It is truly astonishing to see these people turn away from the lawful forms of tawassul already mentioned: you will scarcely find them employing any of them in their own prayers or when instructing others, even though those forms are solidly established in the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the unanimous agreement of the ummah. Instead, they adopt supplications of their own making and mediations they themselves have invented—practices that Allah has not legislated, that His chosen Messenger never used, and that were never transmitted from the predecessors of this community in the blessed first three generations. At the very least, such acts are matters of dispute; how aptly they merit the divine rebuke: “Would you exchange that which is better for that which is inferior?” 1

This is also one of the scholarly proofs confirming the truth of the noble Tābiʿī Ḥassān ibn ʿAṭiyyah al-Muḥāribī, may Allah have mercy on him, who said: “No people ever introduce an innovation into their religion except that Allah removes from their Sunnah an equivalent portion, and He will never restore it to them until the Day of Resurrection.” 2

Nor are we alone in rejecting those innovated forms of tawassul. The great imams and scholars preceded us in denouncing them, and this position has been affirmed within certain recognised legal schools—foremost among them the school of Abū Ḥanīfah, may Allah have mercy on him. Al-Durr al-Mukhtār (2/630), one of the most celebrated Ḥanafī works, states: “From Abū Ḥanīfah: No one should supplicate Allah except through Him; the permissible, commanded supplication is that which is derived from His words: ‘To Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names, so call upon Him by them.’”