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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
which there is a difference of opinion. Since there was an acceptable
difference of opinion, he would not even rebuke those who performed
such an act. 1
However, as alluded to above, matters evolved even beyond
that. In the name of tawassul, people starting to pray directly to the
deceased, asking them to intervene between themselves and Allah or,
even worse, asking them to forgive their sins, thinking that they had
some special dispensation from Allah for that purpose. They claimed
that all of this was simply a type of tawassul, which is permissible. In
other words, it was claimed that istighaathah, or seeking rescue and
help, from other than Allah was permissible because it is no more than
a type of tawassul. (Linguistically speaking and in the light of the
terminology of the Quran and Sunnah, it is not acceptable to claim
that istighaathah can be considered merely a subset of tawassul. 2)
Concerning this latter issue, ibn Abdul-Wahhaab was adamant.
This was not simply a difference of opinion in a matter of fiqh. This
was an issue that struck at the core of faith. Supplications and prayers
fall under the category of ibaadah (“worship”) and as such they must
be exclusively directed toward Allah alone. One cannot ask of anyone
else anything that is beyond his apparent and normal means as a
human being. Hence, to ask of the deceased to cure an illness, forgive
sins, rescue one from a problem and so forth, all of which some
scholars have justified in the name of tawassul, is nothing less than
pure shirk. In addition, there is an implied claim that the deceased can
perform said acts. However, knowledge of that fact is from the unseen
and there is no proof in the Quran or Sunnah that the deceased can
perform any act on behalf of the living. To the contrary, in the Sunnah
of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) one finds
that it is the deceased who are in need of the prayers of the living and
not vice-versa. Furthermore, they are claiming that the deceased can
continue to perform wonderful righteous deeds while in their graves—
such as interceding on behalf of poor sinful individuals—while the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) clearly stated,
1 Cf., al-Abdul-Lateef, pp. 255-256.
2 For more on this point, see al-Abdul-Lateef, pp. 266f.