the Exalted has made it a duty upon Himself. Allah, the Most High, says: “It is incumbent upon Us to help the believers” (30:47); and likewise, “It is a promise binding upon your Lord—a promise that will be asked about” (25:16).

In the two Ṣaḥīḥs it is related from Muʿādh ibn Jabal that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said to him: “Muʿādh, do you know what Allah’s right upon His servants is?” He replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Allah’s right upon the servants is that they worship Him and associate nothing with Him. Do you know what the servants’ right upon Allah is if they do that? Their right upon Him is that He will not punish them.”

Other reports likewise say, “It has become binding upon Allah to do such-and-such,” as in his words: “Whoever drinks wine, none of his prayers will be accepted for forty days; if he repents, Allah accepts his repentance. But if he returns and drinks again a third or fourth time, it becomes binding upon Allah to make him drink from the mud of khabāl.” It was asked, “What is the mud of khabāl?” He replied, “The foul fluid that seeps from the inhabitants of the Fire.”

A group of scholars, however, maintain that none of this establishes the permissibility of seeking tawassul through him after