and invented one of his own, conjuring it up as his whim pleased so that he could attack us, vilify us, and stir the masses against us. Consider—may Allah have mercy on you—this bizarre method, so contrary to both religion and learning, and join us in complaining to Allah about how estranged the truth and its adherents have become in our time.

4 – His error in claiming that the determining cause for tawassul through the Prophet ﷺ is his being the best of all creation

This is yet another mistake into which the doctor has fallen, the result of his rashness and failure to think through what he writes. He contends that the operative factor that allows one to seek nearness to Allah through the Prophet ﷺ is his being, in Allah’s sight, the most excellent of all creatures without exception, and his being a mercy from Allah to His servants, as he has already stated.

We say to him: By your own reasoning, anyone who is not so described—that is, not the very best of creation in Allah’s estimation—may not serve as a means of approach, because the alleged operative factor is missing. The manāt is, after all, the effective cause of a ruling: its presence entails the ruling, and its absence nullifies it. Hence the plain sense of the doctor’s words—were he truly aware of what he was saying—is that no tawassul is permissible except through the Prophet ﷺ alone. Yet we know with absolute certainty that he believes the contrary and holds it permissible to seek nearness by means of any prophet, saint, or righteous person. Thus he has uttered what he does not believe and has contradicted himself. The reason must be one of two things: either he is unfamiliar with how scholars employ the term manāt, or he has failed to consider the consequences of his own words—and the latter is the more likely. Allah knows best.