So the man left and did as he had been told, then went to the door of Uthman ibn Affan (Allah be pleased with him), and the doorman came, took him by the hand, brought him to Uthman ibn Affan, and seated him next to him on a cushion. ‘Uthman asked, “What do you need?” and the man mentioned what he wanted, and Uthman accomplished it for him, then he said, “I hadn’t remembered your need until just now,” adding, “Whenever you need something, just mention it.” Then, the man departed, met Uthman ibn Hunayf, and said to him, “May Allah reward you! He didn’t see to my need or pay any attention to me until you spoke with him.” Uthman ibn Hunayf replied,
“By Allah, I didn’t speak to him, but I have seen a blind man come to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) and complain to him of the loss of his eyesight. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Can you not bear it?’ and the man replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I do not have anyone to lead me around, and it is a great hardship for me.’ The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) told him, ‘Go to the place of ablution and perform ablution (wudu), then pray two rak’as of prayer and make the supplications.’”
Ibn Hunayf went on,
“By Allah, we didn’t part company or speak long before the man returned to us as if nothing had ever been wrong with him.”
This is an explicit, unequivocal text from an eminent Salaf proving the legal validity of tawassul through the dead. The account has been classified as rigously authenticated (SAHIH) by the famous Huffaz Baihaqi, Mundhiri, and Haythami. It is sufficient to accept the hadeeth of the blind man and the hadeeth of the man in need to justify that tawassul by the dead or alive is permissible. This is agreed upon by the majority of the Sunni ulema. It must be noted that Muhammad Nasirudin Al-Albani, a wahhabi and so-called muhaddith, wrote a book titled “Tawassul” trying to disprove this practice after the intermediary is in his grave. His interpretations are of no significance since he opposes the interpretations of the majority of huffaz of Ahl al Sunna wa’al Jama’ah. The hadeeth of Ibn Mas’ud, related by Imam Ahmad in his “Musnad,” states:
“Whatever the majority of Muslims see as right, then that is good to Allah, and whatever the majority of Muslims see as wrong, it is wrong to Allah.”
By this dalil, Al-Albani becomes among the stray and lost sheep because his opinions oppose that of the scholarly Sunni majority. Al-Albani’s and Bilal Philips’ opinions only represent the wahhabee minority. It is also a fact that Al-Albani is “self-taught” and that he never had a Shaykh to teach him the knowledge of hadeeth. He does not possess a continuous chain of knowledge that goes back to the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) as the other true Sunni huffaz, like Imams Nawawi, Baihaqi, Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi, Nisa’i, and Ibn Hajar do. Hence, Al-Albani’s interpretations and understanding that “tawassul done by an intermediary who is in his grave is Islamically unlawful” is false and meaningless. In “The Fundamentals of Tawheed,” Bilal Philips says:
“If someone prays to the Prophet to so-called saints, Jinns or angels asking for help or asking them to request help from Allaah for them, they have also committed Shirk.”
This statement has both truth and falsehood in it. The truth is that whoever prays to other than Allah is undoubtedly a polytheist. Therefore, praying to the Prophet, saints, jinns, and angels is indeed shirk because such people are mushrikeen who attribute partners to Allahu Ta’ala in worship. Only Allah is to be worshipped. Only Allah Azza Wajal creates the fulfillment of a supplication, as those who do tawassul by the alive or dead are very well aware of.
However, the last part of Bilal Philips’ statement, “Or asking them to request help from Allaah for them, they have also commited shirk” is an accusation against the Sahaba and Tabi'un that they committed shirk! May Allah protect us from falling into the abyss of ignorance as Bilal Philips has. It is well known that a companion of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam), Bilal ibn al-Harith, went to the grave of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) when there was a drought, and said:
“O Messenger of Allah, ask Allah to give rain to your Ummah; they are close to perish...”
It is correct to call what he did tawassul and istighathah (seeking or asking for help), because he went to the grave of the Messenger (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) asking him to save them from the calamity that hit them by him asking Allahu Ta’ala to give them rain. The Huffaz Al-Baihaqi, and Ibn Kathir (in his “Tarikh,” and “al- Bidaaya”) said that this hadeeth is SAHIH. This occurring from Ibn Kathir is evidence that he did not follow Ibn Taymiya in the issue of tawassul, because he did not find the evidence for his fallacious claims that tawassul is haram after one’s death. In the issue of tawassul, Ibn Kathir adhered to the majority of Sunni ulema. However, he agreed with Ibn Taymiya on the issue of divorce, which opposed ‘ijma, and was punished for it. Al-Albani said that the hadeeth is unreliable, but his words are meaningless because the real and qualified huffaz of Ahl al-Sunna have classified it has SAHIH.
Furthermore, Hafiz Ibn Abi Shayba ranks the hadeeth as SAHIH in his “Musannaf,” and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in his “Fath al-Bari” said its chain of transmission is sound (isnaaduhu Sahih). One can clearly see that Bilal Philips has actually accused Bilal ibn al-Harith (may Allah bless him), a companion of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam), of being a mushrik. We seek refuge with Allah from such innovators and shun them as much as possible. These are the people who stab the heart of the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam). They stab the heart of the Ummah repeatedly because they don’t refrain from such false accusations even after they are given the dalail (proof) by the pious followers of Ahl al-Sunna wa’al Jama’ah. Ahl al-Sunna scholars have been doing tawassul after the death of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam). For example, Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani performed tawassul by the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) in his poems known as “an- Nayyirat-us-Sab,” as did his shaykh Zayn-ud-Din al-‘Iraqi at the end of his poem in “Tafsiru Mufradat-il-Qur’an.” According to Bilal Philips’ statements, these scholars would be “unIslamic.” There has never been a scholar who has called Hafiz Ibn Hajar or Hafiz al-‘Iraqi “unIslamic.” Bilal Philips should correct his false accusations .
