as rigorously authentic (sahih) .

 

Shaykh Yusuf al-Rifa’i continues:

 

“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 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.â€

 

It must be noted that plenty of other ahadeeth exist to prove the validity of Tawassul through an alive or dead person. Shaykh Muhammad al-Hamid, a Hanafi scholar says:

 

“Those who call on them [the intermediaries] 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!â€

 

By the Shaykh’s words, it is understood that Allah fulfills the du’as whether Allahu Ta’ala is asked directly or asked using an intermediary—dead or alive. The wahhabees claim that it is only permissible to do tawassul while the intermediary is present and alive, but not when the intermediary is in his grave. Ibn Taymiya said that doing tawassul using an intermediary who is dead is haraam, while Muhammad ibn Abdl- Wahhab said that it is “Shirk ul-Akbarâ€â€”the “major shirk†which makes one a “mushrik†or polytheist. Both of them oppose the consensus of the Ahl al-Sunna majority, and Muhammad ibn Abdl-Wahhab accuses the majority of the Sunni ulema to be mushrikeen. This is one of many examples of how the Wahhabees revive the creed of the Kharijites who lived at the time of the noble Sahaba. The Kharijites believed they were the only Muslims while everyone else, including Ali and Mu’awiya (Allah bless them), were Kuffar. The Wahhabees believe that for more than a thousand years Muslims were attributing partners to Allah and were kuffar because they did tawassul. By such satanic thinking, Ibn ‘Abdl-Wahhab made the blood of countless Muslims halal, and commanded his followers to butcher them in the name of Islam. Imam Muhammad Amin Ibn Abidin, a Hanafi scholar who passed away in 1836 CE, said in his “Hashiyya radd al-Mukhtar,†volume 3, page 309:

 

“In our time Ibn Abdl-Wahhab (Najdi) appeared, and attacked the two noble sanctuaries (Makkah and Madinah). He claimed to be a Hanbali, but his thinking was such that only he alone was a Muslim, and everyone else was a polytheist! Under this guise, he said that killing the Ahl al-Sunna was permissible...â€

 

Another hadeeth to prove the legitimacy of tawassul, even after the intermediary is dead is the hadeeth of the man in need. Shaykh Yusuf al-Rifa’i states:

 

“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].â€

 

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.’â€

 

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.â€

 

This is an explicit, unequivocal text from an eminent Salaf proving the legal validity of tawassul through the dead. The account has been classified as rigously authenticated (SAHIH) by the famous Huffaz Baihaqi, Mundhiri, and Haythami. It is sufficient to accept the hadeeth of the blind man and the hadeeth of the man in need to justify that tawassul by the dead or alive is permissible. This is agreed upon by the majority of the Sunni ulema. It must be noted that Muhammad Nasirudin Al-Albani, a wahhabi and so-called muhaddith, wrote a book titled “Tawassul†trying to disprove this practice after the intermediary is in his grave. His interpretations are of no significance since he opposes the interpretations of the majority of huffaz of Ahl al Sunna wa’al Jama’ah. The hadeeth of Ibn Mas’ud, related by Imam Ahmad in his “Musnad,†states:

 

“Whatever the majority of Muslims see as right, then that is good to Allah, and whatever the majority of Muslims see as wrong, it is wrong to Allah.â€

 

By this dalil, Al-Albani becomes among the stray and lost sheep because his opinions oppose that of the scholarly Sunni majority. Al-Albani’s and Bilal Philips’ opinions only represent the wahhabee minority. It is also a fact that Al-Albani is “self-taught†and that he never had a Shaykh to teach him the knowledge of hadeeth. He does not possess a continuous chain of knowledge that goes back to the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) as the other true Sunni huffaz, like Imams Nawawi, Baihaqi, Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi, Nisa’i, and Ibn Hajar do. Hence, Al-Albani’s interpretations and understanding that “tawassul done by an intermediary who is in his grave is Islamically unlawful†is false and meaningless. In “The Fundamentals of Tawheed,†Bilal Philips says:

 

“If someone prays to the Prophet (saws), to so-called saints, Jinns or angels asking for help or asking them to request help from Allaah for them, they have also committed Shirk.â€

 

This statement has both truth and falsehood in it. The truth is that whoever prays to other than Allah is undoubtedly a polytheist. Therefore, praying to the Prophet, saints, jinns, and angels is indeed shirk because such people are mushrikeen who attribute partners to Allahu Ta’ala in worship. Only Allah is to be worshipped. Only Allah Azza Wajal creates the fulfillment of a supplication, as those who do tawassul by the alive or dead are very well aware of.

 

However, the last part of Bilal Philips’ statement, “Or asking them to request help from Allaah for them, they have also commited shirk†is an accusation against the Sahaba and Tabi'un that they committed shirk! May Allah protect us from falling into the abyss of ignorance as Bilal Philips has. It is well known that a companion of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam), Bilal ibn al-Harith, went to the grave of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) when there was a drought, and said:

 

“O Messenger of Allah, ask Allah to give rain to your Ummah; they are close to perish...â€

 

It is correct to call what he did tawassul and istighathah (seeking or asking for help), because he went to the grave of the Messenger (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) asking him to save them from the calamity that hit them by him asking Allahu Ta’ala to give them rain. The Huffaz Al-Baihaqi, and Ibn Kathir (in his “Tarikh,†and “al- Bidaayaâ€) said that this hadeeth is SAHIH. This occurring from Ibn Kathir is evidence that he did not follow Ibn Taymiya in the issue of tawassul, because he did not find the evidence for his fallacious claims that tawassul is haram after one’s death. In the issue of tawassul, Ibn Kathir adhered to the majority of Sunni ulema. However, he agreed with Ibn Taymiya on the issue of divorce, which opposed ‘ijma, and was punished for it. Al-Albani said that the hadeeth is unreliable, but his words are meaningless because the real and qualified huffaz of Ahl al-Sunna have classified it has SAHIH.

 

Furthermore, Hafiz Ibn Abi Shayba ranks the hadeeth as SAHIH in his “Musannaf,†and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in his “Fath al-Bari†said its chain of transmission is sound (isnaaduhu Sahih). One can clearly see that Bilal Philips has actually accused Bilal ibn al-Harith (may Allah bless him), a companion of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam), of being a mushrik. We seek refuge with Allah from such innovators and shun them as much as possible. These are the people who stab the heart of the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam). They stab the heart of the Ummah repeatedly because they don’t refrain from such false accusations even after they are given the dalail (proof) by the pious followers of Ahl al-Sunna wa’al Jama’ah. Ahl al-Sunna scholars have been doing tawassul after the death of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam). For example, Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani performed tawassul by the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) in his poems known as “an- Nayyirat-us-Sab,†as did his shaykh Zayn-ud-Din al-‘Iraqi at the end of his poem in “Tafsiru Mufradat-il-Qur’an.†According to Bilal Philips’ statements, these scholars would be “unIslamic.†There has never been a scholar who has called Hafiz Ibn Hajar or Hafiz al-‘Iraqi “unIslamic.†Bilal Philips should correct his false accusations and make tawba to Allah.

 

As for Al-Albani, he quotes Hafiz Ibn Hajar as a reliable source of information in his book, “Tawassul.†For instance, on page 5 of this book, Al-Albani says: “Al-Haafidh Ibn Hajr, rahimahullaah...†However, Al-Albani’s deception and hypocrisy is now evident because we know that Hafiz Ibn Hajar did tawassul after the death of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) in his poem, “an-Nayyirat-us-Sab†What does Al-Albani have to say about this? Does he want Muslims to accept his claims “blindly?†Moreover, Al-Albani, in his “Tawassul,†page 16 says:

 

“...such a call for aid (istighaatha) is nothing but major shirk.†(emphasis added).

 

By saying that istighaatha is major shirk, he now joins Bilal Philips in accusing the Companion Bilal ibn al-Harith of “Shirk ul- Akbar†because it has been proven by sahih dalil that he did istighaatha. In addition, to Al-Albani’s surprise (?), Hafiz Ibn Hajar states the following hadeeth as HASSAN in his “al-‘Amali:â€

 

“Ibn Abbas related that the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam), said:

 

‘...If any of you feel in a calamity in a desert, let him call: Oh slaves of Allah, help me. This because Allah has servants you do not see.†(emphasis added).

 

This is without a doubt “istighaatha†(seeking help) so it is now evident that Al-Albani is also accusing the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) of committing “major shirk†since the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) taught “istighaatha†to the to the Sahaba. Ibn Hajar is in compliance with the Prophet’s (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) words because he accepts “istighaatha†to be valid. What does Al-Albani have to say about this? May Allah protect us from the ignorance of Al- Albani and his blind followers. Ameen. Bilal Philips, in his “Fundamentals of Tawheed,†says:

 

“According to the Qur’aan, when the Makkans were questioned about directing their prayers to their idols, they answered, “We only worship them so that they may bring us closer to Allaah.†The idols were only used as intermediaries yet Allaah called them pagans for their practice. Those among Muslims who insist on praying to other than Allaah would do well to reflect on this fact.â€

 

This is an explicit example of how the Wahhabees revive a practice of the Kharijites who lived at the time of the noble Sahaba. Imam Bukhari has recorded Ibn ‘Umar as saying in his Sahih [vol.9,page 50; English edition]:

 

“These people (the Khawarij and heretics) took some verses that had been revealed concerning the disbelievers and interpreted them as describing the believers.â€

 

The Ahl al-Sunna wa’al Jama’ah have warned Muslims from this Kharijite practice which the Wahhabees uphold today in the name of “Tawheed.†By their lack of adherence and knowledge to the path of Ahl al-Sunna, they misinterpret verses from the noble Qur’an and make idol-worshippers equal in belief to the pious Muslims who are of the Ahl al-Sunna, and commit “takfeer.†The above verse, stated by Bilal Philips in an attempt to invalidate the permissibility of Tawassul, is in fact refering to the idol-worshippers—not Muslims. The Iraqi scholar, Jamil Effendi al-Zahawi, says in his “al-Fajr al-sadiq fi al-radd ‘ala munkiri al-tawassul wa al-khawariq†[The True Dawn: A Refutation of Those Who Deny The Validity of Using Means to God and the Miracles of Saintsâ€]:

 

“The Wahhabis say: the defense of those who practice tawassul is the same apology the idolaters of the Arabs offered as the Qur’an says describing the way the idolaters defended their worship of idols: “We only worship them in order that they may bring us nearer†(39:3). Hence, the idolaters do not believe that the idols create anything. Rather, they believe that the Creator is God, the Exalted, by evidence of the following verse: “If thou ask them, Who created them, they will certainly say, God†(43:87) and: “If indeed thou ask them who is that created the heavens and the earth, they would be sure to say, God†(39:38). God has only judged against them for their disbelief because they say “We only worship them in order that they may bring us nearer.†The Wahhabis say: Thus, do people who implore God by prophets and the pious use the phrase of the idolaters: “In order to bring us nearer†in the same sense.â€

 

Shaykh Jamil al-Zahawi, in the section of his book “Refutation of That False Comparison,†continues to say:

 

“The answer [to the false claims of the wahhabees] contains several points: (1) The idolaters of the Arabs make idols gods; while the Muslims only believe in one God. In their view, prophets are prophets: awliya are awliya only. They do not adopt them as gods like the idolaters. (2) The idolaters believe these gods deserve worship contrary to what Muslims believe. Muslims do not believe that anyone by whom they implore God deserves the least amount of worship. The only one entitled to worship in their view is God alone, May He be Exalted. (3) The idolaters actually worship these gods as God relates: “We only worship them...†Muslims do not worship prophets and pious persons by the act of imploring God by means of them. (4) The idolaters intend by their worship of their idols to draw near God just as He relates concerning them. As for the Muslims, they do not intend by imploring God by means of prophets and saints to draw close to God, which is only by worship. For that reason, God said in relating about the idolaters: “... in order that they bring us nearer.†However, Muslims only intend blessings (tabarruk) and intercession (shafa‘a) by them. Being blessed by a thing is obviously different from drawing near to God by it. (5) Since the idolaters believe that God is a body in the sky, they mean by “to bring us near†a literal bringing near. What indicates this is its being stressed by their use of the word zulfa—nearness to power— inasmuch as emphasizing something by its own same meaning indicates for the most part that what is intended by it is the literal meaning and not the metaphorical. For when we say: “He slew him murderously†(qatalahu qatlan) a literal killing rushes to the understanding, not that of “a hard blow†in counterdistinction to what we mean when we just say: “He slew himâ€; for that might mean only a hard blow. The Muslims do not believe that God is a body in the sky remote enough from them to see a literal proximity to Him by imploring God through a prophet. The ruling of Shari‘a contained in the verse does not apply to them, whereas since the Wahhabis believe that God is a body who sits on his throne, they do not discover a meaning of blessing which the Muslims intend by their imploring God by prophets and awliya, but only that of drawing near which belongs to bodies. For that reason, these verses are applicable to them, not to Ahl al-Sunna.â€

 

Last but not least, Shaykh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, an Ahl al-Sunna scholar with ijazah from Al-Azhar, says:

 

“The central feature to identify the Khawarij of out time is always “they apply to Muslims the ayat that were revealed for the kuffar,†and “their frequently read the Qur’an, but the Qur’an does not exceed their throats.†The Glorious Qur’an is a bayan between Iman and kufr, but the ignoramuses within the sect from Najd dare to equate Muslims who search Anbiyas’ and Awliyas’ intercession as a wasila ila Allah to mushrikun that worship idols.â€

 

“When one is sick, one usually calls for a doctor, and none will tell him, “You are a mushrik, since Allah only has the power to heal.†Muslims believe that healing or death are in Allah’s hands, and make the doctor an indirect means (wasila) toward His healing, if He wishes so. Praising an-Nabiyyu-r-Rahmah is the noblest of wasa'il, but they dare to call “eccessive†what actually increases the hasanat of a Believer. Because of this heresy of theirs, new fatawa which they add are frequently an increase in misguidance, and most of their conjectures are firther darkness added to darkness. Those who do not receive Nur from Allah will have no Nur whatsoever.â€

 

From the aforementioned evidence from Sahih ahadeeth and the interpretations and understandings of the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama‘ah, it is understood that Tawassul (and seeking or asking help—istighaathata) are meritorious practices approved by the majority of Sunni ulema. Tawassul can be done using an intermediary who is living in this life, or living the life of the grave (barzakh). Seeking the wasila by pious individuals is not the same as worshipping the intermediaries as the Wahhabees claim it is. The ignorance of Bilal Philips, Al-Albani, Bin Baaz, and al-Tamimi has caused them to accuse the Prophet (sall-Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), the Companions, and the majority of the Sunni ulema of blasphemy (kufr). We seek refuge with Allah from such Ahl al-Bida’ who curse the “best Ummahâ€, The Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (sall-Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).

 

Wa-l-‘aqibatu li-l-muttaqin.

 

Kowneyn