Thread by @truthunveilled

Misconceptions of Istighathah and Tawassul - Part 1

[Thread]

Misapplying Qur'anic verses-

One of their arguments is that, as the Qur'an says, the idolators believe in Allah and believe that He is the one Who created the heavens and the earth, but despite this, they worship idols and deify them. They say that Muslims who

believe in Tawassul and Istighāthah are no different to these idolators. The truth is however, that there are three key differences between these idolators and Muslims who believe in Tawassul and Istighathah:

1. The idolators believe God will not benefit them due to their rejection of the resurrection and the other tenets of belief, such as the Pool (Hawdh), Paradise etc.

2. Alongside their belief in Allah, the disbelievers deified Idols and took them as gods, as Allah says, 'Did they make their gods one God?'

3. The idolators believed that the idols could benefit them and harm them independently of Allah. The Muslims who believe in Tawassul and Istighathah, however, do not believe that the righteous have the ability to benefit or harm independently of Allah.

The usage of the verse,

ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى زلفى

"We worship them only that they may bring us closer to Allah"

Clearly as stated in this verse, 'we worship them'. Indeed, worshipping any other than Allah is shirk as He is the only one worthy of worship.

Muslims who believe in Tawassul and Istighathah do not worship the righteous when calling upon them. Linguistically understood as calling. The people who oppose Tawassul and Istighathah then use the Hadīth, 'Du'aa is an essence of worship/Du'aa is worship'.

It is apparent that this Hadīth is referring to the Du'aa which is used by Muslims as worship. Du'aa is translated as 'calling', therefore it has to be broken down into to baskets:

1. Calling upon someone affirming the belief that he will benefit you independently (which is also the Du'aa we make to Allah)

2. Calling as general usage (which we do on a daily basis when calling a person for eg. "Oh Zaid! Give me the cup!"

From this, we have understood that if the Hadīth was applied for 'calling', then people are committing shirk everyday, as they are 'calling'. The two baskets states the two understandings of Du'aa.

Furthermore, as the Hadīth states in one of its variations, 'is an essence'

It implies that worship is needful of not only the act, rather it requires the belief in Allah, as well. When a person prays his daily prayer, without reading the required prescriptions; will his prayer be accepted? When a person prays our prayer, without the belief in Allah,

was it classed as a Ibaadah?

ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلى الله زلفى**