implore Allah to hasten the Reckoning, and none of the scholars has ever taken this to mean that the people should say, for example, “O Allah, by the status of Muhammad ﷺ with You, hasten the Reckoning for us.”

It is truly astonishing that Dr. al-Būṭī should dare to claim a consensus of the imams and jurists—including al-Shawkānī, Ibn Qudāmah, and al-Ṣanʿānī—in support of his eccentric view, a view rooted in a glaring ignorance of the meanings that these terms carry in both language and the Sacred Law. To refute him it suffices to cite the words of just one of the imams he named and alleged to share his understanding of istishfāʿ—namely, Imām Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī, author of the largest Hanbalī legal compendium, al-Mughnī, who says there (2/295):

“It is recommended, in the prayer for rain, to seek the participation of someone whose righteousness is manifest, for such a person is nearer to having his supplication answered. Thus, ʿUmar sought rain through al-ʿAbbās, the Prophet’s uncle. Ibn ʿUmar said: ʿUmar, in the Year of the Great Famine, sought rain through al-ʿAbbās, saying, ‘O Allah, this is the uncle of Your Prophet; we turn to You through him, so grant us rain,’ and they had scarcely dispersed before Allah sent them rain. It is also narrated that Muʿāwiyah went out to perform the rain prayer. When he sat on the pulpit he said, ‘Where is Yazīd ibn al-Aswad al-Jurashī?’ Yazīd stood up, and Muʿāwiyah summoned him and seated him at his feet. He then said, ‘O Allah, we seek intercession with You by means of the best and most virtuous among us—Yazīd ibn al-Aswad. Yazīd, raise your hands.’ Yazīd raised his hands and supplicated Allah; a cloud the size of a shield appeared in the west, a wind drove it forward, and they were drenched with rain to the point that they could scarcely reach their homes. Adh-Ḍaḥḥāk later sought rain through him once again.”

It is clear from Ibn Qudāmah’s words that by istishfāʿ he intends