we are simply addressing the persons depicted in those images, seeking their intercession.

Yet this is one of the very acts Allah has forbidden through the tongues of all the prophets. He has never sanctioned that anyone call upon the angels, the prophets, or the righteous who have passed away—so how much more impermissible is it to address lifeless representations of them! This has been elaborated elsewhere.

The present point is that people—prophets and others—often speak of the “manifestation of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.” What they intend is His manifestation within the hearts of His servants by way of knowledge, love, and remembrance.

For that reason, when invoking His name is meant as an invocation of the One named, the person who says, “The name is the Named One,” merely means that the purpose of the name is to refer to the Named One; he does not claim that the uttered word itself is the Named One—for no rational person would say such a thing. Thus, to declare the name pure and to glorify it is in fact to declare the Named One pure and to glorify Him.

As the Exalted has said:
“Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High” (al-A‘lā 1),

and He has said:
“So glorify the name of your Lord, the Magnificent” (al-Wāqi‘ah 74).