Part 30

him: ‘All the camels, cows, sheep, and slaves that you see are your wages’. So he said: ‘O servant of Allah, do not mock me’. So I said: ‘1am not mocking you’. So he took all of that and led them away and did not leave any of it. O Allah if] did that seeking Your Face, then release us from our situation’. So the rock moved and they walked out of the cave

This hadith is clear proof that one of the means of tawassul is mentioning one’s good deeds while making dua. And this fact is, in and of itself, a great incentive for one to do deeds purely for the sake of Allah, so that one may use them as a means of tawassul when one is in dire need of a du’ a being answered.

5. Tawassul Through Mentioning the Effect of the dua

Tawassul can also be made by attaching the response of the du‘ a to a good deed or benefit. So, for example, a person can say: “O Allah! I ask you to increase me in knowledge, so that I may teach

my family and relatives your religion.” Or, he might pray: “O Allah! Increase my wealth so that I can spend it in your way!”

This principle is shown by the hadith in which the Prophet (#8),

When a person comes to visit the sick, then let him say: O

Allah! Cure your servant so-and-so, for he will then inflict a 364

wound on an enemy, or walk for your sake to the prayer.

It is also shown in the du’ a of Ibrahim when he left Hajar and — Isma'il in the barren valley of Bakkah, later to be called Makkah:

a icabakietbodate De es LIT EE 4 CH KE aids, SANS Bh ites?

363 Reported by al-Bukhari (3/260/), Muslim (# 6607), al-Nasa’i and others, with various wordings and additions.

364 Reported by Aba Dawid (# 3107). See Sahih al-Jami', # 466.

O My Lord! I have left my family to live in a valley that has no fruits, close to your Sacred House, so that they may establish the prayer. Our Lord! Therefore cause a group of people to love them, and provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks.”

So Ibrahim asked that Allah bless them with fruits, and cause a community of people to live with them, so that they could establish prayer and give thanks to Allah.

This is also demonstrated in Miisa’s dua : CN SIS OS LATO sg haS sh

O My Lord! Give me a helper from my family. My brother Haran. Increase my strength through him. And let him share my task. That we may glorify you a lot. And remember you much. Verily, you are ever a Well-Seer over us.

Musa asked Allah to bless him with Haran as a helper so that both of them could thank Him and praise Him.

6. Tawassul by Asking a Living Person to Make Du‘ a

It is allowed to make tawassul by asking a living person to make dua on your behalf, if you feel that such a person is a true and righteous person. So, it is permissible to go to a scholar, and say, for example: “O so-and-so! I ask that you make a du‘ @ to Allah that he cure my son from such-and-such an illness”.

Safwan ibn ‘Abdillah narrated: “I went to Syria, and visited Aba al-Darda in his home, but he was not present when [ arrived. Umm al-Darda asked me, ‘Are you going to perform Hajj this year?’ I replied that I was, so she said: ‘In that case, do not forget to pray to

36 seerah Ibrahim, 37.

Allah for us for good, for the Prophet (3%) used to say:

“The dua@ of a Muslim for his brother in his absence is responded to. In his presence there is an angel that has been assigned to him; every time he makes a du‘@ for his brother with good, the ange! assigned to him says, ‘Amin. And to you

In this narration, Umm al-Darda asked Safwan to remember her and her husband while making dua.

Jabir ibn ‘Abdillah reported that a woman came to the Prophet (#8) and said: “Pray for me and my husband”. So the Prophet (#8)

Once, during the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, there was a severe drought that afflicted Madinah. The Muslims, under the leadership of ‘Umar, went outside the city to perform salah al-istisqa, the prayer for rain. After finishing the prayer, ‘Umar said: “O Allah! We used to perform tawassul through the Prophet (#%), (while he was alive), and now we will perform tawassu/ through the Prophet’s (#8) uncle, ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib”. So saying, he commanded ‘Abbas to make a dw’ @ to Allah for rain, and indeed, Allah responded to his du’ a, and it rained in Madinah.”

Although it is permissible to ask others to make dua for one’s self, it is better not to do so for personal du’ as (this is in contrast to du as that are related to the benefit of the entire wmmah, such as the - preceding example, in which ‘Umar asked Abbas to make a dua for the Muslims of Madinah).

36? Reported by Muslim, Ibn Majah, and Ahmad, from Abi al-Darda, as mentioned in Sahih al-Jami' # 3380.

38Reported by Abi: Dawad (1530). The Arabic wording is ‘Salla Allahu “alayki...’, which shows the permissibility of using this phrase for other than the Prophet (38). This because, when used for the Prophet (3%), this is a du‘a to Allah to honour and bless him, but when used for someone else, it is a general prayer to have mercy on him.

36 Reported by al-Bukhari (4/209) and others.

This for the following reasons:

The general rule is that the person should pray for himself. Just like he does his other acts of worship, and takes care of his own affairs of this world, so too should he make his own dua.

Asking others is a type of request that is done to other than Allah, and shows a need or poverty that a person feels towards mankind. In this there might be a type of humiliation for a person, and a degradation of his status as he beseeches others.

There is no one that will feel more sincerity than the one making du ‘a for himself and his loved ones. It cannot be expected that a friend or distant acquaintance will feel the same sincerity and emotions that the person himself is feeling. And yet it is these very emotions that are the cause of any du’ a being accepted. So how is it that a person will go to a total stranger, and ask him to pray to Allah about a problem that he himself is facing?

This act leads many people to leave dua themselves, as they then rely on others to make du’ @ for them. This fact was mentioned earlier.

It might lead to arrogance on the part of the person being asked. For it is possible that he will feel that he is holy and pious, and hence why people come to him to ask him to make dua for them.

It has not been reported that any of the major Companions ever asked the Prophet (#8) to make du’ a for them regarding a personal, worldly benefit that they desired. They would ask him to make dua regarding a matter that was of benefit to all of the Muslims (such as ‘Umar’s request to the Prophet (2%), to make dua to bless the Muslims with food when the army ran short of it during the Battle of Tabak), or ofa religious ben-

efit (such as Aba Hurayrah asking the Prophet (3) to make dua to guide his mother to Islam), but there is no reported incident in which they came to the Prophet (3%) to ask for a personal, worldly benefit.”

Ithas been reported that once a person came to Malik ibn Deenar, one of the famous scholars of his time. He asked Malik: “Make dua for me, as I am in severe circumstances”. Malik responded, “In that case, make dua for yourself, as He is the One Who responds to the distressed who is in severe circumstances”. In another incident, Tawis, one of the scholars of the a7 ‘in, visited a sick person, who asked him: “O Tawis, please make a du'‘a for me”. Tawis replied: “Pray for yourself, for He is the One that responds to the one in distress”.

These narrations show thatit is a mistake to ask someone to make du'@ on your behalf, and then rely on that person’s du‘ a, without making du’ @ yourself.

So these are the six ways that are found in the Quran and Sunnah by which tawassul can be done.

3721 should be mentioned that some scholars only mention three ways of . performing tawassul (Shaykh al-Albani), others mention four (Shaykh Bakr), and yet others mention seven (Shaykh Ibn al-‘Uthaymin). In reality, there is no contradiciton in these various categorisations, and if one ponders over them, one will see that many of these categories are merely sub-categories of other types. For example, tawassul by mentioning Allah’s favours can be considered a type of tawassul through Allah’s Names and Attributes (since the favour is an effect of Allah’s Names), and tawassul by mentioning the good effect of one’s dua can be considered zawassu/ through a good deed (since it is the intention to do a good deed in the future, which, in and of itself, is a good deed). However, these six categories that are mentioned here seem, and Allah knows best, to be the simplest way of expressing the various types of zawassul.

7. Other Types of Tawassul

The types of tawassul given above are the only types sanctioned by the Quran and Sunnah. All other types of tawassul are not sanctioned by Islam. This because all acts of worship, including zawassul, must be based on authentic texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah, and not upon opinion or desire.

So if a person does tawassul by a means other than what has been mentioned, then without a doubt he will either fall into shirk (associating partners with Allah) or did’ ah (innovation). For example, if a person makes zawassul to another object or false deity, this is one

. of the greatest types of shirk! To make tawassul through idols and other false deities is exactly what the pagan Arabs did before the Prophet’s (#%) advent.