stating that he was one of the seven. This hadith is false by the agreement of the experts. Although Abū Nuʿaym narrated some of these reports in Hilyat al-Awliyāʾ, and Shaykh Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī did so in some of his works, do not be misled by that. Such material includes sound, good, and weak reports, as well as fabricated reports and lies which scholars unanimously agree are false and fabricated. Sometimes he transmits them in the manner of certain hadith scholars who narrate what they have heard without distinguishing the sound from the false. Hadith scholars would not narrate reports of this kind, because it is authentically reported that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace—said:

“Whoever narrates a report from me, believing it to be false, is one of the liars.”

In short, all Muslims know that when circumstances arise involving hope or fear—such as their supplications when seeking rain for provision to descend, or their supplications during eclipses and when preparing to ward off affliction, and similar occasions—they call upon Allah alone, without partner, associating nothing with Him. Muslims were never to turn to anyone other than Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for their needs. Indeed, even the polytheists in their days of ignorance would call upon Him without an intermediary, and Allah would answer them. Do you then suppose that, after they have embraced monotheism and Islam, He will answer their supplications only through this intermediary for which Allah has sent down no authority?

The Exalted said:

“When affliction touches man, he calls upon Us, lying on his side, sitting, or standing. But when We remove his affliction, he goes on his way as though he had never called upon Us concerning an affliction that had touched him.”

And the Exalted said: