It says in al-Rawḍ (1): “Seeking a means through the righteous is permitted.” This unqualified wording is open to objection; what they mean by it, however, is seeking a means through the supplication of the righteous, because the supplication of the righteous is more likely to be answered than that of those who are not righteous.

The evidence for this is what occurred with the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn al-Khattab, when he once went out to pray for rain and said: “O Allah, we used to seek a means to You through our Prophet, and You would grant us rain. Now we seek a means to You through the uncle of our Prophet, so grant us rain.” He then said: “Rise, Abbas, and supplicate to Allah.” So he rose and supplicated, and Allah granted them rain (2).

Seeking a means through the supplication of the righteous is conditional upon there being no risk of tribulation: namely, that his supplication might become a cause of tribulation for him or for others. If this is feared, it should be abandoned.

As for seeking a means through the persons of the righteous themselves, this is not permissible. Seeking a means entails doing something that serves as a means to attain a thing, whereas the person of a righteous man is not a means to anything; there is no connection between supplication and the person of a righteous man.

Likewise, it is not permissible to seek a means through the status of the righteous, because the status of the righteous benefits only its possessor and does not benefit anyone else.

More objectionable still is seeking a means through graves, for this may lead to supplicating those in the graves and to major shirk.

His statement: “If the People of the Covenant go out separately from the Muslims—not on a different day—they are not to be prevented.” The People of the Covenant are those who remain in our lands and to whom we have granted a covenant