through him consisted in seeking rain through him: he would supplicate, and they would supplicate with him, so that he was their means of drawing near to Allah. The Companions did not do this after his death or in his absence. In such cases, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, interceded for them and supplicated on their behalf. Hence the words in the hadith of the blind man:

“O Allah, accept his intercession on my behalf.”

This shows that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had interceded for him, and he therefore asked Allah to accept that intercession on his behalf.

The second view is that seeking to draw near through him may be done during his lifetime and after his death, in his absence and in his presence. No one has said that anyone who holds the first view has disbelieved, nor is there any basis for declaring him an unbeliever. This is a subtle question whose evidence is not clear and manifest. Disbelief consists only in denying what is known by necessity to be part of the religion, denying rulings established by mass transmission and consensus, or the like. People’s disagreement over which supplications are prescribed and which are not is comparable to their disagreement over whether invoking blessings upon him when slaughtering an animal is prescribed. No Muslim regards this as an issue of insulting the Prophet.

As for someone who says that anyone who rejects seeking to draw near—which he has called seeking relief through another—has disbelieved, and declares those who adopt the position of Shaykh ‘Izz al-Dīn and others like him unbelievers, the error in this is too obvious to require a response. Rather, someone who declares others unbelievers over such matters deserves the severe punishment and disciplinary measures deserved by others like him who fabricate lies about the religion, especially in light of the Prophet’s words, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Whoever calls his brother an unbeliever, that charge falls upon one of them.”

As for someone who says, “In matters that none but Allah can accomplish, relief must be sought from Him alone,” he has spoken the truth. Indeed, he would have spoken well even if he had said, as Abū Yazīd did, “A created being seeking relief from another created being is like a drowning person seeking relief from another drowning person”; or, as Shaykh Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Qurashī said, “A created being seeking relief from another created being is like a prisoner seeking relief from another prisoner.” For this statement, taken without qualification, conveys the sense of seeking relief