The Friends of God
The highest of creation is the Prophet Muhammad, ‘alayhi salat wa salam; and his ‘ismah (protection from sin) with accountability (unlike the angels) is the highest. The ‘ismah granted to ulu al-‘azmi min al-rusul (the Prophets of Firm Resolve) is higher than the ‘ismah of other Prophets and Messengers; and the apportioning of ranks permitted by Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is simply part of His divine order.
The awliya’ (friends; singular is wali) of God are not prophets, nor messengers – they are those whom Allah has described in Surat Yunus, 62-63:
“Unquestionably, [for] the friends [awliya’] of Allah there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve;
Those who believed and were fearing Allah, For them are good tidings in the worldly life and in the Hereafter.”
Ibn Kathir mentions in his commentary that this shows that ‘everyone who fears God and is mindful of Him is a wali’ – and this is true. Indeed, every Muslim is a wali – but as there are degrees and levels in all things, there are degrees and levels (darajat and maqamat) of awliya’. Many of the salaf, including the likes of Abdullah b. Mas’ud and Ibn ‘Abbas, said: the friends of God are those who, if you see them, remind you of God. In the hadith collection of Abu Dawud, there is a hadith narrated where the Prophet, ‘alayhi salat wa salam alluded to the awliya’ being “people who love one another for the sake of Allah, not because of ties of trade or kindred. Their faces will be light on thrones of light. They will not fear when the people fear and they will not grieve when the people grieve.”
In another narration, which is the famous Hadith Qudsi of wilaya (friend-hood, or sainthood), the Prophet said (mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari):
“Allah says: ‘Whosoever shows enmity to an ally of Mine has declared war on Me. My slave draws not close to Me with anything more loved by Me than the obligatory religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My slave continues to draw close to Me with supererogatory deeds so that I will love him. So when I love him, I will be his hearing with which he hears, his vision with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. So by My help and guidance he will hear, by My help and guidance he will see, by My help and guidance he will strike, and by My help and guidance he will walk. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to seek refuge in Me, I would surely grant him it.’”
There is much more to write in terms of the awliya‘, but this suffices for a brief introduction in terms of their nobility.
Visiting the Awliya’
The question sometimes arises about visiting the awliya’ who have passed away – in other words, ziyara (visit) to their tombs or graves.
From the outset, the question is not a theological (aqida) one – it is a jurisprudential (fiqhi) one. Is the action of visiting tombs a compulsory (wajib/fard) one; a praiseworthy (mandub) one? Or is it disapproved (makruh) or forbidden (haram)?
There are some visits that are absolutely praiseworthy, and universally thought of as such, as per the Prophet’s own directive, narrated in Sahih al-Muslim: “Visit the graves, for they remind you of the Hereafter.” The Prophet visited graves, as did his Companions – indeed, Sayyida A’isha reported (as narrated in Sahih al-Muslim as well) that the Prophet would visit the cemetery of al-Baqi’ and say: “Peace be upon you, dwellings of the believing people. There has come to you that which you were promised, , and if Allah wills we will follow you soon. O Allah, forgive the people of Baqi’ al-Gharqad.” (Narrated by Muslim, 974).
There will then be those who will accept visiting graves, but not mosques that have graves connected to them. To this, the ruling is also quite clear: in general, what we consider to be ‘mosques’ built over graves are actually mosques built with a clear separation between the mosque and the grave. For example, the mosque of the Prophet in Madina might appear to the uninformed observer to be built over a grave; but the reality is that the grave is in a separate and special chamber, whereas the mosque is connected to it, albeit on all sides. The same is true when it comes to the mosques that are built connected to the graves of the Prophets, the Companions, and the Awliya’.
Making du’a at the graves
As noted, the Prophet himself made du’a at the cemetery of Baqi’ al-Gharqad. As such, at the very least, there should be no disagreement that visiting the graves, and making du’a for their inhabitants, especially if they are from the righteous, should be non-objectionable.
Our teachers recommended the following protocols in this regard:
1) A pure intention that such a visit be for the sake of Allah and drawing nearer to Him
2) If possible, to be in a state of full tahara (having taken wudu‘ and ghusl), but this is not necessary
3) To stand at the entrance of the structure around the grave or tomb, and to ask permission of those buried there, before entering, as one might when entering the dwelling of anyone living. (We will return to this issue).
4) One should read Surah al-Fatiha for the inhabitant of the grave, and give salutations to them; one of the recommended formulae, as narrated from the Prophet ‘alayhi salat wa salam in the hadith collection of Imam al-Tirmidhi would be:
السلام عليكم يا أهل القبور، يغفر الله لنا ولكم، أنتم سلفنا ونحن بالأثر
“Peace be upon you, O people of the graves. May God forgive us and you. You are our predecessors and we will follow”
5) Our teachers recommended also reciting Surah al-Ikhlas multiple times; at least 10 times, but preferably 15 times, and even better than that would be 41 times.
6) One is recommended to donate the reward of such recitations to the Prophet, ‘alayhi salat wa salam; the wali being visited; the teachers of the wali (if the wali was a teacher/shaykh); the righteous; and anyone else one might desire.
7) Following this, it is recommended to make du’a to Allah; du’a for the one in the grave (as the Prophet himself did), and du’a for what one wants to supplicate for. It is good to begin such supplications with the basmala; hamd; and salawat upon the Prophet, and to end with the same.
8) At this point, a particular debate has arisen with more vehemence in recent times than before, which is the act of istigatha and tawassul. It should not be lost on people that these issues are, again, jurisprudential ones – and scholars from across the four schools have endorsed the practice of tawassul and istigatha. Tawassul being defined as: “supplicating Allah by means of an intermediary, whether it be a living person, dead person, a good deed, or a name or Attribute of Allah Most High.”
A contemporary treatise on this from a Jordanian Shafi’i faqih, Shaykh Amjad Rasheed, indicates the following:
“Tawassul through the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is permissible. In fact, it is recommended in du’a, as it has been established by the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and is agreed upon by the majority of the early and late scholars. This is conveyed by Shaykh al-Islam Taqi Subki, saying: “Tawassul to one’s Lord through the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is praiseworthy. Not one early or late scholar disapproved it, except for Ibn Taymiyah, who innovated something no scholar before him said”.”
As for the righteous thereafter; the ‘ulama also hold that this is permissible, just as how Sayyidina ‘Umar made tawassul through Sayyidina ‘Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet, as follows:
”Anas ibn Malik narrated that whenever there was a drought, ‘Umar ibn Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) used to pray for rain through ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, saying: ‘O Allah, we used to make tawassul to you by our Prophet and you would send us rain. Here we are making tawassul to you by the uncle of our Prophet, so send us rain’, he said, and they would be given rain.”
Following this article, there is a reproduction of a treatise by the noted scholar, Shaykh Yusuf al-Rifai, that goes into, in depth, about tawassul and its basis in Islamic law, with additional notes.
9) One then leaves the grave, in the same way that one entered upon it; asking permission, and reading al-Fatiha for the one who rests within it.
10) Our teachers did not walk away from the grave backwards; nor did they behave inappropriately to it; nor make tawaf around it. Rather, they behaved with decorum and respect.
One of our teachers reminded us that Imam Shafi’i said about the tomb of Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy upon them both), when he lived in Baghdad:
“I seek blessing from Abu Hanifa and visit his tomb everyday. If I experience any difficulties or needs, I pray two raka’at of prayer and request from Allah (most High) at his tomb. [Soon thereafter] that request would be granted.”
May Allah send blessings upon the master of creation, Sayyidina Muhammad; upon all the messengers and prophets; the awliya’ and the salihin; and grant us all nearness to Him, subhana wa ta’ala.
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Tawassul
I here want to convey the position, attested to by compelling legal evidence, of the orthodox majority of Sunni Muslims on the subject of supplicating Allah through an intermediary (tawassul), and so I say (and Allah alone gives success) that since there is no disagreement among scholars that supplicating Allah through an intermediary is in principle legally valid, the discussion of its details merely concerns derived rulings that involve interschool differences, unrelated to questions of belief or unbelief, monotheism or associating partners with Allah (shirk); the sphere of the question being limited to permissibility or impermissibility, and its ruling being that it is either lawful or unlawful. There is no difference among groups of Muslims in their consensus on the permissibility of three types of supplicating Allah through an intermediary (tawassul):
TAWASSUL through a living righteous person to Allah Most High, as in the hadith of the blind man with the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) as we shall explain;
The TAWASSUL of a living person to Allah Most High through his own good deeds, as in the hadith of the three people trapped in a cave by a great stone, a hadith related by Imam Bukhari in his “Sahih;”
And the TAWASSUL of a person to Allah Most High through His entity (dhat), names, attributes, and so forth.
Since the legality of these types is agreed upon, there is no reason to set forth the evidence for them. The only area of disagreement is supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a righteous dead person. The majority of the orthodox Sunni Community hold that it is lawful, and have supporting hadith evidence , of which we will content ourselves with the Hadith of the Blind Man, since it is the central pivot upon which the discussion turns.
THE HADITH OF THE BLIND MAN
Tirmidhi relates, through his chain of narrators from ‘Uthman ibn Hunayf, that a blind man came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and said, “I’ve been afflicted in my eyesight, so please pray to Allah for me.” The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “Go make ablution (wudu), perform two rak’as of prayer, and then say:
“Oh Allah, I ask You and turn to You through my Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy; O Muhammad (Ya Muhammad), I seek your intercession with my Lord for the return of my eyesight [and in another version: “for my need, that it may be fulfilled. O Allah, grant him intercession for me”].”
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) added, “And if there is some need, do the same.”
Scholars of Sacred Law infer from this hadith the recommended character of the “prayer of need,” in which someone in need of something from Allah Most High performs such a prayer and then turns to Allah with this supplication together with other suitable supplications, traditional or otherwise, according to the need and how the person feels. The express content of the hadith proves the legal validity of “tawassul” through a living person (as the Prophet – peace be upon him – was alive at that time). It implicitly proves the validity of tawassul through a deceased one as well, since tawassul through a living or dead person is not through a physical body or through or through a life or death, but rather through the positive meaning (ma’na tayyib) attached to the person in both life and death. The body is but the vehicle that carries that significance, which requires that the person be respected whether dead or alive; for the words “O Muhammad” are an address to someone physically absent – in which state the living and dead are alike – an address to the meaning, dear to Allah, that is connected with his spirit, a meaning that is the ground of “tawassul,” be it through a living or dead person.
THE HADITH OF THE MAN IN NEED
Moreover, Tabarani, in his “al-Mu’jam al saghir,” reports a hadith from ‘Uthman ibn Hunayf that a man repeatedly visited Uthman ibn Affan (Allah be pleased with him) concerning something he needed, but Uthman paid no attention to him or his need. The man met Ibn Hunayf and complained to him about the matter – this being after the death (wisal) of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and after the caliphates of Abu Bakr and Umar – so Uthman ibn Hunayf, who was one of the Companions who collected hadiths and was learned in the religion of Allah, said: “Go to the place of ablution and perform ablution (wudu), then come to the mosque, perform two rak’as of prayer therein, and say:
‘O Allah, I ask You and turn to You through our Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy; O Muhammad (Ya Muhammad), I turn through you to my Lord, that He may fulfill my need,’ and mention your need. Then come so that I can go with you [to the caliph Uthman].” So the man left and did as he had been told, then went to the door of Uthman ibn Affan (Allah be pleased with him), and the doorman came, took him by the hand, brought him to Uthman ibn Affan, and seated him next to him on a cushion. ‘Uthman asked, “What do you need?” and the man mentioned what he wanted, and Uthman accomplished it for him, then he said, “I hadn’t remembered your need until just now,” adding, “Whenever you need something, just mention it.” Then, the man departed, met Uthman ibn Hunayf, and said to him, “May Allah reward you! He didn’t see to my need or pay any attention to me until you spoke with him.” Uthman ibn Hunayf replied, “By Allah, I didn’t speak to him, but I have seen a blind man come to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) and complain to him of the loss of his eyesight. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Can you not bear it?’ and the man replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I do not have anyone to lead me around, and it is a great hardship for me.’ The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) told him, ‘Go to the place of ablution and perform ablution (wudu), then pray two rak’as of prayer and make the supplications.’” Ibn Hunayf went on, “By Allah, we didn’t part company or speak long before the man returned to us as if nothing had ever been wrong with him.”
This is an explicit, unequivocal text from a prophetic Companion proving the legal validity of tawassul through the dead. The account has been classified as rigously authenticated (SAHIH) by Baihaqi, Mundhiri, and Haythami.
AUTHENTICITY OF THE HADITH OF THE BLIND MAN
Tirmidhi has stated that the hadith of the blind man is “a hadith that is well or rigorously authenticated but singular, being unknown except through his chain of narrators, from the hadith of Abu Ja’far, who is not Abu Ja’far Khatmi,” which means that the narrators of this hadith, despite Abu Ja’far being unknown to Tirmidhi, were acceptable to the degree of being well or rigorously authenticated in either case.
But scholars before Tirmidhi established that Abu Ja’far, this person unknown to Tirmidhi, was Abu Ja’far Khatmi himself. Ibn Abi Khaythama said: “The name of this Abu Ja’far, whom Hammad ibn Salama relates from, is ‘Umayr ibn Yazid, and is the Abu Ja’far that Shu’ba relates from,” and then he related the hadith by the channel of transmission of ‘Uthman from Shu’ba from Abu Ja’far.
Ibn Taymiya, after relating the hadith of Tirmidhi, said: “All scholars say that he is Abu Ja’far Khatmi, and this is correct.”
Reflect on this.
The hadith master, Ibn Hajar, notes in “Taqrib al-tahdhib” that he is Khatmi, and that he is reliable (saduq).
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr likewise says that he is Khatmi, in “al-Istii’ab fi ma’rifa al-ashab.” Moreover, Baihaqi related the hadith by way of Hakim and confirmed that it was rigorously authenticated (SAHIH), Hakim having related it by a chain of transmission meeting the standards of Bukhari and Muslim, which the hadith master Dhahabi confirmed, and Shawkani cited as evidence. Dhahabi and Shawkani, who are they? The meaning of this is that all the men of the hadith’s chain of transmission are known to top Imams of hadith such as Dhahabi (and who is severer than he?), Ibn Hajar (and who is more precise, learned, or painstaking than he?), Hakim, Baihaqi, Tabarani, Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Shawkani, and even Ibn Taymiya.
This hadith was recorded was recorded by Bukhari in his “al-Tarikh al-kabir”, by Ibn Majah in his “Sunan”, where he said it was rigorously authenticated (SAHIH), by Nasa’i in “Amal al-yawm wa al-layla”, by Abu Nu’aym in “Ma’rifa al-Sahaba”, by Baihaqi in “Dala’il al-nubuwwa”, by Mundhiri in “al-Targhib wa al-tahrib”, by Haythami in “Majma’ al zawa’id wa manba’ al-fawa’id”, by Tabarani in “al-Mu’jam al-kabir”, by Ibn Khuzayma in his “Sahih”, and by others. Nearly 15 hadith masters (“huffaz”, hadith authorities with more than 100,000 hadiths and their chains of transmission by memory) have explicitly stated that this hadith is rigorously authenticated (sahih). As mentioned above, it has come with a chain of transmission meeting the standards of Bukhari and Muslim, so there is nothing left for a critic to attack or slanderer to disparage concerning the authenticity of the hadith. Consequently, as for the permissibility of supplicating Allah (tawassul) through either a living or dead person, it follows by human reason, scholarship, and sentiment, that there is flexibility in the matter. Whoever wants to can either take tawassul or leave it, without causing trouble or making accusations, since it has been this thoroughly checked (“Adilla Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama’a , 79-83).
It is well to review some salient features of the proof that was given , such as:
(1) that there are 2 hadiths, Tirmidhi’s hadith of the “blind man” and Tabarani’s hadith of the “man in need” to whom Uthman ibn Hunayf related the story of the blind man, teaching him tawassul that the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) had taught the blind man.
(2) Tirmidhi’s hadith is rigorously authenticated (sahih), being the subject of the above investigation of its chain of narrators, the authenticity of which is established beyond a reasonable doubt and attested to by nearly 15 of the foremost hadith specialists of Islam. The hadith explicitly proves the validity of supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a living intermediary, as the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was alive at the time. The author of the article holds that the hadith implicitly shows the validity of supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a deceased intermediary as well, since:
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) told the blind man to go perform ablution (wudu) pray two rak’as, and then make the supplication containing the words, “O Muhammad, I seek your intercession with my Lord for the return of my eyesight,” which is a call upon somebody physically absent, a state of which the living and the dead are alike.
Supplicating Allah (tawassul) through a living or deceased intermediary is, in the author’s words, “not tawassul through a physical body, or through a life or death, but rather through the positive meaning attached to the person in both life and death, for the body is but the vehicle that carries that significance.
And perhaps the most telling reason, though the author does not mention it, is that everything the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordered to be done during his lifetime was “legislation” valid for all generations until the end of time unless proven otherwise by a subsequent indication from the Prophet himself (Allah bless him and grant him peace), the tawassul he taught during his lifetime not requiring anything else to be generalized to any time thereafter.
(3) The authenticity of Tabarani’s hadith of the man in need during the caliphate of Uthman (Allah be well pleased with him) is not discussed by the article in detail, but deserves consideration, since the hadith explicitly proves the legal validity of supplicating Allah (tawassul) through the deceased, for ‘Uthman ibn Hunayf and indeed all the prophetic Companions, by scholarly consensus (ijma’), were legally upright (‘udul), and are above being impugned with teaching someone an act of disobedience, much less idolatory (shirk). The hadith is rigorously authenticated (sahih), as Tabarani explicitly states in his “al-Mu’jam al-saghir.” The translator (Nuh Ha Mim Keller), wishing to verify the matter further, to the hadith with its chain of narrators to hadith specialist Sheikh Shu’ayb Arna’ut, who after examining it, agreed that it was rigorously authenticated (sahih) as Tabarani indicated, a judgement which was also confirmed to the translator by the Moroccan hadith specialist Sheikh ‘Abdullah Muhammad Ghimari, who characterized the hadith as “very rigorously authenticated,” and noted that hadith masters Haythami and Mundhiri had explicitly concurred with Tabarani on its being rigorously authenticated (sahih). The upshot is that the recommendedness of tawassul to Allah Most High – through the living or the dead – is the position of the Shafi’i school, which is why both our author Ibn Naqib Al-Misri, and Imam Nawawi in his “Al-Adhkar (281-282)”, and “al-Majmu” explicitly record that “tawassul” through the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and asking his intercession are recommended. A final article below by a Hanafi scholar concludes the discussion.
CALLING UPON THE RIGHTEOUS
The Hanafi scholar, Muhammad Hamid says: As for calling upon (nida’) the righteous (when they are physically absent, as in the words “O Muhammad” in the above hadiths), tawassul to Allah Most High through them is permissible, the supplication (du’a) being to Allah Most Glorious, and there is much evidence for its permissibility.
Those who call on them intending “tawassul” cannot be blamed. As for someone who believes that those called upon can cause effects, benefit, or harm, which they create or cause to exist as Allah does, such a person is an idolator who has left Islam – Allah be our refuge! This then, and a certain person has written an article that tawassul to Allah Most High through the righteous is unlawful, while the overwhelming majority of scholars hold it is permissible, and the evidence the writer uses to corroborate his viewpoint is devoid of anything that demonstrates what he is trying to prove. In declaring tawassul permissible, we are not hovering on brink of idolatry (shirk) or coming anywhere near it, for the conviction that Allah Most High alone has influence over anything, outwardly or inwardly, is a conviction that flows through us like our very lifeblood. If tawassul was idolatry (shirk), or if there were any suspicion of idolatry in it, the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) would not have taught it to the blind man when the latter asked him to supplicate Allah for him, though in fact he did teach him to make “tawassul” to Allah through him. And the notion that tawassul is permissible only during the lifetime of the person through whom it is done but not after his death is unsupported by any viable foundation from Sacred Law [“Rudud ‘ala abatil wa rasa’il al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Hamid]
