Istighatha: Calling Someone Other Than Allah for Help.<i>Followed by an answer on the permissib

Is it permitted to call someone other than Allah for help? Is this not bordering on shirk? How about taking vows for other than Allah?

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

There are two aspects to your question. The first with regards to seeking help directly from the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) and other righteous servants of Allah, and the second relates to taking a vow (nazar) for other than Allah.

Seeking help from other than Allah (istighatha)

If by seeking help from the Prophets and pious means making them an intermediary between the seeker and Allah, then there is nothing wrong in seeking their help. Tawassul (using intermediaries in supplication to Allah) through the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace), Awliya and righteous believers is permitted, rather recommended according to the four schools of Sunni Islam.

It is quite perfectly permissible for one to seek the help of a Prophet or a righteous person by asking him to pray to Allah on one’s behalf, or to use him as an intermediary when praying directly to Allah. Explicit narrations and implicit indications of the Qur’an fully justify this practice, and it would be wrong to condemn it as being forbidden or to include it among the various forms of polytheism (shirk). (See below for details and evidences; and http://www.daruliftaa.org/tawassul1.htm).

This Tawassul may be expressed by using any phrase or done in any form, including:

Wasila (supplicating Allah through a means),

Istighatha (calling upon someone for help, through Allah’s love and concern for them),

Isti’ana (seeking someone’s assistance, through Allah’s granting).

When one seeks help from the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) or one of the righteous, the intention is to gain their intercession (shafa’a) and mediation before Allah Almighty, because of Allah’s love and concern for them.

Tawassul (supplicating Allah through a means) through a living or deceased intermediary is not the seeking of assistance from a physical body, or through a life or death; rather, it is to seek assistance through the positive meaning attached to the person in both life and death, and due to their rank with Allah, for the body is but the vehicle that carries that significance.

However, if one seeks the help of a Prophet, saint or any other creation of Allah believing him to be omnipotent like Allah, then this polytheism (shirk) and can never be considered permissible. Similarly, one believes that Allah alone is Omnipotent, but also believes that He has delegated a part of His power to an angel, a Prophet or a saint who exercises full and independent authority in that area, then this will also be considered Shirk, and thus forbidden.

The above are the two types of requests which the Qur’an forbids, and against which it warns us in the opening Surah:

“We worship you alone and only your aid we seek”. (al-Fatiha, 5).

The great late Syrian scholar, Shaykh Muhammad al-Hamid (Allah have mercy on him) explains:

“As for someone who believes that those called upon can cause effects, benefit, or harm, which they create or cause to exist as Allah does, such a person is an idolater who has left Islam” (See: Reliance of the Traveller, P. 940).

Therefore, there is nothing wrong in using the Prophets, saints and the righteous as intermediaries to Allah, through any of the abovementioned means, as long as one does not believe them to have the power to benefit or harm in of themselves without the granting of Allah.

Taking vows for other than Allah

As for taking a vow for other than Allah is concerned, the books of fiqh are quite clear that this is not permissible if this ‘other’ is made the end of one’s vow. It is not permissible to take a vow in the name of anyone other than Allah Most High.

For example, a person says to his spiritual guide: "If a certain task of mine is fulfilled, I will do such and such a thing for you", or a person goes to graves or places that are inhabited by jinns and makes certain requests over there. All these acts are haram and constitute shirk.

The great Hanafi jurist, Imam al-Haskafi (Allah have mercy on him) states:

“Taking vows for the deceased like many ignorant people take money, lamps, oil, etc to the graves of the saints out of reverence is totally unlawful (haram) by consensus”.

Allama Ibn Abidin (Allah have mercy on him) commentates on the above:

“This is unlawful due to certain reasons: Firstly because, it is taking a vow for the creation (of Allah) and taking a vow for the creation is unlawful, for it (taking a vow) is worship (ibadah) and the creation is not worshiped. Secondly, the one for whom the vow is taken is deceased and a deceased does not own anything. Thirdly, if he had the belief that the deceased has an effect in one’s affairs other than Allah, then this is disbelief”. (Radd al-Muhtar, 2, 439).

However, if the vow (nazar) was taken in the name of Allah alone, but the intention was to send the rewards of the vow to the deceased person’s soul or to feed the poor at a grave, then this is permissible.

Allama Ibn Abidin (Allah have mercy on him) states:

“If one said: “O Allah! I take a vow in your name that if you cure me or fulfil my need, then I will feed the poor people at the grave of Imam Shafi’i….or I will purchase a mat for their Masjid or give money, etc in which there is benefit for the poor, then this is permissible. And it will not be permissible then to use these items on a wealthy person” [ibid]

Therefore, in conclusion, if the vows taken for the saints and righteous are with the intention of showing reverence to them, and that they will accept these vows and benefit us, and if the vow is not taken in their name they will become upset, etc…then this is unlawful with the consensus of all the scholars. However, if the intention is merely to send the rewards of the vow taken for Allah to their soul, then this is permissible.

And Allah knows best

Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari, UK
www.daruliftaa.co.uk