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For example, the following are all considered weak hadith: "Ask Allah for your needs, even your salt." "Ask Allah for everything, even a shoe-string." "Ask Allah from His bounty for, verily, Allah loves to be asked." See al-Albaani, Dhaeef al-Jaami al­ Sagheer, p. 481. 2 lbn Rajab, Noor, p. 68. 3 Ibn Rajab, Noor, p. 69. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi others. Ibn Rajah quotes ibn al-Sumaak as saying, "Do not ask one who flees from your [requests] but, instead, ask the One who has ordered you to ask of Him."1 How can anyone tum to human beings and neglect turning to and beseeching Allah for help and meeting his needs? How can anyone choose to ask anyone other than Allah if he keeps in mind what is recorded in authentic hadith: that Allah descends during the last part of every night, asking, "Is there anyone asking of Me so I can give to him? Is there anyone supplicating to Me so that I may respond to him?"2 Allah is close to every servant. If the human turns sincerely to Allah and asks of Him, Allah will respond. Allah has said in the Quran, .!..e ,,,,. /_ J. J "-' ,,. ,,,. ,,,. ,,,. ,,,. "IJJ ,., ,,,. ,,.. ,., ,,,. "' ,,,. ""' ,,. Ð ,,. / :1 t "'.... ,.. 912 \., ࡶ..U I oy-2 ࢞\ 34 Ų;-' d' L>®ƒ .!N L... l.,J "And when My slaves ask you [O Muhammad] concerning Me, then [answer them]: I am indeed near. I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me" (al-Baqara 1 86). There is no need for any intercessor and there are no doormen or barriers keeping one from asking Allah. However, when turning to humans, many barriers may be put in front of the person so that the one being asked does not have to face the one asking of him. The Follower Taawoos said to Ata, "Do not seek the response to your needs from one who closes the door in front of you and puts a barrier between you and him. Instead, you must tum to the One whose door is open until the day of Judgment and who has ordered you to ask of Him and who has promised to respond to you." Maimoon ibn Mahran saw some people outside the door of one of the princes. He said, "The one who has a need from the ruler has a barrier in front of him. But the houses of the Most Merciful are open. So one of you should go to the mosque and pray two rakats and ask of Him his needs. "3 Instead of asking any human, one should ask only of Allah. By asking of Allah, the person demonstrates his belief that Allah is able to fulfill his needs. He demonstrates his belief that Allah has control and power over all things. When a person only asks of Allah, it demonstrates his belief that if Allah wills something, it will come to be but if Allah does not will something, it will never occur. Al-Bugha and Mistu point out that a person becomes closer to Allah by demonstrating his need and reliance upon Allah. A person's true worship of Allah shines forth through the following actions: (1) Showing his need for Allah by asking and beseeching Allah for all of his worldly and religious needs; (2) Asking Allah to guide him to the straight path; and (3) Complete 1 lbn Rajab, Noor, p. 7 1 . 2 Such hadith are recorded by al-Bukhari, Muslim and many others. 3 Both quotes are from ibn Rajab, Noor, p. 72. Hadith #1 9: "Young man, I shall teach you some words ... " implementation of what Allah has asked of Him, by performing what 1s obligatory and avoiding what is forbidden.1 Asking from Others is of Two Types As has been demonstrated above, it is best for a human not to ask any other human for anything. Instead, he should turn to Allah and ask only from Allah-- as some Companions pledged to the Prophet (peace be upon him). However, people are often in situations were they need to seek assistance from others. Therefore, it is important to recognize that there are two types of asking from other humans. One type is completely forbidden. As for the second type, it is still best for one not to ask of any other human. The type that is completely forbidden is to ask of another human what is typically not within the ability of a human being. In fact, this can be a type of shirk or associating a partner with Allah in something that uniquely pertains to Allah. This would include asking them for guidance, in the sense of putting faith in one's heart, or asking from them things related to the unseen and unknowable, such as the occurrence of future events. This category would also include praying to people who are dead and in their graves.