On asking for support from Shaykh

Question:

Asalaam alaikum Shaykh Gibril, may Allah bless you for your sober and heartfelt responses. This Q is from my friend who is not yet in Tariqa:

“Put simply, why can’t we just ask Allah? I can imagine the answers are that awliya have access to divine knowledge, are closer to Allah than us and I don’t doubt that for a moment, but it feels too much like we are going to an intermediary – and one of the first things I learned about Islam is there is no intermediary- that priests/clergy don’t stand between the believers and God- that we all have a direct line – we ask and He hears. And when I remember Him, I am invoking His presence with me…”

Answer:

wa `alaykum salam,

To put it directly, what you learned must be unlearned. That statement is a false Wahabi belief they have put into the very food we eat. If it were really true, why do Wahabis continue to ask each other “pray for me brother”, for that is the very act of intermediation?

Shafa`a is the Arabic noun for intercession or mediation or asking forgiveness from Allah for someone else. The word is used also in laying a petition before a king, interceding for a debtor, and in judicial procedure.  A similar meaning is given for the word wasilah, which means “a means, intermediary”.

Allah swt said:

{O ye who believe! Do your duty to Allah, seek the means of approach unto Him, (al-wasilah) and strive with might and main in his cause: that ye may prosper.}(Surat al-Ma’idah, 5:35)

Hujjat al-Islam Imam Ghazali said:

It is obligatory to believe in the intercession of first the prophets, then religious scholars, then martyrs, then other believers, the intercession of each one commensurate with his rank and position with Allah Most High.

Any believer remaining in hell without intercessor shall be taken out of it by the favor of Allah, no one who believes remaining in it forever, and anyone with an atom’s weight of faith in his heart will eventually depart from it.”

In absolute terms intercession belongs to Allah alone:

{Or choose they intercessors other than Allah? Say: What! Even though they have power over nothing and have no intelligence? Say: the intercession belongs to Allah.} (39:43-44)

A further definition that “Intercession belongs to Allah” is that intercession is actually permitted to others than Allah, but only by His permission:

{Who should intercede with him, except by his permission?}(2:255)

{There is no intercessor save after His permission.} (10:4)

{They will have no power of intercession, save him who has made a covenant with his Lord.} (19:87)

{And those unto whom they cry instead of Him possess no power of intercession, except him who beareth witness unto the truth knowingly.} (43:86)

The intercession of the generality of the prophets as well as the believers has similarly been established in verses based on permission, and also because prophets have made a covenant with their Lord (33:7, 3:81) and do bear witness unto the truth knowingly. The latter is true also of the elite of the believers  {Allah, the angels, and the men of learning}(3:18). These are the following verses concerning the prophets’ intercession in their lifetime:

{And they said: O our father! Ask forgiveness of our sins for us for lo! we were sinful. And he [Jacob] said: I shall ask forgiveness for you of my Lord. He is the forgiving, the merciful.} (Surah Yusuf 12:97-98)

{He [Abraham] said: Peace unto thee. I shall ask forgiveness of my Lord for thee.} (Surah TaHa, 19:47)

{Abraham promised his father: I will ask forgiveness for thee, though I owe nothing for thee from Allah.} (61:4)

There are also the following verses concerning the believers’ intercession in their lifetime:

{It is not for the Prophet, and those who believe, to pray for the forgiveness of idolaters even though they may be near of kin (to them) after it hath become clear that they are people of hellfire.} (9:113)

{And those who came after them say: Our Lord! forgive us and forgive our believing brothers who lived before us.} (59:10)

Ahadith:

“Whoever visits my grave, my intercession will be guaranteed for him.” (Daraqutni)

“Whoever repeats after the words of the mu’adhdhin, my intercession will be guaranteed for him.” (Muslim)

“Those closest to me in the hereafter are those who invoked blessings upon me the most (in dunya).” (Tirmidhi (hasan gharib) and Ibn Hibban)

“My intercession is for those people of my Community who commit major sins.” (Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and Ahmad)

It is related from Malik al-Dar, `Umar’s treasurer, that the people suffered a drought during the successorship of `Umar, whereupon a man came to the grave of the Prophet and said: “O Messenger of Allah, ask for rain for your Community, for verily they have but perished,” after which the Prophet appeared to him in a dream and told him: “Go to `Umar and give him my greeting, then tell him that they will be watered. Tell him: You must be clever, you must be clever!” (al-Bayhaqi)

… The people of Syria were mentioned in front of `Ali ibn Abi Talib (r) while he was in Iraq, and they said: “Curse them, O Commander of the Believers.” He replied: “No, I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “The Substitutes (al-abdal) are in Syria and they are forty men, every time one of them dies, Allah substitutes another in his place. By means of them Allah brings down the rain, gives (Muslims) victory over their enemies, and averts punishment from the people of Syria.” (Imam Ahmad’s Musnad 1:112)

Four Imams

Imam Malik was asked the following question by the Caliph Abu Ja`far al-Mansur: “Shall I face the qibla with my back towards the grave of the Messenger of Allah when making du`a (after salams)?” He replied:

“How could you turn your face away from him when he is the means (wasila) of your and your father Adam’s forgiveness to Allah on the Day of Resurrection? Nay, face him and ask for his intercession (istashfi` bihi) so that Allah will grant it to you as He said: “If they had only, when they were wronging themselves, come unto thee and asked Allah’s forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful (4:64).””

Ibn Hajar al-Haytami mentioned “When Imam al-Shafi`i was in Baghdad, he would visit the grave of Imam Abu Hanifa, greet him, and then ask Allah for the fulfillment of his need through his means” (al-Khayrat al-Hisan) while Imam Shafi`i sought blessing by the washing-water of Imam Ahmad’s shirt.

Later Scholars

Ibn Taymiyya in his book “al-qaida al-jalila fit- tawwasali wal-wasila“, wrote:

“Muslims agreed that the Prophet (s) is the greatest of creation the highest in rank and superiority and the most glorified and honored in the presence of Allah swt and no other creation is better to Allah than the Prophet (saws) and no other intercession is greater than his intercession. [a`azamu al-khalqi jaahan `ind-Allahi laa jaahun li- makhluqin `inda-Allahi a`azamu min jaahihi wa laa shafa`atun ‘aazamu min shafa`atih]

Read in detail at ASFA website:

Intercession – Tawassul

Tawassul, part 2, Seeking the means

Details of Tawassul Debate”

Ibn Taymiyya on Tawassul

Taher Siddiqui

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