Ruling on asking of Allaah by virtue of the status of the righteous before Him

 

Will Allaah honour the living slave by virtue of the righteous dead if we ask of Allaah “by virtue of the righteousness of Shaykh So and so and his position before You and his worship of You, to relieve me of my distress, O Allaah” – when we know that all benefits come from Allaah?.

Praise be to Allaah.
 

 

Undoubtedly du’aa’ is one of the greatest acts of worship
prescribed in sharee’ah. It brings a person closer to his Lord, may He be
glorified. And undoubtedly it is not permissible for anyone to worship
Allaah except in the ways that He has prescribed on the lips of His
Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Al-Bukhaari
(2499) and Muslim (3242) narrated that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with
her) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours that is
not part of it, will have it rejected.” According to the version narrated by
Muslim: “Whoever does something that is not part of this matter of ours will
have it rejected.” 

Hence it may be known that turning to Allaah and beseeching
Him in ways that were not narrated from His Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) in word or in deed, and in ways that were
not done by the noble Sahaabah who were the keenest of people to do good and
adhere to it, is a reprehensible innovation, which a person who loves his
Lord and follows His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) should not do and should not worship Allaah in that manner. 

If we look at what you have mentioned in your question about
beseeching Allaah by virtue of the status of the righteous, their worship
and their position before Allaah, we will notice that this is something that
has been innovated and was not narrated from the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). Nor was it narrated from his noble
companions that they ever sought to draw close to Allaah by virtue of the
Prophet’s position and status before his Lord, whether during his lifetime
or after his death. Rather during his lifetime they used to beseech Allaah
by virtue of his du’aa’ for them, and when he (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) died, they sought to draw closer to Allaah by virtue of
the du’aa’s of the living righteous, and they stopped seeking to draw closer
to Him by virtue of the Prophet’s status. This clearly indicates that if
beseeching Allaah or seeking to draw closer to Him by virtue of the
Prophet’s status were something good and prescribed in Islam, they would
have done it before us. Who dares claim that he is keener than ‘Umar ibn
al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with him) to do good when he turned away
from seeking to draw closer to Allaah by virtue of the status of His Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and sought to draw closer
to Him by virtue of the du’aa’ of the paternal uncle of the Prophet, and the
Sahaabah witnessed that and did not denounce him or object to that? It is
narrated in Saheeh al-Bukhaari (954) from Anas ibn Maalik that if a
drought came, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with him) would
ask al-‘Abbaas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib to pray for rain. He would say: “O
Allaah, we used to beseech You by means of (the du’aa’ of) Your Prophet for
rain and You would give us rain; now we beseech You by means of (the du’aa’
of) the paternal uncle of Your Prophet, so grant us rain.” Then it would
rain.  

What is meant by their beseeching Allaah by mean of the
du’aa’ of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or of
al-‘Abbaas is beseeching Him through their du’aa’, based on what is said in
some versions of this hadeeth, that Anas said: “If drought came at the time
of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), they would
ask him to pray for rain, and he would pray for rain for them, then it would
rain. During the caliphate of ‘Umar…” and he narrated the same hadeeth. This
was narrated by al-Ismaa’eeli in his al-Mustakhraj ‘ala’l-Saheeh.
‘Abd al-Razzaaq narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that “‘Umar prayed for rain in the
prayer-place, and he said to al-‘Abbaas: ‘Get up and pray for rain.’ So
al-‘Abbaas got up …” and he quoted the hadeeth. This was quoted by al-Haafiz
in al-Fath and he did not comment on it. 

Thus it is clear that the
beseeching meant by ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) is du’aa’ by a
righteous man. This is the correct kind of beseeching as prescribed in
sharee’ah, and is indicated by a great deal of evidence. It was known at the
time of the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them). If they were
threatened with drought and there was no rain, they would ask the Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to pray for them, and he
would pray, then it would rain. There are many well-known ahaadeeth about
this. 

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (1/153): 

It is not
permissible to supplicate Allaah (du’aa’) by virtue of the Messenger of
Allaah or by virtue of any of the Sahaabah or anyone else, or by the life of
anyone, because acts of worship are tawqeefi (i.e., we must adhere to what
is prescribed in the Qur’aan and Sunnah and not worship Allaah in any way
except that which has been prescribed). Beseeching Allaah in the manner
described (in the question) has not been prescribed by Allaah, rather He has
commanded His slaves to beseech Him by His names and attributes, by
believing in His Oneness, by having faith in Him, and by virtue of one’s
righteous deeds – not by virtue of the status of So and so or by his life.
So we must limit ourselves to that which Allaah has prescribed. Hence it is
known that beseeching Allaah by virtue of the status or life of So and so is
an innovation that has been introduced into Islam. 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: No one has the right to pride
himself before Allaah on the righteousness of his forebears, for their
righteousness is not part of his deeds for which he may deserve reward, as
in the case of the three people in the cave. They did not beseech Allaah by
the righteousness of their forebears, rather they beseeched Allaah by virtue
of their own righteous deeds.

 We ask Allaah to make us steadfast in adhering to His
religion and His sharee’ah until we meet Him… 

And Allaah knows best. 

See: al-Tawassul Anwaa’uhu wa Ahkaamuhu by Shaykh
al-Albaani, p. 55ff

Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 1/153

Al-Tawassul ila Haqeeqah al-Tawassul
by Shaykh Muhammad Naseeb al-Rifaa’i, p. 180.