…The second opinion is that the verse was revealed about certain idolaters who worshipped a group of jinn; the jinn later embraced Islam, yet the idolaters were unaware of this. Those jinn then strove to draw near to Allah through obedience and humble supplication, hoping for His mercy and fearing His punishment. Being needy servants, destitute before Him, they are clearly unfit to be objects of worship. Whichever specific case the noble verse addresses, it undeniably teaches that it is forbidden to worship the righteous—whether they be prophets and siddiqun or saints and pious people—for all of them are servants of Allah and dependent upon Him. How, then, could they be worshipped alongside Allah, majestic and exalted? The term wasila (means) signifies obedience and closeness. In language it denotes whatever conveys one to a desired goal; thus whatever brings a person to Allah’s good pleasure and to Paradise is the legitimate wasila intended in His statement: “Seek the wasila to Him” (Q 5:35). Those who distort the religion, however, claim that wasila means placing between oneself and Allah an intermediary drawn from the saints, the righteous, or the dead, making them go-betweens to draw one closer to Allah, just as they say: “We worship them only that they may bring us nearer to Allah” (Q 39:3). For these deviant people, wasila entails appointing a mediator who will ‘introduce’ one to Allah, convey one’s needs to Him, and inform Him about one’s affairs—as though Allah were unaware, or as though He were miserly and would grant nothing unless pressed through intermediaries. Exalted is Allah far above what they allege! His words, “Those whom they call upon themselves seek a wasila to their Lord” (Q 17:57), therefore show that adopting lawful means drawn from created things by which one approaches Allah is permissible, for Allah praised…