Third: after sending blessings upon him ﷺ one should ask that he be granted al-Wasīlah, for it is a rank in Paradise that befits only one servant of Allah. He ﷺ said, “I hope that I will be that servant; whoever asks al-Wasīlah for me, my intercession becomes due to him.”
This wording occurs in the ḥadith of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr recorded by Muslim and others and cited earlier.
There are further reports on the topic:
- Abu Hurayrah relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Ask Allah to grant me al-Wasīlah.” They asked, “Messenger of Allah, what is al-Wasīlah?” He replied, “The highest rank in Paradise; it will be attained by only one man, and I hope to be that man.”
Al-Tirmidhī transmitted it from Sufyān, from al-Layth—namely, Ibn Abī Sulaym—who said, “Kaʿb narrated to me, and Abu Hurayrah narrated to him.” Al-Tirmidhī commented, “This is a singular (gharīb) report whose chain is not strong. Kaʿb is unknown, and we know of no one who narrated from him except al-Layth ibn Abī Sulaym.”
Aḥmad also recorded it through this route, as cited by Ibn Kathīr and in Ḥādī al-Arwāḥ, with the wording, “When you invoke blessings upon me, then ask Allah to grant me al-Wasīlah…,” the remainder being identical.
- Abu Saʿīd al-Khudrī reports that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Al-Wasīlah is a degree with Allah above which there is no higher degree, so ask Allah to grant me al-Wasīlah.”
Aḥmad transmitted it through Ibn Luhayʿah—from Mūsā ibn Wardān—from Abu Saʿīd; al-Ṭabarānī likewise narrated it in al-Awsat, adding at the end, “over His creation,” as mentioned in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid.