So where is that “good intention,” O people, in those who, whenever they fall into hardship, go to a deceased man whom they deem righteous, call upon him instead of Allah, seek his help, and ask him for well-being, healing, and other matters that should be asked only of Allah—matters that only Allah can accomplish?! Indeed, if even their mount slips they cry: “O Allah, O Bāz!”

Yet these very shaykhs know that the Prophet ﷺ once heard a Companion say to him, “Whatever Allah wills and you will!” whereupon he replied, “Have you made me a rival to Allah?!” (1)

If this was the Messenger’s ﷺ censure of someone whose faith in him stemmed from fleeing shirk, then why do these shaykhs not censure the people for saying, “O Allah, O Bāz!” when it points to idolatry even more clearly and explicitly than the words “Whatever Allah wills and you will”?! And why do we find the common folk, without the slightest embarrassment, saying, “We rely on Allah and on you,” and, “We have no one but Allah and you”?!

That is because these shaykhs are either like them in