Important Note
From what was said, it is known that the calamity of those who accuse the performers of tawassul and istighathah by the anbiya’ and awliya’ after their death and in their absence while alive is their ill-understanding of the ayat and Ahadith which they use to support their view. They thought that the meaning of ^ibadah is the nida’ (calling someone), isti^anah (seeking help), khawf (fear), raja’ (hope), and istighathah (seeking help). This, in their thinking, is the ^ibadah that whoever directs it to other than Allah would become mushrik (person who commits shirk). They also thought that whoever asks other than Allah for things which are not habitually asked becomes mushrik.
How was it justifiable to them to do that when it was confirmed that al-Harth Ibn Hassan al-Bakriyy, radiyallahu ^anh, said: I ask refuge with Allah and His Messenger from being like the envoy of ^Ad. This is the Mashhur Hadith [Al-Mashhur is a Hadith related by more than two persons. It can be sahih or otherwise.] that Imam Ahmad related in his “Musnad”, and Hafiz Ibn Hajar said that it is a hasan Hadith. The evidence in it is that the Messenger did not say to al-Harth: You committed shirk for having said: and His Messenger, since you asked refuge with me!
It was also confirmed that Ibn ^Abbas related that the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: Allah has angels, other than the Hafazah (angels who record man’s deeds) who roam (on Earth) writing what fall of tree leaves. If any of you fell in a calamity in a desert let him call: O slaves of Allah help. Hafiz Ibn Hajar related it in “al-‘Amali” and said that it is a hasan Hadith.
When their understanding was ill, they made those things ^ibadah to other than Allah for their mere wordings. They charged Muslims with kufr for a matter upon the permissibility of which, the Salaf and Khalaf agreed. This is an evidence that they did not understand the meaning of the ^ibadah mentioned in the Qur’an, according to the Arabic language rules. The linguists stated the meaning very clearly and without any ambiguity. Their definition of ^ibadah as the ultimate humbleness was mentioned before. How did the negators of tawassul rule that asking for what it is not the habit to ask is shirk and made it a rule, when the Companion Rabi^ah Ibn Ka^b al-‘Aslamiyy asked the Messenger of Allah to be his companion in the Jannah. The Messenger did not object to him and out of humbleness said to him: Do you want any thing else? The Companion said: This is it. He said to him: perform a lot of sujud (Muslim).
What would be shirk is when one asks a creation to do what Allah is the only One Who does, such as asking some one to create a thing, i.e., bring it from non-existence into existence, and to ask him for forgiveness of sins. Fatir, 3 means: Is there any Creator other than Allah (i.e., no one is the Creator except Allah). Ayah 135 of Al ^Imran means: Who forgives the sins except Allah (i.e., no one forgives the sins except Allah). In Maryam, 19 it is mentioned that Jibril said to Maryam: (I was sent by Allah) to give you a pure boy. Actually, the giver of the boy, who is ^Isa, to Maryam is Allah, but Allah made Jibril a means and Jibril attributed the giving to himself. Jibril’s case shows the excessive deviation of those who accuse of kufr the performers of tawassul and istighathah, just because they said: O Messenger of Allah I have no way out, O Messenger of Allah help me, and the like of these statements, which they say and do not mean by them that the Messenger of Allah creates, or deserves the ^ibadah, which is the ultimate humbleness. They mean that he is a wasitah, i.e., a means to obtain the intended matter and blessing from Allah. They do not understand from the wasitah except the meaning of having a means even if they call it wasitah. Allah made it the norm to relate the effects with the means. Allah had the power to give Maryam that pure boy without having Jibril as a means for that.
How did they justify charging Muslims with kufr for the mere saying of: The nabiyy or the waliyy is a wasitah, meaning a means. The shirk is to confirm the wasitah, i.e., say that there is something which helps Allah or that Allah cannot do that thing independently except through the nabiyy or the waliyy. This is the shirk, if they [the Taymiyyun] would just understand.
