Title: Tawassul - Praying to God through Intermediaries Question: Are there any scholars Besides Ibn Taymiyah and the late scholars of Saudi Arabia who are opposed to tawassul through a dead person or prophet? I have been told that Imam Abu Hanifah was opposed to anyone's saying, "I ask you by the right of the prophets". A Hanafi scholar explained that this only meant that the scholar was opposed to using such words though Ibn Taymiyah used this argument to claim that Abu Hanifah was opposed to tawassul as Ibn Taymiyah himself was. I hope hat you can furnish me with some more details with regards to this issue. Umar Majid Roshan Canada Answer: Tawassul is supplicating God through an intermediary, whether the person is a prophet or not, alive or dead it doesn't matter. To use the phrase "I ask you by the right of the prophets," is not an established practice in Islam. Invoking God through anyone dead or alive is against the teachings of Islam. For example if I say "My mom, dearest to me, I call on God through you," or "I will channel my supplications in your name (mom) to God," or anything remotely resembling this line of invocation can be detrimental to our direct relationship with the Almighty. That (is so) because Allah, He is the True, and that which they invoke beside Him is False, and because Allah, He is the Sublime, the Great. ( Luqman 31: 30) Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Have ye thought on all that ye invoke beside Allah? ( Al-Ahqaaf 46: 4) The dead are no longer around us. They don't communicate with us nor do they make things happen in our dimension of existence because they have exited our realm and entered some other, which is not yet known to us and not penetrable by us except through death. ... till the time that death overtakes any of them, he shall say: 'O my Lord, return me [to the world], so that I do [all the] good deeds that I overlooked earlier'. Absolutely not! This is only a word that he shall utter. Behind him there shall be a veil, till the day that he is risen from the dead. ( Al-Mu'minoon 23: 99 - 100) Clearly, it can be understood that the dead can do nothing for us. Invoking God through a dead person to achieve a certain blessing is totally outside the bounds of Islam. Hence I see no reason to list names of scholars, from Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, that discredit this concept as it is not a part of Islam in the first place. I hope I have clarified the issue God knows best Ronnie Hassan February 13, 2003