If the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, were to deny that relief could be sought from him, or make a similar statement, thereby pointing to monotheism and affirming that power belongs exclusively to the Creator, we ourselves would not be entitled to make that denial. We permit the unqualified statement that relief may be sought from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and from a righteous person—meaning in every matter in which relief is sought from Allah Most High—without needing to specify that he is a means and an intermediary. Anyone who says, ‘Relief is not to be sought from him,’ disparages him and is an unbeliever on that account, though he is excused if he is ignorant. Once he understands the meaning of seeking relief, if he then persists in his statement, he becomes an unbeliever. Seeking to draw near to Allah through him constitutes seeking relief from him, as stated earlier.”

Is any Muslim scholar known to have said that it is permissible to seek relief from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and from a righteous person in every matter in which relief is sought from Allah Most High? Is it permissible to state this without qualification, as this speaker has done? Does seeking to draw near to Allah Most High through the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, a righteous person, or anyone else, in every matter, constitute seeking relief from the person taken as a means of approach, as this speaker has claimed concerning all languages?

Whether or not seeking to draw near to Allah through the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or a righteous person constitutes seeking relief from him, is any scholar known to have said that it is permissible to seek to draw near to Allah through every prophet and righteous person?

Shaykh ‘Izz al-Dīn ibn ‘Abd al-Salām ruled in his well-known fatwas that it is not permissible to seek to draw near to Allah Most High through anyone except the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, provided that the hadith concerning this is authentic. Has anyone expressed a view contrary to this shaykh’s ruling?

Assuming that there is disagreement on this issue, does someone who says, ‘The other prophets and righteous people are not to be taken as a means of approach,’ in accordance with Shaykh ‘Izz al-Dīn’s ruling, become an unbeliever, as this speaker has declared him to be? Would the shaykh’s ruling itself then constitute unbelief?

Indeed, even concerning taking him as a means of approach, if someone were to say, ‘He is not to be taken as a means of approach;