49 - Ruling on Tawassul (supplicating Allah by virtue of the status of someone or something) by the honor of someone
Q: What is the ruling on a person who says, "O Allah! I invoke You by virtue of the merit of so and so, or by the honor of so and so?" does this amount to the state of Kufr (disbelief)?
A: Invoking Allah by the merit or the honor of someone is not considered plain Kufr, but it is one of the pitfalls of Kufr. When someone says, "O Allah! I invoke You by virtue of the merit of so and so, by virtue of the status of the Prophets, by virtue of the status of Muhammad ﷺ ) says: "Our Lord! Verily, we have heard the call of one (Muhammad ﷺ ) calling to Faith: 'Believe in your Lord/ and we have believed. Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and expiate from us our evil deeds, and make us die (in the state of righteousness) along with Al-Abrar (the pious believers of Islamic Monotheism).) So, it is permissible to invoke Allah (Exalted be He) by virtue of one's sincere faith in Him. For example, one can say: "O Allah! I invoke You by my faith in You, my adoration of You and my love for Your Prophet Muhammad ﷺ ). Concerning this, a good lesson can be learned by reminiscing a classical story narrated about the people of the cave. They had to spend a night in a cave because of heavy rain. When they entered the cave, a large rock rolled down the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. The rock was very huge and they could not move it. Narrating the story, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "They conversed among themselves saying, "Nothing could save you from this calamity save invoking Allah and interceding by virtue of the good deeds which you have done (sincerely for Allah's Sake)." So they did, and the first man invoked Allah by virtue of his dutifulness to his parents. The second invoked Allah by virtue of preventing himself from having illegal physical relationship with a woman who was under his disposal. The third man invoked Allah by rendering a trust back to its rightful owner. Consequently, Allah (Exalted be He) moved the rock away from the mouth of the cave. Thus, Tawassul can be made by virtue of Allah's Most Beautiful Names, by having faith in Allah, by love for Allah and His Messenger, and by virtue of the good deeds. Such are the lawful ways of making Tawassul. But, making Tawassul by virtue of the status of so and so, or by the high rank of so and so, is a pure heresy in Islam, and hence it is impermissible.
[Vol. 2, Page No. 144-145]