One of the point of differences between the Wahhabi sect and the other sects of Islam is this that the former manifest two kinds of pleading as haram (forbidden) and occasionally as shirk (polytheism) in 'ibadat.

These two kinds of pleading are:

(1) Pleading Allah by the right and position of awliya

(2) Pleading to someone other than Allah.

Now, we shall discuss both of these topics in this chapter.

Pleading Allah by the Position of Awliya

The Holy Qur’an praises different groups under such titles as:

“The patient, and the truthful, and the obedient, and those who spend (benevolently) and those who ask forgiveness in the morning times.”  (Aal-Imran: 17)

Now, if someone in the middle of the night, after the mid-night prayers, turns towards his Lord and pleads God by the right and position of this group and says:

“O Allah, I ask Thee by the right of those asking forgiveness at twilight to forgive my sins.”

How can one call this action as shirk in 'ibada since shirk in 'ibada is this when we worship someone other than Allah and consider him as God or the source of divine affairs. But, in this benediction, we have not paid attention to other than Allah and we have asked only from Allah and nobody else.

Therefore, if such an action is forbidden, it should have some other reason then shirk. At this stage, we shall remind the Wahhabi writers of one point and it is the fact that the Holy Qur’an has mentioned a criterion for differentiating a polytheist (of course shirk in 'ibada) from a monotheist and with this explanation, has closed any kind of interpretation of the word of polytheist according to one's personal opinion. This criterion is as follows:

“And when Allah alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter shrink, and when those besides Him are mentioned, lo! they are joyful.” (Zumar: 45)

In another verse it describes the offenders who are the same polytheist as such:

“Surely they used to behave proudly when it was said to them: there is no god but Allah; And to say: What! shall we indeed give up our gods for the sake of a mad poet?” (Safaat: 35- 36)

According to the contents of these two verses, a polytheist is one whose heart gets disgusted by remembering the Unique God and becomes happy in remembering the others (false gods) and or takes pride if asked to confess in the Oneness of God.

As per this criterion, can we label the one who in the middle of the night, calls nobody but Allah and takes pleasure from His remembrance to such extent that he forbids upon himself the sweet and pleasant sleep and instead, beseeches Him and pleads to Him by the position of the monotheist servants who are His beloved ones as a polytheist? Has he, in such a situation, turned away from the remembrance of Allah or has he acted with haughtiness from confessing His Oneness!?

Why have the Wahhabi writers with unknown and imaginary norms, named all the monotheists as polytheists and reckoned themselves to be the beloved ones of Allah?

By paying attention to this criterion, one cannot call ninety-nine percent of the people of qibla as polytheists and reckon only the group of Najdi's to be monotheists.

The interpretation of shirk in 'ibada has not been left to our discretion and we have no authority to interpret it in the way we like and label any group that we assume as polytheists.

Amir al-Mu'minin and His Pleading to God by the Position of the Holy Ones

In the prayers of Amir al-mu'minin we can find such pleadings very clearly.

After finishing the night ‘Nafila’ (Supererogatory) prayers, Imam would recite this dua:

"O Allah, I ask Thee by the honour of the one who seeks refuge in Thy repentence (he thinks of no shelter other than thee) and who seeks protection in Thy Honour and who is under the shadow of Thy protection and who has seized Thy rope and has not attached himself to anyone except Thee". [1]

In another invocation too, which Imam 'Ali ('a) taught one of his followers, he says as such:

“O Allah, by the right of the questioners and those who turn their attention and seek refuge in Thee; and those who are humble before Thee; and by the right of every worshipper who worships Thee in land and in sea, in desert and in the mountains, we call Thee; like the calling of the one whose helplessness has reached the extremes.” [2]

Is it not that such soul provoking prayers and expression of such feelings before Allah brings no result other than strengthening monotheism! (except for Allah there is no other refuge) and what else can we derive from expression of affection for the friends of Allah which itself is one way of paying attention to Allah!?

Therefore, we should overlook the charge of blasphemy and polytheism which can be found more than any other thing in the ‘kit’ of the Wahhabis and the matter should be looked from another angle.

On this basis, some of the moderates amongst them have mooted the matter of ‘pleading Allah by the awliya’ within the limits of prohibition and aversion. Contrary to the extreme al-San'ani who ruled the matter of pleading within the circle of blasphemy and polytheism, they do not talk about it as blasphemy and polytheism.

Now that the main theme of discussion has been made clear and it is known that the matter should be discussed within the framework of haram (forbidden) and makruh (abominable) it is necessary to prove the authenticity of such tawassul. (recourse)

Occurrence of such pleadings in Islam

In Islamic traditions too, one can find such type of pleadings and with the presence of such firm traditions that have come down partly from the Holy Prophet (s) and partly from his Ahl al-Bayt, one cannot consider such pleadings as haram or makruh.

The Holy Prophet (s) trained that blind person to say as such:

‘Oh God, I ask you and seek your attention for the sake of your prophet Muhammad, the merciful Prophet.. [3]

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri has narrated from the Holy Prophet (s) the following du'a:

Oh God I ask for the sake of those who ask for and I ask you for the sake of the followers of this matter [4]

Adam ('a) repented as such:

I ask you by the right of Muhammad to forgive me [5] 

When the Holy Prophet (s) buried the mother of 'Ali ('a), he recited this invocation for her:

"Forgive my mother Fatima the daughter of Asad and by the right of your Prophet and the Prophets before him and make her place vast and wide (and save her from the torment of grave)." [6] Although in these types of sentences the word of pleading has not been explicitly mentioned yet, the true purpose of them, by the decree of refers to pleading to Allah by the rights of the awliya. When they say “O God, I ask You by the right of the questioners" it means “I plead You by their rights.”

The suuplications that have been narrated from the fourth Imam ('a) in Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya is itself a clear proof upon the authenticity and soundness of such tawassul. The splendid meanings of the suuplications in al-Sahifa and the eloquence and meanings of sentences makes us needless to mention its authenticity and its attribution to Imam.

Imam al-Sajjad ('a) used to secretly converse with Allah on the day of Arafat as such;

“O God, by the right of those whom You have selected from Your other creatures; by the right of those people whom You have vested authority and have created them for acquainting (the people) of Your position; by the right of those pure ones whom You have connected their obedience to Your obedience and their enmity to Your enmity.” [7]

When Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) performed ziyara of his great grandfather Amir al-mu'minin ('a), he concluded his prayers as such:

“O God respond to my prayers and accept my glorification (of You) and by the right of Muhammad, 'Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Husayn (‘a) unite us with Thy beloved ones.” [8]

It is not only Imam al-Sajjad ('a) and Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) who in their invocations pleaded to Allah by the right of His beloved ones but, in the supplications of other Shi'a Imams too, one can find such tawassul.

The noble leader, Imam Husayn ibn 'Ali ('a) in one of the supplication says:

“O Allah, I ask You by Your words and the centre of Your honour; and by the inhabitants of the heavens and the land; and by your Prophets and Messengers that You answer my prayers for my affairs have become difficult. I ask You to send salutations upon Muhammad and his progeny and to make my affairs easy.”

These kinds of supplications are so numerous that narrating all of them will lengthen our discussion. It is better that we cut short our discussion here and mention the reasoning and objections of the opposition.

First Objection:

The scholars of Islam are unanimous in their decision that pleading to Allah by the way of a creature or by the right of a creature is haram (forbidden). [9]

Reply:

The meaning of unanimity or rather consensus is this that the scholars of Islam in every period of history or in all the eras are unanimous in their opinion over a decree derived from the commandments.

In such a case, the viewpoint of the scholars of Ahl al Sunnah and their consensus of opinion is itself one of the divine proofs. The Shi'a scholars consider this to be a divine proof from this viewpoint that it is springs from the Infallible Imam's counsel (who lives among the people) and his approval.

Now we ask whether such type of consensus of opinion exists in this matter? We keep aside the Shi'a and other Ahl al Sunnah scholars and consider the opinion of the leaders of the four schools of thought only. Have the leaders of these four schools of thought given fatwa (verdict) that the matter of pleading is forbidden? If they have given such verdict, we request them to produce the text of their verdicts along with the name of the book and the page number.

Basically, such type of tawassul has not be propounded in the books of fiqh (jurisprudence) and hadith belonging to the scholars of Ahl al Sunnah so that they can express their opinion about them. In such a case, how can there be unanimity and consensus as claimed by the author of al-Hadiyyat al-saniyya? The only person whom he says has prohibited this matter is an unknown figure by the name of al-'Izz bin 'Abd al-Salam. As if the opinions of all the scholars of Islam is considered by the author of al-Hadiyyat al-saniyya into the single opinion of al-'Izz bin 'Abd al-Salam.

Thereafter, he has narrated from Abu Hanifa and his student Abu Yusuf that both of them too have said that it is makruh (abominable) to say ‘by the right of so and so’.

In short, there does not exist any proof in the name of consensus in this matter. What worth can the fatwa (verdict) of these two persons have in comparison to the firm tradition of the Holy Prophet (s) and his Ahl al-Bayt which according to the consensus of the traditionists of Ahl al Sunnah are and their sayings a proof. [10] Moreover, the authenticity of attributing this fatwa to Abu Hanifa is not proved.

Second Objection:

“Asking Allah by the right of a creature is not permissible because the one who is created has no right before the Creator.” [11]

Reply:

Such a reasoning is nothing but ijtihad (independent reasoning) compared to explicit text. If really a creature has no right before the Creator then why in the previous traditions, Adam ('a) and the Holy Prophet (s) of Islam (s) pleaded o Allah by such rights and asked Allah by these same rights?

Besides, how should we justify the verses of the Qur’an? Because in certain instances, the Qur’an has explicitly indicated that the servants of Allah to possess a right upon Allah. The same is is mentioned in Islamic traditions (hadithes).

These are the verses:

“And helping the believers is ever incumbent on Us.” (Rum: 47)

“A promise which is binding on Him in the Torah and the Injil” (Tauba: 111)

“It is binding on us (that) We deliver the believers.” (Yunus: 103)

“Repentance with Allah is only for those who do evil in ignorance.” (Nisa: 18)

Is it proper to interpret so many of these verses just for the sake of propagation of groundless dogmatic ideas?

Now some examples from traditions:

“It is a right upon Allah to help the one who marries because of protecting his chastity from the forbidden acts.” [12]

“The Holy Prophet (s) said: “There are three groups of people to whom help is an obligation upon Allah. A warrior in the path of Allah, a servant who agrees to pay a sum to his master for his release and a youth who wishes to protect his honour by way of marriage.” [13]

“Do you not see the obligation which is upon Allah with regards to His slaves” [14]

Let it not remain unmentioned here that, essentially, no person is having any right even though he may worship God and remain humble before him for ages. This is because whatever a person possesses is from Allah and he has not used any of his own resources in the way of Allah so that it can be compensated in the form of reward.

Therefore, the meaning of this right in such cases is the very divine rewards and positions which Allah, due to His special favours has bestowed upon them and entrusted (these favours) upon Himself. Such a right (or obligation) upon Allah is the sign of His Greatness and Magnificence.

No creature has any right upon Allah except if Allah, due to His Mercy and Favour, justifies it upon Himself and shows that His creatures as creditors and Himself as debtor.

This matter that a creature possesses a right upon Him is similar to seeking of loan by Allah from His poor servants. These commitments and obligations which He has promised is due to His Grace and Honour. Moreover, with utmost Grace, He has considered Himself to be indebted to His virtuous servants and has presented them as owners of rights and Himself as and an obligor. [15]

Footnotes:

[1] Sahifat al-'Alawiyya, Islamic Publications, page 370.

[2] Sahifat al-'Alawiyya, page 51.

[3] Sunan Ibn Maja, vol.1 page 441; Musnad Ahmad, vol. 4 page 138; Mustadrak al-Hakim, vol.1 page 313; and others.

[4] Sunan Ibn Maja, vol.1 page 261, 262; Musnad Ahmad, vol. 3 tradition 21.

[5] al-Durr al-manthur, vol.1 page 59; Mustadrak al-Hakim, vol. 2 page 615; Ruh al-Ma'ani, vol. 1 page 217. (In the chapter of tawassul, you had been acquainted with this tradition with greater context).

[6] Ibn al-Sabbagh al-Maliki (d. 855 AH), al-Fusul al-muhimma, page 31.

[7] Sahifat al-Sajjadiyya, du'a No.47.

[8] Ziyara of Aminullah.

[9] Kashf al-'irtiyab, page 32 narrated from al-Hadiyyat al-saniyya.

[10] Hadith al-thaqalayn is an authentic tradition and none denies its authenticity except for the obstinate.

[11] Kashf al-'irtiyab, narrated from al-Qaduri.

[12] al-Suyuti, al-Jami' al-saghir, vol. 2 page 33.

[13] Sunan Ibn Maja, vol. 2 page 841.

[14] Ibn al-'Athir, al-Nihaya, under "h q q"

[15] Sura al-Baqara: 245