the favored generations. As for the oft-quoted phrase, “Seek our Lord through my prestige, for my prestige with Allah is immense,” Shaykh al-Islam said: This is a fabricated ḥadith; it is found in none of the Muslim works upon which the ḥadith scholars rely, nor has any scholar of religion ever mentioned it—despite the fact that his standing with Allah is in reality greater than that of Moses, about whom Allah said, “He was distinguished in the sight of Allah” (al-Ahzāb 33:69).

Fifth: seeking a means by the very essence of someone or something. This is precisely what the idolaters did with their idols: they would seek nearness to Allah through them and say, “We worship them only so that they may bring us nearer to Allah” (al-Zumar 39:3).

As for the fourth category, it is one of the avenues that lead to polytheism. Legal rulings concerning the means follow the rulings of their ends, yet this practice in itself does not drive the one who engages in it out of Islam.