or from a created being, for it is permissible to seek relief from a created being in matters in which that being is able to help. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the best created being from whom relief may be sought in such matters.

If someone were to say to the person from whom he seeks relief, “I ask you through so-and-so, or by the right of so-and-so,” no one would say that he had sought relief from the one through whom he sought to draw near. Rather, he sought relief only from the person he called upon and asked.

For this reason, those who have written commentaries on Allah’s Most Beautiful Names say:

“Al-Mughīth (the One who grants relief) means al-Mujīb (the One who answers), but granting relief pertains more specifically to actions, and answering more specifically to words.”

As for seeking to draw near to Allah through anyone other than our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—whether this is called seeking relief or not—we know of no one among the early generations who did so or transmitted any report concerning it. We know of nothing concerning it except the shaykh’s ruling prohibiting it. As for seeking to draw near to Allah through the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, there is a hadith in the Sunan collections, narrated by al-Nasā’ī, al-Tirmidhī, and others:

“A Bedouin came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, my eyesight has been afflicted, so pray to Allah for me.’ The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told him, ‘Perform ablution, pray two units of prayer, then say: “O Allah, I ask You and turn to You through Your Prophet Muhammad. O Muhammad, I seek your intercession for the restoration of my sight. O Allah, accept Your Prophet’s intercession on my behalf.”’ He also said, ‘If you have a need, do likewise.’ Allah then restored his sight.”

Because of this hadith, the shaykh made an exception for seeking to draw near to Allah through him.

There are two views concerning the meaning of this. The first is that this seeking to draw near is what ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, mentioned when he said:

“Whenever we suffered drought, we would seek to draw near to You through our Prophet, and You would grant us rain. Now we seek to draw near to You through our Prophet’s uncle, so grant us rain.”

‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, thus mentioned that they used to seek to draw near to Allah through him during his lifetime when seeking rain, and that after his death they sought to draw near through his uncle al-‘Abbās; and their seeking to draw near to Allah