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Fatwa CenterPermissible Tawassul in Islam
Question
I want to ask about Tawassul. Is it permissible in Islam especially according to Shafi'e school of thought?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Tawassul (seeking approach to Allah) is of two kinds:
1) The permissible Tawassul and (2) The prohibited one.
The permissible Tawassul is of three kinds:
A) Approaching Allah through His most Beautiful Names and Attributes. Allah Says (what means): {O you who have believed, fear Allah and seek the means [of nearness] to Him.} [Quran 5:35]
B) Seeking approach of Allah through good deeds. The evidence for this kind of approach is the Hadeeth narrated by Ibn ‘Umar in Saheeh Al-Bukhari and Muslim concerning the three people who were withheld in a cave, then they supplicated Allah through their good deeds till Allah saved them from the cave.
C) Seeking approach of Allah through Du'aa’ (supplication) of His righteous slaves. The evidence for this kind of Tawassul is the Hadeeth of ‘Uthman Ibn Abu Al-'Aas regarding the blind man who supplicated Allah Saying: “O Allah! I seek approach of You through your Prophet … so respond to me by accepting his intercession.”
The Prophet's intersession means making his Du'aa’ as a mean to approach Allah not his personality itself. The evidence for this viewpoint is that ‘Umar 
said when drought threatened them: “O Allah! We used to ask our Prophet to invoke You for rain, and You would bless us with rain, and now we ask his uncle to invoke You for rain, then he requested al-Abbas to supplicate Allah for rain and then Allah gave them rain.” [Al-Bukhari]
If the approaching through the personality of the Prophet were permissible they would supplicate Allah through the Prophet since his honor is lasting during his life and after his death as well.
The prohibited Tawassul is also of two kinds:
A) Innovative Tawassul: Asking Allah by means of prophets and righteous persons is an innovation. The evidence for that is that Tawassul is a form of worship and all the matters of worship are restricted only to what is proved by the Sharee'ah. There is no chance for any innovation as far as the matters of worship are concerned. The above Hadeeth of ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, proves this fact.
However, some scholars are of the opinion that this kind of Tawassul is permissible. They based their opinion on the Hadeeth of the blind man mentioned above.
But the preponderant opinion is the first one, and we have already mentioned the answer for those who rely on the Hadeeth of the blind man.
B) Polytheistic Tawassul: Seeking approach to Allah by offering devotions to others besides Allah, such as sacrificing to them, supplicating them, and making vows to them. Those who practice this claim that they are doing it only to use them as intercessors between themselves and Allah. Allah Says about the polytheists (what means):
• {And those who take protectors besides Him [say], "We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to Allah in position."} [Quran 39:3]
• {And they worship other than Allah that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allah "} [Quran 10:18]
For more benefit on Tawassul by virtue of the Prophet, and permissible and prohibited Tawassul, please refer to Fataawa ">11669, 16690, 17593, ">81681, 142097, 264595, 284374, 419992 and 89076.
Allah knows best.
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