that Allah has never commanded any creature to ask another creature for anything except what is to that creature’s own benefit—something that is either obligatory or recommended. Exalted is He; He asks nothing more of a servant than this, so how could He command someone else to ask that servant for something beyond it? On the contrary, He has forbidden a person to ask another for his property except in cases of necessity.

If the questioner’s purpose is the benefit of the one addressed—or both his own benefit and that of the one addressed—he will be rewarded for it. But if his purpose is merely to obtain what he wants, with no intention that the addressee should benefit, then he is acting on his own initiative. Such a request Allah never commands; indeed, He has prohibited it, for it is a bare request made to a creature without any concern for that creature’s welfare.

Allah commands us to worship Him and to turn to Him in longing, and He commands us to show kindness to His servants. This person has intended neither: he has not turned to Allah in supplication—which is prayer—nor has he shown kindness to the creature, which is zakat. Even though the servant may not be sinful for making such a request, there is still a difference between what a servant is commanded to do and what he is merely permitted to do. Do you not see that, in the hadith about the seventy thousand who will enter Paradise without reckoning, it is said of them that they “do not seek ruqya (spiritual healing),” even though seeking ruqya