3. Seeking Allah’s favor through the supplication of a righteous person:

Should a Muslim be stricken by extreme hardship or a grave calamity, and know within himself that he has been negligent toward Allah, he must grasp a strong means of approach to his Lord. He goes to someone he believes to be righteous and God-fearing, a man of virtue and knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah, and asks him to implore his Lord on his behalf so that his distress may be relieved and his anxiety removed. This is another form of legitimate tawassul that the purified Law has affirmed and recommended. Clear examples of it are found in the noble Sunnah, and the noble Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—actually put it into practice.

One such example is the report related by Anas ibn Malik—may Allah be pleased with him—who said: “People were overtaken by a year of drought in the time of the Prophet ﷺ. While the Prophet ﷺ was delivering the Friday sermon [on the pulpit 2/22] standing, a Bedouin [in another wording: he entered 2/16] [one of the desert folk 2/21] [through the door that faced the pulpit] [toward the Dār al-Qaḍāʾ while the Messenger of Allah was standing; he faced the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and stood 2/17] said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, our wealth has perished and our dependants are starving [in another version: have perished]; [in another chain: the cavalry mounts have perished and the sheep have perished] 1 [in another: the livestock have died and the roads have been cut off]. So pray to Allah for us [that He give us rain] [in another: that He grant us relief].’ The Prophet raised his hands in supplication [until I could see the whiteness of his armpits] and said, ‘O Allah, relieve us! O Allah, relieve us! O Allah, relieve us!’ [The people raised their hands with him in prayer.] [It is not mentioned that he turned his cloak inside out or faced the qiblah 2/18.] And—by Allah—we could see nothing in the sky [of any cloud…]