all of them. It may well be that this is one of the distinctions with which Allah singled him out above the rest, just as many sound reports confirm, and the realm of exclusive privileges admits no analogy. Therefore, whoever holds that the blind man’s tawassul was by the Prophet’s very person must stop at that point and not extend it any further, exactly as is related from Imām Aḥmad and Shaykh al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salām, may Allah have mercy on them both. This is what rigorous and fair research requires, and Allah is the One who guides to what is right.
Dispelling a Misconception
It is essential to clarify an important aspect of this subject: when we deny the permissibility of tawassul through the Prophet’s rank—peace and blessings be upon him—or through the rank of any other prophet or righteous person, we are not denying that they do, in fact, possess rank, esteem, and status before Allah. Nor is it because we dislike them, diminish their worth, or that our hearts lack love for them—contrary to the allegation made against us by Dr. al-Būṭī in his book Fiqh al-Sīrah (p. 354), where he states: “Some people have gone astray because their hearts did not feel love for the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and so they began to repudiate tawassul by his person after his death….”
Never—absolutely never! Praise be to Allah, we are among those who hold the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—in the highest regard, love him the most, and openly acknowledge his virtue. If those words prove anything, they merely reveal the blind rancor that fills the hearts of the opponents of the Salafi call toward this preaching and its adherents, driving them to embark upon this perilous path, to commit so heinous and repulsive a crime: devouring the flesh of their Muslim brothers and declaring them unbelievers without evidence—relying on nothing but conjecture, which is “the most deceitful form of speech,” as the Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said.1
I do not know how this unjust author allowed himself to issue such a