Others say:

This is a particular case. Its ruling applies to analogous cases that share the grounds on which the ruling rests; it does not establish the same ruling for cases that differ from it rather than resemble it. There is a distinction, both in divine law and in divine decree, between someone for whom the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, supplicated and someone for whom he did not. The two must not be treated as equivalent.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, interceded for this blind man. That is why the man said in his supplication:

“O Allah, accept his intercession for me.”

It is therefore clear that he was interceding on the man’s behalf. The wording is:

“If you wish, you may be patient; and if you wish, I will supplicate for you.” The man replied: “Supplicate for me.”

Thus, he asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to supplicate for him. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed him to pray and also to supplicate for himself, saying in his supplication:

“O Allah, accept his intercession for me.”

This indicates that his words, “I ask You and turn to You through Your Prophet Muhammad,” mean through his supplication and intercession. Similarly, ‘Umar said:

“O Allah, whenever we suffered drought, we used to seek nearness to You through our Prophet, and You would grant us rain.”

The two hadiths therefore have the same meaning. He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, taught a man to seek nearness through him during his lifetime, just as ‘Umar mentioned that they used to seek nearness through him when they suffered drought. After his death, however, they sought nearness only through others in his place.

If seeking nearness through him were the same whether he was alive or dead, and if someone who sought nearness through him and for whom the Messenger supplicated were like someone for whom the Messenger did not supplicate, they would not have turned away from seeking nearness through him—the best of creation, the most honoured by his Lord, and the nearest to Him—to seeking nearness through others who were not his equals.