Fifth Misconception: Is there any bar to an innovated form of tawassul if it is treated as merely permissible rather than recommended?

Someone may say, “True, the Sunnah offers no proof that seeking tawassul through the very persons of the prophets and the righteous is recommended. But what would prevent us from doing so simply as a matter of permissibility, since there is no explicit prohibition against it?”

I reply: We have heard this contention time and again from those who wish to adopt a ‘middle’ position between the two sides, hoping thereby to satisfy everyone and avoid their attacks. The response is that we must not lose sight, in this discussion, of the meaning of the wasilah itself, for it is the means by which one attains the desired goal, as has already been explained.

It is also evident that the goal sought through such a means must be either religious or worldly.