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Fatwa CenterThis weak narration is not an evidence of seeking help from dead people
Question
Imam Ahmad (RA) says: "Me did Hajj five times, out of which three times i went by walking. During one of these i lost my way, while i was walking. Me started saying: Yaa Ibadallah.. Dalloonee Ala Thareeq[ Oh Ibads of Allah, show me the right way]. Then i reached the right way." Ibnu Kaseer, Albidayathu Va Nnihaya: [B.10 P.418] This is a proof given by the deviant to state it is permissible to call upon the pious dead people for help. Also the deviant claim Imam Qurtuby and Imam Ibn Kathir have explained in their tafsir of the verse from Sura Al Nisa 4:64 that people used to seek the help of the Prophet (pbuh) even after his death and the Prophet would respond to them. What is the correct position
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The story of Imaam Ahmad
can not be evidence for seeking help from dead people. There is no mention of dead people in that story. Imaam Ahmad was far from seeking help from dead people. It is clear from the story that Imaam Ahmad acted up the weak narration that is narrated from the Prophet which reads that he said: “When one loses his means of transport in a desert he should say aloud: “O slaves of Allaah! Recover my means of transport” because there are slaves of Allaah present on this earth, and he will recover it.” [At-Tabaraani and Ibn As-Sunni]. This narration was graded as weak by the scholars. It can not be evidence for those who permit seeking help from the dead people since the wording of the narration is (…there are slaves of Allaah present…) because dead people are not present. It is about seeking help of any present creature if the matter is within their capacity. For this reason Ibn Muflih mentioned the story of Imaam Ahmad following the above narration. Imaam Ahmad was the leader of Ahlus-Sunnah in his time and surely knew the Saying of Allaah (what means): {And who is more astray than he who invokes besides Allaah those who will not respond to him until the Day of Resurrection [i.e. never], and they, of their invocation, are unaware.}[Quran 46:5] and would have acted against it.
As regards what is mentioned about Imaams Ibn Katheer and Al-Qurtubi
that people used to seek the help of the Prophet after his death…… till the end of the quote, it is a deceiving statement. It could be understood that “people” here refers to the companions of the Prophet their followers and those who came after them; certainly, this is not correct. Imaams Ibn Katheer and Al-Qurtubi did not mention the word (… people…) rather they mentioned the known story of a Bedouin who came to the grave of the Prophet and recited the verse from the chapter of An-Nisaa’ [4:64]. This story can not be evidence for seeking help from dead people, and Imaams Ibn Katheer and Al-Qurtubi did not mention it for that purpose. Moreover, this story is neither Quran nor Sunnah nor consensus of Muslim jurists, and therefore can not be used as a proof to establish a religious ruling.
Ibn Taymiyyah said: “… they used this story which can not be used to establish religious rulings to prove this matter (the permissibility of seeking help from the dead). Had this been allowed, then the companions 
and those who followed them in faith would have undoubtedly knew it and would have acted upon it more than any one else.”
Ibn Taymiyyah also said: “No one – from the companions of the Prophet - asked the Prophet after his death to intercede him or sought his help in anything. Also it is not reported that any of the Muslim scholars did this”.
For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 84006, or his family members">88594 and 89352.
Allaah Knows best.
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