al-Tawassul: Anwauhu wa Ahkamuhu - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (125)

al-Tawassul: Anwauhu wa AhkamuhuNasir al-Din al-Albani

toward Baghdad, and countless other practices too numerous to list. Such people have taken others besides Allah as objects of worship; they have not given Allah His proper due. These ignorant fools do not realize that the Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—possesses no power to confer the slightest benefit upon anyone, nor to avert from him an atom’s weight of harm. Why, then, do they cry out to him and present their requests to him? Is Allah not sufficient for His servant?!

O Allah, we seek refuge in You from associating anything with You or exalting any of Your creatures as we exalt You.

It is stated in al-Bazzāziyya and other collections of legal opinions: “Whoever says that the spirits of the shaykhs are present and possess knowledge commits disbelief.” 1

Shaykh Fakhr al-Dīn Abū Saʿd ʿUthmān al-Jiyānī al-Hanafī wrote in his epistle: “Whoever imagines that the dead can intervene in affairs independently of Allah, and believes that, has disbelieved.” The same ruling appears in al-Baḥr al-Rāʾiq.

Qāḍī Ḥamīd al-Dīn Nākurī al-Hindī states in al-Tawshīḥ: “Among such people are those who, in times of need or calamity, invoke the prophets and saints, believing that their spirits are present, that they hear the call, and that they know the requests. This is reprehensible shirk and manifest ignorance.” Allah the Exalted says, “Who is more astray than one who calls, instead of Allah, upon those who will not answer him until the Day of Resurrection, while they are unaware of his supplication?” 2

Al-Baḥr 3 further notes: “If someone were to contract a marriage on the testimony of ‘Allah and His Messenger,’ the marriage would not be valid, and he would commit disbelief, because this entails the belief that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, knows the unseen.” 4

The same verdict is affirmed in the Fatāwā of Qāḍī Khān, al-ʿAynī, al-Durr al-Mukhtār, al-ʿĀlamgīriyya, and other authoritative works.

(1) al-Bahr, vol. 5, p. 134. (2) Surah al-Ahqaf, verse 5. (3) vol. 3, p. 94. (4) Likewise, many people have become accustomed to answering, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” The statements attributed to certain Companions using this formula refer only to the Prophet’s lifetime (peace and blessings be upon him); after his death, employing it in this way is impermissible.

وغير ذلك مما لا يعد، هؤلاء عبدة غير الله ما قدروا الله حق قدره، ولم يعلم هؤلاء السفهاء أن الشيخ ﵀ لا يقدر على جلب نفع لأحد ولا دفع ضر عنه مقدار ذرة، فلم يستغيثون به ولم يطلبون الحوائج منه؟! أليس الله بكاف عبده؟!! اللهم إنا نعوذ بك من أن نشرك بك أو نعظم أحداً من خلقك كعظمتك، قال في "البزازية" وغيرها من كتب الفتاوى: "من قال: إن أرواح المشايخ حاضرة تعلم يكفر"١ وقال الشيخ فخر الدين أبو سعد عثمان الجياني بن سليمان الحنفي في رسالته: ومن ظن أن الميت يتصرف في الأمور دون الله، واعتقد بذلك كفر. كذا في "البحر الرائق"، وقال القاضي حميد الدين ناكوري الهندي في "التوشيح": منهم الذين يدعون الأنبياء والأولياء عند الحوائج والمصائب بإعتقاد أن أرواحهم حاضرة تسمع النداء وتعلم الحوائج، وذلك شرك قبيح وجهل صريح، قال الله تعالى: ﴿وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّنْ يَدْعُو مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَنْ لا يَسْتَجِيبُ لَهُ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ وَهُمْ عَنْ دُعَائِهِمْ غَافِلُونَ﴾ ٢ وفي "البحر"٣: لو تزوج بشهادة الله ورسوله لا ينعقد النكاح، ويكفر لاعتقاده أن النبي ﷺ يعلم الغيب٤، وهكذا في فتاوى قاضي خان والعيني والدر المختار والعالمكيرية وغيرها من كتب

١ البحر "٥/١٣٤". ٢ سورة الأحقاف: الآية ٥. ٣ ج ٣ ص ٩٤. ٤ ومن هذا القبيل ما اعتاده كثير من الناس من الإجابة بقولهم: "الله ورسوله أعلم"! وما ورد من قول بعض الصحابة ذلك فإنما كان في حال حياته ﷺ أما في حال وفاته فلا يجوز بهذا حال.